A $20 8-Bit Wikipedia Reader For Your TV 167
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Wired about another entry in the ongoing quest for low-tech-high-tech educational tools to take advantage of distributed knowledge: "The Humane Reader, a device designed by computer consultant Braddock Gaskill, takes two 8-bit microcontrollers and packages them in a 'classic style console' that connects to a TV. The device includes an optional keyboard, a micro-SD Card reader and a composite video output. It uses a standard micro-USB cellphone charger for power. In all, it can hold the equivalent of 5,000 books, including an offline version of Wikipedia, and requires no internet connection. The Reader will cost $20 when 10,000 or more of it are manufactured. Without that kind of volume, each Reader will cost about $35."
Blurry text (Score:4, Insightful)
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The answers are simple, if the country uses SECAM that isn't a problem usually, if they use NTSC or PAL, simply turn off the chroma signal or use 40 columns.
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Now get off my lawn!
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1. Timex Sinclair 1000
2. TRS-80 Color Computer 2
3. TRS-80 Color Computer 3
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My first 3 computers hooked up to an old SDTV. In fact as I recall it was a Black & White TV.
But did you tie an onion to your belt? ;-)
I don't usually talk to myself, but:
1. Timex Sinclair 1000
2. TRS-80 Color Computer 2
3. TRS-80 Color Computer 3
Oh, the irony! :-)
Er, I can't talk, given that the first computer I used was a ZX81 (i.e. UK version of the TS-1000), and the first three machines I used were connected to black and white tellies, including my Amiga at one point(!)
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My first 3 computers hooked up to an old SDTV. In fact as I recall it was a Black & White TV.
But did you tie an onion to your belt? ;-)
Of course, because that was the style at the time.
My system was called the Ohio scientific super board 2. It had a 6502, audio cassette interface and video modulator. Software was a little boot menu which you got after reset. The menu said D/C/W/M. D was for mysterious disk drives and I believe it would load a sector from a disk and jump to it. We weren't millionaires so we never used it. C reset RAM and jumped to BASIC. W Just jumped to BASIC. M jumped to a machine code monitor in a 256 byte ROM. The syste
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Er, I can't talk, given that the first computer I used was a ZX81 (i.e. UK version of the TS-1000)
Sorry to be pedantic, but the TS-1000 was the US version of the ZX81 - the ZX81 (invented by Sinclair) was the original, the Timex was the version branded for sale in the US subsequently.
Speaking as the former owner of a ZX80, ZX81 amd ZX Spectrum... :-)
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Not just in the US, also in Canada.
And it had an extra K of RAM!
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Sorry to be pedantic, but the TS-1000 was the US version of the ZX81 - the ZX81 (invented by Sinclair) was the original
Well yeah, I know- I honestly didn't elaborate on that point though as I didn't want to be pedantic(!)
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Ti-99/4a (with 16k RAM!)
I still have it in it's box with all the manuals and packaging. I figure now's the time to bring it out and show the kidlet (9 years old) what computing used to be. Wish I still have the modem with handset couple. Not that I have any phones it could attach to...
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The point I was trying to make is: If a SDTV is the best you have, it will be good enough.
Re:Blurry text (Score:4, Insightful)
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It should be noted however that most TV sets have a 200% magnification option for Teletext for a reason.
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Teletext exists since ages and nobody complains about it being unreadable.
People aren't trying to read Wikipedia on it though. And if people didn't complain about it in the past, it's because there was nothing better (it was good for the time, but still limited compared to (e.g.) a newspaper). And if people don't complain now, it's probably because very few people use it. The operator of the UK's commercial Teletext service illegally ditched it last year (in breach of their license) because it wasn't making them money any more.
Anyway, Teletext's 40 columns is very narrow by mo
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People aren't trying to read Wikipedia on it though. And if people didn't complain about it in the past, it's because there was nothing better
But if it's meant for developing nations, they may well NOT have anything better.
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In fact in today technological society there are already more people reading more from screens of some kind, than from paper.
