Kindle Paperwhite

I've been using a new Kindle Paperwhite recently.
I haven't used a Kindle much before, although my wife has one, so I can do some comparison. What I'm really comparing to is reading on my iPad (1) with the Kindle app.
I wasn't sure that it would be much better than reading on the iPad, which is why I've put this off for this long. Reading on the iPad is just fine.
Reading on the Kindle is better.
The resolution is now quite good, 212ppi, and the page turning action is pretty fast. I thought I might get annoyed with the page turn time, but this is just fine. Almost not noticeable - slightly faster than the previous Kindle model.
I didn't think I would really want to use the Kindle PW light. But you can't actually turn it off. But that's ok because it is actually really good, unobtrusive, and just fills in that bit of contrast when you need it, and is effectively gone when you are in good light. It's perfect in bed with the lights off, and its great in the sun, of course. There is a slight unevenness to the light at the bottom of the screen, as reported in many places, but isn't annoying.
The time left to read the chapter (and book) feature is pretty cool, so when you are thinking about putting the book down, you can see how far away the next chapter is easily.
I haven't used the X-Ray feature yet. It may be more useful after finishing a book, if you wanted to check out the characters further I suppose. And when the book supports it.

Pacific Hi Fi

Some months ago I bought a set of speakers from Pacific Hi-Fi. The speakers are great, but I was just as impressed with the service I received. I have had some problems in some other Hi-Fi stores where you can get quite a bit of the superior, dismissive attitude because you're not interested in the top of the line equipment, or the sales droid wants to seem impressive, or something, I don't know.
The guys at Pacific Hi-Fi have been very helpful again recently when my sub-woofer died. It was checked, taken in for repair and returned within a few days on warranty, no problems, no fuss.
Well worth the trip if you need some new gear.

Monitoring of Torrent Downloaders

A friend recently passed me this article. Probably significantly overstates what is actually happening, but still. You might want to consider paying for a binary news server instead of using torrents.

Does the ABC actually get it? *gasp*

Wow. The ABC are going to make Dr. Who episodes available as digital downloads immediately after they have originally aired in the UK. Part of the reason is apparently an attempt to reduce piracy by providing supply where there is obvious demand. This is a big step in the right direction for television stations making themselves relevant again in terms of rebroadcasting material from foreign networks.
OK, the episodes will appear on iView, which is a pretty low quality streaming broadcast, but this is a good step and shows they are trying to make progress. I find iView excellent for catching recently missed ABC programs, however it still doesn't really compete with downloading 720p content from the intertubes, either torrents or news servers.
Good stuff ABC, I hope the Dr. Who fans go for it.
(Thanks to The Register)

It's all in the Cloud

Mozilla's recent announcement of putting Thunderbird into maintenance mode has prompted me to sweep away the last vestiges of keeping my personal information on my local desktop.
I've just started uploading my entire local (Thunderbird) mail history to my gmail account via IMAP. I probably won't ditch the local copy entirely. Maybe I'll still use Thunderbird over IMAP to gmail for a while.
Recently I started paying for Google Drive, and using Cloudfogger for encryption, I am now storing all my personal documents and projects there. There are a bunch of providers of cloud storage these days, but it does make sense to use one provider for everything, and Google covers pretty much everything. Sure, I use the Apple cloud for storing some stuff between my iDevices, but they tend to exist behind their own little wall anyway, and it tends to presented more as magic integration between devices. GDrive is now available for ios devices too.
Next on the list is all the family photos and video and all that will be left is my cache of films and music. That's a little big for the cloud at the moment.
Cloud. It's a just wanky term for server storage.

Why is Optus so Awful?

Why is Optus so awful. I'm probably unfairly picking out Optus in this rant, when it really applies to all telecommunication providers generally. They are all horrible.
In particular, here are the things I have found horrible about Optus as a mobile comms provider:

• The coverage and availability of 3G data is pretty horrible. This might be slightly better with Telstra. Yes, I'm aware it is a difficult problem to solve and needs to be balanced with having 3G towers everywhere, but I never realised the situation was this bad.
• Pricing. Seriously? They charge at least ten times more than is reasonable for calls and data, and then give you ten times as much credit for any given plan. Really? Obviously this is so they can charge massive amounts when you go over your quota. It's just ridiculous.
• Website. The Website is horrible. To check your current mobile usage is slow, convoluted, and when you get there plain confusing and inadequate. See previous point about making vast amounts of money off people blowing their limit.
• I had bad experience actually getting a phone in the local Optus store. The expected guilt trip over not buying insurance was amusing. The selling of phone covers boring. The pushing of premium SMS and voice mail etc tedious. And after saying 'no' to everything, I was still charged for some premium SMS thing on my first bill. Oh, and then it took them three days to get my number switched from my old phone when it was supposed to take a maximum of four hours. FFS people.

