{update}

Ok so now that I have had the Kindle 2.0 for a few days, It turns out all my original excitement about it was well founded. The Kindle 2.0 is awesome to read on, its just like reading paper. The unit it self has a good quality feel to it, it doesn’t feel cheap, and lets face it for $360 it better not feel cheap.

Which brings me to my only negatives (if you could call them that) to the Kindle 2.0. I think the main barrier to entry in the ebook marketplace is the cost of the reader itself, while its a beautiful device $360 is a big bite out of your wallet. But what you have to keep in mind is that you are getting FREE access to Amazons 3g Whispernet. To put that into perspective, to get the same 3g network connection on your phone to access emails ect. AT&T would charge you $40 a month! So if you figure the actual cost of the Kindle to be around $150 – $200, that means you paying a little extra premium to get the free 3g. While while you may not get the same wireless experience with your Kindle as you would with your smart phone, it still allows you to do basic web surfing and emailing ect. Just be sure to use the Mobile versions of websites when browsing with the Kindle.

My 2nd gripe about the Kindle isn’t really a gripe aimed souly at the Kindle but the publishing industry in general. While the Amazon marketplace is probably one of the if not the biggest marketplace for ebooks there are still books that aren’t available. The Harry Potter series one of the biggest and most lucrative book franchises out there but you can’t buy a Harry Potter book for the Kindle. It doesn’t make much sense to me, people are spending allot of money buying and re-buying these books but when they get there shiny new Kindles and want to but them again they can’t. This is the same old thing we see all over the place when it comes to new technology industry’s are afraid of embracing new technology that in the end its the consumer who ends up losing. Mind you this is a consumer who is willing to pay money for these things, weather it be an ebook, a movie or a music file, but apparently the industry doesn’t want our money so we are forced to turn to other unofficial avenues for the things that should be readily available.
Well thats enough rantiness for now…bottom line the Kindle 2 is Seriously Cool.
{end update}

Ok Seriously if you haven’t seen an e-ink product before you really should check one out they are pretty cool, and one of the coolest e-ink products out there today is the Kindle from Amazon. More specifically the new Kindle 2.0, which I should be getting in a few hours, So I’ll have more specifics about it after I’ve had a chance to “kick the tires” and play with it for a while, either latter today or tomorrow.

Amazons Kindle 2.0 is one of the newest gadgets to utilize the e ink technology. E ink displays use positive and negatively charged particles to display text or images just like a printed page. The cool thing about this is that once the device “draws” the page it doesn’t use up any more power and can keep that page displayed indefinitely with no additional power usage until you want to change what is being displayed. Which means battery life on e-ink devices are usually really good. Also since there is no type of back lighting used like traditional electronic displays e ink pages are much easier on the eye giving the visual effect of real paper. Bundle these things together with a nice small form factor and ‘free’ 3g access to one of the largest ebook marketplaces in the world makes the Kindle and ebooks in general a really cool idea.

Ok Seriously Logitech Harmony remotes are awesome. I’ve been using the Logitech Harmoney 360 remote for a while now and a few months ago I started using the Harmony One.

Like everyone else nowadays I had a plethora of remotes lying around for my tv, dvd player, audio receiver, cable box.. you know all that good stuff. But unless you like having all those remotes lying around on the coffee table you have thought about getting a universal remote. But the problem with those cheap remotes is that you can’t do everything you need to and still end up needed to keep the original remotes around, then there are those $800 remotes that look sooo uber cool but who wants to spend that much on a remote. That’s where the Logitech Harmony remotes come in. Not only are they affordable but they do the job and then some.

Since I started using A Harmony remote I haven’t had to touch another remote. They are pretty simple to setup just install the software and connect the remote to a computer via the usb cable. Tell the software the model numbers of all your stuff and define your activities (like Watch TV or Watch DVD). When setting up your activity it will ask you what settings all of your equipment needs to be in for each specific activity. The software connects to Logitechs website so it always has an up to date library for all sorts of equipment.

Then once you have all your activities setup all you have to do is hit the appropriate activity button on the screen and the remote will automatically turn on all required equipment and change all inputs to whatever they should be, its just that easy. You can customize all the buttons to do what ever you like and the small LCD screen is great for flipping through pages of commands that you may not use often. The one thing that is slightly annoying is with the Harmony One remote that has a touch screen lcd, as is common with touch screen lcds there is no tactile feedback to let you know if you are hitting the right button. So when you are watching a movie in the dark you have to look down at the remote to make sure your hitting the right button but other than that the color LCD screen of the Harmony One is pretty slick.

Also these remotes works great with my xbox360. They act just like a controller would, and is perfect to use for watching dvd’s or with the media center extender which is what I mainly use it for.

These remotes are so simple to use that soon after I got it I bought one of the standard harmony remotes, with out the 360 buttons, for my parents so that I don’t have to get those annoying calls anymore asking

“how do I watch a dvd? I can hear it but I can see anything? I think the TV’s broken”

They also feel great in your hands with a slightly rubberized underside they are really nice to hold. As with any remotes It takes a little while to get used to the layout of the keys but if my mom can figure it out anyone can. They make a great house warming gift for people of all ages and you’ll never know how you got along with out one before.