Category: Kindle

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Ultimate alarm clock

I’m thinking about making an alarm clock as none of models I see in stores have all the features I want. I was thinking some of the features could be upgrades that you connect while the clock is off.

Here are some features I’ve thought of so far in no particular order.

  • Auto-snooze (If you don’t hit the snooze button in x seconds it will assume you want it to snooze.)
  • Color selection for display. (Could also include fine level brightness controls. RGB LEDs or LCD screen. I have a friend that wants his alarm clock to have a purple display.)
  • Multiple alarm sounds (Also allow custom alarm sounds.)
  • Battery powered (Some features might need to be disabled on battery power.)
  • Auto time set (Either through the Internet or at least in the lower 48 states use the Colorado nuclear time clock.)
  • Web interface to program alarms, & upload alarm sounds & make changes to device settings. (Password protected)
  • Version for hotels when guest requests a wake-up call to have a recording play to wake them up. (The alarm clock could call the worker to remind them that the room X wanted a wake-up call.)
  • For hotels in the lower 48 a device that will pickup the time from the Denver Colorado Nuclear time clock to broadcast over hotels network. (Some buildings construction could block the signal from the individual alarm clocks.)
  • Line in for speakers to play from any audio device.
  • Multiple USB ports for charging devices with a 5 volt & 2 Amps per port & configured to work with devices like the iPhone.
  • HD radio.
  • Internet radio apps, Pandora, Last.fm, etc…
  • Day of the week & date on display. (Could be just a button to display it.)
  • Can tell the temperature. (With a local & a remote sensor.)
  • Ability to tell time verbally.
  • Option to have display dot matrix or the more traditional digital display format.
  • Ability to have a custom enclosure made.
  • When powered on upgrade door(s) are auto closed until power is lost.

Some questions about options to do a feature.

  • For time zone should it be set by a switch or stored on SD card & also if DST is used. Which way should it be done?
  • Would you want a solar panel on a battery only version?
  • Should the web interface WordPress with a plugin be used for the interface or something else?

Are there any ideas you want to add?

I’m also thinking about making the hardware open source & using as much open source hardware as possible, unless a closed source chip is cheaper I might use that instead.

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Amazon Kindle Library Overdrive

Kindle Fire and other Kindle updates

From what I’ve read so far it seems that Amazon.com has been very busy. I say this because of the following announcements I’m listing in random order.

  • You can now download library books your Kindle. (I haven’t tried this out yet & at this time is USA only. Also it needs to be downloaded via Wi-Fi or USB to the Kindle, I’m assuming because Amazon didn’t want to pay for the downloads of library books that I doubt they make much if any money off of the service.)
  • They are releasing the much rumored Kindle Fire. (It sounds like competition for the iPad & Nook Color to me.)
  • Also you can now buy a Kindle for as little as $79.
  • Two of the Kindles now have a 2 month charge with the wireless off.

When I went to their homepage I was greeted by the following message.

“Dear Customers,

There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp.

We are excited to announce four new products: the all-new Kindle for only $79, two new touch Kindles – Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G – for $99 and $149, and a new class of Kindle –Kindle Fire – a beautiful full color Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games, web browsing and more, for only $199.

These are high-end products – the best Kindles we’ve ever made. Kindle and Kindle Touch have the most-advanced E Ink display technology available, and the 3G Kindle Touch adds free 3G wireless – no monthly fees and no annual contracts. Kindle Fire brings everything we’ve been working on at Amazon for 15 years together into a single, fully-integrated experience for customers – instant access to Amazon’s massive selection of digital content, a vibrant color IPS touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a state-of-the-art dual core processor, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, and an ultra-fast mobile browser – Amazon Silk – available exclusively on Kindle Fire.

We are building premium products and offering them at non-premium prices.

Thank you for being a customer,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO

p.s. – Kindle Fire has a radical new web browser called Amazon Silk. When you use Silk – without thinking about it or doing anything explicit – you’re calling on the raw computational horsepower of Amazon EC2 to accelerate your web browsing. If you’re curious, watch this short video to learn more about how it works.”

I’m now going to cover the cost of each model from lowest to highest price.

The 5-way controller Kindle has 2GB storage instead of the 4 GB that most of the other models have, with the exceptions of the fire having 8 GB. Also for the Kindle Fire they have included Whispersync for video content as well. So if you were watching content on your PC or TV & switched over to the Kindle Fire you could continue at the same point you were on the other device.

Here are the Battery Life listing with wireless turned off on the devices from shortest to longest.

  • 8 hours continuous reading or 7.5 hours video playback Kindle Fire
  • 3 weeks Kindle DX
  • 1 month Kindle 5-way controller
  • 2 months Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Keyboard, & Kindle Keyboard 3G

Since I saw people making some complaints at Announcement Kindle books now available at local libraries I thought I’d cover some of the issues that were mentioned that I have any knowledge of. Here they are in the order I saw them in the thread. I will follow the complaint with my response to the complaint. (When I’m quoting someone here I’m including all of their spelling mistakes as well.)

