The Smorgasbord

This is my Amazon Kindle 2 Review. This post was originally from September 2008 and when I first wrote this post the Kindle’s were about $400 retail from Amazon. It was even pricey when the Kindle 2 first came out in Jan 2009, but now you can get one for around $200. I’ve always like the Kindle, but the video review below shows exactly why and you get to see my Kindle 2 as well – it’s only about 6 minutes.

Original Review

Last year in 2007 I remember when the Amazon Kindle was launched, and I thought “that’s kinda cool”. But it’s yet “another device” that does something you can already do on your mobile phone AND computer AND laptop! So, my first impression (back then) was that it was “cool” but not completely necessary. Now, let’s talk about what makes it viable as a gadget and why it’s becoming more popular.

The Amazon Kindle is an “eReader”. It’s meant for you to take it with you and read things, from novels and books, to newspapers and blogs. Battery life is long and it only needs a charge about every other day, and the screen is what they call “ePaper”. It’s not like your cellphone, laptop, or monitor screen – it has no glare (and it’s not backlit). It’s easy to read in any light, just like a book or newspaper.

Kindle has an “EVDO” connection just like the high speed connections of cell phones. This means that it’s “wireless”. The Kindle is different than other eReaders because it can get new content, download new books, or get fresh newspaper or blog content from RSS feeds “on the go” wherever you are. Don’t be fooled – you have to buy the books, but the “e” version is much cheaper. A latest New York Times best seller might be $26.99, but on Kindle it’s probably $9.99. Newspaper subscriptions cost money too, but with Kindle you can download the first few chapters of a book or read two weeks for free on a newspaper subscription before you pay anything. At least you can test drive before you pay. Magazines are available too like Time and Forbes.

You can’t exactly surf the web with Kindle, but one feature that is available is the ability to look anything up on Wikipedia. The included of the New Oxford American Dictionary could be very handy as well. It also has an annotation feature and bookmarking – so you can keep notes or keep track of where you were. One of the more controversial features are the RSS feeds. You can subscribe to any one of hundreds of RSS feeds (which are freely available on the web) for about $2 per month. Many people feel these should be completely free, as they are on the web. What they fail to realize is that kindle has no wireless charges at all – once you buy the unit there are no monthly fees. Your subscription fees basically cover the EVDO wireless access charges.

I didn’t even mention that it has an SD memory card slot, and that you can email documents to your Kindle for review, like pictures, PDF files, and Word docs. Now – it’s a tool you can use to review documents for school or work.

Here’s an Amazon Kindle review from a tech evangelist that has used many other eBook readers before he got the Kindle, this was his first review 12 hours after he got it.

Another Kindle video review:

I think that the Kindle could be one of the few gadgets you could give as a gift to people that are so “geeky” if you know what I mean. It’s easy to use, and Amazon has done a good job of taking away all the technological barriers away. It doesn’t have to be charged that often, and it never has to be connected to a computer or anything to work – it’s completely independent. This could actually be a really cool gift for Mom or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa. If you’re an avid reader or on the go a lot – the Kindle may be for you. There’s two ways to get one, and they are of course “new or used” Amazon Kindle’s. There are some for sale on eBay – check out these auctions.

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In addition, you can buy one new directly from Amazon itself here:

I just bought an Intel NAS Server for $135!!

I’ve waited for this day for a looong time. I literally just found this deal. What you’re looking at above in the pic is what I just bought on Buy.com, it’s a small computer in a box – a network storage server (NAS server). Literally, this is a mini computer with 512MB ram, a 1.6Ghz Celeron processor, and 250watt power supply. That’s not why I bought it though. This has 4 USB ports, a 100mbit Lan jack, and slots for both older ATA style drives, and newer Sata and eSata drives. Do you have any idea what this means?

I can plug this into my Wireless Linksys router in one of the 4 ports, and instantly every computer in my house can access this thing, my Ubuntu machines, Mac, PSP, Wii, PS3, our Xbox 360, even our Window XP, Vista, and Windows 7 machines (yes we have this much crap in our house). So, in this new Intel NAS Server I’m going to install my old 120GB ATA drive (from a machine that burned up), my new 750GB Hitatchi drive I just bought off woot.com, and then I’m going to plugin via USB my new 1.5 TB Seagate drive and 320GB myBook. Once I do this, every computer in the house will be able to access all these drives via the network!!!

