http://phys.org/news/2014-12-kickstarter-hemingwrite-writers-respite-internet.html
“...
Kickstarter Project Hemingwrite offers writers a respite from Internet noise
Entrepreneurs Adam Leeb and Patrick Paul had an idea—a new age typewriter that offered the comforting nostalgia of old fashioned typewriters with the connectability of modern computers, minus the distractions of current devices. They've built a prototype, and are calling it the Hemingwrite – a distraction-free digital typewriter. Also, it's now a Kickstarter Project, with the two hopefuls looking for $250,000 to further develop the idea leading perhaps to a sellable product.
The Hemingwrite is quaint, of that there is no doubt. Leeb and Paul have built a housing and put in a keyboard that immediately reminds of old faithful typewriters. Instead of typing onto paper, though, keystrokes appear on a six inch e-ink display, and instead of paper output, the results of writing efforts are stored in the cloud (via WiFi). To give the device that old-world feel, they put in a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches. The case is aluminum, giving the machine more durability than a typical laptop or tablet computer. The machine also has a bright red instant-on button, a left side knob for moving between three possible documents and a knob on the right-hand side for turning WiFi on or off. The keyboard also has a Print key and there's a status bar screen between the display and keyboard. The two builders claim the battery will last four to six weeks between charging.
The whole point of the Hemingwrite is to help writers get back to the business of real quality writing—there's no email, text messaging or cruising the web—all it does is allow a person to write a document they way it was done in the old days—in a peaceful, calm environment. They believe using the device to write will not only make writers more productive, but better, because they will be able to focus on honing their craft, rather than worrying about what is going on in the rest of the world. That's the good stuff. The not so good is that the thing weighs four pounds and costs $349 for a limited number of people now and ultimately $499 for everyone else once it's in production and made for general sale. That might seem like a lot to some, especially considering that it's in competition with laptops that offer a lot more, and can offer the same "silent" mode by a user simply turning off their WiFi.
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They say “Kickstarter Project Hemingwrite offers writers a respite from Internet noise ...” and “—all it does is allow a person to write a document they way it was done in the old days—in a peaceful, calm environment.” but I and others that know how to use word processors don't have a problem with so called “internet noise” and, as for “ in a peaceful, calm environment”, if you really trying to write something on a word processor and find e-mail etc distracting, the solution is simple and obvious -just disconnect your laptop from the internet while you word process! 😛 (although you don't even have to do that ). Thus their apparent reasoning here for this makes no sense whatsoever.
However, they may be on to something here but not for the reasons they say here; for elderly people that don't know how to use a modern computer and are too 'scared' (if that is the right word for it ) to learn how or simply feel they don't have the time to or feel they are just too old to learn that now but are familiar with the use of an old fashioned typewriter, providing this new typewriter is made to be simple, intuitive and as like an old fashioned typewriter as possible but with much of the advantages of a modern computer, this could be ideal for them! But this is apparently not what the authors of this development have in mind judging from the picture in this link showing the younger generation using it. If they get the target customer wrong right from the start, this could be a flop from the start even if it has great potential. They should target the elderly like my mum who just will not otherwise use a modern computer -that just might work!
Originally posted by humyThe price tag is far too high. I can buy a pentium based system, keyboard and screen for about that and exert a little self-control. The people who made the Raspberry Pi had the right idea, which is to make something as cheap as possible. I can't believe anyone is going to want to buy something heavy and expensive that has only one purpose. It can't even store it's data locally - so it needs a Wifi connection and a separate printer. This means that my cheap tower + a printer but without a modem has all the required functionality without being able to connect to the internet and costs the same. This is a fail, building a pure mechanical typewriter for people who don't like computers would be a better bet.
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-kickstarter-hemingwrite-writers-respite-internet.html
“...
Kickstarter Project Hemingwrite offers writers a respite from Internet noise
Entrepreneurs Adam Leeb and Patrick Paul had an idea—a new age typewriter that offered the comforting nostalgia of old fashioned typewriters with the connectability of modern computers, minus t ...[text shortened]... the elderly like my mum who just will not otherwise use a modern computer -that just might work!
