If there were anything a frequent traveler needs more than a towel (and money, and identification, and maybe a cellphone...) it's a
Kindle 2. To celebrate its ability to provide free access to the world's great information repository from absolutely anywhere (within in the United States that has cellular access), Adafruit Industries has turned the K2 into something of an ode to Douglas Adams's great epic: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. After a little burning action courtesy of its Epliog 35 watt laser (which we've
seen in action before), the e-book reader now sports the most valuable advice ever given to a man (or alien). Sadly it still won't give you directions to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it will at least let you download and start reading it in under a minute. Ford Prefect would be proud.
posted Mar 13th 2009 8:53AM
first!
Its not hard to be first early in the morning.
Funny, it's mid afternoon here. What's with the assumption that everyone lives in the US?
Yo mean there aer other places in the world other than the US?
oh my,
How deliciously absurd!
Wow. Those are some big, friendly letters. :-)
Awesome!
Yet, I still don't want/need the Kindle.
That's pretty awesome. It's convenient too since I just bought a new towel.
Here's a frood who really knows where his towel is.
I'd go so far as to say a Hoopy Frood!
Judging why what the laser did to it, it's say it's very much the right end.
Yeah.. what's with these misnamed articles as of late? Remember the wiimote thrown into TV shit a couple days ago? -_-.
I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
Ahem...:
"to celebrate ITS' ability to provide free access"
Once again, "journalists": it's = it is. Its = possessive.
And if you need a little song to help you remember we got that too. http://www.hrwiki.org/mirror/sb_itsits.mp3
How about you find a song about how nobody GIVES a shit.
Sorry to hear that Dan try some more fibre in your diet, I give one at least twice daily.
I'm not the one being anally retentive!
Maybe, but it's amazing how little things like that can make a big difference. You'd be surprised how attention to small details can really give you an edge sometimes. I have seen a person making a decision on two highly qualified individuals for a research position here and the deciding factor was that one used the TM and (R) marks in software names along with no misspelled words. Nothing wrong with keeping people on their toes about their English.
I need one of these so that I can put Apple logos on everything aluminum...
And brand a couple fake iPod shuffles too...
I wonder if they got this idea from xkcd:
http://xkcd.com/548/
Either that or they got it from the jailbroken ipod touch app http://collison.ie/wikipedia-iphone/
Which put an offline version of wikipedia on your ipod, and says "Don't Panic" when you run the app.
xkcd is the base of all great human thinking and great ideas.
Yes, she did. Details at her blog:
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/03/12/first-laser-etched-kindle-2-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-dont-panic/
Actually, This guy had such an idea before the XKCD comic showed up. He mentions he almost didn't do it because he wanted the originality.
http://seanreiser.com/content/getting-kindle-etched
Lol, I after that comic I said, watch there's gonna be people with don't panic stickers or engravings on the bak of their Kindle 2s
Exactly what I was thinking
Now all we need to do is negate the existence of God (by proving he exists) and make a couple of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.
but without faith god is nothing, and in proving his existance by...oh, say, the babel fish, which could not have involved by chance, we are therefore, by his own arguments proving he does not exist. now excuse me while i go to prove that black is white.
but without faith god is nothing, and in proving his existance by...oh, say, the babel fish, which could not have involved by chance, we are therefore, by his own arguments proving he does not exist. now excuse me while i go to prove that black is white.
awezome
With so much reflection off the glass, I originally thought the guy was videoing his new MacBook screen...
It would be awesome if the Kindle was reasonably priced.
I'll take 42.
don't forget a towel
wasn't there a post or something at some point, somewhere, about where you could find places in your area to do this?
So perfect.
That is so freakin' awesome!
I'm so glad that Tim realizes the date and day.
Amazon are you listening? Kindle 2 Guide edition: "Don't Panic" in proper font with tongue planet etched on the backside with Hitchhiker's Guide (4 books in the Trilogy) preloaded with some dollars going to "Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund"? Genius! Marvin would be suitably not-impressed.
nice idea, but there are 5 books in the trilogy.
Let's hope that the publishers of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" forbids Amazon from using their text-to-speech function to recite Vogon poetry.
Er, no offence but I wouldn't call something you cant even legally buy outside of one country on earth comparable to the "Hitchikers Guide to the Gallexy"
what is this "kindle" thingy? I log into engadget everyday and have never heard of this. You'd think something as awesomely cool as an ebook reader would warrant a little more coverage. For shame, engadget. For shame.
/sarcasm
If you put this "Don't Panic" thing on the back of something that can actually access the Internet, you have the closest thing in existence to the Guide. Sadly, the most eligible device for this is an iPhone.
You mean all 5 right?
If only there was Canadian coverage, I'd likely be the first in line.
up until now I never wanted, nor saw a use for a kindle. if it had a full color screen, and an electronic thumb, I might be convinced to go buy one right this second.
Awesome...
If only it were a bit cheaper, then the sales would increase exponentially.
To quote Colbert:
"Things have gotten so bad, Americans have started reading."
Haha, awesome!
The font they used is freeware btw - Cartoonist. You can get it at dafont.com.
I get to use one of these machines at work every day, except it's the 80 watt variation.
Cool, cool stuff.
This is incredibly awesome. Ever since I got my Kindle 1, I've been longing for a way to change the startup screen to "Don't Panic".
Of course, nobody has mentioned the ironic part of all this: As of the last time I checked, THE "HITCHHIKER" SERIES IS NOT AVAILABLE ON KINDLE.
Too late, www.xkcd.com did this a few days ago...
I want this. Badly. I love the Hitchhiker series.
Just watched the BBC TV show on my roku. I thought. This reminds me of a kindle. Then I saw the XKCD the next day. Then I see this today. I can't figure out if it is a strange coincidence or if it was always there, but one of those - when you drive it around you see it phenomenon.
That was some fantastic glare.
I caught this post at just the right time: http://img.skitch.com/20090313-nq8qy1xyhqtet6aqpgdkf8isse.png
Maybe kindle will help us find the question for which the answer is 42.
I got it and I love it. Dont Panic! Now where did I park my spaceship?
So long and thanks for all the fish!
Very nice!