Another aviation related post: eFlyBook pirep

[Viperdoc[_1_]]

I realize they are becoming scarce, but here is another post related to
aviation (and not trolls or games) on the eFlyBook:

The eFlyBook is a new technology item that utilizes digital ink (black and
white). It is around 8x12 inches, and less than 0.5 inches thick (20x30cm),
and weighs around 0.5lb (230g by my estimate). There are no hard drives, and
it relies on internal memory, although it has a port for a CF card as well
as SD and USB. It also has wireless connectivity for updates.

Anyway, when purchased from MyAirplane.com it contains all of the approach
plates as well as all of the lo and hi altitude charts for the entire United
States. Updates are available by subscription, and can be downloaded online
or by CD, and fed into the eFlyBook by the abovementioned cards or through
the USB port.

My original unit took a dump on the first use, due to a bad screen, which
apparently is not an uncommon problem. Getting a replacement was difficult,
but finally did occur, after many unanswered calls and emails.

The technology is outstanding- the approach plates are amazingly clear and
readable. Screen rewrites are slow (not enough internal memory, or a
limitation of the technology?) The enroutes on the other hand, are pretty
limited. There is currently no capability of zooming in or out, so it is
nearly impossible to find out where you are unless you happen upon a nearby
VOR or airport. Also, there is still no way to draw a course line on a
chart, although this in apparently planned. Some of the enroute scans are
incomplete.

There are blank forms for clearances, note taking, and flight plans, which
are fillable using the stylus.

On the other hand, it is also possible to download thousands of books for
free (mostly public domain). However, it was a real joy to read some H.G.
Wells and Conan Doyle books again after many years- I developed a new
appreciation for how well written they actually were. Reading these books
did seem to take a lot of page turns.

Some newspapers and other print media are apparently planning on epublishing
as well- imagine plugging in your eFlyBook in the evening, and having the
entire morning paper downloaded and ready to go by the next day! Battery
life is great, a claimed 10 hours per charge.

Overall, a great new technology, which still has some teething problems.
When these are worked out and the reliability is more assured, these or
similar units will make paper charts obsolete. For now I use it for backup
in case of diversions, as well as general reading.

[john smith]

In article >,
"Viperdoc" > wrote:

> Some newspapers and other print media are apparently planning on epublishing
> as well- imagine plugging in your eFlyBook in the evening, and having the
> entire morning paper downloaded and ready to go by the next day! Battery
> life is great, a claimed 10 hours per charge.

Newsprint prices have stabilized after rising for the past couple of
years. Newspaper circulation is down, and the digital ink may provide
the portable substitute to attract new readers/subscribers.

[Jack Allison[_1_]]

Viperdoc wrote:
> I realize they are becoming scarce, but here is another post related to
> aviation (and not trolls or games) on the eFlyBook:

FYI, another pirep here:
http://aviationmentor.blogspot.com/2006/09/paperless-cockpit.html


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Kev]

Viperdoc wrote:
> I realize they are becoming scarce, but here is another post related to
> aviation (and not trolls or games) on the eFlyBook:
> [...]
> The technology is outstanding- the approach plates are amazingly clear and
> readable. Screen rewrites are slow (not enough internal memory, or a
> limitation of the technology?)

Technology limitation. The beauty of the electronic paper technology
is that once you write the screen, it stays the same without power.
(The drain on batteries is because of a backlight if there is one, and
in changing the screen, which takes time to rotate each colored ball,
or move the ink dot or whatever is the particular case.)

I might not, but I'm quite sure that my daughter will see printed
screens that duplicate this. In other words, flexible throwaway
digital paper. There will be newspapers, books, etc that have animated
pictures.

Also, have you seen the new Philips digital display cloth?? T-shirts
and sofas and pillows and blankets with video? Can you imagine the
eFlyBook, but embedded in your shirt arm and/or pants legs? Or heck
how about under the brow of your cap?

The mind boggles at what's coming.

