8 ms·

The Techcrunch Web Tablet Project

29 points by dbreunig 18y ago

vaksel 18y ago
Thats how Kindle should have looked like, instead of that 1980s looking contraption amazon came out with
- thaumaturgy 18y ago
  Kindle was designed to do a completely different job. It uses a specialized screen -- I think it's ePaper, or something similar, based on some work from MIT a few years back -- that's designed to make the text as easy to read as a printed book. AFAIK, there's no color support on that kind of screen technology yet, or if there is, it's prohibitively expensive.
  - vaksel 18y ago
    I wasn't really talking about the screen, more about the exterior of it
  - Bjoern 18y ago
    Correct. That screen utilizes eInk (ePaper, whatever currently the hype word is for it). The main idea behind this technology is readability and minimal energy consumption. Next generation of this technology will probably be OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) with which it will be possible to have thin and colorful displays. Sony has developed interesting prototypes which you can see e.g. here. (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAm3KihFho http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAm3KihFho)
    - dangoldin 18y ago
      Very nice link. It's incredible how thin and flexible they are. Do you know what the time frame of launch is on these and the prices?
      - Bjoern 18y ago
        I am not an expert in this topic but they sell this here already. You can e.g. find here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode#Sony_applications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode#So... some information about it.
- cubrilovic 18y ago
  great comment and very true - although the Kindle serves a different purpose (ie. selling ebooks from Amazon)
st3fan 18y ago
"""... when we were discussing the ultimate web browsing/cloud computing client hardware...""" WTF is a 'cloud computing client'. Personally I'm sick and tired of hearing the word 'cloud' being used in every hyped project now.
- boredguy8 18y ago
  Read: Thin client.
- tx 18y ago
  There's a marketing play here, you see how the slash separates two types of future customers? "Cloud computing" - for those who believe in it and "web browsing" for the rest of us. :-)
- trezor 18y ago
  People got fed up with Web 2.0, plus it pairs poorly with "Web browsing device", so they made a new word. Anyone else notice that they said it would support open media codecs. Does this mean the device (much like Ubuntu without added repositories) wont support common formats like mp3?
- greyman 18y ago
  'cloud computing client' == client for web applications, which use cloud computing. But I think we are still talking about having Firefox in a cheap tablet.
maxwell 18y ago
That page crashes Firefox and Safari. edit: no one else?
- calvin 18y ago
  Fine on FireFox 2.0.0.16/WinXP. Which Firefox are you using? If you're on 3.0 make sure you upgrade to 3.01 as it's a lot more stable.
  - maxwell 18y ago
    Good call, I upgraded from 3.0 to 3.01 on Leopard. And it doesn't crash anymore, though it doesn't crash Safari either anymore, so I'm thinking it could have been something on their end that's since been updated.
- cubrilovic 18y ago
  plz let me know if it does - i think at one point there were so many comments going in at the same time that funny stuff was happening with wordpress
lyime 18y ago
It's a very ambitious project. Doable although I think something like this really needs leadership, guidance and a project timeline.
christefano 18y ago
It sounds like the techcrunchies haven't actually used the Nokia N810. Just like their dream web tablet, the N810 already uses a Linux kernel, runs Firefox, Skype and plays Flash and other media. It also just hit their $299 price point. They dismissed it, however, and said they want a bigger screen, even though it has has a fantastic 800x480 resolution and 225 pixels per inch (compared to the iPhone's 480x320 resolution and 160 pixels per inch). Then Cubrilovic and Arrington deleted their comments. Go figure.
- christefano 18y ago
  It sounds like the techcrunchies haven't actually used the Nokia N810. Just like their dream web tablet, the N810 already uses a Linux kernel, runs Firefox, Skype and plays Flash and other media. It also just hit their $299 price point. They dismissed it, however, and said they want a bigger screen, even though it has has a fantastic 800x480 resolution and 225 pixels per inch (compared to the iPhone's 480x320 resolution and 160 pixels per inch).

