The Brooks Review

Month: September 2010

  • For Most People the iPad Is Better Than the Kindle

    Earlier today Brett Kelly posted his thoughts on why (for him) the Kindle is a better book reader than the iPad:

    I know that a great many folks think that the iPad is a “Kindle killer” (ugh, always with the killing), but I can say pretty confidently that the Kindle is going to fill a void that the iPad couldn’t effectively fill: a light, small device whose single, express purpose is reading, not everything.

    I agree it will fill a niche market void that the iPad won’t (hipsters will be hipsters), for the mass market and most geeks the iPad will dominate the market. There are two very simple reasons why the iPad will be the choice for many: weight and price.

    The Kindle weighs 8 ounces more than just my iPad. You read that right, the iPad weighs more than the Kindle. The reason is simple, the iPad sucks at everything except reading books (and other magazine/newspaper subscriptions you may have on it) so if you want a full featured device like the iPad for non-reading times, well then you need to carry an iPad and a Kindle (thus making the kit weigh 8 ounces more).

    By the same logic then the Kindle costs you $139-189 more than an iPad. Again you would have to buy the Kindle and the iPad to get the same amount of functionality.

    I have no doubt that a great many of you will disagree with this logic, and some may say you could buy a netbook and a Kindle for the price of an iPad (you could but you would be an idiot – netbooks suck a lot) but the point here is reading right? There have only been two instances when I missed my Kindle, hiking and being in the sunny outdoors (luckily I live in Seattle so sun is a rare occasion). Hiking is obvious, all I want are some books to read, perfect fit for the light weight, longer lived battery in the Kindle. Outdoors is a screen issue, which again is not something I run into more than a few times a year.

    I like the concept of minimalism, and single serving applications and gadgets, but I cannot justify carrying two devices when just one would do. On my recent trip to Vegas I took only my iPad, I used to for everything including reading books. Had I brought a Kindle to read on instead I would have had to add the iPad in a bigger bag (this bag is not fitting an iPad and Kindle), or my Macbook Pro in an even larger bag. As someone who takes stuff to and from work everyday with him the Kindle simply does not make sense.

    Hell the Kindle doesn’t even make sense for my Mom or Dad, they can do 99% of their home computing on an iPad, and read books with it (my Dad actually does, perhaps my Mom will around Christmas time). Why would I buy either of my parents a Kindle and a computer/iPad device? It is just to complicated, it is the difference between having 18 remotes to work your home entertainment system instead of just getting one really good universal remote (I am not talking about those crap ones that never work, I am talking about those $300+ remotes that kick ass).

    I guess what I am trying to say is that there are a few times a year when a Kindle would be more convenient and then there is the other 99% of the time when an iPad would be killer. Your choice.

  • Revisiting Solid State Hard Drives

    Jeff Atwood:

    […]because if you care at all about how your computer performs, solid state hard drives remain a life changing experience.

    Agreed.

  • The Best Subtle Things About New Twitter

    Great overview of what is new by MG Siegler, honestly though the only time I use the web interface is to change my profile picture. I want a new version of Tweetie for Mac.

  • Google Engineer Stalked Teens, Spied on Chats

    People at Google can and do look at your ‘private’ data – if you want true privacy Google is not the way to go (nor is anything that you don’t host yourself). Though for the record this is the creepiest looking guy, seriously look at the pictures.

  • Alarms

    Very clever looking Alarm and timer program for scheduling some tasks. I think this will fit in my workflow very nicely (for those things that don’t need to be in OmniFocus).

    [via Shawn Blanc who found it via Patrick Rhone]

  • MG Siegler on the Verizon App Store

    This is incredible interesting, Verizon will be making their own curated app store (much like Apple’s curation process) that will be preinstalled on select Android devices (version 2.2 and up). So they quality should be better and easier to find that the normal Android store, Verizon and the developers get a cut of money, not Google and the consumers get screwed. Well they get screwed in so far as they can’t take their apps out of Verizon.

    Sounds swell.

  • Giving up on Google

    Rob Sheldon lamenting on his experiences with Google:

    The experience I have with Google every day has convinced me that they’re no longer concentrating on their original mission. Google is now a marketing company, and what was supposed to be their “core competency” has been neglected in favor of rolling out new features and services.

    and:

    Google just isn’t a company that’s concentrating on the problems that I need solved. I didn’t need “instant” search results; I needed effective search results.

    Sheldon is right, there are a lot of instances where I can’t find what I need with Google. The search engine he recommends, DuckDuckGo, seems excellent especially if you search for more technical things. I have already added it to my bookmarks to use more often.

    [via Hacker News]

  • The Commute Map

    Very cool Map mashup that shows you where people in your zip code are commuting to and from.

    [via Flowing Data]

  • Security Advisory for Flash Player

    Adobe:

    This vulnerability (CVE-2010-2884) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against Adobe Flash Player on Windows. Adobe is not aware of any attacks exploiting this vulnerability against Adobe Reader or Acrobat to date.

    Yeah so this is not good at all, turn it off and have some piece of mind.

  • New Kindle Pool Ad

    I love the new ad, but I think this tweet from Corey Thomas (@thecore) sums it up best:

    @gruber By Amazon’s logic, the woman in the Kindle ad should have a woman next to her gloating about a paperback book.

    [via John Gruber]

  • Google Feels the Need to Justify Itself

    I don’t get Google here, why do they feel the need to justify themselves to the ‘media’? This makes no sense, let your product speak for itself, your users know if they are still using your product so what more do you need.

