Some recent studies have suggested that people remember less of the content of a book if they read it on an e-reader vs. traditional print. It's been suggested that this might be because e-readers lack the normal visual cues to know how far you've read in a book.
The idea is to attach an inflatable device the size of your e-reader to the bottom of the device, which will inflate and deflate to show your relative progress through any book.
This technology has the added benefit of making your e-reader far more resistant to impacts in a fall.
When deflated, it could also be used to cover the e-readers and protect it from rain.-- 4and20, Aug 11 2012 Welcome to the HB: Home of People Who Call the HB Home.
After intensive consideration, I can find no flaw whatsoever with this idea.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 11 2012 Gonflable!
That is an interesting observation about visual cues from print material. It reminds me of another idea I had about using a pen knife to carve the plot outline into the pages of a closed book indicating rising action, climax, anticlimax and denoument. Simply by looking at the profile of the book can its general outline be observed and pages selected, as well as present ominous clues to the reader.-- rcarty, Aug 11 2012 I read books on my iPad, my Kindle, my iPhone and also as real books. I think, possibly, that paper books stick more than electronic ones, but I'm not sure. I am sure, though, that I remember less of a book if I read it on my iPhone, where each page is very short.
//problem with the idea is of a technical nature// That, [21Q] is simply because nobody has devoted serious effort toward developing electrogonflable technology.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 11 2012 How about a life based one? A horizontal bar showing "nope, still haven't tidied up the spare room" or "nope, still stuck in that dead-end job", that kind of thing.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 12 2012 not_morrison, it's very much like wearing the bar on your chest like a personal bartender
rcarty, wow.-- 4and20, Aug 12 2012 Have you ever seen the plot outline carved into the pages of a book on weed?-- rcarty, Aug 12 2012 After further consideration, I have found a flaw with this idea.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 12 2012 For frequent readers this idea might give a whole new connotation to the concept of "Bubble Boy".-- jurist, Aug 13 2012 This technology could also be used to cause your e-Reader device to become tumescent when you are reading a passage of an erotic nature.-- hippo, Aug 13 2012 //shoddy software in the readers and/or people not knowing how to configure their preferences// It's hard enough learning to read in the first place without all this configuration malarkey. hippo's anno has me thinking that perhaps this inflatable appendage could be voice activated. If you read the book out loud it inflates as your voice becomes more excited. It would be a fantastic addition to a children's book if an inflatable monster gradually rose up from the book as you read through the scarey bits.-- DrBob, Aug 13 2012 Maybe a page frame that acts as a lever to pump up the inflatable backing to produce something useful for wanking.-- rcarty, Aug 13 2012 Yay Gonflable!-- skinflaps, Aug 14 2012 I don't know about memory retention, but I have noticed a slight tendency to stay up later while reading from an e-reader, which I attribute to not having as concrete a feeling on how far away the end is.
It occurs to me that the reader should be able to learn a person's reading speed (and differentiate it for different genres). It should then be able to display the approximate time until reaching the next chapter, the next topic, and the end of the book, updating every time a page turns.-- MechE, Aug 14 2012 Posted under Speed-e-Reader.-- MechE, Aug 14 2012 random, halfbakery