Facts like these could stand a little batter anchorage.
Teletext exists since ages and nobody complains about it being unreadable.
They might, if all they had to go on were the screen shots in the Wikipedia. Teletext [wikipedia.org]
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In fact in today technological society there are already more people reading more from screens of some kind, than from paper.
Facts like these could stand a little batter anchorage.
Wikipedia Channel 65534
Re:Blurry text (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes. Yes it is. Interlacing is BAD. VGA-resolution is bad. No magic will fix that.
Teletext takes up, what, 1/5th of the screen for TWO LINES of text? Yeah, at those sizes, anybody can read them. Trying to read a lengthy document like that proves VERY cumbersome. Non-stop scrolling to the next few lines, and an exhausting experience as your eyes have to travel vastly further than they should, or would on a decent monitor, or book page.
Yeah, text as 24x80 is readable, but even them, you don't want to be subjected to it, if you have a choice.
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Teletext usually gave about 500 characters/page plus some graphics. Given its popularity for things like news and sports, i.e. moderately-long articles, in the countries in which it is available, clearly it worked "well enough". As for "have a choice", it goes without saying that a product like this is not aimed at people who have the option of reading Wikipedia on a computer.
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Black & While LCDs are absolutely DIRT CHEAP, readable in all light conditions, and use a trickle of power. Additionally, you no longer need the additional digital to RF conversion steps, which certainly cost a decent amount of money.
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Looks like he is only doing composite video not RF. this will reduce the cost and avoid certain reliability (apparently old fasioned RF modulators aren't really stable enough for modern tuners to lock to) and compatbility issues but will mean that some really old TVs aren't compatible.
Re:Blurry text (Score:5, Informative)
so presumably they'll be trying to read masses of blurry text on an older SDTV.
Until the "IBM PC" came along, most of us hooked our home computers to our televisions:
http://www.vintagecomputer.net/apple/appleII/appleII_display_graph.jpg [vintagecomputer.net]
We wrote BASIC programs, played ZORK, and labouriously keyed in source code printed in the likes of "Creative Computing." Today, none of us are blind. Well, some of us are. But likely for other reasons than reading text on an SDTV.
Now get off my lawn.
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We wrote BASIC programs, played ZORK, and labouriously keyed in source code printed in the likes of "Creative Computing." Today, none of us are blind.
While this is true, the text back in those days was pretty barebones. I couldn't find a screenshot of what the TV output looks like from this device. Is it that same sort of old-school no-frills monospaced font with 40 (or 80 at most) characters per line? Or is it an attempt to shoehorn something with more modern formatting onto a TV via composite signal? I se
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The Apple ][ series supported TVs at 40 columns. You had to buy an RGB monitor to get 80 columns.
Don't remember if my //c booted up in 80-column mode by default, or if you had to toggle the button at the keyboard's top-left.
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While this is true, the text back in those days was pretty barebones. I couldn't find a screenshot of what the TV output looks like from this device.
Well they say they took the firmware for the microcontroller that does the display from the tellymate project ( http://www.batsocks.co.uk/products/Other/TellyMate.htm [batsocks.co.uk] ) and that project has screenshots (which look pretty barebones) and figures (38x25 which is fairly similar to teletext's 40x24).
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about 40 characters per line on the old Vic20
The Vic 20 supported 22 columns and 23 rows of 8-by-8-pixel characters. This wasn't however due to TV limitations - It was done that way so the Vic could use a very inexpensive display chipset.
The Vic 20's successor, the Commodore 64, supported 40 columns, which, as you say, was pretty much the max for these TV displays.
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And there was a program to make the c64 do 80 char per line. That made it mostly unreadable unless you had the 1702 video monitor (which had what we would today call S-video.)
Even at 40 chars/line the SX-64 (color luggable) it was hard to tell the difference between 0, O, 8, 6 & G. So much so that I ended up reworking the font on mine and burning a new EPROM for it.
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I ended up reworking the font on mine and burning a new EPROM for it.
