Comments on: 251. Scientist’s gadgets: Kindle 2 vs. Palm http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/ Cosmology, turbulence, markets, non-equilibrium QFT and much more. No nonsense, just science Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:43:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Dmitry http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-6061 Dmitry Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:39:27 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-6061 Hi Blake, yes, I already understood that they did not fix the converter... that's the major no go for the device. Too bad for them (especially stupid since it is not that hard to write a nice converter). On the positive hand, the iLiad device that Thorsten mentioned seems more and more attractable to me (it even supports writing and marking on e-ink paper). Cheers, Dmitry. Hi Blake,

yes, I already understood that they did not fix the converter… that’s the major no go for the device. Too bad for them (especially stupid since it is not that hard to write a nice converter).

On the positive hand, the iLiad device that Thorsten mentioned seems more and more attractable to me (it even supports writing and marking on e-ink paper).

Cheers,
Dmitry.

]]> By: Blake Stacey http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-6052 Blake Stacey Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:12:47 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-6052 I just had a bad experience with Amazon's PDF-to-Kindle converter. The output was really horrifyingly unreadable. Fortunately, I have the LaTeX source from which the PDF was generated, and it looks like I may be able to get a decent result by going through HTML as an intermediary step. I definitely wouldn't trust their converter with something from the arXiv, though. I just had a bad experience with Amazon’s PDF-to-Kindle converter. The output was really horrifyingly unreadable. Fortunately, I have the LaTeX source from which the PDF was generated, and it looks like I may be able to get a decent result by going through HTML as an intermediary step. I definitely wouldn’t trust their converter with something from the arXiv, though.

]]> By: Dmitry http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-6004 Dmitry Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:38:26 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-6004 That's because I turned premoderation on - your comment was in queue for moderation :-) I turned it off for now - it is indeed a kind of painful for commentators, let us see how good is my antispam system :-) Cheers, Dmitry. That’s because I turned premoderation on – your comment was in queue for moderation :-) I turned it off for now – it is indeed a kind of painful for commentators, let us see how good is my antispam system :-)

Cheers,
Dmitry.

]]> By: Dmitry http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-6003 Dmitry Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:36:38 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-6003 Hi Moshe <blockquote>did you hear anything about other readers?</blockquote> When I've visited Munich, absolutely everybody in the Mukhanov's group there was sick with a Chinese device (I forgot the name of the company, but I can ask Winitzki). The device had the same kind of problem that Kindle has - it did not support complicated PDFs. It did support simple PDFs ,ebooks, DJVUs, txt and html files, though, and one could put them on the memory stick which was also supported. I will have to check out Sony. Dmitry. Hi Moshe

did you hear anything about other readers?

When I’ve visited Munich, absolutely everybody in the Mukhanov’s group there was sick with a Chinese device (I forgot the name of the company, but I can ask Winitzki). The device had the same kind of problem that Kindle has – it did not support complicated PDFs. It did support simple PDFs ,ebooks, DJVUs, txt and html files, though, and one could put them on the memory stick which was also supported.

I will have to check out Sony.

Dmitry.

]]> By: Dmitry http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-6002 Dmitry Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:33:03 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-6002 Dear Thorsten, thanks for the link! <blockquote>he whole conversion business of pdf files for the Kindle is rather off-putting (arxiv-article will look bad).</blockquote> Then, this is decisive factor, too bad for them. Did you check out the first or the second Kindle? (maybe, by a chance they improved conversion script for the second one, but I hardly believe it). Cheers, Dmitry. Dear Thorsten,

thanks for the link!

he whole conversion business of pdf files for the Kindle is rather off-putting (arxiv-article will look bad).

Then, this is decisive factor, too bad for them. Did you check out the first or the second Kindle? (maybe, by a chance they improved conversion script for the second one, but I hardly believe it).

Cheers,
Dmitry.

]]> By: Moshe http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-5991 Moshe Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:51:12 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-5991 Not sure what happened to my previous comment, besides a lot of redundant things, I was asking for your opinion on other readers, like the one made by Sony. Not sure what happened to my previous comment, besides a lot of redundant things, I was asking for your opinion on other readers, like the one made by Sony.

]]> By: Moshe http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-5990 Moshe Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:23:17 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-5990 Hi Dmitry: did you hear anything about other readers? I think Sony has one out. I have resisted so far the obvious temptation because it is a new technology, so the next generation is likely to be much superior and cheaper. I also don't like being enslaved to one format, which is one of the reasons I've been resisting the temptation of Apple all these years (now that's going to start a flame war!). Hi Dmitry: did you hear anything about other readers? I think Sony has one out.

I have resisted so far the obvious temptation because it is a new technology, so the next generation is likely to be much superior and cheaper. I also don’t like being enslaved to one format, which is one of the reasons I’ve been resisting the temptation of Apple all these years (now that’s going to start a flame war!).

]]> By: T. Battefeld http://www.nonequilibrium.net/251-scientist-gadgets-kindle2/comment-page-1/#comment-5987 T. Battefeld Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:46:00 +0000 http://www.nonequilibrium.net/?p=1590#comment-5987 Hi Dmitri, I have been looking into e-book readers too, but the whole conversion business of pdf files for the Kindle is rather off-putting (arxiv-article will look bad). However, I found this reader http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad which supports native pdf files, it has an electronic inc. 8 inch screen (768 x 1024, higher than kindles, which can be used in landscape format),one can insert flash cards to have more memory, it has wireless, usb and it weights around a pound. The only drawback I see is a slightly higher price, but I am tempted. Cheers, Thorsten Hi Dmitri,
I have been looking into e-book readers too, but the whole conversion business of pdf files for the Kindle is rather off-putting (arxiv-article will look bad). However, I found this reader

http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad

which supports native pdf files, it has an electronic inc. 8 inch screen (768 x 1024, higher than kindles, which can be used in landscape format),one can insert flash cards to have more memory, it has wireless, usb and it weights around a pound. The only drawback I see is a slightly higher price, but I am tempted.
Cheers,
Thorsten

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