UbernerkleRuminations of a Renaissance Geek

I mentioned in the last update that I had recently purchased a Kindle 2 and what happened a few days later? That’s right Amazon announces some new models *head desk*.

“Not you fat Jesus.”

This past weekend Mrs Ubernerkle, the Minions and I headed off to Vegas, me to attend a friends bachelor party and them to have a mini getaway. My wife brought two books with her and I brought the Kindle. While driving out there I suggested that she pull out the Kindle and take a look at “Suck It, Wonder Woman” by Olivia Munn.

I was thinking of getting one of the new generation and having both devices associated to the same Amazon account we can share the same library of books which nicely fills the ‘lend a book’ gap between the Kindle and Nook. This was a good test to see if she took a shine to it.

I spent a couple of hours hanging at the pool with the family between bouts of bachelor party geekery and was very happy to see I did not have;

There is a lot to be said for sticking your room key and cell in the Kindle cover and just heading out. Not to mention being able to turn a page with one thumb press and thus not having to put down said mojito’s for any reason.

The Kindle 2 fits reasonably well into the pockets of cargo shorts and the new generation is even smaller by a half inch in width and height.

“Tigers love pepper… they hate cinnamon.”

A few folks have asked me what sort of savings I have seen with eBook versus traditional print so below is a break down based on my own experiences and to point out the obvious there is still the initial outlay for the device itself. These titles cost me $51 less than it would buying them in their respective physical formats. As you can see it the savings are quite varied and in some cases do not exist at all but can add up over time.
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Two years ago I launched Temporal Consumer alongside of Ubernerkle. TC was focused only on the topics of using media rental services such as Netflix, Gamefly and Bookswim. I had transitioned from my consumer habits of buying several DVD’s, video games and a plethora of books a month and as a result had saved myself a considerable chunk of change, almost $2000 in two years, without having to give up my consumption habits.

Bookswim

About a year ago I stopped using the Bookswim service primarily because they had run out of the titles that I was interested in reading. I had begun eyeing traditional print media again but was not willing to go back to the old habits. I downloaded the Amazon Kindle application for my Blackberry and took a stab at e-books.

I told myself it was just an experiment, a toe dip to see if it was plausible to read an entire novel on a smart phone. Three books later and I had become sold on the ease of purchase, no waiting for shipping, sample chapters and cheaper prices than traditional media; something I will cover in a separate post.

There is a selection of e-readers on the market now and I had been holding out for a dual screen device that offered both a touch screen tablet and an e-ink screen. I poked at the iPad when it launched thinking it would be the device of choice but after an extended reading period of about fifteen minutes both my eyes and my forearms were strained from using it. The Nook dropped in price to $149 recently and Amazon responded by dropping the Kindle to $189. Technically the Nook had the most appeal but when it came down title availability the Kindle still had more to offer so I picked one up at the local Target.

Since getting the Kindle I am reading more than I have in a long time, I consistently have two or three titles on the go at any one time. Current count 93 titles comprising of paid, free and sample materials.

GameFly

GameFly was the next to bite the dust for a very simple reason. In September mrsUbernerkle will be giving birth to a new addition in our family. It makes no sense to pay for a game rental service when the opportunity to sleep let alone game will be a rare thing.

Netflix

Netflix is still holding strong with both streaming and DVD rentals, the occasional Amazon on Demand still slips through to our Tivo. We now have Netflix streaming to Tivo, two Xbox 360′s and a BluRay player.

With the reduction of books, games and time it made sense to pack up TemporalConsumer and use Ubernerkle to share some of the things I would have there.

Gizmodo.com has a story up about an electric super bike which uses an iPhone for the dashboard.

Kotaku.com gets more details on LastFM. I’m putting this under gadgets because the new plans Microsoft announced for the Xbox 360 at last weeks E3 included a bunch that have nothing to do with the actual playing of games. In this case we are talking about Last.FM which will be made available to Xbox Live members. For more details on the the Last.FM service availble on PC already, click here.

Westerrn Digital 4 TB External HD for $649.99, reported by Engadget.com. It’s eSata compatible which in theory means you could hook it up to your Series 3 TIVO for HD content armageddon.

Gizmodo discusses Natalesque control system for upcoming fitness title. The Bomo Baby Carriage – why push your baby when you can have your robot drive it around?

HTC Announcing the Hero and Lancaster Android Phones on June 24th. July NEC bends flat screens and offers up the CRV43.

Wow.  Gizmodo shows us that some crazy SOB has taken a PC and disguised it to look like a vase. They also let us know that Windows 7 is coming October 22nd.

Finally, I suspect everyone knows at least person who needs one of these:  a GPS locating key chain for your car so you never loose it.

On the gadget from Wired.com has a cool video about visiting a group of guys who build fully functional R2D2 units.

Nothing impresses the ladies like a well equipped geek.
You were there for the iPhone launch.
You were in the first 100 people to preorder the Kindle.
You said “Pshaw!” to cost and common sense when the Kindle 2 launched.

But are your gadgets big enough? Sure they might fit in your pocket, but why be modest when you can flaunt your tech? Let’s see how the DX compares to the Kindle 2.

So, greater storage capabilities and a larger viewing screen with the whole unit being slightly smaller than most print magazines, all for a mere $130 than the Kindle 2. Amazon is taking preorders but no estimated ship date yet.

Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7

Until they offer a subscription service that lets me rent titles and magazines rather than having to buy them out right I am happy to keep watching this tech from the peanut gallery.