You’ve already met the Chumby, a linux-based, jack-of-all-trades gadget whose creators proudly bill it as "hackable."
No, this is not the perfect e-book machine right now. I wouldn’t mind a smaller case and a screen larger than 3.5 inches and with higher resolution. That said, e-book-lovers are a pretty flexible and inventive lot, as shown by the ones reading off games machines, and we can take it for granted that prices will drop and the tech will get better—whether on the Chumby or rivals.
Imagine the possibilities of WiFi-equipped, Chumby-style machines for, say, browsing eBooks.com, which already lets you read books right off the Web, rather than relying on downloaded files alone.
So I’ve read with interest a report on WiFi-Enabled Gizmos, or WEGs as described by MarketIntellNow. This is the Big Picture. As much as I cherish and prefer downloadable files, lest the only choice be the E-Book Museum approach, I can see browsing an option for those wanting it. And that means the use of wireless and related technologies. But how much WiFi awareness is there right now? MarketIntellNow surveyed 15,802 people via the Web and found that 32 percent had WiFi in their homes and were "aware of Net-enabled devices that are untethered from the broadband hub."
Build it and they’ll read
E-books on WEGs didn’t fare well even among people with WiFi. But the folks at MarketIntellNow believe this could dramatically change as more people discover the possibilities. Here are the current answers to a question asking about preferred capabilities.
Choice 1: Music. Weighted result: 33 percent. Choice 2: Video. 26 percent. Choice 3: Messaging. 16 percent. Choice 4: Photo Animations. 13 percent. Choice 5: News/Weather/Traffic/Celebrity Gossip/Box Scores. 6 percent. Choice 6: Read Books. 4 percent. Choice 7: Family Calendar. 2 percent.
App developers should look ahead
Not too promising now. But I hope that developers of FBReader and other open apps will look ahead and prepare for the time when Web widgets include better technology for sustained reading and decent storage capabilities. As it happens, MarketIntell believes that "WEGs will be among the best-selling consumer electronic products in 2008-2009." And the more gizmos sold, the more money the WEG-makers will spend on improved screens and other goodies needed to enjoy e-books to their fullest. Meanwhile keep in mind the growing number of people reading on cellphones with much-smaller screens than WEGs.
The standards issue: I hope that WEG-makers will embrace the .epub standard early on in the book-related software they either offer themselves or play up from other companies.
The relationship issue: A spokesman for MarketIntellNow says the "company has no current contractual or client relationship with the makers of the Chumby." MarketIntellNow tells me it went by the specs of the machine.
How to get the full report: Go here.
This post mentions an “E-Book Museum approach” and contains a link with that label. Unfortunately, the link will probably be confusing and misleading to some readers. The link leads to a Google search and the first result in the Google list is a Slashdot article that refers back to TeleRead. The diligent mouse clicker that comes back to TeleRead will find an article about an “E-Book Museum” that contains old hardware such as the Rocketbook. I do not think that this provides the proper semantics. Perhaps TeleRead should have a collection of definitions or descriptions for common terms. Then a link can point to the appropriate definition.
Garson, thanks for the note. Generally the term “E-Book Museum” refers to an approach under which people can view books online–as if looking through the glass at museum exhibits–but cannot download them. However, yes, in the past, I proposed the idea of an e-book museum to show off old gadgets. Let me see if I can’t change the link when I’m off deadline on some other matters. Thanks. David