Touch Me, Babe

 Books, Electronics, fun, Interesting  No Responses »
Nov 282011
 

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I’m already on record as an unabashed fan of the last generation of Kindle, as seen here. And more here. And here.

Then Amazon had to go and announce the Kindle Touch. Sure, they also announced the Fire, but it just doesn’t seem to offer what I would like in a tablet…the screen size is nice but it’s a bit heavy for its size and I want enough storage to be able to load part of my DVD collection. 8GB won’t cut it. As an e-reader, I don’t find it appealing. The images look better but that backlit screen just isn’t as eye-friendly as my beloved E-Ink.

I checked the certificates I had earned with my Amazon card and realized that the Touch could be had for a pittance. A 3G Touch With Offers (plus a power adapter…more about that in a moment) for $8? HELL YEAH! I get newer tech and can bask in the knowledge that my mom will enjoy her “new” Kindle Keyboard. Seems like a win-win, right?

Before the love letter begins triggering your gag reflex, here are the negatives:

  • I had to buy the power adapter separately. Sorry Amazon, but that sucks. Just because Apple pulls crap like this doesn’t make it right.
  • 3G definitely impacts battery life more than I expected.
  • Where the hell did the progress bar go? I learned to appreciate the progress bar because it gave me a rough idea of how long the current chapter is. Sometimes, because my time is limited, I have to decide whether or not to start a new chapter. With a physical book, this is easy. With the Kindle, not so much. The progress bar helped to rectify this.
  • 3-4 weeks to get a lighted case AND it doesn’t have a strap to hold it closed? This is the biggest issue for me. Best case, my new Kindle will go unprotected for 3 weeks and I’m not happy about that. Add to that the fact that I’ll be unable to read in bed for that long and I’m really starting to get peeved. But really, my biggest issue is the lack of a strap. If you’re jamming the Kindle into a purse or backpack, that strap really helped to protect the screen. Who decided it was unnecessary??
  • Related to this article, I have been unable to get the screenshot functionality working without the keyboard. There are suggestions on the web but they haven’t worked for me so far. Amazon support has confirmed that there is currently no way to get a screenshot on the Touch, so I’m not sure where the suggestions are coming from. Bottom line, the only screenshots you’ll see in this post are those I could nick from the manual.

Size

The size of the Kindle Keyboard was, in my opinion, fantastic. It was light and balanced and made reading while reclining a dream. The Kindle Touch is even smaller and lighter. Here is how they compare

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As you can see, the difference in size is noticeable. Both feel like solid products but the Touch feels a bit more solid while also offering a “softer” feel on the back. Both are easy enough to hold but the Touch has the edge for comfort.

Controls

Note the four parallel lines at the bottom of the Touch. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me too long to realize this was the home button. At a glance, I had decided it was a speaker (yep, I’m an idiot…I think the introductory screens probably told me what it was for and I did my manly duty of ignoring the instructions). The placement is good for a home button, not too easy to hit but convenient.

Rather than the slider on/off switch, the Touch has a push on/off switch. I much prefer the push since I’m much more likely to properly activate it; I found that I often failed to slide the Kindle Keyboard on/off switch adequately to turn the device on or off. This is not an issue with the push button. On the other hand, I never accidentally turned the Kindle Keyboard off. So far, this has happened to me once with the Touch. Make your own call on that one.

The touch screen is very responsive; you barely need to touch it at all to trigger the appropriate response.

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The screen is mapped so that the top inch or so gets you the menu, the left edge takes you back a page, and the remainder of the screen takes you forward a page. You can touch the screen in the desired zone or you can flick the screen in the desired direction to flip pages. My biggest concern was that this would be less natural than the nicely placed buttons on the Keyboard. It turns out that my concerns were unfounded and the navigation is actually easier on the Touch. You also don’t have to worry about grabbing one of the edges and accidentally turning pages when you pick it up.

Tapping and holding on a book in the Home screen brings up a menu that allows you to:

  • Add the book to a Collection
  • Go To…
  • See the book description
  • Search the book
  • View Notes & Marks
  • Move the book to Archived Items

This works smoothly and is intuitive. I’m assuming that the last option will change to delete if you’re tapping and holding a sample but I didn’t have a sample with which to test.

The virtual keyboard on the Touch is responsive and quite easy to use. For me, it is preferable to the physical keyboard because the keys are bigger. The 5-way switch is gone…and good riddance. My fingers aren’t sausages but I sometimes had trouble hitting the directional edge that I was shooting for. The touch interface makes those concerns a thing of the past. Navigation through touch is far superior to that annoying controller. I find highlighting text to be much easier with the touch controls. No more relying on the controller to get you where you want to begin highlighting; just touch where you want to start and beginning dragging until you’ve captured what you want. Having said that, there is a problem; I have not been able to get a highlight to span from one page to another.

The menu and toolbar is a little different than on the Keyboard Kindle:

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The top shot shows the upper menu. This is where you’ll find the back key, the search box, the menu option button, and a link to the Kindle Store. The lower toolbar is contextual and will change depending on where you are. If the book supports X-Ray, you’ll see the X-Ray option button in the lower right corner. If it does not, you will see a Synch button there instead. If you are looking at a magazine, the options on the toolbar will be slightly different.

Other Items

This time around, I picked up the 3G. It wasn’t a necessity but I had found myself without wifi on several occasions when I wanted to look up a book. It works well enough but it is slower than wifi and it drains the battery faster. Turning off the wifi also disables the 3G, so it’s best to turn wifi on only when you need it if you’re trying to preserve battery life.

I also decided to save some money and go for the ads version. Many people had mentioned that you will occasionally find a great deal in the ads, so I figured I would give it a shot. If it turned out to be a mistake, I could always shell out the $30 to turn the ads off. As it turns out, I don’t mind them so far. I haven’t taken advantage of any yet but it does provide a change from the same old screen savers I’ve been seeing for the past year.

The screen refresh seems a bit snappier on the Touch, which is always nice.

I’ve already discussed the case issue. My hope is that Amazon will soon release a lighted version that reintroduces the strap and that they’ll be able to keep them in stock. I’ve already had to pay extra for a power adapter; I don’t want to have to pay extra for an add-on strap to a $60 case.

Overall

I like the Kindle Touch very much. It’s snappier, lighter, and more compact while retaining that great Pearl screen. Would I have bought one to replace my Kindle Keyboard if I didn’t have Amazon certificates to use? Probably not. It’s a great little device and is an improvement over the Keyboard but the changes aren’t sufficient, in my opion, to warrant ponying up another $100-$150 to replace the Keyboard. Perhaps the 2nd generation of the Touch will prove to be that must have replacement. However, if you don’t have a Kindle yet and would like one, I would opt for the Touch over the Keyboard or the emasculated Kindle.

 Posted by at 7:48 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Kindle Goes to the Library

 Books, Electronics, fun, Interesting  4 Responses »
Sep 232011
 

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After months of anticipation, it has finally happened: Amazon has unwrapped their library lending feature for the Kindle. The good news is that it works quite well. The bad news is that you may not have access. Amazon states that there are 11,000 libraries across the US that participate in the OverDrive program that makes lending possible. In Michigan there are only 25 libraries that participate. If you’re outside the US, you’re out of luck for now.

After hearing the rumor that the feature was available, I went to the Michigan site and saw the icon shown above. Clicking it takes you to a search result that shows Kindle enabled books. In our library system, there are 3781 Kindle books available (Amazon says that the selection will vary by library). Since word got out, very few of those books are available right now but you can place a reserve on the book and you’ll be notified by e-mail when the book is available. Here is an example:

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In our case, you can add the book to a wish list, place a hold (reserve) on the book, or check out the book. As you can see, it shows how many copies there are, how many of those are available, and how many people are on the waiting list ahead of you. My assumption is that this would be the same for any libraries using OverDrive but I suppose I could be wrong. The nice thing about the wish list is that you can look at the wish list and immediately see the status of all the books on your list.

Selection

How is the selection? Not bad. It’s a bit light on non-fiction/historical books and there are few, if any, books on fringe topics. So, if you want books on conspiracy theories, entheogens, alien visitations, psychic powers, or books along those lines, you can forget about it (in Michigan, anyway). If you want popular fiction, you should have plenty of options. It seems to me that the selection is more heavily weighted toward female readers but most readers of fiction should find something of interest.

