Today I was overjoyed to notice that the MBTA is installing e-ink signs. I didn’t know about this when I wrote in the previous post that the market for e-ink monitors will be huge.
I was actually about to report more on my experience, and by another standard coincidence today a reader asks:
Some time have passed, is your evaluation the same? Did you come across any unexpected difficulties?
Well, I wrote a paper entirely in e-ink. But I regret to admit that towards the end of the semester I got really busy with the usual end-of-Spring matters at the university, and I switched back to my back-lit 30-inch Dell monitor. I had to interact with a number of computer systems where I could not easily change font size (the story of my life), and where color tended to matter, and I felt that the new monitor was slowing me down. I haven’t switched back to the e-ink monitor yet, partly because I am still recovering from the burst.
However I look forward to using the e-ink monitor more during this summer, especially outdoors. Here the fact that it’s usb powered will be essential. In the MBTA project they use solar power which I think is really cool and makes me think of bringing my monitor to the secluded off-the-grid cabin in Maine I don’t have.
Thoughts 