Kindle now iPod App. That’s going to sell a lot of books for Amazon.
It makes sense, considering that not everyone wants a Kindle. On the other hand, everyone already has an iPod.
And it’s free. I haven’t read too much about the application so far, but I am interested in how it syncs up with your Kindle, in terms of bookmarks and highlighting.
I was particularly interested in the Nikon 18-55mm VR lens, primarily as a way to shoot indoors without having to resort to flash. It was either that lens, or continue to move myself closer and farther away to compose my shots.
Not that I mind, if I’m doing a dedicated shoot, I move around a lot because I’m using my 50mm 1.8. I’ve also picked a location that will allow me to to move around my subjects.
It’s just that indoors that’s not always practical. I figure it will be a good walking around lens which will allow me some composition versatility. Additionally, the VR, or vibration reduction component will allow me some leeway indoors where the lighting isn’t always perfect.
VR’s pretty interesting technology.
I was worried that the Ritz Camera applying for Chapter 11 was going to impact my order. Thankfully I just got the shipping notice. Now all that remains is waiting for the lens to arrive. I got a great price, less than one quarter the cost of the new model 16-85mm VRII lens.
I’m now stalking the package via the internet. Maybe it’ll get here tomorrow, and I can play with it on Saturday.
I did some photography this weekend, and I’m happy with the way things turned out. I’m remembering a lot of things that I used to do with 35mm film. This time, I’ve got a better flash and I’m still learning about exposure both with it and without it.
The D70 is becoming more and more an extension of my hand and eye, and I’m getting eerily familiar with the menus.
It really is about capturing time. But I have to make time to learn how to capture it effectively.
So far, based on the initial reviews of the Kindle 2, I would rate my enthusiasm a rousing, “Meh.”
I’m not sure what I think about the Kindle 2, since Amazon isn’t likely to send me a review unit anytime soon. I do think that the cost of entry is high, at least for me. There are some good things, such as USB charging, that have been added, but nothing else seems to make me want to open up my wallet and order it. Without a review unit, it’s hard for me to say, I’m all for whispernet and the cloud without seeing how they work in practice. I’ve read that the mobile versions of websites do work with the experimental browser included in Kindle 1, but again, not something I’m going to count down the days until I have saved enough money to buy it. I mean a mobile version of wordpress would be great, possibly twitter. I’ve read that these apps do work, but then again, it’s impossible to say whether or not they work well.
For me, knowing that these websites work would be a major bullet point for me.
Until I see a unit live, somewhere, and test it out, it’s buying something sight unseen. I mean, I can walk into a sony store and check out their reader. It’s pretty cool, and I’d consider one, but I have yet to see the Kindle so I’m waiting.
And I’m an early adopter. If they can’t sell it to me, they’ve got issues, although I guess they don’t have any issues because they’re back ordered and no one is even getting a Kindle 1. In fact, Kindle 1 preorders that have yet to be fulfilled are getting “upgraded” to the Kindle 2. Crazy.
I will say this:Â If they get the price to around $250, I am there.
Until then, I’ll listen to podcasts on the iPod and wait patiently for a generous price drop or the Kindle 3: Revolution.
Thanks to Paulo for the inspiration of the new more descriptive name for Google Latitude. It’s location sharing, using your phone and best approximation via cell tower triangulation, or the GPS built into your phone. It’s neat in theory, yet a bit clunky and a little bit awkward on my not so fast phone. So now you, too can find out where I am.
With my permission, of course. Although now, it seems less functional and just something to people will have to think about when they’re having extramarital affairs. Although ATM withdrawals and credit card statements are perfectly capable of providing that same information, although not in real time.
It is strange, because signed up for it with nary a thought, and yet I hesitate at the thought of joining Facebook. I guess with Latitude, I could always turn off my phone or sign out. But Facebook seems like a persistent invasion of privacy, even though I know I can set privacy options to hell and back and not ever log in. I talked about this with Lori, briefly, about a possible government subpoena of Google’s records. I had to think about it for a while.
Google already knows who my friends are, what I’m searching for, who I’m talking to, who I’m emailing, when I’m doing these things with which friends, what personal documents I edit, and now, they know where I am.
Besides, if the government wanted my location, they can just get the cell tower info from the telcos anyway. Hell, they may already have it, now that I think about it. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that we gave up our privacy a long time ago.
It’s just that the internet makes the loss more immediately felt, more apparent.
You know, when you get a gazillion spam messages the next day.