Reminds me of the story of how the Americans spend millions of dollars developing the space pen, a pen that would work in zero gravity. Russians just used a pencil.
Forget the type writer, and use a pen and paper!
Computer keyboards are better than classic typewriter keys (I learnt to type on a typewriter), and you can always delete your email program and web browser, or otherwise modify your PC to keep you focused. Why not just buy a cheap laptop, delete everything except notepad, and syncing to the cloud, and there you are!
Alternatively buy a Chrome book and set the web browser to only access a single web page that allows typing only.
Originally posted by twhiteheadYeah, but the linkage is all made of metal and quite heavy to hit. My parents used to have this thing made in the 1920's and typing on that involved moving the key about an inch. Some type of carbon fibre linkage so it's light, with leverage so that they keys don't need to be pushed too far, basically so the typing action is like using an electronic keyboard is what I had in mind.
Unless the demand is high, I am sure you can find plenty of old unused mechanical typewriters lying around.
Originally posted by DeepThought
The price tag is far too high. I can buy a pentium based system, keyboard and screen for about that and exert a little self-control. The people who made the Raspberry Pi had the right idea, which is to make something as cheap as possible. I can't believe anyone is going to want to buy something heavy and expensive that has only one purpose. It can't ...[text shortened]... building a pure mechanical typewriter for people who don't like computers would be a better bet.
This is a fail
Yes, I think your are right. It is a fail only in part because;
1, as you said, they made it too expensive. They should have designed it to specifically be significantly cheaper than a laptop else not much point.
2, as you implied, they should have designed it to store what is typed within the device itself (I would say using non-volatile computer memory )
3, they didn't get there target customer right.
I think it can be made all right for it to be single-purpose though if only the above 3 conditions were met (which they weren't hence it is a non-starter definite fail ) .
Originally posted by humyI get ads from my laptop company, they now have quad core, 8 gigs ram, terabyte HD, DVD burner and all for $350 or so. Why would I pay 500 bucks for something that ONLY does typing? If you are the distracted type, maybe you should consider not playing every game that comes along and like he said, turn off the wifi which you certainly don't need just to type a research paper. If you need to Google something, turn wifi back on for the thing you need and go back to your paper. For that money you can get a portable printer that prints out the work too along with your brand new laptop.This is a fail
Yes, I think your are right. It is a fail only in part because;
1, as you said, they made it too expensive. They should have designed it to specifically be significantly cheaper than a laptop else not much point.
2, as you implied, they should have designed it to store what is typed within the device itself (I ...[text shortened]... the above 3 conditions were met (which they weren't hence it is a non-starter definite fail ) .
Originally posted by DeepThoughtSo basically redo all the advance we have done in the past and come up with .... a computer keyboard.
Yeah, but the linkage is all made of metal and quite heavy to hit. My parents used to have this thing made in the 1920's and typing on that involved moving the key about an inch. Some type of carbon fibre linkage so it's light, with leverage so that they keys don't need to be pushed too far, basically so the typing action is like using an electronic keyboard is what I had in mind.
All they really need to do, is build an Arduino into a standard computer keyboard, add a tiny screen and USB port for the flash drive. I bet it could be done for under $50.
Originally posted by twhiteheadI don't know if you believe that story to be true (but there is a lot of people that do) but here are a couple of links that detail what really happened:
Reminds me of the story of how the Americans spend millions of dollars developing the space pen, a pen that would work in zero gravity. Russians just used a pencil.
http://www.tested.com/forums/this-is-only-a-test/43905-nasa-space-pen-vs-russian-pencil-story/
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and_Russian_space_programs
Originally posted by adam warlockNot only did they give up the pencil, the Russians bought American made space pens! Priceless🙂
I don't know if you believe that story to be true (but there is a lot of people that do) but here are a couple of links that detail what really happened:
http://www.tested.com/forums/this-is-only-a-test/43905-nasa-space-pen-vs-russian-pencil-story/
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or- ...[text shortened]... n-nasa-spen/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and_Russian_space_programs