Looking at a Wikipedia listing of top selling authors (plus a few additional authors that seem popular), I decided to see how a sampling of the English authors fared in the Kindle library :

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Then, I checked a few of the non-fiction categories:

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As you can see, our non-fiction selection is much more limited than the fiction selection. Hell, the tag team of Debbie Macomber and James Patterson beats most non-fiction categories that I sampled. And, for the record, I’m aware that “Classics” is actually a fiction category; I included it because there might be people interested in the availability of the classics.

Checking Out

Here is how the process works. First, find a book. As mentioned above, you’ll be able to tell from the listing whether the book is currently available for checkout or not. To find something, I did a search for books that were available. The book below came up. I don’t know anything about the book but it will serve as our example.

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Since the book shows available, you just click the link to add the Kindle Book to your bookbag. You can continue shopping around or you can click the link to go to your bookbag. Anything that sits in your bookbag longer than 30 minutes will be returned to the library collection for others to find. I don’t know if all libraries are the same but ours limits you to 10 ebooks out at a time.

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When you check your bookbag, you’ll see everything you’ve selected. Choose Proceed to Checkout for the next screen in the process.

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If you aren’t already logged in, you’ll need to provide your credentials.

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Note that the lending period is 14 days. We also have an option for 7 days but 14 is the default. According to Amazon, your library determines the length of the lending period.

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When you confirm the checkout, you’ll see the books you’re checking out and when the lending period ends. The next step is to click Get for Kindle. This is where it gets interesting. At that point, you are redirected to Amazon to get the book(s).

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Click the button to Get library book. If you’re connected via wi-fi, the book will immediately download to your device (it doesn’t have to be a Kindle, you can also use the Kindle app on other devices…but we’ve already discussed this…you NEED one.).

 

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Finally, you see this confirmation page. If you’re using wi-fi, you’re done (note that it doesn’t work via 3G). If you want to download the book and move it to your device via USB, this page has the link for the download.

A few remaining items of interest:

  • Your notes and highlights are retained after the book is returned.
  • 3 days before the book is set to expire, you will receive a reminder via e-mail.
  • On the day the book expires, you’ll receive another e-mail

Once the book has expired, it’s gone. If you want it again, you’ll have to get back in the queue for the book; there is no renewal option.

The End

I did not read the book above, but left it checked out to see what happens as the loan draws to a close. Below are the two e-mails you receive from Amazon. The first warns you that you have 3 days left and the other lets you know that the loan has ended:

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The final screenshots are from the Kindle. You’ll see that you get a new entry in your Home screen:

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If you open that entry, you will see this:

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Given the selection available through our library, the ability to check out books on the Kindle would not convince me to buy one. However, as one who has bitched about ebook pricing and who enjoys the occasional popular fiction book while traveling, this feature is great for me. The books I’m most likely to complain about in terms of pricing are the types of books that are available. This allows me to have my cake and eat it too… I can use the library for those Kindle books I would refuse to buy and I can focus my purchases on the books for which I’m willing to pay the ebook premium.

What are your thoughts/experiences with the program?

 Posted by at 9:54 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

OmniGraffle Pro for Mac

 fun, Interesting, Mac  No Responses »
Jul 292011
 

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OmniGraffle Pro for Mac

Process flows, flow charts, and org charts have been a regular requirement in my job for years. Although I know many people who create their flows in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, none of those apps worked for me. I wanted better control and more professional looking results. Since we have Windows laptops, the obvious choice was Visio. It does a fine job and has a huge assortment of stencils.

When I bought a Mac for home, I decided that I should use something that would work in the OS X and Windows worlds. This brought me to ConceptDraw Office, which operated fairly well in both environments (although a tad buggy). It was pricey but they allow you to use the license on a Mac and a Windows machine. Over time, I started to lose my appreciation for ConceptDraw. Printing to PDF produced wildly erratic results, with shapes and/or colors going missing for no apparent reason. Another issue was that boxes I was using for legends on my charts would inexplicably move when I reopened the document, moving from their intended position to the center of the page every time. Their Mindmap app was my goto mindmapper tool for a long time because I liked the way you could export the mindmap to their Project app. For me, mindmapping a project and then quickly and easily converting it to an actual project plan was the ideal approach. Unfortunately, even there I would encounter issues with the MS Project XML files used for integration with MS Project. I was excited for the new version of ConceptDraw to come out until I saw the upgrade price; it was just too high for me to consider continuing on with the product.

Tired of the Dell, I recently purchased a MacBook Pro for work. Since I rarely turn the corporate laptop on anymore, I decided that I no longer needed to worry about cross-OS compatibility. This lead me to OmniGraffle Pro. Sure, there are much cheaper programs, like Diagrammix but they have limited stencils and just don’t look as professional (in my opinion).

Since all the programs I mentioned operate in similar ways, I’m not going to talk too much about dragging shapes onto a sheet and connecting them. Instead, I’ll try to focus on the things that are unique to OmniGraffle (as best I can…it’s been several years now since I used Visio, and my reference for ConceptDraw is an older version).

Outline Mode
Since learning more about outline mode, I have revised my opinion that OmniGraffle is a lousy mindmapping tool. In fact, if you opt for outline mode, it isn’t too bad. If you’re more of a keyboard person, it might suit your needs just fine for brainstorming/mindmapping. If you’re more of a mouse person, OmniGraffle probably isn’t your choice.

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The sequence of images above shows how outline mode works. When you first open the app for brainstorming, you’re presented with a variety of different templates…you can use any with outline mode.The left column you see in each image is the actual outline that you’re typing. For the first item, you click in the outline section to create your first topic. Hitting enter or double-clicking in the outline pane creates a new topic with the default shape for that stencil. As you type a word or phrase and hit enter,the text gets attached to the shape and then a new topic is created. The new topic gets created at the same level as the current item. So, in the first image, you can see that I created four ideas by typing and hitting enter multiple times. The remaining images show how this can become a nice brainstorming tool for keyboard fans. As you’re typing a topic, hit the tab key. The item will be indented in the outline and it will become a child of the previous image on the canvas. Use shift-tab to outdent the item. You can use the arrow keys to move around in the hierarchy of the outline or you can drag topics around in the outline to reshape the graphics on the canvas. The more I play with this mode, the more I like it.

User Interface

Tool Bar
OK, maybe it’s weird to talk about outlining before the interface but if you just want to dive into organizing your thoughts, you don’t need to worry about the UI much. Now we’ll assume you want to go deeper than that.

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You can modify the tool bar but here is the default. Click the Canvases image to show a pane with all of your pages (canvases) displayed. Click the List image to get a pane with all of your canvas objects called out. This alleviates one of my biggest issues with Visio…there were times when I just couldn’t manage to click the item I wanted to edit; no matter how I tried, I just couldn’t seem to hit the right pixels. Here are what the two List views show:

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This can greatly simplify the editing process in complex images.

Across the rest of the bar you get the typical buttons for shapes, lines, text…You also have buttons to move objects forward or backward, for locking an item, and for ungrouping objects. Now, for one of the quirks that took a little getting used to:

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Click a button once, as I did to the shape button in the first image, and the number 1 will appear. The app will let you draw one shape (or arrow, or whatever), then reset back to the previous mode. Hit that button a second time and the 1 will disappear but the button will remain highlighted. This is the mode for creating multiple shapes (or whatever). This is a feature that bugged me at first but it has grown on me. Sometimes you just want to add one item and this saves you from having to go back up to the bar and click again to revert.

Mini Inspector
As with most apps, OmniGraffle provides the full gamut of inspectors, allowing you to change nearly anything about the document layout from the six provided inspectors and their multiple options. That can be very useful but I like the Mini Inspector better. It provides access to the elements you are most likely to change right in the tool bar. If you’re tight on screen real estate, this gives you the option of hiding all the inspectors without giving up all the functionality.

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Here you can see the selected object and the Mini-Inspector. From left to right, you get access to:

  • Horizontal object position
  • Vertical object position
  • Object width
  • Object height
  • Object fill style
  • Fill color
  • Middle blend color
  • End blend color
  • Blend angle
  • Line style
  • Line color
  • Line thickness

The second image shows the results after I’ve tweaked a few settings in the Mini Inspector.

Style Tray
I gotta say it, I love the style tray. It’s genius. It gives you the ability to apply a variety of styles of a selected object to other objects on the canvas.

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Select the item with the attributes you want to replicate. The Style Tray will update to reflect the attributes of the item. Click and hold on the left-most “chit,” then drag it to an object you want to modify and release it on the object. The object will take on ALL the attributes. Or, you can selectively grab individual attributes by clicking and dragging chits from the right section. The attributes available are:

  • Fill
  • Line stroke/color
  • Image
  • Shadow
  • Shape
  • Text

Depending on what you’re doing, this can save even more time than the Mini Inspector. Additional time saving features include favorite styles and canvas styles.

