Nick's Noodlings

Now part of the Kindle clan

I am now the proud owner of an Amazon Kindle.  I tried a Pandigital Novel first (kept it for 30 days and returned) and decided it wasn't quite right for me.  If there are any seasoned Kindle users out there with advice, I would be happy to hear it.  I am following the Kindle World blog and also listening to Len Edgerly's Kindle Chronicles podcast both of which I have found to be very insightful.

For any others that might be on the fence, my pros/cons for each device are:

Kindle  

• Lightweight
• Excellent text quality (I thought the screen was "fake" it was so much like paper)
• Outdoor readibility
• WiFi and 3g capability (yes I did go with both)
• Long Battery life (not tested personally yet)
• Decent web browser (short sessions)
• < $200 price point

• Black and White
• No touch screen
• No memory expansion
• Have to send to Amazon for battery replacement

Novel

• Android based (can be hacked to be more than just a reader)
• Color screen (7")
• 1/3 cost of iPad (~$160 without any coupons, rebates, etc)
• Touch screen (but better with stylus)
• Expandable memory 
• Decent web browser (but must be in WiFi area)

• 4-6 hours battery life
• WiFi only and WiFi slow to connect especially after in "sleep mode"
• Constant firmware updates (at least Pandigital is trying to improve)
• Heavy over long periods of reading time
• Video playback lockups after stopping if video on external memory card

Happy Reading !

 

 

Goodbye VOX, hello TypePad. Thanks to VOX and the VOX team for introducing me to blogging. I learned a few things along the way and got too busy to post. Hopefully this forced change will get me posting once again on a regular basis.

Flying Squirrels picked as new baseball team name | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Flying Squirrels picked as new baseball team name | Richmond Times-Dispatch

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/spo...

Inside the box thinking from the Author's guild

Nice work by the author's guild. This is a threat (albeit a minor one), but not the way to treat it. There's no way a computerized voice is the same as the professional narration on an audiobook. Plus, why would Amazon try to cannibolize its own business (ownership in Audible which distributes audio books).

Legal ruckus over Kindle 2's text-to-speech feature : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

http://tech.yahoo...

It was hardly the most interesting or earth-shaking part of Jeff Bezos's introduction of the Kindle 2 on Monday, but one small, experimental feature in the device is already causing a minor uproar. Specifically: The Kindle 2's text-to-speech function, which will use a computerized voice to read a...

So I wasn't dreaming

So I wasn't dreaming

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/2008121...

I saw the moon coming home tonight and thought to myself - wow that's huge. If I was reading the news I wouldn't have been surprised, but would it have been as awesome? Quote from article: "The moon's average distance from us is about 238,855 miles (384,400 km). Friday night it will be just 221,560 miles (356,567 km) away. It will be 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during the year, according to NASA."

TV has license to kill movies at iTunes, Netflix

TV has license to kill movies at iTunes, Netflix

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-1011...

The battle of new vs old continues. I wondered a few months back why the last Bourne movie wasn't available to rent via the AppleTV and now I know thanks to this article. This article is well written and explains the situation well, but it still pains me that freedom of choice is still so limited.

Google with your eyes closed then you'll see no evil

Ist1_5436021_cross_roads

I ran across this entertaining and insightful piece by Tom Slee on a cross post from Nicholas Carr's blog.  Nice find by another Nick.  Well worth the time to read.  Enjoy!

The Dark Side: The New Yorker

The Dark Side: The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/20...

Its hard to belive that a five page article results in a Internet blog fest focused on one paragraph. The paragraph getting the focus is about the use of light for security and the court of Internet opinion seems to be that we should get rid of the lights - totally. Great idea -- let's just move from one extreme with issues (explained well in the article, but nothing new) to the other extreme with issues. Seems to me the answer is moderation and the article suggested to me that we give thought to the type of light fixtures that are used, not elimination of lighting. Perhaps a previous article written by someone, somewhere suggested we were thinking too much, and the Internet court ruled "we must stop thinking".

 The Dark Side: The New Yorker

Its hard to belive that a five page article results in a Internet blog fest focused on one paragraph. The paragraph getting the focus is about the use of light for security and the court of Internet opinion seems to be that we should get rid of the lights - totally.

Great idea -- let's just move from one extreme with issues (explained well in the article, but nothing new) to the other extreme with issues. Seems to me the answer is moderation and the article suggested to me that we give thought to the type of light fixtures that are used, not elimination of lighting.

Perhaps a previous article written by someone, somewhere suggested we were thinking too much, and the Internet court ruled "we must stop thinking".

From newsobserver.com The secret to dead, green grass

From newsobserver.com The secret to dead, green grass

http://www.newsobserver.com/138/story...

But Gilpatrick, the owner of a local painting business, got lucky. He had recently painted the home of a guy named Todd Hughes. And Hughes had recently gone in with his brother-in-law to buy Always Green Grass Painting Co.

Nothing But Nets

mosquito

Wow, it has been quite a good while since my last post.  I have run across a few things I wanted to add, but haven't taken the time.  Today I was reading my trial subscription of Sports Illustrated and ran across an article at the end of the December issue that I had to post about.  Since we have entered the month of gift giving, maybe you can consider giving a gift to someone in need.  This opportunity costs $10.  The cause is NothingButNets and is a campaign to prevent Malaria in Africa.  The Net is a mosquito net.  I used one of these at Summer Camp when I was in the Scouts.  I can remember waking up and seeing multiple of the vile creatures being kept at bay by my nylon force field.  In my case, the net saved me from more red bumps - in the case of these Africian kids it can mean saving a life.  This could be the most appreciated present you give this year.