So, I got caught in this e-reading thing...

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Sorry, I don't get it.

It looks like you're implying that people in the Philippines are incapable of getting an ebook OCR'd correctly because they automatically must not know what they're doing, being from the Philippines and all. Like they're a bunch of uneducated farmers or something that shouldn't get involved with the complexity of making an ebook without errors....or at least that's what I think Wyndslash meant .

[Kumabjorn]

I tried to imply that what you get is what you pay for. If you try to skimp on OCR costs by outsourcing it to non-native speakers you will get sub par results. I guess I failed miserably.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I tried to imply that what you get is what you pay for. If you try to skimp on OCR costs by outsourcing it to non-native speakers you will get sub par results. I guess I failed miserably.

Not really so badly. The biggest book pirating/printing country right now is Myanmar, and the stuff coming out of there is absolutely horrible! I'm afraid the PI aren't far behind. Although the majority of people in the PI can speak and understand English, their grammar skill is often somewhat lacking, so the proofreading usually falls by the wayside. A country that has 1200 different dialects can't be expected to be perfect with the King's English. The English that I see daily here in Japan can only be called Japanglish!


Stitchawl

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by vxf

I can get discounted subscriptions to most of the stuff I read. But even so... WSJ, FT, and The Economist cost the same in print as digital. Except that print has more content (see above) and that you can ALWAYS get some deal, some discount. Online, you pay the full price.
Books... it's a mixed bag. Some cost less digital. Most cost more. Well, maybe not 'most'. But it is not savings...

For subscriptions you forgot the fact that you "own" it even less than you do a book. After two weeks [Kindle] it gets deleted, unless you say to keep it, but even then it's only kept for that one device, forget it if you ever want to upgrade and keep your back issue magazines!

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Not really so badly. The biggest book pirating/printing country right now is Myanmar, and the stuff coming out of there is absolutely horrible! I'm afraid the PI aren't far behind. Although the majority of people in the PI can speak and understand English, their grammar skill is often somewhat lacking, so the proofreading usually falls by the wayside. A country that has 1200 different dialects can't be expected to be perfect with the King's English. The English that I see daily here in Japan can only be called Japanglish!


Stitchawl

Things like "We pray for McArthur's erection" and "Ladies have fit upstairs" (sign in a tailor's shop).

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by Corkobo

In just 3-4 years we saw the introduction of touch screens, front-lit screens, higher resolution screens, easy access SD-card slots and better looking eInk screens with all major manufacturers.
The e-readers are faster, cheaper, with more features, smaller (for the same size of screen).

Higher resolution/contrast -- yes. But, for easy access SD-card slots it seems to be the opposite. They were available in the first and second generation eReaders, but these days less and less.

It seems to be manufacturers do the minimum they can get away with. Innovation doesn't seem to be as fast paced as I'd like to see

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Things like "We pray for McArthur's erection" and "Ladies have fit upstairs" (sign in a tailor's shop).

Yes, like that. My personal favorite is 'May I have access to your privates?'


Stitchawl

[Kumabjorn]

Gotta love the nonsense T-shirts.
Once I saw a T-shirt on a girl that said "I spread legs wide" so feeling some solidarity with this girl I had some T-shirts made that said 変態外人, now guess who got all the looks?

[Corkobo]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Higher resolution/contrast -- yes. But, for easy access SD-card slots it seems to be the opposite. They were available in the first and second generation eReaders, but these days less and less.

It seems to be manufacturers do the minimum they can get away with. Innovation doesn't seem to be as fast paced as I'd like to see

Well, I'm sure you are right with regard to some devices, but I was referring to the fact that on the first Nook you had to open the back cover to insert an SD Card and then they listened to the users and put the SD Card slot outside.
I never had a Kindle so I did not realize until today that they don't have expandable storage (I just saw this now on Wikipedia).

As for the pace of innovation, if you think that it takes at least a year to bring out a new product it follows that on the whole the four best known (by me) e-reader manufacturers have pretty much kept up a continuous R&D effort since they started.

It is true that my ideal e-reader does not exist yet (I would like an e-reader that is waterproof, shockproof, colour eInk and with a dual screen configuration, one like a normal 6" screen for reading fiction and then you could slide or unfold a second 6" screen that would almost seamlessly be set alongside the first one to give you a much bigger reading area for newspapers, websites, technical manuals, colour magazines, comic books, etc. Oh and the eInk would be a lot more responsive so that you could browse the internet at leisure, with the exception of videos maybe).
And yes I would like this e-reader to be available now (even next year would be good for me).

But in the meantime, I think what we have is pretty good.
Of course that may mean I am too easily pleased and thus am not a good person to listen to in the search for progress...

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Gotta love the nonsense T-shirts.
Once I saw a T-shirt on a girl that said "I spread legs wide" so feeling some solidarity with this girl I had some T-shirts made that said 変態外人, now guess who got all the looks?

If my memory is correct, and it isn't anymore, it loosely translates to Perverted Gaijin (foreigner).
Apache

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Apache

If my memory is correct, and it isn't anymore, it loosely translates to Perverted Gaijin (foreigner).
Apache

I learned not to wear it at night when drunk salarymen where on their way back home from their watering holes.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I learned not to wear it at night when drunk salarymen where on their way back home from their watering holes.

Apache

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I learned not to wear it at night when drunk salarymen where on their way back home from their watering holes.

You'd be safe now, Kumabjorn. Most of the trains have a 'Ladies Only' car in the middle of the line just to stop all the groping.


Stitchawl

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

You'd be safe now, Kumabjorn. Most of the trains have a 'Ladies Only' car in the middle of the line just to stop all the groping.


Stitchawl

I think that it's a ruse, they give the women one car so the men can have the other 15 to themselves

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I think that it's a ruse, they give the women one car so the men can have the other 15 to themselves

When I moved back to Japan from Thailand a few years ago, I didn't know anything about the 'Ladies Only' car. I made the mistake of getting on. Boy, did I get yelled at! But damn... that car was almost empty and all the others were shoulder to shoulder. Not fair at all!!!


Stitchawl