hemingwrite
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The smart typewriter is here
Find it nigh-on impossible to focus when writing on your computer? You now have a dedicated device to help you shut out the social networks and other distractions: after more than a year's wait, Astrohaus has started taking orders for the Freewrite (formerly the Hemingwrite). Plunk down $549 ($449 in the first 24 hours, or $499 through the end of March) and you'll get a smart typewriter that lets you cut out non-essentials while keeping the conveniences of modern tech. You only have an E Ink display and a mechanical keyboard to work with, but there's WiFi under the hood to sync your masterpieces with Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive and other cloud services. You also have onboard storage for over a million documents, in case you're particularly prolific, and the 4-week battery life will keep it running through an epic-length camping trip.
Barely Related: The Little Prince trailer, Serial winds down
Remember when "squee" was a thing? Is it still a thing? Because we're feeling a little bit like doing that today. Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
Hemingwrite wants to improve writers' productivity by 2015
You know that the next big New York Times Best Seller is stored inside your brain, but those darn puppy pictures, Reddit and online shopping just keep getting in the way. If you think Hemingwrite (that rather odd, single-purpose modern typewriter we showed you at Expand) is your best bet, then ready your credit card, because its creators are now trying to raise $250,000 via Kickstarter. As we've mentioned in our hands-on, the device is a simple computer equipped with an e-ink screen that you can use to write -- and nothing else. It does connect to the internet via WiFi, but only so it can save your work automatically to Google Drive, Dropbox or Evernote.
60 seconds with Hemingwrite, an E Ink typewriter
Between social networks, video games and the endless void of procrastination we call "the internet," computers can make pretty poor writing devices. Isn't there something better? Insert Coin contenders Adam Leeb and Patrick Paul think so -- they've created the Hemingwrite: an E Ink typewriter that does almost nothing, save text entry. It's a minimalist writing machine that features a machine-tooled aluminum chassis, a satisfying mechanical keyboard and a six-week battery life. It's not completely devoid of modern faculties, however: it also automatically uploads your prose to a cloud storage system as you type it.
