Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Griffonwing:

The proper question would be "Have you karaoked"! All karaoke takes place as past perfect tense. This is because you cannot sing and ask the question at the same time. Technically you could bypass this rule as your parrot could sing while you ask the question.

Also, never burn karaoke... set the singer on fire!!

My best is Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime". My mom played it 800,000 times when I was growing up and I now can sing it just like Dean. It is scarey!

New Device!! I just bought a Magellan Roadmate 1470 GPS. I love it. It is thin, light, and works perfectly. Now, if our 7.5 inch MID device can feel and look like this we have a winner!!

And all this time, I thought it was, "Everybody Loves Somebody's Body Sometime".

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by emellaich

For example, on my Cybook with several hundred books on the device it took about a minute to turn on. Then I had to select the book to begin reading it. On my Kindle 2, it takes less than 5 seconds to turn on and it turns on directly to the spot I was last reading.

Booting an EZ Reader is relatively fast, but this isn't an big issue anyway because there is no reason to ever turn it off. Battery life is 2-3 weeks with the device on. The EZ Reader Pocket Pro has different hardware, but I would expect its battery life to be similar. A comparison of boot times between the EZ Reader and the EZ Reader Pocket Pro would be interesting though.

[6charlong]

Two brief questions for Robert:

1. It must be Saturday in China by now. What news from the Friday talks?

2. Do you have a delivery date from Fictionwise for the eReader rendering engine for the EZ Reader devices?

[AJ Starr]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

ALL is going well and we think we will have great news soon.

However, for the time being, my posts are hurting the efforts as these firms wish to keep down pre-sales info.

The Slate Blue looks incredible by the way!! Simply astonishing!!

However, so as not to jeapordize talks and negotiations now I will try to keep my mouth shut a bit more until I have the "tell em and move em".

Again, all looks great but I have the new website and other things to concentrate on. I just need to keep it down on future devices until the green light is given. PLEASE understand the news is GOOD but I am NOT helping if I jeapordize things.

Just wanted to say, I'm still here and will patiently wait...

[pkovak]

RobertB, I would like to return to the infamous Fry's lowest price days.
Just a few questions - not that you can believe that, seeing as I always write long articles where others could say the same in one sentence

1) You told us they knew you were advertising these days here and probably other places too - have they warned you or gave you any reason to think it's against their strict policy before the rebate's days?

2) Have there been any official warnings from Fry's that they may react this way before they really did?

3) As I understood it, normal price is 239$, but instead of lowering it, they increased it to 269$, is that correct?

4) The rebate is being paid not by them, but by Astak, right?

If the answers are "no - no - yes - yes", I would have thought very strongly about consulting your company's lawyer if it was perfectly legal to "punish" Astak this way. In fact, anyone who bought the device these days paid slightly more then usual - I don't know how the rebate is being aplied for, send to the users, and all (never saw it in our shops), but it has to have some additional cost, it takes more time, etc. Fry's simply used the advertisement their business partner - Astak - paid for (you work at Astak, you get salary = even on free forums, it has some cost if you spend your work time writing here). Not only they used it, knowing perfectly well that they intend to make this advertisement not true by *their* choice. They had bigger profit, but that's OK - I seriously doubt there is a legal way to stop them from increasing the cost when they want to - but they did it in a way that their business partner actually *paid* the cost, in both stricly cash sense and "trustworthyness" sense, and that's something that may not be completely legal, if there was some formal agreement between you and Fry's about the rebate.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

ALL is going well and we think we will have great news soon.

However, for the time being, my posts are hurting the efforts as these firms wish to keep down pre-sales info.

The Slate Blue looks incredible by the way!! Simply astonishing!!

However, so as not to jeapordize talks and negotiations now I will try to keep my mouth shut a bit more until I have the "tell em and move em".

Again, all looks great but I have the new website and other things to concentrate on. I just need to keep it down on future devices until the green light is given. PLEASE understand the news is GOOD but I am NOT helping if I jeapordize things.

You mean FINALLY this concept is getting through? Without being too blunt as I have been trying to show you for MONTHS. It is one thing to be forthcoming about deadlines obvious details and features and such, it is another to pander by divulging confidential details in a fashion which looks as a way to try and find new friends. Frankly I am quite surprised you are still employed by Astak. That is not saying you should have been demoted or fired. The only thing in your favor, as I have followed this from almost the beginning that I truly believe you assumed you were helping and it's an error of enthusiasm and failure to double check your comments. It seemed you have to be violating your NDA on an almost daily basis...I think it is silly people have to worry about such things, but dude, that is the way the AmeriCorps and others all function...yet no matter how I tried to indicate you were saying too much, the you acted as a petulant child.

Glad to see they finally dropped the hammer and you can at least keep your job. Good luck with finally curbing the logorrhea and blurting out the confidential info in an effort to look good. Hope you are up to the task.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

You don't actually need an (accurate) clock, all you need is a way to set the date. There is a hack to allow this on the EZ Reader, see Library eBooks Readable = Win. This could easily be made a standard part of the system menus.

