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#139914 05/08/03 12:04 AM
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While reading the BBC news website I came across this:

Electronic paper is getting almost as thin as the old-fashioned sort.

The pioneers of digital paper and ink have unveiled a flexible prototype display that is a mere .03mm thick.

Massachusetts-based E Ink said the development of the ultra-thin display should greatly increase the potential uses of its technology.

The company speculates that the development could help drive the creation of computer screens that can be built into clothes.


Now, how seriously cool would it be to be able to write your story wherever you were, when the Muse strikes, simply by writing it on your sleeve? goofy

When I remember all those times I would be writing stories in my head on the bus ride home from work, then have to race up the hill and dive up to the pc, hoping fretfully that I'd remember it all by the time it booted...and how much material I lost because it didn't! grumble ...how I could have used this then!

LabRat (who still wants one of those typewriters of Stephen King's that writes the story out of your head while you sleep...but this will do nicely till they invent one of those. laugh )



Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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Sounds great! Though I'm almost there, I don't go anywhere without Ed now, Ed being my handheld computer! He's really smart - he likes fic (though he doesn't do the long stuff - I need to cut that up for him), he has letter recognition for writing fic straight onto the screen, he's MS Word compatible, so I just drag and drop the files from Ed to my computer and did I mention that he likes fic! laugh

Seriously, its really good. The letter recognition doesn't rely on learning special characters (except you need to write your 'i's
kinda funny) so its really straight forward to write fic on. And as for reading fic, its great! It takes a while to get used to seeing a much reduced line width, but other than that, there's not much wrong with it. It was definately worth getting! smile

Loriel (who, 1.5 months ago, would never have believed that she would actually name a computer! laugh )


"Inappropriate attachment" didn't begin to cover the depth of the feelings Vaughn had for Sydney Bristow.
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I'd seriously like to get a Palm Pilot, or something of that ilk. Admittedly, I'm really ignorant where they are concerned, so can anyone give me some ideas of what sort of thing might work for me? For sure I want to be able to read fanfic on it - I've heard that there are some models that have little mini-disks or something that you can plug into it, so you can carry your fic around like that. And now that Loriel mentioned her Ed, inputting on it would be great, too. I'd *love* to be able to write my fic directly into the computer even when I'm on the go - then the muse would have, like, *no* excuse! laugh

Melisma (under her Rock, always happy to learn about new technology that would make her life easier...)


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Any of the Palms (or their competitors) should be able to handle fic with the right software (a lot of which is freeware or shareware). I use TealDoc -- and a cool conversion program someone on the boards helped me find -- with my Palm. Since my Palm holds 8 meg, 1-2 fics at once (even long ones like Masques) are not a problem. In addition, I have one of those chips Melisma mentioned, which holds another 16 meg.

I like being able to read a few screens of a fic wherever and whenever I happen to have time.


Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn't actually kill you, like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you've promised to cherish till death do you part says, "I never loved you," it should kill you instantly.

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on the one hand, it sounds really cool.

OTOH, it's a bit scary. reminds me a little too much of MIT's "cyborgs" (and, since this is coming from MA, i wouldn't be surprised if there were cyborgs involved in this)... i haven't seen one myself, but i know enough people who have... basically, they're the hardcore computer geeks, associated with the MIT media labs (which gets lots and lots of money from the gov't to come up with new and cool ideas, but if you suggest a practical application, they'll look at you in horror). they basically carry laptops in their backpacks, then have a monacle screen and a virtual keyboard (sensors on the fingers that detect typing motions and tranlate that to keyboard input, even though there's no actual keyboard involved). so, they walk around typing and surfing and whatever, one eye on where they're going (or the lecture they're attending), and one eye on the tiny screen right in front of it.

brings up a mixed reaction in me. part says "cool!!" and part goes "uhm... yeah. i'll just be backing away slowly, now..." laugh

Paul


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I've seen a similar article somewhere. I think the concept is cool. The question is, as always with computer technology, how many bugs will it have before the kinks are all worked out? And will anyone who's not the CEO of a large corporation (or even a small one) actually be able to afford it?


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Oh, I saw those guys on Scientific American Frontiers! Too cool! I really want a rig like that! laugh


Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn't actually kill you, like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you've promised to cherish till death do you part says, "I never loved you," it should kill you instantly.

