The replacement batteries for the Kindle cost $20 U.S. from the Amazon Kindle store.
As for the usefulness of the Kindle, my wife and I bought one each for an early Christmas present this year. We have had them for a bit over a month now (yep, very early Christmas), and we both love them. Yes, the content you get from Amazon.com is DRM'd, which sucks, but like one of the parent posters stated, what you buy stays on your account, and can be re-downloaded. In fact, my wife and I share an account, and thus can share books.
Also, I've downloaded and used the Mobi-Pocket free ebook conversion tool, and have made two ebooks for the Kindle, one from a PDF, and one from a very large HTML file. Both worked flawlessly.
Would I buy a Kindle again? I most certainly would. Right now I have almost a dozen books (including the two I made), and four magazines, all tucked away in that small, highly readable device. The battery life is quite good, as long as you leave the wireless turned off. I'm getting just over a week on a charge, and I'm a fairly heavy reader.
The only down-side to the Kindle (besides the DRM'd content) would be that Amazon.com makes it too easy to purchase books, magazines and news papers. In a feeding frenzy, I had purchased seven books the very first day the Kindles arrived! When the credit card bill came in, I received a very stern talking-to from the better half!;-)
I totally agree. My wife and I got Kindles as early Christmas presents this year. We've had them for just over a week, and totally love them. I've read some complaints about the page-turning button placement on the Kindle, but I find after a bit of getting used to, I have no problem with them. In fact, I hold my Kindle in my left hand, and having the Next/Prev buttons right there make reading a lot easier.
I've even found the instructions on how to create my own Kindle books (hint: use the free MobiPocket creator), and have made two fairly good Kindle books, one from a PDF file, the other from an HTML file.
We also ditched the supplied leatherette case for after-market leather cases. Works much better.
Ok, trying to respond to this in a way that doesn't sound like I'm trying to start a flame war, so...
There are thousands of open source projects out there. I personally use quite a few of them. I don't like to be thought of as a "moocher", because I don't support the project with donations. I do buy CD sets (OpenBSD, twice a year, Slackware, each release), t-shirts and the like, and make donations here and there as I can.
It becomes a logistical challenge to go out and make donations to support each piece of open source software you use. Perhaps if there was one (honest) group that accepted donations, then passed them out to open source groups that were registered with them, I would be more inclined to give regular donations. As it is, I respect your work, and the time and effort you (speaking to all open source developers here) put into creating and maintaining this software, and will make donations as I can. One thing I've found that tends to catch my eye is a well placed PayPal button that says "Make a donation to help support this software". I've been known to do the "impulse buy" thing and click the button and make a $5 or $10 (US) donation. Perhaps you might want to put one of those in, to make donating a little easier?
When I use a particular piece of open source software, and like it, I tend to "evangelize" it to my friends and acquaintances. I have even been known to submit bug reports from time to time. Perhaps this contribution is almost as good as a monetary one?
I know you're being funny, and it is. I just wanted to say I also use Linux and my wife uses a Mac, and we don't have these problems.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will bitch and moan about spam/viruses/trojans, yet still use the same old Windows/Outlook/Internet Explorer combo that creates 99% of this problem.
Ok, go ahead and say it: "but there will be Linux/Mac/*BSD viruses, you just wait!". Well, I've been waiting for almost 10 years now, and still haven't seen one. Call me when they're available. Until then, I'm just going to keep on laughing at all you Windows users, every time another one of these things gets out.:-)
Even though my main job is middleware systems administration on a bunch of Solaris and Linux servers, my personal computer at work is an IBM Thinkpad Z61t running Windows XP. I'd love to have Linux on that machine, but where I work we depend on too much Microsoft technology (more than just Word, Excel, Visio and Outlook). We use Livemeeting for most conferences, Microsoft's Office Communicator (with desktop and application sharing) and Sharepoint for all of our collaborative work.
Short of converting the entire corporation over to Linux (quite a large corporation at that), there's no way any one person or group could do so. You just wouldn't be able to inter operate with the rest of the corporation.
I bought my first Model 100 in 1984. I took it on a Med cruise when I was in the Navy, and powered it for the full six and a half months off of one 6 volt lantern battery, which I kept in the pocket of my coat. I used to keep all sorts of notes on that little device.
I made the mistake of giving it away to the son of a friend of mine, back in the very late 1980's. I had pined away for that little computer for many years, then I ran across Rick Hanson and the club100 website. I bought a reconditioned one from him (which I still have and use), and I've also collected another Model 100, a Model 102 and a Model 200. These may be limited computers, but you can still get a surprising amount of work done with one!
This time I refuse to ever part with my Model T's!;-)
I met the woman I subsequently married through D&D. We met in the late fall of 1979, playing D&D. It took us quite a lot longer to get married though (July 1997).
So yeah, Gary Gygax and D&D have touched my life in a very special way.
I was forced to use Lotus Notes (6.x, followed by 7.x) for almost two years, while on a contract job with the big eye-bee-emm. I thought I disliked Microsoft Outlook, but man, Notes was God-awful!
That said, I would trade in my Windows XP + MS Office OS on my work notebook, for Linux and Lotus Notes in a heartbeat. Even better if it had the whole Lotus SmartSuite installed.
Not much chance of that though. My company uses a plethora of operating systems on its servers (micro, mid-range and mainframes), but the desktop is pretty much glued to MS.
I commute 50+ miles each way to work, but sometimes I work from home. Depends on how I feel. The nice "tech" the company provides me with: a ThinkPad T61, a cellphone and a bridge line, also allow me to maintain contact with my team, some of which are in Jacksonville (FL), while others are in Charlotte, NC, San Francisco, CA, and others are in Hyderabad, India.
I talk with team members via phone, email and instant messaging constantly, and the majority of these people I've never met face-to-face.
Sounds to me like tech is making it easier for work groups to "sprawl" around the country, and the world.
Actually, the cheapest MSDN subscription is the "Visual Studio Professional with MSDN Professional" subscription. It costs $1,199 new, and $799 to renew. True, this still gives you a metric butt-load of software, and if my business depended on Microsoft products, I'd seriously consider it.
Fortunately for me, I'm a Unix admin, and I get all my Unix and Linux for free:-)
All of you GROW UP! go on, get out of your parent's basement, into the real world. Get a real job and a (girl|boy)friend and just get on with your lives!
None of this shit means anything outside of your silly little group. Sheesh!
I got hacked back in February - March 2001 time-frame. I made the mistake of setting up my Linux server as a router, and left my Samba and NFS shares active. This kind of info would have really helped me then.
"Microsoft® Silverlight(TM) is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of.NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows."
Well, the real problem with the N800 is WiFi availability. Don't get me wrong, I love my N800. I use it mainly for minor web surfing and IM in the evenings, at my own house. But until municipal WiFi becomes the standard, and you can use it pretty much anywhere, the N800 (and all VOIP portables) will be basically useless.
My cell phone (a Blackberry Pearl), on the other hand, can be used pretty much anywhere I go. I can send email, surf the web, make phone calls and IM my friends/family. Now if the N800 was also a cell phone, and could use EDGE/GPRS/GSM/WhatEverIsOutThereTomorrow, it would be 10X more useful and portable, and would thus be comparable to the iPhone (except it's bigger, and has a lower battery life).
Slashdot Mirror
The replacement batteries for the Kindle cost $20 U.S. from the Amazon Kindle store.
As for the usefulness of the Kindle, my wife and I bought one each for an early Christmas present this year. We have had them for a bit over a month now (yep, very early Christmas), and we both love them. Yes, the content you get from Amazon.com is DRM'd, which sucks, but like one of the parent posters stated, what you buy stays on your account, and can be re-downloaded. In fact, my wife and I share an account, and thus can share books.
Also, I've downloaded and used the Mobi-Pocket free ebook conversion tool, and have made two ebooks for the Kindle, one from a PDF, and one from a very large HTML file. Both worked flawlessly.
Would I buy a Kindle again? I most certainly would. Right now I have almost a dozen books (including the two I made), and four magazines, all tucked away in that small, highly readable device. The battery life is quite good, as long as you leave the wireless turned off. I'm getting just over a week on a charge, and I'm a fairly heavy reader.
The only down-side to the Kindle (besides the DRM'd content) would be that Amazon.com makes it too easy to purchase books, magazines and news papers. In a feeding frenzy, I had purchased seven books the very first day the Kindles arrived! When the credit card bill came in, I received a very stern talking-to from the better half! ;-)
I totally agree. My wife and I got Kindles as early Christmas presents this year. We've had them for just over a week, and totally love them. I've read some complaints about the page-turning button placement on the Kindle, but I find after a bit of getting used to, I have no problem with them. In fact, I hold my Kindle in my left hand, and having the Next/Prev buttons right there make reading a lot easier.
I've even found the instructions on how to create my own Kindle books (hint: use the free MobiPocket creator), and have made two fairly good Kindle books, one from a PDF file, the other from an HTML file.
We also ditched the supplied leatherette case for after-market leather cases. Works much better.
Ok, trying to respond to this in a way that doesn't sound like I'm trying to start a flame war, so...
There are thousands of open source projects out there. I personally use quite a few of them. I don't like to be thought of as a "moocher", because I don't support the project with donations. I do buy CD sets (OpenBSD, twice a year, Slackware, each release), t-shirts and the like, and make donations here and there as I can.
It becomes a logistical challenge to go out and make donations to support each piece of open source software you use. Perhaps if there was one (honest) group that accepted donations, then passed them out to open source groups that were registered with them, I would be more inclined to give regular donations. As it is, I respect your work, and the time and effort you (speaking to all open source developers here) put into creating and maintaining this software, and will make donations as I can. One thing I've found that tends to catch my eye is a well placed PayPal button that says "Make a donation to help support this software". I've been known to do the "impulse buy" thing and click the button and make a $5 or $10 (US) donation. Perhaps you might want to put one of those in, to make donating a little easier?
When I use a particular piece of open source software, and like it, I tend to "evangelize" it to my friends and acquaintances. I have even been known to submit bug reports from time to time. Perhaps this contribution is almost as good as a monetary one?
Heh, sounds like it was narrated by Keanu Reaves! ;-)
The NES version, or the Apple ][ version?
I know you're being funny, and it is. I just wanted to say I also use Linux and my wife uses a Mac, and we don't have these problems.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will bitch and moan about spam/viruses/trojans, yet still use the same old Windows/Outlook/Internet Explorer combo that creates 99% of this problem.
Ok, go ahead and say it: "but there will be Linux/Mac/*BSD viruses, you just wait!". Well, I've been waiting for almost 10 years now, and still haven't seen one. Call me when they're available. Until then, I'm just going to keep on laughing at all you Windows users, every time another one of these things gets out. :-)
Even though my main job is middleware systems administration on a bunch of Solaris and Linux servers, my personal computer at work is an IBM Thinkpad Z61t running Windows XP. I'd love to have Linux on that machine, but where I work we depend on too much Microsoft technology (more than just Word, Excel, Visio and Outlook). We use Livemeeting for most conferences, Microsoft's Office Communicator (with desktop and application sharing) and Sharepoint for all of our collaborative work.
Short of converting the entire corporation over to Linux (quite a large corporation at that), there's no way any one person or group could do so. You just wouldn't be able to inter operate with the rest of the corporation.
I bought my first Model 100 in 1984. I took it on a Med cruise when I was in the Navy, and powered it for the full six and a half months off of one 6 volt lantern battery, which I kept in the pocket of my coat. I used to keep all sorts of notes on that little device.
;-)
I made the mistake of giving it away to the son of a friend of mine, back in the very late 1980's. I had pined away for that little computer for many years, then I ran across Rick Hanson and the club100 website. I bought a reconditioned one from him (which I still have and use), and I've also collected another Model 100, a Model 102 and a Model 200. These may be limited computers, but you can still get a surprising amount of work done with one!
This time I refuse to ever part with my Model T's!
Don't forget the lawyers!
I met the woman I subsequently married through D&D. We met in the late fall of 1979, playing D&D. It took us quite a lot longer to get married though (July 1997).
So yeah, Gary Gygax and D&D have touched my life in a very special way.
Godspeed Gary!
I was forced to use Lotus Notes (6.x, followed by 7.x) for almost two years, while on a contract job with the big eye-bee-emm. I thought I disliked Microsoft Outlook, but man, Notes was God-awful!
That said, I would trade in my Windows XP + MS Office OS on my work notebook, for Linux and Lotus Notes in a heartbeat. Even better if it had the whole Lotus SmartSuite installed.
Not much chance of that though. My company uses a plethora of operating systems on its servers (micro, mid-range and mainframes), but the desktop is pretty much glued to MS.
I commute 50+ miles each way to work, but sometimes I work from home. Depends on how I feel. The nice "tech" the company provides me with: a ThinkPad T61, a cellphone and a bridge line, also allow me to maintain contact with my team, some of which are in Jacksonville (FL), while others are in Charlotte, NC, San Francisco, CA, and others are in Hyderabad, India.
I talk with team members via phone, email and instant messaging constantly, and the majority of these people I've never met face-to-face.
Sounds to me like tech is making it easier for work groups to "sprawl" around the country, and the world.
"All I want for Christmas is to see SCO die"
After he finishes reading the current 5 dozen grueling volumes of "The Wheel of Time", he'll run away, screaming and plucking his eyeballs out!
Actually, the cheapest MSDN subscription is the "Visual Studio Professional with MSDN Professional" subscription. It costs $1,199 new, and $799 to renew. True, this still gives you a metric butt-load of software, and if my business depended on Microsoft products, I'd seriously consider it.
:-)
Fortunately for me, I'm a Unix admin, and I get all my Unix and Linux for free
I only sleep during the commute. Both ways!
John?... John Carter, is that you???
Just like eavesdropping on conversations helped the KGB find and arrest dissidents in the (former) Soviet Union.
Which we appear to be heading towards faster and faster with each passing day!
All of you GROW UP! go on, get out of your parent's basement, into the real world. Get a real job and a (girl|boy)friend and just get on with your lives!
None of this shit means anything outside of your silly little group. Sheesh!
I got hacked back in February - March 2001 time-frame. I made the mistake of setting up my Linux server as a router, and left my Samba and NFS shares active. This kind of info would have really helped me then.
My apologies to all, but when I think of "Lawyer", even "good" ones, I keep remembering this quote from Rustler's Rhapsody:
Rex O'Herlihan: "You're not a good guy at all!"
Bob Barber: "I'm a lawyer, you idiot!"
"Microsoft® Silverlight(TM) is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows."
:-)
Remember, Google is our friend!
Well, the real problem with the N800 is WiFi availability. Don't get me wrong, I love my N800. I use it mainly for minor web surfing and IM in the evenings, at my own house. But until municipal WiFi becomes the standard, and you can use it pretty much anywhere, the N800 (and all VOIP portables) will be basically useless.
My cell phone (a Blackberry Pearl), on the other hand, can be used pretty much anywhere I go. I can send email, surf the web, make phone calls and IM my friends/family. Now if the N800 was also a cell phone, and could use EDGE/GPRS/GSM/WhatEverIsOutThereTomorrow, it would be 10X more useful and portable, and would thus be comparable to the iPhone (except it's bigger, and has a lower battery life).
Um, because maybe the N800 isn't a phone? You can do VOIP, but it doesn't have cell phone capabilities (I know, I own an N800).
You should probably go to the real source for you info, not the bs sites:
A ppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=56DA9A19&no de=home/desktop/mac_pro
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/
Apple already has an 8-core MacPro on the market.