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:

• If you go to kindle.amazon.com you can view all your highlighted passages. At first, I was unaware that this site even existed. And then, when I did log in, it was showing no highlights for me.

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.

• If you plug your Kindle into your computer it will go into USB mode. From there you can view the files on your Kindle from the Mac’s Finder. Navigate to /Documents/My Clippings.txt and guess what? It’s a text file with all your highlights. Open it up, select all, copy, and then paste into a new document and you’re done.

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.

Jim Dalrymple:

I was really surprised with how much I used the iPad mini in my daily routine — more than the 10-inch iPad.

I use my 3rd-gen iPad a lot. Around the house and during my work day I do a lot of reading in Instapaper, Reeder, Safari, and Mail. And when I travel, I usually take just the iPad — it’s my laptop replacement.

The iPad mini is the first iOS device (iPod touch not included) that I haven’t pre-ordered or waited in line for. Partly because I’m prejudice against that non-Retina display, but also because I just don’t see the iPad mini being worth it for me. As an additional device to use for reading and Web browsing around the house it seems like a superfluous expense, and as a full-on replacement for my current iPad it seems like it would be a downgrade as my laptop replacement.

Great review:

It’s really light and easy to hold one-handed. The hardware design — chamfered edges, less tapered back, metal rather than plastic buttons — strikes me as better, more elegant, than that of the full-size iPad 3/4. But it’s disappointing to go non-retina after using the retina iPad for the last seven months. All of the accolades and advantages of retina displays work in reverse. I adore the size and form factor of the iPad Mini, but I also adore the retina display on my full-size iPad. My ideal iPad would be a Mini with a retina display.

That is pretty much exactly what I expected to read in all the reviews — the iPad mini is awesome, but if only it had a Retina display. However, Gruber surprised me in his concluding section.

And, as an aside, despite the style used by Apple, John insists on capitalizing “Mini”, just like he has when writing “Mac Mini”.

I’m a huge fan of the video reviews. The style and pacing is very well done.

Alan Taylor’s In Focus blog has a few dozen images showing the flooding and blackouts from last night’s storm.

My thanks to Tyler Hall for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote VirtualHostX. Tyler was a sponsor last year which is when I first learned about VirtualHostX, and in the process I became quite impressed. This week it’s on sale: $15 off for shawnblanc.net readers.

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VirtualHostX 3.0 is the easiest way to host multiple websites on your Mac. It’s the perfect solution for web designers working on more than one project at a time. (Aren’t we all?) No more nesting folders or asking the programmer across the cubicle for help. With VirtualHostX you can easily create and manage Apache virtual hosts with just a few clicks.

Hardware-wise the Nexus 4 sounds very impressive, with a screen that rivals the iPhone 5 and a very cool idea for the back:

Oh, and the back is made of glass — etched, layered glass that sparkles with a strange, almost holographic depth.

However, the Nexus 4 doesn’t have LTE and the phone will only be available direct from Google or through T-Mobile:

Google has decided to forgo stricter carrier partnerships in the US, which for now means that the company will only offer the device as an unlocked HSPA+ phone. That’s a bit of a crushing blow to many, who expected Google’s next flagship phone to go toe-to-toe with the iPhone 5 and the latest crop of Windows Phone devices.

Holy smokes. Slide the bar from left to right to see the difference in size.

If you go to the front page of Amazon.com right now, you’ll see a feature chart comparing the iPad mini to the Kindle Fire HD (via DF). It reminds me of last year when Amazon search results for “iPad” gave you to promotional page comparing the Kindle Fire to the iPad 2.

Daniel Jalkut wrote a smart piece on why Amazon has to take the role of attacking the iPad:

I see this as a rare example of concession on Amazon’s part. Traditionally when the company discovers they are not the best in a market they wish to dominate, they acquire the stunning leader and integrate the advantages. Here they are going up against Apple, which happens to be both the largest company in the world and also the most inimitable hardware designer. Amazon can’t buy it, and Amazon can’t copy it.

As for Amazon’s comparison chart itself, what strikes me is that it’s conveying some information which is misrepresented and could be interpreted as false:

• To say that the iPad mini has “No HD movies or TV” makes it sound as if the iPad mini does not have access to that content. The truth is that 1080p and 720p video is scaled down. And though the Kindle Fire HD can play 720p video at native resolution, it has to scale down 1080p video.

• Leaving a blank space where Wi-Fi is makes it seem as if the iPad mini doesn’t have Wi-Fi at all. That’s not true.

Be sure to check out Rene Ritchie’s updated version of Amazon’s chart.

The New York Times lifted their news paywall for Hurricane Sandy and has this web page to which they’re posting live updates about evacuation zones, floodings, and other news. Jason Kottke is also keeping an updated web page with mostly NYC-centric info.