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Multi-head Meets the Laptop
PARENA writes: "Estari comes with a Dual-Screen Laptop! "A what?!" Yes: Dual-Screen. In fact, they are 2 15" TOUCH screens. According to TwoMobile: 'Unlike electronic tablets, the 2-VU(TM) allows users to view two full-page files or documents simultaneously. Users can page through two books at once, or take handwritten notes in a notebook on one screen while paging through a book on the other screen.' Sounds pretty cool!"
when you see someone holding this laptop sideways it means one thing......
they're on Playboy dot com, checking out the centerfold, the way they were meant to be checked out!
:)
Cool device though.....
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
Your fp has been claimed to AC. Nice try, fagboy, but only ACs can get first posts. Now feel free to fuck off right now, you stupid cunt.
You can keep notes in class, teachers can make lesson notes in it the night before, they can point out stuff in the book. Another nice feature would be a highlight function, so you can use your stylus as a highlighter. Very cool
Free Mac Mini
Now it is. Nice.
Anyone up for writting a linux display driver for this baby
"We deal in lead" - Roland of Gilead
This is twice as heavy as necessary, and twice as big as necessary.
"The 2-VU's two, portrait-mode, full-color screens allow the user to read and work in the format of the traditional book, which has proven to increase reading speed, compre-hension and retention,"
Proper typesetting has proven to increase reading speed; why is there a hyphen in "comprehension?" Probably because the web designer didn't realize that not everyone would be using the same display he is?
I'll pass.
Laptops were there to be carted around because you need a computer on the move? You chose something that was small, light and just powerful enough to do what you needed.
That's the reason I still use my Thinkpad 760xl. It's tiny by modern standards, but it's rugged as h3ll and has survived two 4 foot drops.
Then we have the sort of laptop that execs use to show off with.... 17" screens, more memory than you can shake a stick at and all that jazz... They weigh a ton, last about 30 minutes on battery and spent all their life in the docking station. What's the point?
It's the same with this new laptop. How the hell are you going to find the space on a plane to use both screens? Or on a train. Yes, it's toy. Yes, it's shiny (and shiny is good) but it's got very little practical use as far as I am concerned.
Teamwork is essential. It gives the enemy someone else to shoot at
Madeup Inc. have produced a three-screen laptop. It comes with three fold-out 17" LCD Screens. Available 3rd Quarter 2002.
i.e. This is a Non-Story.
...I'm wondering if I can also kill flies with this, or put it under the shorter leg of my table!
667 The Neighbour of the Beast
Very nice, cute but how practical is it realy? :-)
It would be nice for the novelty factor but one think that springs to mind is all the weight is "in one screen". And comming from command line, I like my keyboard
-- Vagnerr - (www.vagnerr.com) Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Watch out for the cheap rip-off with a similiar design released soon (before this one is???).
>The 2-VU operates in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP® environments and features the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. This strategy avoids the problems of a propriety, closed environment while maintaining the file integrity offered through these state-of-the-art digital rights management platforms.
Win2k and Acrobat. Could this thing be any MORE proprietary and closed???
I would think that since the display is typically the biggest load on the battery of a portable device (laptop/handheld/etc.) that they will have to work really hard to get a decent amount of time with those big bright displays lit up. If you were using it as an e-book reader you would need the battery to last longer than a few hours.
Hi, Rush Limbaugh here on the EIB network, bringing to you more broadcast excellence today and having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have. And of course, I'm taking on Slashbots and anonymous cowards with half my brain tied behind my back to make this fair. Laptops are an abomination and are for liberals. The liberals use them to spread their lies while traveling. We conservatives speak the truth and have strong uncomprimising morals that speak for themselves so we don't need to constantly spread lies. Anyways, I'm off to bring peace to the middle east. I'll be back later with more from the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Study. Megadittos, Slashbots.
That's a pretty cool idea but when I look at that picture, I can't help but wonder why they're trying to emulate a pad of paper. For about $1, you could get yourself a nice real pad of paper and a real pencil.
