Not even a day job and side freelance projects can keep me from getting to the pool during the summer and this year is no different. It’s also a time of year when I break away from reading about technology, project management, and delve into other topics.
Here is my reading list (thus far) for this summer:
I am an early adopter of the Amazon Kindle who later became an avid iPad user. Currently, I split my reading time between iBooks and the Kindle so I was quick to preorder an Amazon Kindle Fire when I first got the chance. If anything, my Android experience has mostly been about trying out the Android phones owned by my friends and colleagues plus reading articles about the OS. While I have my personal favorites, ultimately I try to be platform agnostic so picking up a Kindle Fire is my first official introduction into Android (even if it is running a highly customized version of it).
The Kindle Fire is by no means an iPad Killer but it ‘s a wonderful media consumption device with merits all of its own. All of the articles written that set the iPad and the Kindle Fire against each other all seem to be written in pursuit of page views or by IT journalists that need to get out of the coffee shop and see how tablets are really used in the enterprise and in various vertical markets. The Kindle Fire is an eReader with some tablet qualities and runs a version of Android and definitely not in the same weight class as an iPad.
Staying true to my 2011 resolution to read as many books as possible as eBooks on my iPad or Kindle, I’ve only bought two three print books as of August 2011. The majority of my personal and professional reading takes place on my iPad and Kindle.
This means there was no way of me not getting around not checking out the Kindle Cloud Reader even though I’ve been content with the Kindle app on the iPad. Apple seems to be wielding the full force of their platform with content providers for iOS devices so the advent of the Kindle Cloud Reader comes as no surprise. Having my books especially my professional reference books in the cloud has been a real convenience since it means I don’t don’t have to lug books back and forth to work.
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.
2010 has definitely been the year of the iPad and its application ecosystem is flourishing. My iPad is seeing a lot of use and I have my list of go to applications I use during the course of the workday and on my freelance projects.
My iPad comes with me to work where I use it for managing my project tasks and calendar, to the doctor’s office to manage my medical history, and even manage my Apple TV with it.
Print books have always been a source of comfort for me. When I was a child I was an avid reader right down to the large selection of hard bound classics handed down to me from my grandmother. Reading was also a favorite pastime when I was growing. In college, I was an English major finally sealing my fate with reading and the printed word.
Even when it came to learning new technology, an early mentor of mine showed me the value of taking a hands on approach and then following up with reading the documentation or a book. This approach has worked for me up to present day and because I eschewed formal computer training classes for the most part added a lot more computer books to my personal library and home office.
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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