Do you own more than 1 ereader?

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by DNSB

..As you said, "it's a job machine". A statement I disagreed with since the majority of tablets around here are personal devices used for personal purposes...

Here, New Zealand, tablets are widely used in business and government, especially technical. Widely used by trades people too, for example a couple of weeks back we had a plumber around and he did all his time keeping on a tablet and checked off against a boiler plate Bill of Materials the components he had used and their counts for the job - then all sent back to base for charge out.

Another example, my son recently provisioned a construction project (circa $750 million project) with IT - tablets for all engineers, quantity surveyors, contract managers, environment monitoring staff, etc. for field use, all to go with each person's similarly provisioned notebook and phone. All those and environment field sensors (water levels, turbidity, etc.) wide area networked on fibre and cellular.

In my experience similar to other countries. I would be most surprised if the US was not the same.

Also widely used for pleasure, but I am told phones' vibrators are more effective for that .

[Richwood]

I note the comments about the problems with using a e-ink reader for reading PDFs and in my experience it depends on the PDF. Many of the Sony reader manuals for later Sony readers from the PRS-950 on are PDFs that work fine on the reader as the pages were designed and formatted to be the proper size for display on a 6" or 7" screen. Yes there can be problems with reading a large PDF engineering drawing or other large PDF page on the 6" screen but if really needed there are now 13" screen e-ink readers designed for reading PDF documents, moving them into the tablet size of display. I have the 9.7" Kindle DX and just ordered a 9.7" BOOX reader with illuminated screen while it was on sale on Amazon. Expect it tomorrow. The DX was for years my go to reader for ebook reading at home of most fiction ebooks. Loved the large display size. I also have the 7" Kindle Oasis 2 and both 6.8" screen and 7.8" screen Kobos.

[Richwood]

My first computer job was as a Navy Data Systems Tech working on a Univac 1103A vacuum tube system. No CRTs or other displays. Punched cards or paper tape input and printed output with the on-line output to a Friden Flexowriter electric typewriter with pinched tape reader. Major data dumps were to mag tape which was printed out on a off-line line printer. The Univac was the first commercial computer with core memory, a whole 4K of 36 bit words. Secondary memory was magnetic drum and tertiary was Univac 1 magnetic tape drives.

Incredible the advances since and my first personal computer was a Xerox 820 CP/M computer with floppy drives and 64K of RAm. Wordstar was the word processor and SuperCalc was the available spreadsheet for CP/M.

Remember the first color display for the IBM PC? 640 x 200 dots which made for horrible fonts on screen. Yuck. Businesses almost universally went with the non-graphic monochrome monitor with it's much more readable character font and 640 x 350 resolution as I recall.

The e-ink display, even the early ones at 150 DPI or 167 DPI, are huge improvements over the early CRT displays IMO.

[John F]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Here, New Zealand, tablets are widely used in business and government, especially technical. Widely used by trades people too, for example a couple of weeks back we had a plumber around and he did all his time keeping on a tablet and checked off against a boiler plate Bill of Materials the components he had used and their counts for the job - then all sent back to base for charge out.

Another example, my son recently provisioned a construction project (circa $750 million project) with IT - tablets for all engineers, quantity surveyors, contract managers, environment monitoring staff, etc. for field use, all to go with each person's similarly provisioned notebook and phone. All those and environment field sensors (water levels, turbidity, etc.) wide area networked on fibre and cellular.

In my experience similar to other countries. I would be most surprised if the US was not the same.

Also widely used for pleasure, but I am told phones' vibrators are more effective for that .

I'm from the U.S. ...

"In the field", I do see tablets being used; plumbers, heating repair, ... But out in general public areas for personal use, not so much. Much more likely to see a laptop or smartphone.

YMMV

[John F]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

My personal observation is there is a comfort thing in the manner of the "something" being a comfort blanket substitute for a paper book. One can settle down with an ereader which can do nothing else than allow reading, just like a cozy book which can also do nothing else. "I am absorbed in my interest and it feels great".

But when in public perhaps with flavors of comfort from the silent announcement of "I am a dedicated reader of books, having my ereader shows that is so", with the hoped silent reaction of "Oh, he is a reader of books" (Or from those of us familiar with the constraints of E Ink's abilities "Oh, he is a reader of fiction").

I too sensed that a little when I used to use an ereader or read a paper book in public . Of course, ereaders (and tablets too) cannot deliver the very comforting to some image that having a big paper book in hand delivers in public - the silent from others "Oooooh look, he is a real keen reader, must be clever because look at that big book".

