

WikiReader - $99 E-ink offline Wikipedia reader that runs on 2 AAAs - blasdel
http://thewikireader.com/index.html

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tamersalama
Not sure how this would compete with other mobile devices. disconnected state?
battery life? unifunction?

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ajuc
On the site there is info that batterylife is 1 year on "normal usage",
whatever it means.

If i was to buy it, it would be as a cheap ebook reader. But only if it will
allow reading pdfs with images.

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Tichy
It seems rather small for reading ebooks. And then 99$ isn't cheap, compared
to the kindle.

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ahoyhere
Yes - forget reading PDFs. I have a (fairly huge) Kindle DX and it's barely
adequate for most PDFs, with their small-ass type.

That said, it doesn't seem to say anything about how it will sync.

If it's clever, I'll probably get one for my husband.

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groaner
The update mechanism seems to imply a 4GB+ download each time. Surely there's
a way to apply patches?

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kaitnieks
Since there's probably a heavy compression used and the modifications happen
all over the wikipedia, I don't think there is a way. The only thing they
could probably do is to split the articles in several categories and allow to
update them separately.

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chanux
It's nice. But just wikipedia doesn't sound GREAT. Maybe project Gutenberg
stuff will be a good addition. I believe that the device has space to grow in.

And nice to see openmoko in action.

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lupin_sansei
And it's text only too. No images from WP.

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thelonecabbage
OMG it's the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy!

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robin_reala
No WikiMedia images? That’s a shame. I guess that including images for every
article would suck up a lot of space and wouldn’t work well on an eInk black
and white display anyway, but a lot of the more useful information on
Wikipedia is presented in chart and graph format.

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callmeed
Could be a great device for schools–even more so if, as chanux suggested, they
added Proj. Gutenbuerg stuff.

Heck, I'd even consider buying 10 of them for my daughters' private school
(they have no computer lab).

On the other hand, linux netbooks are < $200 now.

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kragen
Where do you get Linux netbooks for <$200? New?

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callmeed
[http://www.google.com/products?q=netbook&oe=utf-8&hl...](http://www.google.com/products?q=netbook&oe=utf-8&hl=en&price1=150.00&price2=200.00&);

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Tichy
Cute, but an iPod Touch is cuter.

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lupin_sansei
there's a video of it in action here
[http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/13/wikireader-packs-all-
of...](http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/13/wikireader-packs-all-of-wikipedia-
in-a-power-sipping-portable/) maybe it is real after all ;)

Also photos here [http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/openmoko-branches-out-
wit...](http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/13/openmoko-branches-out-with-
new-99-wikireader-device/)

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aw3c2
Alternatively you could get a Zipit for 40$ and put Linux on it.

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m_eiman
But then you're not the target audience of the device.

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jacquesm
dupe:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=880140>

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chanux
My experience is that I can't post a duplicate link on HN. :-S

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jacquesm
It looks like the dupe checker isn't smart enough to check
<http://[www.]something[/][index.html][#somethingelse]>

(cue 100's of duplicate submissions of highly valued posts from the past ;) )

That shouldn't be too hard to implement

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blasdel
I'm absolutely astonished that this was produced by the previously putrescent
OpenMoko. _Astonished!_

