LaunchBar got a nice and welcomed update just before the weekend, adding quite a bit of support for Mountain Lion. I wish the iMessage integration were a bit more magical and akin to the way the Contacts app works when sending an iMessage from within there. Instead acting on a phone number to send an iMessage launches the Messages app.
P.S. Ben and I did a LaunchBar tips and tricks episode on the The B&B Podcast a few shows back.
A few months ago something bizarre happened. I got dissatisfied with my iPhone as my only camera. This never should have happened. But it did. And it’s totally the iPhone’s fault.
Nearly 8 years ago, before leaving on our honeymoon, Anna and I bought a Kodak point and shoot to take on the trip. And for a couple of years it was the camera we used here and there. But it wasn’t a sensational camera and we weren’t all that into photography anyway and so it was usually low on battery or we wouldn’t feel like grabbing it when heading out of the house.
Therefore, when I got an iPhone in 2007, it became the new default camera. Even though the camera in the original iPhone was pretty poor, it was always in my pocket ready to snap a shot and so it took over.
And because I’ve had an (iPhone) camera on my person every day for the past 5 years I’ve slowly developed an affinity for photography. Instagram sure helped. Also, in January of this year I bought an olloclip for my iPhone 4S and that helped a lot as well.
It turns out, photography has become something I’m enjoying as a creative outlet and as a hobby and not just as my way of capturing every potentially-cute moment of my son’s life.
A few months ago I reached that point where I felt that the iPhone wasn’t enough for me. I want to do more with my pictures than post them to Instagram or iMessage them to my parents.
Marco Arment also articulated this exact same frustration about six months ago:
Most of my favorite photos from the last two years only look good on small screens.
Not only would I like to become a better photographer, I’d also like to have better images to show for it. A few months ago I decided I wanted a dedicated, high quality camera that could exist alongside my iPhone. And so I began researching cameras. Uh oh…
Maybe you feel the same way. Well, the good news is, if you’re in the market for a mid-range camera there are a lot of fantastic options. The bad news is, if you’re in the market for a mid-range camera there are a lot of options.
I am of the sort of unreasonable and particular consumer who, when he buys something, tries to get the best possible version of that product. Defining the best is subjective, because it rarely is as simple as “highest quality materials” or “the most expensive”. Each person has a slightly different version of what is the best for them.
In my hunt for the best camera, I’ve defined “the best” as a rig which will be fun to use while providing results I’m proud of at a price I’m not embarrassed by.
At first I spent a few hours reading reviews, browsing Flickr galleries, and talking to friends who knew more about this stuff than I did and. After this initial stage of research it seemed the best choice for me would be a Mirrorless camera. And the obvious choice seemed to be the Panasonic GX1.
But, as I am wont to do with bigger choices like this one, I sat on it for a while. Apple is not the only company who introduces new products right before the holiday season. I decided to wait and see if Panasonic would announce a GX2 as had been rumored.
In the meantime I began reading more about Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) cameras. The more I learned about the GX1 and M4/3 cameras the more I realized how much I did not know. I discovered quite a few cameras that might meet my criteria of being small, high quality, and within my budget. Perhaps the GX1 was not the best camera for me after all.
After what has been over 50 hours of learning, researching, studying, and asking my photography friends questions, I “narrowed” my search for a camera down to these 4 rigs:
These cameras are all relatively small and attractive (some more than others), use interchangeable lenses, and are said to be easy to use and yet powerful enough to be grown in to.
Below is a brief overview of the research I’ve done so far and what I’ve discovered to be the pros and cons of each rig. There is, of course, a huge amount of detailed information that I’m leaving out simply because there is no way I could go into all the bits and details and connect all the dots without writing volumes. This post is for those who also feel that their iPhone is no longer cutting it — hopefully I can give you a head start in your hunt.
(Note, links to Amazon are affiliate links. Buy something and I get a small kickback which in turn helps me keep on keepin’ on. Thanks!)
