

FoxIt (from PDF fame) readies ebook reader. $100 less than an Amazon Kindle. - rglullis
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8442724020.html

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mdasen
I love Foxit, but I think that comparing this reader to the Kindle isn't a
fair matchup.

Specifically, the Kindle includes an EV-DO wireless transmitter. Basically,
anywhere will Sprint cell coverage you can connect to online resources (as
well as buying books that way) with no monthly charges. From the specs listed
for the eSlick, it doesn't even have WiFi. The eSlick seems to use a USB sync.

I'm not saying it's a bad device. Just that EV-DO transmitters are expensive
and that paying for free EV-DO usage in perpetuity (even if it's not that much
data) costs money too. Wireless companies charge in the $10-30/mo range for
data access. Even if Amazon got a sweetheart deal for a tiny fraction of that,
it's going to cost money.

All that said, I still think I'd rather a more open device as this one seems
to be.

~~~
Zev
Amazon _did_ release the Kindle's source code awhile ago - They had to since
its Linux-based and has to comply to the GPL. That seems pretty open to me,
even if its not by choice (Though you could argue they chose to use Linux
knowing what GPL entails)

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200203720)

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mechanical_fish
This is an interesting device in a category where I'm interested in seeing
devices bloom. However, the phrase

 _ships with an MP3 player_

worries me. The gratuitous MP3 player is the designer's badge of failure. I
never, ever use it -- I have iPods and iPhones for that! -- and it just
clutters up the interface and the documentation and dilutes the designers'
focus on the task at hand. (Note, for example, that this thing is going to
ship without Linux or Mac support for creating PDFs. What's up with that?
Perhaps Foxit could have cut the MP3 feature and used its budget to hire a
Unix person?)

~~~
glymor
All ebook readers have mp3 players including the kindle.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Hm, I had forgotten that. I guess it's just a matter of time before every pair
of socks ships with an MP3 player.

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Flemlord
Can I purchase and download books from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any other
source with a 1M+ library of books? If the answer is no, then it's just a toy
for hackers.

~~~
Tichy
I for one am not so interested in buying DRMed PDFs anyway. But I guess I am a
hacker in that sense.

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jpd

      Format support is limited to PDF and TXT files, but the
      device ships with Foxit's PC-based PDF Creator software, 
      which is said to convert any printable document with formats
      including TXT, PPT, DOC, XLS, and HTML to PDF document format.
    

Not really useful. It doesn't support Kindle books and I buy all my books at
Amazon.

Also found this:

[http://thekindle.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/free-books-for-
the...](http://thekindle.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/free-books-for-the-amazon-
kindle/)

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mhb
I'd like a device with an e-ink display which I can put on my refrigerator to
display my Google calendar. It could check the web for updates a few times a
day. I'd want the batteries to last a year.

~~~
Tichy
You know you can get refrigerators with integrated MP3 players, right?

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sarvesh
Foxit has been my choice of PDF reader when I am working on Windows. It is
fast and does the job. I am pretty sure they can pull of good reading
experience but the questions is how will the documents get there in the first
place?

~~~
peregrine
The strength of the kindle partly comes from the tight integration into
Amazon.

This is interesting if you've got alot of documents on your pc but I don't see
it being much more useful after the fact.

