Remember that $300 do-it-yourself rapid e-book scanner I mentioned in my post the other day about ethics and legality? Instructables has gone that scanner one better, with instructions for building a $20 photographic-scanning rig. The entry describes creating a roughly pyramidal framework out of hardware including tie rods, angle brackets, and shelf tracks. Into the framework one mounts a digital camera, which is then used to take photos of the book between turning the pages. While not as sophisticated as the $300 model, the simplicity and economy of this approach is nonetheless remarkable and may still very...

Photo Note: My auto-focus digital camera had a little trouble getting good shots of the screen; no matter what I do, the shots tend to turn out slightly off-focus. The shots may look blurry, but suffice it to say that’s a problem with my camera—in person, the reader is quite as crisp and clear as printed text. I’ve had more time to play around with the Astak, and the bloom is off the rose. Yes, the e-ink screen is truly amazing, and far clearer than the touch-sensitive Sony reader’s. However, it has certain other problems. In Praise of Astak Before I start...

I am in St. Louis this weekend, along with my parents, for a visit to my brother, sister-in-law, and four nieces and nephews. I am away from my own desktop computer, and am having to make do with a slightly flaky Ubuntu laptop---and do not quite have either the energy or the facilities to write the in-depth examination of how the PRS-700 deals with different e-book formats that I had intended. However, I have brought along the PRS-700 (as well as my iPod Touch) and have observed a few possibly-unexpected uses of the Sony Reader---and another flaw or two---along the way. (Update:...