New Kobo: Nia

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Kobo Nia now up (and available to order (reserve) for in-store pickup or for home delivery) at Best Buy Canada. $129 Canadian. Will be available on July 9th.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...black/14689279

Looks like the Nia will be announced today. (Unless Best Buy Canada is jumping the gun... again.)

there's been no announcement that I can find

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

He's already got them on sale at his site. "Normally" $150 (plus $20 shipping) but currently "on sale" for $148 (plus $20 shipping). Supposedly available on July 10th.

https://goodereader.com/blog/product/kobo-nia-e-reader

He's also has Nia Sleepcovers advertised for "only" $50 (plus $13 shipping).

https://goodereader.com/blog/product...nia-sleepcover

Meanwhile, absolutely nothing from Kobo? Next week... maybe? (I guess next week is the seventh... announcement and immediate availability at that time?)

First off, who would be stupid enough to buy anything from BadEReader? Second, why would anyone be that stupid to pay more for the Nia that's not as good as the Clara?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Aw! Red is my favorite.

I recently purchased a car that I think looks best in blue, but I got a red one because red is my favorite.

Ticket-me red is the cops' favorite, too.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

there's been no announcement that I can find

Nope. I'm wrong again. (I'm getting good at that.) Meanwhile Best Buy Canada still has them up and are now saying they will delivered on July 10th (before it was "available" on July 7th). So I've got to believe they'll be announced (and available) on the 7th. (But then I was all but certain they would be announced today and I was pretty sure it was going to be last week, so strike three?)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

First off, who would be stupid enough to buy anything from BadEReader? Second, why would anyone be that stupid to pay more for the Nia that's not as good as the Clara?

With shipping, the price of the Nia (on BadEReader) is as much a Libra H2O delivered from Walmart. The Clara delivered (from Walmart) is $50 cheaper.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Nope. I'm wrong again. (I'm getting good at that.) Meanwhile Best Buy Canada still has them up and are now saying they will delivered on July 10th (before it was "available" on July 7th). So I've got to believe they'll be announced (and available) on the 7th. (But then I was all but certain they would be announced today and I was pretty sure it was going to be last week, so strike three?)

no worries - I really thought the listing meant it would launch today

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Ticket-me red is the cops' favorite, too.

1. The car is a Chevy Volt.
2. I drive like an old man.

Tickets aren't really a problem

[geek1011]

I suspect the device ID for the Nia is 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000382. I've added it to my firmware page, although there aren't any updates for it yet.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by geek1011

I suspect the device ID for the Nia is 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000382. I've added it to my firmware page, although there aren't any updates for it yet.

Question: I am looking for a project where I can hack a Kobo and hang it on the wall. (The goal is to learn how to do this.) What could I do? What would be fun?

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Question: I am looking for a project where I can hack a Kobo and hang it on the wall. (The goal is to learn how to do this.) What could I do? What would be fun?

You could do anything which requires a touch display which updates infrequently. Do you have any programming experience (or are willing to learn)?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by geek1011

You could do anything which requires a touch display which updates infrequently. Do you have any programming experience (or are willing to learn)?

I have a degree in CS but haven't used it for years. My skill level is closer to implementing a solution than coding one.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I have a degree in CS but haven't used it for years. My skill level is closer to implementing a solution than coding one.

The thing is, to do anything useful, you'll need to write some code yourself. Most existing webapps are too heavy or modern for the Kobo, and native apps will need porting.

You could start with making a clock and running it in browser in full-screen, but I suspect you're looking for something a bit more complex. If you have any smart home devices (lights, etc), you could make a dashboard in HTML/CSS/JavaScript. You could also make a weather app.

If you want something a bit more interactive or want the battery to last significantly longer, you probably would want to look into making native apps. If it only needs to display something, I'd suggest using a shell script and FBInk. If it needs to be interactive, I'd suggest writing a KOReader plugin in Lua, or using Qt (someone made a QPA for the Kobo a while ago).

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by geek1011

The thing is, to do anything useful, you'll need to write some code yourself. Most existing webapps are too heavy or modern for the Kobo, and native apps will need porting.

You could start with making a clock and running it in browser in full-screen, but I suspect you're looking for something a bit more complex. If you have any smart home devices (lights, etc), you could make a dashboard in HTML/CSS/JavaScript. You could also make a weather app.

If you want something a bit more interactive or want the battery to last significantly longer, you probably would want to look into making native apps. If it only needs to display something, I'd suggest using a shell script and FBInk. If it needs to be interactive, I'd suggest writing a KOReader plugin in Lua, or using Qt (someone made a QPA for the Kobo a while ago).

Actually, a clock would be a good place to start. It's stupidly simple and can be programmed entirely in JS (whether it will work in the Kobo web browser is another matter).

A quote of the day would also be a good first try - I'd have to get and parse an RSS feed, and then display it.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Aw! Red is my favorite.

I recently purchased a car that I think looks best in blue, but I got a red one because red is my favorite.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I had red Sony Readers and I really liked the color.

Shiny bright red is a good color for sports cars. I just didn't like it for an ereader. I actually thought about trying to paint my red Sony but being a klutz, I was afraid I'd mess it up and make it worse.

If I were going to have a dedicated ereader in a color besides black, I'd want something more subtle, like a nice soft blue or green.

I'd be OK if my phone had a brightly colored case/bezels because usually when I'm using it I'm looking at something bright/colored on the screen anyway (like online shopping) so what's one more color?

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Actually, a clock would be a good place to start. It's stupidly simple and can be programmed entirely in JS (whether it will work in the Kobo web browser is another matter).

A quote of the day would also be a good first try - I'd have to get and parse an RSS feed, and then display it.

As long as you stick to ES5 (Babel will also work, too) and use a canvas rather than CSS transforms, you should be fine.

For a quote of the day app, I'd actually suggest finding a JSON API instead, and using something like Vue.js for data binding, which makes the implementation dead-simple (even easier than a clock). Also, for any significant amount of remote data, I'd recommend using a polyfill for fetch and ES6 promises instead of trying to deal with XMLHttpRequest.