Posts Tagged ‘Kindle’
April 11, 2010
Updated April 21, 2010.
The world probably doesn’t really need another iPad review, does it?
There’s a glut out of them out there.
And I’m not a tech reviewer. I’m a gadget nut, so feel free to discount my enthusiasm by the appropriate percentage. After all, I did pre-order this thing sight unseen so it could be delivered on Day One.
So this post will be impressionistic, just some notes on my first week with the device.
First: It’s fast. Snappy. It makes the iPhone and the iPod Touch seem slow. It makes a Macbook seem slow.
Second: The battery life is amazing. You don’t even think about the battery. I plug it it in every night, and have used it heavily many days. It has never dropped below 50 percent.
Remarkable for an Apple product: It doesn’t get hot — unlike my Macbook Air, or my iPhone, which can get uncomfortable to the touch and sluggish with heavy use. I have often thought that Steve Jobs was trying to brand me with his products. No more.
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Posted in iPhone Apps, Social Media | 5 Comments »
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Apple TV, Books, computers, iPad, iPad apps, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPod Touch, iPods, iTunes, Kindle, Kindle for iPad, music, NYT, podcasts, Steve Jobs, technology, TiVo, Twitter
April 3, 2010
It’s still syncing.
While I prepare myself for the inevitable post-purchase depression and “why can’t I do that, Mr. Jobs” revelations, here are some unboxing pictures and a video from my Posterous page.
At some point I’ll list the pros and cons. But I’m done with the posting and tweeting today. I doubt there’s much new that I could say about it.
Technology isn’t my beat, so I’ll leave the iPad news and reviews to my colleagues at Bits. (Here’s an earlier post about how I made the purchase decision.)
For me, the iPad is first and foremost a book and media reader. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in iPhone Apps, New York, Paper & Ink | 3 Comments »
Tags: Apple, Books, Collyer brothers, comics, ebooks, iBooks, iPad, Kindle, Kindle for iPad, macs, NYT, Posterous
September 9, 2009
More often than I care to recall, I have impulsively downloaded a fancy new iPhone application, only to have it languish on my phone. That was the inspiration for the first “list of iPhone apps I actually use” last year, after the iTunes store started selling third-party applications.
Since then, the number of new applications has grown rapidly. Now there’s a cottage industry of lists, blogs and podcasts devoted to reviewing applications. Here’s a recent Techcrunch list of the “best” apps, which notes the store had 300 new apps rolling out every day. Here’s a similar post at Gizmodo, which put the total number of apps at more than 74,000. Many of the lists that try to sort out the best applications seem to focus more on flash than substance.
In August, I finally renewed my AT&T contract and upgraded to the iPhone 3GS. It seemed like the right time to reconsider the programs I had loaded onto my phone. Did I actually use them?
Here’s my revised list:
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Posted in Blogging, iPhone Apps, Moving Images, New York, Social Media | 10 Comments »
Tags: 1Password, AIM, Amazon, AOL Radio, Bento, Books, computers, dictionaries, Facebook, games, Gizmodo, Google, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPods, iTunes, Kindle, Last.FM, macs, Midomi, music, newspapers, NPR, NYC, NYT, O.E.D., Pandora, Posterous, radio, Readdle, remotes, Shakespeare, Shazam, SMS, software, Stanza, Techcrunch, technology, texting, Tweetie, Twitter, Twitterfon, UpNext, Urbanspoon, Wall Street Journal, webcams, WikiHow, Wikipanion, Wikipedia, Yelp
August 9, 2009
Well, this is one cost of early technology adoption. I bought an original Kindle in April 2008, and it has served me well, so I can’t complain too much.
Recently, I noticed a sort of smudge developing in the upper left corner of the screen, even when the machine was turned off. There were also slight streaks of white lines going vertically down the screen, with a washed-out appearance at the top. I could still read books, but it was sort of annoying. I decided to see if Amazon tech support could offer any advice.
I wasn’t looking for a replacement, although I wouldn’t have minded a sort of cash-for-clunkers trade-in discount on a Kindle 2 or a DX. Mainly I was hoping this was an easy problem that they had learned how to fix. If they couldn’t, I would live with it.
