Good news: Kindle reader is now available for Android phones.
I had a couple of free but boring Kindle books already downloaded, so I splurged at bought a $0.99 book by Don Brown (NOT Dan Brown) called Treason.
My friend Peter, who reads lots of books on his iPod, has been educating me about Don's books and similar other thillers which are put out by Christian publishing companies.
They are actually usually light on the Christianity parts, embedded here and there, and have a LOT of violence. But no sex.
And they are often very inexpensive and sometimes even free.
According to Peter (I haven't checked myself :-)), some of these same authors also have books from other publishers and in those, sex is definitely allowed.
Bodice rippers are also common free items on Kindle and now iBooks. I downloaded one and am amazed that I really did read these things as a teenager. I also used to love s'mores.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Photo Geotagging
I haven't been taking as many pictures the last few years and so I had taken my eye off one of the nicest developing features: Geotagging.
Very simply, this is a way to use GPS information to identify where a picture was taken. It can be done manually, using applications like Picasa to add the information, or - hurray - it can be added automatically.
The Android platform cameras add the geotag if you set that to be your preference (it is the default, I believe). iPhone will also do this.
There does seem to be a hitch in that you need to make sure your device can be located first. I notice that about 2/3 of my pictures aren't tagged.
There are also SD card that have both wifi and geotagging built right onto the card. I have ordered one from Eye-Fi to use in my Canon camera.
I'll report on that later!
Meanwhile, using Picasa to group pictures and use the map panel to locate a spot works fairly well for manual adding. Then when you share the album or pictures, the geotag panel shows up when you click on that photograph. Not bad.
Very simply, this is a way to use GPS information to identify where a picture was taken. It can be done manually, using applications like Picasa to add the information, or - hurray - it can be added automatically.
The Android platform cameras add the geotag if you set that to be your preference (it is the default, I believe). iPhone will also do this.
There does seem to be a hitch in that you need to make sure your device can be located first. I notice that about 2/3 of my pictures aren't tagged.
There are also SD card that have both wifi and geotagging built right onto the card. I have ordered one from Eye-Fi to use in my Canon camera.
I'll report on that later!
Meanwhile, using Picasa to group pictures and use the map panel to locate a spot works fairly well for manual adding. Then when you share the album or pictures, the geotag panel shows up when you click on that photograph. Not bad.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Have PMS Will Travel
Ah - time to plan a summer trip to Vermont.
I'm just itching to dig into the TV and internet issues, but first I have to get there.
Getting there means usually flying to Boston and then renting a car. I hope no one is surprised that renting a car for 2.5 weeks in the summer out of Boston costs about twice as much as the plane ticket.
First: plane
At the end of April I flew to Boston from SFO on JetBlue.
I actually prefer to fly red eyes because I cannot stand to lose a day sitting in the air, even though I love looking out the windows. When you fly the red eye, everyone settles in and sleeps. Bathroom trips are minimal for one and all. Even the children chill out for a few hours.
The best deal for that trip required flying first to Long Beach, CA from SFO, and from there to Boston.
The flight from SFO was packed, of course, and the entire crew seemed to be suffering from a sort of PMS I really hadn't quite experienced even in these days of enhanced security and tension.
We were told multiple times during the boarding process that our bags MUST fit under the seat in front of us. AND if our bags didn't fit, we would be TOLD to make them fit - or else. This was repeated multiple times.
The rest of the blessedly short flight went along these lines. We were reminded NOT to get up and go to the bathrooms no matter how badly we needed to if the seat belt light was on. Then when I had the nerve to ask for orange juice during drink service, I was informed that we had all been told - multiple times! - that the options were: Pepsi, Diet-Pepsi, Sprite, and Water. Period! After waving my hands a bit, a small water was tossed into my lap.
Long Beach turns out to be a tiny airport and the boarding area was tiny with about 8 flights waiting for boarding in a space about 1,500 square feet.
However, the trip to Boston from there and back to SFO was flawless. We were not harangued beyond the normal admonitions and the passengers - except for a few elicit bathroom trips - seemed to be resigned to compliance without additional reminers.
And now I am once again booking with JetBlue. Happily they have renewed non-stops to Boston from San Jose so we can give Long Beach a miss this time around.
As a clarification: why to Boston if I'm going to Vermont?
