5 Reasons to Get a Kindle Fire and 5 Reasons to Hold Off

 Books, Technology  No Responses »
Oct 272011
 

I’ve been debating on whether or not I want to upgrade my Kindle to the new Kindle Fire. Part of me absolutely wants to; touchscrean, full color display, YES! Those are the two features that have really been lacking in the old version of the kindle and now its here.

BUT is this like buying a tablet computer? If so then why wouldn’t I buy a chromebook or an Android tablet like the Galaxy Tab?

My biggest concern really, is that this will stop being my book and start being another computer/device that I can read on. Right now, my Kindle is my book, period. When I grab my Kindle I’m grabbing my book and nothing else. When I turn my Kindle on, I’m going to read and I don’t get distracted by everything else that you can get your attention on a computer. Plus, I don’t have to worry about charging my Kindle because the battery lasts for at least a month.

So here is a breakdown of what I see as pro’s and con’s for upgrading to a Kindle Fire.

5 Reasons Not to Upgrade

  • 1st generation. I’m not an early adopter and with good reason. The 2nd generation always comes out a few months later with all the kinks worked out, a better battery and a lower price.
  • Reading on the e-ink display is about as good as reading on a digital reader gets…just like paper
  • I already have a Kindle (is this even a reason though? come on.)
  • The Kindle Fire becomes less of a book and more of a media device
  • Its only a 7 inch display. I don’t know how big of an impact this will really have but, the iPad and Galaxy Tab are 10 inch displays and that seems to be the standard size for tablets these days.

5 Reasons to Upgrade

  • This turns your digital book into a full blown digital media device – isn’t that what we all really need! (that and love I guess)
  • Full color and a touch screen are huge improvements that the original Kindle has been lacking
  • It’s only $199!
  • The Kindle Fire becomes a
  • 7 inches sounds small for a display, but this article from Wired made me rethink my apprehension. Not to mention that for what I’ll be using this for, around the house, 7 inches is probably the right size. 10 may be overkill right? right!

It’s a pretty even race but ultimately I think Amazon knows consumers better that the other ‘media’ companies do. As long as their technology keeps up with the other guys, the Kindle Fire might be the best tablet available.

 Posted by at 6:44 AM  Tagged with: , , ,

The Hypnotist | A Book Review

 Books  No Responses »
Oct 202011
 

For fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), this is a must read. It’s written by a Swedish husband/wife writing team who was inspired by Larsson’s books (Lars is from Larsson) that they were compelled to create something to fill the void left from his passing.

The Hypnotist is everything that the Millenium Trilogy was, brutal, exciting, cold and Swedish. It has the same vibe that Larsson was able to create and it offers a fresh take on a murder mystery that keeps the reader engrossed page after page.

This story revolved around Swedish doctor Eric Maria Bark, a well-known doctor who uses hypnosis as a form of therapy to patients. We jump into the story with an early morning emergency call forcing him to practice hypnosis on a attack victim to help solve a murder case and save the next potential victims life.

Eric swore off Hypnosis for unknown reasons but as he picks up where he left off, it sets off a chain of events that ultimately lead to his son’s kidnapping and the struggle to find him and save his family. The plot twists and turns, keeping the thrilling ending a secret until the last possible moment.

Listen to an interview with the authors from NPR. Click Here.

 Posted by at 6:53 AM  Tagged with: , , ,

The iPhone Will Dominate the Mobile Market Again.

 Marketing, Technology  1 Response »
Oct 132011
 

 The iPhone will dominate the mobile market again.

Android owns 43.7% of mobile market according to a recent report from ComScore.

Android is an open-source platform with multiple devices on multiple carriers. This is largely what has helped them to overtake Apple in ownership of the mobile market. Apple, on the other hand, launched the iPhone and dominated the mobile market but in the last several years they’ve been handcuffed by ATT limiting the number of potential users for their product. When the iPhone 5 drops, Apple won’t have that problem anymore and ATT is going to get hit hard.

As much as I love Android it’s hard to deny that when the iPhone 5 does launch, it will break all of the previously held records and bring the iOS back to the top of the mobile market.

With the release of the iPhone 4S, many people complained that it was a big let down and Apple’s stock tanked as a result. Instead of a letdown, what it could be is Apple testing the waters and waiting for all of the carrier contracts to be finalized before they release the latest and greatest smartphone.

What did you really expect, sure there were news conferences and live streaming of the announcement but did you really expect Apple to unveil the latest and greatest without throwing a bigger party? When the iphone 5 does launch, you’ll know it. The press releases will be bigger, the media covereage will be louder and Apple will behold to the world another revelation in mobile devices.

The iPhone 5 will launch to most, if not all of the major cell carriers in the US AND abroad (which is a huge market that often gets overlooked). This is big for Apple. Previously they launched to one major carrier and if you weren’t on ATT then you had to pay a ridiculous amount to be able to use the iPhone on your own service provider. If the iPhone is on multiple carriers it will be an easy sell for customers and it will give Apple the boost they need to take back their ownership of the mobile market.

People must not be too dissapointed in the iPhone 4S, CNet is reporting that Apple has over 200,000 pre orders in 12 hours.

 Posted by at 6:54 AM  Tagged with: , , ,

A Look At The New Kindle Fire

 Books, Technology  No Responses »
Oct 062011
 

The new Kindle Fire looks amazing. It’s the same size as the existing Kindle and slightly heavier. The full color display allows you to watch movies, listen to music and read books AND magazines!

Magazines have been a big setback for me personally. I want to read magazines and I want to do it on my Kindle. The previous e-ink display wouldn’t allow for easy viewing of materials like magazines. The new Kindle Fire is exactly what Amazon needed to do to address that issue and to make the Kindle a more well-rounded media device.

The biggest downfall from this Kindle is the battery life. One thing that was so great about the Kindle is that you only have to charge it once a month. That’s amazing! The new kindle is more like a cell phone, it needs to be charged daily or at the very least multiple times per week. You have about eight hours of battery life which means you’ll need to bring your battery charger with you on business trips and vacations. That is disappointing but still doable.

At $199 Amazon has put themselves in a great position to increase their already large customer base. And because they are losing a reportedly $50 per device, it really means that they are getting more customers for their cloud storage, Amazon Prime membership and Amazon digital Music and Book sales. The Kindle Fire is the right device to promote the real services from Amazon.

Even if you’re not in the market for a full color media device (Kindle Fire), the new $79 base model Kindle is nearly impossible to pass on. It provides you with the amazing month-long battery life and access to the Amazon digital library and the easy-to-read e-ink display. At this price point its hard to pass on if you don’t already have an ereader.

Check out the new collection of Kindle’s here.

 Posted by at 6:20 AM  Tagged with: , , ,
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