Kindle shipment update 2

It has been more than twenty days since I got my shipment and I was still wondering how much I had to end up paying for Customs here in India. I finally decided to call up the DHL office and asked them how much I had to pay. So here is how much my Kindle finally worked out to:

Kindle 3: 6,500

Shipping: 1,000 (it took less than 3 days from dispatch to delivery)

Customs: 2,160

Total: 9,660

The figures above are in approximate INR.

I know this is high (the customs almost killed me) and could have been just below 7,000 had someone got it along for me. But I do not mind paying a premium for getting it two months or more early had I depended on someone else. And anyway it is still much cheaper than any other e-reader available in India. And undoubtedly the best there is.

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Kindle Update 3

It has been a little more than 3 weeks now that I have been using my Kindle 3 and I have loved every day of it! It is an absolute joy to read a book and seamlessly got to another one once I done with it or if I just need a change from a certain book. The best part is, it fits right into my trouser pocket. This helps a lot while travelling in the Mumbai trains and buses as I don't need to put it back in my bag everytime.

I have been able to use most of the feature till now except the music player. But this only shows that the quality of the reader is so good that I don't really care about the music that much. I have my cell phone for that. I have been using Calibre as my ebook management software. It has worked like a charm all this while. It has helped me tag and sort all my ebooks. It also converts all my ebooks (except PDF) into the format which Kindle would understand. PDFs have to be copied as is and are also read as is. The best feature however by a country mile for me is its ability to download feeds from news sites and compile them into an ebook format with a table of contents! This I have configured to be mailed directly from Calibre to my kindle email id, which automatically converts them into the .AZW format. These books are then put into my archives and downloaded the next time I connect via WiFi. This email conversion feature is however chargeable if you have bought a 3G Kindle.

The browser is something that I have been asked about by a few people. The Webkit browser is pretty cool in its basic abilities. It is however a little cumbersome to do anything more than read on it. So you can read your mails and login to your facebook/twitter accounts to read updates and maybe tweet a little. Reading blogs is easy with the 'Article Mode' feature enabled. It clips the blogs by removing side images and making it easy to read. But anything other than black text again becomes a little difficult to read. Apart from this, the best idea is to browse mobile avatars of traditional sites (like m.gmail.com) and they would be a breeze to read. But I would discourage anyone who wants to buy this based on the ability to browse. It is a workable feature but not robust enough to be a selling point yet. Buy it for its ability to be the best at being an ebook reader.

I have not heard from Amazon yet about my customs refund and hence have no update on that. 

To sum it up, I am more than happy about my Kindle. What I do not like that much is the stares I get when I am reading in public. What I hate more is the number of people who stop me from reading by asking me questions about the thing I am holding in my hand. I would really recommend everyone to buy a cover if you can afford it. I did not and am going to buy one soon. I doubt I would get one locally for the Kindle 3. This surely makes people believe that you are reading a regular book and not staring at what appears to be a slate!

Please do leave comments if you are planning to buy a Kindle here in India and I will try and answer as best as possible.

P.S. I will try and post a few screenshots of the Kindle in my next post.

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8 months

He labors to wear those clothes again. He has already had a long day. This is not the day to start. Not today. Can he not wait one more day? No, he hears. He has waited enough already.

He tries to remember the path he used to take. It has been eight months after all. He tries to remember the distance that he had measured, the milestones that he had placed in his mind. None of them come back. It is all a blur.

He puts the earphones in his ear and tries to find the correct playlist. He has been walking till now, trying to stretch as much as possible, preparing his muscles for the assault that is coming their way. It has been eight months after all.

As the music starts, he pushes himself to a jog. His feet pound the weathered road; trying to match the rhythm playing in his ears. His breathes gets shorter. He has forgotten how long he can keep running without slowing down to a walk. He keeps running.

As the songs pick up rhythm, he tries his best to match it. His lungs are trying to crack his ribs. He feels like there is only hot air around. It has been eight months after all. He feels a sense of euphoria as he crosses familiar terrain with every step.

After a point walking hurts more than moving faster. So he keeps moving. As he reaches closer to his destination, his body finally remembers what it had gone through eight months back. This is just the beginning, it is reassured. He stops short of feeling agony. Making sure he does not over spend. The last song sends a surge of adrenalin through his blood as he starts sprinting. Soon, the adrenalin turns into endorphins. Happy. It has been eight months after all. 

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That day...

I wake up at 9 AM. I am already late. Try to set a new record in getting ready. Trying to beat the record I set yesterday.

I am ready. It is 9.30 AM. The professor would be getting ready to enter the class now, as I leave my home and run towards my bike. 

I try to find the shortest and straightest route possible. Quite difficult considering the route I take everyday really is the shortest and the straightest.

I keep looking at the time on my bike's display, by now knowing which part of my journey cost me a minute and which part saved me one. I reach the campus and park my bike; wishing the parking was right outside my class!

I take an entire 2 minutes to decide if it is appropriate to enter or not. A couple more come along who believe it is their right to enter regardless. So I try to blend in and slyly make my way to the nearest vacant seat. The class ends.

I go near the canteen and try to spot as many people I know as possible. I know this is going to end soon. I go up to the third floor and enter my workplace. I go back down and attend more classes.

Once classes end, I go to work. Try to do what is possible, with my friends, right there in that room. We fight, yell, scream, laugh and play catch.

The sun changes color and the sky disappears soon after. I am still there. We are still there. I go back down, meet more people. Try to find out who is going where for dinner. Make a decision based on what combination of people and food suit me the most that day and tag along. It has normally got more to do with people.

With tummy half-full, I come back with them to the hostel. Stay till we hear the guard whistle. Say our byes and start walking in opposite directions.

As I make that lonesome walk, to where my bike is parked, all I think of is that I will soon not be lucky enough to say goodbye to friends everyday. Hop on my bike and take a relatively leisurely ride home. 

Reach home and fill up my tummy. Switch on my laptop and see all my friends yet again. All of them present, as mere names on my screen. All I think of is that I will soon not be lucky enough to see this screen full of friends again.

It is now 3.30 AM. I blink off to sleep, knowing very well that I have to set new records once I wake up. 

That day........was everyday.

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Kindle Update 2

Now that I have been using my Kindle 3 for 5 days, I thought maybe I should stop obsessing over it for a while and write a small review about how she has been behaving until now.

The thing is, I really love reading. That is the reason why I doubt I will even dislike a product like this. It is a pleasure to have something like this in my bag all the time. I am currently reading 4 different books at the same time and I also read my newspapers everyday on my Kindle (more on this later).

You can read all the reviews on the net and they will all tell you that the display is as close to paper as possible (I think its better). They will tell you that it is extremely light and handy. It really is all of this and more. I like reading on it in the train or in the bus or on my bed.

Coming to a couple of issues I have faced. There was an occasion when the battery that usually lasts one month went from 70% to empty in a matter of hours without me even using it. For this I blame the indexing. I had loaded about 300 books at the same time and that was a mistake. It uses a lot of resources to index every book and all the words so that it can give instantaneous search results. The second issue is that of freezing and restarting. This has been faced by other users as well and it has been credited to a bug in the firmware. Amazon has confirmed that they are working on it and will deploy a software update in the next ten days. This issue comes up only when the processor is over loaded with indexing or heavy browsing or too many PDFs. These issues should be fixed in the next update. Till then I shall go light on my Kindle and make sure I do not overburden it with too much work. These teething problems are bound to occur with new launches or new versions. It balances out the satisfaction you get out of buying something before most other people do. Do I care? No.

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Death on the Social Network

via holykaw.alltop.com

This was something I always wondered. What happens to your profile after you die?

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