I didn't read the whole article, bit I bet this thing is gonna cost some serious bucks. Why not make it look like something sleek and techno-sexy, instead of a cheap little paper binder.
Why try to emulate pencil and paper when we already have real pencil and real paper for much less money, that work much better than any fancy laptop. Why not exploit all the technology that goes into things like this and make them truly useful. Let the pencil and paper be it's own pencil and paper. These two simple items have a use.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
Why didn't they just make an extra large screen and virtually partition the "screens"??? That would be more useful I think.
that kept me from getting a laptop.
You get attached to two screens...
I can't see why I would use this over a normal notebook. And for those that would use such a device, isn't portability, weight, and ergonomics key features? I would love to see their thoughts on potential markets.
The concept of no longer owning the book, is introduced. For a price, you get access to the text for a period of time. Still want access to it after a year? Gotta pay.
Such concepts as selling the book back to the bookstore when you're finished with the class, or selling it to another student, will become things of the past.
Sure this is a great device, but with the textbook industry drooling over the students as a captive audience, the ramifications of such a device are worth considering.
Although airport security might be sceptical.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
...what would be really cool would be a dual-screen system with a two-sided display. Think sales presentation, with sale guy on one side, and client on the other. No more elbow bumping and reaching over shoulders, etc. I've lost track of how many of our sales reps have asked me about this...
This thing will suck twice as much as the one.
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.....
Try going outside once in a while, you pale faced mofo. You'd be surprised that the vast majority of people in the world don't care about your 1000th post on Slashdot.
Now, if I could just arrange to have my right eye see one screen and my left eye see the other, I could multi-task by doing something far out and right-brainy on screen #1 and a stodgy old left-brainer on on screen #2.
This format for printed publications is widely accepted, based on a study of 30 centuries of graphic design and consumer testing.... Wow! With that kind of thorough research, it's sure to succeed!
[ insert your own witty .sig here ]
It really seems like a good idea on paper, but I don't think these things are going to become commonplace until the software gets better. What do we always drool over? The hardware, of course. (Unless it has Linux support, which is just an added bonus - think Sharp Zaurus)
:)
Defenestrate Windows, and it could be a much better product
Karma: \Kar"ma\, n. [Skr.] (Buddhism) One's acts considered as fixing one's lot in the future existence.
It looks funky, but I'm not convinced it'll play in the form factors they're planning.
:)
Mainly, it's the notebook (ironically enough) form factor that I'm not sure about. Some vertical markets might love it - those that need real computing and portable computing but struggle with the average handheld. Healthcare, education...that sort of thing.
But for the rest of us? Dunno about you, but I just don't work like that. I'm used to scrolling through long documents. I like being able to have wide windows for some tasks (mainly spreadsheets).
In its handheld/subnotebook model, now that could work. My feeling is that would suit the type of use you'd expect - holding a gadget like a book is pretty natural for some tasks.
I'm particularly dubious of the exec's claim that the book format is "proven to be better" for comprehension. That's because people are used to it. Same way that people who type on a standard keyboard struggle to use a Dvorak layout, but that doesn't mean the former is better. And that, to me, sums up a lot of their arguments in favour of the thing.
But hey. Maybe I'll recant when I've had the chance to play with one at a tradeshow and get hooked
Does it have a keyboard? Not mentioned in the article. I'd think with the PDA market spawning numerous foldable keyboards and folks learning to thumb-type on the smaller adjunct keyboards that this would be a feature they need to keep. Most of us can still type far faster than we can write (especially when you consider having to correct what handwriting recognition couldn't get right).
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but isn't that monitor a bit big? I'd think something closer to 10' to 12' would be more convenient.
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
it doesn't have a keyboard... so you have to carry that around as well...
probably also has a heavy external PSU...
whats the difference between this and the ebook?
How many of the 1000 were FPs though?
PS Inaccuracy in your sig. Right now, it doesn't.
