Interview with Wizpac, creators of the txtr at Leipzig Book Fair

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

channeling your inner Harry?

So funny you and I perceived the interview 180-degrees out...too funny.

Who the Dickens is Harry? I couldn't decide if the interviewer was speaking in a German, a Namibian or a South African accent!

Guess I must be having a bad hair day. What's YOUR excuse ?

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

Guess I must be having a bad hair day. What's YOUR excuse ?

ummmmm....lemme see, poor toilet training?

[Gertjan]

Interesting stuff. They appear to have high expectations of community development to extend the software features which are not there when they release the product. Having an open system is definitely a plus but the community will not develop the product.

iRex, for example, provided sources and SDK from day 1 when they released the DR1000 (yes, they did learn) and while some people are working on nice additions and tools, most functionality should still come with the product for pretty much all customers.

[RobbieClarken]

Very good interview and the Wizpac guys seemed like they were doing their best to answer all the questions. *sigh* Another device I'll hardly be able to resist buying. The txtr.com integration sounds very intriguing.

[F.F.]

the black cover is way better than the white one! Looks prety nice to me!

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

Interesting stuff. They appear to have high expectations of community development to extend the software features which are not there when they release the product. Having an open system is definitely a plus but the community will not develop the product.

iRex, for example, provided sources and SDK from day 1 when they released the DR1000 (yes, they did learn) and while some people are working on nice additions and tools, most functionality should still come with the product for pretty much all customers.

I don't think their expectations are high. They stated throughout that the device was for 'reading' not much more. What they're doing is letting the end user decide what they want beyond that single, and most important function. I, for one, don't want a keyboard, or search or a dictionary. I just want to be able to read a book. The Txtr looks like its going to do that very well.

For me they put a very charming human face to a piece of tech that is leaps and bounds beyond the competition design wise and philosophy wise. Everything about the Txtr makes sense, if I don't want to be tied to their service I don't have to be, if I don't want to have a sim card in there I don't have to, and they're actively negotiating with publishers too -- lest we forget, the UK and Germany combined has a bigger book market than the whole of the US. The UK itself is one of the biggest book markets in the world, so I' m not too woried about content for us Europeans either.

Unlike Obi-Wan-Kenobi, I have a good feeling about this one.

[CommanderROR]

@dragonbone

I would have liked to do a lot of device action video, but since the two prototypes were a bit fragile and had not taken kindly to being handed around the fair on thursdaythe interactions with the device had to be minimal. I guess we'll be seing a lot more of the device itself later on when the production models are ready.
The interview does answer a lot of questions about the device hard and software and the available ebooks.

About the accent...well...I was born in South Africa, moved to Namibia and my parents were both german...so it's not that I can't decide on any one accent...what you heard is my accent...I can't help it...

[dsip]

Is it just me, or did the microphone record stereo audio that sounds really confusing, whenever he moves his head? Or do I just imagine that and something's wrong with my hearing?

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

@dragonbone

I would have liked to do a lot of device action video, but since the two prototypes were a bit fragile and had not taken kindly to being handed around the fair on thursdaythe interactions with the device had to be minimal. I guess we'll be seing a lot more of the device itself later on when the production models are ready.
The interview does answer a lot of questions about the device hard and software and the available ebooks.

About the accent...well...I was born in South Africa, moved to Namibia and my parents were both german...so it's not that I can't decide on any one accent...what you heard is my accent...I can't help it...

Oh, I'm SO sorry, I didn't realize that you are the interviewer! The interview was brilliant! Really! Without you persevering and asking all those millions of very clever questions that guy wouldn't have said a single thing!
I should actually rephrase what I really meant. I was irritated (at MYSELF) trying to make out your accent, and couldn't decide if you were S. African, German or Namibian. Meaning I couldn't pin it down, (also hoping for him to SHOW the device in action) nothing wrong with YOU or your gorgeous accent! Very nice and sweet .
Please accept my apology! Thanks for your great video and interview, and sharing with us.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Gertjan

Interesting stuff. They appear to have high expectations of community development to extend the software features which are not there when they release the product. Having an open system is definitely a plus but the community will not develop the product.

Well, for the Nokie internet tablets the community help to develop the product.

iRex, for example, provided sources and SDK from day 1 when they released the DR1000 (yes, they did learn) and while some people are working on nice additions and tools, most functionality should still come with the product for pretty much all customers.

As I understand the SDK from iRex is limited in a way that makes it unnecessary hard to develop applications. Also the iRex device is to expensive to achieve a critical mass of developers.

[Gertjan]

Originally Posted by tompe

As I understand the SDK from iRex is limited in a way that makes it unnecessary hard to develop applications.

This may have been true for the iLiad, but not for DR1000. I should mention that I am employed by iRex so I'm bias. That said, building applications for DR1000 (iOn) can't be much easier. GTK-based applications just need to be compiled with the toolchain, and for more integration, API with documentation are provided.

I know that big players like Nokia and Google attract quite a lot of attention from developers, but for smaller companies it is not that obvious. Sure I hope that they pull it off. More open source programs for ereaders will benefit all users and is good for everyone in the business (who adopt OSS).

[Abelturd]

Kudos to CommanderROR on the great interview.
What I missed in the interview is who those guys were and what's their part in the development of textr reader.
Did they mention how big a company Wizpac is or how many people they have working on the device?

[CommanderROR]

I could give you the names of the two young men, but I don't think that would tell you much...the one who did not say anything was some press guy from "mypressagent" and the one who answered all the questions works for Wizpac directly, however I don't know his function.
How large the company is...I have no idea. Maybe you can find out via their website, otherwise I'll ask.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I'm kind of iffy on the design. I like the idea of buttons on both sides to page turn..does this one have touch screen?

I'm iffy on the screen size. It's about time we got devices with larger then 6" screens.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm iffy on the screen size. It's about time we got devices with larger then 6" screens.

As much as I like this product I do tend to agree with you. I would like to see somebody build a nice iLiad replacement. Give me an 8" screen with minimal bezel and a nice thin design with good software and battery life.