Category: Technology

Real page number for Kindle (Latest Generation) … only ?

Amazon just announced the details of their latest Kindle software update, but I have to say I am very disappointed about that release as all the promised great features are made available to Kindle (Latest Generation) only, in other words, Kindle 3 only.

According to the web page, the new software update will be made available soon thru Whispernet. However, if you want to manaually download and install it, you can do it now. The new features are:

  • Public Notes – now you can share your notes to public and even view the public notes of people you “follow”. (Previously, you can share some lines in the book you’re reading to Twitter and Facebook).
  • Real Page Numbers – Now there are real page numbers to match the page numbers in printed books. This feature is very important if you want to reference and cite passages.
  • Before you go – now you can rate a book, share a message etc. when you reach the end of the book.
  • New Newspaper and Magazine Layout – There will be an improved layout … but I doubt how it can match iPad based newspapers and magazines.

Anyway, for those Kindle 3 users … enjoy.

The Daily Rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year of Rabbit !!

Not sure you know the history of the Chinese Zodiac but it is said that many many years ago, “Jade Emperor” invited all of the animals in the world to join him for the New Year celebrations, but only 12 animals bothered to turn up. As a great reward, Jade Emperor named a year after each one of them and they actually run in the order that the animals arrived to celebrate, starting with the rat and ending with the last guest, the pig. And for this year, it’s the year of Rabbit.

Also, each Chinese year is influenced by whatever animal it falls in. Most Rabbit years are quiet, positive and inspiring and 2011 looks to be heading in this direction. So, what’s the refreshing change to an iPad user ? It’s probably the new new iPad application – The Daily. Launched yesterday, the Daily is built from scratch for the iPad by some of the best in the business to bring you a package thatโ€™s smart, attractive, and entertaining. (A straight copy from their press release site)

So you want to take a look of the application before you actually download / subscribe it ? Check out the video below:

Second annual report of a tiny, little blog

Even though this tiny, little blog has been maintained for many years, I started the annual report only from year 2009. I found it’s a very good exerciseย  for me to review what I have done in the past 12 months, and then focus on how I can make this blog better. So here is it, the second annual report of the www.michaelyung.com.

One big achievement last year was the traffic, it reached the all time high in December, 2010 and the number of pageview was almost 10 times more than just two years ago. Really happy about it.

I think there is a couple of reasons of the traffic surge, one obviously is the ever growing popularity of the Amazon Kindle eReader. Many blog posts in this website were written about this fantastic device – Kindle news, tricks, and review reports. Another possible reason is I wrote some other blog posts about iPhone, iPad, Olympus M4/3 and blog engine setup. One last reason is I added the Facebook Like button to each blog post and it helped a lot to the traffic as the sharing of a blog post to my Facebook fans will get back many incoming traffic.

OK, back to the sales … year 2010 was a great year. I sold over 120 Kindles (4 times better than 2009), over 120 physical books and eBooks (6 times more compare to year 2009). And surprisingly I sold a few camera lens from Olympus and Panasonic as well. However, the most stunning sale was someone bought 20 Zune HD music players with one order !!

Lastly, same as year 2009, there were many bizarre sales such as Hair regrowth treatment, coconut oil, bed raiser, soap dispenser, Yamaha guitar, and even X’mas LED bulbs. Amazing.

So that’s about it, what’s going to happen next year ?! I will let you know same time next year.

Kindle 3 – the Bestselling Product of All Time on Amazon

According to the latest press release from Amazon, they announced that the Kindle 3 is now the bestselling product in their history, even better than the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)”. And in the same business wire, it says on Christmas Day, more people turned on new Kindles for the first time, downloaded more Kindle Buy Once, Read Everywhere apps, and purchased more Kindle books than on any other day in history.

I am sure the above claims are true as somehow this tiny site you are reading also reached the all time high traffic in 26th December, 2010 – the Boxing Day and a Sunday!!

The top 10 visited blog posts are:

  1. Running Gmail with your Kindle 2
  2. Reading PDF documents in Kindle 2
  3. Connect Kindle 2 to 3G network
  4. Buy Kindle books from outside US
  5. Facebook photo album image size
  6. Buy Kindle 2 from outside US
  7. Using Kindle outside US
  8. 10 steps to migrate your iPhone 3G / 3GS to iPhone 4
  9. Kindle 2 firmware update to read PDF files
  10. The first 30 days

7 out of the top 10 are in fact Kindle related posts. Congratulations, Kindle !!

The first 30 days

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Teresa

Years ago I bought the book The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels and thought that might be one day I needed it for a new job or new role. It was a good read, but not until I took up the new job last November, I found I needed the skills in the book badly. However, I am also convinced that in nowadays’ Internet business world – 90 days are too long to prove your value. In many cases, you have only one month, or even only two weeks to understand the business / operations, to contribute and to make an impact.

So I’ve been on board for 30 days, in a new office, a new business initiative, a new technology infrastructure and with a new group of bright people. What did I learn ? They are:

  1. Well before you join the company, learn as much as possible about the new business – search the materials from Wikipedia, Google etc. and read. Also, ask around to see if your friends can tell you something about the business and technology behind it.
  2. Be a good listener, learn from the new colleagues and try to understand their problems and what they need at the same time.
  3. Don’t be afraid of making decision, even if you don’t know everything. It’s important to make decisions and to make mistakes in the first few weeks / months. And then, don’t make any more mistakes.
  4. Be proactive. It may be difficult to be proactive if you are not familiar with the environment. But I reckon we can wait forever and do nothing; or we can make the first move, ask for more work, and then learn new things along the way.
  5. Train your staff, don’t hold back. Train them everything you have – your skills, your knowledge, your ideals.
  6. Last but not least, don’t stop to contribute – even outside your office hour. For example, joining local UX interest group.

“No man is so poor as to have nothing worth giving: as well might the mountain streamlets say they have nothing to give the sea because they are not rivers. Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow