One of my favorite book series, David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, just moved into the world of “multimedia” with the release today of the first Tales of Honor comic book. While I’ve never been a big fan of comic books in general (I’ve generally found the individual “books” too short – more like chapters than full stories… I know, that’s the point), I am encouraged by this move toward visual media for this excellent story. And since this is supposedly all part of a broader strategy to eventually bring the Honorverse to the “big screen”, I am encouraged for the return of quality Sci-Fi “space opera”.
Category: Uncategorized
Hello Again
Well, while I may have had good intentions of putting together some gadget reviews this past year, I obviously failed miserably. It’s been a busy year since I last posted.
Two things in particular have conspired to absorb most of my time and keep me from posting: (1) We bought a new house in January of this year, and so the house hunting last fall, the prep for the deal once a house was found, and then moving in and dealing with being a new homeowner all took up a lot of time and energy. And (2) I have a real job that has taken a lot of time and energy as well. It has proven very challenging, more so than any job I’ve had before. But it’s really more of a “good” sort of challenging, so thats not bad… just time consuming.
When you take into account that all of the devices I mentioned in my previous post as things I wanted to provide reviews on have now been either replaced or superseded by newer versions, it seems kind of pointless to “review” them at this point. I still have them (although the iPad 2 may soon find a new home) and still use them, so it’s worth saying that I am satisfied with each and every one of those devices and pleased with the purchase of them. I’d recommend them to anyone, though perhaps with a few caveats in some cases depending on the intended use or user.
For example, the Nook Simple Touch has now been supplemented in the market with the Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light. But I would recommend both if (a) you aren’t already tied to either Amazon’s or Apple’s bookstores with previous purchases (although, since you can get a Nook app for all of Apple’s devices, it’s not as much of an issue there as it is with Amazon), or (b) prefer a more “open” standard file format such as ePub over the proprietary format used by the Kindle, and want a nice, compact, touch-based black-and-white e-reader with access to a very good book selection.
As for the Sony HX-100V super-zoom digital camera, I’d say it is a great camera for most people who want more from a camera but aren’t ready to step up to the complexity or cost of a DSLR. ANd while picture quality is on par with or better than almost all other similar “compact” cameras, just don’t expect DSLR quality, especially in low light.
Well, that’s enough for now. And I hope to post more soon…. see’ya around the net!
Amazon Announces New Kindle DX
Today, July 1, 2010, Amazon introduced a new Kindle DX, their larger incarnation of the Kindle e-reading device. The previous version of the Kindle DX retailed for $489, but the new DX will only set you back $379. Amazon boasts a better 9.7” e-ink screen with greater contrast for the new DX and the unit comes in gray rather than white. The $110 drop in price seemed inevitable after the release in April of the similarly sized, but multi-purposed Apple iPad that starts at $499.
The 6” screen Kindle 2 remains unchanged and priced at $189, where it dropped to last Monday after Barnes & Noble introduced a new WiFi-only version of their competing Nook e-reading device at $149 and dropped the WiFi+3G original version of the Nook to $199.
There’s action in the ebook reader market, yes there is. Indeed, earlier today, Woot.com, fresh off its purchase by Amazon, was offering a limited supply of Kindles (the regularly $189 Kindle 2) for just $149, and those sold out by noon.
Now the questions remains as to what is the best choice in an ebook reading device: the Kindle, Nook, or iPad (with apologies to the many other ereaders out there from Sony, Kobo, and others). While the answer may be an individual preference, it occurs to this writer that perhaps the best answer lies in a combination of more than one device. More on that another time… soon.
iPad is Here
Well, the iPad is among us. Just one month in and one million sold. Not bad. It’s a great device. More than a smartphone, but just a bit less than a computer. And there’s 5000+ iPad optimized apps already. Maybe I’ll need to help push that number up a bit.
srhawk.com 