Oolite Bulletins

Disembodied wrote:

If you wait a bit you can get this one:

Hahah
If I want useless bells and whistles, I'll buy a tablet

Thats brilliant Disembodied!
I wish RL™ had a "change setting to space" button -it'd make dealing with clients and builders a lot easier if I could communicate with them via the medium of deep space communications and a military laser! (although the "zombies" button and a cricket bat would be equally handy ).

Thermonuklear wrote:

aegidian wrote:

Personally speaking, I've just recently begun using the Kobo Mini e-reader.

Have you been happy with your unit? I'm considering to get a Kobo myself. After rummaging through teh interwebz and making comparisons, I'll probably buy the "E-Reader Touch Edition". It's got a bigger screen, but otherwise it's basically the same product.

Yes. I like it. The resistance based touch screen is good enough (not as as sensitive as an iPad, but it doesn't need to be), the display is exactly what one would expect, the UI's sensible and uncluttered and the user experience just great. It's lighter than most paperbacks and small enough for a coat pocket.

Thermonuklear wrote:

I'd appreciate an Asimov -> Bradbury scale rather than the Brown -> Self slider.

Or a Carl Sagan -> Enid Blyton scale of fiction.

I just bought the simplest Kindle after Amazon put it temporarily on offer for 64€ and am extremely happy with the display and weight of the device. I already own an iPad 2 but found it too heavy for reading books on it for a long time and also the backlit display is too strenuous on the eyes for that task. The kindle can easily be held with one hand while commuting on the subway.

Be very wary of the Kindle. I had an argument with Amazon on Saturday night about their Kindle content.

My dad died, and I was given his Kindle as part of his estate (since I'm the techy one). I called Amazon to see how to transfer his content to my account so I could close his account and, as you're probably expecting by now, was greeted by the hard line "content from one account can't be transferred to another one".

Turns out this INCLUDES when the content owner dies. More "customers aren't buying the book" nonsense, and after half an hour of exploring possibilities, the situation is still the same. If my dad had bought paperbacks, I would now be the proud owner of a box of paperbacks. Instead, I have a Kindle that has content that basically, Amazon want back.

So be very careful. To be honest if you get a kindle I recommend against buying any content for it from Amazon. Download it from a torrent site or something instead or investigate the possibilities of the author sending you a copy of the MOBI file. just don't get it from Amazon.

Selezen wrote:

Turns out this INCLUDES when the content owner dies.

According to Amazon, there's only one "owner".. them.. everyone else is just renting it from them.

You need to install calibre and slurp that material off the kindle right now..

Selezen wrote:

Turns out this INCLUDES when the content owner dies. More "customers aren't buying the book" nonsense, and after half an hour of exploring possibilities, the situation is still the same. If my dad had bought paperbacks, I would now be the proud owner of a box of paperbacks. Instead, I have a Kindle that has content that basically, Amazon want back.

Talk about adding insult to injury - greedy bastards. It's reprehensible the way these corporations operate these days. I think after hearing this, I will never buy a Kindle - there are other tablet manufacturers out there. Honestly, the whole thing reminds me of how I should avoid amazon as much as possible.

A bit more on topic, this got me taking a cursory look at tablets - now I have a question. Which tablet manufacturer caters to MS the least (or better yet, that doesn't at all)? I sure don't want to have to deal with the greed from the software end of things if I ever get a tablet (which is probably more a question of when).

I think anything that uses Android is a good bet, since it stays away from anything MS.

I have used an iPhone for nearly two years and it's a good OS, but the integration into iTunes is stifling at best and downright antisocial at worst. If you select the option to manage your music without iTunes, then in order to install a ringtone you have to wipe your music off, upload the ringtone then put all your music back on again.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 10.1 last month and it's been very good so far. Much easier to use than an iPad, no need to install any ridiculous PC or MAC software and fully customisable. And so far I've seen nothing that panders to the Redmond crowd.

I have to say that although the functionality of the iPhone has blown me away, it's ruined by the reliance on the fascist dictator that is iTunes. I'd rather use a Windows Phone than an iPhone now, to be honest.

Honestly, the books I "buy" are either free on Amazon (I'm reading "the politics of space travel" by Joshua Silver at the moment) or I buy them on kickstarters (ahem) and they come without DRM, and a few are regular ones I actually paid money for on Amazon. I can read them, I don't mind if I can't trade them, and if I really need to convert them for whatever reason, I'll take a look at calibre. Until then I'm happy about the hardware my money bought me.

Oh, and torrents are not an option for me, assuming you're suggesting piracy.

My Kobo arrived today! Oh, hello, Smashwords... Downloaded everything I could find that said "free" "Elite" and "Oolite" plus some other interesting stuff. To further boost my exhilaration, I got a call from my regular workplace telling they'll take me in for the summer! Funding for literature: arranged.

Diziet Sma wrote:

Selezen wrote:

Turns out this INCLUDES when the content owner dies.

According to Amazon, there's only one "owner".. them.. everyone else is just renting it from them.

You need to install calibre and slurp that material off the kindle right now..

Yup. I consider it a backup. The fact that the DRM gets removed in the process isn't my fault is it?

Cheers,

Drew.

All very true. The thing is that I wanted to do it legally. Now I feel like I'd be stealing things that my dad bought honestly and fairly, all because amazon are w***ers.

Kinda pisses all over the whole concept of consumer rights, really.

Selezen wrote:

All very true. The thing is that I wanted to do it legally. Now I feel like I'd be stealing things that my dad bought honestly and fairly, all because amazon are w***ers.

Well, your dad bought it honestly and fairly, and then left it to you, his heir, as was his right.. so it can hardly be called 'stealing' now, can it?

Selezen wrote:

Kinda pisses all over the whole concept of consumer rights, really.

Congratulations.. you've figured out one of the goals of Corporation$ everywhere..

Diziet Sma wrote:

Well, your dad bought it honestly and fairly, and then left it to you, his heir, as was his right.. so it can hardly be called 'stealing' now, can it?

Logically no. But according to the "terms" of Amazon's purchase, apparently it IS...