Cool. I remembering soldering a piggybacked chip onto the motherboard of my TRS-80 so I could get lowercase. Those kids can get off our lawn.
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So THAT'S how it's done! I saw one once with lowercase and never could figure out how they did it.
So, was it just solder another 2716 (or was it a 2708) on top, pull up the CS line and tag it to a 74LS138 somewhere?
God, why do I still remember all this stuff?
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was it just solder another 2716 (or was it a 2708) on top, pull up the CS line and tag it to a 74LS138 somewhere?
Bingo! Exactly right.
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Is it just me, or the average age of /.ers is increasing
Y'know, I've wondered the same thing over the last little while... Maybe all the young whippersnappers are on 'trendier' social media sites...
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Until the "IBM PC" came along, most of us hooked our home computers to our televisions:
The early IBM PCs also could be hooked to TVs. For games, this was preferable because a lot of games exploited "bugs" in the NTSC encoding chip, thus allowing them to render more then 4 colors.
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Until the "IBM PC" came along, most of us hooked our home computers to our televisions:
And it was horrible. We only did it because it was the only option available to us.
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Didn't your mother tell you to keep both hands on the keyboard?
Hey, our porn looked like this, and we liked it that way!
http://www.my-nightstand.com/media/ascii%20nude.jpg [my-nightstand.com]
Irony (Score:2)
Displaying Ascii porn as a JPG
63,488 bytes of jpg- to show a picture that AS DESIGNED
took maybe80*200=16,000 bytes in the original iteration?
ascii is LOSSLESS imagery.. you can even zip it down and compress it further
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I've used my Nintendo Wii on my SD TV to browse websites and the text isn't blurry. They should be able to pull off clear text even if the TV isn't high-definition.
My apple //e had composite out (Score:2)
I remember the first time I dared hook it up to the VCR input
(5 siblings, one televison, and i was going to do something that made it single use person only)
and DAMN it looked good in color on the TV...
I think their website must be on one of them... (Score:2)
It's been overloaded for hours and there's no real details on the linked page.
Cool, but (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Cool, but (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, a public library might not be updated as regularly as Wikipedia. Or if your library is like the ones in my neighborhood, the computers often have a wait time. This is something I think would be a great tool to be used in conjunction with a public library. At the start of every semester or school year, some kid's parent could go to the library and download the latest version of Wikipedia. Then the kid can access information at home. I know it's hard to believe, but not every home in America can afford a computer and a $30 a month DSL bill.
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A public library is where devices like this really belong.
WRONG! It's not about the USA (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm Brazilian and you wouldn't believe how few public libraries there are in Brazil. Even most public schools don't have libraries. But every family, even the poorest ones, have a TV.
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$20 for 8 bits?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
That's $2.50 per bit!
Outrageous!
Re:$20 for 8 bits?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah... that's a bit expensive.
I remember when things like that were as cheap as a shave and a hair cut.
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[quote]two 8-bit microcontrollers[/quote]
Reading comprehension fail. $20 for 16-bit. $1.25 each.
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That's $2.50 per bit!
Outrageous!
You must have an unlimited texting plan, or you'd be used to those rates by now.
Bits or books (Score:2)
...if the books are 200 pages long each. Or it can hold 500 books if they are 2000 pages long each. In other words it either holds a dump truck full of books, or a Volkswagen full of books. Hope that makes it clear for the non-technical readers out there.
Re:Bits or books (Score:4, Funny)
Inquireing minds want to know.
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Hope that makes it clear for the non-technical readers out there
It won't really be, until the values are based on "Numbers of Libraries of Congress."
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Is it just me? Or is the e-book thing... (Score:2)
Just kinda underwhelming?
Maybe I've become a relic, but I don't enjoy reading for long periods of time on a screen.
If I do, I want a book, or at least, a printout.
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That's why the majority of eReaders on the market use eInk as their primary display. It basically eliminates the problem of eyestrain from reading off a screen. The older ones don't have very high contrast though, which makes Amazon's recent announcement of 50% better contrast very intriguing to me.
