Mostly writing this for my own (future) benefit… These are the books I read in 2009 with ratings/categorization:
Most were read on my Amazon Kindle (some on the DX, which I review here, others on my Kindle 2). ***** means loved it. * means I hated it.
Science Fiction - By Iain M. Banks (Blog post on Iain M. Banks):
- Matter (****)
- Transition (****)
- Look to Windward (*****)
- Use of Weapons (*****)
- Against a Dark Background (****)
Science Fiction – By Charles Stross
- Iron Sunrise
- The Jennifer Morgue
Science Fiction – By Peter F. Hamilton (Blog post)
- Pandora’s Star (*****)
- The Temporal Void (*****)
- Judas Unchained (*****)
- Fallen Dragon (****)
Other Science Fiction
- Camouflage – Joe Haldeman (****)
- His Majesty’s Dragon – Naomi Novik (***)
- The Lost Feet: Relentless – Jack Campbell (***)
- Double Star – Robert A. Heinlein (***)
- Idiot’s Mask - Cheeseburger Brown (****) <— He’s amazing!
- The Christmas Robots - Cheeseburger Brown (***) <— He’s amazing!
Programming
- Essential Silverlight 3 – Ashraf Michail (*** yes, I read this on the beach in Hawaii)
- Learning XNA 3.0 – Aaron Reed (*** yes, I read this on the beach in Hawaii)
- Essential C# 3.0 – Mark Michaelis (*** yes, I read this on the beach in Hawaii)
Thriller/Action
- The Tourist – Olen Steinhauer (***)
- Point of Impact – Stephen Hunter (***)
- Night of Thunder: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel (***)
- The Echelon Vendetta – David Stone (***)
Classics
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson (***)
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne (****)
- Common Sense – Thomas Paine (*****)
Work stuff
- The No *** Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't – Robert I. Sutton (***)
I haven’t posted a book review in a while. Not because I haven’t been reading, just because I’ve been lazy. My most recent book was The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman.
I had heard about this book in a mention on a National People’s Radio story about Ronald Reagan. In that story the book was presented as a story about Reagan and how he really didn’t have as much to do with ending the cold-war as people thought. Being a child of the Regan era and a huge fan I figured “better read this; nothing worse than being ignorant.”
Turns out Reagan is a relatively small player in this book. It does cover his impact on relations (or lack thereof) with the Soviets during his administration, but I failed to see how the book argued for/against how big an impact Ronnie actually had. It was fairly factual and contained some details of interesting conversations Reagan had with his Soviet counterparts. It covered his desire to build the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) aka Star Wars, but as it did so the book illustrated how Reagan was not a Hawk as he has often been portrayed, but someone deeply convicted about ridding the world of Nuclear weapons.
What this book does do is show how frakingly close we all came to being blown to smithereens, and how significantly the two sides were really doing nothing but talk past each other. It also illustrates, in shocking detail, how large and dangerous the Soviet investment in biological warfare research and production was (and is?).
The writing is solid. At times it feels as though the book was pieced together without an editor, but the insights and intrigue keep it exciting. Highly recommended.
On April 4, 2007 I got on twitter to check it out. I didn’t see the value and bailed. Then in June of 2008 I gave it another try. At that time I was using @ckindel and I bounced between it being private and public. My use of twitter finally settled into one where I was only tweeting between a small (15-20) group of pretty close friends who I knew I could trust. We use twitter mostly as a private IM channel. Sometime back then I switched to another twitter account that is and will always be private, leaving @ckindel hanging.
Well this week @ckindel is resurrected. For the last year (almost exactly one year ago) I have been “head’s down” in my job. But over the next few months we’ll be lifting our heads up and shouting about what we’ve been working on and a big part of my job will be to “participate in those conversations” (borrowing from Scoble).