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My reaction was the same as yours, Paul. I was saying "wow, that's amazing!" at the same time I was staring at the screen with a horrified expression on my face. LOL.

Of course, you'd have to be a really good typist to be able to type 'virtually' ... or else not care about typos and mistakes. <g> Not that you can't fix mistakes, but it seems like it would be a lot harder if you couldn't see what you were doing!

As for losing ideas because you aren't by your computer, though, there is a new fangled invention that can help ... it's this odd flat thing they call "paper" and these really funny skinny things they call "pens". It's amazing what people can come up with these days!

goofy goofy goofy

Kathy

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lol, exactly, kathy! i never go anywhere without my amazing carbon-based PDA. laugh sure, i can't download fic or play solitaire on it or anything, but i never have to worry about data loss (except as related to coffee stains and such...).

actually, reminds me of a sign i put up on the family computer, back when i got tired of seeing the blue screen of death (and copying the exact error message so i could try to figure out what had happened).

"In times of crisis, it is sometimes necessary to revert to superior technology... therefore, please leave the pen and scrap paper here!"

Paul


When in doubt, think about penguins. It probably won't help, but at least it'll be fun.
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LabRat Offline OP
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As for losing ideas because you aren't by your computer, though, there is a new fangled invention that can help ... it's this odd flat thing they call "paper" and these really funny skinny things they call "pens". It's amazing what people can come up with these days!
Sounds logical and simple but...nope. No way in a cold day in hell would you get me writing fanfic on a bus with paper and pen. Too many nosey types around looking over your shoulder.

Whereas...sure that there must be some way you could hold your sleeve at an angle so no one could overlook you. <G>

Besides, am I the only one who, after years of using typewriters and pcs, is now completely unable to write more than two paragraphs before getting writer's cramp? I find that I lose streams of dialogue/paras of narrative that pop into my head by the time I boot up my pc and writing them down is too slow to get it down before they drift off into the ether for good.

LabRat smile



Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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I still write using a mixture of paper and computer. Paper is good because my laptop often is on the fritz, and it's really heavy so I don't want to carry it around with me. With paper I can scribble down an idea out of order or in order, write between the lines if I come up with something in a part I'd already written, scratch out something I decided I didn't like, but still have it there in case I decide I need it after all...

At the same time, the computer is good because you get an instant spellchecker and grammar checker, and it's by far neater than my chicken scratches, and you can print something off to read over later...

I kind of like my system, even if it's not perfect smile

Melisma (slinking back under her Rock to look at all her WIP printoffs to see if they will give her any inspiration...)


EDIT: Rivka, what breed of PalmPilot do you have? My work colleague's mother just showed me hers, which doesn't have a chip option, and it's a Palm III something or other. So naturally I'd want a breed that had one...

party


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Besides, am I the only one who, after years of using typewriters and pcs, is now completely unable to write more than two paragraphs before getting writer's cramp?
Interestingly it wasn't writer's cramp that I had to overcome to be able to jot down notes or dialogue or even scenes on paper -- it was my own self-consciousness. For whatever reason, whenever I would try to write fanfic long-hand (say, when I was on vacation without a computer) I would find it extremely difficult to get lost in what I was writing and just let it flow. Even if no one was around, I felt as if someone was looking over my shoulder. But I finally just had to work through it, starting with notes and snippets of dialogue, then eventually full scenes. It didn't take long to get used to it, and now I won't go on vacation without my notepad. It's definitely harder than the computer, but it's better than losing that perfect scene when you are away from home. smile

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I can write better than I type, so writing is easier for me. However it takes me forever to type up something I've handwritten. Partially cause I can't type, but also cause I 'edit' it as I'm typing it up, or think to myself 'that's rubbish, why on Earth did you write it!' and get distracted from the actual typing up! There are also a lot of distractions on my computer - fic and Free Cell are prime candidates when, two paragraphs in, I get writters block.

Loriel


"Inappropriate attachment" didn't begin to cover the depth of the feelings Vaughn had for Sydney Bristow.
~Ties That Bind by RJ Anderson~

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I haven't been able to write on paper much in the last few years (haven't been able to write much, period! frown ) but I'm trying to start up again. I always thought of my handwritten copy as the first draft, assuming I'd edit when I typed it in. Really, if I weren't editing it as I went, it might get awfully boring goofy I do like writing at the keyboard -- I type faster than I write, and my hand does sometimes cramp up <g>

My main problem is finding a *quiet* time to write. I work best when I'm not hearing miscellaneous television shows, etc. And my computer is right next to our main TV... bad planning, that <g>

PJ


"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."

