B&N and Verizon Jump Into E-Reader Fray with iRex

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that by using SD for the storage memory, it's going to use up the battery even more than if it has internal flash ram. What a bad idea (IMHO).

I believe in IREX's latest released device, the DR1000S, the internal storage is completely dedicated to the OS and the SD is only for content. I do see people give dire warning that the SD card must be unmounted from the OS before removal, so having an internal slot will reduce SD corruption, especially if you like to share/show off your device (oh, what does this do? <pop> <library lost> oops.).

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by badbob001

I believe in IREX's latest released device, the DR1000S, the internal storage is completely dedicated to the OS and the SD is only for content. I do see people give dire warning that the SD card must be unmounted from the OS before removal, so having an internal slot will reduce SD corruption, especially if you like to share/show off your device (oh, what does this do? <pop> <library lost> oops.).

IMO, having the only copy of your books stored on the SD card is a really bad idea, for several different reasons. Always keep backups so that if (when) the SD card gets corrupted/lost/eaten_by_your_dog, you don't lose the data.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

IMO, having the only copy of your books stored on the SD card is a really bad idea, for several different reasons. Always keep backups so that if (when) the SD card gets corrupted/lost/eaten_by_your_dog, you don't lose the data.

I agree 100%. I personally am not comfortable about my important data's safety unless I have three different copies on three different drives/types of media.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I agree 100%. I personally am not comfortable about my important data's safety unless I have three different copies on three different drives/types of media.

I agree, but where does it end? I recently had info on a laptop and a backup drive. I got a new computer. While moving the info, both the laptop and the backup crashed. I was finally able to move everything to a new backup, but then I was left with only 2. I bought another, but who would have thought a computer and a backup would quit at the same time. What about a computer and two backups?

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

IMO, having the only copy of your books stored on the SD card is a really bad idea, for several different reasons. Always keep backups so that if (when) the SD card gets corrupted/lost/eaten_by_your_dog, you don't lose the data.

I'm more concerned about the most likely times when one is using the reader, such as vacations, work, commute, etc and thus will be away from one's computer / backups.

Still, I would like all ebook vendors to allow unlimited re-downloads as a backup to the backup, so you can recover even if you are on a week long vacation. Devices like these should be treated like self-contained appliances and shouldn't require a separate computer to maintain it.

Man, there have been so many times when I'm so tempted to firmware upgrade a device, such as my phone, when I'm far away from my computer but that is such a gamble.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I agree, but where does it end? I recently had info on a laptop and a backup drive. I got a new computer. While moving the info, both the laptop and the backup crashed. I was finally able to move everything to a new backup, but then I was left with only 2. I bought another, but who would have thought a computer and a backup would quit at the same time. What about a computer and two backups?

Yep, that has happened to me, which is why I'm not comfortable with only one backup. Particularly these new, cheap, external hard drives seem to be prone to crashing and I do have a couple of them, but I also try to keep my important stuff backed up onto writeable DVDs as well.

You are right though, it has to be "reasonable" -- can't spend my reading time backing things up.

[badbob001]

This is interesting:

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre..._kindle_f.html

IRex is entering the U.S. market with an initial focus on consumers, what North America CEO Kevin Hamilton calls “the low-hanging fruit.” But he says the opportunity “may be bigger” with businesses, where iRex’s device is likely to have more appeal than Amazon’s Kindle. Unlike the Kindle, iRex’s new 8.1-inch, $400 DR800SG can download files in most formats (“If you can print it to a printer you can run it on the device,” Hamilton says), its software runs on open-source operating system Linux, and it has security features, like the ability to remotely erase files on an entire fleet of readers.

Amazon: we can remotely delete your books
IREX: we can remotely brick your device

[brecklundin]

I also make two copies of a HDD before any upgrades. I save at least one image of the drive and also make a physical copy of the contents of the drive. I keep them on external drives for at least 6 months after the upgrade. Kinda belt-n-suspenders but it's peace of mind.

So, it usually takes me a whole weekend to do an upgrade of a local drive or OS. I am NOT looking forward to the acrobatics that Win7 is going to take. I just knew I should have been running the Win7 RC as my main system rather than just a virtual machine. But after the fiasco that was Vista Pro (or whatever it was called eventually) I promised myself no more of that...so what does MS do to me? They throw the change-up while I am sitting dead-red and push out the IS that Vista was supposed to be...sigh, it's no wonder I don't don't gamble. Still I am looking forward to Win7...A LOT!!

