On Wed, 13 May 2009, Jon Richfield wrote: [snip]
Walter and Michael made good points about screen sizes and changing standards, but the reason for my interest is that it is all very well to be satisfied with tiny screens, but it does bad things to one's capacity for effortless, comfortable, non-injurious, reading for hours and hours.
I would check with The Mayo Clinic before commenting on injurious versus non-injurious, they say there is no injury from eye strain.
If it offered reading for me as well without a fancy lens attachment, it would be fatiguing, which is where the charm of epaper or the heads-up display would lie.
As for fatiging, this also seems to be a generational thing, with the younger generations seemingly willing to spend days looking at tiny GameBoy type screens without ill effects. If you do a Google search on "reading computer eyestrain" one of the first hits you will get is from The Mayo Clinic: Definition By Mayo Clinic staff Eyestrain occurs when your eyes get tired from intense use, such as driving a car for extended periods, reading or working at the computer. Although eyestrain can be annoying, it usually isn't serious and goes away once you rest your eyes. In some cases, signs and symptoms of eyestrain are a sign of an underlying eye condition that needs treatment. Although you may not be able to change the nature of your job or all the factors that can cause eyestrain, you can take steps to reduce eyestrain.