The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 940 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 16 trips to carry that many people.
Refer my post “Kindle Review” 31st Jul 2011. When the new Kindles were recently announced, I thought that, once again, I had bought a product only to see it superseded within weeks by a better and cheaper model.
In particular I was looking at the cheapest version at USD$79. However after taking a closer look at the various models, there is one feature that I use on mine that is not on the $79 model. The model I have (now called the Kindle Keyboard – Wi-Fi) has speakers to provide for text to speech and, more importantly for me, to listen to Audible books.
Nevertheless, the $79 model is excellent value for anyone wishing to venture into the realm of E Book readers.
These are the features (apart from price) where the $79 model differs from my model
Wi-Fi – The $79 model is Wi-Fi only. There is no choice of 3g. In my case I chose the Wi-Fi only model as I have Wi Fi at home plus a mobile Wi-Fi router. Also remember if you have an iPhone (or similar) they usually come with tethering / or the ability to share the internet package via a Wi Fi “personal hotspot” which acts just like the mobile Wi-Fi router. Failing all this you can always go to McDonalds or the increasing number of other places that have free Wi-Fi.
Keyboard – There is no physical keyboard. It has a “virtual keyboard” that is similar to many other appliances like a TV or the X Box / PS3 where you navigate to each letter and press enter. This may be a bit tedious but, apart from the initial set up, you rarely need the keyboard particularly if you use your computer to search for your books. Actually buying a book on the Kindle is no different as it is just a one (Buy) button click.
Battery – The battery “only” lasts for 1 month as against 2 months on my model. Big Deal!!
Capacity – The $79 model will hold about 1400 books which is about half the capacity of mine. However this is a non-issue. 1400 is a large number and, in any case, if you ever fill it up, your books still remain available on the free storage provided by Amazon. Therefore you can delete old books in the knowledge that they can be re-downloaded any number of times.
Sound / Speakers – The $79 model does not have speakers or a headphone jack. This would only be important if you need “Text to Speech” or want to listen to Audible Books.
Ads – It does have ads but they are not intrusive and only appear on the home page / screen saver. I have read that people actually like the ads because many are from Amazon advertising special deals. In my case I paid extra for the “No Ads” model but I am sorry that I did. Apparently, if you decide later that you don’t want the ads, you can pay $30 to have them removed.
Size – Because it has no Keyboard, the overall size is smaller but the screen size is the same.
Weight – It weighs about 30% less that other versions. Mine is very light so this one would be even easier to hold.
Conclusion – The $79 Kindle is an excellent device and the price is more than reasonable. Even though it does not have sound, this would not be important for most people. If I did not already own a Kindle, I would probably get this model as I mostly listen to my Audible books on my iPod Touch. There are now also Kindles with touch screens but at $79 dollars it is hard to go past this model.
