Category: Technology

My Review of Commute 2.0 Messenger

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

An updated Commute that's TSA-compliant.


Even better than V1.0!

By Andrew from Indianapolis, IN on 4/3/2010

 

4out of 5

Pros: Attractive, High Quality, Good Organization, Good Strap Length, Enough Compartments, Great Color, Easy Access

Best Uses: Everyday

Describe Yourself: Career, Modern

As an IT Architect I carry my office with me. I need a bag that holds the gear, allows easy access and has the durability to handle whatever I put it through (construction site to board room). The Timbuk2 line of bags have always out performed the competition and have proven their value time and time again.

(legalese)

My Kindle – Finale

Continued from part 2

Back in December I started writing about the new amazon Kindle eBook reader I purchased.  It’s been about 6 weeks and I thought I would do a follow-up post.

Although I have not had as much time to read as I would have liked, I’ve spent considerable time with the Kindle in a lot of different environments.  My favorite place to read is the comfy leather chair in my living room illuminated by a 40w bulb in the Pharmacy Floor Lamp.

When not curling up with the Kindle at home I’ve done some reading while riding in a car, enjoying a quiet lunch at the cafe near the office and in my second home, the hotel.  The Kindle performed well everywhere and the wireless connectivity never missed a beat.

By making use of the ample storage in the Kindle I always have something available to read.  Fiction, history, newspapers and technical manuals have all found their place on the device.  I currently have around 200 titles loaded and I’m not even close to making a dent in the memory.

If you are looking for some classic reading you can’t go wrong with Project Gutenberg.  All of the titles here are public domain (free).  You get what you pay for though as several titles I have obtained from here had some typo & formatting issues.  Overall it’s a great place to pickup some good reading materials.

Another tool I have found for the Kindle (and just about every other eReader out there) is a software application called Calibre.  Calibre is an eBook Management tool that allows you to catalog, edit and convert electronic documentation into the format needed for your particular eBook reader.  You can use Calibre to upload and download books to/from your devcice as well.  it’s an OUTSTANDING piece of software that the developer, Kovid Goyal, offers for FREE!  If you like the software you are encouraged to make a donation to help with future development.

I hope this brief 3-part review of the Kindle gives you additional information on this amazing piece of technology.  If you love to read you’ll love the Kindle!

Astronauts urine clogs space station water recycler

NASA is finding it is not just mechanical glitches that make the International Space Station a tough place to operate.  Engineers trouble-shooting a problem with the station’s $250 million water recycling system, which processes urine into clean water for drinking, believe the cause is a high concentration of calcium in the astronauts’ urine, which clogs the system. [MORE]

Ten years of BlackBerry

Online tech site Engadget has a great article titled Ten years of BlackBerry.  Having just moved to Blackberry myself this year, but supporting them for clients for years, I’m VERY impressed with the device.

I remember the day we were all issued 2-way pagers & thought we were on the cutting edge of technology!  Then I moved to several versions of the Palm operating system and then finally Windows CE & Windows Mobile.

Enter the Blackberry.  With its dizzying array of notification options and amazingly fast email delivery it’s the tool that allows me to stay mobile and productive.  Corporate users owe it to themselves to make sure their IT department uses BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) to manage their devices.  It really does make a difference!

Individual users have to use BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) which has been plagued with several major outages in 2009 alone…  Not a good way to keep your customers happy & something I hope they resolve soon!

Congratulations to RIM (Research in Motion) and 10 years of success and evolution with their Blackberry products.

My Kindle – Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Ended up going out of town the day the Kindle was delivered.  Did not get to check it out until last night. I hate it when UPS doesn’t match their delivery to my schedule (ha)!

First impressions:

  • Small
  • Light
  • Thin
  • Solid

This thing is a LOT smaller than I expected.  The screen size is about the same as a small paperback book.  Once you start using it you forget about the screen size.  The display is truly amazing!  Packaging was very minimal (green). and the unit was already hooked to by Amazon account when I powered it on!

I had my doubts about how much better the eInk technology would be when compared to any other computer screen.  The best way i can describe it is like this; Analog TV vs. HDTV.  There’s a huge difference between what you are reading on the screen right now and the quality of the text on the Kindle.

One of the great features of this device is the ability to download samples of books before you buy them.  You get a chapter or two delivered instantly to the device and you have the option of purchasing the book to continue reading.

There can be conversion issues with documents.  I purchased the 9/11 Commission Report for $0.99 and after a couple of hours reading the formatting errors are driving me nuts.  Mainly the lack of space between sentences and missing hyphens.  This is a by-product of PDF conversion to Kindle format.  I’ve seen this with other forms of electronic books.

The seamless integration to your Amazon account makes purchasing content on-the-fly as simple (or dangerous) as pushing a button.  I have quite a backlog of books I want to read so the get-it-now feature is going to be hard to resist!

I’m going to log some time using the Kindle and publish a third and final post/review in a few weeks.

Part 3