Layers
As I mentioned, OmniGraffle refers to pages as canvases. It then goes a step further, allowing multiple layers per canvas. This is another useful feature that allows you to break up your charts/drawings. As an example, I had a series of charts that used “swim lanes.” The swim lane looks just like it sounds, with each lane associated with a specific job function. Any tasks in a given lane are the responsibility of the associated job function. The layers feature allowed me to create a swim lane layer, lock it, and then copy and paste it into each new canvas that needed it. In the Pro version, you can also add shared layers, which would make my swim lanes even easier to manage.

Drawing Tools
Along with the shapes provided in stencils, you also have a pen tool that allows you to draw free form shapes. The shapes can be straight or you can use bezier curves to round and twist your object.

Pro Features
There are two versions of OmniGraffle. As you would expect, the pro version is more expensive and provides additional features. Examples are:

  • Favorite Styles
  • Shared Layers
  • Subgraphs — a special kind of group that can be expanded to show all related objects or collapsed to show only the parent object
  • Presentation Mode — In this mode, the document fills the screen and each canvas becomes a slide. You can assign actions to objects using the action inspector. Available actions are:
    • Do nothing
    • Open a URL
    • Open a file
    • Run a script
    • Jump elsewhere
    • Show or hide layers

Drawbacks
There are a few areas where OmniGraffle pales in comparison to ConceptOffice:

  • Stencils — The collection of stencils in OmniGraffle is very limited compared to ConceptDraw, which also includes high quality clip art. Graffletopia is a site dedicated to providing stencils for OmniGraffle and there is some good stuff. Unfortunately, you’re limited to what other users have put together and some of the quality isn’t as high as the standard stencils available in ConceptOffice.
  • Integration — As I mentioned, one of the features of ConceptOffice that I really liked was the ability to mindmap a project and then convert it to a project plan. Although Omni Group offers similar products, there is no way I’m aware of to translate a brainstorming session into a projject in OmniPlan.
  • Mindmapping — I may change my mind on this over time but OmniGraffle is not my choice for mindmapping. It isn’t as easy to use as ConceptOffice’s Mindmap app.

Although I’ve only covered a few of the features of OmniGraffle, I believe they’re the features that set the product apart. I could write a book on the app (and maybe I should), but who needs to read a book to make a purchase decision? OmniGraffle is an excellent product. It is well designed, highly functional, can streamline the creation process…I’d love to try out the iPad version some day. So far the most annoying thing for me about OmniGraffle Pro is the load time. It takes nearly 30 seconds to startup on my quad-core MBP. If you have need of a product like this, you should absolutely download the 14 day trial. With this post, or the abundant tutorials available, you should be up to speed quickly and I’m sure you’ll like what you can accomplish.
What am I using now for the different components of ConceptOffice?

  • Charts and diagrams — OmniGraffle Pro
  • Mindmapping — MindNode Pro
  • Project planning — ??? (still looking)
 Posted by at 8:47 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Firetask for Mac

 Interesting, Mac  No Responses »
May 272011
 

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Firetask for Mac

Rather than repeat everything that was in the Firetask for iPad post, this post will focus on what is different between the two versions. If you want to understand the basic functionality of Firetask, please check this posting:

Firetask for iPad

Generally speaking, the apps are very similar, but each has its own unique functionality. For instance, Firetask for Mac lacks the great Organize view found on the iPad. This is a shame. I understand that the interface is different and the Organize screen is better with a touch screen but I think that it would translate fairly well to the touchpad.

So, what additional functionality does Firetask for Mac offer? First, we’ll compare the view bar on the left side of the window.

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You can see that, in addition to the Organize view icon, the Mac version is also missing the sync button. Sync is driven through the iPad, not the Mac.

Quick Entry

The quick entry button appears near the upper left corner of the Firetask window. When you use Quick Entry, you do not get the full detail that you see when hitting ⌘I (Info). You get a subset of the most relevant data for a task:

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The Quick Entry window provides the data that most directly supports the GTD methodology. You’ll note that the task detail provides additional data that you would expect to find in a more traditional goal/task setting system:

  • Priority
  • Flagged
  • Due

The point is that Firetask can support you whether you choose to follow GTD methods or you prefer traditional methods.

Keyboard Shortcuts

As you would probably suspect, Firetask for Mac provides keyboard shortcuts so that you can stick to the keyboard. This is particularly helpful when you’re doing a rapid-fire brain dump and would be slowed down by the use of a touchpad or mouse.

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Tagging

Tagging is the killer feature found in Firetask for Mac but missing from Firetask for iPad. It allows you to set additional task detail while entering the subject. While typing the subject, the hash symbol “#” indicates a tag. The tag ends when:

  • The subject parser encounters a new hash symbol.
  • The parser encounters a space.

Follow the hash with a project name and the task will be assigned to that project. If your project name has spaces, substitute the underscore “_” for the spaces.

Follow the hash by category name and the task will be assigned to that category. Same rule applies…if you have spaces, use the “_” instead.

Follow the has by a date, and the task will be assigned that due date.

Follow the hash by an exclamation mark and the task will be “Flagged.”

You can also assign a priority to the task by using the plus or minus sign: “++” for most critical, “+” for a little less critical, “-“ for even less so, and “–“ for the least critical.

Finally, the GTD system includes a category called “Waiting For.” This is a list for parking tasks that you have deferred to others. You use that list as a reminder of the folks with whom you need to follow-up. To assign a name, precede the name with the “@“.

That’s a lot to digest, so here is an example:

Steal submarine #Take_over_the_world #++ #! @Private_Schwetty

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This will create a task with:

  • A subject of “Steal submarine”
  • Linked to the project “Take over the world”
  • Assigned the highest priority
  • Flagged
  • Delegated to Private Schwetty
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Below, you’ll see that using the @ sign to assign a task to Private Schwetty automatically assigns the task to the “Waiting For” category.

wpid-4__@__Firetask-2011-05-27-15-491.png

Bottom Line

Firetask for Mac is an excellent tool for managing your projects and to do lists. The shortcuts and tagging abilities make it ideal for keyboard fans. It provides the tools you need to follow the Getting Things Done methodology but is flexible enough to provide support for other task oriented methodologies. One thing it doesn’t provide that other apps, like Pagico, that provide the ability to add tasks whether the app is active or not. However, if you have Keyboard Maestro or an equivalent, you could probably set this up for yourself.

 Posted by at 3:49 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Firetask for iPad

 fun, Interesting, iPad, iPad Apps, Mac  1 Response »
May 252011
 

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Firetask for iPad

Let’s start this out with a confession. I have read David Allen’s Getting Things Done several times since it was first published. I have listened to the CD’s in Getting Things Done Fast many times while on long drives for work (this is a set I highly recommend but which appears to be out of print). The GTD concepts resonate in me and make absolute sense as a means of staying focused and organized. However, I suck at it. The mental discipline to stick with it seems forever elusive. This is probably why I look for apps like Firetask; my hope is to one day find a tool that will help me suck LESS at this stuff.

Make no mistake, this will not be a treatise on how to properly follow GTD principles. That’s why David gets the big bucks. GTD purists will probably find many nits to pick with my implementation for this discussion of Firetask but that isn’t the point. We’re here to talk about the software and I’m at the keyboard, so my bastardized version is what you get for now.

Firetask offers a suite of programs aimed at helping you manage your task list from a project-oriented perspective. There are three different versions: Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Today we’ll look at the version for the iPad. This will be followed later by a look at the Mac version. There is no shortage of applications aimed at GTD enthusiasts but not all cover these three devices and provide a reliable sync between them all.

When you first launch Firetask, you are presented with a clean desktop. Aside from a “Miscellaneous” project and a nice list of categories, it doesn’t throw a lot of data at you.

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Note the orange sync button in the lower left corner. My first action when I launched Firetask was to press this button. I was immediately presented with a list of the Macs that were currently active on my network (the sync is wi-fi based but there is a cloud sync in closed beta–I was not able to try it out). After selecting the MacBook Pro that had Firetask for Mac installed, the iPad connected to the MBP and the sync options below appeared.

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Pretty standard stuff but the initial sync was quick and reliable. After the initial sync, changes flowed back and forth between the two apps seamlessly and quickly. There is a Preferences setting on the iPad that allows you to determine whether the sync is automatic (upon startup of Firetask on the iPad) or manual. Note that the sync is always driven by the iPad, not the Mac version.