Oh I forgot to mention the best part, this Intel NAS server only cost me $135 (and had FREE shipping)! Best find of the holiday season! Click here if you want one too.

46 Days. To some that means nothing, but to millions of Americans 46 Days means they had better get a move on. 46 shopping days left until Christmas seems like a lot that is until you’re buying gifts for people at Walgreens on Christmas Eve. Why not get a move on Christmas a little earlier than usual.

First off I have got the website that might just save you some of the trouble of treading through the masses of people looking for that hot Christmas item, Deal Catcher. I just recently found this site but it is a gem. It crawls the web looking for the best days from the webs greatest shopping sites. You can find deals from 1800flowers all the way to zappos. They also have coupons; all around this website could save you some serious time this holiday shopping season.

Black Friday is a longed for day for the bravest of shoppers but for most it’s dreaded. Even though the deals are fantastic you just can’t seem to drag yourself to fight over a Blu-Ray player with a 60 year old woman who thinks it plays VHS tapes. If you’re like the type I just mentioned then you may just want to skip over these next sites. First is Black Friday Ads is a great site to see adscans of the biggest and best black Friday sales. This site also has a section that showcases the ‘hottest deals’. Next we have Black Friday info is another good site for planning your black Friday escapades. They not only have all the black Friday deals and adscans but they also have deals that other places are offering leading up to black Friday.

One more deal that everyone on the web seems to be talking about is Wal-Mart’s pre-Black Friday sale. Currently the deals run from November 7th to November 13th, even though Wal-Mart has state that how long the sale last is completely dependent on how long supplies last. Right now the big ticket item is an Xbox 360 arcade which is $200 dollars but comes with a 100 dollar Wal-Mart gift card. The gift card can be used in store or on the website so you can see how lots of people are trying to get on the best deal so far this season. A few of the other deals include a Sony Blu-Ray player for 149 dollars and a HP laptop for $298 dollars.

Christmas is approaching and if you follow some of these websites and tips you could save yourself the giant headache this season gives you every year.

This heated vest is just right for winter outdoor activities like hiking, skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing and more! My wife and I have been using an electric blanket for the last few years in our bed – and I don’t know how we ever did without it! I’ve been snowmobiling plenty of times where I was just chilled to the damn bone! These heated vests run on lithium ion batteries no bigger than a pack of cigarettes and can keep you warm 4-12 hours! This is a great time of year to pick something like this up too – because you always get better deals at the end of the season! It might be a litle low-tech actually, but I love it!

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I’m always surfing eBay for weird gadgets and I came across these USB HD Receiver / Tuners that seem pretty cool. Most of them are under $50, and I knew that you could get TV tuners on a USB stick, but I hadn’t seen Hi Def ones before. I think to be able to watch, and in some cases record in HD quality from a USB key shows just how compact and small technology has become. They even come with little portable antennas (awww, how cute!). This would make a great gift for somebody that travels a lot for sure, it might make waiting in the airpot much more bearable!

Check out some of the ones I found:

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A couple times a year Amazon has a big Blu-Ray and DVD sale and they clear out all kinds of titles at rock bottom prices. Last time I posted this I picked up quite a few things, and I wanted to pass the savings on to you (they tend to sell out pretty quick each time they have this sale)!

The sale goes on until March 22, and there are 300 blu-ray discs as low as $13.99. You can get titles like Transformers, Iron Man, and Wall-E. There’s also a huge DVD sale as well, with prices as low as $6.49. I love these kinds of sales because I can get some great deals on good movies I was looking for – and I don’t even have to leave the house….kudo’s Amazon!

Last year I blogged about the Eye-Fi Wireless SD cards that were oh so cool! Eye-FI SD cards have an onboard chipset that access your wireless network and automatically uploads your pics and videos to flickr and YouTube among other places! What could be better – right? I’ll tell you what, they have 2 new versions, the “Explore Video” and “Share Video”. They are both 4GB capacity (double the old versions), and the Explore version adds geotagging and hotspot wifi service on top of the old features.

