On 09/02/2011 08:56 AM, authfriend wrote: > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seventhray1"<steve.sundur@...> wrote: >> or maybe forgot the charger. > I gather "she" is moi... > > I'm baaaaack. Had to stay away longer than I'd planned > because NJ Transit took awhile to get its trains in order > after the storm. > > My building survived with no damage whatsoever, flood or > wind, not even a power outage. A block and a half away, a > small tornado touched down and tore the roof off a house, > and there were downed trees, widespread power outages, > and some fairly serious street flooding elsewhere in town. > I'm burning incense in gratitude to the weather gods. > > I do have a laptop, but it's too heavy for me to lug > comfortably, so I didn't bring it with me. Right before > I left I did get a Kindle, the most recent model with 3G > and Wi-fi and an "experimental" browser. I got it mainly > so I wouldn't have to bring books to read, and while that > was a great convenience, the browser turned out to be the > most useful feature, especially after the power went out > where I was staying. "Experimental" it may be, but it > worked just beautifully for Web sites that have a version > formatted for mobile devices, including news and service > sites (NY Times, NJ Transit, Google, e.g.). Sites without > a mobile version were harder to navigate, in some cases > impossible, including my ISP's Webmail. > > So no email, but my sister (up in Vermont) and I were > able to keep in touch via direct messages on Twitter. > (She came through with no wind or flood damage either.) > I didn't try to access FFL; figured you all could get > along without me until I got back, and I didn't want to > run the Kindle's battery down (I did bring its charger, > but that's not much use when the power's out). A charged > battery lasts for weeks if all you're doing is reading > what's stored on the Kindle, but using wireless to > browse sucks up the charge pretty fast.
Tablets usually have a bit longer battery life than smartphones which most people charge up overnight. The problem is the battery technology not the devices themselves. My tablets can hold a charge for several days the Acer much longer than the cheap one. School districts are starting to opt for iPads instead of textbooks at $500-600 a pop. Apparently school administrators don't know that readers can be purchased for ~$100. Just got to have that logo I guess: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44384057/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ What pisses me off and it is about this economy is that used book stores have closed up. Yesterday on an talk show one of Robert Heinlein's novellas was recommended "If This Goes On". It was published in 1940 and is about a theocracy. I found online with Scribd but not sure how much you can actually read and I wouldn't mind picking up the "Revolt in 2100" anthology at a local shops. There is still a Half Priced Books but even though they have a database in the store it isn't tied into their web site. Another used book store closed a few months back and relocated 20 miles south. Their web site shows they have it. However if I wanted to spend my day browsing downtown in this burg has a few "antique" stores with used books. Of course nothing is in order so one would really have to be lucky to find the book if they have it. The other thing is being published in 1940 it would be public domain by now and available easily online for free, that is if Disney hadn't messed with the copyright laws to protect their beloved Mickey. And not available as an ebook.
