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And bread was free too, just had a small line to stand in: http://www.geardiary.com/wp-co...

One point if you can find the words "fun" and "toy" in this image. 100 points if you can find a warning that this product is not safe for children. http://www.geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/buckyballs_photo_three.png

http://www.geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ghostbusters_306-700x393.jpg

I reviewed this a while back on geardiary.com:

http://www.geardiary.com/2009/02/22/review-openmoko-neo-freerunner-from-sdg-systems/

It was....a unique design but the Android port didn't work well at all. The Openmoko code was even more of a mess. It was also SLOW.

I like the idea of a completely libre device, but the G1 was WAY better than this....and that's saying something.

Actually, you can use other bookstores with the Kindle. It's fully endorsed by Amazon, and won't violate your TOS. No cracking / hacking / jailbreaking required. Just buy an ebook from wherever, and copy them over using USB. You can also use Amazon's own Whispernet, but there are potential data charges.

http://www.geardiary.com/2010/02/06/alternative-ebook-sources-for-your-kindle-plus-bonus-book-review/

Actually, you can use other bookstores with the iPhone. It's fully endorsed by Apple, and won't violate your TOS. No cracking / hacking / jailbreaking required. Just buy an ebook from wherever, and copy them over using USB. Stop pretending it isn't so.

This is only about in-App purchases. Even for the Kindle App you can still buy your eBooks at Amazon and give them and only them their 30% - there just isn't a direct link to the website anymore.

Actually, you can use other bookstores with the Kindle. It's fully endorsed by Amazon, and won't violate your TOS. No cracking / hacking / jailbreaking required. Just buy an ebook from wherever, and copy them over using USB. You can also use Amazon's own Whispernet, but there are potential data charges.

http://www.geardiary.com/2010/02/06/alternative-ebook-sources-for-your-kindle-plus-bonus-book-review/

How non-technical, and after how thorough of a look?

I'll just leave these here...

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-297432.html
http://gigaom.com/2008/08/31/dont-like-the-iphone-check-out-these-touchscreen-phones/
http://www.gsmarena.com/newscomm-769.php
http://www.telecomasia.net/node/5199
http://www.google.com/search?q=SPH-1300&hl=en&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jjfATeTDOIL30gHT_tXuBA&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1680&bih=947
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ET&p_theme=et&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EEF6B3EB0A8C768&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPRINT-PCS-PALM-OS-WIRELESS-PHONE-SPH-1300-DUAL-BAND-/180613037497
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2000-09-25/news/18143226_1_cell-phone-palm-os
http://www.geardiary.com/2006/11/30/the-palm-treo-700p-palm-os-smartphone-review/
http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=1690
http://www.gizmag.com/go/2306/
http://www.google.com/search?q=sony+p900
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/13/lg.debuts.new.prada.phone/
http://www.esato.com/phones/compare.php?phone=433&cp=439
http://gizmodo.com/#!190670/cect-a1000-touchscreen-phone-with-1000-hours-standby
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/at-t-8525/4505-6452_7-32133413.html?tag=lia;rcol

these aren't phones, but what the hell... they could still be mistaken for an iPhone at a glance...

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/handheld.html
http://www.suddenlink.net/pages/curtismc/palms.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_III

Anecdotal evidence: I have been able to recover data from a dieing HDD. Of course, when the magnetic head is scratching the surface of the drive, there's not much to be done about it except to open it up for the free magnet and new potential clock

Here's a review of the device with pictures, etc: http://www.geardiary.com/2010/04/10/review-neuros-link/

I also wonder how many times you'll be able to download a book you have purchased.
Some Kindle books have secret caps on the number of times you can download them.
Kindle’s DRM.

If these stories are true then the Kindle is, in my eyes, nothing but a rip-off.

The response was unsatisfactory. I just sent the following to Kindle support...

I have been reading lately about the DRM confusion on Kindle and need a written clarification from Amazon on the limits imposed by DRM. Amazon has stated that there is no download limit per device but does not state what the device limit is. I was lead to believe that there is a 6 device limit for all books. Now it is being indicated that some books have lower limits yet we customers have no visibility to that limit. Therefore, until I can get some clarification on this I will no longer be buying any Amazon Kindle books.