My follow count is pretty weak right now. 38 followers and several of those are my own accounts. I’m curious how quickly (or if it’ll ever happen) that the numbers get big. I guess it depends on whether what I’ve been working on is any good…
Today Amazon announced that they have released a firmware update for the Kindle 2 that dramatically increases battery life (from a perfectly fine 4 days to 7 days, even with wireless turned on).
They also added native PDF support to the Kindle 2 (this was only previously available on the Kindle DX).
I continue to us my Kindles almost all the time. Of all my electronic devices the Kindle remains the one I am the most passionate about. Yes, I know there are other readers out there, but the ease of acquiring new books, the cross-device sync, and the great reading experience all combine with my voracity of reading to just make me love it.
Here’s their press release:
Amazon.com today announced two new enhancements to the latest generation Kindle—85 percent more battery life and a native PDF reader. Kindle now has battery life of up to seven days even with wireless turned on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of four days. Battery life with wireless turned off remains at the previous level of up to two weeks. Battery power management for portable wireless devices is a complex technical area, and the battery life improvement announced today is the result of a six month firmware improvement and testing program.
Amazon also announced today that the 6-inch Kindle now has a built-in native PDF reader that enables Kindle customers to read professional and personal documents in their original PDF format without conversion. Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment today at www.amazon.com/kindle.
“Kindle, already the #1 bestselling, most wished for, and most gifted product on all of Amazon.com, is now even better—with 85 percent more battery life and a built-in PDF reader,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “These two significant enhancements are available now.”
To read their personal or professional documents, Kindle customers simply email PDFs to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection. Customers that prefer to have their PDF documents converted to the Kindle format simply type "Convert" in the subject of the e-mail when sending documents to their @kindle.com address.
Amazon also announced today that previous purchasers of the new Kindle will also receive the 85 percent battery life improvements with wireless on, and native PDF support via a firmware update automatically delivered via Whispernet wireless. Native PDF support will also be available for some earlier versions of Kindle via an automatic Whispernet wireless firmware update.
Amazon.com just announced two things:
- There is a “new” Kindle 2 called the “Kindle U.S. & International Wireless” that now works internationally (3G GSM wireless coverage in over 100 countries; uses the ATT 3G network. “When travelling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items for a fee of $1.99.” This device sells for $279.
- The “old” Kindle 2, now called the “Kindle U.S. Wireless” has dropped in price from $299 to $259. This version uses the Sprint CDMA 3G network (which is why it only works in the US).
A few thoughts:
- Amazon’s product naming is getting as bad as Microsoft’s (during the day I work for Microsoft and have been in meetings where product naming was discussed, so I’m well aware…).
- I suspect the “old” Kindle 2 will survive just long enough for Amazon to run out of inventory. The $20 delta between the “U.S. & International” and the “U.S.” version is just stupid and confusing. Once Amazon runs out of the latest production run of the Sprint based devices they will switch exclusively to the ATT based devices.
- I’ve never had an issue travelling abroad with my Kindle other than to make sure I load it up before my trip. I don’t subscribe to magazines or newspapers on mine so I rarely even have the radio on.
Anyway, the Kindle can no longer really be considered “expensive” at $259 (or even $279). That’s not quite the magical $199 or $99 price point, but close enough that I predict continued brisk sales for Amazon.
Gun Digest ran an essay contest in 1964: In 50 words or less write what the Right to Bear Arms means to you. The winner would get an all expense paid hunting safari to Africa.
I had known my father (Charles E. “Ted” Kindel) had won this contest when I was a kid but didn’t really know the details. All the family knew was that it was an essay contest in “some gun magazine”, that the prize was a safari to Africa, and that it was one of the several African safaris my dad went on.
When my father died in 1990 we found in one of his files what I thought was the essay:
“My Constitutional right to bear arms is, to me, the most significant example of my American heritage of individual freedom and human dignity. Such a right implies that my Government trusts me and, in turn, is worthy of my trust.”
My notes show he wrote this in 1962. I’ve never had any reason to believe this wasn’t the actual final wording of his winning entry.
