Insomnic Dreams

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a happy Kindle 2 owner. The availability of titles, being able to read manga scanlations, and the 3G basic internet access have made it completely worth the purchase price for me.

Is it right for you?

If you browse around blogs or comment threads about ebook readers you’ll see a wide range of comments about their value and it may be difficult to make a choice. I’m hoping I can help a little bit.

Let’s start by setting the expectations for an ebook reader. It is designed to easily read and store text information in a portable format. That is it. In other words – it’s an electronic book. It sounds strange to say that because it seems redundant but it really needs to be emphasized.

Now let’s say what an ebook reader is not – it is not a portable media player, it is not a mobile phone, and it is not a portable computer.

This is where the confusion (and sometimes contention) seems to come into play with ebook readers. Some people want them to be more than their design allows. Remember, its main design function is to make a large library of text available in a small, electronic format that is easy to read. Any thing else is just a perk.

If you are looking for a portable media player, I recommend the iPod Touch or a PSP. If you are looking for a mobile phone I recommend the iPhone, a Blackberry, or a G1. If you want a portable computer then I recommend a netbook – perhaps a Dell Mini or Asus Eee PC. All of those devices can display ebooks (one way or another) but can also do other things that you may want to do that can’t be accomplished with a dedicated ebook reader.

One thing those other devices cannot do though is display text in a comfortable reading format with extensive battery life. If that is your priority then the ebook reader is for you!

Unfortunately, it is hard to debate the readability factor until you use an ebook reader extensively. You don’t notice how different it is using the dedicated display type of an ebook reader (commonly called e-ink) versus a screen on a computer or portable media player. It’s a very drastic difference.

Now, the other major factor to consider with an ebook reader is the number of books you read. Ebooks are generally cheaper than the published version of the book so you can save money in the long run. This really is only true depending on how you do your reading. If you only get books from your local library then this is not going to save you money (nor save shelf space for that matter). If you read a book every couple months then this is not for you either. If you are an avid reader or like to have books with you regularly then an ebook reader is probably a good investment for you.

The last question then, if you’ve decided to get an ebook reader, is which one do you want? This is tricky and I’m not going to answer for you. The popular ones are the Amazon Kindle and the Sony PRS series. A little less known but gets very good reviews is the BeBook. They each have different features and price options so be sure to comparison shop.

An excellent source of information about the different ebook reader options are the MobileRead Forums. They provide a ton of reviews, references, and a very active community that will help you make an informed decision. They also keep up with the latest trends so it may be good to wait on a purchase for an upcoming release (like the WiFi enabled BeBook due to be released soon).

Either way you choose make sure it’s a choice that’s right for you and if someone else chooses differently – let it be up to them. Personally, I think it’s very cool to have so many choices on how we can travel with our media be it Kindle, a PSP, or a Dell Mini – or a combination of them all.

If you have any further questions or want more details, feel free to comment and I’ll be happy to elaborate.

UPDATE: A friend recently wrote up their experience with trying out an ereader for the first time. Read her review on Murmur.

I recently purchased a Kindle 2 and I am very, very happy with the product. I know discussions of the Kindle can spark some debates so I’m going to avoid all of those by stating “I like it but if you don’t that’s fine too”. So lets skip along happily now and discuss what I wanted to discuss with you which is specifically about reading manga on the Kindle. Yup… you can read japanese comic books on the Kindle very easily. You can also load your own images for viewing as well using the same process.

So how do we accomplish this amazing feat? Actually, very easily. The program to use is called Mangle.

Mangle does an awesome job of converting images to be optimized for the Kindle display and processed to work correctly with the navigation system of the device.

See for yourself. The following image was converted using Mangle and loaded onto my Kindle 2. The left side image is the original, the middle one is the converted, and the right side image is displaying on the Kindle 2. Click on the thumbnails to see the original sizes.

So as you can see it looks pretty darn good. You can see a couple other examples at the Mangle website.

Mangle runs as a stand alone executable so you can run it directly with no installation necessary. It’s a very basic layout so it’s very easy to use. You pick either a set of images or a directory of images, click the gear icon to get it started, tell it where to put the converted images and then it converts them for you. That’s it!

Once it’s converted, you will plug in your Kindle and create a folder on it called “pictures”. Put the new book you created (the folder with all the images) into the Pictures directory and you are all set. It should show up in your book list using the name of the folder as the title.  If you don’t see it, press Alt+Z to refresh the listing.

You can also use Mangle to convert pictures into a photo album or convert pictures to use as custom screen savers.

Yes… custom screen saver. It requires hacking the Kindle a bit but is very easy and can be reversed. Go to the Kindle 2 Screen Saver Hack wiki page at MobileRead and it will walk you through using it. The image you see above is one of my custom screen saver images.

This program works on Windows and Linux and is free to use. Feel free to post any questions and I’ll be happy to help out.

UPDATE: The Kindle 2.3 update breaks the screen saver hack. The updated version can be found at JYA’s site.

UPDATE 2: The Kindle 2.3 update has some new image viewer options. For some it has caused issues and for others it has not. If you have any issues, the new PDF support has worked pretty well for manga. IrfanView does a good job of converting the Mangle converted images to PDF (process: thumbnail viewer->select all->print to PDF using CuteWriter).

UPDATE 3: After speaking with Amazon customer service and tech support it seems the “developers” have decided that any use of the built in image viewer is considered a hack and therefore note support. After bothering them over and over about it though I was told an image viewer would be developed in a future release. I’m assuming that it will be part of the new active content  that is coming to the Kindle (think “App Store”) and the recent release of the Kindle KDK (Kindle Development Kit). This could easily mean a dedicated comic book reader as well.

Google has released a new product for their mobile suite of software called Google Latitude. It is an updated version of Google Maps that allows for location awareness to be shared with others. This can be useful for seeing when your friend is in the mall with you and then you can send them a note to meet up, a useful feature. The downside is it can also show when you are going to the strip clubs or at the ball game after calling in sick.

Here’s a quick video overview of the service:

The good thing is that you can be selective on who can see your location and you can turn it on or off as you wish. I can see a few useful functions though and hopefully it will have a few more fine tuned controls as it matures.

You can install it into an iGoogle page using this link or go to http://www.google.com/latitude from your mobile phone.

UPDATE:
Privacy settings are more advanced than I originally thought.  Here is a good video about the privacy levels available:

Google Maps now offers walking directions along with their driving directions. Just input your starting point and destination like usual and when the instructions are displayed you’ll see an option above the instructions for “Walking”.

The difference in instructions between the driving directions and walking directions is that you won’t be routed via one way streets or highways.

I can see this being very useful for mobile users in urban areas and I hope it gets better as it works its way out of beta – maybe offering walking trail or pass throughs as options instead of just roadways. Also would be nice if it avoided directions along roads that don’t have sidewalks.

There is a limitation that after a certain distance it assumes you will be driving and doesn’t offer the option for walking directions – so no walking directions from Chicago to San Francisco.

Apple has released some new toys and info at their developers conference.  To get the details, check out Ars Technica’s run down of the keynote speech.

The basic gist is that the iPhone will be better and cheaper.  The biggest items are that they will have GPS and be 3G compatible – which means faster data speeds – and that they’ll be a lot cheaper ($200 for 8GB and $300 for 16GB). There are also lots of new applications coming out soon.

If you’ve been in the market for an iPhone – wait! The new ones come out July 11th in 22 countries (and 70 countries total shortly after that date).

The other info was that the new OS X 10.6 will be called Snow Leopard and .Mac service is going way and will be called MobileMe and provide enhanced services for iPhone and iPod touch users as well as OS X users.

Another excellent video from Common Craft.

Check out their site for newly available Hi-Res versions of their videos for use in the work place.  I would HIGHLY recommend using some of their videos as training material. The Zombies in Plain English could save a life.

Danny Choo points out one of the latest portable Windows computers showcased in Akihabara from Sharp.

