Daves Personal Blog

This, the beginning of 2010, has already heralded a few announcements of new eBook Readers at CES.  Alex was touted about, the Nook is still back-ordered, Sony has the Daily Edition and more.

I recently picked up the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, so I could use it as an ebook reader.  Well I’ve had it a little under 24 hours and have been very frustrated with it so far.  What this thing can do is LIMITLESS, with android and the Internet..  I thought this could be a contender for any ebook reader.  It’s small, it has an awesome screen.  It has an eBook reader.  It has Multimedia capabilities and WiFi.

My hopes were violently trashed as I tried to setup this device.  First, I could connect to WiFi on my home network, but I couldn’t actually get anywhere.  Due to this fact, I had to download the newest firmware manually and side load it into the device.  The update was easy and no problem have happened there.  With new firmware in hand, I try WiFi again.. Still no network connection, regardless that it has a local IP.

I took this device to work and was FINALLY able to connect to the WiFi network.  Now, mind you, I have another WiFi device sitting right next to it (my iPhone).  Both had a network connection, however the Archos would continually DROP the wifi connection, forcing me to manually reconnect every time.  I was able to get to the Internet, update Appslib (Archos’ Android Marketplace) and download the eBook Reader (Aldiko).  However, 70% of the time (with an active WiFi Connection) I was getting a “Network Error”

Archos 5 Reading a Book

Once I finally got my eBooks on this device, they look wonderful.  I did however have issues of the device just shutting itself off, and having to reboot, clear cache and restart what I was doing.

All the issues I am having with this device is thinking, I should just return this and wait for the Alex, or maybe get the  Nook. The reason I got this device, was that it was the same price as the nook, I thought it would do it all.. but more and more I’m just getting frustrated!

I figure, by the end of this year, I’ll have tried EVERY popular eBook reader, in my futile attempt at the perfect reader.

More to come…

Okay.. So for a while, I’ve been watching the eBook front.

Heck I even bought a Kindle DX, but have since returned it.  I’ll explain a few things I’ve found out doing some research and reading on the net.

Now the kindle.  The kindle was a nice piece of kit, it was big it had a keyboard.. it was nice.  The only thing, I didn’t like exactly how it worked with PDF’s.  But the rest was nice, the wireless was nice, however I usually had it turned off.  e-Ink and display were nice, and of course, it’s amazon.

Now, after doing some reading on the Nook, I’ve found out.. Yes it has a native PDF reader but you can’t annotate PDF’s.  Well that kind of bites.  I was also able to play around with the hardware a bit at B&N tonight.  The display was nice, it did seem a little sluggish when refreshing, but I don’t expect it super speedy.  The color screen seemed.. cumbersome.  It mis-registered finger clicks, the swiping action, when I was using it, reset the swipe every time I tried to swipe the list of options .. So I would swipe up, and the option my finger was under popped to the bottom, and then screened up.. I had to do this 4 times, before I got a “page”.  That kinda put me off.

Now after reading about the Sony 600 Touch, and playing with it quickly at target, I seem to like the interface on that a bit.  Wireless is not a deal breaker for me, but would be a nice touch.  The screen was nice and quick, and it responded well to finger swipes and touches.  I have read online that the Sony Reader allows annotations in PDF’s (Nook and Kindle do NOT), which I think is a selling point for me.. I plan on keeping alot of my books on the SD cards anyway (the Kindle does not take SD cards, the nook takes microSD cards, but you have to take the back off to load it, above the SIM Card).

I have a SD card full of PDF’s I’d like to try, but Targets display blocked the SD Slot.  Best Buy’s display took the SD card and said “Reading Card” but the display unit wouldn’t go out of “Demo” mode, so I’m going to have to ask the staff if they will allow me to see a demo unit that works.  But for the buck, at this time I’d pick the 600 at this time for my styles of eReader.  The Sony has more options of “reading” formats, it has the nice touch and (from what I hear) good PDF support.  I’m sure Sony will come out with a wireless enabled device next year (pending contracts I’m sure).  However, Alex, iLiad and the Que readers coming out next year.  So I’m trying to decide if I should wait, or use Best Buys return policy to “try” the Sony Reader.  It’s on sale ( or was today ) for 20$ off.

If I decide to try the Sony, I will definitely have a review here, stay tuned.

UPDATE: I just found out that the eReader Daily Edition (which launches next week, the 18th), is 100$ more and offers 3G wireless (AT&T) and still a touch screen.  All in a 7″ reader.  Might be a contender.

Well it’s been a few weeks since my last post.

During that time, I’ve had a few more small occurrences of my vertigo and something else, no one can seem to figure out.  I’ve had this problem for almost a month now, CT Scan was normal, more tests to come.. there are good days and there are bad days.  I just wish there were more good days.

On a lighter note, I’ve recently picked up a sock knitting book, hopefully I can get to this sometime soon.. the problem I have is finding good sock yarn.  I’m looking for a nice set of yarn, also I’m looking for some Red/White self striping yarn as well.. I checked knit picks and a few other places, but have not been able to find some.

As well, I’ve finally got all the books in the InkSpell trilogy.  I’m hoping to start those soon, however I’m really slow in reading, so it might be a while yet before I get them started.
After that I’m hoping that I can get the Alosha Series to read that, book #2 of that series, is really hard to find.. so I hope I can find that.

On the forseable future, I have a few web projects that are closing down here soon.  As well, I have a new LW projects (maybe silo too) that I want to start up, I have a friend that’s going to help me with this one.  Maybe two friends.

Not much more new to report right now, however, still got more med tests and more doctors to tell me, “We don’t see anything wrong”.

Well another year has gone by, yes yesterday was my Birthday (yay Bastille Day).  I think I’m starting to feel the 32 years I’ve been around, as will be witnessed by what I’m talking about this week..

First, let me just say, that I love fried foods.  Moz Sticks, Provago Wheels, French Fries, Donuts.. it doesn’t matter, I’ll eat just about anything fried.  So, what better way to merge two of my favorite things, into one.  I found a “Fried Twinkie” recipe on the interwebs and thought I’d try it out.  I’ve heard these are supposed to be the bomb-diggity, so why not.

Okay .. Let me just say, this was the WORST food for you ever.  This thing, I’m sure, would kill a rhino!  The batter was good, the gooey-ness of the twinkie inside was awesome.  However, the heaviness of this thing I could tell was just choking off my arteries.  It was a pretty good treat.. but the recipe called for making 6, and no one else would try them, so I felt compelled to eat three of these things… needless to say I was sick for the rest of the night!

Next, can I just say that I used to LOVE wrestling, when I was a kid.  WWF, WWE or whatever it’s called now, I can see kids enjoying for entertainment value till about their 20’s (past that, I dunno).  I myself, do not consider myself a sportsman by any means either.  Loathe most of the normal sports (basketball, baseball, bad-mitten, what have you).  But let me just say if you EVER get the chance to see a bout of roller derby, DO IT.  This was the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my life.  These girls were good sports and they worked HARD at what they do.  You wouldn’t think that skating for 20 minutes at a time is very taxing, but just go watch these girls work out.  It was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen since ABC’s Wipeout.  And our girls trounced the Chicago Crew by 70 points.  I’m definitely hooked, and think I will be getting tickets for every bout that I can!

Finally, on the gaming front, I finished Ghostbusters (on my birthday) on the casual “portion” of the game.  The game was pretty awesome, and I will have a review coming here soon for that, but I would suggest it to anyone who liked the movie, was just as funny.  Good to know that Aykroyd has not lost his touch!