Of course, overlaid over these "comfort" things is hopefully the enjoyment of the book itself; however I do know people who carry books to impress but not read, perhaps some pretend to use ereaders for the same reason?

Whereas use of a tablet demonstrates nothing. Its a job machine and one could be doing several of many different jobs all at once, so much less of a comfort effect. To others in public observing ones tablet use there are no comforting assumptions able to made about you apart from "He is using a tablet".

As far as they know one may be working on a spreadsheet, watching a porn video, surfing the internet, writing or reading emails, writing a report, etc. or perhaps reading a book. Perhaps even writing a book. It may be that one just uses a tablet only for reading, but they do not know that. The only image projected is that one is using a tablet for something or another and who cares.

When in public, perhaps tablet users are less inclined to care about the visual messages to others that provide comfort to oneself if using an ereader or reading a paper book?

If you are going to say that an ereader is a "comfort" thing for a book reader, I think a tablet would also be a "comfort" thing; maybe a social media person.

I'm guessing that the "comfort" people cancel each other out: for every "comfort" ereader, there is a "comfort" tablet. And than there are the rest of the users who consider them the best "tool for the job".

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by Apache

I stay out of Illinois in January/February, unless forced to go by circumstances. I would rather be in Texas in the summer than Illinois in the winter.
My mother's family is from the Northwestern Illinois area. My wife grew up in Texas.
Apache

What! The mud and corn stubble is never lovelier than it is in January/February in Illinois! At least you know that there is an Illinois outside of Chicago! A LOT of Chicagoans don't even know that much! They think "Chicago,Illinois" is one word.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'd heard that all my life and it seems that it's myth. I'll try to also learn from my mistakes.

Drat! I finally let my drivers license expire because of my age and because I drive so seldom. Otherwise I could borrow a car and do some barefoot driving, something I'd always thought I couldn't do. And now that I find out I can, I can't!

Barry

You could try riding the bus barefoot!

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Here, New Zealand, tablets are widely used in business and government, especially technical. Widely used by trades people too, for example a couple of weeks back we had a plumber around and he did all his time keeping on a tablet and checked off against a boiler plate Bill of Materials the components he had used and their counts for the job - then all sent back to base for charge out.

Another example, my son recently provisioned a construction project (circa $750 million project) with IT - tablets for all engineers, quantity surveyors, contract managers, environment monitoring staff, etc. for field use, all to go with each person's similarly provisioned notebook and phone. All those and environment field sensors (water levels, turbidity, etc.) wide area networked on fibre and cellular.

In my experience similar to other countries. I would be most surprised if the US was not the same.

Also widely used for pleasure, but I am told phones' vibrators are more effective for that .

Yes, people use tablets here for work too. Or big smartphones. That doesn't prove anything.

Are you saying that people in New Zealand only use tablets for work? There are no personal tablets?

Or are you trying to tell us that people in New Zealand don't do anything but work. Don't read, don't have personal email. Wait, you are here. Are you using your company's internet to post here?
That is how I read your post.

Here there are are company tablets and personal tablets.
That plumber you mentioned probably has both. I couldn't even begin to tell you how someone uses a tablet. If the person bought it, it is probably for pleasure. If the company bought it, it is probably for work. Oh and horror of horrors, some people own more than one personal tablet.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

What! The mud and corn stubble is never lovelier than it is in January/February in Illinois! At least you know that there is an Illinois outside of Chicago! A LOT of Chicagoans don't even know that much! They think "Chicago,Illinois" is one word.

Houston and or Dallas Texas here.

[Tarana]

One advantage of having multiple ereaders. My Mom had cataract surgery last year and is experiencing a lot of dry eye issues now with the furnace running so much (even with humidifier running). She normally uses a Paperwhite1. I loaded the same book on 6 different ereaders, finally finding two that she could read on (Nook Glo and Kindle Keyboard). I didn't want to give her my Voyage because I'd never get it back.

[cfrizz]

The day I start considering what STRANGERS are thinking about me while I'm reading and listening to my music on my phone or even on an ereader while commuting to work, it will be time for someone to have me committed!

Most couldn't care less since they themselves have their noses buried in their phones, ereaders and tablets.

[John F]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

The day I start considering what STRANGERS are thinking about me while I'm reading and listening to my music on my phone or even on an ereader while commuting to work, it will be time for someone to have me committed!