With the new models out, you can find some great deals on the old 2GB versions – as well as deals on the new share and explore Eye-FI versions in auctions ending soon:

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This “MSI Wind Netbook Review” shows that there actually are some differences between all the sub and ultra compact laptops flooding the market right now. The biggest complaints about these little netbooks are that they keyboard is too small, the screen is too small, or the processor is too slow. The MSI Wind doesn’t really seem to have any of those problems since it boasts a 10 inch screen, a pretty good sized keyboard, and a Ghz atom processor that’s overclockable. It’s 2.6 lbs and just a bit more in physical size than the eee PC. It’s got jacks for LAN, headphone, mic, VGA, a memory card reader, decent speakers, and about 4-5 hours of battery life. The MSI wind has a 6 cell battery (most of the netbooks have only 3), and the right shift key is actually normal sized. Oh – did I mention that it also had integrated wireless bluetooth built-in?

Here’s a video review of the MSI Wind:

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Since I’ve been looking at Netbooks, the HP Mini-Note should definitely not be overlooked since it was one of the first to be classified in this category as an ultra subcompact laptop gadget. I like the fact that it’s not Intel, and that you can configure the hard drive and memory to your liking, in addition to both Windows and Linux flavors. It can be a little more pricey than the others depending on how it’s configured, but it was one of the only ones to pack a 1280×768 resolution into the tiny 7.8″ screen! What more could you ask for though – you get Wi-fi, a webcam, and both express and SD card slots – in addition to the normal USB connects. All in a little 2.8lb case!

Here’s a video review:

You can find the HP Mini-Note for pretty reasonable new and used prices on ebay, here are some ending soon:

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The other day we had to get an alarm clock for the oldest who’s know in college (who happens to have a problem getting out of bed everyday!).  I was looking for different kinds of alarm clocks online (loud and annoying ones) and I came across these different and unusual ones that seem kind of fitting being back to school time and all! Some of these could make great gifts for college students, friends, and family! Buy one now and you have one less thing to buy at Christmas time.

Puzzle Alarm Clocks that require manual intervention to turn off

Puzzle Alarm Clock
Price: $24.95
The Puzzle Alarm Clock may look childish but try saying that when you have to put it all back together in your morning haze. When you set the alarm, the puzzle pieces pop up and the alarm will not stop till you put the pieces back in their correct spot. By that time, you’re awake and the Puzzle Alarm Clock ‘s job is complete! Puzzle Alarm Clock Features: – Large and easy to Read Backlit Display – Easy to Set – Remote batteries included.- No Snooze Button. – Clock Requires 3 AA Batteries (Not included) – Color pieces may vary.

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Extra Loud Alarm Clocks

iHOME T101NS Extra Loud LED Alarm Clock – Silver
Price: $14.99
iHOME T101NS Extra Loud LED Alarm Clock – Silver

Sonic Boom Extra Loud Alarm Clock
If a Sonic Boom alarm clock can’t wake you up, you’re probably asleep for good! In addition to extra-loud beepers, their startling bed-quaking vibrators will rattle you out of any slumber. Your alarm clock will get your attention every time if it’s the Sonic Boom bedside clock with a detachable bed shaker. Variable tone and volume controls let you set the most effective alarm. Position the bed vibrator under the mattress or a pillow and it will pound the bed when it’s time to wake up! Includes AC adapter.

Extra-Loud Alarm Clock
Price: $6.99
Now you will never sleep through the alarm again. This specially designed alarmclock emits a loud alarm that you won’t be able to ignore – even if you are a sound sleeper or hearing impaired. It features an accurate quartz movement, a sweep second hand, an easy-to-read dial and luminous hands that glow in the dark. 41/2″ x 3 1/4″. Uses 1 C Battery (not included).

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Annoying Alarm Clocks

I like these annoying alarm clocks the best because you REALLY have to wake up to turn them off. The first is the “helicopter alarm clock” which shoots up in the air when it goes off, and you actually have to find it, and replace it before the alarm goes off.
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The second I remember seeing a long, long time ago when the prototype was invented by an MIT student as a project. The “clocky” alarm clock leaps from your nightstand when it goes off and just runs around the room relentlessly going off until you find it, catch it, and turn it off (at which point you should be REALLY awake!).
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