May 25, 2009
Happy Towel Day!
Kevin A. Thompson is hosting Blawg Review this week, on Towel Day.
So mix yourself a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster and check it out... but very carefully.
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March 26, 2009
Some Thoughts on the Kindle 2
We've had a Kindle 2 in the house since they were released--I actually bought one as a Birthday/Christmas/Promotion present for my wife last year, but it never shipped because of the Kindle 2 Launch. Recently, we added another Kindle to the house for my birthday. Here are some thoughts...
Things Amazon Got Right
Whisper Net. Holy crap. One click and in less than a minute, I have a new book. It's awesome. And between the free books and .99 books, I'm not spending a fortune, although, in the end I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying way more from Amazon than I did before.
The Dictionary. The dictionary integration on the Kindle is so much more useful than I ever would have imagined. I use it far more than I thought I would, and now that I do, I can't imagine not having it.
Battery Life. I don't leave the wireless on most of the time. And I haven't recharged the thing since I got it, despite heavy use. Awesome.
Things Amazon Got Almost Right
The Color. I'm not a fan of white gadgets in general, but I could live with that. The real issue here is that the background of the e-ink display is slightly grey, not quite white. If the Kindle were grey or black or even red I wouldn't really notice. But looking at the white of the Kindle next to the "white" of the display, and I realize there are still some improvements to be made in the contrast.
Progress Bar. I love that I can glance down and see how far into a book I've read. What I don't like is that I can't easily see how far until the end of the chapter I'm currently reading. When your wife is nudging you in bed saying, "Turn out the damn light" there's no easy way to say, "I'm only four pages away from the end of this chapter." Some chapter marker hash marks or something like that on the progress bar would be awesome.
Notes/Annotations. I suppose this is really a keyboard gripe, not an annotation gripe, but I would really like to make better use of adding notes to texts. This is especially true of legal PDFs that I convert to the Kindle. Right now, they work, but it's tedious to type of the keyboard and it's just not a smooth process. I suppose I'm pushing the envelop of what the Kindle is and is supposed to do, but hey, if you're going to make that a feature, make it a good feature.
The size. It's really comfortable in my hand, reading in bed at night. I thought that I would want a bigger screen, and I do. But I am really pretty happy with the screen size. If the screen were actually the size of the entire face of the current Kindle and were a touch screen, I think that would be perfect. As is, it is much better than I expected.
Things Amazon Got Wrong
Folders. Seriously, I already have dozens of books on my Kindle, and I'm just warming up. I've been hitting Feedbooks and Many Books and going crazy. Which makes my Table of Contents super long. Yeah, I can search it, but I would really love to have folders for reference, non-fiction, fiction, etc. C'mon, how hard would that be Amazon??! This is the major mistake on the UI, if you ask me.
Memory Card. I know, it will hold 1500 books or whatever. Yeah, 2GB isn't bad, but I don't care. Let me put my own card in it. That's a real no brainer. And since the Kindle 1 had a memory card slot, removing it double sucks. New revisions should add features, not strip away good ones!
The Cover. Yeah, I'd probably buy my own cover anyway, and the $30 cover Amazon sells isn't bad--but it should absolutely be included with the Kindle. Who wants to walk around with something that costs over $350 with no cover?! Selling it separately means that you basically pay $30 more for the Kindle, no matter what. Include a damn cover. And speaking of "covers"... it's cool the way the Kindle exploits e-ink's ability to display a persistent image to rotate the book covers that appear on the Kindle screen when it's powered off. But here's a feature request: let me customize those images. Sure, it's cool to have Lewis Carrol, Edgar Allen Poe, or Mark Twain on the screen even though it's off. But you know what would be even cooler? A pic of my family. That really shouldn't be a hard feature, Amazon.
In the end, I have to say I love the thing. When I was a kid, I was a reader. I used to stay up way past my bedtime, when I was supposed to be asleep, reading with a flashlight. I haven't done that in years. Well, the flashlight is gone, but the Kindle actually has me reading late into the night again. Why? It's hard to say. I still love books--the smell, the feel. But there is something to be said for having a library at your fingertips. For having the ability to look up a word at the touch of a button while never leaving the page you're reading that is compelling. I don't think the Kindle will ever replace books in my life entirely, but I also think I'm going to be using it (or some form of e-reader) for a very long time.
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January 29, 2009
LexThink
Matt Homann has posted 10 reasons why you should attend LexThink:Innovate in March. And while I can actually cook 2 'three minute' eggs in less than six minutes, the LexThink conference format is both innovative and effective. Well worth the time, in my book. And Matt's put his money where his mouth is with a "name your own price" guarantee. When was the last time you saw a conference do that??
The timing of the conference couldn't be worse for me (work projects) but I'm still trying to find a way to go... you should, too.