The other day I happened across the Gun Digest Research website and on a whim searched for “Ted Kindel” and got hits for both the 1965 and 1966 issues. I immediately went to eBay and found copies of both these issues for sale and bought them (I didn’t feel like subscribing to the Gun Digest Research site).
I can’t tell for sure in which issue the contest was described. I suspect it was in the 1964 issue and I’m going to order that as well so I can see how the contest was actually worded. But the 1965 and 1966 issues are full of both information about my dad and great photos of him. Page 206 of the 1965 issue contains the announcement that my dad has won as well as the text of his winning entry.
The 1966 issue contains the story of his Safari to Africa, including pictures of some of the game he bagged.
The fascinating thing is the essay, as printed in the 1965 issue is different than the one we have in our files (I only have an electronic copy and I do not remember where it originally was copied from). It says the same thing, but is longer and more wordy. I find this odd because I can remember my dad nagging on my own writing as being too wordy.
“A mutual trust between the citizen and his government is a paramount essential of the American dream. To me this trust is best exemplified by my constitutional right to bear arms. Only as long as such trust exists can we maintain our cherished concepts of human dignity and individual freedom.”
My version is 40 words long. It is pretty awesome he crafted the “final” version to be precisely 50 words.
I’ve scanned the relevant pages from both issues and posted them here:
There’s a great write-up of the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution on Wikipedia.
My 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera has several unique factory options including sunroof-delete and 15” Fuchs (most ‘88s were ordered with 16” Fuchs). When I purchased it in 1997 I needed to replace the tires and because I was autocrossing I appreciated the slightly lower gearing provided by the 205/55R15 (F) and 225/50R15 (R) that were recommended to me. In the end I actually really liked the look of these slightly lower profile tires as well.
However, the slightly lower OD resulted in my speedometer reading 5-6% high and my odometer measuring miles travelled 5-6% too fast. I just lived with both these conditions until this week. The “rich” speedometer always made me feel like I was going faster than I was which probably helped me avoid some tickets.
Normally the errant odometer would not be a big deal but when I bought this car in 1997 it only had 6800 miles on it. But the fact that I was racking up “extra miles” was not THAT BIG a deal to me, or I would have done something about it like sending the speedometer into be recalibrated.
The car now shows just under 33K miles. This means it really has traveled about 31.5K miles.
Last week my temperature gauge stopped working. I was able to prove it was not the sending unit by verifying that touching the lead that goes to the sender to ground didn’t cause the gauge to peg, so it was either a broken wire or the gauge. My mechanic (Squire’s Autowerks in Bellevue, WA) had another ’88 in his shop and was able to hook it’s gauge up to my car and it worked fine.
So now I have two gauges that are in need of work. I’ve decided to send them off to North Hollywood Speedometer. To do that I need to pull them. Besides changing the oil, replacing the battery, and a few other little things I’ve never really had the need to actually work on m Porsche. Given out pristine this car is I was a bit nervous about doing this myself. My other adventure in car rehibilitation was much less stressful: a ’78 Toyota FJ40 that I restored. A slip of the screwdriver there was really no big deal. It could take it. But my Porsche!?!?
I decided to dive in and poked around here and elsewhere for pictures and instructions for pulling gauges and didn’t find anything very helpful. The Bentley manual is sorta useful but not really.
In the end it was super easy and I didn't scratch or mar anything. I would have had a lot more confidence if I had seen some pictures though. So I’ve decided to post the pictures of this job here in the hopes that the next guy benefits.
Enjoy!
Once again the most amazing consumer product Microsoft has ever created, Windows Home Server, has saved my family [disclaimer].
Today I was in a meeting and I got a text message from my 15 year old daughter. It read (spelling and txt errors verbatim):
"daddddd o my god. i think i just deleated all my pictures from freshmen year. please call meee!”
I texted her back “Ok, don’t touch anything. I’ll call you when I can.”