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Posted in Blogging, iPhone Apps, Paper & Ink, Social Media | 9 Comments »
Tags: Amazon, Apple tablet, Books, customer service, ebooks, iphone, Kindle, New York Times, Posterous, tech support, Twitter
April 11, 2009
[Update! New List! New Post! See the new list of iPhone applications I actually still use in this post, from September 2009.}
I am surprised by how well this list of iPhone apps I actually use has held up over the past few months. Most of the apps I’ve added in recent months have been games, none of them particularly amazing, although my daughter swears by one, Jelly Car. I have to admit, it is fun.
The only significant new application I’ve added is the Amazon Kindle for iPhone. It has quickly become one of my favorites. I actually find reading on it preferable to the clunky Kindle 1 in some ways. (I read most of this book on the iPhone.)
The application is free, but of course you need to own an Amazon Kindle and download some books. Kindle newspaper and magazine subscriptions don’t work, nor can you read documents you have sent to yourself or ebooks from sources other than Amazon (the original Kindle allows this). Unfortunately, Amazon and publishers have recently raised the cost of new Kindle books. The page-turning is easier than the Kindle 1, and of course the phone has a backlight, while the Kindle uses e-ink that is supposedly easier on the eyes but requires outside light. The coolest feature is the Whisper Sync: You are taken to the most recent page you read, whether on the phone or the Kindle.
Posted in iPhone Apps | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amazon, Apple, iphone, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPod, Kindle, Mac, NYT
March 8, 2009
Ah, the signs of spring — Turbotax, Daylight Saving Time and warmer weather. What better time to jump-start a moribund blog? I’ve been kicking around some ideas for posts.
For example, I am really grooving on the new Kindle for iPhone application. It is amazing to be reading a book on one device then have the phone call the same text up to the page where I left off. And the updated New York Times iPhone app is snappier than the original, which had grown slower and frustrating with new phone firmware updates. Now I can get depressing economic news right in my hand in a matter of seconds.
I also wanted to blog about some ideas I’ve been having about Twitter, and how to build a useful and effective personal network, but those thoughts haven’t gelled yet.
In the end, it all comes back to coffee, without which nothing happens, especially on this blog.
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Posted in Blogging, Coffee! | 3 Comments »
Tags: Café Grumpy, Coffee!, espresso, Intelligentsia, iPhone Apps, Kenya, Kindle, Twitter
December 26, 2008
The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]
Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 4 Comments »
Tags: Benjamin Button, Bernard Madoff, Blogs, Books, Books on the Nightstand, Brazil, cheese, Coffee!, Coffeegeek, David Fincher, Dinner Party Download, drinks, e-books, Eating, espresso, Frank Sinatra, grok, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Jonathan Larroquette, Keanu Reeves, Kindle, Leo Laporte, Mad Men, movies, mozzarella, Obika, parmesan, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, protean gestures, Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction, Seth Romatelli, The Coffee Song, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Uhh Yeah Dude
December 6, 2008
One notable aspect of the 21st Annual Indie & Small Press Book Fair this weekend is the location, the members-only library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, at 20 West 44th Street in Manhattan, which is also home to the New York Center for Independent Publishing.
The free book fair (donations accepted, in exchange for homemade baked goods on each floor), which lasts through Sunday, is a great excuse to wander up and down the floors and halls of this fascinating building on one of the more interesting blocks of Midtown. The Algonquin Hotel, another literary landmark, is across the street. (Times have certainly changed: The hotel now lends Amazon Kindles to its guests.)
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Posted in New York, Paper & Ink | 1 Comment »
Tags: Algonquin Hotel, Books, comics, Continuum Books, David Rees, Dzanc Books Best of the Web, General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, Get Your War On, Indie and Small Press Book Fair, Kindle, Matt Taibbi, Midtown, Neutral Milk Hotel, New York Center for Independent Publishing, NYC, O.K. Computer, Radiohead, Sony Reader
The world probably doesn’t really need another iPad review, does it? 
