Books, Music and Movies

Tablet Battle: Amazon’s Kindle Fire vs Barnes & Noble’s Nook

During the holiday season, many tech-oriented shoppers will be scrutinizing the market for the best valued tablet. While most analysts point to the iPad as the pinnacle of current tablet design and functionality, consumers have one big beef with the product: its price. The iPad 2 starts at a whopping $499, a price that most consumers simply can’t afford in this economy. So let’s set aside the iPad 2 and consider some of the more economical tablet options for the holiday shopping season. Of course there are the other most talked about tablets to consider, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Now that both tablets have been released, analysts expect the competition between the two to be fierce since they come in at similar price points and offer comparable features. But which of these tablets would work best for you, dear consumer?

Kindle Owners’ Lending Library

Kindle Owner's Lending Library Amazon announced a new benefit for Kindle owners that have an Amazon Prime membership called the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library.

Those eligible can choose from thousands of books to borrow up to a book a month with no due dates and no additional cost as a value-add to the Amazon Prime membership.

The Amazon Prime membership remains $79 a year, which gives you free two-day shipping on millions of products, plus unlimited instant streaming of almost 13,000 movies and TV shows.

Automatic Guitar Tuner Tunes Guitar Perfectly Every Time

If you don’t mind having the ‘fun’ taken out of tuning up your guitar, then this little gizmo should save you a lot of time – a robotic guitar tuner. This isn’t just a simple device that tells you whether your current tuning is too flat or too sharp, it actually listens and then tunes your guitar automatically! The motor inside it knows exactly how far to turn your tuning peg to get the perfect sound.

More info in the video below:

Book cover of Paul Allen's "Idea Man"

Book Review: Paul Allen’s Memoir: Idea Man

Book cover of Paul Allen's "Idea Man" One of the co-founders of Microsoft along with Bill Gates, Paul Allen is one of the richest men in the United States and the world, and he recently wrote an autobiography called Idea Man.

Over half the book is devoted to his early life and inevitably his time at Microsoft. The rest of the book is devoted to his life after Microsoft particularly his varied Investments and and contributions to arts and music and sports.

While other headlines blared that the book slammed Bill Gates, I don’t see it that way. From everything I’ve read about Gates’ personality, Allen was just recounting the same almost matter-of-factly. If anything, he was almost complimentary and in admiration of Gates’ living-on-the-edge personality, although he probably reacted in consternation more so than anything else.

EgoBook sample

Review: EgoBook – a Glossy Hardcopy Version of Your Facebook Profile

EgoBook sampleAddicted to Facebook? Can’t get enough? Perhaps wondering what happens to all of those interactions and photos and comments if one day Facebook goes away? Or would just like a more ‘permanent’ version of it all?

You’re in luck. A 3rd-party developer has created a Facebook app called EgoBook that creates a real hard-copy book based on your Facebook profile. I created my very own EgoBook (courtesy of the developer) to see how it turned out.

Nook and Kindle

Should You Buy a Knock-Off Brand eReader?

Nook and KindleA reader wrote in to ask our advice on whether they should buy a lesser-known eReader from a website selling directly from China and we felt the answer was worthy of sharing with everyone (you can ignore if you already have this subject covered).

Our reader wanted to know if they should consider buying an iBex tablet from a Chinese ‘sourcing’ company called ChinaGrabber. Sourcing companies essentially sell products made in China that are typically knock-offs or variations of popular items.

Scroll to Top