The GX1 came out towards the end of 2011 and over the past year it has built up an outstanding reputation. I have a few internet friends who own one and they love it. And every review I’ve read of it is quite positive. The build quality, image quality, and pocketability all are said to be superb.
It was due to the popularity of the GX1 that I became familiar with Mirrorless cameras in the first place. In fact, I knew so little about mirrorless cameras, I thought Mirrorless and Micro Four Thirds were synonymous. This, of course, is not exactly true. Yes all M4/3 cameras are mirrorless, but not all mirrorless cameras are M4/3.
Of all 4 different rigs I’ve boiled it down to, the GX1 is the least expensive. You can get it brand new with the kit lens for under $450 on Amazon. At this price, the GX1 seems like the obvious entry point into M4/3 cameras. But part of the reason I didn’t buy it a few months ago was because it’s rumored that Panasonic would announce the GX2 sometime in early November. I figured if I had gone this long without a good camera, I could wait a little longer.
In the process of waiting for either a significant update or a significant price drop, I began to research other cameras. I discovered there are a lot of options for someone in the market for a high-quality, portable, powerful camera.
As of this writing, the GX1 has become the last option on my list. In terms of size and image quality, it certainly seems to rival the other cameras I’ve researched, but for a few hundred more dollars you open up options to camera bodies that have some significant upgrades in their sensors, processors, feature set, and/or all of the above. The GX1 is certainly a steal of a deal, but my budget can afford me something a bit nicer and so that’s the direction I’m looking.
The Sony Alpha NEX series of cameras are renown for taking amazing images. I didn’t read a single review of the NEX-5, -5N, -5R, -6, or -7 that couldn’t be summed up in one word: “Wow!”
One of my favorite internet photography enthusiasts is Garrett Murray — I’m a huge fan of the style and look of the photos he takes. His website and Flickr stream have some outstanding real-life shots. This is the same sort of photography I’m hoping to grow in — not artsy fartsy shots, but just beautiful everyday shots from living life. Garrett uses an NEX-7. And so he was the original reason I’m even considering an NEX series camera.
Twitter pal, Dan Hawk bought the NEX-5N a while ago and is getting some incredible shots out of it. Like me, Dan was an iPhone photographer ready to move things up a notch. Dan’s review of the NEX-5N is very positive and seeing the results these cameras are producing really make the NEX line enticing to me.
If I were to get an NEX, I’d go with the NEX-6. It’s brand new and, just as the name so subtly hints at, it sits right in-between the NEX-5R and the NEX-7. The few reviews I’ve read say the NEX-6 is like the best of both worlds.
However, results aside, I’ve read that the NEX line is not as “fun” to use as cameras from Olympus (specifically, the OM-D EM-5). The NEX-6’s auto-focus, though fast, is not as fast as the Olympus (see below). And, perhaps the biggest issue of all for me, the NEX line has a relatively shallow selection of lenses. Also the Sony lenses are bulkier (because the NEX uses a bigger sensor), and they are not as affordable as many of the M4/3 lenses are.
Unfortunately, since I don’t have any experience using a camera I don’t know what differences between different cameras are going to be less or more important to me. Would the NEX-6’s “downsides” prove to be diminishing factors in my enjoyment and use of the camera? I don’t know.
One thing I do know, when you look at the images the NEX-5, -6, and -7 can produce, you too will say wow. But I just don’t see myself owning the NEX-6 and using it regularly. As much as I would love the quality of the images my gut tells me I wouldn’t be satisfied with the rig itself. The bigger and more expensive lenses, the dSLR-like size, and the semi-clunkiness of the software all are things that don’t fit into my definition of “the best camera for me”. As bitter of a pill as it is to swallow, I’m willing to get a camera with a slightly smaller sensor in a compromise for a camera that is smaller, more fun, and has a more robust ecosystem of lenses.
