Join The Club
Ever since clapping my eyes upon the sea shell ereader prop in 2014 horror flick It Follows, I've had an unhealthy obsession with itty bitty e-paper projects. Today, I've spotted an even smaller ereader build that also boasts functionality akin to a magic 8-ball.
When shaken, the EFortune Cookie by gokux will display one of up to 3,000 fortunes on its teeny-weeny 1.54-inch e-paper screenie (via Hackaday). The whole thing runs from an ESP32, which is a SoC with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality. However, the EFortune Cookie is designed to work entirely offline, should you need guidance somewhere not even 5G can reach.
The brains of the operation is a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus board, but the bit of kit that allows you to shake it like a magic 8-ball is the MPU-6050 accelerometer. The EFortune Cookie also enjoys a dice rolling app as well as a coin flipping feature, both accessible via minuscule buttons along the left-hand side of the device.
While I love the tactility of shaking up a fresh fortune, I don't really see the appeal of a digitised coin flip even in an increasingly cashless world. As for the dice rolling app…well, let's just say the TTRPG nerd writing this news story won't get the most out of it as she has way too many physical dice within arm's reach.
All of that said, I'm still utterly charmed by this tiny ePaper project; the compact size and neutral tones of the 3D printed PLA housing make this an ideal candidate for a bag charm. In light of many handheld gaming PCs that refuse to be contained by a typical trouser pocket, there's something especially appealing about tiny tech like this.
For instance, a Redditor made an actual credit card-sized computer that will neatly slide into your wallet. Sure, neither epaper project will play anything more sophisticated than, say, Snake (or maybe a 'choose your own adventure'-style ebook), but I can't fault the creativity.
I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't thought about eating the EFortune Cookie at least once…if not food, why is it food-shaped?
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