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I've just got to reply to this laugh . Am I really the only one who ends up at the end of the day with story notes written all over my hands? blush

wave


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My main problem is finding a *quiet* time to write.
Amen to that! Also, my folks think serial killers hang out online, so I have to write in secret. Now that I'm home for the summer, I have to wait until everyone either goes to work or sleep. :rolleyes:


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Hey, ML, congrats on your first post <g>

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Am I really the only one who ends up at the end of the day with story notes written all over my hands?
Well, um... can't speak for anyone else, but that particular note-taking technique has never even occurred to me, somehow... Although now that you mention it, there are probably times that it'd come in handy <g> So to speak wink

Jen, a lot of people seem to think that serial killers are on the net... and it's always good to be cautious, of course! I've met a number of FOLCs over the past few years (I'm gonna meet Irene next week! smile1 ), and I always like to have the first meeting in public, just in case. But it's never been a problem. smile Um, point was... gimme a second, it'll come to me... oh yeah, the point is that FOLCs are among the nicest people you'll ever meet. Online or off <g>

PJ


"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."

--Stardust, Caroline K
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Originally posted by Shadow:
Also, my folks think serial killers hang out online, so I have to write in secret... :rolleyes:
Shadow, I hear you there. My parents were really nervous about my online stuff for a while, until I started getting together with online friends in RL - I made sure that whenever I could, at least at first, they met my friends. Now they are not happy with how much time I spend online, but they aren't as worried about me meeting a serial killer...

Actually, I have to tell you this story, although it's likely going to embarrass the heck out of one of our FoLCs - sorry hon, I won't mention your name...

A couple years ago I met this one FoLC in real life, and got to be very good friends with her and her family, as they lived very near to me at the time. (Her parents treated me like one of their kids, too.) Well, I went through a period of time where I had *very* bad financial troubles, and my landlord finally got tired of me getting behind with the rent, and evicted me. And I had very little time to get out of my apartment. It was my FoLC friend's parents who helped me move out, and indeed, it was thanks to them that I found a temporary place to live so that I didn't have to sleep on the streets. Thanks, you guys!

So yes, I echo Pam's statement that FoLCs are terrific people. Shadow, have you met any of us in RL? If so, introduce them to your parents if you can - let them see that online people are ordinary, decent people, and let them make up their minds for themselves...

(I did this a month or two before I left for a friend in another fandom, BTW. She was in her early teens, and her mother was nervous about us getting together, so I suggested that when we met the first time, her mother and my mother be there... Seemed to go pretty well...)

Melisma (shutting up for now, here under her Rock)


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Shadow, have you met any of us in RL? If so, introduce them to your parents if you can - let them see that online people are ordinary, decent people, and let them make up their minds for themselves...
Unfortunately, no. I live in the absolute middle of nowhere when it comes to hanging out with people online (Alabama, along the Gulf Coast). One day, though. I'm moving up North (somewhere) for grad school, and I am going to be taking so many trips to meet all of my online folks (and FOLCs, if and when the opportunity presents itself).


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wow, all these people writing while away from their desks...

i keep the notepads handy for random stuff.. writing ideas, inventions, lists, addresses, etc.

i don't actually write stories when i'm AFK. i type faster than i write, and it's far more legible, too. edit function is quite handy (far more so than an actual eraser wink ), and i even use spell-check when working on something important. laugh

i remember when palms first came out... it was the summer before my freshman year, and i got a special ad offering to let me buy this new and cool thing before it officially hit the markets. i thought about it, realized it looked cool, and then realized that there was nothing i wanted it to do that i couldn't do with a notepad or my calculator watch.

never got one, probably never will.

i can't imagine trying to actually write a story on one of those things. scrawling it all out by hand on one of those little screens (or trying to work with one of those weird collapsable keyboards), hoping the derned thing would be able to read my writing...

i can almost see reading fic, but even that would be odd, i think.

so, how many people actually write stories on a palmtop?

Paul


When in doubt, think about penguins. It probably won't help, but at least it'll be fun.
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