04/19/12

E-Books

I know I’m probably a bit late to the bandwagon when it comes to e-books but the other night I finished my first ever e-book using the Kindle app.

When I purchased my iPad 2 a couple of months ago I was determined to try and use it for books in one, way shape or form and whilst Apple’s ‘iBooks’ app is very nice amazon has a better reputation for e-reading with Kindles and if I ever ended up with a Kindle any books would work with it. On top of that the Amazon Kindle store is a lot cheaper than the iBooks store.

I’m not going to review the book I read but share my thoughts on the world of e-reading!

Advantages

Chatting to Suzie on Facebook (check out her blog on Kindles here) she talks about how her Kindle takes up a lot less space than lots of books and also is far more portable for travelling and I think I tend to agree. I’m pretty bad at remembering to pack a book but would probably remember my iPad…on top of that I like that the app syncs which means I could continue where I left off on my iPhone. Having a limitless supply of holiday reading without having stupidly heavy bags could be a big advantage.

I also think that in terms of space e-books have a lot going for them. Our house has lots of books…both fiction and non-fiction and lots of them youth work related and actually having a searchable library would be incredibly useful.

The other thing I like about the idea of e-books is the fact that they are instant, you could simply want a book and buy it…on top of that there’s lots of classics which are available for free. The ability to store Kindle books in the cloud too is a massive advantage because you don’t clog up all your space!

Disadvantages

Having owned an iPod for years and listening to most of my music digitally I still buy CDs…the reason? I like the artwork and I like having something physical. With music I enjoy flicking through the artwork, lyrics, thank-you’s and generally being a geek about it…on top of that you feel like there is more to show for your £8 with a CD than a series of files (plus I can easily listen to them in the car without the crackle of the fm transmitter).

However I don’t have that same artwork attachment with books nor will a book fit in my car stereo without the aid of a hammer which remains the ‘what do I have to show for my money’ aspect which again (and I can’t quite explain why) doesn’t bother me with the idea of e-books but I guess could put some people off.

One thing which may be more of a disadvantage with an e-book (although less so if you own a real Kindle and not the app) is that addition of more screens. I’m very aware that for most of my life I’m looking at a screen whether it’s an iPad, iPhone, Computer, TV or whatnot and wonder if this is a good thing or not?

Lending & Selling Books

One big disadvantage over real books is that you can lend and sell them. Most of the books I buy I get off amazon marketplace and so for £3 I can have a book delivered…e-books don’t have that same advantage (although if your e-book retailer controlled the storage of the e-book I’m sure there’s scope for a secondhand ‘e-book’ store) and so I’d have to pay more for books (although if it’s only a little it probably wouldn’t have a massive impact but the loss of that ‘got a bargain’ feeling is a shame).

When it comes to lending, I am told there is a way to do this with kindle although I’m yet to discover it but if they sussed that e-books would be awesome…no need to worry about who has that missing book!

Overview

To summarise what is probably a fairly badly written, disorganised, ‘Mark is too sleepy to be typing’ blog I think that in principal I like the idea of e-books. I currently have a bit of a reading pile of real books but will probably start getting into them after. I don’t think I’ll be replacing the books I have with e-books (i.e. selling a book then buying the same as an e-book) simply because it would work out too expensive and to that extent it’s a shame that books don’t have the same transferrable nature as CDs…you can easily get your CD onto an iPod however without a hell of a lot of patience and several years with a scanner doing that for a library of books is impossible!

It’ll be interesting to see if I get into them a bit more over the coming months…will probably blog again in the future (on e-books and in general!)

Currently Reading: Life without Limts by Nick Vujicic and I, Partridge by Alan Partridge/Steve Coogan

10/6/11

Steve Jobs – 1955 – 2011

Today I awoke to the sad news that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had passed away. Steve, who had been battling with cancer for years stepped down as Apple CEO in August handing over to Tim Cook. This is what the Apple website says about Steve’s passing:

“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and a inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple”

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1979 and the company eventually released the first home Mac controlled by a mouse. In 1985 Steve parted company with Apple and went on to buy Pixar and take it to where it is today (eventually selling to Disney).

