Tony Blair has PDF extracts of his book here – they discuss Gordon Brown, Iraq, and Northern Island.

I’m not one for reading memoirs, biographies, or autobiographies – but this is one book I would like to read. Maybe because I lived through the politics and followed it and understood it more than at any other time, or maybe because unlike Thatcher, until the Iraq issue, I had admiration for Tony Blair. In any case, I wont be buying until the non-UK price comes into line with the UK price!

Amazon's Kindle 3 - any good?

Thinking to get a Kindle 3? Want to real review, from someone who is an avid eBook reader? Read on…

Kindle 3 Case unboxing

August 27th and the day of release of the Kindle 3. My Kindle 3 burnt orange case just arrived and here’s my first ever unboxing, including a brief comparison with the Kindle 2 case.

Unfortunately my Kindle 3 is still flying from the US to Tokyo and since UPS Tokyo doesn’t work on weekends, it’s going to arrive tomorrow (Saturday) and then sit for 48 hours before being delivered. Why don’t you deliver on Saturday, UPS??! That’s a delivery FAIL – hence the background of FAIL from I Can Has Cheezburger Pro Clock on the iPad :)

Unboxing here!

Kindle 3 order status

I contacted Amazon a few days ago and they told me that my Kindle order would be shipped on time – ie, on or before 27th. This hopefully confirms it: “This portion of your order is being prepared for shipment and cannot be canceled of changed.”

Since I live in Japan and since the Kindle will probably be shipped by UPS and since UPS doesn’t work on weekends in Japan, I don’t expect to get my Kindle until early next week if it’s shipping from the US (which the cover is). I’m eagerly awaiting the shipping notification for the Kindle itself though – who knows, it may ship from China and get here sooner than I expect!

Update 27/08:

My case has arrived in Tokyo! Whether it will get to me today or not, I don’t know – though it’s kind of a mute point without the Kindle to go inside it! The case is actually being shipped by DHL, not UPS.

As expected, the Kindle itself is being shipped by UPS, leaving Amazon a few hours back. It has travelled from Newark to Philadelphia and I suspect will go onto Louisville and possibly Anchorage (if the last Kindle is anything to go by) before arriving in Tokyo tomorrow. It will then sit motionless for 48 hours because UPS is closed on weekends. Hmph.

Amazon Kindle's New UK Store

What’s not clear, however, is how the UK and the US store are going to co-exist. Currently it’s still possible to go to Amazon.com and change your region to the UK. Here’s the same book in the Amazon.com store with region set to the UK – note the “includes VAT” line:

UK Books in the Amazon Kindle US Store

This raises all sorts of questions:

• Currently the two stores co-exist but later will current UK users be forced out of the Amazon.com store and into the Amazon.co.uk store?
• Will current UK kindle users have the ability to transfer existing purchases from their Amazon.com account to their Amazon.co.uk account? And if so, what happens if they previously lived in the US (or another country) – will those purchases be transferred to the UK store or will they need to switch Kindle registration between .com and .co.uk sites to access previously purchased books?
• The current Kindle help pages state that if you move out of the UK, you need to use the Amazon.com Kindle store and select your region appropriately. But will your purchases follow you?

New Kindle purchasers probably don’t have any option but to use the Amazon.co.uk Kindle store because Amazon.com will no longer ship Kindles to the UK. However if you’re an existing customer, I see no reason to rush to use the Amazon.co.uk Kindle store until Amazon.com forces you to do so – at least until the points above are clarified.

Kindle UK: WIFI 109 GBP, 3G 149 GBP. For the syncing features – your place in the book is sync’d with Amazon’s servers so that if you open the same book on your iPad or iPhone, it knows your position – and the ability to buy books wherever you are in the world without a PC, I would definitely recommend the 3G Kindle.

Update: A comment on Wikipedia claims: ...existing UK users are offered the option of migrating to the UK Kindle store, with no loss to their existing purchases. If that’s true, that would show that users can move the the US to the UK store, but not necessarily back again.

This speed rocks!

Damn, I’m not getting the full 200Mb/s download speed… hehe…

NTT East Hikari Next High Speed Family Plan (ie, for a house rather than apartment block) with Livedoor as internet provider. 200Mb/s down, 100Mb/s up (that’s megabits rather than megabytes). Total cost about 7000 yen/month, including static IP address.

It’s really interesting having such a fast connection. Until I upgraded my LAN to Gigabit, my speed was maxing out at 70Mb/s over 100Mb/s LAN – ie, my internet speed was being bound by my local network rather than the connection to the internet itself. Even now, when I use wireless I “only” get 15Mb/s over g and 30-35Mb/s over n – I’m actually hitting the max of what is possible over my wireless setup.

lolcats in I Can Has Cheezburger FREE Clock

A few days ago I quietly launched the FREE version of the highly rated I Can Has Cheezburger Pro Clock, aptly named I Can Has Cheezburger FREE Clock. Both apps are universal so they work on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. According to AppAnnie, on the day of release Cheez FREE was in the top 25 of Entertainment iPad apps in the UK – not bad.

The PRO version has an average rating of 4.5 stars. Here are some of the glowing reviews:

★★★★★ Jessicole
This is is love.

