5 ms·

The e-ink display showing a shipping label is brilliant.

by vvanders 11y ago

ben174 11y ago
Kept scrolling and looking for a picture of said label, to no avail.
- samf 11y ago
  I found an image here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-rugged-storage-appliance-for-importing-data-to-aws-by-fedex/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-...
  - dx211 11y ago
    Weird - something about the form factor makes me want to violently toss it off a loading dock. Anyone know how much that would translate to in Gs? (The article says it will survive 6 Gs of shock.)
    - rylee 11y ago
      A whole lot. It depends on how fast it is going. See http://measurespeed.com/deceleration-calculator.php http://measurespeed.com/deceleration-calculator.php for a quick-and-dirty overview. Gravity accelerates at at 9.8m/s², so if it fell for one second before impacting the ground, and took (for instance) 0.05 seconds to deform before coming to a halt, it'd have experienced 8.91 Gs of shock.
      - spicyj 11y ago
        One second is a long time. That's a drop of 16 feet?
        rylee 11y ago
        For the purpose of conjecture, yes :-)
      - vacri 11y ago
        > 0.05 seconds to deform before coming to a halt I always found it amusing that hard drives were rated in the hundreds of Gs until someone reminded me that 'time to stop' when dropped on a hard surface was very short indeed...
helper 11y ago
Yes, this is the most interesting aspect of snowball.
jstapels 11y ago
Especially when you consider the fact that they've been making kindle's for years... perfect way to merge existing Amazon technilogies.
Carrok 11y ago
This article says it's not e-ink but just a Kindle strapped to the side. >It has a Kindle on the side, which functions as an automatic shipping label. http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-rugged-storage-appliance-for-importing-data-to-aws-by-fedex/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-...
- jonknee 11y ago
  > This article says it's not e-ink but just a Kindle strapped to the side. Guess what a Kindle's display is?
- notatoad 11y ago
  Unless i'm mis-judging the scale of this thing, that screen looks a fair bit smaller than a kindle. I think it's just techcrunch using "kindle" as a generic word for e-ink display.
  - unfletch 11y ago
    The Amazon exec who introduced the Snowball during the keynote also called it included a "Kindle".
    - A010 11y ago
      Perhaps a mini kindle, I estimate by the image that's about 2x4" max.
tootie 11y ago
An AWS service with free shipping and a Kindle glued on. It's the ultimate synergy for Amazon.
nickzoic 11y ago
Really? Why? I mean, Kindles are pretty cheap, but sticky shipping labels are a few bucks for rolls of 500, and very hard to damage in transit.
- eru 11y ago
  Oh, this label is smart. It knows when to change. If you had sticky shipping labels, you'd need some intelligence.

The e-ink display showing a shipping label is brilliant.

ben174 11y ago

Kept scrolling and looking for a picture of said label, to no avail.

samf 11y ago
I found an image here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-rugged-storage-appliance-for-importing-data-to-aws-by-fedex/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-...
- dx211 11y ago
  Weird - something about the form factor makes me want to violently toss it off a loading dock. Anyone know how much that would translate to in Gs? (The article says it will survive 6 Gs of shock.)
  - rylee 11y ago
    A whole lot. It depends on how fast it is going. See http://measurespeed.com/deceleration-calculator.php http://measurespeed.com/deceleration-calculator.php for a quick-and-dirty overview. Gravity accelerates at at 9.8m/s², so if it fell for one second before impacting the ground, and took (for instance) 0.05 seconds to deform before coming to a halt, it'd have experienced 8.91 Gs of shock.
    - spicyj 11y ago
      One second is a long time. That's a drop of 16 feet?
      - rylee 11y ago
        For the purpose of conjecture, yes :-)
    - vacri 11y ago
      > 0.05 seconds to deform before coming to a halt I always found it amusing that hard drives were rated in the hundreds of Gs until someone reminded me that 'time to stop' when dropped on a hard surface was very short indeed...

helper 11y ago

Yes, this is the most interesting aspect of snowball.

jstapels 11y ago

Especially when you consider the fact that they've been making kindle's for years... perfect way to merge existing Amazon technilogies.

Carrok 11y ago

This article says it's not e-ink but just a Kindle strapped to the side. >It has a Kindle on the side, which functions as an automatic shipping label. http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-rugged-storage-appliance-for-importing-data-to-aws-by-fedex/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/07/amazon-launches-snowball-a-...

jonknee 11y ago
> This article says it's not e-ink but just a Kindle strapped to the side. Guess what a Kindle's display is?
notatoad 11y ago
Unless i'm mis-judging the scale of this thing, that screen looks a fair bit smaller than a kindle. I think it's just techcrunch using "kindle" as a generic word for e-ink display.
- unfletch 11y ago
  The Amazon exec who introduced the Snowball during the keynote also called it included a "Kindle".
  - A010 11y ago
    Perhaps a mini kindle, I estimate by the image that's about 2x4" max.

tootie 11y ago

An AWS service with free shipping and a Kindle glued on. It's the ultimate synergy for Amazon.

nickzoic 11y ago

Really? Why? I mean, Kindles are pretty cheap, but sticky shipping labels are a few bucks for rolls of 500, and very hard to damage in transit.

eru 11y ago
Oh, this label is smart. It knows when to change. If you had sticky shipping labels, you'd need some intelligence.