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Yes, trying to read it on your iPad, laptop, etc. is going to be underwhelming, but the Kindle/Nook e-readers with e-ink is very easy on the eyes and just as good as paper.
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(or should be)
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Maybe I've become a relic, but I don't enjoy reading for long periods of time on a screen.
If I do, I want a book, or at least, a printout.
That's where the whole e-ink thing comes into play -- a screen that uses reflected (instead of emitted) light. As much of a cliché as it is, the screen really does disappear once you get into whatever you're reading.
Hmm. (Score:2)
I wish I'd thought of that.
40-column text? (Score:2)
It doesn't say what the display is but it's probably going to be 40 column text. 80-column is possible but I remember 80 columns being almost unreadable in my home computer days (and it took 16k of RAM for a black/white 80-column screen).
Will there be graphics....? Decoding JPEG images on an 8-bit chip will be painful. The device won't be able to hold all the bitmaps for a page in RAM so they'd have to be decoded on the fly as you scroll. Ick.
Doing this in 8 bits is reducing it too far. A 16-bit chip wouldn
Sounds over-engineered (Score:2)
Two micro controllers sounds like at least one too many to me, and it looks like they're using reed switches instead of the much cheaper membrain type.
Let's face it, $35 isn't cheap. $20 is a lot better (you're now in impulse purchase range) but it's still not cheap - there's a link to a $12 computer on the same page as the article.
I like the idea, but if you're going to wish for 10,000 units, then you might as well wish for enough units to support full scale integration and put everything on a single chip
Lame design! (Score:4, Insightful)
The design is truly lame. Yes bitbanging ntsc video out of an AVR is neat but if you are really trying to build a mass produced device this design is about as stupid as possible. Bitbang video and bitbang USB via yet another AVR with a third as the CPU? Oh. My. God.
Use a single chip ARM or MIPS with a real framebuffer with video out and USB on chip. Can't cost more than the three AVRs in quantity and will do so much more.
And another benefit is that they are also pitching it as a computer but it isn't. I love the AVR line as an embedded colution but the Harvard arch is a killer in that you can't run programs from RAM and the program flash is only good for 10K writes.
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But I always meant to do something with my copy of the TV Typewriter Cookbook.
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/RadioElectronics/TV_Typewriter.htm [swtpc.com]
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No, you would never get reliable video from that one. But keep looking, there are a few SoC products still in production that has NTSC video as an option along with the LCD drivers that are all but universal.
This is great and all... (Score:2)
Not Worth It (Score:2)
With Kindles and Nooks headed below $100, probably by Christmas, this is not worth the eyestrain and massive headaches!
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You didn't try at all did you?
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http://www.free-soft.ro/pocket-wikipedia/pocket-wikipedia.html [free-soft.ro]
It's not official, but it's fine.
Re:Noble but useless. (Score:4, Insightful)
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The difference is that this can actually be built for around $35, less than that in bulk. The Indian announcement is very unlikely to actually result in a $35 laptop.
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I might doubt the cost too, but 8 bit microcontrollers are very popular now, even with the widespread availability of 32 bit systems. Many consumer devices include Microchip and Atmel chips if they don't need more power. There's also a bit Arduino (Atmel) hobby crowd.
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Considering that the 10 dollar computer that was also announces is turning out to be a 30 dollar plastic box with no input or screen, and it costs no less than $30? that $35 tablet is going to be at least $60 when they are done with it.
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Who even makes 8-bit microcontrollers?
Atmel and microchip mainly at least if by 8-bit you mean 8-bit data (most microcontrollers at that level are harvard architectures with wider program memory than data memory).
