A little off topic, but hear me out...there's some RV stuff
in here, I promise. I ordered an Amazon 'Kindle (all
about it) a month ago, and it came in the mail Tuesday (the
same day Paul Dye called me to say he bought the competition - a
Sony Reader!). They do a lot of the same things and are geared
at reading books, but I thought I would take a minute to
describe some of the ways you might use it with your RV.
The 'electronic paper' display is pretty amazing, it reads
just about like a paperback book, only you can make the text
bigger and smaller if you want. You can order most new books
for $9.99 from amazon.com or from the unit itself - you don't
need a connection, as it uses its own 'whispernet'. I ordered
two books from amazon.com while I waiting for it to be
delivered, Steve Martin's 'Born
Standing Up: A Comic's Life' and Jon Huntsman's 'Winners
Never Cheat'. When I got the unit and turned it on, it was
already configured for my account, then auto-downloaded the two
books in under 30 seconds. Neat.
Looking at the default memory that comes with it, I could
probably put close to 200 books on this thing. You can also
insert a SD memory card, so I'll be going to Best Buy in a day
or so for one of those $20 2GB cards.
The thing that really gets me excited is that there are
thousands upon thousands of free public domain books online.
Don't believe me? Go to
this Kindle blog that links free books or to
MobiPocket's Free Book link. Kindle will read the 'Mobi'
format. This site
has hundreds of free audio books. I downloaded the first twenty
chapters of Moby Dick and let it read to me for awhile on
Tuesday. Call me Ishmael.
It's primarily a book reader, but it comes with a simple web
browser. I set bookmarks for some of the news sites that have
'mobile' versions. An example is CNN's
http://m.cnn.com. Nice and
simple.
OK, now for the RV angle I promised you. Because it is
'online' when you power it up, you can go to the less
graphically rich sites anytime you please pretty effectively.
I've tried the following and have saved them in my Kindle's
bookmarks:-
METAR/TAF
site (NOAA) ...works like a champ.
-
TFRs...works
like a champ.
- I downloaded Van's
parts
list.
- I downloaded the IFR written questions (and answers)
from
Mike's site, then sucked it into MS Word and converted it to
Kindle format using a free app described next.
The free app
Mobipocket Creator 4.2 will turn any MS Word, TXT, or PDF
(that is mostly text) into a format that Kindle will read. That
opens up the FARs, AIM and a host of others.
Think about it for a minute. I have WEB ACCESS on a device
that I can ACTUALLY READ, and it doesn't involve lugging a
laptop around, searching for a wifi hotspot, dealing with
'connections', typing on a cell phone, etc. You already know I
have one of those big, professional digital cameras that weighs
eight pounds, right? Guess what I do the majority of my
photographing with? A $200 Sony SD-1000 pocket camera. If I
can get the news, TFRs, METAR/TAFs and carry a hundred books
with me in a package that weighs 10.3 ounces, I'm sold. It fits
in
my gun bag (which my wife lovingly calls my 'man purse').
Download all the public domain and free ebooks you want off
the web using your computer, then plug the device in using the
same cable that you use for your camera. It pops up as a drive
letter just like your camera. Move stuff over. No biggie. You
want to order stuff using the device itself? You don't need a
computer - it's online when you power it up and Amazon is a
button press away.
What free stuff have I downloaded over the past 24hrs? The
IFR Written Test (and answers), Moby Dick (audio book), Project
Mercury - A Chronology, Treasure Island, The Oregon Trail,
Edison (his life and inventions), Thomas Jefferson Biography,
and many more... Like I said, I enjoy reading. This thing is
for reading but it does some other things I'm fond of.
Minuses:
- Price ($399).
Having put that here in the 'minuses' section, let me just
say that I read a LOT. On average a book a week.
In my case, I now don't have to drive to/from the library
anymore, or go to Barnes and Noble, or the used book store
ever again. I think I'll break even in a year and be
ahead after that - with the bonus of free web access when I
need it.
- Won't display PDF files
(like approach plates) that are heavy in graphics. If you
want it to display approach charts, this ain't your bag,
baby.
Pluses:
- A joy to read books with.
The 'electronic paper' display gives me no eye strain at
all.
- Bigger screen than any cell phone
and lighter than any laptop (10.3 oz)
-
Web access to METAR/TAFs, TFRs and news that
means you don't need to bring the laptop (unless you want to
read your email).
I worked up a
simple web page where I get to these - feel free to use
it.
- Want it to read 'Moby Dick' to you
while you fly? It plays audio books and has a
headphone jack. Yes, you can load music in there, too.
- Ability to buy a book from Amazon
using just this device - no computer needed. (ex. Stuck in Lodi waiting for
the rain to lift - you can buy a book, magazine, etc to
read.)
- Comes with a wall charger
(the Sony Reader doesn't).
I give it five out of five
clecos....whatever that means <g>.
related links:
The Kindle Store Online
Should I buy a Kindle?
Sony Reader vs Kindle
Feb 16 Update:
I went to Best Buy and bought a $20 2GB SD Memory Card to bump
the default 180MB memory that it comes with. Pushed it in
and turned on the unit. Plugged the Kindle into my PC with
the USB cable, and in addition to the drive 'G:' that normally
pops up when I plug in the Kindle, I got a drive 'H:' also.
I copied about 1GB of music (mp3) files over to the 'music'
directory on drive 'H:', and when it was done unplugged the
cable. Worked like a champ.
You can find some of the Kindle's keyboard shortcuts below.
Note that Alt-P starts playing a random song (press Alt-P again
to stop it). Pressing Alt-F hops to another song.
So, you can listen to music on headphones while you read (if
that's your thing). You don't have the control that you
have on an iPod, but you can play music.
Leave the iPod at home. One less
thing to take on the trip....and more weight savings.
Kindle
Keyboard Shortcuts (some of them)
Global keys
Alt-Shift-R reboot Kindle
Alt-Shift-. restart GUI
Home
Alt-Shift-M Minesweeper
Alt-T show time
Reader
Alt-B toggle bookmark
Alt-T spell out time
Audio Player
Alt-F next
Alt-P play/stop
Font List
J show/hide justification options
Browser
It seems there is a location capability (GPS?) in the CDMA
module.
Alt-1 show current location in google maps
Alt-2 find gas station nearby
Alt-3 find restaurants nearby
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