2 posts tagged “tech”

I'm catching up on a lot of reading and blogging I had set aside before being waylaid by a mega-evil-super-genius-cold bug, so bear with me if this is a little out-of-date, at least as defined by the interwebnets.

Cory Doctorow, of the red cape and goggles and high altitude blogging, has written an interesting piece for Locus Online about the realities of any one company putting together an ebook reader with the market pull and power of the iPod.

Doctorow points out that even companies with fantastic new products, like the Wii and the Kindle, have a hard time getting enough factory time in China because they are unable to compete with the companies hiring Chinese factories to make the everyday widgets we all rely on.  Because the companies are unable to hire the factories, they are unable to drop the price for the hardware.  Because they cannot drop the price on the hardware, fewer units get sold.  This, combined with dwindling number of people who read for fun, combine to leave ebook readers a niche market that lacks the power to change the industry in the ways the iPod has.

Naturally then, it's only now that I have started to really want one.

In the past two months, I have read four books off of my laptop.  That's four more than I had ever previously read off of a computer screen.  On the other hand, I spend an hour a day checking e-mail and reading blogs off of the same laptop.  And I read lots of comics off of here too.

But what I've realized is that I do not actually mind reading off of the screen, I mind reading off my laptop.  I use a iBook G4, with a 12 inch screen.  Most of my ebooks are in PDF format and I use Apple's native Preview application to read them.  The problem is, by the time I have a comfortable font size for extended reading, I have necessitated endless scrolling to the bottom of the page I'm reading, back up, and then down the next page, over and over again.

I know changing software can help but I have neither the time nor patience right now to search through dozens of PDF viewers, looking for the one that lets me read a book comfortably.  Rather, I want an A4 sized eBook Reader.  I do not really care if it uses LED or OLED or E-Ink, I just want a comfortably sized screen that is still somewhat portable that I can read a book from.  But I want it to run in color and I want it to work with multiple formats and I want it to be able to connect to the internet and download blog and 'zine posts.

In other words, I want a laptop with a vertically oriented screen.

Because, the thing is, due to the increasing number of legitimate ebooks placed online by publishers and authors looking to drag themselves out of obscurity, I am reading more books on my digital devices than I am on paper.  I find that I am saving my money (and, more importantly, my bookshelf space) for limited hardcovers and signed editions of the books I love while downloading newer books and books from authors I have never tried before.

So, I looked at the Kindle, and I looked at the Clie and neither of them seem to be there yet.  Neither does the MacBook Air, shiny as it seems.  None of them have that almost instantaneous perfect useability that the iPod or the Nintendo DS have.  None of them seem to be ready to do what I want them to do.

Which means, I guess, that for now, I'll keep reading on my laptop and I'll keep wishing for a decent ebook reader.

So, I came across this the other day:  Fabjectory - Virtual Objects in Real Life.

The idea is that these guys have gotten hold of a rapid proto-typing machine and will print (manufacture?) whatever the customer orders, including Second Life avatars, Mii characters, and Google Sketch-up files.  They also take custom orders via their website, which are then printed and shipped, the same as everything else.

At the moment, their prices are a bit high:  $50 USD for a three inch Mii figure, and $100 USD for a five inch, and I'm not sure of the quality.  The photos on the website make the finished products seem a little rough as they are printed out of colored plastics as opposed to painted plastics.  The same photos seem to indicate that the surfaces are somewhat textured, not smooth like modern toys usually are.

Still, I love the idea and I can't help wondering where this technology is going.

Let's start with the idea.  Personally, I like to draw and the idea that I could have any character I drew printed out and sent not just to me but to anyone, anywhere is very appealing.  Add to that the idea of one of a kind pieces by artists or limited editions of special figures and the collectible crowd will come running.  And how about producing blanks for the DIY crowd?  Easily done.

The immediate counter-point is that there are lots of vinyl or plastic art toys out there, blanks included, so how is this any different?  The answer is in the scale.  Most individual artists cannot afford to have their ideas turned into physical form without serious financial backing due to the numbers involved.  Typical production runs, even for limited editions often number in the thousands.  Even at the lowest cost available in East Asian factories, a large amount of money is required up front for a product that may or may not sell.

So this idea that an artist can post a design on a website and fans can choose which figures they'd like to purchase on a single unit scale is very appealing.  Especially if the software is in place to let designers limit the numbers on some designs, creating a quick-as-you-can market that may drive prices upwards and gain the individual some needed cash.

From there, let's look at the technology.  I have no idea how much these printers run but I know that computers used to fill entire rooms and the idea of a desktop computer was laughable.

If the manufacturing becomes as installed as a microwave, the design is the only part that would have value; if the design is on a computer, anybody will be able to get hold of it, one way or another, thus making it impossible to limit the number of copies printed, thus driving the cost back down.

Either way, the consumer gets what he or she wants without trouble and the artist is saved the cost of producing thousands of potentially unwanted pieces.

And, in any case, this is a technology and a company I'll be watching, just to see what they come up with.