A Rational Theory of Morality?

Sam Harris seeks to lay the foundation for a rational theory of morality. It's interesting to note that he's resurrecting ideas of the Utilitarian philosophers, in more modern terms. The Googlers he was talking to caught onto the main problem; in the terms that Harris used, the utility function needs clear definition. And that's precisely the problem that the Utilitarians ran against. Defining Utility is a hard philosophical problem, and it would be interesting to see how Harris deals with it, now that he's promised a book on that topic.

If the gentle reader wishes to protest that the way to get to a standard of morality has to be religious, perhaps reading this earlier post would of interest.

Three Things Wrong with the IPL

Our little birdie is back from a visit to London. Apparently, the venerable cricketing brains there have got it all figured out. There are three things that are wrong with the IPL, they say.

1. People want to pay to see it
   
2. Players want to play it
   
3. Sponsors want to shell out good money to be associated with it

And that is just not Cricket.

Infibeam Pi Review

It is cold in the scriptorium, and my thumb hurts
- Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"

The Mad Hatter, though a bit of a gadget freak, has been a bit of a Luddite about eBook readers so far. Nothing compares to the real book for him. The Kindle has been far away from his shopping list, as have been its competitors; no E Ink for him, when the real thing can be had. And, after starting at a computer screen all day, a real book feels much more comfortable to pick up, like a pair of old and comfortable slippers.

What then possessed him to order the Infibeam Pi - the "desi Kindle" as websites keep calling it? Was it mere curiosity, the price being below a psychological barrier, or just fear of being left behind? Whatever the reason may be, he's now the proud owner of a 6" E ink reader less than 10 mm thick and weighing about 180 grams, data helpfully provided by the product's website.

Not having an alternate product to compare to, this review is bound to be less than perfect, but for whatever it's worth, it seems to be a decent product.

It feels light, about the weight of a normal book, but much easier to hold. The E Ink screen is fairly easy to read in well-lit conditions and much easier on the eye than an LCD screen. I wish the screen were a little bigger. As is, it feels small. about 5 cm too small. It's hard to shake off the feeling that one is reading one of those old American "pocket" paperbacks from decades ago rather than a modern book.

The controls for turning pages is a scroll button - a la the Nokia phones, which is hard on the fingers. If only this had capacitive sense buttons, or, even better, gesture recognition to mimic the familiar act of turning pages with ones fingers. Yes, I know, that's too much to ask for in a basic model. Response to buttons is a bit sluggish, but not bad enough to be irritating.

The Pi came with a couple of free eBooks loaded, and there're quite a few free eBooks legally available on the net. Pirated versions of most books are available, of course, if you're into that kind of thing. For those of us inclined to pay for our books, the Infibeam site has legal eBook versions many popular titles, but priced quite a bit higher that one expects. Why is that? It's hard to see the legal eBook economy taking off when you charge that much.

What I'd like is to get an eBook version at a marginal extra cost when I buy the paper version rather than pay twice, which seems to be a waste. There is definitely the advantage of convenience, of being able to carry one's book collection around in a small device like this; to be able to read whichever book that suits ones whim and mood, but does that justify paying twice for the same book?

Overall, a good show, Infibeam, but you can do better when you release the Pi DX (or whatever you choose to call it). The Pi has evoked enough interest in the Hatter household for him to consider buying an upgraded version when you release it - if it has the right features. Perhaps you could consider pricing your titles a bit more reasonably to suit Indian pockets as well?

And, lest I forget, my thumb hurts from turning pages with the scroll button. Not badly enough to notice all the time, but just enough to remind me of Umberto Eco. Now if only I could get his collected works for a low enough price ...

Update: Is this the ODM design that was rebranded as the Infibeam Pi? I was kind of expecting a Taiwanese ODM to be behind it, so no big surprise.

It's not the hardware that's important, but the business model. So far, the eBook business model has been nonexistent in India. What Infibeam seems to have done to try to get the model moving is

1. Lowered the initial cost (which is hardware), always a critical thing for India
2. Put a face on hardware from a faceless source - trust is very important for us desis!
3. Begun to work on fixing the pricing of eBooks (see their comment below) - fix incremental costs

Well begun, but far from done. What will be critical is how they deal with

1. Hardware problems, service ... Can they retain the initial trust? Indians don't mind stuff breaking, as long as they can get it fixed.
2. eBook pricing - they seem to be on the right track, but need to deliver on lower ebook pricing to get any serious volume going. Innovative paper + ebook deals might help to nudge people in the ebook direction.

Wonder which B-school will make this a case study first ... :)

Update(Dec 2010): 
Unfortunately, my Pi experience did not stay positive for all that long. Late in 2010, my screen mysteriously gave up the ghost. It's not clear what happened, since no physical damage to the device can be seen. Infibeam were prompt and efficient in arranging a pickup for the device, but then were silent for a month. After being reminded, they informed me that the screen of the device had conked out and it wasn't covered under warranty. They wanted around INR 4K to fix the screen.  I'm not sure whether it makes sense to pay up or just spend a bit more money and buy a Kindle.