You may be inclined to feel a little sorry for them though. They are pushing a seriously aging business model against the flow of technology. It won't be long before all we need from these people is a pure data connection, and the phone and software does the rest. Already we see Apple killing SMS with iMessage, and obviously there are a bunch of VOIP providers. All we need now is for them to fix mobile data access on their networks so all these things work all the time. Maybe that is why they aren't overly concerned about 3G not working half the time. It keeps them in the business of selling telephone calls and SMS. They've already lost the fixed line home phone business.

iPhone 4S

I finally gave up my aging Nokia E61i and got myself an Apple iPhone 4S.
Loving it. Siri is fun, but not awesome, although I have used it a couple of times to send a text (or iMessage) while walking, which is really useful.
The benefits of a 4S are all well known so I don't need to go into much detail, suffice to say that as my first phone device to do 3G data properly without worrying about cost too much, it's awesome. I never really used the Nokia 3G data as the cost didn't justify the value, but with the iPhone, it certainly does now.

Sony Media Player

My MediaGate media player just died, the video out started to play up, so I tossed it out, and bought a WD TV Live. However, that didn't seem to be capable of putting out video on component out to my Sony SD CRT telly. No idea why, and after a couple of support calls to verify I hadn't done anything stupid, I sent it back. Shame. It seemed like a decent unit at a good price.
So I went and bought a Sony SMPN100. Cost a bit more, but not that much, and it plugged straight in and worked straight away. Sony talks to Sony.
And it is friggin awesome. It plays all the media types I have shared from my Windows 7 PC, and streams direct from ABC iView, YouTube, and a bunch of other stuff.
Sweet.

[update 2 July 2012]
Except the damn thing only plays HD from a USB stick. Useless. Now that I've upgraded all my systems to HD, this has to go. I'm currently using an old Patriot Box Office.

First eBook finished

Just finished reading my first eBook, Zendegi, on the Kindle app on iPad.
I was expecting it to be a little tiring reading on the iPad, but it wasn't my eyes that gave me any problems. The iPad screen is totally fine for reading in my opinion. I'm not even sure I would find e-ink that much better now. I found that once I adjusted the brightness of iPad to suit the conditions, it was great. Kindle has an extra slider for in-app brightness control as well, which is handy.

No, the biggest issue I had was the weight of the iPad, it's 600g or so, and you need two hands to hold it, so I guess it is like reading a decent sized hardback. If you are holding it up in front of you, it can get tiring. However, if you have it resting on your lap, or a pillow on your lap, it is actually more comfortable because turning pages takes only the slightest, smallest thumb jab, or swipe, rather than the wristy physical page turn of a real book.
I was using the Kindle app rather than iBooks, because iBooks has zero content in Aus, and the Kindle app is really nice as well. Touch a word, and you get instant in-page dictionary lookup, and if it is not a dictionary word, there is a link to Google to start a more detailed hunt for meaning. The page turning animation is not as cute, but I think that might get tiring after a few hundred pages, and the Kindle slide is really good.
One difficulty I had was that you don't have an immediate sense of what page you are up to, and in fact the pages aren't even numbered, because it depends on what size font you use. Instead, you can get a percentage done in the menu mode, but a tap away. It just feels a bit wrong not knowing how thick the book, or how many pages you have read.
The other thing I will miss is that now I can't display a physical reminder of the read on a bookshelf in the lounge room. Maybe I could make a cardboard box of the right dimensions and print out the cover and spine to paste on it.
Given it is cheaper, and in many ways better, I don't think I'll be going back to physical books unless there are supply issues, but that seems to be getting better all the time.

Blogging Less

You may have noticed. I've been writing here less. I blame my slate. I just spend much less time in front of the PC now. Hopefully, as I'm getting used to having it, I'll feel less like I want to use it all the time, and more like it's just available whenever I need. If that makes sense. The games are such massive time wasters, but I think at some point the novelty will wear off and I'll go back to more constructive things. I should look more into Cocoa Touch, and perhaps write something for the iPad, but then no idea has particularly inspired me yet.

iPad Review

I've now spent a week with my 64Gb WiFi iPad. I'm just going to cover here what I think is important, so if you want more information there are plenty of detailed reviews around.

Standout:
Casual browsing of the web on this device from the couch is simply awesome. The finger navigation is so natural, fluid and much more relaxed than mouse usage and clicking. The screen in general really is gorgeous.

