Month: September 2010

Kindle for the web

I think for those who care about eBooks, especially for those using Kindle to read ebooks, you probably know that you can read the ebook from Amazon in many platforms such as PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. However, you will probably wonder how you can read / preview an ebook within a browser, or a blog.

Wait no further, Amazon.com today introduced the beta version of “Kindle for the Web”, which enables people to read and share digital book samples in their browsers without the need to install or download anything.

Kindle for the web

I found it is the perfect way to recommend the books I like, instead of just a name or a book cover image … for example, the first chapter of the one I recently finished – Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.

http://kindleweb.s3.amazonaws.com/app/KindleReader-min.jsKindleReader.LoadSample({containerID: ‘kindleReaderDiv’, asin: ‘B003JTHXN6’, width: ‘680’, height: ‘600’, assoctag: ’80dayscom-20′});

The best ebook reader

“What’s the best ebook reader in the market ?”, “What’s the best ebook reader for me ?”, “Is iPad better than Kindle ?” … I asked myself these questions many many times in recent months, and I found the answer today.

As you can see from the photo below, I can read an ebook with Kindle, or applications of Kindle for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows. I found the Kindle for iPhone is great, just the screen is too small. The Kindle for iPad is also great, just it is too heavy, and you cannot read it under direct sunlight. iPad is perfect for reading eMagazine and casual reading, but to read a good and lengthy book ? No thanks.

And what about the Kindle applications for Mac, Windows, or even Blackberry and Android ? All these are good, but I know I will not take my Mac and my Windows laptop with me all the time; and I don’t have a Blackberry and Android phones (yet). So back to the questions … and there is only one answer:

“The best ebook reader is the one that’s with me.”

In other word the best ebook reader, to me, is the Kindle – as it is always travel with me. May be I will get a new one to replace the Kindle 2 (say, Kindle 4 when they support touch screen or Unicode), but for now, really it is the best. However, if iPad is the one device that always with you … good, it is the best eReader for you – just don’t let other people sell you the Kindle story.

By the way, how did I find the answer today ? I looked at the Shanghai photos I made recently, with my trusty Olympus E-P1 camera and then I reckon …

“The best camera is the one that’s with you.”.

Various eReaders

Shanghai, Shanghai

Not the first time to visit Shanghai and certainly will not be the last. Like many famous cities around the world, Shanghai is a photographer’s paradise. This huge city’s  landscape practically changes every few months, but there are still lots of traditional buildings scatter around. If you want to see what an awakened dragon look alike, then go to Shanghai to check it out … seeing is believing.

Some recent photos of the great city – Shanghai. Photos shot by Olympus E-P1, with lens Lumix 20 mm or Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18 mm.

Life is not fair, get used to it

There is an urban legend in Internet for years that billionaire Mr. Bill Gates spoke to a group of students about the 11 rules of life. I think whether those rules are really from Mr. Gates is not important at all, what matters is the meaning behind these.

These are the rules that I hope all students, youngsters, newbies in the job market can study carefully and learn from it. These are also the rules that explain why we believe the only way to success (and to get respected) is to work hard, extremely hard.

I can appreciate life is not easy, but life is never easy and no one promised you that in the first place (my boss always reminds me that). I also believe every one of you can overcome all your life obstacles, as long as you don’t whine about those, but keep going … don’t stop !!

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

Here is the slide deck of the 11 rules of life.

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=bill-gates-life-is-not-fair-get-used-to4528&stripped_title=bill-gates-life-is-not-fair-get-used-to

What to share and what your friends all care about ?

WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, Linkedin, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Plurk, Foursquare, Gowalla … there are so many “networking” sites in Internet that you can access everyday from your laptop, cafe PCs and your mobile devices. Many times I ask myself why I want to share with my friends or a total stranger of what I am thinking, where I am and how to resolve some tricky problems.

I think the answer is simple, because many of us want to be a part of larger group, a good cause, or simply of something you care.

Not a frequent blogger, twitter myself but every time I want to post something on these social networks, I can’t help but to ask myself what the purpose of that blog post, tweet, news, or location is ? The information may be about Kindle, iPhone, photography, Information technology, web usability, food but the bottom line is – will my “friends” or “followers” benefit from it ? If not, then why post ?

Couple of days ago when I was reading the book Delivering Happiness : A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, a picture popped up in my mind.

That was, all these “information” I wanted to post in these networks actually intersect with each others and each of the intersections may serve a different group of my audiences. Then I drew the following picture / graph … about how I want to serve you, as my friend; with my expertise, news, views and where-abouts.