Amateur Engineer Figures Out Why His Kindle Randomly Restarts

[The_root_of_all_evil]

consider a bookworm and your technologically illiterate person. Its cheaper than a smart phone, also a much bigger screen, and can "carry" more books than just a book.

I don't assume its a very large market but the market is there.

Ok, I can buy a good book for £2. Along with the myriad of other things I can do with it, I can leave it for someone else and if it gets stolen, so what?

Project Gutenberg can get me over 7000 .rtfs of classic books that I can use on my free smart phone (contract)

Just trying to get someone to sell me a Kindle - and it all seems to come down to "Well, I like it". I could get 100 books for the price of one Kindle - but I'd need to read 500 or so to get the price back. And if it fails to charge - no book.

 

[DTWolfwood]

consider a bookworm and your technologically illiterate person. Its cheaper than a smart phone, also a much bigger screen, and can "carry" more books than just a book.

I don't assume its a very large market but the market is there.

Ok, I can buy a good book for £2. Along with the myriad of other things I can do with it, I can leave it for someone else and if it gets stolen, so what?

Project Gutenberg can get me over 7000 .rtfs of classic books that I can use on my free smart phone (contract)

Just trying to get someone to sell me a Kindle - and it all seems to come down to "Well, I like it". I could get 100 books for the price of one Kindle - but I'd need to read 500 or so to get the price back. And if it fails to charge - no book.

hence the appeal for a bookworm. You cant very well carry 100 real books on you at a time. Plus Smart phones may be free with contracts but the monthly fee you pay is outrageous. (they are even more easily stolen or lost)

if you dont have a smartphone, them ebook readers make more sense should you be so literately inclined.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

You cant very well carry 100 real books on you at a time. Plus Smart phones may be free with contracts but the monthly fee you pay is outrageous. (they are even more easily stolen or lost)

I rarely read more than 1 book at a time, though I probably carry 3.

I simply don't get why someone who enjoys reading would ditch 100 books worth of money into something that makes it more difficult.

 

[Petromir]

Can someone explain to me why an e-book reader is more useful than a book, an audio book or just a .rtf file on your phone?

Because everything I've seen seems to say to me that it's less useful, easily steal-able and you only rent the books?

Well it takes up a hell of alot less space and weight than the equivilent supply of real books. Some people want to read themselves, or dont like an audio books reader. Over a backlight screen, it reduces eye strain immensly.

and only rent the books? You have almost the same rights as a real book, the only differnce in what you can do is sell your collection individually. Most of the other rights that appear restricted are there for ordinary books, just less enforciable.

 

[DTWolfwood]

You cant very well carry 100 real books on you at a time. Plus Smart phones may be free with contracts but the monthly fee you pay is outrageous. (they are even more easily stolen or lost)

I rarely read more than 1 book at a time, though I probably carry 3.

I simply don't get why someone who enjoys reading would ditch 100 books worth of money into something that makes it more difficult.

What do you mean more difficult? These ebook readers have interfaces a child can use. They call it a convenience tax. You pay for the ability to not lug around dozens of books at a time and still have them at your beckon call. If you read more than 3+ books a day, everyday, you'll understand. Otherwise its a moot point.

 

[MrGalactus]

Wow that's awesome! See, this is what happens whe we actually do something, rather than just complain!

 

[AmayaOnnaOtaku]

My dad does this all the time.

He used the same devise to find out why his hover broke. he took the whole damn think apart spent half an hour messing around with it and then just sniped of a bit of wire and saved himself a lot of cash.

I was thinking I could see my grandfather doing the same thing. Damn Engineers!

 

[Anarchemitis]

He look buddy, I'm an Engineer, and that means I solve practical problems.

 

[smithy_2045]

Seems like a pretty obvious potential flaw to me, but what would I know?

 

[DanDeFool]

Oh God, that's golden. No pun intended.

Yeah it was.

 

[DanDeFool]

Why couldn't they use plastic with a hole drilled through for cabling?

That one's called Version 2.

You know that saying "the devil is in the details"? This is one of those times. Sometimes engineers just don't catch all this stuff until a problem actually shows itself.

I mean, just look at the airline industry.

Or better yet, don't.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

If it was that easy, somehow I get the impression that Amazon was employing software engineers to investigate the trouble, not electrical engineers. Big difference.

