Kindle

[goo_mason]

Unlike Goo Mason I was quite impressed with the browser.

I'm not unimpressed with it - I was quoting some of the less-than-helpful 'reviews' people post about the Kindle on Amazon reviews.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've installed the Kindle app on my netbook - it's staggeringly easy to download books. Just done half-a-dozen while sipping my Scotch.
I'm aiming to have ALL the free ones I want waiting for when I get a Kindle at Christmas.
A thousand books ought to keep me going for a week or three...

 

[Piemaster]

I'm with Goo on the review comments, thought some were amusing / bizarre. Perhaps they hadn't actually read and understood what it was, and thought they were getting some sort of cheap ipad.

 

[vikingcyclist]

I've installed the Kindle app on my netbook - it's staggeringly easy to download books. Just done half-a-dozen while sipping my Scotch.
I'm aiming to have ALL the free ones I want waiting for when I get a Kindle at Christmas.
A thousand books ought to keep me going for a week or three...

There's a few more that you can grab as well, which'll work on the Kindle:

Little Brother: Little Brother » Download for Free
ManyBooks - ManyBooks.net - Ad-free eBooks for your iPad, smartphone, or eBook reader
Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg - free ebooks online download for iPad, Kindle, Nook, Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader
Free Kindle Books (includes a Project Gutenberg catalogue that you can use to then download books directly to Kindle) - http://freekindlebooks.org/

Anything in .mobi format will work, and there are plenty out there.

 

[CopperBrompton]

And if it's in any other format, just use Calibre to convert to .mobi format.

 

[darth vadar]

"I gather them up and take them to the hospice shop".

Another good reason for buying and reading 'proper' books.

These devices like lots of others mean you become a slave to technology.

They all need upgrades, or get faults or become obsolete, which then involves spending even more money on the next super duper model.

It never ends.

I often chuckle to myself when I see people who cannot function for just a short while unless they are being 'entertained' by some sort of electronic device. Whatever happened to a bit of inner peace and everyone being happy with their lot. Try going for a walk or a run without an Ipod or texting and talking drivel on a mobile phone.

Its really quite good and relaxing.

Maybe we all need to get back into the real world rather than this 'virtual world' that we find ourselves in.

 

[ColinJ]

I often chuckle to myself when I see people who cannot function for just a short while unless they are being 'entertained' by some sort of electronic device.  Whatever happened to a bit of inner peace and everyone being happy with their lot.  Try going for a walk or a run without an Ipod or texting and talking drivel on a mobile phone. 

Its really quite good and relaxing.

Maybe we all need to get back into the real world rather than this 'virtual world' that we find ourselves in.

Well, in between trips to the real world, you are managing to drop in here at virtual CycleChat pretty regularly!

Actually, I can't stop - I have to meet a real person in the real world. Apart from using a GPS for navigation and a digital camera to take some snaps along the way, it will be a tech-free ride, and the only drivel I'll be speaking will be to PaulB if he turns up or to myself if he doesn't! 

 

[darth vadar]

Well, in between trips to the real world, you are managing to drop in here at virtual CycleChat pretty regularly!

Can't really disagree with you there, but you know what I mean.

Maybe early retirement has made me a little bit more mischievous, too much time of my hands....... etc.

However, as a fairly simple sort of chap, there are more and more things in modern life that upset and annoy me. Life doesn't have to be complicated but some of these devices really do cause more problems than they solve.

There is a whole industry of 'bluff' out there and nobody ever stops to say "hang on this is daft". Just as an example, computers may be fab, but who had heard of identity theft before the internet came along? Now, almost everyone knows at least one person who has been a victim of cyber theft.

The way I look at new technology is like this - "a pen and paper doesn't get a virus"

PS I am using my lads PC !!!!!

 

[ColinJ]

And Paul used some more high-tech gadgetry (a mobile phone) to catch me as I was walking out of my back door with my bike to tell me that he'd got his dates mixed up and so wasn't coming on the ride. Which pleased me no end actually, because it has been raining for much of the past two and a half hours! We will ride tomorrow instead and the forecast is much better. I'll go for a walk this afternoon once the rain stops.

I like technology but I also like real books so I can see both sides of the ebook reader argument.

As mentioned above, I do use a mobile phone on ride days for eventualities such as me or other riders being delayed or not being able to make it. I don't normally carry one about with me at other times though because I want to concentrate on my walk or ride and not have people interrupting that whenever they feel like it. Most things can wait until I get home, and those can't have to anyway, just like they used to!