I haven't used the atmel stuff (which he is using) myself so I can't comment on how easy it is to get. Most of the microchip stuff i've used is held as stock by both RS and Farnell (the two major prototyping parts vendors here in the UK) and microchip will also sell it you directly (though the ship
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If you're in the UK, you might also want to look at Maplin Electronics
mmm I do sometimes use them when i'm in a pinch. the big problem with maplin is that thier range of components has got worse and worse over the years. I do still sometimes use them in a pinch though.
they were even willing to sell single resistors for 7p each, rather expensive for a resistor,
seems they have gone up to 17p. Buy 10 at that price and you are up to nearly what rapid want for 100 equivilent resistors*
because you don't have to b
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Most places where this would be useful can't afford a TV to hook it up to.
Where I live (*not* a particularly rich town), there is a total glut of old-style portable CRT TVs- no-one wants them and charity shops aren't even accepting them any more. I'm damn sure you could get one for bugger all if you wanted to.
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Am I the only human in the world who has reverted to CRTs on the desktop and in the living room?
Cheap to buy. Colour looks right from all angles. Nice range of dark to bright. And built to last for decades - every LCD I've had to use is so fucking flimsy by comparison. Backlights fade and power supplies seem to be built with a self-destruct.
Hell, on a larger non-HDTV screen (btw I want better writing, not more eye candy) the softness of an older set is much nicer than the blockiness of a new LCD.
But then wh
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Am I the only human in the world who has reverted to CRTs on the desktop and in the living room?
FWIW, I'm still watching my Trinitron portable, and very happy with it. Until about a month ago I was also using a CRT monitor, and replaced it partly due to some scratch-like damage to the CRT coating that (oddly) appears to have grown much worse and intrusive even in casual use- and partly due to it being fairly lo-res by modern standards.
But despite the benefits of my new monitor, the viewing angle is poor (LCDs seem to have started getting *worse* after years of improvement in that area(!)) and its in
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(*) Irony is that the trademark Digibox came from Sky's *satellite* TV set-top box...
Re:Nice, but... (Score:5, Informative)
You might want to check out the statistics [humaneinfo.com] as related by the company making these devices. The developing world has a glut of TVs but very few computers and little Internet access. These devices can help fill that gap.
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The developing world has a glut of TVs but very few computers and little Internet access. These devices can help fill that gap.
How does this help them get internet access? It requires a pre-existing internet connection to work.
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The summary says it doesn't require one, and the implication on Humane's website is the same. It makes no sense to design a device for areas without Internet connectivity and then require it to have an Internet connection!
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It makes no sense to design a device for areas without Internet connectivity and then require it to have an Internet connection!
But you say in your post that it helps give them an internet connection. Not making a lot of sense there.
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No, you just misread it. Or I was not clear enough. The "gap" being filled is one of information, not Internet access.
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The "gap" being filled is one of information, not Internet access.
Yeah, you don't really say that. The "gaps" you explicitly mention are "computers" and "internet access," neither of which this device addresses (technically, it might be a computer, but not how we would think of one in the modern context.)
Couldn't the lack of information be better addressed by printed documents and local libraries, which don't even require electricity?
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Unfortunately Wikimedia Commons, the source for all the images on Wikipedia, does not guarantee that all the images it hosts can be redistributed
It doesn't? That seems like the exact opposite of what their license page says [wikimedia.org]
Though perhaps you are referring to country-specific copyright expiry or non-copyright restrictions?
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Unfortunately Wikimedia Commons, the source for all the images on Wikipedia, does not guarantee that all the images it hosts can be redistributed
True, a Commons uploader can misrepresent the copyright status of an uploaded image. But a Wikipedia editor can also misrepresent the copyright status of submitted text. In the copyright climate of 2010, there is no such thing as a guarantee.
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Oddly enough that might not be the demographic they are aiming at, but I would think that would be the demographic more likely to buy one.
Much like the OLPC, they may have been targeted at undeveloped nations, but I would bet more geeks bought them as toys than how many were deployed to undeveloped nations.
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...and while it's obviously over $100 more than his price, the new $139 WiFi Kindle is tempting -- and I already have far more physical books that I've already bought than I have time to read (and no, the carrying around of them is not a reason why I haven't read them). Even just for the free books you can get.