This. If I'd known about the full context of the issue my first thought would have been to take it down to the EE lab and do exactly what he did.

I suspect the issue was more that very few people knew all of the pieces of the puzzle, not that nobody was smart enough to put them together. This is pretty basic stuff (which in turn means that Amazon should be pretty ashamed that it happened).

this. its pretty damn basic, im no where going into electrical engineering but this is exactly what i would have done if someone told me the problem.

I'm sure it got caught up by idiot supervisors, so i wont blame amazon engineers or anything, but this is embarrassingly stupid. (kudos to the guy though for actually doing it)

 

[Bad Jim]

Can someone explain to me why an e-book reader is more useful than a book, an audio book or just a .rtf file on your phone?

Because everything I've seen seems to say to me that it's less useful, easily steal-able and you only rent the books?

1) Audio books are a matter of taste. If I go blind, I might appreciate them. Until then, my preference is text. If you are able to speed read, or even just fairly literate, you can read faster than someone can talk.

2) Books clutter up the place and weigh you down when you are travelling. If you are vaguely interested in several books, you must choose one or two before travelling and not on the journey. Some books are offensivley bulky on their own eg Bible, War and Peace, Encyclopedias etc.

Books are not necessarily available in large print, while all ebooks can be displayed in large print. Ebooks can be obtained immediately from the comfort of your own home, while you must either go out and get a book or wait for it to be delivered. Although you cannot currently save money with an ebook reader unless you read hundreds of free ebooks, if prices drop the way they did for mp3 players this may change.

3) Ebook readers use E-ink/E-paper. It looks like a printed page under glass. It is readable in bright sunlight and draws little to no power on a static display. Other portable devices use illuminated displays which are only readable in sunlight with the brightness turned up, at the inevitable expense of the battery. PC monitors cause eye strain, while an e-paper display doesn't, because you are not staring at a light source.

I think there should be more e-paper displays, to save office workers from eye strain and text addicts from flat batteries. A device like the iPad with an e-paper display would be pretty cool and would make e-readers obsolete. Until then however, the ebook reader is a useful device.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Until then however, the ebook reader is a useful device.

Hmmm...not really convinced, but hey...

If you read more than 3+ books a day, everyday, you'll understand. Otherwise its a moot point.

Just to come back to this point...I know some voracious bookworms and they'd splutter at 3 books a day, never mind more.

 

[samsonguy920]

And this is why engineers make the big bucks.

Mighty good thing I don't bother with these confangled new age book things. I'll stick with carving pictures into a wall with a mammoth tusk thank you.

Guess who just bought a Kindle and Case for Christmas? Looks like I'm going to have to keep an eye out for wear and tear.

Pro tip:

Wet'n'wild clear coat nail polish. Two dabs on each hook.

Best liquid insulation application ever.

We routinely use it for insulating atomically sharp scanning probe tips.

Also the reason Darth Vader never used Force Lightning.

Also Wet'n'Wild sounds like either a Waterpark or a Porno

What about a porno shot at a waterpark? Or a porno themed waterpark.

Count me in for Tshirt Tuesdays.

 

[Bad Jim]

If you read more than 3+ books a day, everyday, you'll understand. Otherwise its a moot point.

Just to come back to this point...I know some voracious bookworms and they'd splutter at 3 books a day, never mind more.

Well a Kindle costs £109. If you're getting classic paperbacks at £2, you only have to read 55 to get your money back in savings. If you read one a week that takes just over a year. 3+ a day is a bit of an exaggeration methinks, but you can make savings vs paperbacks while reading at realistic speeds.

Also, if you put a minimum wage value on your time, going out and getting the book could easily take half an hour, ~£3, plus bus fare/fuel costs. So you could be effectively saving £5 per book even when they only cost £2.

 

[Jake Martinez]

Why would they even connect the hooks together if they are attached to a source of power? Isn't it obvious that would create a circuit?

It's because to save money, the piece is manufactured the same way for both the "with light" and "without light" variety. The only difference on the cheaper model is that they paint the hooks.

It's just poor manufacturing to save cash, which it looks like, is going to cost them some cash. It would have been better to not offer the non-lighted product at all it appears.