Speaking of wow, I have yet to read a bad word towards the Olympus OM-D E-M5. Based on all the reviews I’ve read, this is the top-of-the-line Micro Four Thirds camera; the best of the best; the cream of the crop (no pun intended).
It seems the E-M5 can do no wrong:
I kept wanting to put the E-M5 toe-to-toe with the NEX-6 and try to justify one over the other. This one has more lenses, that one has a bigger sensor, and so on. I could do that all day and never come to a conclusion. Both are clearly amazing cameras.
However, I will say this: of all the reviews I read of the E-M5, none of them had a big “but, if only…” at the end. In contrast, the NEX camera reviews always ended with: “But, if only there were a better lens selection.” Whereas the E-M5 reviews ended with: “man, this is a lot of fun to shoot with.”
Despite being such a killer camera, I have two problems with the E-M5: its price and its size. The E-M5 is a few hundred dollars more than I have to spend on a camera body, and it’s a body that seems to be just a little bit bigger than I would like (though, I say that with a grain of salt because I haven’t actually held it in my hand).
The E-PL5 is the brand-new model of the beloved PEN line from Olympus.
Everyone paying attention to the M4/3 world is raising an eyebrow when they hear about E-PL5. Because this new camera is not just the next iteration in the PEN line. It is more like a junior version of the E-M5. And that is saying a lot.
The E-PL5 has the same sensor and processor that has set the E-M5 apart as arguably the best M4/3 camera out there. The E-PL5 is sleek and packs a whole lot of punch. The fact that reviewers are all comparing the E-PL5 to the E-M5 is just nuts.
It’s not all apples-to-apples, though. When stacked up against the E-M5, the downsides to the E-PL5 are: (a) it doesn’t have a built-in viewfinder; and (b) it comes with a traditional image stabilizer, instead of the mind-boggling 5-axis image stabilization found in the E-M5.
Both of these downsides strike me as being fine compromises which, in exchange, allow the price of the E-PL5 to come down by several hundred dollars. And, what is most important in the E-M5 (speed and quality) has apparently not been compromised in the E-PL5. See for yourself: here’s an excellent Flickr gallery of images taken with the E-PL5 and Panasonic 20mm f/1.8 lens. And here’s a guy who shot an entire wedding with the E-PL5.
It’s a great looking camera and is very aggressively priced for the features it packs and the quality it’s obviously capable of producing.
As of this writing, the camera is still so new that the in-depth reviews of the E-PL5 from some of the more well known sites (such as Steve Huff and DP Review) are scarce. Nevertheless, this is the rig I’m leaning towards if only because it’s in such good company. Meaning, the predecessors to the E-PL5 (primarily the E-P3) are already so highly esteemed as being great and fun cameras, and the E-M5 is arguably the best Micro Four Thirds camera out there.
The E-PL5 seems to continue the quality, fun, and affordability that the PEN line is known for while combining that with the incredible speed and image quality that the E-M5 is known for.
This camera isn’t in the runnings for me. But it almost was. In the mirrorless world, the EOS M seems like the odd one out right now. It has the larger APS-C sensor that makes the NEX lineup so great and its kit lens is a 22mm f/1.8 pancake. It’s simple and sleek, and some of the sample photos I’ve seen look great. On the surface the EOS M seems like the perfect mirrorless camera for me.
But virtually nobody is talking about the EOS M. I didn’t even know that it existed except I stumbled across it on Amazon by accident. And those who are talking about it seem to be underwhelmed by it.
The more I found to read about it here and there, the more I learned that it has a few disadvantages that make it not all that great compared to the competition. For one, there are only 2 lenses specifically built for the EOS M. Of course, with an adapter you can fit just about any Canon glass on there, but you lose some of the auto focus functionality and the lens will then protrude even further from the camera. Really, the adapter is for those who already own Canon lenses (which is not me).
