Amazon released the Kindle on February 24th, of which I received yesterday, the 24th. Not having the first Kindle I thought I'd go ahead and buy the second one to see what changes Amazon had made from the first version.

The Kindle 2 is an interesting device. The Kindle 2 is an e-book reader that is based on E-ink technology. The Kindle sports 16 shades of gray which provides some very crisp pictures and some very crisp text. The screen on the Kindle is a 600 by 800 pixel. Which, for those who might remember, used to be a standard screen resolution for many years, and is still used by some people. Its 167 pixels per inch, which is quite a bit.

The processor within the Kindle is a 532MHz ARM processor, which is faster than the iPhone 3G's processor, which clocks in at 412MHz. Which is plenty fast for turning pages when reading or doing some basic web browser with the experimental browser.

The layout of the entire device is elegant. The navigation is done via a 5 way joystick; up, down, left, right and a center click. The entire device is quite simple to figure out, even without the user manual. All I had to do was turn it on, and it was just easy to navigate and determine how everything works.

The buttons on the device are placed quite well. The only complaint I'd have about it is that there are 2 next page buttons, and only one previous page button. I'd like to see a second previous page button. But again, I'm not sure exactly how useful this would be, since most people probably don't go back a page.

The 3G Network called 'Whispernet', provided by Sprint, does a great job of having all of my content sent to me without any issues, thus far. I woke up this morning and had the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune waiting for me to read, if and when I wanted to. This is definitely a nice thing to have.

The 'flash' that everybody talks about when the page is turned doesn't bother me. Yes, it's noticeable but it's definitely not something that gets annoying. If anything it's a good indicator in case you notice something weird happening (so far, I haven't noticed anything unusual).

One feature that I have noticed that nobody is talking about is the American Oxford Dictionary that is natively on the device. It allows you to search and look up words, or highlight a word in your book or article and look that word up automatically.

As of this writing, the selection of Magazines and newspapers isn't that good. There's less than three dozen newspapers and just under two dozen magazines. I expect this change as the cost of print mediums continues to skyrocket.

Overall the Kindle 2 is a great device for getting your content on the go, or just to sit and transfer it via USB from your computer. But there are definitely a few things I'd like to see with it.

The first of these is an API to allow additional applications, like a better web browser or a link to my Audible account so I can download Audible books straight to the Kindle. I do not see why this wouldn't be possible since Amazon owns Audible.

The other thing I'd like to see is the ability to have custom 'Screen savers'. I like the pictures of the authors that show up now, but it would be cool to be able to add your own photos, just by uploading them to your Kindle. I'll be sure to keep everybody up to date on the progress of any updates and the like with the Kindle.

I purchased a 26" (25.5" viewable) Westinghouse, model L2610NW from Buy.com for $249.99 with free shipping. The monitor itself isn't too bad, it works, but there are definitely some issues with it. The biggest issue I have with the monitor is that it seems as though it was very cheaply made.

When you turn the monitor on, with the speakers muted there is an audible sound emitted from the speakers. Can somebody please explain to me why the speakers should even be making ANY noise when they are muted. It just defies logic.

The next issue I have is that if you try and turn down the brightness via the monitor an audible hum comes out of the speakers. This just seems like it's wrong. I mean how can turning down the brightness affect the speakers. Just doesn't make any sense.

The final issue I have is that the native resolution is supposed to be 1920x1200. I cannot, for the life of me, get my computer to display this. When I attempt to adjust the settings via my display preference panel, I end up getting an 'out of Sync' message. Why you may ask. Because the monitor is incorrectly reporting the resolution as 1900x1200@62Hz, not 60Hz like it's supposed to.

According to Westinghouse's website:

"Since Westinghouse LCD TVs and Monitors are plug-and-play devices, they do not require any drivers. If your computer is unable to display at the recommended resolution, please check your graphics card to see if it supports the recommended resolution. You can periodically check the graphics card manufacturer's website for any updates."

Well, people wouldn't have issues if your crap actually worked.

The monitor itself does work, and it looks good, even when only at 1080p. It is available at buy.com for $249.99. I would only recommend buying this monitor if you don't plan on using it above 1080p, and you don't need the internal speakers. The screen real estate provided by this monitor is quite nice though. I'd recommend that either Westinghouse improve their 'monitor' quality, or just stick to making televisions. If you can afford something else, get it. Otherwise, you get what you pay for.

Here is a link to my Flickr Set of my Kindle 2 Unboxing. I will definitely be giving it a full review and posting it.

I mean, It's supposed to be Delivered to Illinois, and last I knew you had to drive THROUGH Illinois to get to Wisconsin from Indiana, but maybe it's just me.

So I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.7. You can download it here.

There are a few things to note with this upgrade. You no longer have to manually update Wordpress. There has been some controversy within the development community about why this upgrade isn't called wordpress 3.0. There are major changes with the dashboard, but I like the upgrades and changes. I think it's a much better layout.

This is the biggest update and most useful thing around. Just being able to automagically do the upgrades will really reduce the hassle for those who are less tech-saavy. This update just made it one of the most viable Content Management Systems around for anybody who wants to have their website hosted and their host has a one-click wordpress install. Version 2.7 is going to start a trend with more sites using wordpress as the backend.

