I’ve fought it for sometime. The intense desire to buy a Kindle has been nagging at me for years. I love the idea of it—a lightweight, relatively inexpensive device that makes electronic books easy. Folks have made arguments that why buy a Kindle when you can read e-books on your computer, iPod/iPhone, Android device or an iPad, which is almost the same, right?

photocredit: flickr/tompagenet

A book is such a simple device. You don’t have to worry about the battery. You don’t have to worry about eye strain from the backlit screen or about glare from the sun. As long as there’s light around you, you can read.

The problem with using other devices is all of these problems exist. My iPod Touch can’t get through a day anymore without running down the battery and I just can’t look at that screen all day. Another negative is I have too many notifications that pop-up and the urge to check e-mail, Twitter, etc is just too great on any multi-use device.

The Kindle is just as easy as a book… Continue Reading…

I’ve been a Dell user for years and while I’ve heard of so-called “Dell Hell” experiences, never had anything but outstanding service from them. Until now.

First, it seemed that anything I purchased worked really well. My first Dell laptop, a rack server, a dozen or so desktops for work. But, anything my in-laws purchased gave them a great deal of trouble (two laptops at different times). I chalked it up to bad luck on their part.

Photocredit: flickr/stephenhackett

Then, on Labor Day weekend, I needed to purchase a replacement AC adapter for a computer diagnostic and repair gig and so I tacked on an internal laptop keyboard I needed for a personal laptop since I already had to pay for shipping.

Apparently, a simple replacement keyboard was a difficult order.  Continue Reading…