Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category

As requested, I am posting instructions for making your your own Eee case.  With some adjustments, this case could also be used for e-book devices as well.  Since my first bag I must have made eight more trying to get the bag just right.   I ended up with various results.   I am finally pleased with my latest revisions.  Writing sewing instructions is a lot harder than I thought.     That said, hopefully my instructions are easy to follow.  If not, please feel free to email me with any questions.  The instructions are here in pdf format.  Enjoy!

In a perfect world I would have been able to purchase every piece of technology that caught my eye.  Sadly, the world is not perfect and like most people I have a limited tech budget.  In light of that I really tried to make the most of what I had to spend and it didn’t always work out.  The bad results were that I ended up either with something that I really didn’t want or something I had to send back (and pay the restocking fee).  My resolution this year is to research my purchases with more scrutiny and then wait an extra few weeks to make sure that I really want my new toy.  Will it work?  Only time will tell.  There are more than a few things I bought in 2007 and the following are my top worse and best choices:

Worse:

Tablet Kiosk UMPC:  I thought that I could rotate the screen, but could not. This was important since I really wanted to be able to read in portrait mode.  Since this was before I had Lasik, I had a hard time reading the screen.  I tried to adjust it, but I immediately got frustrated.  I hastily sent it back and ended up paying a 15% restocking fee. I really should have read more reviews and watched the online videos.  I still think that the Tablet Kiosk is a nice UMPC, but it just wasn’t for me. 

iLiad:  I hate listing this as a worse buy.  I knew it was too expensive, but I am not complaining about that.  I only placed it here because I really didn’t get much more bang in my reading experience.  It’s a great machine, but its advanced features are more than what I currently need.  I did have fun installing the hacks (I think that’s the correct phrase) and add on applications I read about on Mobileread.  The e-book reader did boost my Linux confidence.

Best:

Nokia N800:  Since I live in an area that has limited hot spots, the N800 coupled with my Razr has allowed me to browse the Internet and check my email anywhere I go.  As a bonus I can read my books at night. The big plus is that I can easily read the screen.

DT375 Web Tablet:  Yes it is old tech, but as an e-book reader it is just great.  In addition to a color screen and backlight, I now have a device with MS reader, Palm reader, uBook, and Mobipocket reader.

Eee PC:  It’s just a great little notebook. 

Well the semester will end for me tomorrow after the final exam.  I am really disappointed that I couldn’t do my informal e-book study.  I did find out just how much I really don’t like early American literature.  Reading the material was like having my teeth pulled without anesthesia.  The course took up much too much of my time, mainly because it was so boring and hard to plow through the readings.  Now that is over I can finally get back to this blog.  I apologize for the lack of posts, especially recently.  I know things are bad when I get a new gadget and days go by before I even open it.  I received my Kindle over a week ago and I just got around to taking it out of the box!  So look forward to my review coming as soon as possible.

Way back in the day I remember making my radio “kiss” my cassette player to record a song.  Never matter all the background sounds and me going “shhh” to people around me.  All that mattered is that I had my song until I had enough money to get the 45.  I was about 11 years old then and a 45 cost 39 cents.  The thing is that no one from the record company police squad came knocking at my door and I did eventually buy the record. Then when the double cassette player/recorders came out, my friends and I would make each other mixed tapes. I would even tape my records so that I could listen on the go. By this time over half of the songs on the album sucked anyway and albums were about $10.  Again, no police squads or nasty letters from lawyers.  So now I wonder what happened.  Maybe we were breaking the law and I was blissfully unaware.  Or is it that the quality of recording is better and sharing them has gone world-wide? Or have we become more dishonest? Well at least record companies are coming around that DRM just doesn’t work.  All it does is keep honest people honest and limits the use of a purchase; that eventually it decreases sales.  It’s a smart move to start selling DRM-less music. So what about e-books?  Sooner than later (I hope sooner) publishers will take a page out of the music industry’s book and give us a chance to buy bestsellers without being tied to a format or device. I could go along with a password, just as long as it is not my credit card number.  While they are at it, if they can resist the need for greed, lower the price. When I download an e-book, I am doing all the work and I have to store it too on a costly device.  I have no physical product.  I can’t resell it, share it, or donate it. Would I give away copies of a book that I paid $15 for on the net?  No.  But I would like to give it to my daughter after I have finished with it.  No a copy, but the actual file just like I would with a paper book.  E-books need to be more people friendly.  That means easy to download, easy to navigate, and search. In order to give up having a physical book, there has to be some sort of advantage for the user, like larger type, or some bonus content that isn’t included in the paper version.  Since most devices include audio capabilities, maybe a short story or epilogue read by the author could be included.  What do you think would make e-books more attractive?