Daniel Ho’s Musings

Why the iPad Hasn’t Killed Kindle – Newsweek.

This article has a lot of reasons why the iPad hasn’t killed the Kindle…yet.  I read a LOT on eBook devices, and originally I thought the same thing.

In an attempt to travel with less devices, I started reading on the iPad. Yes, it may be a bit heavier, you’ll need to recharge the iPad more often, and there is a bit more eyestrain if you don’t adjust the brightness of the iPad if you are reading in the dark…

Even so, I find the ONLY real benefit to the Kindle and the other eInk eReaders is that they are much easier to read in bright sunlight.  This is because eInk depends on light reflecting off the screen like normal paper–the more light, the better!  In contrast, the iPad screen generates the light that you are seeing, and bright sunlight reflecting off the screen actually overwhelms the light being put out by the device and makes the screen harder to read.

This isn’t a big problem normally as I read mostly indoors, but it can be an issue if you do a lot of reading outdoors at the beach or lounging by the pool.

This article also misses a point.  Actually I think the writer was a bit confused when writing that section of the story.  With Apple iPad you are NOT locked to just Apple’s bookstore.  The fact that the iPad can run Apps means that it can run Amazon Kindle reader, the app for Kobo, etc.

The variety of sources for reading makes it the best eReader available.  I just finished reading a couple of Kindle books on the iPad and it worked well–actually better as the iPad has a touch screen that I could swipe to change pages.

Amazon likely doesn’t care either.  They’re making their money selling eBooks.  The Kindles are only a delivery and consumption mechanism.  If they can increase their eBook revenue stream without producing, selling, or supporting hardware, in my view that’s a big bonus!

I was looking for an Omega X-33 schematic online and ran across this. It is a video of repairs being completed on the watch in a micro-gravity environment. Very cool. I want to see them work on a perpetual minute repeater next.

I was ROTFL when I saw this clip on Jim Murphy’s site. There is sometimes a LOT of truth in humour. If any of you have been engaged in any variant of Agile Programming, you’ll see how close this is to reality.

Apple released an update for the MacBook Air aptly named “MacBook Air Update 1.0” on Friday August 22, 2008. This is to resolve a longstanding issue with processor idling. The reported issue in the Apple Support Forum is actually one in which one of the two Core 2 Duo processors would shut down when it got too hot. This greatly affected the system’s responsiveness while while waiting the processor to cool.

The release notes from Apple:
“This update is recommended for all MacBook Air computers, and addresses issues with video playback and processor core idling. Third-party software that modifies processor operating characteristics such as frequency and voltage is not supported and should be removed before installing this update.”