"Under the iron bridge, we fist" - The Smiths, Still Ill
Estari partners hold patents for the dual-screen laptop
Oh please! Geez that must be truly worth a patent, I don't think anyone has thought of this before...
Thankfully this is such a crap idea, that it doesn't matter much in the big line of things...
Being that the LCD is the most expensive part in a laptop, I wonder how much this will cost?
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
This thing has already been dreamed up by Apple more than 10 years ago.
See their Knowlege Navigator QuickTime movie.
So it doesn't need batteries, then, and boots instantly? Cool!
wow they though of everything didn't they ;)
"The 2-VU operates in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP"
On that same website there's another page about mp3 players being sewn into shirts or jackets. They also mention some interesting medical uses. :)
As for the 2-VU, it looks pretty interesting. And I think a touch screen is rather forward thinking. But I don't like the fact that there's no keyboard anywhere on it. Just because I can type faster than I can write. And my writing is really messy
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
Pretty useles, toys for rich boys...
[My english is better than most other people's Turkish, so please point out mistakes politely. Thank you.]
Someone is going to have to at some point rig this thing up to play networked doom with itself.
Yet another signature that refers to itself. The irony and humor is dead.
could it be cheaper if wasn't built on XP? Could they saved a lot of programmers time and money if produced it with LINUX or other free/open software? Is there a reson for this to be sold with proprietary software? I really liked the think, very similar to a notepad, but xp on that? why?
------I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.------
....i can see all the campus book stores switching to ebooks already......i won't have much use for one, seeing as it's going to cost both arms and one leg.....
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
It's sort of like when "portability" was a big thing, and you saw references to it in the literature for virtually every product, even those that were designed to run on very specific hardware/software setups.
Game Boy Advance games run on very specific hardware (16.8 MHz ARM7TDMI processor with custom sound and graphics chips) and software (GBA BIOS). The runtime environment feels like PC DOS (that is, minimal with direct hardware access). Yet GBA software is still called "portable" because the layman's conception of portability is not "runs on several different brands of CPUs" but closer to "fits in my pocket".
Will I retire or break 10K?
is it possible to use one of the lcds as a touch screen? that would be a phat box, no key board or mouse. just displays.
I've been involved with people doing music online. This is "music" in the sense of something that you put on a music stand and read, not "music" as in something that you put in a player and listen to.
One major barrier to use is getting the screen sitting on the music stand. Your typical big screen is hardly portable. Your typical laptop opens up in a way that just doesn't physically work on a music stand. This device opens sideways and lies flat, giving it a lot of potential.
Remaining questions: Can I get it with wireless IP access? If not, forget it. Setting up an Internet connection for N of them at a gig would typically take far longer than the gig itself takes. And if wireless access is via the usual phone-company route with per-minute connection charges, forget it. The cost of N phone connections would typically be more than you make at the gig. Unless it's a true "always on" IP setup, it's not usable.
Also, what happens when someone bumps the music stand and the gadget hits the floor? Do I buy a new one?
Also, forget Windows. If you want quality sheet music on a screen, you want a Mac or linux. Windows only supports commercial music packages with proprietary file formats. If I can't exchange the music files with other musicians, I won't even look at it.
There have in fact been experiments with using computers to display sheet music. One of the things that kills the idea is when the musicians discover that they can't write on the music. This is a total showstopper. In particular, no orchestra or band musician would consider using music if they couldn't write their own notes and comments on it. The article implies some sort of handwritten input ability. How good is it? Can I write on the displayed text itself? If not, forget it.
So we still have a way to go before it's usable. But this gadget shows some slight promise to solving some of the physical problems of current hardware.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I don't think this kind of thing is going to get popular until e-paper becomes an affordable reality. Really, what's the advantage over say, a notebook? Besides the geek factor, that is.
Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
We could call it "Slashdot Vapor Extermination, Inc." Everyday, we would take a different piece of cool-sounding vaporware that gets reported on Slashdot's front page, and then produce it before the original company puts out the press release saying they've had "implementation difficulties" (they weren't smart enough to figure it out) or "that was a concept never destined for production" (we just wanted to tease you so you'd read our press releases).