Good:
Playing free and very inexpensive games that rely on touch and accelerometer use is great fun. It's a whole new experience that is so different from a DS Lite or a PS3 or a PC. This will probably wear off, but it's novel and just plain fun.
The typing in landscape mode is really quite good, but I'm still getting used to the autocorrect and prediction. You really have to look at the keys though because there is no feedback for what you are pressing. I wouldn't want to type a long blog post on it yet but maybe after more practice it will be ok. It's really good for short messages. Facebook is brilliant on this device and I don't think it even needs an App. Reading news is great, especially via the new "The Australian" app, which is excellent. The AirVideo app is brilliant, because it streams DivX and Xvid video from my PC into the iPad, and can also convert and add to iTunes for loading in iPad format. Battery life is closer to a phone than a laptop which is excellent. I use the iPad stand from Apple to browse news while eating breakfast. That's sweet.

Bad:
While I love the look and feel of the brushed aluminium back, it scratches really easily. I've put an Invisible Shield on it today to protect it. This should also help with grip, as it is a little slippery, and you do NOT want this to slide off your lap onto the floor. Ever. Safari just isn't as customisable as Firefox, and I miss that, especially not being able to block ads. The App Store is bloody slow. Apple needs to boost their servers. It's bad in iTunes, it's bad on iPad. Also, iTunes on PC is unintuitive, slow and hangs. It needs a complete rewrite.

Yet to see:
The glass screen seems really robust, and some reviews have shown it is actually hard to scratch, so I may hold off putting the Invisible shield on the front, until I see what the shield surface is like on the back after a week.
I'm yet to see what the long term reading of iBooks is like. The text seems perfectly fine to me, good, high resolution, and the screen brightness is nicely adjustable to conditions. I'm yet to see if my eyes suffer after reading for 90 minutes. Be good to see actual recent books for sale in iBooks too.

Android 2.2

Looks like Android 2.2 (FroYo, for Frozen Yoghurt) is looking really good. Not only is there a massive increase in speed, but this is the clincher for me: it can provide a Wi-Fi hotspot. On Friday, I should get a Wi-Fi only iPad, and didn't bother getting 3G because I just wouldn't use it often enough to justify the extra cost, and then having to pay for an extra data contract. No. However, if my next phone is Android 2.2 capable, I can just tether it to the phone's connection via Wi-Fi. That's just friggin awesome.
Today Dad showed me his brand new HTC Desire and damn, it's sweet. With FroYo, I could easily be swayed in this direction for the next phone. For now though, my Nokia E61 struggles on. Maybe it will throw a rod or something soon...

T-Hub Thumping.

I've been having a look at the Telstra T-Hub as a friend of mine mentioned it. It is essentially a touch screen phone base station, but it communicates over wifi with your network. Actually, it has to use wifi, there's no hard line connection and it only works with a Telstra HomeLine or broadband connection. It doesn't use VOIP, which I find really weird, but clearly Telstra are trying to get people back onto its copper lines. That's not going to work. Copper lines are dead except for DSL, and with any luck a fibre network will get rid of those.
The actual device looks like a half decent touch screen, the same as the Tabbee, only Telstra have crippled it. OK, it does web surfing via Opera, and does Youtube and a few other tricks. It's $300 and you have to use a Telstra connection. Vomit. Get a cheaper broadband connection with a wifi router, use VOIP and get a decent tablet.

iPad AU Bend Over Pricing Factor: Zero.

Excellent. Thanks Apple. Recently I suggested $AUD 895 a zero Bend Over Factor for the 64Gb iPad in Australia. It will be $879. It's actually lower than my estimate, but I was being conservative on the shipping front, so if I had chosen $23 for shipping, I would have had it spot on.
I guess I'll be pre-ordering tomorrow then.

[update - done. 64Gb wifi iPad in the pipeline]

[update - 3 days later, looks like the first batch are gone. Next ship date is June7. This report seems wrong as my details show it is still due to arrive on May 28]

Prepare for the flip.

We're going to see some big changes in the way we use computers in the next few years. Most consumers, when not at work, just aren't going to need full desktop workstations like we do now. I'm including Mac, Windows, and Linux here, desktop, mouse driven workstations. The vast majority of stuff we do while not working, at home, is consuming content with occasional writing, tweeting, email etc. Yes, there are always going to be people at home who want to produce more, either writing, programming, video, whatever, but not most.
Replacing the desktop for consumption will be touch based mobile devices. Phones and tablets. Mouse based operating systems just don't work well in this environment. Operating systems designed from the ground up for this purpose are going to drive this. We've seen the iPhone prove this, and iPad is pushing it further. Android can compete, and in the next couple of years we'll see others try, including Microsoft's Phone 7 OS, and the competition will really make mobile computing explode. I suspect the heyday of laptops and netbooks is gone too.
Content producers, workers, are going to be using desktop workstations for a while yet. You just need a bigger surface, better multitasking and more input richness than a mobile device can provide. Personally, I think Windows 7 is really good in this space, but that's a religious war for another day.
Still, this is bad news for Microsoft and Intel, unless they can move in this direction faster. Microsoft may be able to follow Apple with Phone 7, but they are three years behind at least, with another six months until anything happens. Intel just don't have anything decent for mobiles, ARM has it all over them.
It's going to be all Apple and Google in a few short years. Let's see what HP can do with Palm and WebOS.

