Elizabeth Millar

Online Marketer by day - blogger, foodie, knitter, and Golden Girls junkie by night.

The New iPad — Your Current Tablet is Now Old, Get a New One

Hardware, tablets No Responses »

Mar 162012

The New iPad

The New iPad comes out tomorrow – are you in line yet?

Although I love gadgets and new technology, I am getting a little freaked out by this disposable culture we have. We all know the guy, and maybe you are that guy, who always gets the latest Apple device the day it comes out so he’s not a day out of sync with the hottest thing. And when I say “guy” I’m not just referring to dudes, I just use “guy” to describe a person – male or female – but I digress…

Ya know, it’s great ‘n all if you have the money – hell, do whatever you want with it. It’s just interesting to think of the evolution of computers from being these monster machines that you paid a lot of money for and kept for years and years to these amazing little hand-held devices (much more powerful than the aforementioned machines), which are treated as disposable as walkie-talkies from the 80s.

Maybe I sound like Andy Rooney going on one of his famous 60 Minutes rants about “Why are there so many kinds of apples in the grocery store?” But seriously, doesn’t this seem a bit off to anyone else?

Especially when you consider how the Apple products, for example, are quality and don’t crap out on you. Anyone still have an original iPad? Yep, those bad-boys still work great. Maybe I’m cranky, or maybe I’m tired of just seeing current devices slightly modified to be “better.” Perhaps I’ll perk up when we see the next “new” really new thing to come out of the gadget world.

That’s about all I wanted to say today, let me know what you think. In the meantime, have you seen Funny or Die’s iPad review? If not, watch it now. “Your old iPad will look like a real jenky piece of shit compared to this one.”

Please discuss.

A Geek’s Wishlist

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Nov 212011

With Christmas just around the corner, it has me thinking about the goodies I would like. I’m a pretty sensible person, and I don’t like to buy and receive things to just “have.” But, if I, and those around me, had unlimited cash-money, no shame, and didn’t feel guilty about buying stuff that will be out of date in less than a year…

Here’s my geek wishlist:

Kindle Fire — So far it has great reviews, and, well…you know how I feel about Kindles…
Motorola Droid Razr — Because my Droid X is almost two years old!
Super Mario Brothers Arcade Game — Don’t worry about it, I’ll find room for it!
DeLorean — Oh, just act like you don’t want one!
The Time Machine — The one from the movie The Time Machine from 1960. Don’t forget the crystal, it’s the most important part!
An Ocelot — I don’t usually dig cats, but I’m pretty sure this badass dude would change my life.
The Oakland A’s — I want to be right there when they win their next series!
World Peace — You know, in case the above stuff doesn’t work out.

That being said, what’s on your list this year?

When I was a kid…

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Nov 022011

Old School Nintendo Party

As a child, I loved hearing my grandparents and parents tell stories about when they were kids. And man, was it ever different back then. My Gram told me that when she was a kid (back in the 20s/30s) her family had the only phone in the neighborhood. Folks would come over and ask if they could make calls. My mom told me that when she was a kid in the 60s, she was the first among her friends to have a television set. They’d crowd around the giant box (and little screen) to watch after-school shows.

I like to think that being a child of the 80s I’m immune to having stories like my grandparents and parents. After all, how much has really changed? This got me to thinking about how different it was back then compared to what kids are growing up with now.

