A friend of mine at work mentioned to me that my last several entries in this blog have been universally negative. "You sound angry," she noted.
I am not normally an angry person, but I have to admit that of late, only the really negative technology stuff -- the stuff that has been really irritating me -- has made it to the blog, and when I look at it as a whole, it does seem rather intense.
So here's a change-of-mood post, because there are definitely some good tech things happening too.
MobileMe has really been settling down. I've used the iPhone, Web and Mac interfaces, and data seems to be pushing and synchronizing seamlessly and quickly. The most glaring flaws in the Web interface have been fixed, and I'm now finding the service to be pretty good. As Apple devotes intense cycles to fixing it, I'm thinking it will be even more reliable moving forward. Today, MobileMe is a very useful service for me.
I've had the opportunity to live with an Amazon Kindle for a while now, and I must say it's an impressive e-book reader. I hadn't really been all that impressed with e-readers up until this point, mostly because none of them impressed me from a usability standpoint. They all had their drawbacks, and it came down to easily getting content from the providers into the device in a way that doesn't make me wish I had just brought a conventional old "book" with me in the first place.
The Kindle's wireless connectivity is something you have to use for a while to "get it". The ubiquitous and free coverage makes getting content trivial. Access to an enormous catalog at Amazon, all available pretty much wherever you are, makes the Kindle a very compelling choice.
The first time I was on a trip and had forgotten to pack the sequel to the book I had finished on the plane really hit home. I searched for the book on the Kindle, found it, purchased it, and was reading it within minutes.
The Kindle also "just works". It hasn't crashed on me, hasn't lost content, hasn't decided to deactivate itself, and came shipped automatically connected to my Amazon account. Out of the box, I was searching, downloading and reading content within minutes.
Sure, there's areas that could be improved.. but right now, I'm very much enjoying the Kindle.
So, there. I hope this improves the overall mood of my blog. :-)
*Definition of "Unicorn Chaser" is here .
I am not normally an angry person, but I have to admit that of late, only the really negative technology stuff -- the stuff that has been really irritating me -- has made it to the blog, and when I look at it as a whole, it does seem rather intense.
So here's a change-of-mood post, because there are definitely some good tech things happening too.
MobileMe has really been settling down. I've used the iPhone, Web and Mac interfaces, and data seems to be pushing and synchronizing seamlessly and quickly. The most glaring flaws in the Web interface have been fixed, and I'm now finding the service to be pretty good. As Apple devotes intense cycles to fixing it, I'm thinking it will be even more reliable moving forward. Today, MobileMe is a very useful service for me.
I've had the opportunity to live with an Amazon Kindle for a while now, and I must say it's an impressive e-book reader. I hadn't really been all that impressed with e-readers up until this point, mostly because none of them impressed me from a usability standpoint. They all had their drawbacks, and it came down to easily getting content from the providers into the device in a way that doesn't make me wish I had just brought a conventional old "book" with me in the first place.
The Kindle's wireless connectivity is something you have to use for a while to "get it". The ubiquitous and free coverage makes getting content trivial. Access to an enormous catalog at Amazon, all available pretty much wherever you are, makes the Kindle a very compelling choice.
The first time I was on a trip and had forgotten to pack the sequel to the book I had finished on the plane really hit home. I searched for the book on the Kindle, found it, purchased it, and was reading it within minutes.
The Kindle also "just works". It hasn't crashed on me, hasn't lost content, hasn't decided to deactivate itself, and came shipped automatically connected to my Amazon account. Out of the box, I was searching, downloading and reading content within minutes.
Sure, there's areas that could be improved.. but right now, I'm very much enjoying the Kindle.
So, there. I hope this improves the overall mood of my blog. :-)
*Definition of "Unicorn Chaser" is here .
Comments
One of the things I don't get about the Kindle is what one can expect to pay in ongoing costs.