Comments on: More sleep deprived odds and sods

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 11:13:15 +0000

I think it’s the answer to a problem that doesn’t exist. I like the idea of electronic ink, but can’t raise any enthusiasm for the Kindle at all.

By: Mupwangle

Mupwangle — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 03:21:39 +0000

and its fecking ugly too.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:19:31 +0000

amazon’s ebook reader. Not the iPod of the book world.

It certainly isn’t. But it is what the ignorant say the iPod is: a closed system that can only interact with one company’s store.

It isn’t in another way. The iPod was a way to take all of your music with you in a small and convenient package, so that you could listen to any song, whenever you wanted. Which makes sense when you consider that most songs are only a few minutes long, you can listen to them in any order, and you might want to hear different songs from different albums, all shuffled together.

The Kindle is a way to take, well, not your entire library, but then, at least, all the books that you buy from now on, on Amazon, from the Kindle store. Hmmm. But I can take a paperback with me now, very easily. It usually takes me a few train rides to read a single book, so I only need one book with me at any given time, and I never get the urge to read a few pages from another book, while I’m reading the book I’m currently reading. And my book doesn’t need to be recharged regularly, doesn’t break if I drop it, can be lent to friends, and I can borrow books that belong to friends.

The iPod was a solution to a problem I had. The Kindle is a solution to problems I can’t even imagine, let alone have.

By: Tony Kiernan

Tony Kiernan — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:56:51 +0000

I know a UK citizen who works for Texaco. He’s recently moved from their Texas HQ to the Hague office. Taking his Italian wife and US born kid has been a nightmare, involving several trips to the British Consulate in Canada and from now on 18 month renewals in the UK.

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:09:10 +0000

Yep. You might as well draw their picture with a biro.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:37:18 +0000

What gets me about the passports for babies is that they don’t have to be renewed for five years. If we’re going to have them, they should be for security. I for one feel strangely uncomforted by the fact that they actually make it easier for child abductors to get children across borders: if you’ve got a genuine passport for a 6-month-old, you can use it for pretty much any five-year-old, since it is so usual for kids’ appearances to change dramatically during that time.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:54:03 +0000

Ah yes, new camera lens. I had a new expensive lens once, it came with *lot’s* of F’s …when I managed to let it roll off the worktop.

RBS. Well you don’t think they’ll make it easy for you to get to your money?