Another disadvantage of the Canon EOS M is its lack of image stabilization — neither the lenses nor the body have it. Moreover, some of the reports I read state that the auto-focus can take as long as 1-2 seconds. My iPhone is faster than that.
In short, Steve Huff’s impression of the Canon EOS M seem to mimic the general sentiment that I’ve read elsewhere in other previews and forums, that it’s “too little and too late.”
There is so much information to wade through I could compare sample images and opinions while charting side-by-side stats all day long. Actually, that’s pretty much exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks.
If you follow me on Twitter or App.net, you know I’ve been talking about this all week long. And I’ve received many replies from people who own one of the Sonys, or a GX1, or the E-M5, or a previous-model PEN, and everyone says they love their camera. In a way that’s been exceedingly helpful because it means I can’t really go wrong. But on the other hand, it’s been unhelpful because it means there is no clear winner.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a universal consensus that such-and-such camera is the best one and that’s it? But the truth is, all of the aforementioned cameras are excellent in their own ways and that is precisely why there is no universally renown best camera. There is no one-size-fits-all rig.
I decided to go with the Olympus E-PL5 (in black, of course) and the world-famous Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. Everything I’ve read about the E-PL5 seems to confirm it fits the definition of the best camera for me. And the Panasonic pancake is universally heralded as one of the few no-brainer lenses for anyone with a Micro Four Thirds camera.
Ultimately what’s most important to me is a camera that I will want to use and which while produce images I’m proud of. Friction (or rather, a lack thereof) is just as important as image quality because a $2,000 camera that takes jaw-dropping photos won’t do me any good if I leave it in the bag. This is why it’s the iPhone’s fault that I’m even in this mess: it’s the device that got me wanting to take photos in the first place.
Update: You can read my first impressions of the Olympus E-PL5 here.
Dustin Curtis:
If you’re an unreasonable person, trust me: the time it takes to find the best of something is completely worth it.
It’s not only “worth it” in the long run, it’s also fun. My wife often looks at me with a raised eyebrow when I’ve got (for example) a half-dozen loud and ugly keyboards sprawled out across my desk, in search of the one that sounds and feels the best. But for me, it’s not just about the end-goal of having the best product for the long haul — it’s also a fun journey of searching, discovering, learning, and playing.
The tips and tricks shows are becoming one of my favorites. This week Ben and I talk about Keyboard Maestro, giving an overview of how this app works and some of the basics for using it as well as some of the custom macros we use.
And thanks to Hoban Cards for sponsoring the show this week. Check them out for some top-notch, letterpress calling cards. It’s where I had mine made and I can vouch that the quality is exceptional.
It’s just after 9 o’clock in the morning, and Noah is down for his first nap of the day. The past couple of hours I’ve spent with him feeding him his breakfast of squashed up mango and banana, changing his diaper, rolling around on the living room floor with him, and holding him in my lap while we read kids books he doesn’t yet understand but likes to grab at the cardboard pages.
Yesterday, November 6, Anna and I took Noah with us to vote. Four years ago when the two of us voted in our first presidential election as a married couple, our little boy was just a thought — a dream of one day when we would eventually have kids. And in 4 years time, at the next election, Noah will no doubt be an older brother with a sibling or two.
Voting is an immeasurable privilege and honor. More than 115 million of us stood in lines all across America yesterday. Some came prepared with their cheat sheets, ready to pencil in every office, judge, amendment, and proposition exactly as they wanted. Some have been voting for decades, across a dozen presidencies and a few wars. Others cut their ballot-casting teeth for the first time yesterday.
Standing in line at the church down the road, the halls were crowded with all manner of folks. Our shared or differing political views aside, there was, as always, an unspoken sense of unity in that line. And that unity stretched through walls and precincts and states to the thousands of lines all around our nation. Most of us were more than willing to giving hours of our day to stand amongst strangers and exercise one of our greatest rights as free Americans.
Thinking about those who were in line with Anna and me, and all the other 115 million Americans who voted yesterday, I think it’s fair to say there is a common denominator amongst us all: we want what is best for our families.
As I sat down with my ballot and pencil in that crowded church room I had a single purpose: I was voting for my family. I voted with my son in mind, and our future children, because they will inherit the country we build for them.
But that country our children will live in is not built in whole through the aggregate of millions of ballots. Nor is their inheritance the responsibility of Washington.
I voted for the men and women who I felt most aligned with the values of my own life. Who I endorse in the privacy of my voting booth is just as important as the actions I endorse in the privacy of my own home.
I deeply want this great country to be led by men and women of character and conviction. Officials who will do what’s right and leave the fabric of these United States stronger than when they started their term. But it is not mostly up to them; it is mostly up to us.
It was, as always, an honor to have voted yesterday. But my civic duty is far from over. I want what is best for my son and what is best for this country. And, as you know, that goes beyond showing up to vote. I believe it starts with making my home a place where children grow up to be wise and strong and free.
Stephen Hackett’s review of the iPad mini:
The size makes the iPad mini feel much more like a digital notebook than the regular iPad ever could. I see myself carrying it with me far more often than I did with any previous iPad.
I think all of my Internet Nerd Friends who ordered an iPad mini have already given up their Retina display iPads for it.
My thanks to Igloo Software for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote Q.
* * *
Introducing Q, the latest update to Igloo’s cloud intranet platform.
Q brings a brand new calendar application to every Igloo customer. The new calendar is perfectly integrated with Igloo’s intranet platform, but also works with your favorite calendar applications. You can schedule events with support for time zone, recurrence, reminders and locations. You can even invite people inside or outside of your company, including RSVP status.
Because calendars are built right into Igloo’s platform, you get the same social tools on each event — like comments, attachments, ratings and audit trails — that you use with other Igloo applications, like blogs.
Learn more about the great new features Q adds to the Igloo platform or sign up for a free 30-day trial.
Dan Frommer:
My take after spending a bunch of the weekend with the iPad mini: This is the real iPad.
You could argue that the iPad Mini is what the iPad always wanted to be.
I have no doubt the iPad mini will soon be the “default” iPad even though it’s not the original. Just like the iPod touch is now the “default” iPod instead of the original classic with the click wheel. Out with the old, in with the new.
Continuing with this morning’s quote theme, here’s an app for storing your quotes. It’s a universal iOS app that syncs via iCloud. I’ve begun storing most of the quotable quotes I come across in this app and I love it. My only quibble is that there’s no Mac counterpart.
So long as we’re on the topic of quotable passages, the 18th edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations comes out tomorrow. I was given the 17th edition for Christmas several years ago by my crazy uncle, and it hasn’t left my desk-side since.
The first edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations was compiled by John Bartlett in 1855 and was a mere 258 pages thick. It’s now over 1,500 pages thick. You could kill a mouse with this book of interesting, inspirational, and memorable quotes. It also makes for a great reference when writing or for moseying through on a lazy afternoon.
It’s been 10 years since the last edition. This new version includes new quotes from new people including Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Emily Post, David Foster Wallace, and more. Nice.
In my review of the Amazon Kindle, one of my quibbles was how the passages I highlight are “locked in” on the device. Well, it turns out this isn’t true. (Thanks to Kindle Genius Scott McNulty for the tips and tricks.)
There are two ways you can access your highlights:
However, under my username in the top-right corner, is a link to “Manage Your Kindle“. Clicking on that sent me over to the Amazon page where I can fiddle with all the items in my Kindle Library. When I then went back to the Kindle Highlights page, all my highlights were now there. For some reason, clicking that link must have jogged the system.
It took about a week from when I bought my first iPad until I realized I would likely never buy a physical book again.
The iPad was to books what my first iPod was to music. It had been years since I’d bought a physical CD — all my music lives in iTunes and comes from the iTunes music store. So too would it now be with books. The convenience of being able to buy a book with a few taps, have it download instantly, and add it to my small-but-now-growing digital library was just too awesome of a perk.
