Ads – they’re everywhere. The only way to stay sane on the Internet is to attempt to mitigate the horrors of relentless ads. This article summarises how we might still keep the ads under control at the Android platform level in 2026
Funny enough, I have been trying similar with my e-reader… but the biggest problem is the device doesn’t boot fast enough to just read a couple pages & put it back like a physical book. But I don’t have the place to store so many book, library is limited in English books, & I’m also less sure about money (something about LLMs). It’s easier to whip out a phone to read a Lobste.rs article most of the time. I also have a dedicated (offline) DAP for music (I should write some scripts to make it fetch casts, but the fact that it can’t keep position of multiple scenarios—such as pausing to listen to music for a task—make it hard to use as well). I have a nice mirrorless camera too… which I like but it took is a bit more faff to get out for something small (tho this is largely a result of not choosing a good bag for my latest one, but it’s reaching the end of its life, so I can hopefully fix this). I’ve started to do the device decoupling in many ways, but it’s a more cumbersome carry if I’m being honest. This broadly is the appeal to most folks it seems—replacing the gadgets with one device. I get that convenience appeal—even after being one of the last of my circle to adopt a smart phone with my clamshell doing the job just fine. …But maybe that’s the insight to reconsider: less data & instead get minutes again? …No, the encryption on these calls is never good. What to do. (rhetorical)
Wait, isn’t the point of ereaders that they are “always on”?
I would prefer an ereader instead of a physical book (hard to carry one sometimes), but my main issue with ereaders is soucing the books I want to read legally in a pleasant enough way.
The Android ones at least power down since they do suck juice to keep the OS running. There might be some lighter platforms that can always be on, but the OS/firmware are probably less maintained, inflexible & the hardware probably costs more. Since they all want to sell you book distribution, you need internet access, ca certs, & the like to keep up to date—& I personally love having a browser so I can read my feedreader from my hotspot.
Funny enough, I have been trying similar with my e-reader… but the biggest problem is the device doesn’t boot fast enough to just read a couple pages & put it back like a physical book. But I don’t have the place to store so many book, library is limited in English books, & I’m also less sure about money (something about LLMs). It’s easier to whip out a phone to read a Lobste.rs article most of the time. I also have a dedicated (offline) DAP for music (I should write some scripts to make it fetch casts, but the fact that it can’t keep position of multiple scenarios—such as pausing to listen to music for a task—make it hard to use as well). I have a nice mirrorless camera too… which I like but it took is a bit more faff to get out for something small (tho this is largely a result of not choosing a good bag for my latest one, but it’s reaching the end of its life, so I can hopefully fix this). I’ve started to do the device decoupling in many ways, but it’s a more cumbersome carry if I’m being honest. This broadly is the appeal to most folks it seems—replacing the gadgets with one device. I get that convenience appeal—even after being one of the last of my circle to adopt a smart phone with my clamshell doing the job just fine. …But maybe that’s the insight to reconsider: less data & instead get minutes again? …No, the encryption on these calls is never good. What to do. (rhetorical)
score 1 · canonical
Wait, isn’t the point of ereaders that they are “always on”?
I would prefer an ereader instead of a physical book (hard to carry one sometimes), but my main issue with ereaders is soucing the books I want to read legally in a pleasant enough way.
score 1 · canonical
The Android ones at least power down since they do suck juice to keep the OS running. There might be some lighter platforms that can always be on, but the OS/firmware are probably less maintained, inflexible & the hardware probably costs more. Since they all want to sell you book distribution, you need internet access, ca certs, & the like to keep up to date—& I personally love having a browser so I can read my feedreader from my hotspot.
score 1 · canonical