★★★★★ zeb mcbride
Get it! – If you like the site, get the app. Well worth the price.

★★★★★ DJMitchell
Awesome – The best app ever!

★★★★★ leilah
So worth it! – Only app I’ve paid for

★★★★★ Poteytedgggt
=D – Heelarius!!! Ma favrit app!!!

★★★★★ sequelcmfr
Hilarious app! – So worth it!

★★★★★ CONCEPTWII
SUPER – LOVE THIS!!

★★★★★ HeThatCometh
Excellent… – Good job on the updates. They fixed all my issues. I wish more developers were as expeditious and paid as much attention to user feedback.

★★★★★ swivel38
Finally a great lolz app!!

★★★★★ Harry B Ahlus
HOOOORRAAAYY!!! You got my 5 stars & my appreciation for being understanding and quickly responsive to us. I use your app all the time.

★★★★★ Ikatiecullen101
Good Stuff – This is a good app. I didn’t like it at first but now I LOVE this app :)

★★★★★ news hog
Great diversion – If you enjoy the Cheezburger network, you can’t go wrong with this app.

★★★★★ Tpr311
Awesome app – I had lol cats and decided to upgrade. Worth every penny.

Click here to try the FREE version or click here for the PRO version of I Can Has Cheezburger Clock. For Android, search Android marketplace for the “I Can Has Cheezburger Pro Clock” – there’s no free version since Android users get a 24 hour free trial anyway.

• 3G version – $189
• WIFI version – $139

Although many people discount the 3G saying they don’t need to be able to download books when out the house, the 3G is astoundingly useful because it syncs your position with Amazon. That means if you pick up an iPhone or iPad and use the Kindle app (which I often do), it will pick up from where you left off on your Kindle. I wouldn’t recommend skimping on 3G.

Interestingly, the new Kindle has a WebKit based browser. Here are all the new features (3G version.)

Kindle is our #1 bestselling item for two years running. It’s also the most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon. Now it’s even better.

• All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
• New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
• New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6″ size reading area
• 15% Lighter – Only 8.7 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
• Battery Life of One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
• Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
• Books in 60 Seconds – Download books anytime, anywhere
• Free 3G Wireless – No monthly payments, no annual contracts
• Built-In Wi-Fi – In addition to the 3G wireless, you can connect to Wi-Fi hotspots
• 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
• Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
• New WebKit-Based Browser – Free 3G web browsing (experimental)

• The Black (Graphite) Kindle DX is the new version with the improved screen
• The White Kindle DX is still the old version with the old screen

Confusingly, Amazon sells them both for the same price! Update: The white (old) DX is now $359, which is $20 cheaper than the new DX at $379. For just $20, you’re better getting the new DX.

The new Kindle DX

• Price drop from $489 to $379
• 50% better contrast ratio, making it easier to read
• 9.7-inch e-ink display
• New black “graphite” colour (see my notes on this below)
• Free 3G international wireless
• No computer required
• Shipping July 7th

For me, the two negatives about the Kindle 2 are the contrast ratio and the white border. Since the e-ink background in the Kindle 2 is grey, the white border is actually distracting – reminding you that the e-ink “paper” is not as white as it could be; reminding you of the low contrast. I don’t think the graphite colour looks as good, but I’m sure it will help the perception of contrast and make it easier to read.

The Kindle 3 has got to be on the way now. At the current price of $189, the Kindle 2 is $190 cheaper than the new indle DX. I predict the Kindle 3 will have WIFI and 3G versions at price-points of $125 and $175, but we’ll have to wait and see.

For what it’s worth, for me I would always get the 3G version over the WIFI version. One of the things I love about Kindle is the automatic syncing across devices – I can read a book on my iPad at home, then take the train to work and continue reading on my iPhone or Kindle, and the iPhone or Kindle will “know” where I finished reading on the iPad. You don’t appreciate that until you experience it.

Get the new Kindle DX International 2 here.

Important: Amazon still sells the white Kindle DX. This is the old model, without the screen improvements. Kindle DX Generations:

• 1st Generation: Kindle DX (US only)
• 2nd Generation: Kindle DX International (White)
• 3rd Generation: Kindle DX International 2 (Graphite)

Hopefully Amazon has plans to remedy this – it’s confusing to have the old and new models on sale at the same price, and the description for the white model doesn’t make it clear the screen is the old screen. I’m not going to link to the White version because I don’t want people buying it by accident!

Update: The white (old) DX is now $359, which is $20 cheaper than the new DX at $379. For just $20, you’re better getting the new DX.

Update 2: The smaller Kindle 3 is now available in the UK and USA. It comes in White and Graphite versions with 3G+WIFI and Graphite with WIFI only. I’ve ordered a Graphite 3G+WIFI version and I’ll be reviewing it with particular emphasis on the contrast difference between it and my previous White Kindle 2.

What can you read on Kindle? Check out these pages:

• Kindle bestsellers
• Popular Kindle new releases
• Top FREE Kindle books – even famous authors give away free books. I get a lot of my reading FREE by watching this list.
• Trending: Movers and Shakers in the Kindle eBook charts