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January 14, 2009
The "Natural"
Thankfully, I live in Chicago, so my pizza options are boundless. However, I'm led to believe that in some parts of the country, people must resort to ordering pizza from a "hut". Well, last night, I saw a very disturbing Pizza Hut ad for a new pizza they are touting as "The Natural". It features (get this!) "all natural" pepperoni and "all natural" sauce. shudder So... up until now, apparently Pizza Hut pizza's have featured unnatural pepperoni and unnatural sauce.
Conspicuously left out of their ad was any mention of the cheese. Guess that is still not of this world.
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December 14, 2008
Blogging and Fatherhood
I've wanted for some time, since the birth of my daughter really, to blog about my experiences as a new father.
I think writing in general provides a path to clearer thinking and new ideas. That's been my experience with blogging in general. However, in blogging about fatherhood, I also wanted to create a running diary of the changes I'm going through as a new father and the changes my baby is going through as she's growing up.
That's where the problem comes in.
I'm pretty open about my life here on the blog. I do reserve intimate details about my personal life and I rarely blog about work (I said I was open, not stupid). I don't mind because, well, it's my life and I'm in control of it. However, when it comes to blogging about my daughter, I've been very conflicted about it. I don't want to expose her life on the Internet in the same way, for a myriad of reasons.
First, it's not my life--it's hers. I don't want to say things that, while true, might needlessly embarrass her. Second, I don't want to expose her to, well, the Internet. Whole lotta creeps out there. Third, I want to be able to be completely honest, and not worry about censoring myself because of who might be reading the blog, or because she might read it someday accidentally.
For all those reasons, I've decided to blog about my baby and fatherhood anonymously. Or at least, as anonymously as anyone can ever really be.
I've set up a new blog under a pseudonym where I can blog about my family. In fact, I've already got two weeks of posts up over there. I'm not going to link it here (duh). I know that someone, with enough effort could probably track it down and link it to me, but for the most part, there's nothing that links it with me here.
Now, if you know me and are interested in reading it, send me an e-mail and maybe someone will send you a link. Otherwise, continue to read about me, my rants and such right here.
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November 7, 2008
Trust me, I'm a lawyer...
No, seriously... I'm a lawyer!!!
I was sworn in yesterday by Thomas R. Fitzgerald, Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The long journey through law school is complete, I can now practice law in Illinois.
Frightening.
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November 4, 2008
Yes... We Did!!!
First, I am absolutely giddy... not just because "my candidate" won the election, but because this is an historic milestone in the history of a great democracy.
Second, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting President Elect Obama at a backyard barbecue fundraiser for his Senate campaign. It was a great experience and I need to give my wife credit... after we left that afternoon, she said, "Someday he's going to be President." She called that one...
Third, Obama probably voted for my wife! She was on the ballot in Cook County... unopposed. :)
Updates:
The Speeches. I thought John McCain's concession speech was magnanimous and very sincere. It's the first sincere thing I've heard come out of his mouth since the primaries. If he had been that open, that honest during his campaign, instead of pandering to the religious right with the Palin Pick, and launching his negative attack ads, etc. this might have been a very different election. Or at least a lot closer. Palin was a pit bull, all right, but America wanted candidates who could speak to the issues, not just parrot attack talking points. I also thought it was telling that when McCain mentioned Obama, the crowd booed... but not Obama's crowd when he mentioned McCain. I hope the vitriolic supporters of McCain take heed in this election: America is tired of hateful, divisive politics. Keep up the hate mongering, and you'll destroy your own party from within.
The Grand Old Party. Republican's have some real soul searching to do. The core of the party are white, conservative, evangelicals... not exactly a growing demographic. On NPR this morning, a Republican strategist noted that the fastest growing voter demographics in America are blacks, latinos, and young voters--all of who overwhelmingly supported Obama. Not good for the GOP future. Maybe it's time to return to a Republican party of old: the one that was less concerned with what women did with their bodies and more concerned with not inflating the national deficit. McCain's Palin pick was clearly targeted to deliver the base, which it did, but this election showed pretty clearly that the Republican base ain't all it's cracked up to be... you can't win an election in America without the center.
Hoosiers!! CNN hasn't called it yet, but with 99% of precincts reporting, Obama is up 50% to 49% (by about 23.5k votes). Hooray for Hoosiers!!
North Carolina. Liddy Dole learned what hateful, untrue attack ads get you: booted. Congrats to Kay Hagen. Another lesson for the Republican party: American's are tired of the B.S. and want some politicians who address the issues instead of attacking the opponents.
Minnesota. According to CNN, with 100% of the precincts reporting, Coleman is only beating Al Franken by 572 votes?! Wow... Recount anyone? I am disappointed that bat-sh*t crazy Bachmann didn't lose her race. After her McCarthy-esque comments, I wanted to see her go down.
Alaska. Are they nuts up there? Seriously, Alaska, you're making Florida look downright reasonable these days. Are your brains frozen?? With 99% of the precincts reporting, it looks like Alaska may have elected a convicted Felon to the Senate. I think ice must be clogging Alaskan's brain tubes.
Finally, I was really disappointed that not a single person who was featured using CNN's new "hologram" technology said, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."
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