Kindle Lighted Leather Case: In Brief
At first it seemed silly to spend $60 on a case for my $79 Kindle, scratch that, it is silly. Regardless of the silliness index of the idea, I bought a Kindle Lighted Leather case for my Kindle a couple weeks ago and despite it taking two weeks to ship I didn’t cancel my order.
The real reason I bought it was because I happen to enjoy a lovely book while suffering from near debilitating insomnia (okay, it’s actually quite minor these days), however, my wife does not enjoy the bedside lamp required for me to do so with my Kindle (so very nostalgic, just like a real book). Being the complete and utter tool I am I skipped the cheap clip-on light and I ordered Amazon’s own solution for the problem.
The Good:
Kindle snaps in and fits very snugly in the case. Page buttons are easily accesible.
The light is powered off the Kindle’s battery, so you only need to charge one device. Plus no added bulk.
It does a great job of lighting the entire page (one would assume this to be true, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless).
The Bad:
The quality of the leather is so-so, the very first thing I thought of was the cheap leather briefcase my father used to carry around. It also seems to be sadly lacking in the durability department.
Front flap feels rather flimsy.
Call me crazy, but when I purchase a case for a product I tend to want something that protects the screen, and while the Amazon case does have a front flap, it doesn’t offer a magnetic clasp, elastic band, or even a friction based mechanism for securing the flap closed. The $29 Marware case I bought for my Kindle Fire even has that.
The Bottom Line
This is a great case despite being $60. And in all fairness, the price isn’t that outrageous. I wanted a light and I needed a case either way, so when comparing this to $20 for a clip-on light and $20 for a case it doesn’t seem that crazy.
A Brief Letter
Dear world,
This is not a comeback. This is not a triumphant return to the internet with a string of brilliant posts. Nor is this the announcement of the phoenix like resurrection of Hijinks Inc.
No, this is merely the faint sound of our staff crying out from under the cascading waterfall of the real world. We’re still alive, we just don’t have the time or the mental capacity to balance our lives and posting regularly.
But maybe someday soon we’ll have a few spare moments during a layover at an airport, or an exceptionally boring meeting, to jot down a few thoughts.
Stay tuned.
Using Google Voice with your Existing Telephone Handsets
I’m sure there are a large number of ways to take whatever old analog handsets you having sitting around and use them with Google Voice, but most of them require things like setting up your own PBX server. Which could make for a fun weekend project if you’re a major geek, but chances are most people would rather use something a little more straight forward. Enter devices like the Ooma Telo ($199-249), which I’ve recently started using for my office phone.
It’s an absolutely fantastic device and very easy to use. The really nice thing about the Ooma Telo is that it comes with a whole new phone number, so setting it up is as simple as adding that number to your Google Voice account. Ooma also offers some additional nifty features like Instant Second Line, Multi-ring, and Call Blocking for a monthly subscription of $9.99. A 60-day free trial of Ooma Premier is included with the Telo.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for something a little cheaper, you might consider the Obihai Obi110 ($49.99) or the Obi100 ($43.99), both are great solutions for integrating your existing phone handsets into Google Voice. These devices use the actual SIP calling function that was added to Google Talk/Gmail last year.
Google Owns My Soul
For years I’ve been giving Google unfettered access to my email and my search history without giving it much thought. And over the course of the past couple years, I’ve continually kept giving them more and more access… That brings us to today, when I finally came to the realization that Google really does own my soul. That is assuming my soul is comprised of personal information, browsing habits, etc.
Let me break it down for you:
- Each morning at 5am my company website sends an updated list of products that we have in stock to Google Base to get listed in Google Shopping. Google now knows what products my company likes to carry as well as how quickly we sell said products.
- My company uses Google Analytics, not only to track our corporate website, but our clients websites as well. Google now has access to very detailed information about how popular my websites are and just who’s visiting them.
- The afore mentioned company also uses Google Places to attempt to draw in new business. This one isn’t that big of a deal, since it doesn’t really increase Google’s access to information about my company. I’m just trying to be thorough.
- Each of my sites generates a Google SiteMap. Making it even easier for Google to catalog every little page on my websites, even some that I may have forgotten about.
- All my websites that run advertisements run Google AdSense. Now I rely on Google to get paid.
- I use Gmail for my personal email. Google gets to scan through my entire life and contextually provide ads to me. Yay?
- I also use Google Apps for my business. Which includes the occasional Google Doc upload of a spreadsheet or presentation. Potentially giving Google access to sensitive company information. As well as Google Calendar, which lets them know where I’ll be and when I’ll be there.
- Several of my ventures use Google Voice numbers for texting and calling. Google has access to an archive of my text messages and voicemails.
- When I subscribe to an RSS feed I do it through Google Reader, so that my RSS feed reader on my laptop, desktop, phone, and iPad all get the same feed. Guess what? Google gets some solid feedback on what kind of blogs/articles I read.
- If I record and upload a video it usually goes to YouTube, I also watch movie trailers and the like on YouTube. All the sudden Google knows whether or not I watched Rebecca Black’s “Friday” music video, and if so, if I watched the whole thing.
- I often use Google Maps to get directions. Now Google knows where I’m planning on visiting, which new restaurant I’m likely eating at, and where my Uncle Phil’s house is.
- Did I mention that I have an Android phone? Making it even easier for me to continue to use Google products in my day to day life. If I use the Barcode Scanner app to check the price of something, Google instantly knows what I’m out shopping for.
- And last, but not least, I use Google for 99% of my internet searches. If Google didn’t already know what things I’m interested in, they do now.
- Oh, and I use Google Chrome to do all my web browsing.
Don’t worry, there’s still more I can do to give away my life to Google. For example, I could start using Google Latitude, or start accepting Google Checkout on my company’s store, maybe use Picasa to start sharing family photos. Or actually update that Google Buzz account of mine… nah, that’ll never happen.
[Note: I'm sure I'm using even more Google services and not realizing it, so I may update this list at a later date]
Firefox Live: Can’t Look Away!
Get your cuteness fix again
Firefox has introduced something new in order to get more and more people to download and test Firefox 4 Beta, while at the same time bring in some support Knoxville Zoo. It is called firefoxlive.org and the main idea for this site is to show live videos of cute, little, fuzzy, adorable, beautiful, lovable, delightful, innocent, I-WANNA-SQUEEZE-THEM-SO-TIGHT fox cubs! Check it out for yourselves. If you don’t smile or feel those warm fuzzies inside then check for a pulse you heartless fiend.