It’s the Willcom D4:

That’s a sleek looking device. The ultraportable market is definitely shaping up.

Amazon has recently added a feature that allows you to purchase products from them via text message.

This is useful for when you are out and about and see a product you want to purchase but figure Amazon likely has it cheaper.  Instead of having to remember to check later, you can check via text message and if it fits what you want then you can proceed with the purchase.

Seems like a very savvy way to provide mobile purchasing without requiring a data plan.

There is a bit of presetting to do to link your account to your phone and be sure the shipping is in order, but it seems like a pretty easy process. Of course, standard text messaging rates will apply.

The LA Times has an article stating that iTunes is now the 2nd largest music retailer and that 48% of teens bought zero music CDs in 2006.  iTunes is only behind Wal-mart in music sales… and that’s using information from over a year ago.  Apple also posted that they’ve sold more iPods than ever in 2007 and their addition of the wildly popular iPhone surely increased  iTunes Store purchases well over what 2006 ever saw, even on a good day.

Amazon MP3 also opened its doors in 2007 and has been doing very well (I’d recommend them over iTunes for quality MP3s and the lack of DRM).

So is the CD on its way out the door? I’m sure there are solid numbers out there about this, but I’m lazy and it seems like boring data anyways so we’ll just use anecdotal information. I think the CD is definitely out the door and the reason I believe this is the simple fact that it is harder and harder to find audio CDs. There aren’t many chain music stores – they all sell multimedia now, not just music and music related stuff – and the big box places that do sell CDS have such a marginal selection you can tell it’s not worth that much of their time and effort. The local music shops seem to do okay by servicing local bands, collectors (especially vinyl), and the scene, but they seem to carry a lot more mp3 players than usual.

Also, lets look at the new Border’s concept store being test marketed in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s being given a make over to provide more of a “hang out” atmosphere. They have added a digital media space as well where customers can use computer kiosks to purchase and immediately download music and books to their MP3 players, flash media, or even burn a CD. Ars Technica has further details about this new concept store.

So taken all together it seems like CDs are on the way out.  As one final piece of anecdotal evidence… just look around see if you see more people with portable CDMD players or MP3 players?

Legislation has made it possible for customs officials and border patrol to  search the contents of your laptop as if it was a suitcase. No probable cause required. This ruling has actually been around for awhile, but it has only been lately that it is becoming more common – and more worrisome to travelers.  The details of this legislation can be found at the New York Times and Associated Content.

Ostensibly, if you have nothing to hide (generally they are searching for child pornography), then you have nothing to fear. Unfortunately, they will look through all your information in their search.  This means looking at business documents,  financial records, personal photos and videos, tax documentation, emails, IM chat logs, etc, etc…

Even encrypting data won’t work because they’ll just ask for the encryption key… and get it by court order if necessary. Same holds true for that USB key or camera memory card – they’ll search that too because this search includes all media, not just the internal storage.

As more and more of a person’s life ends up in the digital realm, the more a search of a laptop or even a cellphone or PDA becomes an intrusive breach of privacy.

Downloadsquad does a good job of coming to the rescue with some practical resolutions to this situation.  They detail a good set of options for how to travel with your laptop, but still have all the access to the information you need.  It just takes a bit of planning.

One option they present and seemed like a good solution to me is to upload all the info you need to an online location and leave nothing on the laptop. Services like box.net or Google Docs or Delicious or Flickr can hold tons of information for you without it sitting on your laptop to be pawed through.

On the other side,  you want to be sure what you deleted stays deleted, you’ll want to use a secure delete program.  On OS X, if you click on Finder->Secure Empty Trash it will do a more thorough delete job than the regular empty trash. On Linux, the CLI command srm does the same thing. Windows doesn’t have a built in secure delete so a program will have to be downloaded. SDelete is a good CLI tool and is free.

Lastly, if you want your entire hard drive wiped clean and no data to be recoverable – use Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) disc and you should be good. This is especially good to use when selling your computer.

Do you do anything to protect your computer privacy while traveling?