There is one major thing that I don't like is the fact that the two plugins, Delicious and Google Search widget still refuse to update, yet the other plugins updated without any issue.

As with the other updates I do, if there's anything that's not working properly, let me know.

These are purely my own flaws and thoughts.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do and where I want to go, long term. And I got to thinking, long term, I always seem to be thinking long term, not really short term, not really mid-term, but long term. Everything in the future, never the present. I know this is completely different than most others, and I'm not entirely sure why I take this type of view over any other, nor do I know exactly how I managed to develop this viewpoint.

The goofy thing about the whole thing is that I have also noticed that I tend to know where things are going to end up, given the evidence. Let me show you an example. Now, I usually don't write about work much, but in this case it's pertinent.

The City of Aurora built a fiber network to replace the one that they've been leasing from Comcast. Seeing as, at the time we had only a single 1.5Mbps T-1 lines between our Main Library and each of our three buildings, the city putting in fiber was going to boost that percentage up 666% to 1Gbps. This type of bandwidth is completely unimaginable without spending a ton of money a month than most non-profits would be able to afford.

As soon as I found out that we, the library, were in the city's plan for fiber, I already knew where we were going to end up, what were we going to be able to do, and what we were going to be able to change and consolidate.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do think about short-term items, and can easily focus on short-term tasks and even mid-term projects and the like, but I guess I'm just more of an end-goal type of person.

The biggest downside to being an end-goal person is the fact that you can easily get discouraged when things start to become a bit to daunting in the short-term, it's difficult to pull back and look at the long-term again. Since you're not used to the issues that come up with short-term problems.

I don't know, I could be entirely wrong, it's been known to happen.

As of late many podcasts have been including advertisements on their free podcasts. While I have no problem with it, some do, and too bad, it's a way to make money. I have to applaud them for being able to get advertisers. Having advertisers like Visa, Becks, and others invest in podcasts begins to show the legitimate nature of the medium and also allows the medium to still be viable. But that is not the only way to bring revenue to a podcast.

On the September 24th, 2008 show of This week in Media from Pixelcorps.tv, the hosts had stated that people are not willing to pay for podcasts. I have to disagree. I myself pay for Ken Ray's Mac OS Ken Day 6. Mac OS Ken runs five days a week (typically), Monday through Friday, for free, only with some ads. The cost for Day 6 is $10 a month for one additional weekly show, and eventually even more content throughout the week. The Day 6 shows are provided via RSS, which can import into any RSS aggregator. I would be willing to pay for more podcasts that would offer this type of model.

Most would ask "Why pay for it when they are free." Well, it's quite simple. I follow the thought that "you get what you pay for". When you do not pay for a show you cannot really complain if the host or hosts end up missing a show once or twice a month, you’re not paying for the show. Additionally, paying $10 a month for exclusive content, which hasn't disappointed me yet, is well worth it. Moreover, supporting a podcaster whose work you truly enjoy is something I think everybody should do. Don’t forget, premium podcasts normally do not have ads in them, which can be compelling to some.

I did contact Ken Ray directly via Twitter to inquire about Day 6 in regards to number of listeners and got a response which included "the conversion rate to paid listeners is between 3% and 5%." Ken did not give me exact numbers, just the conversion rate. This is perfectly good information for what I want to convey. I don't really need exact numbers anyway.

Let's take a look at this figure, we'll use the low figure of 3%. Let's say you do charge $10 a month for a premium companion podcast to a free one. If your "free" podcast had 1000 listeners and we take 3% of 1000, you're talking 30 listeners. 30 listeners who pay for a podcast will net about $300 a month. That's not too shabby considering that you already have the equipment and there will probably be only a slight investment initially. That totals to approximately $3600 more per year, in addition to whatever advertising revenue is generated from the free podcast. While most will probably make more from advertising than premium, it is a revenue stream.

Additionally, I also give a donation to TWiT.tv every month. It's a total of $12 a month in donations to the network. Again, I do this because I think supporting the podcasters is a good way to help the entire podcasting community. I know shows like TWiT consistently have 100,000 listeners. If even 1% paid for a premium show, that’s 1,000 listeners at $10 a month, or another $10,000 a month. Granted, TWiT.tv is not the best example since Leo does have a staff, while most podcasters are only one or two people hosting and producing the show. I myself would be willing to pay for a feed of TWiT.tv live streams, since I cannot watch when they are on, which is throughout the day.

I believe as though this is a sustainable model, perhaps with a bit more buy in from listeners or viewers. While I would like to see more of a 10% free to premium ratio, 5% is not too shabby given the lifespan of the medium. I would also like to see more podcasters do this type of model. Having a subscription model will not work that well. Providing premium content at a cost, while still providing a free version is what consumers are willing to tolerate.

The premium model has worked quite well in all other types of mediums, including DVD sales, games (whether they are console or PC). Consumers seem to be willing to pay for premium content as long as it’s compelling content.

Please keep in mind, I do not have a podcast myself, although I’ve thought about doing one, so I'm basically a pure consumer, not a producer/consumer like so many in the industry. I may be a minority, but remember, I’m the minority that is that 3 to 5% that is willing to pay for premium content, as long as it’s worthwhile and compelling.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this picture, it's just classic of the revolt of DRM that is currently going on in regards to Spore.

I didn't think that it would get that chilly so early in September... late September maybe, but geez...