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LG Presents Solar Powered E-Book
MikeChino writes "At first glance, e-readers offer a great set of benefits over paper-bound books – they’re light, versatile, and a great alternative to lugging around a tote full of dead tree tomes on your next trip. However these new reading mediums have one glaring fault — can you imagine the frustration of running out of juice mid-sentence and halfway through Infinite Jest? LG's new solar e-book aims to address this issue by harnessing the sun's rays to power its display. The device features a 10 centimeter wide thin-film photovoltaic panel that can power the reader for a full day's worth of reading after 4-5 hours spent sitting in the sun."
Couldn't the aftermarket industry simply offer up a E-Book sleeve/cover that has a built in solar cell and stays connected to the reader's power jack and bring this 'breakthrough' to any other E-Book desired?
They need to reduce the power consumption to the point that it can run off a solar cell being fed by ambient lighting.
I'm confused by the photos. Are they comparing it to a Sony PRS-505 reader or is it just a power source for the Sony reader?
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
Uh...that's a Sony e-Reader, one of the early models. With a solar panel attached to the inside of the protective jacket (which seems like the wrong side...)
Please help metamoderate.
Chances are you'd be able to plug it in during that time, so there's not much need for a solar panel.
Maybe so, but a solar panel + eInk would probably be able to run off of ambient light and therefore not normally need a charger at all.
It would have to be in full sunlight in order for it to charge, so unless you have a private sun-lit balcony handy, would you sit in the sun 4-5 hours a day just to babysit your expensive solar-powered E-reader? You'd pay a lot more for sunscreen than AA batteries cost.
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
Solar and wind-ups are the biggies for areas without power. The wind-ups are handy because you don't have to charge them in advance.
Solar lights seem to be big around here, basically being sold as garden/path lights that don't need any wiring. I picked up a ten pack on the weekend and put them on the trip hazards in the back yard. I have my doubts about the bug zapper, but I'll test it this weekend.
The Kindle charges from USB, doesn't it? Would something like this do the trick?