Ginger/IT is a damp squib.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
Also, paper books require cutting down trees.

You can always use recycled paper. Additionally, manufacturing electronic gadgets requires the use of many dangerous and/or toxic chemicals.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Er... you only need one page since the text can be refreshed You could even set it to scroll up the screen slowly.

My point was you can get a lot more on a paper page than on any PDA/e-book page.

"New technology should produce new solution to problems, not reinventing the wheel"

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Books are heavy is a problem. Try taking 4-5 textbooks on a vacation where you have to carry them in your hand for a decent amount of time all at once.

That's a personal problem Why are you taking 4-5 textbooks on vacation?

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Depends on your carrying case. They are more compact than real books, and could be made waterproof and readable at the same time.

What about accidents, such as dropping from a height?

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Sure they can, besides your fault for allowing them to be exposed to a doggie attack.

You don't understand doggies, they get to everywhere in a house.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
PDAs allow eBooks to be displayed on them, eBook reader software will become free if the need is big enough (someone will make an open source reader). So no additional cost on top of a PDA, and you have the PDA anyway, why also carry a book.

They are not really e-books, merely texts displayed in electronic form. e-books are these gadgets that do nothing but act as substitute for books. You can download texts into them, but only one book at a time. These books cost $$$ to download. Some e-books allow you store books in battery powered RAM packs, but you see that's also extra money.

[Roland]

Dan:

"Bikes get you tired and sweaty."

a) get a bit of training
b) drive at comfortable speed
c) if you are American, use a small support motor

"Also, it's tough to wear, say, a suit while riding your bike."

Damn tough. Almost cruel. Oh that great frontier tradition.

"Lastly, there is no way I'm going expend any effort at 8:30 in the morning."

I'm dead in the morning, but apart from winter, it really helps to get started in the morning. More than coffee ever could.

[DanS]

"a) get a bit of training
b) drive at comfortable speed
c) if you are American, use a small support motor"

This thread is filled with things I should do, rather than filled with things I would like to do more easily. I'm lazy and will continue to be lazy. I would like to increase the effectiveness of my laziness as much as possible. How is everyone's "it's great to get some exercise" going to fit into this reality? At once, I agree with self-improvement, but think it's way off point...

This is why Americans love cars. In most instances, we don't give a flying fvck what we should do. My grandfather, God rest his soul, would get into his car and drive it to the barn, 100 feet away. Do his work and drive back. I wonder if he had a Ginger, he would use his car. Maybe if his Ginger had a holder for a beer can, he wouldn't have, the old drunkard.

All of these sanctimonious posts make me ill (not leveled at you, Roland). Anything that will reduce the effort of going from point A to point B is a good thing, in and of itself. Anything that allows me to spend fifteen more minutes on my ass during a day is welcomed. Truly revolutionary for me! If it has a place to hold a six-pack from the grocery store and some takeout from the local Chinese joint, I'm in heaven!

This thread is truly bizarre. If he had invented a teleportation device, everybody would be criticizing Kamen for making our lives more convenient. You guys are sick!

[Victor Galis]

"My point was you can get a lot more on a paper page than on any PDA/e-book page. "

-But 4000 e-Book pages are as light as 40. So you can have as many pages as you want.

"Why are you taking 4-5 textbooks on vacation?"

-I'm not... but supposing I needed to (i.e. I didn't work frantically before the vacation). Last year I took 20 days off from school

"What about accidents, such as dropping from a height?"

-I've dropped my calculator many times... nothing broke.

"You don't understand doggies, they get to everywhere in a house."

-As I said, your problem for having a doggie

"They are not really e-books, merely texts displayed in electronic form. e-books are these gadgets that do nothing but act as substitute for books. You can download texts into them, but only one book at a time. These books cost $$$ to download. Some e-books allow you store books in battery powered RAM packs, but you see that's also extra money."

-Which is why e-Book reader software for PDAs is much better.

"If he had invented a teleportation device, everybody would be criticizing Kamen for making our lives more convenient."

-No, I would accuse him of mass murder I don't believe that if you dissassemble a person and reassemble them you get the same person. You get an exact clone, but the original is dead, and no one realizes it.

[Zylka]

At least Dan tells it like it is, your honesty rocks

Hey snoopy, remove the white background of your drawing so Dan can use it as his avatar

[Zylka]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36895

[Roland]

"This thread is filled with things I should do, rather than filled with things I would like to do more easily. I'm lazy and will continue to be lazy."

This may surprise you, but I LIKE to go by bike, and I LIKE to walk. When the autumn weather was fine, I enjoyed the 25 minute walk home from work. If done right, a bit of exercise is not some form of bizarrely cruel medieval punishment, even not on your american ass.

"Anything that will reduce the effort of going from point A to point B is a good thing, in and of itself."

Nope. Depends on consumer preference.

[Urban Ranger]

Whoa.

You charge IT for 6 hours, and it can go 24 km on that.

I am at an utter lost of words.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-But 4000 e-Book pages are as light as 40. So you can have as many pages as you want.

Only if you are using your home computer (or notebook) to read the files. Otherwise you can't store that much on one of those e-book gadgets, or a PDA for that matter.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-I'm not... but supposing I needed to (i.e. I didn't work frantically before the vacation). Last year I took 20 days off from school

Then skip the vacation and stay home

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-I've dropped my calculator many times... nothing broke.

Calculators are tough, e-book things don't look so tough.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-As I said, your problem for having a doggie

There goes a large potential market for them gadgets.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Which is why e-Book reader software for PDAs is much better.

Then we're not talking about the same thing.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-No, I would accuse him of mass murder I don't believe that if you dissassemble a person and reassemble them you get the same person. You get an exact clone, but the original is dead, and no one realizes it.

What is the difference?

[DanS]

"a bit of exercise is not some form of bizarrely cruel medieval punishment, even not on your american ass"

I'm skeptical.

"Nope. Depends on consumer preference."

OK. Given a choice, would you buy stock in a company that relies on people doing work outside of the office or one that relies on people being lazy outside the office? I know where my money would be going. The only product that would be better is a contraption that makes people think that they aren't being lazy, when they really are.

[Jack the Bodiless]

It will be difficult to protect these things reliably against theft. If they're worth thousands, it's just too easy for a couple of crooks to bundle them into a shielded minivan (no satellite tracking), then unload them and work on them in a shielded warehouse. Maybe some sort of bounty system will help: if the user can easily test his satellite tracker signal, then phone the manufacturer for a substantial reward if there's no ID or it's on the "stolen" list.

The most convenient solution is to fold it up and carry it with you. At eighty pounds, this will not be easy (obesity won't be a problem after all). This could be immensely popular IF they can reduce the weight, so that the average user can lug it around in a shoulder bag. In the meantime, they should at least make it possible to fold it into a package that can be towed on castors like a heavy suitcase (it's a little wide to tow as-is through a crowd).

Though I guess you could use it as a luggage trolley when you're not riding it.

[Roland]

Dan:

"OK. Given a choice, would you buy stock in a company that relies on people doing work outside of the office or one that relies on people being lazy outside the office?"

Weren't we talking about a consumer good ? I don't get that point. Also, many "goods" are not necessarily traded (although you USAers have a tendency to commercialise stuff and bloat your GDP that way.. )

"The only product that would be better is a contraption that makes people think that they aren't being lazy, when they really are."

I think it's called "internet on the office PC" ?