The Quest for a Sub-$100, DIY E-Book Reader | Details | Hackaday.io

<p>The other night I was jotting down some notes about the Open Book, trying to figure out how to write about what we did right and what we did wrong, about how we got to where we are from where we came from. In broad strokes, I imagined two parallel tracks to understanding: there’s the <b>engineering</b> of the gadget, the set of choices that make the thing what it is, and then there’s the <b>economics</b> of the gadget, the set of choices that make the thing a viable product. </p> <p>Of course, one of the key lessons learned from this project is that those things are so deeply intertwined that there’s no way to talk about them in isolation. </p> <p>The original Open Book design got a few things right on the engineering side. It got almost nothing right on the economics side. Over the course of this project, I’ve made several revisions of the concept that got closer to threading the needle and getting both right. I think I’m finally close with this latest design, the design I intend to submit for the Hackaday prize. </p> <p>But before we get into that, a quick aside on how these two sides of the equation relate. </p> <h1>The Economics