When I was a kid…

My First Laptop Session

There were only 3 Star Wars movies, and they were all great.
We had cassette tapes for music, and if you really liked someone, you would make them a “mix” tape of your favorite songs. This could be done with a dual cassette recorder, or by putting two tape recorders next to each other — one on “play” and one on “record.”
We didn’t have a remote control for the TV., we had to turn dials on the front of the television set. This resulted in often leaving the same channel on longer than you would if you didn’t have to get up.
A TV was called a “television set.”
We didn’t have cable or satellite TV, so we used an antena. Often one person had to hold the antena in just the right spot to get the good channel.
We got our first computer when I was 10, and we had to share it with the whole family. A Mac LCII to be exact.
Floppy disks were floppy. Then they stopped being floppy. Then they went away.
We got our first cell phone when I was 12, and yep – we had to share it with the whole family. It was the first “flip” and although it makes today’s smart phones look like credit cards, it was far smaller than the Zack Morris/Wall Street versions.
We got the internet when I was 17. And even then, the computer wasn’t instantly online. We had to “dial up” through a phone line, and often the connection sucked. Praise be when we got that sweet 36.6K, or the illusive 56K – which was like the unicorn of internet speed.
All cameras used film, which even then made for an expensive habit. You also ended up with loads of ugly pictures and just a few “keepers.” We still put all of them in albums and forced friends and family to look at them.

Me 'n Tom Back in the Day

Can you think of anything else to add? It may not be stories of the Great Depression Era or what it was like at Woodstock, but heck, us children of the 80s gotta teach these kids how good they have it these days! “Back in the day, we used to play View-Master under the table because we didn’t have smart phones!”

Happy Halloween!

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Oct 302011

In follow-up to last week’s, Time to Get Your Halloween Geek On post—Happy Halloween!

Lama the Ewok

Time to Get Your Halloween Geek On

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Oct 252011

My husband's geeked out Stormtrooper Pumpkin

I’ve always enjoyed Halloween. At a young age, I loved dressing up (mostly getting to wear makeup) and getting to eat a shitload of candy. My parents weren’t big on candy in the house, but Halloween was the exception. In college it was a time to be as slutty as possible.

My favorite costume from ye olde college days was when my roommates and I were sexy pubic lice. I know, right?! Here’s the background; we lived in a college town that was notorious for booze, drugs, and sex. One of my roommates was working at Planned Parenthood at the time, and she learned a statistic that 1 in 4 people living in our town had an STD. We thought it would be absolutely brilliant to be an STD…but a sexy one! After all, we were in college with rockin’ bods at the time. As we walked down the streets of our town, we were invited into several house parties. Guys would yell out, “Hey, Angel Girls, wanna party?!” We corrected them that we were actually Pubic Lice and offered the knowledge that 1 in 4 people in said town had an STD—they quickly told us to get lost. Needless to say, it was a memorable evening.

These days, I’m all about the geek costume. A few years ago I was a school-girl zombie from one of the zombie comics I was reading. Last year I was a dead body from Dexter…not super geek, but pretty fun anyway. This year my husband and I are going to be Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. We tried out the costumes at a pumpkin carving party last weekend. Although, I found that I hit a whole new level of geek when a friend of mine got so excited when she saw us that she did the “Live Long and Prosper” Vulcan salute. My first instinct was to say, “Oh, see, Uhura and Kirk are not Vulcans, so this really doesn’t mean anything to us.” Wowzers. Instead I just laughed and tried to help her do it right.

Some of the cool geek costumes I’ve seen in recent times:

Children and/or dogs dressed as Star Wars characters
Facebook (my cousin was actually a Facebook Page!)
The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend from The Venture Brothers
Browncoat from Firefly

Are you planning on getting your geek on this Halloween? Are you doing a geeked out pumpkin? Come on folks, let your Halloween Geek Flag fly!

Review of Amazon’s Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display Kindle

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Oct 122011

Kindle 6" E Ink with WiFi via Amazon.com

After years of wonderful reading with my 2nd Generation Kindle, I thought it was time to upgrade to the latest version. Why, you ask? The $79 price tag was enough to convince me to give it a go.

My first thoughts when opening the box were, “Wow, it’s so very thin and small!” Without the keyboard, this thing is tiny! I immediately went to plug it in and noticed that there was no wall plug. Not to worry, I’m a nerd and my house has USB ports in the electrical outlets. Turns out they no longer come with the power adapter, although you can purchase it for $19.99 or $9.99 if it’s on sale. Kind of lame, but heck, it keeps the price point down a bit.