Most couldn't care less since they themselves have their noses buried in their phones, ereaders and tablets.

+1

Although the contingent of big paper book carriers are quiet impressive.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Here, New Zealand, tablets are widely used in business and government, especially technical. Widely used by trades people too, for example a couple of weeks back we had a plumber around and he did all his time keeping on a tablet and checked off against a boiler plate Bill of Materials the components he had used and their counts for the job - then all sent back to base for charge out.

Another example, my son recently provisioned a construction project (circa $750 million project) with IT - tablets for all engineers, quantity surveyors, contract managers, environment monitoring staff, etc. for field use, all to go with each person's similarly provisioned notebook and phone. All those and environment field sensors (water levels, turbidity, etc.) wide area networked on fibre and cellular.

In my experience similar to other countries. I would be most surprised if the US was not the same.

Sadly, I don't live in the US but I'm moderately certain that even south of the border, tablets owned by individuals outnumber corporate tablets.

Locally, it seems quite a few corporate tablets are in use (one local restaurant uses iPad Touches for inputting orders as an example) but going by the corporate vs. personal sales numbers (1), personal use tablets outsell corporate use tablets by a considerable margin by number sold though the corporate tablets tend to be from the more expensive end of the price curve. Admittedly, from my view in IT, our corporate tablets are being used more for personal uses than corporate uses while others may be using their personal tablets for work purposes.

(1) Depending on whose numbers you want to believe, they tend to be all over the place.

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Also widely used for pleasure, but I am told phones' vibrators are more effective for that .

“You are a sick, sick man,” I told him.
“Thank you,” Ben replied, looking modest.” Patricia Briggs, Silver Borne

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Yes, people use tablets here for work too. Or big smartphones. That doesn't prove anything.

Are you saying that people in New Zealand only use tablets for work? There are no personal tablets?

Or are you trying to tell us that people in New Zealand don't do anything but work. Don't read, don't have personal email...

I was just responding to (and quoted) another poster who made a comment sounding like a claim that tablets were not much used in business. I was not claiming anything apart from addressing that for their possible interest.

Of course tablets are widely used for personal interests here - personal email, games, reading, video, news, social media, etc., etc., just as most everywhere else.

Similarly as John F mentioned, here in public smartphones are far more commonly used for those things. Smartphones are also, of course, widely used in business too; of course for emails, but also with, say, an attached card reader for online payments by debtors, etc., etc.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Wait, you are here. Are you using your company's internet to post here?

No I am using our private home internet connection. As is pretty common around here fibre comes into the house, 1 Gigabit/sec max., unlimited volume. Here optical fibre to and into the house, the internal optical network terminal, the physical connection for VOIP and integration of internal copper POTs telephone cabling, plus the router for WiFi/Ethernet are all generally provided at no cost to the home owner. LAN is 1 Gigabit/sec Ethernet throughout the house plus 802.11n WiFi because that capability is what we are given. If I am not at home I use 4G cellular data. If I am outside of cellular coverage for any extended period (which happens when we are away sailing) I use HF radio for email. If I am working in a client's premises I only use their internet for purposes related to their own business operations. So I have no need to rely on or abuse anyone else's internet connection. Sorry, you did ask so I tried to cover all bases for you .

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by DNSB

..but going by the corporate vs. personal sales numbers (1), personal use tablets outsell corporate use tablets by a considerable margin by number sold though the corporate tablets tend to be from the more expensive end of the price curve. Admittedly, from my view in IT, our corporate tablets are being used more for personal uses than corporate uses while others may be using their personal tablets for work purposes.

(1) Depending on whose numbers you want to believe, they tend to be all over the place...

Yes I would be pretty confident that personal sales of tablets are considerably higher here than corporate/government/etc.

I don't know about private use of corporate provided tablets, I suspect it is considerable but offset to some extent in that most receiving a corporate owned tablet will also be provided with a smartphone. In which case an employer's provision of a smartphone and bandwidth to an employee is one of the very few things an employer can provide free of tax (tax free to the employee and deductible to the employer) so I suspect private use on corporate cellphones may predominate.

EDIT: Just checked on this as was not 100% sure, but here a tablet provided to an employee is regarded as providing a cash benefit to the employee unless can be proven is entirely for business purposes (which might be difficult ). In which case the employer is required to pay the tax on the benefit. So, for here, it may be that personal use of corporate provided devices is encouraged towards smartphones which are not regarded as benefits (I assume due to the impracticality of the Revenue being able to monitor).