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February 21, 2010
A few days with a nook
My nook arrived Tuesday last week, I've now read a book on it (seemed one of a few fitting
The ergonomics of the device are very good, it's comfortable to use one handed and the e-ink screen lives up to it's promise of readability in various lighting. It's a bit heavier than it seems it should be at first glance, and as much as I resist accessorizing devices, I'll probably end up with a cover once I find one that doesn't add significant thickness or mandate a two-handed grip.
The current software load (1.2) is good, but not perfect.
In particular the touch screen responsiveness leaves much to be desired as compared to an iphone/ipod touch (which, I think, speaks to the cost of running Java on the device, as the CPU is actually clocked faster than the ARM in the iPhone 3G). The artificial split between B&N purchased content (which appears in "My Library") and side-loaded content (which appears in "My Documents") is pretty lame.
Oh, and I'd like the device to have at least a rudimentary browser, and I'd even be happy for that browser to only work over WiFi. (Yea, I know there are options, but I haven't decided to root the device, yet...)
Continue reading "A few days with a nook"
Posted by dberger at 1:59 PM | Comments (2)
February 8, 2010
Recent Reads
Finally got to the top of the hold queue for Boneshaker, which I found enjoyable, though less visually evocative than I had hoped. The world and characters were interesting, and the story was enough to move things along, but it felt like a bit of missed potential.
I ended up only getting about 2/3 through The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science before having to return it to the library. I wanted very much to love this book, but when compared to works like Longitude, or Stiff it just didn't quite hold up to expectations. As a series of semi-connected essays, those I read were interesting, but I never really "got" or connected with Holmes' thesis.
Most recently, I returned The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and haven't put it back on my hold/buy list. The first few chapters weren't particularly engaging, but that could have been more about other stuff going on rather than the merits of the work, so I may give this one another shot.
Posted by dberger at 10:01 PM
February 6, 2010
Rest In Peace, Junior
It's been a while since I've made the time to post anything here - not that there hasn't been stuff going on, just that life's been, well, life.
This afternoon, Junior left us after a rocky couple of months. His diabetes, which had been under control without insulin for a couple years, suddenly returned, along with a smorgasbord of other symptoms.
This afternoon, I walked into the bathroom to find him in the midst of a violent seizure - and he never came back.
He was with us for 15 years, and ingratiated himself with even the most stalwart anti-cat people. We have lots of record of his time here - as Dawnise has pretty much always thought of cameras as existing solely to capture images of the cats.
He will be missed, and the world has within it a bit less cute.
Looking out the window, I'm sure the sky looks just a bit more silvery-grey than normal...
Posted by dberger at 5:08 PM | Comments (1)