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]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> You know what? If this had been invented before my dad died I would have bought it for him.

He was absolutely convinced that he could not understand "computers" and he might "break something" if he pushed the mouse the "wrong way" or clicked on the "wrong thing."

This was no dummy--he was a college professor (and college president) with a Ph.D. and he was an award winning teacher. But what he wanted to do, when sending correspondence, was pound it out with two fingers on his typewriter and nothing anyone could do would change his mind about that.

This would have been something familiar for him and it would have helped bridge the gap.

Jedibugs, the automobile was invented long before your grandparents were even considered. It was a familiar "interface" at the turn of the last century. Just because someone doesn't feel comfortable with a computer doesn't mean they'd freak out driving a car. You must be a pretty young kid if you don't understand that. My father's correspondence was plenty "lucid" even though he never sent an email in all his 81 years of life. Maybe someone should sit you down in front of a typewriter and see how inept you would be with such unfamiliar technology.

infmom

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> OTOH, if more people used this typewriter, image-spam wouldn't be much of a problem (can't print graphics...). Phishing is also a bit more complicated since you can't have a clickable link.

Kinda useful - brings email back in from the crappiness that is HTML email.

Worf

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> "the message is sent when you pull the finished page out"

So... that would mean there's no way to not send the message once it's been started..?

I can't count the number of times I've started to compose something and then halfway through realized it was not a good idea to hit 'send'...

ideaman2020

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> Good for them to catch that window of opportunity before their deep-pocketed target market becomes extinct in 2015. A steampunk version may be quite appropriate for this very Victorian device...

jmdecombe

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> It even has a "Qzerty" keyboard! WHy?...

Duffasaurus

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> Yeah, this definately looks like a case of K.I.S.S. blasphemy (see [worsethanfailure.com]).

There are plenty of solutions that make more sense and are easier, such as buying a 3-year old laptop and installing Thunderbird. With very little customization you could make it impossible for the grandmother to accidentally close the program, as well as simplifying the interface. Set it as a startup and then spend an hour showing her that your mail shows up here, and then you type here.

jeremiahbritt

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> @Phlegmbert: Sending email just is not complicated enough to necessitate or justify the invention of an analog email device. The keyboard is no different in terms of letter placement and basic functionality. If you can click on an app's icon and hit "new," you can send a damn email. If one can't manage that, then I have doubts as to how lucid any of their correspondence is going to be in the first place.

That said, I do think it's a very interesting device. I just wish someone had invented it for fun, or for the challenge. Its genesis is sad, is all.

jedibugs

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> Does it come with a 'networked' rolodex?

trendspotter

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> @jedibugs: What you call enabling ineptitude others might call user-friendliness. Most computer interfaces are based on a metaphor derived from something physical that users already know and feel comfortable with.

With regard to operating a vehicle, the enablers of ineptitude have already been there, removing pedals and levers through the invention of the automatic transmission.

Phlegmbert

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> I work with people who would think this thing is much easier than sending an email.

These are the same people who say their computer doesn't work -- when the monitor is off.

911

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> While this is a pretty brilliant melding of older tech with current, its genesis disturbs me. I mean, now we're going out of our way to be enablers of ineptitude? If sending an email is difficult for someone, I'm a little concerned with how they fare operating a vehicle.

"All these pedals and levers...Oh, it's just so overwhelming sometimes! Can someone invent a typewriter that will take me to the grocery store?"

jedibugs

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> I love it.

mfaerber

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> @chueychihuahua: I appreciate that, I'm just saying that that is how it COULD be implemented, but upon reading back my comment, I realise I didn't make this clear.

Collins1990

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> This is brilliant! Apple's super thin keyboard be damned!

AhnyerKeester

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> Rather than spend the time building this, perhaps the inventor should have spent the time teaching the mother how to compose emails on a PC/Mac.
I would imagine the emails print just like a tmeplate on a typewriter. Whatever is sent to it is printed - provided paper is inserted.

meh


wk1234

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> The typewriter in the photos can't receive emails obviously collins1990.. clearly it doesn't have the hardware to do it. Their website says it's supposed to be the "next step" to make it a viable idea.

chueychihuahua

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> i think the bigger question is why????

it says it was inspired by a mother having difficulty emailing her daughter. this product would be a waste.

obbie

]]> <![CDATA[22 Pop Email Typewriter for Luddites]]> It prints them out as if the typewriter were being used by a person. I thought that would be quite obvious, but apparently it's not.

Collins1990

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