Comments | kar3ning: gadget review

kar3ning

gadget review

Dec 31, 2009 00:40

thefreak (aka the King of Gadgets) got me a Kindle for Christmas. So far, I really like it.

The good:
The screen! The Kindle uses a kind of LCD screen-- they call it e-ink, but seriously, it's good ol' LCD. Still, it's really easy to read, and because it's not backlit, you don't get the eye-stabbing headaches that happen after intently reading ( Read more... )

geek, books, cool stuff

Comments 12

mycroftca December 31 2009, 15:34:10 UTC

There IS a place where you can download files of books that are in the public domain for free...it's the Gutenberg Project, and there's something on the order of 30,000 books in dozens of languages available.

Oh, and the other downside to all of these ereaders is that they are somewhat fragile. I had a patient who was reading her Kindle in the hospital, and she admitted to me that it was her 4th; she'd spent a pretty fair amount in postage each time the item broke down.

kar3ning December 31 2009, 20:58:25 UTC

I've seen the Gutenberg project before, but now that I have a better reader than a laptop screen, I'll be able to dig into it a little further. :D

anonymous December 31 2009, 18:16:26 UTC

I got one too, already loaded 80 books on it =) You can torrent most books and there is a PDF to Mobi converter which works well to get text to format dynamically.

My largest complain is the lack of a zoom feature on PDF's. My study material is all PDFs w/ drawings and diagrams which don't convert well. Google also has a search feature with tons of free ebooks. However you can find a ton of free ones on the Amazon store.

Also, if you buy it on the store using your computer, there is a one click purchase button and it will download it automatically to your Kindle wirelessly.... that part I LOVE.

To "flip" through an ebook, you can use the jump feature to jump to any "section" (not page number). I just make notes and reference section #'s.

I'm wishing I would have purchased the larger version, but $450 wasn't something I wanted to spend.

that was me. omnipotentmight December 31 2009, 18:18:57 UTC

gawdamnit! Forgot to log in.....

Re: that was me. thefreak December 31 2009, 18:39:19 UTC

Actually. we discovered the PDF text will zoom to a larger size if you flip the kindle to the side.

Re: that was me. omnipotentmight December 31 2009, 19:08:24 UTC

Yeah, but it's still too small to see large, detailed networking diagrams.

Thread 5

edanya December 31 2009, 18:54:32 UTC

why this instead of a netbook?

omnipotentmight December 31 2009, 19:09:17 UTC

2 weeks of battery life, no eye strain, very thin and easily reads like a book.

edanya December 31 2009, 19:09:59 UTC

2 weeks? dayum.

kar3ning December 31 2009, 20:41:49 UTC

If you turn the wireless off. But even with the wireless on, it still taeks a few days without recharging to run down the battery.

A netbook is cool, but it's a mini-computer, where the Kindle a gadget that's really designed for reading.

(The comment has been removed)

daisakusha January 2 2010, 09:05:14 UTC

Indeed, how far into the series are you? I just finished reading the last book out, and will start the books over again once I get the first one back from my friend. (Might be a while though, dang it!) And if you are interested, the website for most everything in the Song of Ice and Fire world can be discussed or has already been discussed on the following forum.
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php
Including the HBO series, which I cannot wait for!!!
Hehe! Sorry, just had to have my nerd moment, I'm don geeking out now.