Why Kindle is compelling a Gadget!

Oh Ya it is bragging rights! I am a Kindle 3.0 Owner! It has been a week since I started using the gadget, and I must say that I am really impressed!; there is value for each and every penny paid for it!.

The Interface:

With all the smart phones and Tablet PCs thronging the markets these days, the interface of the Kindle reader, I must say, is not that compelling. In fact it takes time to get used to it; but once you get used to it, I can guarantee you a blissful reading experience. I spent some quality time with the kindle3.0 User Guide that my reader had pre-installed, and it is pretty comprehensive indeed. The best part of the interface is how effective it is, once you get used to it, and it does not eat out on the battery as well. So overall the design of the interface is well thought-out and effective cum efficient.

Highlights:


e-ink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink, Need I say more

Dictionary -> using the 5 way key (Amazon calls the key used to move the cursor while reading a book, as the 5 way key) As you read, you can move the cursor to a word, and the dictionary automatically pops up either at the bottom or at the top, depending upon the cursor position so as not to hide the line that you are reading, with the meaning. I found this to be a compelling feature; for word/vocabulary buffs, who are lazy, it is a blessing :)

Read the book aloud feature!: Best part is you can listen to the native english speaker pronounce the words and there by you can learn not just the meaning, but also the pronunciation. double treat eh :)

Making PDFs kindle ready:

Mail Books to the device via registered mail-id to username@kindle.com : Awesome feature; also the mail server is intelligent enough to convert PDF files to kindle ready MOBI formats, when the subject line of the mail, via which one is trying to mail a pdf to the device, reads "Convert". Smart huh! :)

http://calibre-ebook.com/ -> heard it is a very good tool to make some pdf books kindle-ready; although I haven't tried it myself yet.

Experimental Features:

Songs: We can have a bunch of songs in the Device to enrich the reading experience. (But one annoying factor here is that we cannot shuffle the order in which the songs are played. You put in a bunch of songs, and listen to them in the same order in which they are added to the reader)

Rudimentary Web-Browser: Can be handy sometimes, especially when wi-fi is available. I did not buy the one with the 3G option, since I thought when wi-fi is available why 3G. (Atleast I thought I would not be needing 3G access)

TeamViewer FTW

Easy to use UI - Need to know just the ID of the person at the other end

One of the common tasks of geeks these days is to enlighten people around them, who are not that tech-saavy, to share a few tips with them. It becomes a day-to-day task when the people you are trying to educate are your parents; you get to see them ask some interesting questions every day. However, it becomes a problem when you are not living with them, which is the case typically with most of the Indian geek-youth (If I may call the group that), that you need a simple solution to access the remote PC so as to help your parents out with. This is why I love Team Viewer so much; not just because it is free, but because it offers just what one wants.

Very easy-to-use UI makes it all the more compelling solution.

Click here to download for free. (Free for non-commercial use)

Its enough we know the ID of the person at the other end. The ID generated is the same across sessions, so it is like knowing the ID one time and saving it. The UI remembers the recently used IDs as well for us. The password that the UI generates keeps changes on a session basis. However, we could tweak it slightly and setup any password of our choice so that we could easily connect to remote-pcs knowing user ID and password before hand. Caveat: I could set up this non-secure access only on Windows OS version of the software. I am not able to do the same on my macbook pro running OS X 10.6.8