I just tried the Lbook firmware, and it has a much nicer Date & Time option on its settings menu. I also really like the large bold font in the file view.

[cbell]

.....

[AJ Starr]

Hey, powers to be, we need a smilie reading an ereader!!!

[showing our support to RobertB's enforced silence.....]

[griffonwing]

Robert

I do hope there will be some information that you can share about the China talks this weekend. I am itching for some updated news. But I understand completely if you are discouraged form relating any information.

[Stensie4JC]

Is it just me or is everyone suddenly all snarky-cranky? If you want to wait for a new device, wait. If you want to buy a cool-er, or anything else, go ahead and do it. But this is, after all, a forum of people sharing information informally, and if release dates or product details aren't what they were originally announced, so what? Let's all relax, people.

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by Stensie4JC

Is it just me or is everyone suddenly all snarky-cranky? If you want to wait for a new device, wait. If you want to buy a cool-er, or anything else, go ahead and do it. But this is, after all, a forum of people sharing information informally, and if release dates or product details aren't what they were originally announced, so what? Let's all relax, people.

It's been several days since anyone has posted, and I haven't noticed anyone being 'snarky-cranky'.

We're not discouraging anyone from purchasing any reader. We're also well aware of release dates. Specifically for the Pocket Pro, we've been told middle to late Aug from the get-go. Now it seems as though it 'might' be here sooner. If so, excellent, if not, it's not a disappointment.

I'm not really sure what it is you're reading and who you thought was 'snarky-cranky. With 10 posts, you're fairly new here. This is how we are. Some of us jump the gun and are quite expressive, some of us arent;

But really, a post like this, without any 'street-cred', is not putting you in the best of lights right now.

Welcome to the forums.

[Stensie4JC]

I apologize if I misinterpreted anyone's comments. I hadn't read any posts since last Thursday and as I read through what is new the overall impression I had was that people are impatient and perhaps a bit frustrated with waiting. That's all. I'm here to get information about ereaders in general, and specifically about a new device I am considering buying. The topic of devices being released as announced on the correct date with the predicted price and features, and the issues surrounding leaking information seem to belong more in a rant thread than here. Again, I apologize if I misinterpreted anyone.

I have no idea what my number of posts has to do with anything. Yes, I am new to this forum, but I didn't just arrive from 1990. I am familiar with forums, and with reading words and responding to what is written. I don't think the number of posts I've made should disqualify me from forming an opinion and expressing it. Yes, it's true that some of "us" jump the gun and are quite expressive. I don't know what quantifies "us' but I assume I am included since I've joined the forum, but I'd like to apologize if my expressiveness was out of place on "our" forum.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

Robert

I do hope there will be some information that you can share about the China talks this weekend. I am itching for some updated news. But I understand completely if you are discouraged form relating any information.

Bob has taken an hiatus from the site for a week or two. I am sure you can understand. He will be back.

Dale

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by Stensie4JC

I apologize if I misinterpreted anyone's comments. I hadn't read any posts since last Thursday and as I read through what is new the overall impression I had was that people are impatient and perhaps a bit frustrated with waiting. That's all. I'm here to get information about ereaders in general, and specifically about a new device I am considering buying. The topic of devices being released as announced on the correct date with the predicted price and features, and the issues surrounding leaking information seem to belong more in a rant thread than here. Again, I apologize if I misinterpreted anyone.

I have no idea what my number of posts has to do with anything. Yes, I am new to this forum, but I didn't just arrive from 1990. I am familiar with forums, and with reading words and responding to what is written. I don't think the number of posts I've made should disqualify me from forming an opinion and expressing it. Yes, it's true that some of "us" jump the gun and are quite expressive. I don't know what quantifies "us' but I assume I am included since I've joined the forum, but I'd like to apologize if my expressiveness was out of place on "our" forum.

There are about 4-5 threads distributed around this forum which has information specifically to the Astak EZ reader and Mentor. This here thread has been around for well over a year, so yeah, some people might be getting antsy, some people know that good things are worth waiting for. Other more recent threads involve other Astak products.

Your post count actually does mean a lot. You do have only a few posts, meaning you are new, and it looks as if your coming in guns blazing like a sheriff, telling us how to behave At least, that was my interpretation.

Yes, Robertb has left for a time. Possibly some much needed vacation. We're not children. We're not snarky-cranky. We are excited that finally, after an announcement, we are ever so much closer to release date.

All I really am saying, basically, is for you to put a fiar number of posts under your belt, get involved in the conversation "as it is going along", not just reading the threads as a story. If you read the threads as a story, you get all of the excitement and anticipation all in one huge BOOOM, and yes, it might seem snarky-cranky. But I assure you, it's not. It's simply anticipation of a device that we've been waiting for.

Again. Welcome to the forum.

I must confess that currently, I woke up Sunday morning, and have not yet gone to bed. Working on some architecture plans to be printed by this afternoon, so I pulled an allnighter. So I might be feeling a bit snarky-cranky as it is. I miss my bed.

This post took about an hour to write as I work and type and work agian, and go thru how I am expressing my thoughts. I hope my thoughts are clearer than my eyesight right now...