When I got out of my meeting I called her and asked what happened. She said she was deleting some bad photos and accidentally selected ALL of her photos and deleted them.
From work I used Windows Home Server remote access to connect to her machine and verified they had been deleted (and weren’t in the recycle bin…did she hold the shift key down? We’ll never know). I fired up the Home Server console, selected the backup from last night and about a minute later I had an Explorer window open with her files. I simply dragged the files from the back up to her My Pictures folder and after about 20 minutes of copying everything was back. The file restore worked perfectly.
This is not the first time Windows Home Server has made me look good to my family. It’s also very good for upgrading PCs.
The people that built Windows Home Server are geniuses. If you haven’t already bought one there are several really great models available from companies like HP and Acer. For example:
HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server by Hewlett-Packard
Roughly $500
HP LX195 MediaSmart Home Server by Hewlett-Packard
Roughly $380
Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server by Acer
Roughly $400
For a fun introduction to the concept of home servers check out www.stayathomeserver.com. Make sure you read the highly acclaimed children’s book “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?” (you can read it online, or buy a copy at amazon.com).
[disclaimer: I drove the concept and product development of Windows Home Server; so I’m very biased]
Here’s a list of tips, tricks, and hacks for the Amazon Kindle that I’ve uncovered. Some of these are valid for the original Kindle and some are valid for the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX.
Keyboard Shortcuts
- Alt+Shift+M – Start a game of Minesweeper. While in the game you can press G for a version of “Go”
- Alt-T – Shows time (only on the original Kindle; does not work on the Kindle 2 or Kindle DX…booo!)
- Alt-Shift-o - In picture viewer, set the current picture as the screensaver
- Alt-Shift-G – Take a screenshot of the currently displayed screen. A .GIF file will be created in the \documents folder (plug the device in to your computer to access).
- Hold the power slider for 5 seconds – Reset (Kindle 2 and Kindle DX only).
Storing & Viewing Pictures
The Picture Viewer on the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX is disabled by default and you enable it by creating the \pictures folder on the device. After you’ve created a sub-directory (you can’t put photos in the root of \pictures!) press Alt-A to tell the device to refresh the listing.
To copy pictures to your Kindle 2 or Kindle DX and be able to view them, connect your device via USB and create a directory named “pictures” in the root of the mounted drive. Create sub-directories with your pictures in that folder and each sub-directory will show up as a “book” on your home page on the device.
The Picture Viewer is really slow and clunky which explains why it’s a hidden feature…
I found a tool called Mangle that will reformat pictures to the right size (600x800 for the Kindle 2 and 825x1200 fore the Kindle DX) as well as convert them to grayscale. This makes loading them quicker and they take up less space on the device. Mangle is designed for people who like to read Manga (I’m not a fan personally) but works well enough for just converting pictures.
Calculator
In the search box enter simple math formulas (e.g. 2+2) and it will show you the result of the calculation in the search results. It supports basic math & trig functions and you can use parenthesis for grouping.
Displaying the Time
On the original Kindle you could display the time by pressing Alt-T. This no longer works on the Kindle 2 or Kindle DX which really bums me out. However, I did discovered that you can enter “@time" as a search (see below) and it will display the date & time in a popup.
Search
In any search box you can prefix your search phrase with “@” commands. To enter that @ character on the 2 and DX you need to type some other character first to get the search box to come up and then backspace over it, then use the SYM key to bring up the symbol menu.
- @help (searches help)
- @web (searches the web using Google…boo! It should use Bing!)
- @wiki (searches wikipedia)
- @store (searches the Kindle store)
- @time (shows the time)
Run Diagnostics
While in settings:
Type 411 to show diagnostics information.
Type 611 for even more diagnostics (something called a diagnostic data service call)
Last year I discovered sci-fi author Peter F. Hamilton and have now read the following books by him on my Amazon Kindle 2:
It’s taken me a while to read all these because I read a few other books in between (see list below) and because they are all LONG. The Night’s Dawn Trilogy (a single download for the Kindle including all 3 books) is something like 42 million pages long. I thoroughly enjoyed it but remember thinking “when will it end!?!?”.
