Archive for the 'technology' Category

The iPad as an ereader

Published on 28 July 2010 in ereaders, reading and technology. 2 Comments

iPad ereader

After my Kobo had to go back to the shop to be replaced (I’m still waiting for a new one!), I turned to my iPad as a replacement ereader.
So far, the iPad has been a pretty good ereader.

Positives

  1. Content from various ebook providers can be accessed and read, thanks to the various iPad apps – I’m using Borders, Kobo, Stanza, and Amazon. In effect I have a Kobo and Kindle in one. I don’t need a Kindle to get access to Amazon ebooks – all content (at least content that is accessible to Australian readers) is available. (NB: I also have iBooks which is the iPad-specific app but content via iBooks currently provides public domain material only. The pictures show iBook.)
  2. Wireless connectivity means that in many cases I can download and start reading a book almost immediately.
  3. Ability to carry many books on one device. This was brilliant when I went to Melbourne recently – no more dilemmas over what book to bring with me.
  4. Ability to read PDFs. The Kobo, with its small (6”) screen, did not display PDFs particularly well. This is not a problem on the iPad, which does a great job. In fact, I no longer have any need to print off PDFs – I just open such documents on the iPad. Others are also finding the iPad very good for reading PDFs.
  5. Backlit screen means I can read without having to switch any lights on. This means I don’t disturb M if I wake early and feel like reading in bed.
  6. Navigation is simple and quick. On the Kobo the need to click, click and then click again to get to relevant menus can be annoying at times.
  7. Page turns on the iPad are very easy and intuitive – a light touch on the right of the screen for the next page, or the left for the previous page. This is contrasted with the Kobo button, which requires a bit of pressure to activate. The clicking noise the Kobo button makes can also be mildly irritating for others in the room.
  8. Ability to set bookmarks in the iPad ebook apps. While the Kobo remembers which page you got up to, that’s the extent of its bookmarking capacity. If you let someone have a look at your Kobo and they flick through the particular book, you lose your page. Because I was showing the Kobo to friends, family and colleagues, this got a bit wearing after a while. (also related to points 6 and 7 above.)
  9. Battery life - ~10 hours – is quite adequate for a day’s reading. It’s easy enough to charge the iPad up overnight.
  10. I am finding that I just want to read, and read, and keep reading… Mind you this is not iPad specific, I had the same impulse with the Kobo. I am assuming this is due to the novelty factor, and will fade eventually.

Negatives
iPad ereader

  1. Distractions. Being able to connect to the Internet means that I can veer off to look things up (definitions, more information about a place, person, event, concept). Playing games with others and receiving an alert that the other person has made their move and it’s now my turn – right when I am in the middle of a juicy bit. (I suppose I could turn the alerts off.)
  2. Backlit screen means that I find it very unpleasant to read in sunlight. Even bright lighting indoors can be a problem – if you hold the screen just so, the light can reflect off it, and can be distracting.
  3. Battery life is definitely not as good as the Kobo, which can go up to 2 weeks without needing a charge.
  4. Content, lack of. I seem to be reading a lot more “classic” titles, as the availability of titles continues to be an issue for us in Australia. Project Gutenberg titles, which were not attractive to me on a desktop-bound computer screen, are suddenly very good and valid reading choices. The most frustrating thing is when something is available on Amazon but not available to Australians.
  5. Weight. It’s not a big deal, but the iPad can be quite heavy. I don’t find it comfortable to hold in one hand while reading. The Kobo on the other hand is very light and pleasant to hold – and won’t cause injury if you fall asleep while reading in bed and drop it on your face. The iPad could give you a black eye!

Having said all that, I am still looking forward to receiving my replacement Kobo. Its lightness, the lack of distractions (all you can do with it is read), and the fact that eInk is very comfortable on the eyes are all huge positives for me. I expect I will still be using the iPad, for Amazon material and PDFs. Talk about spoilt for choice!

Where were you when…

Published on 24 June 2010 in connecting, culture and technology. 7 Comments

… Australia got its first female Prime Minister? I was walking along a suburban Perth street on the way to the bus stop to go to work. It was freezing, it got down to 2.4 degrees this morning and it wouldn’t have been much warmer than that when I left the house. I was trying to keep my eyes on the Twitter stream, while making sure I wasn’t going to walk into anything, and Tracy Chapman’s All That You Have is Your Soul was playing on my iPod. I was wearing my orange scarf that was a gift from M. (I like the idea that we now have a woman Prime Minister. I do wonder if she will have a second, full term as PM, though. And can someone tell me where the word ranga comes from? What an odd word!)

… when America got its first black President? I was in Auckland, New Zealand, attending the annual LIANZA conference. I was sitting in Auckland Public Library where people were watching President Obama deliver his victory speech. Some had tears rolling down their faces. I can’t remember what I did to stay connected and learn about what was happening, maybe a combination of Twitter, the media, and talking to people? The Melbourne Cup was also happening at this time, and I remember feeling very glad to be away from the sudden onset of obsession with horses and hats that many Australians seem to get every year in early November ;)

Yes we can

 …when the London underground was bombed? I don’t remember much about what I was doing but I remember the fear and anxiety I felt when the news broke. I knew it was rush hour in London, and I knew that my sister, who was living in London at the time, took public transport to work into the city. I was so relieved when I finally managed to get her on the phone, and she was fine. No Twitter then. I remember looking at the news sites and watching Wikipedia, because the encyclopedia entry about the event was being updated very quickly and regularly.