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Also note the Show Due option in the preference panel above. This determines the window in which tasks with a due date will begin appearing in your Today view. The options are: tomorrow, 3 days, 5 days, and 7 days.

Key Data

Because it is project oriented, Firetask expects each task to be associated with a project. Essentially, a project is something you want to do that takes more than one task to complete. Since you will likely have many tasks that are a one-off, the provided Miscellaneous project may be your default for a lot of the things you want to accomplish.

Related to tasks is the idea of context (a GTD concept that Firetask calls a category). The idea with a category is that many tasks have a context in which they will/should be performed. For instance, if you need to research a company, you might assign that task a category of “Computer” because you will do the research by checking the company’s website and by Googling that company. The power of categories is that it allows you to group tasks from different projects by context. f your Internet connection is not available you might ignore the Computer tasks. Instead, you might look at all the tasks associated with “Calls” and plan to spend a few hours on the phone. If you’re out shopping, you might want to look at all the tasks linked to the “Errands” category. And so on… This is a very powerful way of getting things done and Firetask supports it admirably, providing a strong list of likely categories but also offering the flexibility to add your own.

In-Tray

Perhaps the most freeing concept in GTD (for me, anyway), is the concept of “clearing your psychic RAM,” as Allen describes it. The idea is to get EVERYTHING you need or want to do out of your head and into some sort of recording system. Firetask supports this through the In-Tray. It’s a place where you can empty your mind and then decide later what you will do about all the things you’ve recorded. If you’ve never tried this exercise, you should. It’s hard to describe how good it feels to get all those nagging little thoughts out of your head. When your brain realizes you’ve finally put them someplace so you won’t forget them, it will generally lay off for a while. Of course, your brain will then expect you to do something about them. Firetask does an excellent job of helping you record, categorize, and assign your tasks to projects. Items in your In-Tray remain there until you change their status. This means that they don’t clog up your today view until you take some action to get them out of your In-Tray.

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Above, we have added a few items to the In-Tray and are in the process of adding a fourth. Anything added here will remain here until you take some sort of action on it. You could:

  • Add it to the default project by touching the status square to the left of the item. This will change the status to Actionable and it will become a task under the Miscellaneous project.
  • Edit the task and change the project.
  • Edit the task and change the status.
  • Convert the task to a project.

In reviewing a few of these items, it’s clear that they will require more than one task to complete. This means that they should be converted to a project and then tasks will be assigned to them later.

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Scratchboard

A slightly different concept, and one that is new to me, is Firetask’s Scratchboard. Here the idea is to have a place to record all of those small, quick tasks that still need to get done. You could be daydreaming through a conference call and start thinking of all the little things you could be accomplishing instead. Just record them in the Scratchboard. If you get a break and can take care of them, just do it from the Scratchboard. If you look at them later and decide that they should be assigned to a project or converted to one, you can do that from the Scratchboard as well.

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Project View

Within project view, you can look at the tasks related to a project. You can also add new projects.

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What I like about this view is that it allows you to concentrate on a particular “project” but also shows you the next action for all your other projects. To me, this is a nice overview of all the projects that are currently on your plate.

Categories View

Category view allows you to add new categories. It’s also the view you would go to when, as we mentioned above, your Internet connection is down and you decide it’s time to exercise your phone voice. This view shows the number of tasks associated with each category, further helping you to see how your tasks break down. The screen below shows all of your To Do items but the category panel provides access to all categories and their associated tasks.

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Today View

The beauty of the today view is that it allows you to focus. It shows only:

  • Tasks that have a due date within the action window you defined in Preferences
  • Tasks that you have “Flagged” by editing the task detail or clicking the white flag icon to the right of the task
  • The next action for every project to which tasks have been assigned

It’s a brilliant way to stay on point without getting overwhelmed at the sheer number of tasks that were recorded during your brain dump to the In-Tray.

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Organize View

This is another outstanding view. It shows you the items sitting in your In-Tray. It shows items with due dates. It also shows next actions. From this window you can touch and drag tasks:

    • Out of the In-Tray and into one of the due date based columns to have a due date assigned (drag to the “Due” column and you’ll get a calendar for selecting a date)
    • Out of the In-Tray and into the Next field to convert the entry to a task with the default project but no due date
    • Out of a due date based column and into the Next column to remove a due date
    • Out of any of the other columns and back into the In-Tray to get that task out of your face

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You can also touch a task to see and edit the task details.

Someday

The last view I’ll talk about is the Someday view. This is another GTD concept for tasks that are less substantial. This is where you record things that you don’t want to forget but you don’t want to assign to a date or project because the due date is far out in the future. It could also be where you record tasks that you would really like to get to once your life slows down a bit (as if…). This might be tasks like: write a book, learn to play the piano, learn to speak Spanglish… It’s like a repository for your dream goals.

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Bottom Line

I really like this app. It does an excellent job of fleshing out GTD principles but it carefully avoids the complexity trap that so many of these apps fall into. It provides a clean and elegant interface for keeping track of all the things you need to do but gives you the flexibility to focus on just those tasks that you can or should act on soon. It makes me a little sad that I’ll have to give the iPad back to my wife, now that I have finished looking at Firetask.

That isn’t to say that the program is perfect. It would be nice if there were a gesture for adding tasks, so you don’t have to hit the plus button. It doesn’t have the fantastic tagging feature that we’ll look at when we cover the desktop version. It doesn’t appear to integrate with iCal or to provide alerts when tasks are falling within your chosen action window (although the Local Notifications setting in Preferences makes me wonder if I haven’t just missed something).

If those last few items are deal killers, you’ll have to look elsewhere. However, if you do, you’ll be missing out on an excellent task management program.

 Posted by at 5:47 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tagalicious

 fun, Interesting, Mac, Multimedia, Music  4 Responses »
May 192011
 

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Having recently acquired a copy Tagalicious, it seemed time to look at the MP3 tag file programs again. I’m astonished at how many hits these postings have gotten.

If you’re coming to the blog for the first time, here are links to the previous posts:

CoverScout, Pollux, TuneUp

Genre Tagging: Pollux vs. TuneUp

Pollux vs. TuneUp — Update

As mentioned in previous posts, CoverScout is out of the running. It only does cover art, it creates a large database, and it’s too expensive for the limited functionality. Through the course of the past year, Pollux also dropped out of the running. In the year that I had it, I believe there was one update. I’m not going to pay an annual fee ($10/year) for a product that appears to have ceased development a year ago. It might be different if the program were outstandingly effective and bug free. No such luck.

So, TuneUp has remained my go-to program for MP3 tagging. They update it regularly and seem to have an actual interest in their customers. Things have changed a bit, in the last year; they have broadened the offering a bit since I first purchased TuneUp. They have now added DeDuper, which claims to eliminate duplicate songs, based on the acoustic fingerprint of the songs. A lifetime license to the entire bundle is now $49.95. As a loyal TuneUp Gold customer, I am allowed to purchase DeDuper as an add-on for $19.95 (annual) or $29.95 (lifetime). My reward is to pay more for the bundle than a new customer will pay. I just don’t see that happening. So, I have 25 DeDupes and then I’m done. I’ll probably get to it eventually but duplicate songs aren’t that big a deal to me (certainly not a big enough deal to spend $30).

Now comes Tagalicious from The Little App Factory. I have iRip and RipIt from The Little App Factory and have found both programs to be very useful and very stable, so it made sense to give Tagalicious try. At $19.95 for a license that is not an annuity (for the developer), it is priced well. Also, it is available for Mac AND PC (as is TuneUp).

What do you get with Tagalicious?

- MP3 tagging
- Cover art
- Lyrics

Like Pollux, Tagalicious sweetens the deal by providing access to lyrics.

Preferences

You couldn’t get much simpler than the preference settings in Tagalicious. It’s nice that there is a setting to leave purchased songs alone; I don’t recall that being an option in the other apps. The other setting lets you determine whether it’s the new or old tag that is selected for updating by default. By that, I mean that you’re deciding which values will be used for the update.

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How Does it Work?

When you run Pollux, it inserts itself in the menu bar. You select songs in iTunes and then use the menu bar to initiate the search. TuneUp launches with iTunes. You select the songs you want to tag and drag them to the TuneUp window. Tagalicious launches as an app. It looks at your iTunes database and presents your playlists. It also presents a number of its own Smart Playlists, based on your library:

- Music — every song in iTunes
- Updated Music — anything that Tagalicious has modified
- Tagged Music — songs that already have tags
- Untagged Music — nekkid songs

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Select any of the lists and you’re ready to get started. It took me a few minutes to realize that Tagalicious activates when you select a song (or collection of songs). This is different than the way TuneUp and Pollux work but I liked it.