  • Every book ever written not available. {Not every copyright holder on every book ever published has said it is ok to make a digital version of their book, or if the book is out of copyright no one may have cared enough to make a digital version of it yet.}
  • Waiting list – why can’t they loan 1 license an infinite number of times. {Libraries only buy a certain number of licenses for any given book & thus are only allowed to lend that number of that book at the same time. If you want your library to have more copies of a book donate some money to the library & let them know you want some or all of the money to buy additional electronic copies of the book.}
  • Lots of complaints that certain libraries didn’t have that enabled yet on the day it launched. {I read several posts & finally saw people saying that they worked for a library & they were waiting on overdrive to enable the feature for them. So if you don’t see the option by now 7 days after it was launched, your library is in the USA, & your library offers ebooks through overdrive go talk to your library about it.}
  • “I’m done with Kindle – D-O-N-E(!) I just checked and the lending period for ebooks from my library in East Bumblefudge is ONLY ten days. One of my friends has a Nook and HER library in Cleveland allows fourteen days. I should have bought a Nook!” {It is the library that says how long you can have the book out not the hardware.}
  • I saw someone say “Wonder if anyone else is having a hard time downloading an ebook onto their K2? I worked on it for an hour and finally called Kindle Support. Since it’s brand new, the Rep had a hard time with it too so it still doesn’t work. I may be forced to buy a new Kindle with WiFi, just to read library books. There must be a simple way to download the books with the Overdrive Progam. Help! Thanks…” several pages after the answer was already posted. {since I don’t have a Kindle to test the suggested fix mentioned earlier I can’t confirm if it works.}
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Amazon Bing Club Bing Internet Explorer Kindle Microsoft

Updates on the Kindle & Club Bing

I was looking at Amazon.com today & I noticed they not have added another variation of the Kindle. It is the Kindle 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers. So if you want your Kindle to have 3G you now have the option to get it for $25 less than you normally would.

I had also gone over to Club Bing to play some games when I noticed an announcement. “As of June 9, 2011, we will discontinue support for the Club Bing toolbar and Club Bing VIP program. As of this date exclusive VIP prizes and ticket discounts will be made available to all Club Bing members while supplies last. As part of this change, the Club Bing toolbar will no longer be supported and you will not be able to earn Club Bing tickets for searches from the toolbar. We recommend that you uninstall the Club Bing toolbar.”

Nothing to major but since I’d recently written about both subjects I thought I’d give an update.

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Amazon Kindle versus Barnes and Noble Nook

I’m going to start out by warning you that will be a long post as I plan to cover everything I’ve known so far about both the Kindle & the Nook. I know of at least two people who have a Kindle & I have seen them. I have not yet laid eyes on a Nook.

Well I decided the other day to look at any updates there may have been for the Kindle as I have wanted one for over a year now. I was happy to see the following "Kindle Library Lending

Later this year, Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from more than 11,000 libraries in the United States through the new Kindle Library Lending feature.

When Kindle Library Lending is launched, you will be able to check out a Kindle book from your local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. Kindle Library Lending will provide the same unique features as Kindle and Kindle books, including the ability to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app, Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights and last page read, real page numbers, and more. After a library book expires, if you ever decide to check it out again or purchase it from Amazon, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

You’ll be able to borrow Kindle library books from any of the more than 11,000 libraries that work with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for libraries.

Availability of books and length of loan will vary by library. Kindle Library Lending will only available for U.S. customers at launch."

I guess now is as good a time as any to list the versions of both the Kindle & the Nook. I’ll start with the Kindle Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers, Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display, Kindle 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, 6" Display (In either Graphite or White.), Kindle DX, Free 3G, 3G Works Globally, Graphite, 9.7" Display. On to the versions of the Nook Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook Reader (Wi-Fi only) [ Black & White ], Barnes & Noble NOOK ebook reader (Wi-Fi + 3G)[B&W], Barnes & Noble NOOK Color eBook Tablet.

I’m not sure what Barnes and Noble mean by the "Borrowing" listed as only on the Nook color only means at See which Nook is right for you.

With that announcement I have dropped all consideration I had for a Nook as the only feature it had that the Kindle in a lower standing in my opinion is now gone. Since both devices are going to or already support the same network I don’t see that as being a major difference between them. If you want to find out if your library is participating you can do a search at OverDrive to either find books or if your Library participates. You can also check for a full list of devices that are supported at OverDrive’s Device Resource Center

There are a few other minor issues but none of them are deal breakers for me. Here in the order that I can think of differences between the Kindle & the Nook.