So, what will it be? A multi-processor quantum teleported dual monitor touchscreen e-ink notebook with a fuel cell running Duke Nukem Forever anyone?
See here: "Electronic book apparatus with dual screen display"
a beowulf cluster of these! (sorry, someone had to say that.) Anyway, this looks great. I wonder what would happen if they implemented a PalmPilot like this.... Pi
Ummmmm.... How much more closed and proprietary do you get? Not to mention that the writer was unable to deduce that even though his spell-checker told him that "propriety" is spelled correctly, it isn't the right word. Sheesh.
If you pay full price for it and keep it, the book depreciates on your shelf until the data in it is out of date and worthless.
As you mentioned, a literature textbook does not depreciate. Neither does a history textbook nor a Newtonian mechanics textbook (for Physics I).
With E-Books, you pay for it the time you use it. Presumably at a much cheaper price than what you would pay for the dead tree version.
Except in practice, monopolistic effects ensure that you won't see your "much cheaper price" for electronic textbook rental once dead-tree textbooks are driven off the market. There is an inelastic demand for textbook rental, and basic microeconomic theory predicts that inelastic demand + no significant competition = high prices for students.
I'm also afraid that you'll also see EULAs on such electronic textbooks: "You may not use a Braille terminal to read this book." "You may not allow more than one person to read this book." "You may not read this book off campus." Richard Stallman explains it better than I can.
Will I retire or break 10K?
What's the point - it looks almost unusuable.
My favorite quote from the article: "This format for printed publications is widely accepted, based on a study of 30 centuries of graphic design and consumer testing." Wow, those Pheonecians were really ahead of the curve. Graphic design and consumer testing? Do you recall anyone surveying you after you read a book? Also, you'd think a 3,000 year old marketing program could produce results a little earlier then Q3 2002. Someone better fire the exec who started the program. Of course, they might have to dig him up first...
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
Well, you always could try to use it in the classical laptop way, with one screen being used as a virtual keyboard / mouse pad combo. Shouldn't be too hard to implement this?
Hurricane Application Group, Dept of Meteorology Control, Ministry of Proactive Defense
lets make this thing usefull and try to run a unix type of os on it
From the specs: "AnyKey - External User-Assignable "ENTER" Key" Finally, we will be able to hit the AnyKey!
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
said Estari CEO Dr. Crist
The competition should just give up now. They have the savior working for them! Jeez, talk about name recognition.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Anyone notice it has pictures of three rings on each lcd? Just in case a confused reader isn't confused as to the functionality of this device.
I'd hardly call this a laptop. There's no keyboard, and no mention of an alternative input method! This is just a portable monitor.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
I suppose what is meant here is "Non-proprietary, in the sense that we didn't write the software, and oh, by-the-way-adobe, don't sue us for anything. We like you. Really!".
Russian Russian Russian RussianDollSig DollSig DollSig DollSig
This topic reminds me of something I've wished for in a laptop, but never seen - that's the ability to use the keyboard, mouse, and screen of the laptop to run another computer. Has anyone seen something like this? At my job we often put together small servers that run with only an ethernet connection, but there's always that time when you want to tweak the BIOS on the server or the like, and VNC just won't cut it. It frustrates me to have a laptop flatscreen display right there but have no way to connect it.
It would be cool if there was a kit to turn an old laptop into a compact keyboard/monitor/mouse setup for this kind of thing.
My Dell Inspiron 8100 can use its internal display and an external display at the same time, in a dual-head fashion. I can even tell the system where one screen is in relation to the other so it knows which side of the screen should bleed onto the other monitor. It's pretty sweet for debugging full-screen software, but most games I have get really confused by it.
