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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago

Two weeks ago my buddy @fulligin pulled me aside and said "I have something to show you." That something was the Daylight Computer, which I was previously unaware of. I've since bought one and am using it fairly extensively for reading. Vincent recorded some impressions: https://t.co/xwKKo5FckH

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

The DC-1 has a whiff of magic to it, comparable to the first time using a Kindle. (Other people profess to have this feeling from the iPhone/iPad the first time. I honestly don't remember those as being "my life now has a before and an after" moments. Kindle was that.)

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

The Kindle is a substitute for paper, via eInk. It's the best available way to buy books, a somewhat mediocre reading experience which acts like an inferior substitute for paper, and an absolutely gobsmackingly frustrating software/hardware artifact to use. I love mine to death.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

The DC-1... I don't know if I can put this into words. My brain reads it as interacting with paper. Not like a crafty technological emulation of paper via eInk with less eyestrain than a typical computer screen. No, my brain screams "this is paper."

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

I've only read about a book and a half on it so far, and it's pretty clear it will be the way I read the next few dozen books until they make a successor device that displaces it. The size/weight is just a little too big, and I largely read at night, and "drop on face" is real.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

And when using the Kindle app on it with the default settings, the physical width of a line is just a tad wider than comfortable for reading for me without needing to seek to the sides. But it feels like reading paper.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

Underneath the hood it's an Android something or other. I don't anticipate ever using it for much other than reading, and so the combination of Kindle (the app) and Chrome is probably the most technical work I'll ever do on it. It's snappy and responsive, like a tablet.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

In particular, I found myself taking many more notes on the books I was reading than I typically do, because t 300ms h 300ms e 300ms 300ms e 300ms xperience of typing on a Kindle is absolutely maddening and misinputs screw up enough highlights/notes to not be worth aggravation.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

It also works in direct sunlight, better than any screen I've ever used. There are a pair of sliders you can trivially adjust for brightness and color warmth, in case you don't like bright white lights when you're reading at night. I typically dial mine in to look like paper.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

Oh it is quite remarkable, like you're seeing a live action version of the Daily Prophet rendering in real time in real life, when you have a video of a human talking playing on a screen that your brain is screaming "That's paper, paper moves now, what is happening to the world."

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

So, capsule summary: I thoroughly enjoy it.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 1 year ago
Replying to @patio11

Oh, saving you a Google: https://t.co/Jojb1Gh0jk

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