Kev

[Jose[_1_]]

> The beauty of the electronic paper technology
> is that once you write the screen, it stays the same without power.
> [...]
> There will be newspapers, books, etc that have animated
> pictures.

Doesn't that sort of go against things? Animation requires constant
screen writing, negating the power advantages of electronic paper.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Peter Duniho]

"Jose" > wrote in message
om...
>> There will be newspapers, books, etc that have animated
>> pictures.
>
> Doesn't that sort of go against things? Animation requires constant
> screen writing, negating the power advantages of electronic paper.

That all depends on the implementation.

However, it's not hard to imagine a technology in which some portion of the
display is animated, while most of it remains static, allowing just enough
power consumption to support the animation. The total power consumption
might well be significantly less than a conventional display.

Of course, don't forget that power consumption isn't the whole point of
electronic paper. Not losing the display in the event of a power failure is
another benefit. Someone building an e-paper-based solution may decide that
there's a use for an animation, even at the extra power cost, as long as the
whole display doesn't disappear when the power goes out.

I'm still waiting for the "individual chart pages" e-paper product. It
would use RFID technology to encode charts one anticipates needing, which
could then just be put into small binder for a given flight. One would
still bring the somewhat larger, powered single-page unit to deal with
flight plan changes, but would not be relying on a powered electronic device
for the most likely scenario of the flight. That way, a failure of the
powered device isn't a big problem (and you still don't need to carry the
big book of paper charts :) ).

Pete

[Jose[_1_]]

> However, it's not hard to imagine a technology in which some portion of the
> display is animated, while most of it remains static, allowing just enough
> power consumption to support the animation.

What I can imagine is not a lot of consideration by the page designers
for that kind of thing. Advertisers would buy animation on the pages
and users would simply have to pony up for more batteries.

Look at the web for a model. (It's why I have unplugged every animation
patch I can find).

You don't think advertiser supported approach charts are in the future?
I sure do.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Peter Duniho]

"Jose" > wrote in message
...
> [...]
> You don't think advertiser supported approach charts are in the future? I
> sure do.

Well, first of all...

If ad-supported approach charts were such a viable business model, there's
no reason they shouldn't exist today. That's not a technology thing, it's a
user thing. There's already plenty of ad-supported printed media.

That said, if ad-supported approach charts ever do become a reality, more
power to them. Many people do not mind ad-supported products at all. They
apparently like paying their subscription through the marketing middle-man.
There will still be a market for the ad-free subscriptions, and people can
choose as they like.

The point *here* is that there's no fundamental reason why, if performance
is improved, animation would not be possible, nor even desirable, on
e-paper.

Pete

[Jose[_1_]]

> If ad-supported approach charts were such a viable business model, there's
> no reason they shouldn't exist today.

Has anybody thought of it? Well, probably but there are a few hurdles.
First, the public wasn't always so accepting of advertising
everywhere. We put up with it now. The government has to make the data
available; I don't know if it has. (Does Jepp gather it's own data, or
license the government charts and reformat them?) The market is a bit
limited, both for the advertiser and the customer. But it's there.

> That said, if ad-supported approach charts ever do become a reality, more
> power to them. Many people do not mind ad-supported products at all.

I agree, so long as the ads aren't abusive. They are on the web.
=That= is the trend I fear.

> The point *here* is that there's no fundamental reason why, if performance
> is improved, animation would not be possible, nor even desirable, on
> e-paper.

Here is where I differ, at least to some extent. Performance has to be
improved a lot for animation on this kind of E-paper to work. The whole
idea is to write once and leave it alone. If you have to write thirty
times a second, that's a big performance hit (put another way, that's a
big additional cost to the hapless user). Perhaps there are
applications for animation that users would want, and be willing to pony
up for, but I fear (a fear confirmed on the web) that the primary driver
will be advertisers, who will find a way to make pages animate with no
recourse, and run down the user's batteries unless they "upgrade". For
a model of this, just look at flash on the web.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.