..if your name is Zaphod Beetlebrox
for the basics in most subject, things havent changed much in a while:
take math for example-
there haven't been many advances in algebra, calculus, trig, numerical methods, etc that would make it into most undergraduate classes.
i'm a chemical engineer, and most of the work in fluid mechanics, thermo, and chemical transport havent changed in almost 50 years. what some would consider the ``bible'' of transport phenomena was first written by bird, stewar, and lightfoot in 1960... the second edition cameout last year.
sure there have been changes in more advanced topics, but the nature of science and math have changed very little lately. i frequently goto used book stores and get old schuams outlines on different mathematical subjects because they still apply today.
what does suck is the following:
i have th 5th edition of a book. the class is being taught with the 7th edition. the content in the books is _not_ very different, but the arrangement has changed. so when the prof says read pages 434 to 482, you have to talk to some other person in the class to find the corresponding pages in your book. i sometimes wonder if the publishers move things arround and changed the questions at the end of the chapter to force students to purchase new books.
-- john
on the rare occasion that i dont keep a book, i give the books to people, rather than sell them back. i give it to them on the condition that they too will give the book to someone else if they dont keep it. i really dont want to help the bookstore rape some other person a little bit less than me.
-- john
http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/macdesign / mages/dual_screen_g4big.jpg
"The 2-VU operates in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP® environments and features the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. This strategy avoids the problems of a propriety, closed environment while maintaining the file integrity offered through these state-of-the-art digital rights management platforms."
This must be some other, new definition of proprietary... one that you can use to mean anything you want. Can you do this with all words?
I think they're referring to the e-book readers, which are so proprietary they're locked to a specific piece of hardware reading a specific file format. The point being that on their pc tablet thingy you could open doc files, acrobat files, text files, html files, xml files - many formats. It's true that acrobat is a proprietary format. But if you're looking for a common format to read print formatted layout, what else are you going to find it in? Yes it has annoying and horrible drm crap built into it, but it also looks a lot more like print than a web page or a text file. And you will find a lot of content already out there that is in acrobat format, so anything that truly wanted to be a book-like reader would need to be able to read those files. And since the monitors are in portrait mode, one acrobat formatted page should fit exactly on one screen, making the experience fairly similar to a book. Because the one thing I hate above all else in acrobat is the freaking scrolling where you have to give up the hand grabbing the paper icon and go click on the scroll bar because it doesn't recognize that you want to go to the next page. Take out that annoyance and I really wouldn't mind using acrobat to read print formatted material, proprietary warts and all.
My favorite line: "This format for printed publications is widely accepted, based on a study of 30 centuries of graphic design and consumer testing." Wow! They've been testing this format since 1000 B.C.!! Where they managed to get folks that old for their surveys is beyond me.
Do you think the ancient Egyptian scribes really considered themselves "graphic designers?"
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
... at 1400x1050 mode on my laptop, I can nicely put two word processors side by side. Useful when doing long software engineering documents and you have to trace requirements back through who knows how many documents. Not that this doesn't look like a cool toy. =)
from the PR:
/. headline.
will bring to market the patented dual-screen laptop in the fourth quarter of 2002. Estari's 2-VU(TM) product line will include an eBook, handheld, laptop and portable desktop models.
Which implies that it's the eBook model, the dual head laptop probably looks like something else, however you are making the corrrect assumption from another misleading
-Jon
this is my sig.
There is technology available for virtual keyboards, but the thing has a touchscreen. Mac has long had the ability for "rotate" the display, so, simple hack, map the display out to use it side by side for reading mode and "rotate" it to use one LCD as a keyboard. I personally like a pretty heavy "response" from my keyboards but heck, I've adapted to my Blackberry pretty well, although I wouldn't want to write a novel on it...
The best feature of this puppy nobody is mentioning - screw-in tripod mount! Why in the hell someone didn't do this sooner is beyond me. You can carry a small tripod for your laptop and forego a work surface anywhere you either dont have one or need more room. A lot of these newer machines get so toasty you don't want to *actually* set them on your lap anyway -- sweat up your legs, and re-press your pants (if you are wearing the sort of pants that get pressed anyway)..
