Category Archives: Gadgets

Books Gadgets Productivity Reading Web/Tech

So Santa Brought You A Kindle Fire?

December 27, 2011 – 4:28 pm

The Kindle Fire is definitely one of the hottest sellers of the 2011 Christmas season. I went for the Amazon Kindle early on because I wanted to get a taste of an Android-based tablet. My expectations with the purchase were that it wasn’t going to be a game changer and wouldn’t supplant my iPad. While there isn’t a lot new in the device, and despite what Jakob Neilson bemoans it is actually a smooth 7” tablet.

I was quick to outfit my new Kindle Fire with free apps because I never intended for it to supplant my iPad and I want to see how much use I apps on my latest mobile device before I spend any money on outfitting the device any further.

Here is a list of some must have (and more importantly free) Kindle Fire Apps available from the Amazon Android store:

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Gadgets iPad Productivity

Will The Wacom Bamboo Stylus for iPad Turn Me Away From Paper For Good?

September 28, 2011 – 10:06 pm

I’ve written before on this blog about my goal of leaving note taking on dog-eared yellow legal pads behind me. Suffice it to say, I am still working towards that goal but making progress. One of the areas where I had some success was on my iPad so I was excited when I got a Wacom Bamboo Stylus for  iPad for my birthday last month.

Unlike the previous styluses I’ve tried on my iPad, the Wacom Bamboo Stylus feels great in my hand. It isn’t quite as large as a pen but I don’t feel like I am using a stubby pencil either when writing on my iPad. It’s also a nice weight in my hand, which makes it feel like a regular writing instrument, and not some wanna be. This could be the iPad stylus of my dreams.

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Gadgets iPad iPhone Mobile Devices Productivity

The Cloud versus Portable Media

March 22, 2011 – 7:04 pm

I was discussing the launch of the iPad 2 the other week at work with two colleagues of mine who are amateur photographers and pretty serious about their tech. Their use cases for the iPad are much different than mine but one bemoans the lack of an internal SD card slot.  I have many technical discussions with these two colleagues and our iPad discussions have gotten me wondering, “Is the cloud overtaking portable media?” after I was able to explain where I store the bulk of my files.

The iPad and iPhone are prime examples of the cloud overtaking portable media with a growing list of apps offering DropBox and/or Box.net support. When I was looking at the iPad 2 specifications for myself, I confirmed how much memory I was consuming on my 32 GB iPad 3G+WiFi and was pleasantly surprised I had more than half my space free because much of my data is in the cloud whether on Dropbox, Google Docs, or in Gmail.

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Books Gadgets Reading Web/Tech

Nook Color: My First Impressions

January 12, 2011 – 1:31 pm

Santa Claus brought me a Nook Color for Christmas. It joins my iPad and Kindle to help me honor my 2011 resolution to do as much of my personal and professional book reading via ebooks not through dead trees. The Nook was a big boon to Barnes & Noble Christmas sales and my first impressions of the device are all very positive. Barnes & Noble did their homework with the Nook. It’s a real competitive offering and definite challenger to the Kindle.

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Books Gadgets Reading

My First Impressions of Google Books

December 13, 2010 – 9:42 pm

One of my resolutions for 2011 is to purchase no print books unless necessary (for a project or other priority and an electronic version of the book doesn’t yet exist). This means I am going to be doing my reading on either my iPad or Kindle. Now, Google Books is entering the eBooks mix with clients for Android, PC, Mac, and the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch. I checked out the Google Books app on my iPad and it left me wondering why Google took this step except as a disruptive move over a market segment.

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Gadgets Mobile Devices Productivity Web/Tech

My Initial Thoughts about the iPad 3G + WiFi

May 8, 2010 – 1:49 pm

IPad3g On launch day, I made the leap and bought an iPad 3G +WiFi after reading good reviews about the WiFi version of the iPad from the short list of technology writers and product reviewers I actually trust. After spending the weekend with the device, my favorable impression is only growing even with its somewhat rough edges.

Unlike the iPhone, I took the leap on the first product release and could see from my initial experience that Steve Jobs and Apple could well define the future of tablet computing much like they are doing with smartphones.

Setup was a breeze and my new iPad 3G + WiFi found my home’s wireless network without any major issues.  haven’t setup the 3G side of the house yet, but plan to do that before my annual Mother’s Day road trip to go up and see my Mom.

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Gadgets iPhone Mobile Devices Web/Tech

How I took my Business and Pleasure Reading Mobile

April 5, 2010 – 8:30 pm

Kindle My current projects as a technical writer mean I flit back and forth from my home office and client sites all the while not cheating my avid reading habit (or my Timbuk2 bag doing a number on my shoulder) so I’ve been looking more to my Kindle and iPhone for my personal and professional reading

I’ve been a Kindle user since their 1st generation device debuted and the move to an eBook Reader has had its ups and downs for this former English Major. A new benefit of the Kindle is that now Amazon is letting you read your Kindle books on your PC and your iPhone.

As somebody who has surrounded themselves with print books since they were old enough to read I recommend you test out reading via ebook.

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Gadgets Mobile Devices

My Thoughts about the iPad Launch

April 3, 2010 – 4:55 pm

IPad While I’ve definitely tried to keep a discerning eye towards the launch of the iPad, I don’t think I am going to buy one just quite yet.

However, I do feel the Steve Jobs/Apple tractor beam dragging me in ever so
slowly into the gadget’s orbit. This said as a guy who owns an iPhone 3GS and
has multiple Macs in their home.

My current excuse is that I am still trying to find a use case to drive me to purchase an iPad. As a technical writer who writes technical documentation and even articles for publication, I need it to be a document platform. With the exception of iWork, the iPad apps just aren’t in place yet to make this happen.

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Gadgets iPhone Technical Writing Web/Tech

The Technical Writer’s iPhone

March 4, 2010 – 10:14 pm

IPhone_logo I’ve been using an iPhone for a couple of months now and I am still very impressed about the range of apps and content available for this mobile platform. Here are some of my favorite apps that see frequent use in my technical writing work.

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Gadgets Mobile Devices Smartphones

Reading News on my iPhone

January 16, 2010 – 12:17 pm

IPhone3slogo My iPhone has become a reading device for me as of late – despite my bifocals – I commonly get my news
headlines first from the device versus the PC. While the iPhone performs passably as a reading device it is the applications that play a major part here.

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