Setup

As with the other Kindles, the setup is a breeze, and it walks you through each step. While going through this process I noticed how much sharper the new E Ink display is on this device. I thought it was great on my 2nd Gen Kindle, but there is really no comparison. In just a few moments, I had transferred the books from my old device.

It was during the setup that I noticed that it uses WiFi instead of the 3G Wireless that my 2nd Gen had, which didn’t require searching for WiFi hotspots and connecting to networks. It just did it all automagically. So far this isn’t a big deal as I get most of my books from the Library Website or Amazon via my desktop computer or iPad. I’ll come back and comment on this at a later date if I notice that it’s beginning to be a burden…just something to keep in mind.

Suprises

With the setup out of the way, I decided to let it sleep and fully charge. That is when I noticed my screensaver. It wasn’t Jane Austin, it wasn’t James Joyce, no, it wasn’t even those fun fishies…it was an ad! Turns out that that $79 Kindle has advertisements as the screensaver as well as a small banner on the bottom of your home screen. At first I was a bit miffed that I fell for this, so I went online to see where I went wrong. Turns out the version without “special offers” is $109. Now, $109 is still pretty a pretty darn good price, but I’ve mentioned before that I’m a cheap S.O.B., so upon learning this I reassured myself that I did the right thing. After all, that extra $30 was pretty much what I spent on my cover, so it’s all good. Honestly, I’m so desensitized to being bombarded with online ads, that it really doesn’t bother me. As long as they don’t start putting their “special offers” within the books I’m reading, I’ll be fine.

Functionality

It’s basically the same as the previous versions except it doesn’t have a keypad. Instead, if you need to use the keypad, there’s a button you press to deploy the on-screen keypad, and you use the 5-way controller to select letters. I hardly ever used the keypad, and so far, I don’t miss it. The page turning buttons are quite thin and located more on the edge of the device rather than on the front. At first this was awkward for me, but after reading a few chapters I got used to it.

Reading on it is still a little strange since it’s so thin and small, but each time I do, I notice the differences from my old Kindle less and less. I think once my cover arrives, it will give the device the sturdy feel that I’m used to.

Aesthetic

One thing I love-Love-LOVE about this new Kindle is how symmetrical it is. Instead of reading “Amazon Kindle” on the top of the device, it just says, “kindle.” Directly below it are the four buttons—back, keypad, menu, and home—with the 5-way controller separating them. The page-turning buttons are located on the sides, a forward and backward button on both the left and right sides of the device. The sleek brushed metal color is also a nice touch.

Overall

Coming from the 2nd Gen, I am very happy with this purchase. It’s smaller, lighter, and the display is wonderful. I know it’s the same 6″ display, but I swear it looks bigger on this one! Must be my pride in the new device clouding my vision. I’d say that if you already have the 3rd Gen, or “Kindle Keyboard” as it’s referred to, you won’t notice that much of a difference—aside from the omitted keyboard. If you have a 1st or 2nd Gen Kindle and are looking for something smaller and lighter to carry around, this just might be for you. There is also the Kindle Touch, but that won’t be released until November 21st. If you buy one of these devices, keep in mind they have the option of coming with or without “Special Offers.”

Doh! Is Greed the End of the Line for the Simpsons?

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Oct 062011

The Simpsons, America's Favorite Crackers

I’m hearing this talk about pay disputes between the actors and Fox possibly being the end of The Simpsons if an agreement isn’t reached soon. My first reaction is, “Dear God, no!” Then I thought about it…so what if The Simpsons did end?

I was only six bright little years old when The Simpsons debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show, and eight when the show premiered on Fox. I remember it well because I was very excited to see this cartoon that was on at night! Listen kids, primetime cartoons were few and far between in those days! Must I remind you that this was before Seth Macfarlane and Trey Parker! Le sigh…back to my memories of The Simpsons…I thought the show was great from the start. “Eat my shorts!” ‘Nuf said. My parents…not so much. They didn’t think it was a good show for me and my brother to watch, so we only caught it every so often. That is until my folks realized that this show wasn’t going anywhere, and it really wasn’t all that bad. I basically grew up with this show, and after the “Cosby Thursday Night Head-to-Head” it became a Sunday night ritual that I continue with my husband today.