[badbob001]

With the dr800sg coming out in a month, I wonder where are the FCC test documents...

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I agree, but where does it end? I recently had info on a laptop and a backup drive. I got a new computer. While moving the info, both the laptop and the backup crashed. I was finally able to move everything to a new backup, but then I was left with only 2. I bought another, but who would have thought a computer and a backup would quit at the same time. What about a computer and two backups?

What did we learn here? Always allow the time to validate your backup...but if it helps, back about 1992 I was IT Director for an E&R 500 company that had an job cost accounting system running on a SunIx box, a SPARCStation II as I recall...anyway, we did daily backups and kept a year's worth just in case (after a year the idea back then was since the data was still in the actual DB even when deleted, we could always get it back if need be)...anyway, I did all the right stuff, setup the backups, spent hours on the phone with the vendor, we verified the test and live backups over a week just to be sure...then a year went by...I forget exactly what happened but the DB was corrupted somehow, I mean really buggered, and not just the indexes, everything...soooo, no problem, all I needed to do was restore from the backups...problem was, none of them had data...seems something in the OS AND the app was holding a DB/index open and locking the WHOLE database and the backup app was just bouncing off not even reporting there was an exception encountered. It took the vendor over a week to reconstruct our data from what we had and we lost about 2-months of data entry.

What happened? It ended up being our branch offices were sending their data to corporate and when that happened the DB was locked and left locked after the import happened because the OS was not recognizing that the remote user was logged out of the app...and this was all automated, some of which I wrote (the remote access side) and some the vendor and of course there was that version of Solaris from Sun...

So, no matter how much you test, you never know what is really going to happen.

[davidspitzer]

Originally Posted by badbob001

OMG, everything from apple is illegal!

Anyway, according to some wiki's, some sort of fcc non-compliance has halted sales in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

if being totally sweet is a crime

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by badbob001

This is interesting:

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre..._kindle_f.html



Amazon: we can remotely delete your books
IREX: we can remotely brick your device

standard feature for business devices -- blackberry and WM have it, iphone is still working on it. The ability by a company's administrator to remotely wipe devices in case they are stolen. Not Irex, but the buyer can do that. Would you want a thief to enjoy your device? I think it would be great if you could remotely render it inoperable.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

standard feature for business devices -- blackberry and WM have it, iphone is still working on it. The ability by a company's administrator to remotely wipe devices in case they are stolen. Not Irex, but the buyer can do that. Would you want a thief to enjoy your device? I think it would be great if you could remotely render it inoperable.

Well if that's a standard feature, I don't want any part of it.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

standard feature for business devices -- blackberry and WM have it, iphone is still working on it. The ability by a company's administrator to remotely wipe devices in case they are stolen. Not Irex, but the buyer can do that. Would you want a thief to enjoy your device? I think it would be great if you could remotely render it inoperable.

But who is the administrator of this reader? I bet out of the box, you will not find any information about this remote wipe feature and will have no access to it. Are they talking about a special business version of this reader or the one and only version of it? I would not be surprised if the 'administrators' are the book vendors. Certainly microsoft has not provided means for me to remotely wipe my own windows mobile phone if I lose it.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by badbob001

But who is the administrator of this reader? I bet out of the box, you will not find any information about this remote wipe feature and will have no access to it. Are they talking about a special business version of this reader or the one and only version of it? I would not be surprised if the 'administrators' are the book vendors. Certainly microsoft has not provided means for me to remotely wipe my own windows mobile phone if I lose it.

Yes, you sure can do that with windows mobile, I think it started with WM 6.0. Even for older versions there were add-on programs that offer this functionality. You send an SMS with a special code. With a phone it is impossible for the vendor to wipe your device (they don't even know your phone number! -- unless you are buying it locked with a contract), with the IRex reader it would theoretically be possible for them, if you are using their 3G connectivity they can always locate you. I, personally am waiting for a device with WiFi, but that is because I don't live in the US.

By the way, I am sure that even Sony could, theoretically wipe their buyers devices remotely if you use their software. The device could be programmed to send back an identifier to the server every time you sync it. If you are paranoid, use Calibre to transfer files and backup remotely. Then you are safe no matter what happens.

Anyway, businesses want to make sure the information on these devices does not get into the wrong hands, so if you want to sell to businesses, you need to have this feature. Why not have an on/off switch that disables this feature if the user chooses to do so. Or you can set password protection.

The iphone has the infamous kill-switch (apple can delete any app from your device any time you sync), too. You need to jailbreak it to turn it off.