• If you are a serious reader, even if you own an iPad2, buy the Touch.
• If you have a child who loves to read, buy the Touch.

Background

I own an Amazon Kindle 1, aka the White Wedge. I used it quite a bit until the battery stop holding it’s charge, and I got an iPad2. I do almost all of my book reading on the iPad2 using the Kindle App (how ironic). However the weight and the glare makes the reading experience sub par. One cool thing that I can do however is to flip between the Kindle App and iThought HD (a mindmapping app) to make notes while I read.

I pre-ordered the Kindle Touch when it was announced and it arrived yesterday. Charged it up in about an hour, and it is ready for use.

Likes

• It is small and light, something that you can “throw” in your bag and have your books with you anywhere, bonus: much lighter than the iPad2
• Page turn delay, which is always an issue with e-ink display, is not bad. Check out the video review I made, basically it is quick enough not to be bothersome.
• The on screen virtual keyboard is also very responsive, meaning you can make notes easily right on the device

Dislikes

These are all minor issues:

• The charging port, which is a micro-USB port, feels loose. I hope it does not break in the future
• The feel of the plastic body is not great. I cannot tell why, but it just does not feel nice, especially compare to Apple products
• Similarly, I which it comes in a sharper color, but then that’s what cases and covers are for
• no landscape viewing mode (at least for now) — I do not find this to be a big problem, but people using the Kindle for reading personal PDF may find that an issue
• When you click a “button”, it does not “flash” — so there is no visual feedback of a button being pressed. This is something that, say Apple, will never let go. They should either turn the button dark for a moment or have audible feedback, considering there will likely be a delay until the action is taken. (Note: The keyboard has this “flash/dark” feature. Only buttons in dialog boxes do not.

For Video Review click here to see my video on Amazon.

More Tips and Issue

Amazon Account Management

We use the Kindles within the entire family. One question is whether to use one single Amazon account for all content? Or split them up into adults vs kids accounts. This is a problem that would be solved if Amazon allows a easy transfer of content between accounts, but they do not. This is how the “book” metaphor breaks down. We are not allowed to give our books away. Since we may want to read each other’s books, we choose to use a single amazon account. As a result, we need to:

• disable auto-syncing so that two people can read the same book at different speeds without all devices automatically jumping to the furthermost point
• use collections to organize a larger than necessary set of books

Listening to Music from iTunes

I am a Mac user and all my music are stored within the iTunes / Apple ecosystem, as DRM free Apple Lossless format files. the Kindle only support MP3s. So I need to convert any music that I want on the Kindle into MP3 files. iTunes has this feature but it may not be obvious.

Kindle Touch for Kids

The Kindle Touch is a great device for kids who read.

Final Thoughts

Summarizing the bigger points regarding the e-book and digital living marketplace:

• Amazon should allow ownership transfer of e-books. This is solved in the music world by the removal of DRM in music files.

• free hand input
• free hand input with shapes
• a zoomed mode that allow you to write in a larger space (hard to explain, go try it)
• PDF annotation
• image annotation
• and much much more

It is by, I would say a software artist, Mr. Dan Bricklin of VisiCalc fame. What’s not to like? However, I was having a tough time writing on it with my finger. I was at Office Depot and I decided to pick up the only type of stylus they have, the Targus stylus. This is the rubber tip type, not the foam tip type. I actually like this better, and now I can really make hand writing notes on the iPad.

Observation: The iPad invites collaboration. We sit side by side instead of across a conference room table. This calls for a friendlier and more informal meeting. It is almost like back-to-paper. We can point and click on the iPad screen together, instead of passing the mouse back and forth with the traditional laptop and projector setup.

The iPad is a good meeting facilitator, for a two person meeting.

• The official PBS (tv) apps published by PBS, for iPhone or iPad
• The official NPR (radio) apps published by PBS for iPhone or iPad

The NPR (radio) apps both let you do live streaming or catch up on old shows. The Video program has selected content for viewing, but obviously no life streaming. These apps are confusing because they use the same icon for both iPhone and iPad, but the apps are different. On first sync I have both versions on the iPad and I need to launch them to figure out what is what.

There are other apps out there, the Public Radio Tuner will stream radio, and WBUR has their own apps. But I am not sure if they are necessary if you have the official apps.

Part of the geek cred is to appreciate watches. Form and function — What’s not to like? I went from super thin swatch purchased in Tokyo, to my first “expensive” watch, the Bell & Ross Fusion, purchased at London Heathrow’s duty free shop, to a series of G-Shocks, perhaps reflecting on practicality of the last few years.

I was all ready to continue my G-Shock / tool watch collection with the PAW 2000, the “gentlemen’s ABC Watch (That is Altimeer, Barometer and Compass) — the ultimate in the sports tech watch. 20+ functions. More raw computing power than my first computer. Then I stumbled upon the Seiko automatic dive watches. Automatic meaning the watch is automatically wound as you move the watch about with the natural movement of your arm. Yes — this means the watch is a pure mechanical device. No quartz, no battery, no solar power, no radio sync. It’s all stainless steel enclosing gears and springs.

A pure mechanical watch. The Seiko SKX781  “Orange Monster” Automatic Dive Watch. 7S26 movement.

The Appeal

I never like flashy watches. Oversized watch falls into that category. That’s why I never liked them. These dive watches are large and thick but not overpoweringly large. The only thing that this particular model is the orange face, which will catch your eye if you look closely. But it is not a “look at me” type of loud.

Without the flashiness, the remaining stainless steel look is more utilitarian, more industrial, more modern. That of course is ironic since this is a design from the 70′s. Very much like the minimalist / industrial design that is hot now. Old is new again, for the better.

