Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Amazon Kindle 2 Rocks!

Okay, I ordered my W the Kindle 2 because I wasn't sure that I wanted one. Today, while she was at the office, I downloaded a book from Amazon from for $13.92 which included wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet. The regular price of the book was $15.47 + shipping. However, with the Kindle 2, here the things you can do:


  • Text to Speech - When reading a book, you can click Menu, Start Text-to-Speech and the Kindle will start reading the the book to you. The software used is similar to the text-to-speech engine used with the Auto GPS systems so it is not for everyone, but I could see times when I would use it with my headphones.

  • Amazon Store Wireless Access - The Kindle 2 connects to the Amazon Store simply by selecting Menu, Turn Wireless On. There are no setting to configure and I understand it uses both 3G and wi-fi.

  • Kindle 2 User Interface - The Amazon Kindle 2 screen is surprisingly very easy to read. It reminds me of the Palm Pilot screen, but better. When reading a book, the Next Page buttons on the left or right and the Prev Page button is the main user interface control you need to get use to as well as the Joy Stick which is similar to the iPod Home button. Also, as an Apple iPhone and iPod user, I keep wanting to touch the screen but that feature is not supported. (The W would not be happy if I inadvertently touched her Kindle 2 screen.)


  • 240K Books - There are over 240,000 e-books in the Amazon Kindle Store. A very impressive inventory.


  • Newspapers and Magazines - I was going to check out The New York Times and noticed that the Kindle 2 version is another $13.99. Ouch, I already get the print version so I don't think I'll be subscribing.

  • Blogs - Huh, you can read blogs such as the Amazon Daily (top selling but free?), The New York Times #2 ($1.99 per mo), The Clutter Diet #3 ($.99), The Onion #4 ($.99 per mo), The Huffington Post #5 ($1.99 per mo) and the Bedroom Blog #10 $.99 per month. (Hey wait a minute, aren't these blogs free on the Internet!). I don't think I'll be using this service since I can read these blogs on my MacBook or iPhone with 3G.

  • In any regard, The Kindle 2 is still hot and I recommend you get yours now before they run out!





    Wednesday, February 25, 2009

    Twitter Spam - GrantToolBox.com website - Grant Money Lost

    If you receive a twitter or email leading to a landing page at a grantoolbox.com or secure.grantoolbox.com website, this is spam. Here is the Twitter spam I recently received from one of their affiliates.

    1) Today, received a "twitter spam" that a member "Whynot12"was following me.

    EMAIL MESSAGE
    Subject: Whynot12 is now following you on Twitter!

    Whynot12 (vqdsfZ) is now following your updates on Twitter.
    Check out Whynot12's profile here:
    http://twitter.com/vqdsfZ

    You may follow Whynot12 as well by clicking on the "follow" button.

    Best,
    Twitter

    2) When someone follows you on Twitter, I typically click the person's Twitter profile page to see if I know this person and see how many followers the person has. This person Whynot12 had over 800 followers, however, there most recent tweet looked like email spam I received. "Just applied for the new Obama stimulas grant package.

    3) So I clicked through to the link, and it appeared to be an affiliate link, where the affiliate gets paid each time a user signs up or registers.
    4) The Affiliate was https://secure.granttoolbox.com/



    5) Ouch, look at their 245,000 monthly unique visitors per month on Quantcast.

    Tuesday, February 24, 2009

    Amazon Kindle 2 Now Shipping

    For Valentine's Day, I bought my W or wife an Amazon Kindle 2. She can't wait to get it and I understand it shipped early and should arrive by Thursday, February 26, 2009. This is a very, very cool device with free 3G connectivity to buy books from Amazon and wireless connectivity, a browser for basic surfing the Internet. The electronic books should be $10 or less and this device has great battery life.

    David Pogue's review is in today's edition of the New York Times.

    I told my W to wait to buy the case since I imagine we'll see many great cases on the market in the next several months. I received an email regarding a new Kenneth Cole case for the Kindle 2.