Hamilton has a knack for creating intricately detailed, enormously scaled, sci-fi universes. The first three books cover a universe he calls the “Confederation Universe” that will stretch your mind across wide expanses of the galaxy characters ranging from sentient spacecraft to Al Capone.
The other four books (the 3rd book of the Void trilogy, The Evolutionary Void, is not out yet) cover a different, yet equally complex and deep, universe called the Commonwealth. I read the Void books first, and then went back to read Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained…it would be better to read them in order. A major theme of this universe is humanity being on the cusp of the singularity which is a topic I dig.
In any case, I highly recommend his stuff.
Other books I’ve read in the last year or so…
Use of Weapons (5 stars), Camouflage (4 stars), The Eschelon Vendetta (3 stars), Common Sense (4 stars), Treasure Island (5 stars), The Lost Fleet: Relentless (3 stars), and Liberty & Tyranny (3 stars)
Yesterday my new Amazon Kindle DX arrived and here are my initial impressions. I’ve owned a Kindle since November 2007 when they were first released. We currently own 4 of them: CJ has an original, Julie has a Kindle 2, and I now have both a Kindle 2 and the new DX. The moment Amazon announced the Kindle in the fall of 2007 I was enamored with the concept and have been a fan ever since. The industrial design & some parts of the user interfaces are awful, but the reading experience is incredible and the e-commerce aspect makes it almost too easy to discover and buy new books.
I had a rough week and was looking forward to a beer when I got home. I grabbed a 1554 and then saw the box from Amazon. Perfect. The device came with about 2/3 a charge so I was able to start using it immediately. I had already sent some books and documents to it (it showed up in my Kindle account on Amazon weeks ago) and they immediately showed up after I turned it on.
The screen feels (and IS) much bigger than the Kindle and Kindle 2’s. It has the same amazing readability in normal and bright light. I wondered if screen repaints/refreshes would be noticeably slower given the larger number of pixels, but as it turns out it feels the same as the Kindle 2 (which is good enough).
I brought up the Kindle store on the device and noticed they had some Kindle DX optimized content. Graphics intensive content on the original Kindle and Kindle 2 is marginally useful at best due to the limited screen size. I figured a book on digital photography would test the limits, so I “bought” the preview of The Digital Photography Book and read the first chapter. I was very, very impressed with how good the images and diagrams were. So good that I actually bought the full version of the book.
Next I purchased Charles Stross’ The Jennifer Morgue which I had been meaning to read for a while and read a few chapters with the sun over my shoulder. A complete pleasure with great readability! I wasn’t sure if I would like reading on the bigger screen…I found my ability to read fast was improved even more on the small Kindle screen size and I was worried that my eyes would tire scanning more. However, the DX is great in this regard. The best way to describe it is to compare the 6” version to a paperback book and the 9.7” version to a hard-back book.
The DX does not have page forward/back buttons on the left side; only on the right. I am not convinced that this is a better setup than the Kindle 2 because it’s just simpler.
The overall size of the device is great. It is no thicker than the Kindle 2 and is super light.
My summary review is: I have a feeling I’m going to prefer using the DX over the 2 and that my 2 may end up being given to someone as a gift.
Amazon continues to impress me. This time it is their customer service. This week CJ somehow (he claims he has no idea how it happened…Really!?!?) broke the screen on the original Kindle I had handed-down to him. It was completely toast.
At the same time I realized that my Kindle 2 was not working right in sunlight. The text on the screen would appear faded if there was direct sunlight on it. Covering a portion of the page with a shadow while the screen repainted would cause that portion to be super clear while the rest was faded. I checked the Amazon forums and found this is a known issue with some Kindle’s. Julie’s Kindle 2 does not have this problem.
