Hello, Recalling the heritage of the Ben as an electronic dictionary...
http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/File:Ben_proprietary_sw.jpg ...I was intrigued to encounter the following product: http://shop.telegraph.co.uk/v8087 I also saw the predecessors or cheaper variants of this on sale in a retail outlet, most having a smaller monochrome screen next to the keys, with the lid being just that and having no additional function. A few interesting observations can be made about the price, which is more than the Ben but with apparently less hardware, meaning that you're supposedly paying for the content, but I'm not sure how much more content you get compared to cheaper models. There's a selection of these kinds of things here: http://www.franklin.com/dictionaries?limit=30 Some models of dictionaries and translators have colour screens and possibly approximate to the Ben a bit more closely. Obviously, I saw such things advertised in a newspaper "reader offers" supplement, and searching for electronic dictionaries does seem to bring up a lot of newspaper "reader offers" online stores. I suppose there's a steady demand for such devices, much to the disdain of the iPad-using younger relatives of entrenched newspaper readers (and crossword solvers) who are perhaps the target demographic for specific dictionary and translator products. I am also reminded of the WikiReader, but such apparently blatantly special purpose appliances perhaps provide a means of driving the development of general device platforms, and so we shouldn't be too dismissive of this kind of product. Wealthy people with time to solve the Telegraph crossword every day are indeed worth targeting if it can fund other things. :-) Paul _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