When you pick a list or library view, there are two viewing options: a cover art view and a list view. Cover art view shows the album cover and the song, which is attractive, but not terribly useful.

For list view, here are the view option settings that allow you to pick the sort order, sort by tag, and viewable tags. Another nice feature is that you can toggle back and forth between the original settings and the Tagalicious settings while in list view. This is the most transparent interface I’ve seen, allowing you to easily see how Tagalicious is performing against your current tags/tagging solution.

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If you select a single song, you get a view of the current tag information presented next to the values that Tagalicious has found:

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This is a feature that I really like about Tagalicious. It shows you the existing tag info, as well as the suggested tag info (as determined by Tagalicious). Compared to Pollux or TuneUp, this is a superior method. With Pollux and TuneUp, you must turn off the tags that you do not want updated. With Tagalicious, you click on the tag information you want to update (it’s probably more clear if you note the highlighted fields in the screenshot above). When you click “Send to iTunes” it updates the highlighted fields. This allows you to mix and match between existing tags and the new tags. This is a much more flexible option, since you don’t have to turn off a particular tag for all songs. How sweet is that?

As you can see in the above pic, you can select which values you prefer for each song in your library. This isn’t your only option. Under the Tracks menu, you can also toggle between the original and new values by tag:

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Another useful piece of information provided in list view is an icon that shows the status of each song:

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The green check means that the song has been updated. The red exclamation indicates that nothing was found for that song. The blue lock shows that the song is a DRM song and cannot be updated. The orange icon means that tag information has been found for that song. No icon shows that the song hasn’t been touched yet. It’s quite handy that the list view can be sorted by this value, allowing you to deal with all songs with the same status at once if you want.

TuneUp vs. Tagalicious

As mentioned above, I did not renew my Pollux license. This means that the comparison you’ll see is between TuneUp and Tagalicious. To compare the apps, I created a playlist comprised of 101 songs. I tried to provide a wide variety of genres, as well as throwing in songs that I know are problematic. There were two runs. The first run, used the songs with their existing tags (mostly provided by Pollux or TuneUp). For the second run, I selected the songs in the playlist and cleared all the fields (except song name).

First Round

In the testing, it was clear that Tagalicious was much faster than TuneUp. However, I suspect that this is because TuneUp is checking so many more sites for cover art (based on the number of alerts I got from Little Snitch, TuneUp must check 2 or 3 times what Tagalicious checks…at least). In the first round, Tagalicious processed the songs in 50 seconds, as compared to 3 minutes, 40 seconds for TuneUp. After the first pass, Tagalicious had tagged 50 of 101 songs. After two additional passes through the songs, it had tagged 77. Although I’m not clear why, Tagalicious seemed to improve over time.

After 3:42, TuneUp had tagged 98 songs. What’s interesting is that two of those songs (two songs that I have NEVER had identified properly), were properly tagged by Tagalicious. For the record, those songs were “Rice Rice Baby” by Weird Al and “Choppin’ Broccoli” by Dana Carvey.

In terms of tagging completions, TuneUp took round 1 (although it was slower in one pass than three passes through Tagalicious).

Second Round

For round 2, I cleared all MP3 info from the 101 songs except the song name.

Tagalicious processed the 101 songs in 27 seconds. It tagged 79 songs.

TuneUp took 3.5 minutes and tagged 75 songs. This suggests (to me) that TuneUp uses more than just the audio fingerprint to tag songs. It seems that it did better in round 1 because it had more information to start with.

Both apps had issues with songs recorded through Snowtape. I suppose this makes sense, since it isn’t always easy to get a clean cut on the songs (sometimes you just can’t manage to avoid overlap between the new song and the previous song or commercial). However, Tagalicious seemed to fare a bit better with Snowtape recordings.

Bottom Line

Tagalicious is much faster than TuneUp. I’m sure this is affected by TuneUp’s additional functionality (finding YouTube videos, concerts nearby, and a dogged determination to find cover art) but Tagalicious is also getting song lyrics in that time (functionality not provided by TuneUp). I like the way the program presents itself and the fact that it is standalone. It doesn’t seem to fill up the hard drive like CoverScout and, so far, seems more stable than Pollux or TuneUp. It also, in my opinion, provides a better, more informative, more flexible UI than the other apps.

TuneUp is better at finding cover art. As mentioned before, it seems to have a wide array of sites it checks for covers. Also, if you want deep genre tagging, there is no question that TuneUp is the winner. I have TuneUp set at level 2, which is 250 genres. Tagalicious is much less granular. Below, is a sampling of the results from both apps, with TuneUp first (I tried to get them side by side but my theme just doesn’t have room for it).

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If you aren’t too concerned about genre tagging, Tagalicious is faster and provides lyrics at a much better price point.

If you want very detailed genre tagging, I have not found anything that can touch TuneUp. In the 101 song sample, Tagalicious produced 21 different genre tags while TuneUp provided 49. In terms of cover art, I would also have to give the edge to TuneUp. It’s clear they are checking a huge number of sites to find appropriate cover art and they were able to provide cover art that Tagalicous couldn’t find.

Tagalicious is currently at rev 1.1.3 and is already a good app, especially in terms of speed and interface. If The LIttle App Factory continues to work on cover art and genre tagging, they will have a very strong contender on their hands.

Both products provide a trial with a limited number of tags. You owe it to yourself to try both to see which app fits your needs.

 Posted by at 4:52 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

iWow 3D

 Electronics, fun, Interesting, Multimedia, Music  No Responses »
Apr 022011
 

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To be fair, I was skeptical of this device when I ordered it. It’s certainly something that I would like to work as promised but I haven’t found anything that really does the trick thus far. However, given how easy Amazon makes returns, I was willing to take the risk; it’s tough to find great new stuff without taking a few chances. So, I added it to my cart and hoped for the best.

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When I pulled it out of the box, I couldn’t help thinking it looked like a manta ray. The device plugs into the 30-pin connector on your iPod/Touch/iPad and claims to dramatically improve the sound you’re getting through your headphones. Here is what the manufacturer says:

“Hear What You’ve Been Missing
SRS iWOW 3D dynamically locates audio cues buried deep down in existing recorded or streamed multimedia content to restore sonic fidelity to audio files, ensuring the user experiences music, videos, and games with renewed clarity and detail–the way the artist originally intended.”


Plug it into your Apple music player of choice, plug your headphones/earbuds into it, and you’re ready to go. Although it is a hardware solution, a free app is available in the App Store that claims to offer further enhancements. Just search on SRS iWow.

Hardware

The tail that you plug your earbuds/headphones into seems rugged enough but the body of the manta seems more delicate. The plastic that encases the electronics feels thin and the seam between the halves looks and feels like it would be easy to pop apart. The massive cyclopean circle you see on the face of the body is an on/off switch that lights up when activated, which brings me to my next complaint.

Let’s take a hypothetical example. Say a guy had a few Amazon certificates that he had been saving and was intrigued enough to want to order the manta. He doesn’t talk to his wife about it, he just orders it and calls it good. Several days later, it arrives. He plugs everything together and waits for evening because he likes to listen to music in bed, while dozing off to sleep. Bed time arrives. The lights are off and he grabs his iPod Touch, pops his Monster Turbine earbuds in, and turns the Touch on. Immediately, a glow fills the room. The circle is a homing beacon of some sort. It makes E.T.’s finger look like match light in the darkness. It illuminates with a brightness that feels like it is tanning his panicked face. If you have a Kindle (see Kindle review below…seriously, you should get one) but haven’t purchased a lighted case yet, this baby will light up your reading surface just fine. It’s at the point where the hypothetical wife, who has no issue with the Kindle light, opens her eyes and says, “What in the hell is that? Why do you have a flashlight in bed?”

OK, there is some hyperbole here, but not as much as you might expect. That little bastard is bright.

As mentioned, that circle serves as an on/off button. This leads us to my next complaint. With iWow Premium iTunes plugin (or the Bongiovi DPS plugin), you have the ability to compare the enhanced sounds with the standard iTunes output by toggling the software on and off. Not so with this bad boy. When you turn it off, it actually dis-enhances the sound to such a degree that toggling the device on and off convinces that the enhancement sounds 1000% better. (Sorry for the made up word but unenhance suggests that it does nothing.) The fact is that the sound coming through while the gadget is off is so notably bad, and the volume so low, that you decide you have just found nirvana. You won’t believe how much better the music sounds with the manta activated. Before you get all excited, though, listen to music for a few seconds with the manta turned off. Then, disconnect the manta, plug your earbuds into the standard stereo out jack of your player, and listen again. You will, again, be surprised at how much better things sound. It would probably be over the top to suggest that the manufacturer knowingly uses the circuitry in an off state to completely butcher the music, but it is a brilliant way to make users believe they have stumbled onto a hella good gadget.