I'm old enough to remember telegrams being delivered when relatives died. It was a horrible thing, because you knew damn well what had happened as soon as the van pulled up outside, it was just a question of who it had happened to!

 

[CopperBrompton]

PS I am using my lads PC !!!!!

You do realise your lad's PC used that new-fangled electrickery, don't you? Life was much simpler and purer before that came along.

 

[ColinJ]

You do realise your lad's PC used that new-fangled electrickery, don't you? Life was much simpler and purer before that came along.

You reckon?

Now:

• 
  Day 1. Visit website, choose goods, order using credit/debit card.

• Day 2. Goods are delivered.

Then:

• Day 1. Go to newsagent and buy magazine. Read through magazine and choose supplier.

• Day 2. Write a letter requesting a catalogue from supplier. Post letter.
• Days 3 & 4. Wait...
• Day 5. Catalogue arrives. Eagerly scan through pages, find exciting goods. Write out order for goods and enclose a cheque. Post order.
• Day 6. Supplier receives order.
• Days 7-11. Supplier waits for cheque to clear.
• Day 12. The cheque has cleared and the goods are despatched.
• Days 13-14. Wait...
• Day 15. Your parcel arrives!

I kid you not! When I was building my electronics projects back in the early 1970s, I'd normally reckon on 3-4 weeks from starting to think about what I wanted to make to actually having all the parts and being ready to get on with it. 

 

[CopperBrompton]

You reckon?

I don't, but Darth Vadar probably does.

 

[PBancroft]

And if it's in any other format, just use Calibre to convert to .mobi format.

Will Calibre handle DRM epub files (such as those bought through Kobo), or does the DRM need to be stripped elsewhere?

 

[CopperBrompton]

Not tried it, but the website is here: http://calibre-ebook.com

 

[vikingcyclist]

These devices like lots of others mean you become a slave to technology.

They all need upgrades, or get faults or become obsolete, which then involves spending even more money on the next super duper model.

It never ends.

I often chuckle to myself when I see people who cannot function for just a short while unless they are being 'entertained' by some sort of electronic device. Whatever happened to a bit of inner peace and everyone being happy with their lot. Try going for a walk or a run without an Ipod or texting and talking drivel on a mobile phone.

Well no, not really. I'm og the gadget addict generation but have never felt a need to have the latest, greatest toy. Some do, but they'd find other prestige items to spend their money on and complicate their lives without technology.

I get a nice bit of inner peace by sitting next to the lake at work over lunch time and reading my Kindle. It's much easier than carrying a book around in my coat pocket, and I don't need to worry about losing my place if someone comes up and interrupts me.

Of course, I don't own an iPod, and the only time I use my phone other than for organising meetups with people is to call my family since I'm too far away to see them as often as I'd like so I might not quite fit into your definition of non-functional people.

Maybe we all need to get back into the real world rather than this 'virtual world' that we find ourselves in.

An ebook reader doesn't put you into some sort of virtual world, it's just a different way of reading a book. Nothing virtual about it as you still have the text which is the important bit.

However, as a fairly simple sort of chap, there are more and more things in modern life that upset and annoy me. Life doesn't have to be complicated but some of these devices really do cause more problems than they solve.

Some, yes, but that's no reason to be a luddite. Just don't get those devices. Even f 90% could be considered a waste of time, or unnecessary complication, it doesn't stop the benefits of the other 10% (such as being able to debate technology on a forum )

There is a whole industry of 'bluff' out there and nobody ever stops to say "hang on this is daft". Just as an example, computers may be fab, but who had heard of identity theft before the internet came along? Now, almost everyone knows at least one person who has been a victim of cyber theft.

Identity theft did happen before computers came along, it's not a new concept, just that people don't take the same precautions online that they might take in the real world. That's not the fault of computers but of users.

The way I look at new technology is like this - "a pen and paper doesn't get a virus"

But it does run out of ink, dry up, get jammed, leaks on the paper, snaps, gets nabbed by people and left in your desk drawer when you need it. The paper meanwhile can only be used once, can go soggy, again get lost, runs out, gets an important phone number scribbled over by your three year old nephew and so on. Also much, much easier for someone to grab if they wanted to steal your identity.

PS I am using my lads PC !!!!!

I hope he's got some good net security software on there to protect you from the evil identity pirates.