So here we are, 22 years later, and the show is still on the air. The stories aren’t as good, and the episodes aren’t as memorable, but I still love it. It’s something I’m used to having, and I like familiar comfortable routines in my life. That isn’t always a good thing.

How many perfectly great shows have jumped the shark, yet still push through till they are a hot mess of stupid that you watch in horror as it gets so bad that it even embarrasses you? Ahem…The Office? Let’s not let The Simpsons turn into that. The only humane thing to do is let it go out with dignity. Maybe it’s time that the creators think of a way to put this one down with grace, so it doesn’t end up a sad afterthought…ahem…Friends…

I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but I’d rather see the show go down like the powerhouse of funny and cleverness that it once was than to be forced down by stupid pay disputes.

There, I said it. What do you think?

A Big Day for Amazon – Three New Kindle Offerings!

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Sep 282011

The New Kindle Fire by Amazon

While driving home from work I heard that Amazon released a new tablet, the Kindle Fire. According to the talking head, the tablet doesn’t do as much as the iPad, but it’s a fraction of the price—$199. I couldn’t wait to get home and see what this was all about.

I sure was surprised to see that not only the long-awaited tablet, the Kindle Fire, was announced (reserve yours for November 15th), but also a new Kindle (available now) and Kindle Touch (available November 21st). I think what caught my eye more than anything was that the new Kindle is only $79! I was lucky enough to be working in the publishing industry and get a very snazzy discount on my second generation Kindle, but it was still nearly $200. I’ve been dancing around the idea of getting a new Kindle, but there really isn’t a real reason. I mean, mine works great, it does everything I want it to do…it’s just that the new ones are slightly smaller, lighter, and they are new! Man, sometimes I am such a consumer-whore…but then again…it’s only $79…

My Kindle dilemma aside…I’m not super thrilled for the Kindle Fire announcement since I have an iPad, and—like my Kindle—it does everything I want it to do. If I didn’t have a tablet already, I think I’d be much more into it. My husband made a great point that the Kindle Fire is basically a super-duper tool for shopping on Amazon. He followed the statement up with, “What do you mostly use the iPad for?” I instantly responded, “Buying shit on Amazon and looking up that guy who was in that movie with Kevin Bacon.” Having a tablet in your living room is a terrible/awesome thing. When I see an commercial for something I want, I can look it up, double-check the finances, then purchase the item from Amazon—with their Prime shipping, I’ll have my purchase in two days. That’s got to be why the price is so low. Amazon could probably give this tablet away, and still make a boatload of money just from the www.amazon.com purchases!

Anyone out there going to order one of these new toys? If so, let me know what you think about the Amazon Silk web browser…it sounds so sexy!

Borrow Kindle Books from Your Local Library

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Sep 262011

Being an avid—borderline obsessive—reader, you can imagine my excitement when I recently read that you can borrow Kindle books from your local library. Books have always been a necessary expense for me. I put off trips to the salon, expensive shoes, and other girly things in order to get my reading on. I was a bit put off by the Kindle at first, like the commercial says, “I like the feeling of books.” Well, I did…until two years ago when I read my first Kindle book, “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens. I know it’s not the longest book in the world, but I didn’t move until I finished it. From that point on I was devouring Kindle books like my dog goes through dry food. As with hard-copy books, thems cost money! Therefore, borrowing books from my local library is a great thing.

After reading Amazon’s article on the new library loan functionality, I immediately went online, found the head librarian at the Santa Barbara Public Library, and asked her if they participate in this program. She quickly got back to me and said indeed they are participating. The next day I downloaded a library card application, and made my way to the closest branch to get my first library card in 20 years. Within minutes I was a card-carrying member of the Santa Barbara Public Library…and I was also out the door. It’s not that I didn’t want to explore the library…ok, I didn’t…I just wanted to get back to the privacy of my home to download my first Kindle book from the library!