First Impression

The watch arrived in a proper watch box, with a pillow holding the watch. What presentation! Even the more expensive G-Shocks comes on a plastic holder inside a cool tin box. This Seiko is old school all the way.

The Weight — this thing is heavy! It is several times heavier than the G-shocks. It bothered me for about five minutes, and then I don’t feel it anymore. In fact I like the weight now. Because of the weight I wear it a little tighter than I wear the G-shocks, and it actually feel good. It feels like part of my arm now.

The manual operations

I must amid, wearing the watch across the end of November period and realized I have to manually change the date from Nov 31st to Dec 1st was a slight annoyance. But like most manual tool, it is a way to bond with the tool. There is a relationship between the user and the tool. It requires care and feeding. It is not “use and forget”.

Adjusting the Band

I will detail the process in a separate post. Basically I purchased a few cheap tools from the internet and adjusted the size of the watch band myself. It was much easier than I thought. Now the watch fits like a charm, even on my small 7.5 inch wrist.

Now I am saving up for the next classic Diver, the Seiko SKX007. Not to mention the joy of finding alternate watch bands.Reference:

For more information than you need on this and other Seiko dive watches, read this article.

See larger image Seiko Men's SKX781 "Orange Monster" Automatic Dive Watch (Watch) List Price: $475.00 USD New From: $232.30 In Stock

11:21 am: The last screen in the sign-up process tells me that it will take up to 30 minutes for them to setup my account. In the age of 5 seconds attention span, “do it now” mentality, I am already unhappy. In this specific instance, I actually need to schedule a conference with a customer *now*. Not happy.

11:28 am: “Receipt for you WebEx order” email arrived. Which tells me please allow for 30 minutes for my account to be setup.

12:12 pm: “Welcome to WebEx” email arrived. (that’s 34 minutes later) saying I can start using WebEx.

12:13 pm: Trying to log into WebEx using my email address as the user id, which was *repeatedly” mentioned in all the emails so far, no luck.

12:14 pm: Trying to reset / retrieve my password, no luck. At this point it is cleared that something else is wrong. Signed on to their online chat to ask for help.

12:15 pm: Oh you are an existing customer? Please call our 800 number.

12:16 pm: Called 800 number, someone picked up, determined that “something is wrong, your account is invalid”, and transferred me to another department.

12:21 pm: after waiting for a few minutes, the call dropped. (We will *not* blame WebEx for this one, it could be just the cell service).

12:21 pm: Call back, since it was “something to do with my account”, I navigated to billing and not tech support. Waited and waited.

12:29 pm: Agent picked up, “oh you need to talk to “service” and transferred me again. More waiting.

12:40 pm: Can’t wait anymore. Hung up. Went to get lunch downstairs.

12:50 pm: Eating lunch at my desk, called back to 800 number, navigated to “tech support”, and, yes you guessed it, waiting in the queue.

12:57 pm: Someone picked up. “Oh you don’t have a user name” he says. “Funny I thought it was my email address” I replied. He asked me to pick a user name, (not in the form of an email address), created my “account” and away I go. I asked why did the system from the first sign-up screen keep telling me that my email address is my user name?

He couldn’t explain. Seems like perhaps there is a truly manual step involved in the WebEx account setup process, and someone is suppose to type in a user name for me.

Wait — this is not over !!!

10:35 am THE NEXT DAY: I got an email: “Your meeting center user name and password” is created. That is about 19 hours later. And that it seems is in response to the customer service rep’s setting up of my user name when I was on the phone with them.

Recap

If I had simply waited, perhaps 19 hours later I would have received my actual user name? What is the actual rules for user name? Email? or username? What exactly is the sign-up process? I really would like to know.

By the way, I tweeted my dissatisfaction on twitter to @webex. Someone responded several times, but nothing actually happened.

Irony

The irony is that I was a very early user of WebEx back in 2000 when they were starting out. I have used it extensively in a global start-up. Everything was first rate. This experience makes me want to go run to dimdim or gotomeeting.

• works well with Mac and PC
• works well with Linux a plus
• need a copier function — we don’t print much these days, but we do have the occasional copy need, copying sketches made in meeting for clients for example
• reasonably fast
• laser instead of ink — ink is too expansive to run
• wireless so that I don’t have to worry about placement

Verdict

I settled on the Brother MFC-7840W. It is an older model, and a mid range machine. Has all the usual features including network scanning. The verdict? B++. You can often find this discounted to about $250. A high yield toner cost around $40.

Likes

• machine is reasonably well built, still lots of plastic parts of course, at this price point
• print fast, print quality is good
• works easily with Linux, some of our developers are happy
• works with mac, I am happy
• copier works

Minor Dislikes:

• network scanning is so slow that it is not usable (I expected this before buying it). Use my wonderful Fujitsu ScanSnap instead.
• The Mac control center software (not required) while works is ugly and not friendly.
• The wireless connection would fail every few days, requiring a quick power off/on on the printer — this is the only real annoying part. Have not troubleshooted this one yet.

Over all, it works and I am happy with it. See some pictures below, notice how many little blue tapes it used in packaging.

Anyway, back to the easy way — Snap Circuits. When I looked at the pictures I never thought it was any good. It definitely is on the simple side on the electronic circuits that it builds. I gave one of these as a Christmas present to someone and I got a chance to play with it. I was surprised that it was a pretty good kit. Very easy to “use”. So it is well suitable for younger kids, as an introduction to basic circuits. You can find the manuals online to check out the kids.