I was navel gazing and something crossed my thoughts. The more ereaders out there with ubiquitious web access the better it could be for indie/self publishing authors.
Why?
It's a simple thing, authors can add a "donate" link into their content. It can be via Paypal, Google checkout, whatever...but it can leverage those of us out here who feel we want to contribute and support those authors we enjoy. A donation link makes helps reduce the issue of piracy as a factor adversely affecting revenue from a work.
Sure, it can be removed and many devices will not have web access, ever...still it seems to me an interesting and obvious use of the system. Also, it can be a reminder when re-reading a book that the author still can use a few bucks now and then to keep in order to keep them hungry enough to write more so they can eat tomorrow. You know, kinda the same way publishers treat authors today.
I probably got the idea from some book I already found but honestly do not remember.
And to the tinfoil hatters out there we don't want to go off in the direction of assuming annoying pop-up style nag screens, just a couple places with a reminder link that funds are always welcome. And as long as the links remain intact in the book, it can be distributed to friends and family or the cute red haired girl in class.
In fact there might be a way right there to help off set the device costs by partnering with a provider like PayPal or Google to build the ability directly into device firmware in order to ensure secure access.
BTW, this is a spitball idea not an "I think it must work this way" thing...