Re: New e-book reader launched

In article <59efk35qpv6se0trrn3m4tat4sp1el28fl@xxxxxxx>,
jbeeson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:47:51 -0000, Gerry Quinn <gerryq@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Solar cells on devices that use minimal power anyway are just a
gimmick, IMO. If minuscule energy savings like that were actually
worthwhile, animals would be green.

Near as I can make out, you are saying that solar cells give too
little power to be worth adding to entities that use large amounts of
energy, therefore they are useless for small gadgets which can
function on the tiny trickle a solar cell can provide.

Yes, my 'animals would be green' point doesn't quite hit the mark in
terms of solar-powered calculators etc. On the other hand it is a nice
little dagger to throw at those who insist that saving energy is always
important or even relevant.

Which makes me look at my solar calculator with a certain amount of
puzzlement -- it has been running several years with no attention
whatsoever, despite a tendency to get its "on" button pushed when it's
carelessly shoved into the recess under the monitor -- a
battery-operated calculator that sometimes got put away running would
require new batteries so often that I'd have reverted to using paper
and pencil long ago.

Most such calculators switch themselves off after a little while. Like
battery-powered watches, they will last the guts of a decade on a
single lithium-ion battery. (By that time the watch is often broken or
scratched anyway.)

Would that cell phones drew little enough power that they could charge
their batteries when left in the sun! I've about changed my mind
about getting one, having spent today shopping with a party that
included four cell-phone users, but only two functioning phones, and
we had to run back to get the "car charger" for one of those. I'd
have to seriously need a phone to put up with having to keep it both
charged and in my pocket; I have enough trouble keeping my pocket
knife in my pocket.

And there's the point - a solar charger powerful enough for a cell-
phone would require action on your part such as spreading out its
panels and propping them up facing a southerly direction. Most devices
capable of being charged by unobtrusive solar panels will operate
conveniently using batteries.

- Gerry Quinn


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