… when the planes flew into the World Trade Center? I had just arrived home from work (doing late reference shift, back then). The phone rang and my brother-in-law said, “Switch on the telly!” He hung up quickly because he wanted to get back to it. We did as he suggested, and were then transfixed, for some hours watching in disbelief. I remember thinking that it must be some sort of sick joke or stunt. That it couldn’t be real. Then as more information came to hand, wishing I knew what on earth was going on, why this had happened, and who was responsible. The next day at work I remember the shock on colleagues’ faces and their disbelief, uncertainty and worry. Nobody really knew what was going on. We mostly relied on the media, as far as I recall, and got some news from online sources… I remember the news sites being overwhelmed by the demand from people wanting more information.

Does it really matter if we don’t have information about something that’s happening, right as it’s happening? I seem to feel a compulsion to find out now whenever something is apparently going on. Who’s died. What’s crashed. Where was the explosion. It’s like, if I don’t know right as it occurs, I’m somehow deprived or something. And yet just a few years ago I would have been quite content to wait until the morning to listen to the news reports or look at the headlines. Now I have to be plugged in and a part of the mass discussions online. What’s feeding this sense of missing out and not wanting to miss out, I wonder?

Gadgets galore

Published on 22 June 2010 in toys, reading and technology. 4 Comments

For a household that is composed of people who don’t describe themselves as Apple fans, we sure do have a lot of Apple gear. Below, two iPads, three iPods, one iPhone.

Gadgets

All of these devices are still in use. The iPod Shuffle and iPod Touch are mine, and I use them at different times.

The Shuffle is great when I go away on short trips as its long battery life means I don’t need to worry about charging it while I am away.

The iPod Touch I’d have to say has been my absolute favourite gadget for a while now. I play games on it, read tweets and feeds, and check my email. I have all my music on it. It’s a 32gb model and almost full. Now that I have an iPad, I’m not sure whether the iPod Touch will be retiring. I suspect not, at least not for the time being, as there are still a couple of games on it that I enjoy playing. I haven’t bothered to try to get iPad versions of these games, mainly because I’m not sure how good they would be to play on the iPad.

As for the iPhone, because I got it after having used an iPod Touch for many months, it didn’t have the wow factor for me. That said, I’ve gotten very used to having a smartphone, and it’s wonderful that you can do so much with it. I check and write email on it more than I use it to make calls I think.

The iPad? Well, we became a dual-iPad household very quickly, despite scoffing at the idea of the device initially. (Note to self: don’t scoff. Or at least don’t do it so publicly.)

I think I know what aspect of the iPad’s Bright Shininess attracted me once M brought one home: the fact that the iPad could be the Uber Ebook Reader. It’s the Apps, darling! On the iPad, the ebook apps are actually attractive to me. I currently have four ebook apps on my iPad:

  1. Kindle
  2. Borders Kobo
  3. Stanza
  4. iBooks (this almost doesn’t count as there isn’t much content available. Currently it provides Australian readers with some 18,000+ public domain titles only, which I can get/read elsewhere.)

On the iPod Touch/iPhone, the reading experience felt too… small… constrained. I don’t particularly enjoy reading on the little screen. (I know others haven’t minded this. I suspect it’s just me.) On the iPad however this reluctance has disappeared. So far I have read two ebooks on the iPad - one using the Kindle app, the other using Stanza. The iPad means that I now have access to many more different ebook sellers (and formats). This is A Good Thing, even though the content is still very patchy. I have to keep reminding myself to be patient, and that ebook availability is going to change over the coming months. Do ebooks really only constitute 1.5% of book sales at present?

I haven’t been using my black Kobo since I got the iPad, but I don’t think I will necessarily stop using it. It’s just that I don’t have anything on the Kobo that I really want to read at the moment. (Yes, I have the 100 classics. I have to be in the mood.) On the iPad my reading was perfect escapism for my long weekend mood: Village Affairs by Miss Read (Kindle) and Clear and Convincing Proof by Kate Wilhelm (Stanza). (English village school marm nostalgia, and a case of murder most foul solved by super lawyer. Perfect!)

The Kobo is very comfortable to hold and to look at when you’re out and about. The iPad is heavy enough that it’s definitely more comfortable if you lean it against something. If the lighting is wrong and there is too much reflection on the iPad screen you aren’t really able to read properly. However the backlit screen does mean you can read in bed at night with minimal disturbance to your bed partner.

I wish I could predict where we’ll be in five years with ebooks - actually no, I think we’re in enough of a state of flux at the moment that it’s hard to say where we’ll be in a year! Price cuts? Will someone work out a great distribution model that works for everyone (publishers, authors, readers)? Will the one Uber Ereader be available?

I’ll just keep reading.