My enjoyment for reading digital books evolved even more when, last year, I purchased my first Kindle. My reasoning for buying the Kindle Touch was mostly business. I wanted to review it, to get some experiential knowledge of what e-ink was like, and I wanted to compare the size and weight of the Kindle Touch to the iPad.
It took all of 10 minutes of reading on the Kindle Touch for me to regret the money I’d spent in the iBookstore up until that point. For long-form reading, the Kindle was obviously leaps and bounds better than the iPad, and now I was thinking about all the digital books I had bought on the iBookstore and how they were no good on the Kindle. The few books I was currently in the middle of reading on my iPad I bought again on the Kindle store and the rest is history.
Reading a book on a Kindle truly is a more enjoyable and relaxing experience than reading one on the iPad. There are the obvious, tangible advantages: the Kindle is easily held for long periods of time with one hand and the e-ink display is easier on the eyes. But there are also the less obvious, intangible advantages: when you’re holding a Kindle there are no other apps, no other options of things to do, no distractions sitting impatiently behind the text before you, no notifications, or any of that.
The Kindle is a single-serving device. It’s meant to offer all the niceties of reading print, enhanced by all the luxuries of a digital device. It’s as light as a paperback book, the screen looks like printed ink on paper, but it can hold a massive library and you can buy a book with just a few taps without even getting up from your chair.
The only significant quibble I had with the Kindle Touch was its non-illuminated display. I do most of my reading in the evenings on the couch and/or in bed. Often when reading in bed the lights are out, and thus I’ve become a regular user of the Kindle app for my iPad.
Which is why, when the Kindle Paperwhite was announced, I ordered one immediately.
Not all the gadgets I buy to review continue to get used after I’ve written about them. But my Kindle Touch proved to be something I use all the time. After a month with the new Kindle Paperwhite, I consider it to be superior to its predecessor in every way.
For one, the Kindle Paperwhite just looks cooler than the Kindle Touch. It’s the most attractive Kindle to date. The front of the bezel is a semi-gloss black plastic with nothing but the Kindle logo centered in silver.
The Kindle logo used to be on the top-most bezel, and on the bottom-most bezel is where there used to be a Home button. The Kindle logo has now been moved to the bottom and the Home button has been removed. It’s obvious that Amazon was going for ultra-simplicity in the design of the Paperwhite; it’s a shame they didn’t remove the front logo altogether.
(I will say that the missing Home button hasn’t bothered me one bit. It is quite easy to get to the Home screen through the software menu, and for how infrequently I visit the Home screen of my Kindle I’m fine with an even simpler front bezel design.)
On the bottom edge you’ll find the only port and the only button: a micro-USB port and the power/wake/sleep button. On the Kindle Touch, the very bottom also sported a speaker. I never once used that speaker except during testing, and so I’m glad to see Amazon removed it on the Paperwhite.
The back of the Kindle is black and sports a matte, slightly-rubbery, grippy plastic which bends around the side and top edges and meets the front bezel with a single seam. There are no screws or clips on the whole device. It’s lightweight, easy to hold, and built very well. It is the nicest non-Apple “tablet” I own.
But the refinements to the hardware are only the beginning. The higher-contrast screen with its higher DPI looks better than previous Kindles. And, best of all, the screen is now illuminated. This was the whole reason I popped for another Kindle despite the fact I had a perfectly good one that was less than a year old. Because, as I mentioned above, the Kindle Touch’s lack of an illuminated screen was actually a hindrance to me using it as often as I wanted to.