Reference: http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/21/kindlegate-confusion-abounds-regarding-kindle-download-policy/#more-34458

Amazon reps got in contact with the guy.... They simply don't a have a clue of what happens, and may try to change policy. Worth a read...

http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/21/kindlegate-confusion-abounds-regarding-kindle-download-policy/#more-34458

I read the Kindle DRM article the other day and that further cemented my opinion against it. The guy should return his Kindle. The Kindle is all about making money for Jeffy B., not revolutionizing the printed word for people.

http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/19/kindles-drm-rears-its-ugly-head-and-it-is-ugly/

LCDs also move physical particles around.

They move solid matter around?

Personally I find the electronic paper display in my cellphone to be much more useful in normal lighting conditions, because it's very readable without backlight, unless it's really dark, and then it's lit by a couple of LEDs on the side.

Is it MOTOFONE? If so, you know how basic the eInk display in that is.

As for lighting it by couple of LEDs on the side - it's not an option for a large screen with moderate-to-large amounts of text, because such lighting is very uneven - since distance from side LEDs to various points on the screen differs widely. Have a look at how it looks like on a Sony PRS-700. Do you seriously think it's as good as a TFT backlight?

The "notebook with electronic paper display" class of devices already exists: It's called ebook-readers.

Actually, I have two of those, and they certainly aren't notebooks. Even as PDAs they suck for anything but their main function - reading books. And we were talking about netbooks there - which are really supposed to be usable as general-purpose computers, and optimized for Web surfing in all its forms (including Flash games and YouTube-alikes).

Well, we're seeing the first generation of electronic paper in real world applications. Give it some time.

Actually, we're currently seeing the third generation of eInk at least (first was in Sony Librie and MOTOFONE, if I remember correctly). But it was precisely the point of my previous post - I know it's going to get better, but, judging by how long it took it to get where it is, it's not a matter of just another year or two.

Simple solution, add a built-in LED book light to the device.
It's a LED so it is low power. It's even lower power when you consider it will only be used in a dark environment where not much light is needed. And it's off when there's enough external lighting.

Good; except - where are you going to put that light? Remember, those things are thin, and the screen is almost right there at the surface. There is very little space to put the LEDs into. In fact, Sony had tried - and look at how ugly the result looks. Quite an eye strainer, too - too bright at the edges, too dim in the middle, and overall very uneven. But I don't see how they could do any better.

Now there are some third-party gadgets which attach to the book and give enough light to read properly - but those are noticeably larger, so you probably wouldn't want to have them attached to the book all the time.

So for the 1% of the population who take plane trips long enough that the Macbook Pro 17" 8 hour life is not quite enough computing time for you, you have these options:

1) You don't use the laptop at all - basically true of anyone not flying business class. I gave up working on even a 15" laptop in economy a long time ago. Plane seats are simply too close together to work much at all, let alone eight hours. Get a netbook or something and sync it to a larger laptop (or just use that if it's enough), would be one solution...

2) you use in-flight power, which you have if you sprung for business, which you did if you are in fact so very busy you simply must compute in-transit

3) For those of us on the fringes who simply WANT to compute in-transit as long as possible even if we really don't have a need, there are external battery packs. For the life of me I've never seen why people consider any sealed device unable to run longer than just the internal battery will allow, since these external packs are not much larger than the equivalent extra battery would be and thus are no more trouble to carry. Same goes for the iPhone, or the Air. People who have an issue with sealed batteries are people who really have a grudge to bear against the company they are complaining about (see: Apple Hater).

Well, you know jack shit about ad-hoc distribution

Given the context of the thread, I'd say that it's you who knows jack shit* about ad-hoc distribution.

1) You're limited to distribute your app to only 100 phones.

2) (more importantly) You're still tied to Apple - and they can still cut off ad-hoc as a distribution method. They've already done this to the developer of podcaster.

In short, Ad-hoc distribution is an even less realistic method option for app installation for consumers than jailbreaking.

* in fact, I'd say that you've got a few years of hard study, before you're even able to aspire to knowing jack shit (about anything).

No. I know of very few screens that run an OS (isn't there one that will play media from a flash drive?).

Yes. http://www.geardiary.com/2008/07/20/aoc-rivio-2230fm-22-lcd-review/