[Update - some iPad experience showing exactly this]
[Update - TechCrunch calling it the Third Wave, this site agrees with the threat to Windows]

iPad Shenanigans

Damn it. Delayed again. Resetting the clock.
Q and Data have one already.
Details May 10.

iPad AU Bend Over Pricing Factor

Apple has to release pricing for the iPad in AU soon. I'm guessing this friday or soon afterwards. The big question is "What will the Bend Over Pricing Factor be?". Looking at the $USD 700 iPad, converted to AU is around $AUD 780, add GST to AUD $856, add some token bulk shipping cost, and lets call $AUD 895 a zero Bend Over Factor. I reckon the BOF could be as high as 30%, which would be $AUD 1160 or so. If the BOF is significant, I'll just look into getting a friend in the US to send me one. Come on Apple, don't make us bend over.

iPad late April

News in. Gotta wait until late April for the iPad in Australia. *sigh*
Adjusting countdown.

iPad. Past the hype and cynicism.

It's now a week since the iPad was announced and anyone interested is now aware of its shortcomings. Here's my take on the downsides.

• Not 16:9: To get widescreen you have to make it wider or thinner. Thinner just seems silly because you are giving up screen space just to get an aspect ratio. Wider and it starts to get unweildy I would guess, and people are already complaining that it is too big. Pretend it is widescreen with some bonus screen top and bottom.
• Video output not HD: Who is going to connect it to a video source as the monitor? That's crazy. It does 720p in local video so who cares?
• No GPS: OK, this would be nice if I was going to use the 3G data on the move. I'm going to be using this mostly at my home on wifi, or friends' homes on wifi, so *shrug*.
• No USB ports. USB would be useful for a bunch of stuff. Not a huge deal though.
• No in-facing camera. This would be good for video VOIP. But I'm just not that into video VOIP, and it's available on my desktop.
• Bezel too big: Don't know. Have to see how it feels using it. You need some bezel to hold it without affecting the input. I'm guessing it's probably ok.
• No multitasking. This sucks. I'm hoping an OS upgrade will improve this in the future.
• Touch keyboard sucks: Again, have to see how it feels. Doesn't look too bad. Can be improved later because it is software.
• No HDMI out: For what? Plugging into a telly to watch video? That's what my media player is for. Duh.
• The name iPad: Agreed. Prefer iSlate. I'll call it "my slate".
• Closed App Ecosystem: Tradeoff between platform security and openess. I'm probably not as bothered as I should be. Apple not approving apps they just don't like, or competes with them really does suck.
• No In-browser Flash: Big debate. Apple say it's because it's buggy and drains the power. There's a large element of truth to that. I don't want my iPad crashing because of some banner ad. But then, the kids won't be able to play those flash games without it. Oh, wait. That's also good. I don't visit sites that use Flash for navigation. They suck anyway. There is an app for YouTube, so video is no problem.
• No iBooks in Australia: Sounds like this is "well on the way". It's just licencing.

Oooh! News on an iPad Nano. Heh.
Someone else thinks iPad will crush the expensive eReaders.

Apple iPad

Damn, I'm excited about the iPad.
A while ago, my son said to me that he wanted to live in the future, and I told him I always thought that as well, and then I told him that for me, 2010 was always the future when I was growing up. He was kind of awe-struck by that, because he figured I was living my dream. Well, ok, we know it doesn't work like that, but then, this morning seeing the iPad, I kind of feel a bit like that. This is an amazing device.
I really enjoy my Nokia E61i. It can do a lot of the things an iPhone can, but just not as well, and without a touch interface. It's a pre-iPhone device, and hence is practically irrelevant. The iPhone really started the touch computing revolution, and showed us how much better interfaces can be.
The iPad goes further. It's not just that it's bigger, because really, that's all it is; it's big enough to enable a much wider, richer experience through a more capable interface. Suddenly it's possible to type reasonably, see entire web pages, get decent video, comfortably read a book, as well as all the amazing accelerometer features, like games and interface enhancements.
See some photos here, and here.
Here's a really interesting article about how it will change things.
I'd hate to be selling an eBook reader that cost more than $200, when you can buy this for $500. I think the iPad will really bring out eBooks and cement the ePub format for a long time. eBooks are going to be the big change this year outside of this awesome piece of mobile computing.
I'll be lining up for the Wi-Fi only version because I really wouldn't use a 3G connection much, and I don't want to wait the extra time for it. Start the 60 day counter now.