Seriously thoughtful What would be the "ideal" gadget?

[daffy4u]

A transporter.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

A transporter.

Just keep in mind that a transporter can only work by killing you. So, I pretty much don't consider that an ideal gadget.

BOb

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

A transporter.

Yea, I remember when I bought my first GPS. It had a GOTO key. I put the lat/lon coordinates in for my destination and then held my breath while I reached for and then pressed the GOTO button.

Nothing happened. I pressed again. Boy was I disappointed.

Dale

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

My old EBW1150 had an icon on the bottom of the screen that took me straight back to my onboard library instantly. I wish my Sony 505 had that, instead of have to push menu again and again, just to see if I already have this or that book loaded up.

Ooh, I was trying to think "really, what would I improve?" and your post hit it! I would love to be able to do that. take me straight back to my collections. I wish the sony software weren't so darn slow too.maybe syncing it without a usb cord? I guess that would be the aforementioned bluetooth capability?

[Fledchen]

If we're only talking about ebook gadgets, I would like to have something that is small enough and durable enough to carry in my pocket. For the moment, anything that I can't clip onto my belt, hang around my neck on a strap, or stuff in my pocket has to go in a purse or backpack. I'm significantly more likely to forget or misplace something that isn't attached to me.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Just keep in mind that a transporter can only work by killing you. So, I pretty much don't consider that an ideal gadget.

BOb

Not necessarily. It could produce a temporary worm-hole with movable ends. Then swipe one end through the volume containing you while simultaneously swiping the other through the volume of your destination... and voila! There you are.

But for most definitions of "transporter" I think I agree with BOb.

Xenophon

[phenomshel]

Yes, it's official. I am obsessed. I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was admiring an ebook reader I'd never seen before. It was bright metallic red, something like an automobile finish. It had the keyboard at the bottom, like a Kindle, but it was assuredly not a Kindle. It had SD card capability, and was about the size of a legal pad. The name on the device was "neko-*something*" .

When I woke up, I was expressing amazement because I'd never before seen this device during my association with Mobileread.

I think it might be time for a vacation.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Yes, it's official. I am obsessed. I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was admiring an ebook reader I'd never seen before. It was bright metallic red, something like an automobile finish. It had the keyboard at the bottom, like a Kindle, but it was assuredly not a Kindle. It had SD card capability, and was about the size of a legal pad. The name on the device was "neko-*something*" .

When I woke up, I was expressing amazement because I'd never before seen this device during my association with Mobileread.

I think it might be time for a vacation.

Right, well now some-one else has confessed to this kind of dream, I've had a similar dream too

Except in mine, despite the lack of any visible branding, the device was clearly an Apple iReader - it looked like the Kindle would look if Apple had designed it.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Right, well now some-one else has confessed to this kind of dream, I've had a similar dream too

Except in mine, despite the lack of any visible branding, the device was clearly an Apple iReader - it looked like the Kindle would look if Apple had designed it.

I feel much better now.

[moz]

Library handling.

Current liseusen are built with the assumption that you will use a computer to manage your library and only carry a few books on the actual liseuse. They deal so badly with substantial collections that management on a computer is effectively a requirement, and having more than a trivial amount of storage is pointless.

Given a decent battery and some smart software it should be possible to browse by thumbnail if you wish, and have scores of books available on a single screen if you browse by text fields (title/author/date/keyword, whatever). On an 800x600 screen with 6 point text (that's smaller than I use for reading but fine for a book listing) I get a little over 50 lines of text on the page, and easily enough characters to hold Title plus Author and a few keywords. But the PRS 505 gives me ten items per page and about 30 characters of the title if I'm lucky.

So, library management. Anything else is gravy.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Actually, what I want is a large PDA, with an e-ink screen, running a Windows Mobile or Windows CE OS, with a long battery life, touch-screen and WIFI... I have it all now, except the long battery life and the 6" e-ink screen...

Take a look at this. It doesn't have eInk, but it's got a seven or eight inch LCD screen. and it runs MobiPocket and eReader software. And it has a no kidding eight hour battery that keeps your PDA charged up to boot.