  • The Kindle does not have a user replaceable battery & the non-color Nooks do. The color Nook does not have a user replaceable battery. From what I’ve read the battery in the Kindle’s battery typically lasts for three years so not a deal breaker in my book.
  • The Kindle does not have any support for color while one version of the Nook does. The color screen means it has a backlight & will run the battery dead faster.
  • The Kindle can run for up to one month of reading while the Nook gets only 8 hours for the color & only 10 days for they grey scale. (All mentioned times are from the respective manufactures site & are with the wireless turned off.)
  • The Kindle does not have a port for expansion, the Nook can accept a microSD card of up to 16 GB for the non-color versions & the color version can accept a microSD card of up to 32 GB . But since Amazon says "Delete with abandon. We automatically keep an archival copy of your Kindle books-—re-download for free, anytime. We even back up your last page read and annotations, so when you re-download to the device you can pick up where you left off with all of your notes still in place." I don’t care as much about the lack of expandability on the Kindle.
  • The Kindle has 802.11 b/g for the wireless models. The Nook has 802.11 b/g on the non-color model, while the color nook has 802.11 b/g/n.
  • The Kindle uses buttons for the interface while the Nook uses either a small 3.5 inch color touch screen or a 7 inch touch screen in the case of the color Nook. Remember the color interface means it has back lighting which will eat up the battery life & will most likely have issues when trying to look at it outside.
  • The Kindle has 4 GB internal storage (approximately 3GB available for user content). The Nook has 8 GB for the color & 2 GB for the other versions (Actual formatted capacity may be less. Approximately 5GB available to store content, of which up to 4GB may be reserved for content purchased from the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store.).
  • The Kindle comes in 6 inch or 9.7 inch display sizes. The Nook comes in either 7 inch for the color or 6 inch for the other models.
  • The Kindle has "Free Access at AT&T Hotspots". While the Nook only has Free Wi-Fi® in all AT&T hotspots for the versions that are not color. Obviously the Nook also has Internet access at Barnes & Noble stores.
  • The Kindle can do Portrait & Landscape View on all currently sold models while only the Nook color has that feature. The non color nooks are Portrait only. (I don’t remember if the 1st generation Kindle had the landscape view option.)
  • The Kindle has the following dimensions 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.335" while the Kindle DX is 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38". The Nook is 7.7" x 4.9" x 0.50" for non color versions & 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.48". (Where " indicates inches.)
  • The Kindle is 8.5 oz. for the Wi-Fi only, 8.7 oz. for the Wi-Fi & 3G, & 18.9 oz. for the DX. The Nook is 11.6 oz. for the Wi-Fi only, 12.1 oz. for the Wi-Fi & 3G, & 15.8 oz. for the color Nook.
  • The Kindle has WebKit-based browser in the 3rd generation as well as the DX. Only the Nook color has any mention of having a web browser.
  • The Kindle has apps for the following devices Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Macintosh, Windows PC, & Windows Phone. The nook has apps for Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Macintosh (beta), & Windows PC. (Sorry Nook but I want a Windows Phone & I don’t like beta software either.)
  • The Kindle can read books to you I only see mention of the Nook color having this feature.
  • The Kindle has native support for
    • Documents: Kindle (.AZW, .AZW1). Text (.TXT), Unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI, .PRC)
    • Audible: Audible (.AA, .AAX)
    • Music: MP3 (.MP3)
  • The Nook color has mention of support for other formats & they are Word, Excel and Powerpoint document support. I didn’t see any other formats listed for the Nook.
  • The Kindle does have support to convert the following formats over to the Kindle format.
    • Microsoft Word (.DOC)
    • HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
    • RTF (.RTF)
    • JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
    • GIF (.GIF)
    • PNG (.PNG)
    • BMP (.BMP)
    • PDF (.PDF): (PDF support added to 2nd generation, 3rd generation, & DX devices.)
    • Microsoft Word (.DOCX) is supported in our experimental category.
  • The Kindle has two ways to send the converted documents to your computer either via email or through the USB cable. I assume the Nook can only do it through USB as I was not able to find any information on that subject. If you send it to your @free.kindle.com address it will be sent to your Kindle via Wi-Fi or if it is sent to your @kindle.com address it will send it to your Kindle via 3G & you will be charged according to the size of the document up to your per document limit. If the document exceeds the limit it will be sent to your @free.kindle.com address and a notification will be sent to your Kindle.
  • The Nook color has support for POP & IMAP in email, while the Kindle & other Nook models do not have that support. (I was not able to find an app that adds email support for the Kindle)
  • The Kindle has an app store with several free games along with some paid games & other apps. The Nook comes preloaded with Chess & Sudoku & only the Nook color can do crossword puzzles or download additional apps in the Nook store.

At the time I wrote this you can get the Kindle for $114 Wi-Fi with special offers, $139 Wi-Fi, $189 Wi-Fi & 3G, or $379 DX. While the Nook is listed as $149 Wi-Fi, $199 Wi-Fi & 3G, or $249 Color. (These prices are coming directly from amazon.com for the Kindle & from barnesandnoble.com for the Nook.)