It never seems like we have enough time to do everything we want to do. Reading for fun is just one of the many pastimes that I’ve pushed aside in order to pursue academics. Of course, this makes very little sense as reading actually can help you academically. So, there are many reasons that I should start reading for fun again (most importantly that I want to).
Sticking to the engineering method, I must first ask what the real problem is. Why don’t I read as much anymore even though I enjoy it? I usually blame time constraints, but is this the real reason? Once I find a book to read that I enjoy, I will make time to read it and continue to do so until I finish. But once I finish that book, it generally takes a long time before I start a new one. The true problem is not time; it’s that I don’t want to go out of my way to get a new book (I prefer the library to buying books) and I don’t like to pack books when I go on vacation because they take up so much space.
The solution is more obvious than the problem: an e-reader. While I am a bit of a traditionalist and rather dislike change, I do realize that an e-reader will be markedly easier to transport to college than books. And I know myself well enough to know that I won’t suddenly start going to the library to take out books. The question remains which e-reader. The main differences among the e-readers are the screen and the variety of activities that are possible. In terms of the activities, I do not need the games and other features (I would get an ipad or other tablet if I did).
That leaves the difference in the screen: e-ink or regular screen. The main difference of course is that e-ink reads like paper (which means that it requires actual light to be able to read) while normal screens are back-light. The way that e-ink works is that there are tons of microcapsules that contain both an ink (or ink-like) substance and charged chips (1). By applying a magnetic field to the microcapsule, you (or really your electronic device) can decide to either show the ink (by attracting the chips to the bottom) or hide the ink (by pushing the chips to the top) (1). Alternatively, the microcapsules can contain white and black chips that are positively and negatively charged respectively (2). Then you expand the system, make a huge matrix, and get a screen of e-ink that can be controlled by tiny magnetic fields (1).
 |
| Source 2 |
This seems easy enough but it begs the question of how they manage to do color. After all, you only have two colors corresponding to two possibilities for the magnetic field in each microcapsule. The solution is similarly simple. Just as color pictures used to be compiled from multiple pictures taken through different color lens, the color e-ink screen uses a color filter that sits on top of the microcapsules (2). There are little matrices of white, red, green, and blue over-lays that allow the microcapsules below to combine in different ways to make that part of the screen appear any color (2).
 |
| Source 2 |
It’s another example of how old ideas and solutions can be re-used in innovate ways. And it’s done its job well – it has convinced me of the benefits of e-ink to the point where I will ask for an e-reader with an e-ink screen over one with a normal screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment