At this point in time, the refresh rate is too slow. The Kindle's chiclet keyboard slows me down a lot, and I can still input text faster than it can render it. However, the Kindle 2's refresh rate is TONS faster than the Kindle 1... fast enough to allow some minor redrawing without a page "flash."
Since we've seen considerable improvement from one generation of the device to the next, it's logical that things will speed up in the future, but it's really not there yet.
If you go in with the assumption that your privacy online is basically nonexistent, Google has the advantage. They at least take the time to inform you of what exactly they collect, so you can avoid giving them information that you would rather keep private.
After they first introduced it, there wasn't even a confirmation "post this/don't post this;" it just got posted. So the fact that I bought a pair of Heely's from Zappos.com three weeks before Christmas got posted to my Facebook, for all the world (including one boy yearing for a pair of Heely's) to see. So much for Christmas surprises, eh?
On the 6" Kindle2 screen, it squishes it way too small to be read, but you can rotate it to landscape, and it displayed half the page at a time, in landscape mode. So, a page that's normally 8" wide is squished to 6", and you have to turn the page to get to the bottom of the column, and turn the page back to get to the top of the second column, but it works, and is readable.
I've loaded my Kindle with a bunch of D&D sourcebooks. I still prefer the hardbacks for use around the game table, but the copies on the Kindle are useful for searching and for DM-planning.
A few years ago, I asked T-Mobile to block data on all the phones on our plan, because our phones kept on signing themselves up for monthly subscription charges. They refused outright, and in a later call, offered ANOTHER subscription charge for "parental controls" to block the data.
We're on AT&T now, which sucks in it's own special ways, but there have been no bill surprises.
To be able to press my finger to a page which will then put the book on its binder, pages facing me. Then I could slide my finger back and forth to a random spot and let go...and the book would open to that page.
Get an iPhone or an iPod Touch and the Kindle for iPhone app and you'll get exactly that.;)
Kindle books can have fine font control. Amazon books are normally in a format called.azw, but are sometimes in.azw1 or.tpz (the two are interchangeable). This format allows for embedded fonts, and I have seen it used for embedding East Asian languages into a book so that the characters can be resized and reflowed. Other books, in.mobi or.azw, resort to embedding images of the charaters, which cannot then be resized.
The problem is, it's apparently very easy to make a.tpz book wrong, so that it all formats wrong and the font is weird and it may crash your Kindle when you turn to page 14. I've seen it done excellently and terribly.
My mother and aunts *love* ebook readers precisely because they tear through trashy romance novels like crazy... and now they can read them on the subway without having to be embarrassed at the cover art.
They're a new market, and the price has already come down considerably. The old iLiads were $800+. The first Kindle was $400. Now, a new Kindle2 is $260. If that's still too rich for your blood, then wait a couple years. Electronics get cheaper.
The primary benefit of an ebook reader over a netbook is the eInk screen, which is also the most expensive part of the device. If reading off a computer screen doesn't bother you at all, then go ahead and get your ebooks that way. Most of these companies, including B&N and Amazon, allow books purchased from them to be read on their PC software, and you can get books from any number of other sources too.
Libraries are repositories of knowledge. It doesn't matter if that knowledge is in the form of printed books, papyrus scrolls, or electronic text... or, in the case of the library I used to work at: CD, LP, or Cassette.
The need to store large amounts of data for public consumption is not going to go away, although the way that data is stored and accessed may change wildly.
They're ePub with a nice layer of device-keyed DRM on top. Can you buy books from the Sony store and read it on a Nook? Can you buy books from they B&N store and read it on a Sony? They're both ePub (I think), but I doubt they will be compatible.
No, because HTML5 includes Gears' functionality. As browser developer teams upgrade their browsers to be adherent to the new standard, you won't need a plugin to use these features.
So, it's not hard to imagine that ChromeOS will be HTML5-compliant.
You can USE a kindle on a plane, you know. You just shouldn't be downloading new books for it. However, if you downloaded your newspaper and a novel or two while waiting on the tarmac, you'll be good for the whole flight. Your books are stored on the device when you're reading them.
Also, $250 isn't exactly a whole lot when you consider that a lot of people of limited means spend more money than that on luxuries. One of my co-workers at a previous job earned about $12/hr, and spent her money on a $600 purse. Me? I'll buy a $10 purse and put $590 of awesome electronic toys inside it.
Over the past year, I have seen 3 Kindles total on the DC Metro. However, I saw all three of those on the same metro ride home on the one day that I let the battery die, so I find it safe to assume that they've always been there, but I've been too busy reading my own Kindle to notice the other ones.
iStyles.com and Decalgirl.com make nice, brightly colored skins for Kindles and Sony Readers, in addition to most other portable and semi-portable consumer electronic device under the sun. Hell, you can even get a matching set for your iPhone, Kindle, DS, and xbox.
Wi-fi is nice, but honestly, most of the files that I download to the Kindle are so small that it's probably faster to download them over Sprint's cell network than it is to authenticate whatever Wifi network I'm trying to connect to.
The "exclusive content" when in a store is just an attempt to actually to get you to walk into a store every once so maybe you'll buy a physical book in addition to your electronic one.
I got my wave invite this morning, and you're exactly right.
It's got all the benefits of email (you can choose when/if to reply) and of IM (instant conversation, if you so choose), but until some people I know start using it, I won't be using it at all.
Simple solution needs a simple response: compile Hello World! tutorial app and name it XYZ app and upload it to your desired squatter name. Use same binary or recompile for tiny differences to avoid sum checking. You have a complex problem that no simple solution will fix. Anything short of charging a nominal fee (a la domain registration) will probably not work and the fee idea is a horrible one for people who just want to get their app out there. If it doesn't cost money, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate. Ball's in your court.
This wouldn't actually work for the purposes of the squatters. They need to hold on to a name for the development of a future app. They can't be squatting for the sake of profit because there's no way to tell who wants the name you're squatting on, and therefore no way to extort money out of them for it.
So, with the assumption that they're squatting on a name for the purpose of maybe using it for something in the future, if they upload a Hello World! app, would Apple let them upload a totally different app later as an update? What about the people who bought the $.99 Hello World! app and were happily enjoying using it to greet everyone they meet, and suddenly they get an app update that makes it into a fart app?!
I think that the class in question is much like the structure in my high school, where there were 12 Junior/Senior level English Lit courses (collectively called English 3/4), of which each student had to pick four to take, so they could gear their literature-learning experience to genres that would be more enjoyable, or at least, less painful.
Slashdot Mirror
At this point in time, the refresh rate is too slow. The Kindle's chiclet keyboard slows me down a lot, and I can still input text faster than it can render it. However, the Kindle 2's refresh rate is TONS faster than the Kindle 1... fast enough to allow some minor redrawing without a page "flash."
Since we've seen considerable improvement from one generation of the device to the next, it's logical that things will speed up in the future, but it's really not there yet.
If you go in with the assumption that your privacy online is basically nonexistent, Google has the advantage. They at least take the time to inform you of what exactly they collect, so you can avoid giving them information that you would rather keep private.
http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html
After they first introduced it, there wasn't even a confirmation "post this/don't post this;" it just got posted. So the fact that I bought a pair of Heely's from Zappos.com three weeks before Christmas got posted to my Facebook, for all the world (including one boy yearing for a pair of Heely's) to see. So much for Christmas surprises, eh?
And that's why I don't use Facebook anymore.
On the 6" Kindle2 screen, it squishes it way too small to be read, but you can rotate it to landscape, and it displayed half the page at a time, in landscape mode. So, a page that's normally 8" wide is squished to 6", and you have to turn the page to get to the bottom of the column, and turn the page back to get to the top of the second column, but it works, and is readable.
I've loaded my Kindle with a bunch of D&D sourcebooks. I still prefer the hardbacks for use around the game table, but the copies on the Kindle are useful for searching and for DM-planning.
Except that you're not allowed to buy new content on the nook when outside of the US. Read, sure, but not get anything new.
See the "Traveling with nook" subheading
A few years ago, I asked T-Mobile to block data on all the phones on our plan, because our phones kept on signing themselves up for monthly subscription charges. They refused outright, and in a later call, offered ANOTHER subscription charge for "parental controls" to block the data.
We're on AT&T now, which sucks in it's own special ways, but there have been no bill surprises.
iTunes won that battle. What you missed was when all the PlaysForSure songs stopped working.
To be able to press my finger to a page which will then put the book on its binder, pages facing me. Then I could slide my finger back and forth to a random spot and let go...and the book would open to that page.
Get an iPhone or an iPod Touch and the Kindle for iPhone app and you'll get exactly that. ;)
Kindle books can have fine font control. Amazon books are normally in a format called .azw, but are sometimes in .azw1 or .tpz (the two are interchangeable). This format allows for embedded fonts, and I have seen it used for embedding East Asian languages into a book so that the characters can be resized and reflowed. Other books, in .mobi or .azw, resort to embedding images of the charaters, which cannot then be resized.
The problem is, it's apparently very easy to make a .tpz book wrong, so that it all formats wrong and the font is weird and it may crash your Kindle when you turn to page 14. I've seen it done excellently and terribly.
My mother and aunts *love* ebook readers precisely because they tear through trashy romance novels like crazy... and now they can read them on the subway without having to be embarrassed at the cover art.