In 1997 Steve returned to the, then failing, Apple and in the last 14 years has been the visionary behind the company launching the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad amongst other products over the last 14 years all of which have been hugely successful.

Steve’s unique approach to keeping new products quiet and then launching with big media events causes hundreds of rumours to circulate around the web in anticipation of the next Apple product update. On top of that his attention to detail has led to Apple products being unlike any other.

When I brought my Macbook 3 and a half years ago it was unlike any computer I’d ever purchased…even the packaging was exciting and there is something really special about my Macbook because it’s fantastically designed and the user interface is exactly what I want to work with.

Likewise there is no other touchscreen phone on the market that works quite as slickly as the iPhone.

Steve Job’s charismatic approach to technology has made getting excited about technology something cool and not just for geeks. His product design has led to millions of people enjoying their technology. Steve Jobs has truly left his mark on our modern world.

I’m going to finish this blog with a piece of wisdom from Steve Job’s 2005 speech at Stanford University and few tributes from some famous people/bands that I’ve seen this morning.

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.” – Steve Jobs

“Woke to the news of Steve Jobs’s death. He changed the world. I knew him a little and admired him entirely. Love to Apple and his family.” – Stephen Fry

“Dear Steve Jobs, thanks for believing in our little band enough to put one of our songs in your first iTunes commercials. Tell me one other company of this size that would actually have the balls to use a song that includes a series of “F-Bombs” in their add campaign? Not to mention a song that blatantly talks sh*t about the radio. You were a true innovator and a hacker at heart. Hell, you were buddies with The Woz and Captain Crunch! That in itself is pretty badass. Thanks for showing that it pays to break the rules and fight for what you believe. You have made a fan for life. RIP.” - The Ataris

“R.I.P. Steve Jobs (1955-2011). Thanks for giving me the tools to build my career homie. Much love and respect, you will be missed.” - MC Lars

01/27/10

Apple Event – Review – iPad

I’ve just sat for the last hour or so watching the live feed from the Apple ‘Come see our latest creation’ event coverage and whilst I have a few blogs in the pipeline (which will appear over the next couple of days) I thought I’d do a round-up post with some thoughts on the Apple event.

There’s something about Apple products that oozes beauty, where-as Dell produce a brick and call it a laptop Apple form these wonderfully designed products.

The big item expected from Apple’s event today was the announcement of the ‘Apple Tablet’ and strangely Steve Jobs started off the event by launching it (actually 1 hour on they were still talking about it).

As usual Apple have designed something beautiful, the iPad is slim, has a nice 9 inch screen and seems to have a slimlined version of Mac OSX (including a dock). The other features include WiFi, bluetooth, built in speakers, microphone and headphone jack and a 10 hour battery life plus the ability to connect a projector!

The other main aim for the iPad is to compete with the amazon Kindle as an e-book reader and it looks like it’s going to be hot competition, after-all it does far more beside books…we shall see!

Whilst I think the iPad is something of beauty and can fully see the potential for users I think it’s somewhat of a niche market. I can see it being used by commuters on their way to work and maybe it could just about be used as a bag-sized PDA but it’s too big for a pocket and will probably be too expensive to buy for fun (much to my disappointment).

However for those with money to spend I could quite easily see it as being an alternative to sitting watching TV with a laptop…providing a nice, slim alternative. I wish I had money to spare!

(Since typing this the US price has been announced as $499 so I suspect in the UK we’ll be looking at 300…less than an iPhone…tempting)

Disappointingly the presentation ended after an hour and a half of iPad talk which although talked about e-books, iwork for the iPad and some fantastic looking games for the iPad didn’t talk about a new iLife, iWork or iPhone which is such a shame. iDisappointed!

Can’t wait to play on an iPad in an Apple store though!