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by spalt 740 days ago
I kickstarted this long ago and when I got it a few months ago gave it to my wife as a gift, who is an author. She immediately rejected it because she found the eink transitions where it flashes a dark color briefly very distracting.
3 comments

That’s an .. interesting reaction to an unique and thoughtful gift.
I made a small digital clock program that I put on a small display.

It sat next to me while I worked, and I found the transitions from one time to another (like 1:01 -> 1:02) to be distracting. So I changed the transition to be a gradual fade and it helped.

Now that I think about it, I remember getting distracted years ago at a home with a grandfather clock. A quiet room except for the ticking. Definitely accentuated boredom (which with smartphones, we never have anymore)

Yeah, at work we switched phone systems a few years back to some Avaya phones. The new ones had a small screen on them. After 15-30 minute idle, they'd display the a logo that would jump to a new location every minute or two. It was a constant distraction in the corner of my vision. Ended up moving the phone to where I couldn't see it. About 10% of the workforce found it distracting.
It's a potentially insulting gift for a writer. Writing lies between job and hobby, depending on success.

This product, from the ad copy, is targeted at fans of writing. People sitting on the bleachers, not the ones on the court.

So from the right angle, the gift reads as saying "I don't take you seriously - you're a wannabe".

She is not alone. Even antirez spends an incredible amount of time these days just to make the transition smoother on his displays: https://x.com/antirez/status/1768741226159730750
I think it'd be better as a fully mechanical device. 1,400 printed pages that flip like a book minute by minute.