As far as I'm concerned, this design sucks with no integrated keyboard, and its requiring the user to hold the screens up to view them at any kind of angle is a total failure -- the thing is going to be HEAVY and HOT. Holding it in your hands for long enough to actually *READ* the eBook you've got on it is going to pain a lot of people.
~GoRK
Now, is this entire thing just a joke?
there haven't been many advances in algebra
Right now, there's an active field of research in discrete algebra focusing on mathematical constructs called "cwatsets." Cwatsets are not a Welsh obscenity but rather a slight generalization of group theory that has applications in statistics.
calculus
Calculus, especially in the 3xx and 4xx levels where it is called "real analysis", is still an active field of research.
that would make it into most undergraduate classes.
I agree that 1xx-level and 2xx-level material don't change much from year to year, except perhaps in CS where the school changes the language for Introduction to Programming every other year to match market demands. Perhaps I just go to a good school, where many of the mathematical topics covered in most colleges' graduate programs are covered in the senior year.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I dont know about anyone else, but im sure one of these weighs alot less then 2 or three textbooks. if it is as readable as they say it is, and you can take notes, i would definitly opt to take one of these instead of the 5 textbooks i have to lug around from class to class... prodivded i can get the textbook on the laptop in the first place :) if i could, it would definitly save my spine.
Sun is Warm, Grass is Green
I already have the ability to view two narrow 'windows' on my screen right now and I don't even have to run XP.
jason
Prior to that everything was written on scrolls or tablets. And I must admit that the scroll form factor for paper is probably still the most ubiquitous world wide. Although I hear that in some countries they don't use paper . . .
Useful for the person named in reference A607727 of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy....
I recently worked for a college textbook publisher who shall remain nameless. (I left as we got bought out). In the IT department, we discussed this a few times, and I also sat in on a few demos. I believe our company even made an e-book available for one of them.
There's good and bad, pricewise and otherwise:
Bad -
Yes, the price of publishing the book is in there, but not nearly as much as you think. A typical book is 1-2 colors (typical textbook is two - black with blue text in the margins), with the more expensive books getting the full 4-color treatment. I'll make up an example. It costs us 4$ to print, out of a retail cost of about 60$, and our wholesale cost is 44$. The rest of it pays my salary, the payments for professors to review it, proofreaders, cover art, the author's royalties, our phone system, sales, etc, etc. And money for our shareholders. So that vaunted e-book went from 60$ to, um, 55$. With no resale value. Good for us, not for the students. And with students getting wiser (and changing sections of classes with unreasonably priced books), it translates into a giant oops.
Good -
There's one company that makes more than we do. That's your friendly neighborhood bookstore. They get at least a 25% markup. Bypassing them would probably lower the price accordingly, as well as the fact that there's no used book market (which is a publisher's nemesis). But no publisher wants to piss off the bookstores, so nothing has happened yet.
Good and Bad -
the trend seems to be moving towards software that's levied as a fee. We make the college a deal, x dollars per seat for these classes. It's very easy for us, easy on the school (they just install software), it works around the bookstores (mostly), and students get the books cheaper. The downside is that you're committed. You take the class, you pay for it like a lab fee. No borrowing, no sharing, no money back, etc.
posting anonymously so I don't get anyone in trouble, least of all me. I can't believe I'm giving up all that karma...
with a DVD/CDRW/CD drive, 40GB HD, Built in Zip, Firewire, USB 1/2, 17" display, 1G of ram, XP OS, speakers and even a port for sub sounds (not a subwoofer, but it does help bass) as well as a Nvidia mobile graphics solution set to use 128mb of system memory. This thing runs for four hours watching movies or gaming on it's own battery and weighs less than my StinkPad that it replaced.
Sorry Charlie... you are sadly mistaken or behind the times.
Finally! I get to look at 2x time porn on my laptop! It's about time! I've been waiting for this glorious day for SO long!
--Pornaholic
I think we should start a movement towards public domain of educational texts. Educators, etc., paid by government dollars should make their works freely available. These curriculae should become the de facto standard for 1st/2nd year coursework (could easily be applied to elementary/high school as well).