So I called Amazon’s customer support # and within 5 minutes had an email from Amazon with return shipping stickers and the knowledge that a replacement original (refurbished) Kindle and a new Kindle 2 was on the way. Since the original is out of warrantee I have to pay $180 for the replacement, but I think that’s totally worth it.
I didn’t have to wait on hold, the support agent spoke perfect English, and had great customer support skills. So Amazon’s Kindle support is another reason why I love Amazon.com.
Next up: My new Kindle DX should arrive in the next week (I have a shipping confirmation that says I’ll get it June 12. I’ll post my findings.
[Update: 6/12/2009 Fixed links]
I love digital photography but not so much that I feel like I need to become an Adobe Lightroom whore. I just like really simple tools that just work. I've found Windows Live Photo Gallery simply Just Works for 100% of what I do with digital photos (which is probably 80% of what hard core amateurs do).
For instance, take this panoramic stitch. I shot 6 photos with my D80 yesterday of my son's Lacrosse team lined up thanking the crowd. With literally 30 seconds of work in Windows Liver Photo Gallery I created this amazing panorama. It took another 30 seconds to upload it to Flickr using Gallery's built-in Flickr support. I spent more time typing this than I did on getting the photo done.
That's how it should be. Way to go Live team!
Amazon is brilliant. They released a version of their Kindle reader for the iPhone the other day and it’s just brilliant. Wow.
I have an iPhone (that I currently don’t use as a phone; my job requires that I play with other phones) and I immediately downloaded it to check out. It is very cool.
What I like:
- Super easy to download books you’ve already purchased for your Kindle onto your iPhone.
- I can read a bit of a novel anywhere I am because my phone is always with me, but my Kindle is not.
- “Whispersync” syncs the page you are on between all of your reading devices (I have 2 Kindle’s and the iPhone app). The other day I started reading Joe Hadleman’s Camouflage on my Kindle 2. I was about 50 pages in when I had to put it down. I had to pick my daughter up at dance and while waiting I pulled out my iPhone, brought up the Kindle app and it took me right to the location I was at in Camouflage. Ditto when I got back to using the real device tonight.
- The user experience is simple and pretty.
What I don’t like:
- On the Kindle device for whispersync to work you have to remember to tell it to sync before you put it down and when you pick it up again. This is especially important if you turn the wireless off on the Kindel to preserve battery power. I don’t want to have to think about keeping the devices in sync, but with this scheme I have to.
- The reading experience on the iPhone SUCKS. While Amazon did a nice job with the fonts and page turning animation, LCD screens are just really, really hard on the eyes for any sort of prolonged, serious reading. The Kindle device is just soooooo much better (indistinguishable from a paper book).
- The battery on the iPhone just drains, and drains as you read. I haven’t pushed it all the way yet, but it looks like I’d be able to read for maybe 2 hours max on the iPhone. The Kindle lasts for days and days.
I think Amazon views Kindle for the iPhone as an accessory to the Kindle. I think some people may use it without purchasing a Kindle, but I’m betting they won’t sell very many books that way…simply because the reading experience just isn’t that good. But people who already own Kindle’s will love it. I also bet Amazon builds versions for the other popular smartphone operating systems like Windows Mobile soon…
I just finished Iain M. Banks’ Use of Weapons on my Amazon Kindle 2. First book I read (actually I started it on my original Kindle and finished it on the Kindle 2).
I don’t think I’ve read a Banks book before so I’m not sure where all the context around the characters is, but I’m guessing he uses “The Culture” and other aspects of this universe a lot because the thinking on it is quite rich for one book.
I really enjoyed the fact that this is a multi-plot book with strong character development. It un-winds well and kept me engaged. The end was a bit of a shocker…I won’t spoil it for you.
If you like space opera’s you’ll probably like this. I did.
(Oh, and the Kindle 2 rocks. I’m very happy with it. And my son is excited for me to hand my original down to him <g>).
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