Comments on: E-books and laptop ergonomics–and the future of the laptop, as seen by ThinkPad visionary http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/e-books-and-laptop-ergonomics-and-the-future-of-the-laptop-as-seen-by-thinkpad-visionary/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:02:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Garson Poole http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/e-books-and-laptop-ergonomics-and-the-future-of-the-laptop-as-seen-by-thinkpad-visionary/comment-page-1/#comment-71840 Garson Poole Tue, 01 Aug 2006 05:43:32 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5256#comment-71840 I recall when the IBM PCjr first shipped in 1984, and it had a detached wireless infrared keyboard referred to as a "freeboard". The Wikipedia entry says "the wireless functionality did not work as well as expected; in practice, range only extended to about two or three feet from the machine, and batteries drained very quickly." Of course, the IBM PCjr was not a laptop as envisioned above, and some technologies require years to mature. The "chiclet" style keyboard of the PCjr was rejected and the model largely failed. I recall when the IBM PCjr first shipped in 1984, and it had a detached wireless infrared keyboard referred to as a “freeboard”. The Wikipedia entry says “the wireless functionality did not work as well as expected; in practice, range only extended to about two or three feet from the machine, and batteries drained very quickly.”

Of course, the IBM PCjr was not a laptop as envisioned above, and some technologies require years to mature. The “chiclet” style keyboard of the PCjr was rejected and the model largely failed.

]]> By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/e-books-and-laptop-ergonomics-and-the-future-of-the-laptop-as-seen-by-thinkpad-visionary/comment-page-1/#comment-71827 David Rothman Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:14:48 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5256#comment-71827 Pond, let us know if you track down the info about the laptop from 4-5 years ago! Yep, the curl-up factor is important. Let's hope there will be a variety of form-factor-related options. - David Pond, let us know if you track down the info about the laptop from 4-5 years ago! Yep, the curl-up factor is important. Let’s hope there will be a variety of form-factor-related options. – David

]]> By: pond http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/e-books-and-laptop-ergonomics-and-the-future-of-the-laptop-as-seen-by-thinkpad-visionary/comment-page-1/#comment-71760 pond Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:05:10 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5256#comment-71760 There was a product like this 4, 5 years ago! I can't remember the name, but it was a laptop whose screen and keyboard were separate components. personally, for home ebook reading, i'd kind of like a portable display with a built-in trackball or other pointing device. wifi, bluetooth, wireless usb, the screen would be light and cheap (or as cheap as a small lcd-screen gets when you include the pointing device and batteries) and would give us that 'curl up in bed" factor yet work off our desktops or laptops sitting on a table across the room. it would have the added boost of being able to control a media computer like the Mac mini -- like a super remote. There was a product like this 4, 5 years ago! I can’t remember the name, but it was a laptop whose screen and keyboard were separate components.

personally, for home ebook reading, i’d kind of like a portable display with a built-in trackball or other pointing device. wifi, bluetooth, wireless usb, the screen would be light and cheap (or as cheap as a small lcd-screen gets when you include the pointing device and batteries) and would give us that ‘curl up in bed” factor yet work off our desktops or laptops sitting on a table across the room.

it would have the added boost of being able to control a media computer like the Mac mini — like a super remote.

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