29 points by dbreunig 18y ago

vaksel 18y ago

Thats how Kindle should have looked like, instead of that 1980s looking contraption amazon came out with

thaumaturgy 18y ago
Kindle was designed to do a completely different job. It uses a specialized screen -- I think it's ePaper, or something similar, based on some work from MIT a few years back -- that's designed to make the text as easy to read as a printed book. AFAIK, there's no color support on that kind of screen technology yet, or if there is, it's prohibitively expensive.
- vaksel 18y ago
  I wasn't really talking about the screen, more about the exterior of it
- Bjoern 18y ago
  Correct. That screen utilizes eInk (ePaper, whatever currently the hype word is for it). The main idea behind this technology is readability and minimal energy consumption. Next generation of this technology will probably be OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) with which it will be possible to have thin and colorful displays. Sony has developed interesting prototypes which you can see e.g. here. (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAm3KihFho http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAm3KihFho)
  - dangoldin 18y ago
    Very nice link. It's incredible how thin and flexible they are. Do you know what the time frame of launch is on these and the prices?
    - Bjoern 18y ago
      I am not an expert in this topic but they sell this here already. You can e.g. find here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode#Sony_applications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode#So... some information about it.
cubrilovic 18y ago
great comment and very true - although the Kindle serves a different purpose (ie. selling ebooks from Amazon)

st3fan 18y ago

"""... when we were discussing the ultimate web browsing/cloud computing client hardware...""" WTF is a 'cloud computing client'. Personally I'm sick and tired of hearing the word 'cloud' being used in every hyped project now.

boredguy8 18y ago
Read: Thin client.
tx 18y ago
There's a marketing play here, you see how the slash separates two types of future customers? "Cloud computing" - for those who believe in it and "web browsing" for the rest of us. :-)
trezor 18y ago
People got fed up with Web 2.0, plus it pairs poorly with "Web browsing device", so they made a new word. Anyone else notice that they said it would support open media codecs. Does this mean the device (much like Ubuntu without added repositories) wont support common formats like mp3?
greyman 18y ago
'cloud computing client' == client for web applications, which use cloud computing. But I think we are still talking about having Firefox in a cheap tablet.

maxwell 18y ago

That page crashes Firefox and Safari. edit: no one else?

calvin 18y ago
Fine on FireFox 2.0.0.16/WinXP. Which Firefox are you using? If you're on 3.0 make sure you upgrade to 3.01 as it's a lot more stable.
- maxwell 18y ago
  Good call, I upgraded from 3.0 to 3.01 on Leopard. And it doesn't crash anymore, though it doesn't crash Safari either anymore, so I'm thinking it could have been something on their end that's since been updated.
cubrilovic 18y ago
plz let me know if it does - i think at one point there were so many comments going in at the same time that funny stuff was happening with wordpress

lyime 18y ago

It's a very ambitious project. Doable although I think something like this really needs leadership, guidance and a project timeline.

christefano 18y ago

It sounds like the techcrunchies haven't actually used the Nokia N810. Just like their dream web tablet, the N810 already uses a Linux kernel, runs Firefox, Skype and plays Flash and other media. It also just hit their $299 price point. They dismissed it, however, and said they want a bigger screen, even though it has has a fantastic 800x480 resolution and 225 pixels per inch (compared to the iPhone's 480x320 resolution and 160 pixels per inch). Then Cubrilovic and Arrington deleted their comments. Go figure.

christefano 18y ago
It sounds like the techcrunchies haven't actually used the Nokia N810. Just like their dream web tablet, the N810 already uses a Linux kernel, runs Firefox, Skype and plays Flash and other media. It also just hit their $299 price point. They dismissed it, however, and said they want a bigger screen, even though it has has a fantastic 800x480 resolution and 225 pixels per inch (compared to the iPhone's 480x320 resolution and 160 pixels per inch).