When we did the Kindle2 review, one of the few things that Dan, Doug and Kerry griped about was the device’s pasty white front. I didn’t really mind the slightly off-white color, but when I purchased the Kindle DX I decided it needed a bit of personalization. Since I don’t yet have a case for the oversized ereader, I thought it would be fun to give it dash of protective color; I purchased a DecalGirl skin.
The following email was sent directly to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Dear Mr Bezos, My name is Dan Cohen and I am an editor for the tech website www.geardiary.com. I am also a proud Kindle owner. In fact, many of us on the site’s staff have, and love, our Kindles. I’m writing to you regarding an experience I have had over the past few days that clearly struck a cord with readers and Kindle owners worldwide. It began last Friday when I got a new iPhone and iPod touch and was unable to load some of my kindle books on them….
I’ve been on top of KindleGate most of the afternoon. It took speaking with three MORE customer reps today, plus the one yesterday, to finally get accurate, or what I hope is accurate, information. This sordid tale began last night when I was setting up my iPhone 3G S, and a book I went to download to the Amazon Kindle app would not download. I called customer service to inquire about the issue. In short order the customer representative told me that each publisher determines the number of times a book can be downloaded, and once that download number is…
I love my Amazon Kindle. I love reading with it, I love how light it is, and I love the battery life. I also love the fact that it automatically syncs with the Amazon Kindle application on my iPhone and iPod touch. That means any book will open to the last page read regardless of the device last used. it is an amazing bit of technology that makes reading books across multiple platforms beyond simple. It’s a perfect situation — right? Well, it’s an almost perfect situation. This afternoon I discovered a huge Achilles heel in the whole Amazon Kindle…
I couldn’t resist; I put in my order and received an Amazon Kindle DX. 😛 Some of the more obvious differences between the two devices are that the DX has a ~9.5″ screen, while the 2 has a ~5.8″ screen; the DX measures 10.4″ tall x 7.2″ wide x 0.38″ thick, and the 2 measures 8″ tall x 5.3″ wide x 0.36″ thick; and the DX can hold ~3500 books while the 2 can hold ~1500. The keyboards are a bit different, there are no buttons on the DX’s left side, and hmmm – just watch! The full review will…
[Editor’s note: This is a joint review by Judie and Julie that will be appearing simultaneously on Gear Diary and The Gadgeteer. Judie’s comments will be in black, and Julie’s will be in blue italics.] Like many who own an Amazon Kindle or Kindle2, Julie and I have grown to greatly enjoy the convenience of carrying our current and future reading material on our own “virtual bookshelves.” The question of how to keep our Kindles protected was one that we had to answer fairly early on, seeing as Amazon did not include any cover with our pricey new readers. I…
We often do initial reviews of hardware here on the site. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and, as gadget lovers, we enjoy bringing to all of you our thoughts on the newest technology. At the same time, what really matters about a product aren’t just the initial impressions or even the first review, but rather how things work in the long run and whether an item we really like during a review is something we still use a number of months later. Along those lines I thought we might go back and take a second look at item that both Wayne…
I live as close to the middle of nowhere as possible, and that’s how I like it. For nearly as far as the eye can see my view consists of trees, hills…and more trees and hills. I can just make out the sound of the highway if I listen carefully, but there are days when I don’t even notice it anymore. Instead I enjoy the sounds of birds chirping, wind chimes, a visiting hummingbird’s wing thrum, and always a wind in the trees which sounds suspiciously like being at the ocean when I close my eyes. Our home in an…
We were over my in-laws’ house for Mother’s Day, and I did something rather unusual — I actually read a newspaper… from newsprint! Here’s what happened… I saw these quaint bundles of paper sitting on the counter and inquired as to what they were. My father-in-law said they are called “newspapers” and that, in his day, it was how they got the news. (I know I know… as shocking as it is, I learned that RSS feeds are actually relatively new.) I was surprised to find that the same information I read on my iPhone and Kindle could be found…
Chances are if you own a device with a LCD screen you fall into one of two camps: Those who protect and those who don’t. It only takes one scuff or scrape to forever scar the beautiful screen of that new device. A good quality screen protector can go a long way in helping to keep your screen looking like it did the day you unboxed it. If you don’t currently use a screen protector on your phone or PDA you might want to think about adding one. JAVOedge makes a variety of accessories for a variety of devices. One…
Anyone who hangs around discussion forums for just about anything has run into the ‘How Old Are You?’ poll / question. Evidently there was a similar thread called “Average Kindle Owner’s Age” in the Amazon Kindle Forums. None of this is surprising. The amazing thing is that someone took the time to compile all of the data presented in these posts and do some analysis! Stephen Peters of Kindle Culture is writing a book called, unsurprisingly, Kindle Culture, and they went though all 1700 posts and compiled all of the data. So what does it all say?