  • I Remember When: Tribute to Mac OS X’s Tenth Birthday

    Today marks the tenth anniversary of the release of the Mac OS X beta. It wouldn’t be for another three years that I would get my first taste of OS X on an iBook during a communications course at my University. A year later I would come home to find my laptop stolen and a desperate need for a new computer. It was at this time that I purchased a Powerbook G4 12” – the most fabled and perhaps most loved Mac portable to date.

    Since the end of 2004 I have used Mac OS X non-stop, I am an early adopter on all Apple products and a hardcore fanboy. I have been thinking a bit about what Mac’s mean to me, specifically what if anything I should write on this anniversary of the platform.

    Piece of Mind

    Then it came to me, what I really truly love about OS X (putting aside the beautiful hardware) is the piece of mind that it gives me. Here are a few worries that Mac OS X made moot:

    • Anti-Virus Software
    • Windows Registry Issues
    • DLL files
    • Clippy (you know the MS Office paper clip helper guy)
    • Viruses
    • NetSend (if you don’t know what this is Google it)
    • Plastic computers
    • ‘Active Desktop’ Errors
    • Internet Explorer
    • ‘Safe mode’
    • ‘Safe mode w/ networking’
    • ! Important Install Drivers before plugging this peripheral in!
    • WinZip
    • PS/2 Ports
    • Little yellow bubbles in the corner of my screen

    Mac OS X, giving me piece of mind since 12/2004. Thanks Apple.

  • Mark Zuckerberg opens up for The New Yorker

    Truly fascinating interviews and accounts of Facebook and Zuckerberg.

  • Exchange “remote wipe” is a terrible, terrible bug

    Did you know that when you setup and exchange account on your mobile device the Admin can wipe it – whereby ‘it’ I mean your entire device? Neither did I.

    [via DF]

  • Rui Carmo on the Samsung Tab

    Rui Carmo:

    A Tab is, physically, almost exactly half the size of an iPad, and although we could go on about specs, features, ergonomics and whatnot, the mere fact that the built-in productivity apps are shameless dumbed-down rip-offs of Apple’s (without addressing functionality gaps or providing distinctive features) kind of sets the tone for the first generation of wannabe competitors.

  • Fraser Speirs On Battery Life

    Fraser Speirs:

    Simply put: if your device doesn’t last for 10 real-world hours of use, your device is no longer competitive in education.

    I think we can expand that to more than just education at this point.

  • dConstruct 2010 Talks

    I just downloaded these over the weekend to listen to on my morning and evening commutes. The first one was great this morning.

    [via Merlin Mann]

  • Need Help? Start Listening.

    You may or may not know this, but by day I am a commercial property manager, in a nutshell this means I collect rent, schedule maintenance, and listen to complaints. It is without fail that every working day I get the same type of call, someone has a problem and they need my help. This is not problem at all, in fact tjis is what I get paid to do, the problem is when the person calling won’t stop talking.

    For example, it was noon one day and I received a call from a tenant (let’s call him Steve) telling me that he never received a copy of his lease, as I promised to send him. I knew I had mailed it out, but patiently waited for Steve to finish the explanation of why I had lied to him. When Steve finished I explained that I had mailed it and it must have been lost. I told Steve I would not be able to send another copy until the next business day, but in the mean time I could just email him a PDF copy so that he could look for what he wanted to.

    At some point between when Steve stopped talking and before I started talking, Steve stopped listening. When I was done telling him the above he reiterated that he never got a copy, a copy that he really needed, despite the fact that I told him I would send him a copy. At this point Steve and I are both frustrated. Steve wants his copy 3-months ago and is pissed he doesn’t have it now. I am frustrated that the mail is making me look like a liar and that Steve is not listening to what I am saying. This banter between Steve and I ensues for another 5 minutes.

    I finally lose my cool and forcefully tell Steve his options, get an emailed copy now and a hard copy in a couple of days, or wait for the hard copy to come in a couple of days. Simple right? Then Steve tells me that the PDF is 29 pages and will take up way too much file space, not to mention that he does not want to pay to print out 29 pages. I ignore for the moment that he is basically telling me that he is too cheap to print it out and would rather I do so while paying for the postage, and tell him that he can view a PDF on the screen for free. ((Seriously I had to tell him this.))

    At the end of the conversation I get Steve’s email address and email him the lease and mail him the hard copy. The kicker: Steve has a Gmail address, meaning he really doesn’t have to worry about file storage.

    Time to Listen

    This type of conversation happens to me everyday. I listen to peoples problems and they don’t listen to the solutions that I offer. Had Steve listened to what I said the first time around we could have been off the phone with a satisfactory result in less than 5 minutes. Instead Steve took the approach that many before him had, he beat his chest to let me know who was in charge.

    The thing that Steve and so many other people don’t realize is if you are asking someone else for help, then it is because you need their help not the other way around. In fact Steve never asked for my help, he demanded it and when I started to help he ignored it.

    Take this Advice

    No matter your company size, your position, your age, your sex, your race – if you are asking someone for help you better be prepared to listen to them when they offer it. Once you stop listening, people will stop wanting to help you – when that happens you mine as well be beating your chest in the mirror.

  • QoTD: The Single, Most Important Secret to Success

    Running a small business is like flying an airplane. There’s not a single thing that keeps you in the air. It’s doing a lot of things right. But the truth is that whether it’s landing a plane or running your business, you can screw some things up and still be successful. –Mike Taber

  • The Macalope Weekly: Choices

    The Macalope:

    The horny one is confused, though. What exactly is Google’s path to “victory” if carriers can make phones that exclusively use Bing?

    I couldn’t agree more. Be sure to read the last bit about Acer, pure gold.