Next off, we have the fact that the manta takes over the 30-pin connector AND blocks the headphone jack. This means:

  • You can’t conveniently compare the outputs
  • You can’t charge your player while using the iWow 3D

While using the iWow, I did not notice a significant battery drain, which actually surprised me a bit. Given the retina-searing, hallogen-beating lamp on it, I expected the battery gauge to visibly drop while I watched it. (Slight hyperbole warning).

But, back to the sound. Does the iWow make the music sound better? Yes. Does it enhance the music in any way, providing more depth, clarity, and detail? I don’t think so. Maybe there would be a marked improvement with stock earbuds but with the earbuds I use (see reviews elsewhere on this site), the music just sounded louder. It might have kicked up the treble a little bit but I could not confidently say that the music had opened up in any way.

Software

Unfortunately, I can’t provide screenshots from the app because you have to have the manta plugged in to reach most of the functionality and mine is packed up and ready for return to Amazon (spoiler alert). I can tell you that it offers music trivia, a link to the SRS blog, and a link to the SRS site.

With the device plugged in, you can:

  • Toggle the software on and off
  • Tailor the software for different environments
    • Headphones
    • Speakers
    • Car
  • Advanced settings
    • Wide Surround
    • Deep Bass
    • High Treble

None of the settings really seemed to alter the music that much. With eyes closed, I don’t believe you would quickly differentiate between the different software settings.

As I write this, the iWow 3D has six reviews on Amazon. All give it 5/5. It may be that I’m just a tone deaf dipshit, but I don’t think so. If those users compare the output by just toggling the iWow on and off via the hardware button, they will absolutely be impressed. The problem is that the resulting sound when the iWow is turned off is NOTHING like the sound you get through the headphone jack. A little more testing might change their mind. As always, your mileage may vary. If you have experience with the iWow (positive or negative), please feel free to post.

 Posted by at 1:57 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Want No Nekkid Kindle

 Books, Electronics, fun, Interesting, Multimedia  No Responses »
Feb 182011
 

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Actually, this title is a bit misleading. Reading with the Kindle 3 au naturel is a very comfortable and pleasant way to read. The weight and size of the Kindle 3 make it quite easy to read one-handed, even while lying down. Given the choice, I probably prefer reading on the Kindle without a cover. However, I’m a bit protective of my gadgets and I try to keep them in good shape. Our iPod Touches all have BodyGuardz or Invisible Shields (my BlackBerry was in service for three years and fell off a moving car once–when I retired it for the iPhone 4, it was still in immaculate condition thanks to the BodyGuardz cover).

So, despite enjoying the Kindle in its native state, I decided I wanted to be more careful with it. It can take days to go through all the available accessories on Amazon and it is a bit overwhelming/frustrating. The variety of styles, colors, and materials borders on mind-numbing. After hours of looking through page after page and reading scores of reviews, I concluded that a light would be useful. I looked at the Mighty Bright, the M-Edge e-Luminator, and the Kandle but didn’t want ANOTHER thing to carry around. A case that had a light and would protect my precious Kindle while it’s stuffed in my computer bag seemed like the best alternative.

Apparently, I’m cheap about accessories because the thought of dishing out $60 for a case to protect a $139 device really chapped my a$$. But, the thought of tossing a naked Kindle into my computer bag and then jamming it into an airplane cargo bin is just too frightening. Since Target carries the Amazon case, I decided to get it there so I could return it if I didn’t like it.

The case has a nice pebbled leather exterior with an elastic strap to hold it shut, a groove for the strap, and a leather tab on the strap to make it easier to grab. Although I’m a little concerned about the strap losing its tension, so far so good. When you fold the cover back, the strap can be used to hold it tight against the back of the Kindle, making it a little more convenient to hold. The inside of the cover has a soft microfiber that will certainly help protect against scratches. The interior spine has two metal tabs that are used to lock the Kindle into the case and to provide power for the light. Because I’m concerned about those metal tabs beginning to carve out the soft plastic of the Kindle, I leave the Kindle in the cover all the time. It’s a little disappointing but reading with the cover on makes it feel more like a book.

The light pulls out from the upper right corner of the back. It has a plastic edge that can be a little tricky to grab with your thumb but it’s not too bad. The light consists of three LED’s that shine onto the front of the Kindle. The light degrades a bit as you move down the page but even the bottom is bright enough for me to read. There are a number of things about this case that make it very nice:

  • The LED’s illuminate the front of the Kindle but that’s about it. If you read in bed and aren’t sleeping alone, your partner will hardly even notice it.
  • The light is powered by the Kindle battery, so there is no issue with remembering to charge something else.
  • Because it’s powered by the Kindle battery, if you fall asleep while reading, the light will go off when the Kindle goes into sleep mode.

So far, using the light for 5-6 hours/week hasn’t put an appreciable dent in the battery life.

If you’re in the market for a case and would like the benefit of an integrated light, there isn’t much competition for the Amazon cover with light. It’s a high quality case and the pull out light is extremely convenient without being a battery killer. Check it out.

 Posted by at 1:26 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Kindle

 Books, Electronics, fun, Interesting  2 Responses »
Feb 122011
 

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Let’s get this out right away… I love books: the smell, the look, the feel. A new book is always a treasure. A bookstore is a magical place with so much potential for knowledge or challenge or excitement. I am bibliophile and proud of it; most of my books look as if they’ve never been read, even after I have finished them.

When the first Kindle arrived, I could not have been more underwhelmed. The size, shape and placement of the page buttons was horrible, leading to frequent accidental page turning. The clunky design of the thing made it look like they were channeling the creators of the Commodore 64. The e ink was ok but page refreshes were slow. In short, I had no interest in ever getting one of the things. A good friend had one of the originals and rarely used it. After losing it on a business trip, he had concluded that he wouldn’t bother replacing it. That is, until his daughter bought a Kindle 3 with her babysitting money. Now, he reads constantly and, I’m willing to bet, if he were to lose the new Kindle, he would order a replacement that same day.

Having never seen the Kindle 3, I was no more interested in it than the previous generations. I had gotten to the point where I used the Kindle app on my Touch to read while out and about. It wasn’t great but it was a way of wasting time while waiting for a haircut or an oil change. When I was able to move from a BlackBerry to the iPhone 4, my time spent reading in the Kindle app began to increase substantially. The retina display is so crisp and clean that the reading experience was much improved. It seemed to me that with the retina display, I had found a reading solution that obviated the need for a Kindle, a Nook, or any of the other e-reader variants.

Then, Christmas morning, I found myself the owner of a shiny new Kindle 3. It was so small and light. The screen was so sharp and responsive. Although I did decide to buy a case (which we’ll talk about later), reading with a naked Kindle 3 is a delight. The whole experience shocked me; I couldn’t believe how much I liked this little device. There is no question that I am reading more now than I have read in a very long time.

Hardware

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The Kindle 3 is 7.5” x 4.8” x 0.335” and weighs 8.5 ounces. With that, you get a 6” diagonal E Ink Pearl screen. They claim that it is 21% smaller and 17% lighter and I believe it. The screen is the same size as the original but offers better contrast and faster page changes. To me, the delay now is less than you would get turning a physical page. Put me down as one who is drinking the E Ink Kool-Aid. I occasionally get eye strain while working on the computer or reading on the iPhone. After having ready 8-10 books over the last six weeks, I have not experienced a single instance of eye strain while reading on the Kindle.

The placement for the page turn buttons is much better. Accidental page flipping is greatly reduced over the original but the shape and location of the new buttons makes for very convenient page turning regardless of how you hold the unit–assuming you hold it more or less like a book. The keyboard buttons have a nice feel but, despite being a former BlackBerry thumb-typing whiz, I typically type with my index finger on this device. The shape of the buttons and the greater separation between buttons just doesn’t work for me to try thumb-typing.