1. Lots of family in Boston, where I was born.
2. Only 3.5 hours drive to our place
3. Longer and more expensive to fly into Manchester, NH or Burlington (probably cheaper cars) which are still at least 90 minutes from Greensboro.
I used to prefer to fly into Montreal until I almost got left behind due to overbooking on the way back to California. Realizing that there were no more CA flights until the next day and tired of explaining why - as a US citizen - I was headed the wrong way over the border with a Canadian rental car, I re-opted for Boston.
And cars. Cars usually cost 2x the price of the air ticket.
Last summer, I chose the cheapest possible option: Dollar.
Taking the Dollar van from the terminal, we rolled by all the other rental cars lots and then turned down an alley way, crowded with weeds and an abandoned car leaning on the left side.
The rental counter was staffed by young people in flip flops, shorts and a variety of Dollar t-shirts. The carpet was stained and an aroma filled the air.
Right across the street, I could see Hertz. I felt like an illegal immigrant on the Mexican boarder, looking at paradise a few feet away.
My designated car had so many dents and dings that we gave up on noting them all. Half way to New Hampshire, I realized that the cover for the fuses next to my left knee was missing.
To be fair, the car gave me no trouble although the tobacco smell drove me a bit nuts.
This year, I'm renting from Hertz.
I'm just itching to dig into the TV and internet issues, but first I have to get there.
Getting there means usually flying to Boston and then renting a car. I hope no one is surprised that renting a car for 2.5 weeks in the summer out of Boston costs about twice as much as the plane ticket.
First: plane
At the end of April I flew to Boston from SFO on JetBlue.
I actually prefer to fly red eyes because I cannot stand to lose a day sitting in the air, even though I love looking out the windows. When you fly the red eye, everyone settles in and sleeps. Bathroom trips are minimal for one and all. Even the children chill out for a few hours.
The best deal for that trip required flying first to Long Beach, CA from SFO, and from there to Boston.
The flight from SFO was packed, of course, and the entire crew seemed to be suffering from a sort of PMS I really hadn't quite experienced even in these days of enhanced security and tension.
We were told multiple times during the boarding process that our bags MUST fit under the seat in front of us. AND if our bags didn't fit, we would be TOLD to make them fit - or else. This was repeated multiple times.
The rest of the blessedly short flight went along these lines. We were reminded NOT to get up and go to the bathrooms no matter how badly we needed to if the seat belt light was on. Then when I had the nerve to ask for orange juice during drink service, I was informed that we had all been told - multiple times! - that the options were: Pepsi, Diet-Pepsi, Sprite, and Water. Period! After waving my hands a bit, a small water was tossed into my lap.
Long Beach turns out to be a tiny airport and the boarding area was tiny with about 8 flights waiting for boarding in a space about 1,500 square feet.
However, the trip to Boston from there and back to SFO was flawless. We were not harangued beyond the normal admonitions and the passengers - except for a few elicit bathroom trips - seemed to be resigned to compliance without additional reminers.
And now I am once again booking with JetBlue. Happily they have renewed non-stops to Boston from San Jose so we can give Long Beach a miss this time around.
As a clarification: why to Boston if I'm going to Vermont?
1. Lots of family in Boston, where I was born.
2. Only 3.5 hours drive to our place
3. Longer and more expensive to fly into Manchester, NH or Burlington (probably cheaper cars) which are still at least 90 minutes from Greensboro.
I used to prefer to fly into Montreal until I almost got left behind due to overbooking on the way back to California. Realizing that there were no more CA flights until the next day and tired of explaining why - as a US citizen - I was headed the wrong way over the border with a Canadian rental car, I re-opted for Boston.
And cars. Cars usually cost 2x the price of the air ticket.
Last summer, I chose the cheapest possible option: Dollar.
Taking the Dollar van from the terminal, we rolled by all the other rental cars lots and then turned down an alley way, crowded with weeds and an abandoned car leaning on the left side.
The rental counter was staffed by young people in flip flops, shorts and a variety of Dollar t-shirts. The carpet was stained and an aroma filled the air.
Right across the street, I could see Hertz. I felt like an illegal immigrant on the Mexican boarder, looking at paradise a few feet away.
My designated car had so many dents and dings that we gave up on noting them all. Half way to New Hampshire, I realized that the cover for the fuses next to my left knee was missing.
To be fair, the car gave me no trouble although the tobacco smell drove me a bit nuts.
This year, I'm renting from Hertz.
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