If you’re like me, you’ve got GOBS of eBooks, likely in more than one format, all over the place. I’ve got tons of books in MS Reader format (now THERE’S a blast from the past that most of us would like to forget), eReader format, MobiPocket format, etc. Some of the books that I have are ones that I’d really like the read again and again; but now that I’ve got a Kindle, I’m kindle screwed when it comes to my library of well over 300 titles.
[Note: This is a joint review by Doug Goldring, Judie Lipsett, Dan Cohen, and Kerry Woo. It is being simultaneously posted on Just Another Mobile Monday and Gear Diary. If you haven’t already, then take a look at Doug’s The Kindle 2: First Look and Unboxing and Judie’s Unboxing the Amazon Kindle 2.] Doug: One thing about sites like Gear Diary and Just Another Mobile Monday, we love our gadgets (I know, shocking!) We love playing with them almost as much as we love writing and telling you about them. Rarely does a week go by when one of us…
Hawking has been around a while, and while most laptops have built in WiFi, they may not have Draft N or 802.11N. You may also have a desktop without WiFi that you want a Internet connection on without using Ethernet; this may fit the bill.
I was starting to feel like I was one of the last people to get theirs, especially after enviously reading Dan’s emails and Doug‘s post about their Kindle 2s, but today my Amazon Kindle 2 finally showed up. I also got the Cole Haan Brown pebbly leather cover to go with it, since Amazon neglected to include even a cheap plastic one. The big box is the leather cover, and the smaller box is the Kindle 2; go figure. I opened everything with an expectant, yet slightly wary eye; I had dropped serious coin on this gear, and if it…
Draft N routers have been around for a while. In fact, right before Thomas from USBfever e-mailed us about this router, I had already purchased a Netgear version. When this one came out, I decided to check it out to see how well it would work here in the US.
Prior to this review I was not familiar with the relatively new company i2i and their range of products. I’m certainly glad to have had the chance to change that. The company is best known for its flagship product, the Stream, so we’ll not only take a look at it, but two other solid offerings- the i2i Folding Portable Speakers and AudioWear Lanyard Style Earphones, as well. the three work together to create a nice, wireless system.
When I was in college, it seems like someone was always throwing a house party. For those of you who are not familiar, it is a pretty basic concept. You throw open the front door of your house, condo, apartment, dorm room, or wherever you live; set out some refreshments; crank the music and wait for the people to show up…and they will. It is kind of like The Field of Dreams. If you throw a party, they will come. The problem, back in those days of the early 1990’s was the sound system. Most of us had music centered…
Ever since Kerry introduced me to the wonderfully descriptive and perfect term “ear roach”, used to describe those obnoxious Bluetooth headsets that so many people wear, I have been hard-pressed to think of them as anything but. However, the Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Earpiece I am writing about today is one earpiece that does not deserve my usual mockery. This earpiece is elegant, light, and dare I say pretty? It is one of the few headsets that looks like jewelry for your ear. But can it handle calls comfortably and with clarity? Read on to see…
I am a huge fan of mobile broadband. Since getting on the bandwagon last year, I can’t imagine not having my datacard with me to get online for work, uni or general surfing when out. I started out using my phone tethered via either Bluetooth or USB, which worked ok but wasn’t overly fast, was slightly unreliable and when using Bluetooth resulted in a dead battery after about 90mins. More recently I switched to using a Novatel Merlin XU870 HSDPA datacard which is fabulous. Uber fast connections at the coffee shop, on the train, or (when the cable is out)…
I love reading; always have. I remember the joy of checking out books from the library when I was a child: the thrill of finding a book that could transport me to other worlds and situations…and the sorrow when the time eventually came to return “my” book. It was as if I had separation anxiety when it was time to return a title I had really enjoyed. What if I wanted to read it again later? What if I couldn’t remember the title or author? I decided early on that book ownership was key. With that goal in mind, I…