They're a new market, and the price has already come down considerably. The old iLiads were $800+. The first Kindle was $400. Now, a new Kindle2 is $260. If that's still too rich for your blood, then wait a couple years. Electronics get cheaper.
The primary benefit of an ebook reader over a netbook is the eInk screen, which is also the most expensive part of the device. If reading off a computer screen doesn't bother you at all, then go ahead and get your ebooks that way. Most of these companies, including B&N and Amazon, allow books purchased from them to be read on their PC software, and you can get books from any number of other sources too.
A good ebook should not just have a human-compiled index, but a hyperlinked one. It's not that hard, but people will cut corners whereever they can.
Libraries are repositories of knowledge. It doesn't matter if that knowledge is in the form of printed books, papyrus scrolls, or electronic text... or, in the case of the library I used to work at: CD, LP, or Cassette.
The need to store large amounts of data for public consumption is not going to go away, although the way that data is stored and accessed may change wildly.
Some books from the Kindle store are in a format called Topaz (.tpz) which allows for embedded fonts- including foreign languages like Japanese.
There is also a hack out there that lets you install your own fonts and choose which font your books display in.
Amazon beat you to the punch: Amazon search for "choose your own adventure"
They're ePub with a nice layer of device-keyed DRM on top. Can you buy books from the Sony store and read it on a Nook? Can you buy books from they B&N store and read it on a Sony? They're both ePub (I think), but I doubt they will be compatible.
All the readers except the Kindle allow you to access the reader as a mass storage device and move the files off it.
Um... the Kindle can be used as a mass storage device. You know, with the USB cable that they ship it with.
No, because HTML5 includes Gears' functionality. As browser developer teams upgrade their browsers to be adherent to the new standard, you won't need a plugin to use these features.
So, it's not hard to imagine that ChromeOS will be HTML5-compliant.
The only need I've had for Gears was on airplanes, and for drag-and-drop document upload on Wave.
You can USE a kindle on a plane, you know. You just shouldn't be downloading new books for it. However, if you downloaded your newspaper and a novel or two while waiting on the tarmac, you'll be good for the whole flight. Your books are stored on the device when you're reading them.
Also, $250 isn't exactly a whole lot when you consider that a lot of people of limited means spend more money than that on luxuries. One of my co-workers at a previous job earned about $12/hr, and spent her money on a $600 purse. Me? I'll buy a $10 purse and put $590 of awesome electronic toys inside it.
Over the past year, I have seen 3 Kindles total on the DC Metro. However, I saw all three of those on the same metro ride home on the one day that I let the battery die, so I find it safe to assume that they've always been there, but I've been too busy reading my own Kindle to notice the other ones.
iStyles.com and Decalgirl.com make nice, brightly colored skins for Kindles and Sony Readers, in addition to most other portable and semi-portable consumer electronic device under the sun. Hell, you can even get a matching set for your iPhone, Kindle, DS, and xbox.
These are indeed horrible points created by marketing.
If things as superficial as color casing are important to you:
http://www.buymedge.com/ http://www.oberondesign.com/store/kindle.php
Wi-fi is nice, but honestly, most of the files that I download to the Kindle are so small that it's probably faster to download them over Sprint's cell network than it is to authenticate whatever Wifi network I'm trying to connect to.
The "exclusive content" when in a store is just an attempt to actually to get you to walk into a store every once so maybe you'll buy a physical book in addition to your electronic one.
I got my wave invite this morning, and you're exactly right.
It's got all the benefits of email (you can choose when/if to reply) and of IM (instant conversation, if you so choose), but until some people I know start using it, I won't be using it at all.
Simple solution needs a simple response: compile Hello World! tutorial app and name it XYZ app and upload it to your desired squatter name. Use same binary or recompile for tiny differences to avoid sum checking. You have a complex problem that no simple solution will fix. Anything short of charging a nominal fee (a la domain registration) will probably not work and the fee idea is a horrible one for people who just want to get their app out there. If it doesn't cost money, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate. Ball's in your court.
This wouldn't actually work for the purposes of the squatters. They need to hold on to a name for the development of a future app. They can't be squatting for the sake of profit because there's no way to tell who wants the name you're squatting on, and therefore no way to extort money out of them for it.
So, with the assumption that they're squatting on a name for the purpose of maybe using it for something in the future, if they upload a Hello World! app, would Apple let them upload a totally different app later as an update? What about the people who bought the $.99 Hello World! app and were happily enjoying using it to greet everyone they meet, and suddenly they get an app update that makes it into a fart app?!
I think that the class in question is much like the structure in my high school, where there were 12 Junior/Senior level English Lit courses (collectively called English 3/4), of which each student had to pick four to take, so they could gear their literature-learning experience to genres that would be more enjoyable, or at least, less painful.