Tuesday. August 6th. 2013. 23:55
Today was my nephew's birthday. He is now thirteen. Another teenager in the family. All we need. Considering that the pushed his brother through the (thankfully open) french doors at my sister's house the other day, he's kind of lucky to have made it this far.
The normal 'witty' card, and emailed Amazon voucher as a present. Does this make me a lazy giver ? Well, actually when it was the case that he was getting a bike for his birthday I had bought a new lock and rechargeable bike lights for him. Having changed his mind, and decided that learning to ride a bike was 'too much for him', that became a pointless thing to buy him.
Even though I had purchased them I am sure that I can still make use of them when I finally get round to buying a new bike.
So far this week I've not gotten much writing done. I've kidded myself that my online escaping into 'Second Life' is a valid alternative for spending my time. When I'm away on holiday I won't be able to go on Second Life. So I will miss my virtual world. When I say miss. I don't mean it like that. I don't actually go on it at all that much these days. When I first started it, I was on it for hours and hours every night. Now I probably only go on there for a couple of hours a week.
I need to stop turning the Television on again. This seems to be the routine when I come in from work.
Get in.
Let cats out.
Turn on TV.
Slump in sofa.
Pointlessly surf the internet / check facebook.
Maybe, just maybe I will start some novel editing, or I will start a blog entry. I've done that a couple of times. But the TV gets in the way of any real focus. Trouble is, Star Trek Enterprise is on at 7pm every night.
As time goes on, it's becoming less and less easy to hide my inner nerd. When I say inner. I mean the inner most 98% of me.
My life is SOOOOO rock'n'roll that I don't know where to begin. Having cleaned the flat, in preparedness of the arrival of Chloe The Mess Maker. and feeling good about myself for doing it, I set off to collect her. Only to miss the train that would have gotten me to meet her on time, so had to take a taxi instead.
Dammit with me and time.
blogging away on ipad, with borrowed keyboard from iMac,
I mentioned in my last entry, that I had bought a new case for my ipad, that matched the one for my kindle..
They're by Tecknet. I got them both from Amazon. The kindle's one I got at the same time I bought the Paperwhite, wanting something other than dull and boring black, and not really liking any of the other options. The blue was more bleuggghh, the pink was too shouty (even for me) and the green was never seriously under consideration. As for the yellow, well I know my limitations.
Matching gadget cases. Sequins to follow.... (joking)
The iPad case has the nifty function of being able to hold the iPad in a 'sitty-uppy' position. (my description, not theirs).
The quality of both is really nice, and I like the finish. Proper stitching at the seams and stuff. Gives me the faith that both will last.
Tyred.. did you see what I did there ? Ho. Hum. Sorry.
Yes, amongst the things that I got whilst out on my exciting shopping trip yesterday was some replacement inner tubes for my bike. With the desire to save money (the weekly buss tickets cost me nearly £70 a month) and an urge to be more physically fit, AND get home from drama a bit quicker I have decided that I need to fix my bike and 'get back on the road'.
Although I've put to the back of the list of things to do this weekend the actual repairing phase of this grand plan, I am sure that by the end of the week I will have the old girl working again. I'm day off on Wednesday so I will have a chance to fix the tyres whilst I wait in all day for the man from UPS to come pick up my old busted kindle.
I am still over the moon to not be without one, thanks to those lovely folks at Amazon.
Moved the cat tree into the living room, as it gives them a much better view of what's going on. Managed to move it without disturbing Midnight, who was resting on it at the time. This does seem to be a hit with the cats as they do indeed like to laze on the top most part of the cat tree and watch whatever is going on around them.
Yes, that is Midnight on the left there, precariously balancing on the top perch, trying to share it with his sister. Looks damn uncomfortable if you ask me, not the Twilight seems to notice.
The other brilliant news this weekend was the revelation that my daughter wants to go on a school trip to France later in the year. Somehow having to find the money for that, on top of all the other things just makes me smile. It shouldn't really. I am glad though that she wants to go, sounds like it will be a great thing for her to do. I think they will be staying in Normandy for 4 days. She didn't seem to make the connection when I reminded her of our trip to Hastings a couple of years ago, where we did go the Battle (the place where the Battle of Hastings took place) and walked round the very field and looked round the abey.
Oh dear, history education just not what it used to be I guess. More than likely, it would be the case that like myself I didn't really take an interest in history until people stopped trying to tell me about it.
This review is from: Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation (Electronics)
I've now had my Kindle for about three weeks, and I can't imagine life
without it. I'd understood that there were delays with the delivering of
the units, so was entirely surprised when I went to the post office (as
I'd not been in when they'd tried to deliver it) to collect what I
thought was the less exciting case... but was in fact the Kindle itself.
