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Friday, January 13, 2012

The Latest Must-have Gadget!

One to amuse the inner librarian (sadly, in my case, the outer librarian too).

Gadget News!

The "BOOK" is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover! Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

 
  • Each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information.
  • These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.
  • Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.
  • Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile computing crowd.
  • Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain.
  • A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.
  • The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it.
  • The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped in water
  • The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.
  • Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

 
An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers.

 
Conversely, numerous bookmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.

 
The media is ideal for long-term archive use. Several field trials have proven that the media will still be readable in several centuries, and because of its simple user interface it will be compatible with future reading devices.

 
You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (Pencils).

 
Portable, durable, and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the entertainment wave of the future. The BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform.

 

 and it's all true...

 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Oo, thankee sir, for noticing us peasants...

I just read today's Telegraph review of the Sportsman - possibly the most patronising piece I've seen this year... I know it's early days, but it'll take some beating.

Check it for yourself.

Starting off with casual and dismissive comments about Kent as a place to go through rather than to, and Seasalter's apparent inbreeding, there's a great review as far as the food is concerned, although the paper napkin seemed to have caused a little bit of a problem.

Still at £100 each for the tasting menu lunch with wine for the reviewer and his girlfriend, this was reported as "astonishingly good prices". That'll be planet London then... grr.

I expect he want to be AA Gill, but doesn't quite have the wit for it. Still, the food sounded nice, as long as there's no food critics at the next table. it was nice last time I was there, and we escaped with a bill less than half of this one. We must have been doing it wrong.