After all, while we are talking about saving districts/universities thousands of dollars in Windows licenses, why shouldn't we have the same conversation about copy protected educational materiel?
Obviously, cutting edge coursework, etc., will continue to be the domain of copyprotected works, but this would dramatically lower educational costs overall.
With these new "book printers" coming out that allow you to go into a bookstore and order an electronic book to be printed into paperback, you could go and for the cost of the printing service ($5-10) get your textbooks.
More money for beer for university students, more money for teachers for high schools, more money for finger paints for elementary schools.
What do you think?
Why they haven't put their document handling software on Linux is a different issue. Their engineering staff is certainly acquainted with Linux, as we can be sure several of them are already using it at home.
We're getting closer to Penny's computer book!
I've kinda always wondered when that technology would come along.
"...which has proven to increase reading speed, compre-hension and retention," said Estari CEO Dr. George Crist.
Just what I need to improve my reading compre-hension.
(...or did I read that wrong?)
Lessee... An 8.5 x 11" ("letter") sheet of paper works out to 13.9" diagonally. 15" diagonal is going to be right about the size of the looseleaf binder that that fits in. I'm usually carrying one of those around already, and the idea of getting 20G and two screens in that space is very interesting.
_Electronically_, I'd expect it to be a dual-head laptop with tilted orientation. I'd _want_ a keyboard plug, once in a while, but handwriting recognition a la Palm would do much to eliminate the need.
Exceeding the recommended torque is not recommended.
So really it needs:
/dev/kb when the keyboard isn't present
A keyboard plug.
Handwriting recognition to
a rather special xf86config file, but nothing the multihead guys shouldn't be able to come up with.
Mfgr (mfkr?) claims it's made of off-the-shelf parts, implying that it couldn't be _too_ different electronically from a dual-head / LCD monitor rig. Porting WinBloze to it woulda co$t them a _lot_ if they'd done anythng really strange....
Exceeding the recommended torque is not recommended.
It holds 20G. Try _that_ with a looseleaf binder?
Exceeding the recommended torque is not recommended.
"Uses the patented dual screen technology" Uhm, they patented having two screens on a laptop?
loply.com
I'll just keep using my iBook thank you very much.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
>>Watch out for the cheap rip-off with a similiar design released soon (before this one is???).
Sounds good to me...I'd like one of these, and there's no way this thing is priced with affordability in mind. Bring on the cheap ripoffs!
"These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined" --Homer re:
Nuff said. A $4000 Game and Watch.
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
"Users can page through two books at once, or take handwritten notes in a notebook on one screen while paging through a book on the other screen.' Sounds pretty cool!"
Hey dude,
Try raising your screen resolution to something higher than 640x480 so you won't have to run applications maximized (you know, when they take up the whole screen). Now that you can see the icons on your desktop, go ahead and open up another program. Ok, now either use alt-tab to switch between them or click it's name on that little bar at the bottom of your screen.
See, no need to get excited about that over-priced, would have been trendy in 1998, doodle book. You can do all those things on your current PC! HOOYA!
Victor
It's for the wealthy who really really want it cuz it's cool. Sure it breaks soon. It'll be way overpriced. They got a patent, otherwise it would be a commodity in 2 years and the company goes belly up.
They rake in the big bucks from the PHB's who say "where can i download it". Money comes in. After a few years it becomes affordable. After they've paid off their R&D and the VCs who risked the capital.
Actually the economy is at a bad time to release a toy, but I wish them well.
Marketing-driven companies end up over-marketing their products. Engineering-driven companies end up over-engineering
Possible to put together one of these in the basement from laptop parts? EE majors, anyone?
Running two 15" LCD displays, it'll have a battery life of about 15 minutes.
Can't you see a demo of it?
salesman: Here's the new computer, pretty soon everyone will have one.
customer: Wow!
salesman: Oh, let me show you this new...uh... excuse me, gotta put it in the charger now.
Go, Springboard, Go!