The wi-fi was very fast and easy to setup. If you can setup the wi-fi on your smart phone or Touch, you’ll have no problem with the Kindle. I can’t speak about the 3G because I do not have that version. When I first received it, I decided I was going to return it and upgrade to the 3G version. Amazon was more than helpful and I quickly had it all boxed up and ready to go. A friend then pointed out that with space for 3500 books, it seems unlikely that I would get caught without any books while traveling. Figuring that the extra $50 would be better spent on books, I decided to stick with the wi-fi only version. Besides, I was already in lust and didn’t want to be without it for 3-4 days. Although he is correct and I certainly should have no issues with keeping enough books on the Kindle for travel, I have twice found myself in the position of wanting to look up a book while having no access to wi-fi. In retrospect, I might have gone with the 3G version but it’s only a minor annoyance and I doubt I will have many regrets. Keep in mind that you also have free access to all AT&T Wi-fi Hotspots, so you still have wi-fi options while out and about.

The 5-way controller is probably the weakest link for me. Placement is fine but the active edge for moving the cursor is quite thin. If you have a tendency to fat finger things, you may buy a few books accidentally; whenever you look up a book, the BUY button is active. It wouldn’t be difficult to buy a book while trying to get to the links for downloading a sample or to look at the reviews. Luckily, upon buying a book, you are presented with a page that includes a link for returning an accidental purchase.

The MENU button provides a context aware menu for next actions. Press the button once to activate the menu. Press it a second time to close the menu. Examples of the menus available are shown below:

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The BACK button acts like the back button on a browser; it returns you to the previous screen.

The HOME button will take you to the first screen of your book listing, whether you are currently in a book, shopping, or in one of the other book listing screens.

The SYM button provides access to special characters. Press the button to activate the menu, press again to close it. While the menu is open, the 5-way controller allows you to navigate among the options and the center button of the controller allows you to select the character to appear next. Please note that you must be in a context in which the Kindle is expecting input for the SYM key to do anything. If you’re reading and hit the SYM key, nothing happens. The result of pressing the SYM key is shown below:

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The text key (represented by Aa) provides a variety of options. You can change the font size, the typeface, the line spacing, the number of words/line, and the rotation. You can also activate Text-to-Speech if the publisher allows it. See below:

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The three typeface options are shown below:

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The Text-to-Speech isn’t too bad. The reader has some inflection and it sounds fairly normal. You get the indicators of synthetic speech but it’s actually better than I expected, sounding better than the typical computerized voice that you would hear on your computer or on a child’s toy.

When you attach the Kindle to your computer, it mounts as a USB drive. Once mounted, you can drag documents or MP3 files to it (or take them off). If you purchase something or elect to install an archived item on the device (archived means any purchases that are in your library at the Kindle store but which are not currently installed on your Kindle), you don’t need the computer; it will happen via Whispernet (wi-fi). As you can see, the directory structure is quite straightforward and you should have no problem deciding which directory to drag the item into:

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Along the bottom you have:

  • a volume control switch
  • a headphone jack
  • the USB connection
  • the on/off switch.

The on/off switch is very low profile and it’s not uncommon to think you have turned it on or off without actually accomplishing the task. To avoid this problem, there is a green light under the switch that lights up for a moment when you have activated it on or off. The same light acts as a charging indicator while you are plugged into a wall outlet or a computer. It will be yellow while charging and green when fully charged.

Finally, the battery life… Mine hasn’t sat long enough to determine how long the battery lasts when not using the Kindle. I consistently get a week+ on the battery while reading daily.

Software

As mentioned earlier, the Home screen is where you will find the Samples and purchases. Ten books fit on a page, so you will get as many screens as it takes to display all of your titles. The previous and next page buttons are used to move between Home screens and the 5-way controller is used to navigate within a screen and to select a title for reading.

Home Screen

If you refer back to the first screenshot under the MENU button, you’ll see a shot of the Home screen. Note that there is a string of dots under each title. The length of that string indicates the relative length of that book. As you progress through a book, bold dots will indicate your current position within that book.

The Home screen allows you to change how your books are sorted. You can sort by:

  • Most recent first
  • Title
  • Author
  • Collections

Collections

Collections provide a way of combining like books (like a folder for books). If you refer back again to the Home screen under the MENU button discussion, you’ll see that there is an option to create a collection. Once you have created a collection, you are free to add as many books to that collection as you wish. A book can belong to more than one collection. To add a book to a collection, navigate to that book, then press the 5-way controller to the right. You will get a number of different options, as shown below:

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Be careful, if you press the 5-way controller to the left, rather than to the right, you will get the option to delete that book from the device. This will remove it from the Kindle but the book will still be available in your archive.

Search

To begin searching, just start typing. Next, use the 5-way controller to move over to the search context. You’ll find five options:

  • My items
  • Store
  • Google
  • Wikipedia
  • Dictionary

The Kindle would never be my chosen web surfing device but the browser works well enough for simple needs. As a research tool while reading, it provides a level of capabilities with which I can live. The results of the search (if searching My Items) presents each document containing your search text, as well as the number of times the text appears in that document:

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Dictionary

As seen above, you can search for dictionary entries by keying in a word. While reading a book, you can get the definition by using the 5-way controller to navigate to the beginning of that word. A short definition will be presented right away. If you want a more detailed definition, hit the return key to be presented with a more complete display from the dictionary. There are actually two dictionaries provided on the Kindle. The default is the New Oxford American Dictionary. Also selectable as your dictionary of choice is the Oxford Dictionary of English. An example of the short and long dictionary options is shown below:

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Highlighting/Notes/Social Networking

The Kindle allows you to create bookmarks, highlight text, and take notes. Any highlighting that you do or notes that you take, will appear in a file called My Clippings.txt. The file is visible in your Home screen for review on the Kindle. You can also copy the notes from your Kindle onto your PC or Mac by attaching the Kindle to your computer and then copying or dragging the file out of the Documents folder. Any highlighted text will appear in the file, fully annotated, like this:

==========
The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, (Lynn O’Shaughnessy)
- Highlight Loc. 215-16 | Added on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 07:34 AM

While popular media has loudly touted the increased competition for admissions to our nation’s top colleges, the truth is, for many students, getting in isn’t the problem. It’s how to pay for college once you do get in.
==========

You also have the option to see what others have highlighted in the book. If you have “Popular Highlights” turned on in the settings, you will see a light underline for highlighted text, with an indicator showing how many people highlighted that passage.

To highlight text, you use the 5-way controller to the beginning of the passage, then push the center button. Use the controller to continue highlighting the desired text. When you have the text highlighted, you have two options. If you press enter, the text will be highlighted and added to My Clippings. If you press ALT and Enter, you have the option to send that highlighted text as a Tweet or as a posting on Facebook (assuming you have setup your account within Settings). To link the Kindle to your Twitter or Facebook account, press the Menu button, then select Settings. Press the Next Page button and then navigate to the Social Networks option.

Graphics

If a page has an image, it will display as a normal part of the page, as you would expect. Although the e ink screen is quite nice, it’s quite possible that the table or image will be too small to read. Use the 5-way controller to move the cursor to the image. When you get to the image, a graphic will appear in the center of the image that looks like a magnifying glass with a + sign at its center. Click the center square of the 5-way controller and the image will enlarge to fill the entire screen. The BACK key will return you to the original page. The below images come from: The One-Page Project Manager for Execution

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Formats

The Kindle 3 supports the following content:

  • Kindle (AZW)
  • TXT
  • PDF
  • Audible (AA, AAX)
  • MP3
  • Unprotected MOBI
  • PRC

By using the Whispernet service and the myname@free.kindle.com, you can have Amazon convert the following content types to Kindle format:

  • HTML
  • Doc
  • TXT
  • RTF
  • JPEG
  • GIF
  • PNG
  • BMP

The service is free as long as you use wi-fi and the free e-mail address. The document will arrive within 5-15 minutes and you will get an e-mail at your registered e-mail address letting you know that the document is available.

Although the Kindle 3 supports PDF, you may decide that you want to convert PDF files via the free service. If you copy a PDF file to your Kindle, you will be able to read it but you will not have the same options under the Text button. You lose the ability to change:

  • Typeface
  • Font size
  • Line spacing
  • Words/line
  • Text-to-Speech

You instead get the options to:

  • Fit-to-screen (150%, 200%, 300%, actual size)
  • Contrast (lightest, lighter, default, darker, darkest)
  • Screen rotation

Converted files seem to get the same capabilities as purchased Kindle documents.

You can also download documents from the browser on the Kindle. Supported formats are:

  • Kindle (AZW, AZW1)
  • MOBI
  • PRC
  • TXT

Along with books, you can also read periodicals and blogs to which you have subscribed. This is not a feature that I have tested.