I wasted a good 20 minutes dicking around online, not getting anywhere. I mean, why should I read how to do something? By the time the 21st minute rolled around, I noticed a large banner on the library website that “Library eBooks for Kindle” with a nice picture of a Kindle, no less. That couldn’t have been there the whole time? I’m sure the library posted it 21 minutes after I accessed their site…but I digress. I clicked on the banner, searched out the book I was looking for, #10 of the Sookie Stackhouse series (don’t you judge me!), and checked that bad-boy out. I was then brought to a screen in Amazon where I downloaded it, and dropped the file onto my Kindle. If you have the fancy Wi-Fi Kindle, it sends it to you like magic.

Now I get to be smug and act surprised when people tell me they don’t have library cards, “Really, you don’t support your public library?” The best part is that I get to read a shitload of books for free. I may never get out of my reading chair again! I encourage you Kindle readers out there to see if your public library is doing this. Seriously, aside from getting your library card, it’s not that much different than purchasing books from www.amazon.com. Go. Do it. What are you waiting for?

Steve Jobs Resigns—What Does This Mean for Apple?

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Aug 242011

Jobs and Wozniak, courtesy of Gizmodo

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.” —Steve Jobs, August 24, 2011

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the big news that Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple’s CEO, and the current COO Tim Cook will be taking his place. I can’t say that I’m surprised, Jobs has been ill for quite some time, and he needs to focus on himself and his family. So where does that leave Apple?

I’m not going to say that it’s all going to hell in a handbag, but I think Cook has some huge shoes to fill. Regardless of your IOS v. Droid/Mac vs. PC point of view, you can’t argue that Jobs is an amazing innovator and has made some very smart choices to get Apple to where it is today. Seriously, companies are going under and businesses are reporting losses, but people are still finding the money to buy the latest iPhone. People can ironically bitch about the economy while sipping a latte at the corner coffee shop while checking their stocks on an iPad2. Even in the worst economic times since the Great Depression, people thirst for Apple products. Yes, yes, there is an entire marketing team and countless others behind the company, but with Jobs at the wheel, they have consistently portrayed their products as hip, cool, and sexy—and we eat it up.

Okay, so you’re shaking your head because you could care less about Apple. Come on, you’ve got to give the man credit for being an innovator. Sure, I love Android OS on my phone, but who had the first true “smart phone”? Apple. I also dig the Droid Tablets now, but who had it first? Apple. What we know now as “Windows” originated with the Apple Macintosh. It’s one thing to take an idea that has already been created and make it better, but its quite another to give the public something completely new.

Oh, don’t give me the “he stole it from Xerox” argument. Okay, let’s say that he “stole” the GUI from Xerox—he sure as heck executed it in a way that no one else even thought of.

On the flip side, what happens when you try to be super innovative with your wacky products? You have some failures. Hey, it happens! Check out this list of Apple products that failed from www.minyanville.com. Some of those are such a flash from the past. I remember wanting a Newton so bad back in the day—it was going to change everything! And it would look oh-so-sweet next to my LC2. Even though these products didn’t make it, you can see how they led to better, more polished machines. You can’t win every time!

Another point to show how badass Jobs has made the company—you know how folks complain that iPads aren’t as good as Droid tablets because they don’t support Adobe Flash? What I find amazing is that it’s not stopping Apple. What are web developers doing? Making iPad versions of their sites that use alternatives to Flash! Hah, people bend over backwards to conform to iPad—most excellent.

Back to my original point, Cook has some huge shoes to fill. Maybe his leadership will do even greater things for the company! I know there are loads of people working behind the scenes at Apple, but none of that occurs without a great leader making the right decisions. I know, I’ve called Jobs “smug” in the past, but I think it’s okay to be smug when you can back it up. I wish luck to Cook, health to Jobs, and I look forward to seeing what Apple comes out with next. The competition between IOS, Droid, Windows, etc. is great—it just means we’ll keep getting more awesome products out of all these guys!

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