Toys

Amazon is announcing its second generation Kindle next month. What, you may ask, is a Kindle? A Kindle is an electronic book reader. It uses e-ink, which looks more like ink than like the pixels of a computer screen. E-ink is actually easier to read in bright light, and is easy on the eyes. What's it good for? Its primary value is its subscriptions-- books, magazines, newspapers. Subscribe to the Wall Street Journal for $10 per month. Subscribe to the San Francisco Chronicle for $6 per month. Buy the latest Douglas Hofstadter book for $11. Monica likes it because it eliminates "clutter". I thrive in old newspapers, but with the Kindle, old newspapers are actually easier to read due to their indexed, searchable electronic format. The really nice feature is for when you are not at home. The newspapers still find you over the Sprint wireless network, which I can vouch works in rural Iowa.



My other favorite toy is the Nokia 800, a handheld WiFi device that works as a Skype phone, Internet browser, Internet radio player and MP3 device. WiFi is at the Twins games. I can check the lineup even when they are blaring commercials through the Metrodome. WiFi is in my house. I can carry the Nokia from room to room and listen to KALX Berkeley all of the time. (MLB uses an evil proprietary format for their audio broadcasts, or I would use the Nokia to listen to baseball games as well.)

Kittens with strings? No. These are two of my favorite things.