Taking the plunge...

Anyone there? Okay, Cletus, I write this for you.

After pulling the trigger, dealing with Paypal's Customer Service and actually coming across someone with a sense of intelligence, and finally getting through, I made the purchase that I've probably spent too many hours debating.

I've got a Kindle 3 coming. I've thought long and hard about it, and well, basically I consider it an early birthday gift. But moving past the rationalizing, why the Kindle?

I really debated this. Truly. Kindle or Nook. Back and forth. I really wanted to like the Nook more. Truly, but honestly, the tipping point was with (in order) the battery life, how it handles PDF files, and landscape ability.

This is gonna be a short entry, as I've just ordered it. More to come in a few weeks.

The TECHniMertiverse is open again...

Minority Report meets Avatar...

It's finally becoming a reality.

We've all read about touchscreen hardware on phones, computers and other applications, but they all relied on actually touching the screen.

Even my students are getting excited about the possibilities that exist with this tech.

Basically, Evoluce has developed the touchscreen concept beyond having to touch it. Within half a meter, you can interact with the screen with multiple touches/inputs.

My concept here? Combine this with the semi-transparent LCD screen, make a big honkin' tablet that'll flip up and have a centralized media center.

Obviously, the appications could be developed for hospitals, military, schools, and pretty much where something has to be displayed and changed on a regular basis.

I like it!

Shazam!

Adios Lala...

Oh lala...why did you have to leave?

In case you didn't know, lala.com is leaving at the end of the month. I got the email offering the simple confirmation and reassuring me that my cloud music purchases would be protected (in various ways). While I didn't invest as heavily in the collection as my brother, I did have a few.

Pandora.com will remain a favorite of mine, offering customized "channels" of your favorite artists. Grooveshark.com is another, but not quite as limiting as Pandora. While I like being able to go to any song that is available (just like at home), I didn't like how The Beatles weren't available.

This is sad news in that Apple is looking at "protecting" it's investment, perhaps venturing into the realm of an on-line store (as opposed to having the separate app iTunes run). I don't blame them; I will simply miss the Google results for music that offers you the opportunity to listen to the song right off the search results page.

So go ahead and Google your favorite artist or song. Enjoy clicking on those results, becuase while Pandora may move in right now, lala's interface is quite nice and will be sorely missed.

For you lala, I dedicate this next song...

Sony Reader starts the Avalanche

And so it has begun...

Having taken a few weeks away from my usual geeking out on tech news (thanks a lot, TAKS!), I just found out about the price drop on Sony's entry level eReader.

They dropped the price a while back, and now it's pretty much settled in to a ~$150 USD range. Quite nice.

Will this bring about more price drops? Because, quite honestly, for a truly niche device, I can't see folks dropping more that a Ben Franklin (that's $100 USD) one one. Look around at other niche devices. MP3 players, cell phones (maybe not so niche), tennis shoes, even point-and-shoot cameras. Entry level items of these nature fall into that single bill price range.

Sure, the iPod is a bit more, but not much. You could go for the iPod shuffle for even less, that that only supports my theory here. Cell phones have it right, and I think that's the future for the model of eReader business.

Remember those Columbia or BMG music offers? 8 albums/cassettes/CDs with the promise to buy X more in the next year or two? Yeah, that's it. Cell phones do it with a locked in contract. Sign a contract, get a bad ass reader (not just an entry level, but one with 3G or touchscreen...) and agree to buy twelve books in the next two years. Everyone wins, wouldn't they? Maybe book a month? Who knows?

I'll continue watching these trends and wait a bit more, as my tablet is still holding up.

Kris, take note: eBooks are here and aren't going away...

You can't make this stuff up...

Unless you've been under a rock for the last few days, chances are you've heard a little bit of what's been happening with Apple, Gizmondo, and the latest iPhone.

But in case you didn't, here's the gist:

1. Apple employee goes to pub with prototype iPhone 4.
2. iPhone gets "left".
3. Someone finds said phone.
4. Said someone sells iPhone to Gizmondo for $5K.
5. Gizmondo publishes exclusive articles.
6. Apple discovers, wants phone back.
7. Gizmondo acquiesces.

So, not much, right? Well, check out Gizmondo's side of the story here.

Funniest about this? My wife asked me if I heard about this. Yeah, right...

Cloud Printing

I just got done reading an interesting article about Google's Cloud Printing project.

Definitely interesting, especially for those of you with smart phones and laptops not connected to printers and such.

Idea is pretty simple: Have an item you want to print, send it to the cloud. The cloud, in it's mightiness, connects to the established printer (secure and all, right?). Item is printed, and everyone smiles.

It's still in the works within the Chromium project, but I don't see this taking too terribly long. Security is probably the most important aspect here. Once that is clarified, it'll be a real nice and convenient aspect to cloud computing.

Shazam!

Joo Joo Blues, II

Damn you, JooJoo!

I knew you weren't going to do it, but I didn't want to believe it. I had hoped that you would put up a good fight, and you tripped walking up to the ring.

As you can tell by the picture, the only "advantage" is the size of the screen. Of course, this added size makes for a heavy lady. At nearly 50% heavier than the iPad, the Joojoo just doesn't do those certain things right.

engadget reports that as these two are now available, you can check them out yourself. Personally, at this point, it's pretty much a done deal. Sure, the Joojoo would probably beat the pants off of my M275, but that machine is nearly six years old. My machine works for what I want, but there is definite room for improvement.

We'll see what happens. The current scuttlebutt conspiracy theory is that Apple wanted to jump on the eReader/tablet bandwagon, had the iPhone/iTouch and super-sized it. I don't blame them; it works, so why not?

But do you want a super sized iTouch? Rhetorical, but...do you?

Shazam!