Moreover, the Paperwhite’s screen itself sits closer to the rim of the bezel. Or, put another way, it’s not sunken down into the device as much. And even the touch responsiveness is faster. Perhaps this is due to hardware upgrades to the internals, or perhaps it’s due to the software that the Kindle Paperwhite is running. It’s probably a combination of both.1
In addition to being more responsive, the new version of software running on the Paperwhite is easier to use. The new cover view on the Home screen is so much nicer than the list view. Also, you can now view the books you have on your device and all the books you’ve ever purchased, but that are in the cloud and not currently downloaded.
All these little changes really add up to a great device. But, of course, the Kindle Paperwhite is not perfect.
John Gruber, in his review of the Paperwhite wrote:
To remain relevant in an iPad (and Kindle Fire) world, a single-purpose device like the Kindle Paperwhite needs an obsessive focus on the reading experience. Page-turning buttons would make that experience better.
Another disadvantage of the Kindle Paperwhite’s lack of physical page-turn buttons is that you cannot rest your thumb on the screen. If you tap the screen on accident you end up turning the page. If you leave your thumb resting on the screen then you end up highlighting a word.
In the countless hours I’ve spent reading on my Kindle, a touch screen seems so obvious. It makes highlighting passages and looking up definitions a breeze, as well as navigating the Home screen and other menus. The inability to rest my thumb on the screen is only an issue when reading while lying down on my back. And so to me it’s worth having the touchscreen of the Paperwhite than the non-touchscreen of the Kindle 5 (especially since the Paperwhite now has a crisper, illuminated display).
Ultimately, my ideal Kindle would be smart enough to know when I’m resting my thumb on the screen and when I’m trying to highlight a passage or define a word. And it would have physical buttons for turning pages.
This is common. All the Paperwhites have it and nobody likes it. The darker your reading environment, the more pronounced the uneven lighten is. It’s unfortunate for sure, but it is what it is and by no means is it a deal breaker.
There’s no reason Amazon can’t offer ragged-right text alignment. I second John Gruber’s vote for Amazon to hire a world-class book designer and put him on the Kindle product team.
Right now, the only way I know of to get a highlighted passage from my Kindle to my Mac is to share that passage via Twitter and then copy/paste the passage onto my Mac. It’s unfortunate that I cannot access my Clippings via the Amazon website, nor can I email a highlighted passage to myself.
Update: Thanks to everyone who has let me know kindle.amazon.com/your_highlights should show me all my highlighted passages. Alas, it lists nothing for me. I’ve contacted Amazon Customer Support to see about that. In the meantime, I also learned that if I plug my Kindle in and put it in USB mode then in the device’s Documents folder there is a My Clippings.txt file. (Thanks, Scott!)
Last year I bought the version of the Kindle Touch with Special Offers and I never paid the $20 to turn them off. The ads don’t bother me much — I usually just have the Kindle resting face down — and there have been a few times where there’s a deal that I’m actually interested in and I get a book for a buck, or something like that.
The Kindle is in the same category of gadget as my Apple TV. Both are great gadgets that I use often and seem like a steal at their relatively inexpensive prices.
The Kindle Paperwhite has a lot going for it: the e-ink screen, million-year battery life, illuminated display, improved software, the iOS Kindle apps that sync with my iPad and iPhone, and the lightweight yet rugged build of the device hardware. The biggest compliment I can give the Kindle is that thanks to it, I read more books and I read more often.
I emailed Amazon to ask if the Kindle Touch would get the 5.2 software update but I got a non-reply about how Amazon has made no announcements for future firmware versions of the Kindle. ↵
This week Ben and I tackled your guys’ tough questions. We answered question about Pinboard, budgeting and tech purchases, Apple Care, upgrades, the Apple news beat, and more.
Brought to you by the new Doxie One: a better way to go paperless.
My slow, relentless march to appear on every show in the 70Decibels network continues as this week I was asked to be a guest on The 512 Podcast. (And I don’t even have an agent.) Stephen Hackett and I talked about the iPad mini, the Microsoft Surface RT and my trip to a Microsoft Store last week, the Iron Man 3 trailer, and Disney’s new ownership of Star Wars.