Experimental

As an MP3 player, the Kindle 3 is OK. I heard some unexpected crackling but it wasn’t bad. If you don’t already have a player, it will work. Personally, I prefer to keep my music on my Touch and reserve my Kindle for documents.

I mentioned that the Text-to-Speech is pretty decent. It isn’t something I care to use at this point but my limited experience with it suggests that the voice is quite clear and should do the job if you cannot see the text or you just prefer to be read to. You won’t be getting James Earl Jones but you aren’t getting the full-on computer voice either. Just keep in mind that not all books permit the Text-to-Speech option. If you’re looking at the Kindle version of a book in the store, it will tell you whether or not the publisher is permitting Text-to-Speech.

The browser on the Kindle 3 is Webkit based, so it is more capable and faster than in previous versions. Below you will find a screenshot showing the default bookmarked sites, as well as a glance at IMDB.

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It doesn’t have the pretty colors of a Nook Color but, as I said, I’m drinking the E Ink Kool-Aid.

Whispernet

I have to say that I’m quite impressed with how well the synch process goes. Even if you’re buying from the Amazon web page on your computer (or getting a sample), the transfer is quite fast.

More importantly, it’s quite useful. As an example, I was out with a friend the other night. We were talking about a book that I was reading on my Kindle. The Kindle was at home so I pulled out my iPhone, downloaded the book from the archives, and opened it to the page I had been reading. Within a few minutes (we don’t have 3G here, we are stuck with the lousy AT&T Edge) I was able to show him the passage we had been discussing. It worked without a hitch (except, as mentioned, the shitty Edge network).

Shortcuts

Here are a few of the shortcuts I’ve found while playing with the Kindle 3:

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Rant

There is no question that I love my Kindle and already see it as an indispensable tool. However, there are still a few things that piss me off.

Pricing

Before I got my Kindle 3, pricing for ebooks was pretty good. Unfortunately, Apple really screwed the pooch when they released iBooks. When Apple agreed to the “Agency Model” pricing scheme set forth by publishers, Amazon lost the ability to set prices as it had when it was a benevolent dictatorship. It may well be that some books are cheaper now but I’m not seeing it. Here are several examples:

While traveling one day, and before getting my Kindle, I decided I would use the Kindle app on my iPhone to buy something to read. A friend had highly recommended The Lion’s Game by Nelson Demille. Expecting an inexpensive book, I found the book and was shocked to find the price set at $12.99. This is a book that was released in September, 2000 and it has apparently had a good run. The Amazon discounted paperback price is $10.19. What the hell? The publishers had argued that by letting them set prices, they would have the flexibility to make older books cheaper, while trying to capture a little extra revenue on the newer books. If this is an example, I’m missing it. Clearly, I’m an idiot but I fully expected the ebook version of a 10 year old book to be somewhere between $5 and $8.

Similarly, Altar of Eden by James Rollins was recently released in paperback format. The discounted Amazon price for the paperback is $8.29. The Kindle price is $8.99. You can pick the same book up at Sam’s Club for $6.49. I understand that Sam’s savagely discounts books but I again expected the price of the Kindle version to be somewhere between the Sam’s price and the paperback price. Unlike the price of The Lion’s Game, this one is new enough and the price close enough to the paperback that I might still be persuaded to pick it up.

Finally, yesterday I was looking at The 4% Universe by Richard Panek. Hardback price is $14.30. Paperback price is $10.85. Kindle price is $12.87. Again, I say, What The Hell? The book looks very interesting but the price turns me away.

Certainly, there is a convenience factor here. I don’t have to carry a bunch of books, nor do I have even more books clogging up my already overstuffed bookcases. The ability to synch between devices is also very nice. The other day, I wanted to show a book I was reading to a friend. I didn’t have my Kindle but had my iPhone. After launching the Kindle app, I was able to download the book from the archives to my iPhone and show him the passage where I was currently reading. Also very convenient.

What I don’t have is a tangible product that I can resell, give away, or loan. I have already purchased several e-books at $9.99 that I regret buying. Too late… That horse is out of the barn, the publisher has my money, and I have no way to recoup any of the money that I paid. With a physical book I would have the option to return it, sell it as a used book, or donate it. It seems to me that publishers are milking the ebook side of things, which is unfortunate.

If I find a book that I want to recommend to friends, they are compelled to buy it (or get it from a library) for themselves, rather than borrowing my copy. Ultimately, as more and more ebooks are sold, the publishers are putting themselves in a position where they are losing fewer sales to libraries and used book stores. Making older books available at a cheaper price is a way of recognizing this and appealing more to the avid readers who liked to share their books with friends and family. The beauty of an ebook is that, over time, the cost of a sale continues to decline. Publishers no longer have to worry about shelf space in a bookstore, so they can make more books available longer, rather than having to make the tough decision to take books out of print to reduce their printing, storage, and distribution costs. We, as readers should see some of that benefit. There are ways to crack the DRM and do whatever you want with the book but I would prefer to take the high road on this matter and ensure that the author gets his/her cut.

Here are a few more brief examples:

  • The Millenium trilogy books by Stieg Larsson are very popular. Although I have access to the paperbacks from a friend, I realized one day that
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire were available for the Kindle for $5. At that price point, it was a no-brainer; I picked them both up. However, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is selling for $9.99. That book remains on my wish list.
  • I have a friend who has been raving about Edward Rutherfurd’s New York for months. It doesn’t look like my kind of book but I have never heard such praise for a novel. He told me to get it for the Kindle. If I don’t like it, he will reimburse me for the cost. I told him that if the book cost more than $9.99 I would not buy it, despite his generous offer. When I checked, I found that it was also available for $5. Again, that was a no-brainer and it now waits for me on my Kindle.
  • Kindle samples are huge for me. If a book looks remotely interesting, I will download the sample. As time allows, I will pull up a sample and give it my full attention (much more attention than I would likely give the book while browsing in a bookstore). If I like the book, regardless of the subject matter, I will seriously consider buying it. An example of this is Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life. After downloading the sample, I read it to my wife. We both laughed so hard that I immediately looked it up. When I saw it was $5, boom, another purchase. Will the rest of the book be as funny as that first section? I have no idea, but I’m willing to take that risk for $5.

So, here is my heuristic for purchasing e-books:

  • Is the cost greater than $9.99? If so, there has to be an extremely compelling need for the book. Otherwise…no purchase.
  • Is the cost between $7.00 and $9.99? If so, I will seriously consider buying the book but I might need a little time, research and thought.
  • Is the cost $5.00 or less? If so, and I’m interested in the book, it may very well be an impulse buy. At $5 or under, I am willing to take chances for an e-book that I probably would not take even for a similarly priced paperback.

Lending

In the previous section, I said that I cannot loan books. That is no longer completely true. If the publisher permits, you are now able to loan a book ONE TIME to someone. They get the book for 14 days and then the book reverts back to you. While they have the book, you cannot read it. The time limit makes perfect sense. The restriction that prevents you from also reading the book at the same time makes sense. Why can we loan a book only once? Believe it or not, I have more than one friend who likes to read the same books as I do. I have more than one friend who is using a Kindle or Kindle app to read books. As it stands right now, I have to decide which friend gets my coveted loaner and which ones are screwed. It seems to me that a number between 3 and 5 is more reasonable. A few friends can share a book but the limitation acknowledges that, over time, a book will degrade and at some point will be falling apart and no longer desirable as a loaner. If we’re going to get tagged these higher prices for ebooks, we should have more flexibility with what we can do with those books, short of breaking the law.

What are your thoughts on e-book readers and e-book costs? If you’re willing to share your opinion, I would appreciate it.

 Posted by at 8:25 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,

DIR-825 and SharePort

 Electronics, Interesting, Network  No Responses »
Jan 022011
 

If you have the D-Link DIR-825 and are trying to get the SharePort to work, there has been a recent update. Thanks very much to Nikolay for the information. I’m happy with the Airport Extreme but his info may be useful for you. Although you can find the comment at this link, here is the post:

“Not sure when you tried to install the SHareport drivers for MAC but now they are available… over the Christmas (Dec.2010) holiday I installed the drivers for the Mac — downloaded the drivers from the D-Link support web site / the site for DIR-825 and was able to even use TimeMachine on the MAC with the USB drive connected on the router…..The link to the MAC is 802.11n Next I need to figure out the Shareport with my Ubuntu Linux desktop PC. Good luck;”

So, here is hoping that Nikolay’s finding will help you as well.

 Posted by at 12:41 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,
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