The guy behind the counter in the post office must have thought I was a
right weirdo, as the moment I saw the box that is the subject of so
many youtube unboxing reviews, my face was beaming. I was excited and
eager.
Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.
I was due to catch the bus for work in 20 minutes time.... the clock was ticking...
I got home, quickly put a camcorder up to record the opening, as it
was a one time event, just in case I felt the need to video a review
later on. I've just never gotten round to it.
Just how indispensable I've found the device is demonstrated by what
a panic I got into yesterday, when I thought I had lost it at work.
Thankfully someone had handed it in. My beloved Kindle was safe and
sound.
I have to say, the product is fantastic. In all of about 2 minutes
I'd opened the box, turned the Kindle on, connected to my wifi network,
downloaded all my books, and was ready to go ! The screen is so easy on
the eye, reads well, even in sunlight. I've made great use of being able
to email the PDF files of scripts that I'm working on, so that I can
read them much easier without having to kill a couple of hundred trees
every time.
even without playing with zoom or orientation, PDFs look great
I was also impressed with the 'experimental' browsing experience.
Come on guys, don't be shy, there's nothing experimental about it. It
works like a charm, does the job for reading text based sites. I also
like how pictures that I've emailed to the kindle look on the screen,
I've sent a few over just to test the technology out, and I have to say
they look better in black and white.
I have yet to actually connect my kindle to a pc. All the books, PDFs and pictures that are now on my device, are there because I emailed them to my 'xxxxxxxxx@free.kindle.com' address. What a brilliant and simple idea, a wonderfully easy to use way to get anything (that's supported) onto your device. It certainly doesn't need someone tech savy to set that up !
In a world where I am used to charging so many devices every day if I
expect to get anything near a usable experience out of them, to have
one that I have only needed to charge once since purchasing is
brilliant.
One of these pictures is from the 'dead tree' version....
...the other is from the Kindle's screen...
I've shown it to people at work, and there is a gathering of
drooling book reading people who just get that it's not an Ipad wanna
be, it's an ereader. A very capable ereader that just works, looks and
feels great and has a brilliant price point. I've taken two pictures, one of the same part of text in a book, the other, on the kindle itself. I think my rush to take the picture so I can catch that bus doesn't quite do it justice. Hopefully you can see that the Kindle screen is a brilliant reading display. There are no prizes for guessing what book this is. I don't know, to be honest
why it would make sense to spend an extra £40 on the 3G version when
there are so many free wifi spots around. I also cannot believe that the
branded cases offered by Amazon represent that much value for money. (I
got mine off Ebay for half the price - I just wasn't convinced that a
case that hooks on by those ... hooks is really going to work in the
long term, or that the device won't end up damaged if it gets knocked.
What do I love about it ?
It fits in my coat pocket.
Its light. Easy to hold. Easy to carry
It feels 'right'. The page forward/page back controls are just right.
The price point. If it drops below £100 you really don't a reason not to get one.
For reading, the screen is so much better on your eyes. No strain.
Battery lasts, like 'forever' (results may vary - I'm speaking figuratively)
Document portability. The email files to thing is a master stroke of genius.
Wifi connectivity. You're not tied to a PC.
'Experimental' Browser. Understated-ly brilliant for viewing text based web content.
If you read books or scripts, I have one simple piece of advise. GET THE KINDLE. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
Monday, 11 October 2010
The Kindle cometh. I have been salivating over this amazing device since its release last month. I eventually gave in to my desire, and ordered one on October 2nd.
There is a bit of a wait on delivery. Demand has been so great. As a bit of a gadget fiend I've always liked the convenience of e-readers, right back in the day on a succession of windows mobile machines. The modern devices, designed specifically for the purpose, with E-Ink rather than LCD screens. Easier on the eye.
Up until the release of the Kindle 3 these devices have seemed quite cumbersome, clunky and expensive. The third generation Kindle, produced by Amazon is lighter, has a better display and comes in two options of connectivity. The wifi only version comes in at £109 and the 3G version at £149. There's no subscription or connections charges, and this means you can download new books from Amazon's website in about 120 countries in the end. That's a great tool to have, if you expect to find yourself in a place where you will desperately want to download a book and can't get to an open wifi network any time soon, then the £149 model is the one for you.
Me, I plumped for the £109 version. Figuring that the extra £40 wasn't worth that added convenience, and that open wifi networks are only the nearest McDonald's or Costa Coffee shop away.
As for my gift to self. Was dispatched from Amazon's warehouse on Friday. Expected delivery date is October 13th. Can't come soon enough in my mind. I'll write some more about it, and a detailed review once it has finally got here.
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