How my e-reader lost its stripes
serpentine.comSorry for the tangent, but as a chart nerd it is so interesting to me the way that LLMs produce charts for articles like this - it's like they have no concept of a 3rd party (the reader). So the writing and the vis gets overloaded with the particular context of the conversation, even if it would be irrelevant to a reader.
Like the x-axis label of the first plot mentions that it shows gridlines every 8 ticks - I don't think that's a choice I've ever seen a person make. The next plot does the same thing, but in the title: "(dotted lines: evenly spaced reference)". Again, would anyone making a chart ever include such a specific detail in the title? Probably not beyond undergrad level.
I encounter a similar thing when trying to work with LLMs to write articles - they cannot help including information or detail from the conversation, rather than empathising with the reader and filtering out what they might already know or not care about. They may be capable of solving decades-old maths problems, but on this particular axis they seem to be floundering at the level of a fresh graduate that's desperate to talk about what they've done rather than what their audience needs to know.
I got an X3 a couple of weeks ago, they are dirt cheap and the form factor is amazing. It's so easy to leave it in the pocket and just pull it out when you have an idle moment somewhere out in public. I wasn't certain how comfortable reading would be on such a small screen but it works well. With crosspoint, you can sync your page position with koreader on a larger form factor device.
Been really enjoying the X3 lately. This is a great piece and ideally how a good blog post written about an experience with AI should go – authentically written, and not AI generated. I had fun reading it.
I believe someone built a Linux print driver that let you print straight to these and it would upload the file.
Related to the Xteink X3 reader mentioned in TFA:
wow, an e-reader with opensource firmware? been living under my kindle rock for a while, this sounds exciting.
those LookUp Tables are the most difficult thing to get from a display manufacturer; never thought to let an AI tune one itself using image feedback, incredible!
Okay ill give you points because I never heard of Xteink X3or the open-source CrossPoint. I have a Kobo reader/pen note taker and a Kobo ereader (somewhere) one is too large and one is just meh. Im going to try one of these but it would have been easier to pick something if you actually said HOW DOES IT WORK OUT OF THE BOX AS AN ACTUAL EREADER!
The reader functionality was not the point of TFA. If you want a product review, there are plenty, including the prior HN discussion linked in this thread.
That said, I read enough in the HN thread to get the sense of not bothering with “out of the box” and just flash Crosspoint Reader on it. I played with stock for a few minutes, it was functional, but not notable. Crosspoint took ten minutes to flash, and is head-and-shoulders above the stock FW. Better reader functionality, better font rendering.
I recently purchased an Xteink 4 Pro. My understanding is the built-in software is somewhat ok. You can find reviews on YouTube if you want to know more.
For installing CrossPoint, that is very easy. The CrossPoint website walks you through the installation, which only takes 5-10 minutes. After that, you can put content on the device using the build-in SD card, via Wifi, and a few other methods.
reviews I've seen have been very positive, with the caveat that "out of the box" includes reimaging it with open source firmware. make sure you get a device that can be reimaged this way.
This is a good point. Devices purchased on AliExpress often have their firmware locked. Apparently, it is possible to get around this, but you're better off just getting one that's unlocked from the manufacturer, either via Amazon or the Xteink website,