Tomorrow: Google Books PDF Death Match Posts

It’s less than two hours til I must sleep.

All those Tech Fondle Tour posts I hoped to have up today aren’t happening.

I wound up with close to two hundred photos (some not tech, which will be posted tonight to get them out of the way) and I lost track of how many iPad screensnaps I emailed to myself from the Apple Store.

Come back tomorrow for the Google Books PDF Death Match posts starring:

- Barnes & Noble Nook HD+
- Apple iPad Mini
- Apple iPad 4 with Retina Display
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

There are surprises ahead!

New non-tech posts will now appear below this Sticky post.

I Will Fall Further Behind Today

The weather forecast threatens rain here for the next five days.

And I really want to go see the Nook HD+, the Archos 80 Titanium (which might be in stock somewhere), and assorted other things.

So I’ll be out most of today doing one of my Tech Fondle Tours and therefore falling even further behind in catching up on things.

On the other hand, I will take along a camera and bring back pictures to publish with my assessments later today. So there will be new first-hand posts instead of simply repeating stuff from the Net.

I’ll also try to swing through Chinatown. Sometimes I can come across things imported from China. Chinatown was at one time flooded with fake iPods and, before that, a jillion Tamagotchi knock-offs. Maybe one of the iPad Mini clones will have shown up?

YouTube Playlists About Tablets

I have no intention of posting every tablet video I come across.

But I do collect them in a variety of YouTube playlists.

For these, I’ve been searching daily — sometimes more than once — and will do so until I lose interest:
Chuwi V88 Playlist
iPad Mini Clones Playlist [Onda V818, Ramos X10, others]
Archos 80 Titanium Playlist
Archos 80 Platinum Playlist

Sporadic updates:
Onda V812 Playlist
Eight-Inch Tablets Misc Playlist
Nook HD+ Playlist

No longer updated:
Galaxy Note 8.0 Playlist
Archos 97 Titanium Playlist

The thing about YouTube is that if you don’t collect early videos into a Playlist, you wind up watching pirated copies from spammers who collect pre-roll ad fees. The other thing about YouTube is that when a video is removed, they no longer tell you which one it was in the Playlist.

Still Behind

That about sums it up.

I’ve got The Slowest PC In The Universe and a mouse that’s flaking out, sometimes not clicking and sometimes double-clicking.

I’ve got over 1,000 unread posts from various sites, not including what’s been published in China.

YouTube and local videos still skip even though I swear I’ve used every damn utility to kill unwanted processes but it still seems like something is stealing CPU cycles — even though anti-viral scans all say No.

If you miss two days on the Net with the crap hardware I have, you get buried if you’re actually following things. Is it any wonder I lust after tablets?

Maybe I will be caught up by Tuesday.

A Break In The Action

I underwent an emergency medical procedure yesterday.

I am too loopy from painkillers to keep up with things.

I should be back to speed by Sunday.

Stop CISPA

Unlike with SOPA, I’m not seeing widespread support for an Internet blackout. However, this post will remain a sticky for today. Scroll down for new posts.

EFF: The CISPA Government Access Loophole

Anonymous: CISPA Internet Blackout April 22nd

Your Anon News: CISPA Blackout: April 22

Some Blog Changes

Avatars in Comments were supposed to be Off. Settings showed them as Off, but they still appeared. Maybe this time they will really be Off.

I’ve pared the Sharing options down to a handful of the most popular and changed those buttons to all-text.

I finally found the way to delete that damned floating Follow button WordPress added a while back.

If there are any objections, Comment.

The April First Policy Here

This post is a sticky that will be removed on April 2nd. Scroll down for any new posts.

I hate playing — and hate being taken in by — April first pranks. You won’t see any here.

Usually I skip posting on April first, but in case I have any posts for that date, know that they’ll be legit and not stupid pranks.

Welcome To My 2006, Kindle Users!

Amazon launches “Send to Kindle” button for web publishers and WordPress blogs

Waaaaay back in 2006, having encountered the newly-released Sony Reader, I wrote:

4) “Sitecasting” and “Blogcasting.” I made this one up. But think of it. Imagine, each week or two, blogs issuing a compilation of what they’ve published during that time in Reader format. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d love to see that done for sites that publish a lot each day, such as JK on the Run, Teleread, and Palm Addicts. For sites that offer reviews (such as The Gadgeteer), a compilation of just that material could be offered. I think “blogcasts” could offer people a better way to sample more blogs than sitting at a PC and flailing away with search engines and links. I always feel pressured sitting at a PC. Sitting back with the Reader will allow me to read sites and blogs more. Along with all of the RSS, XML, digg, and other such icons now on sites, I’d like to see a new one added. One that in effect says, “Put this site on my Sony Reader.”

Well, we’re still not there (although the dotEPUB plug-in and similar ones are great) but this Send To Kindle feature is a good start.

I even jumped the gun on it by offering a few long posts here as ePub files.

Right now, the Send To Kindle feature is for self-hosted WordPress blogs. I’ve emailed WordPress Support to find out if there’s any chatter about offering it here at free WordPress. If it’s made available (and I think it will be), I’ll add it to this blog.

Today’s Edition Of Me-Too Media

Me, 2010: Barnes & Noble Is For Sale: Amazon Should Buy It

Forbes, 2013: Amazon preparing bid for Barnes and Noble?

Compare the two pieces. He was paid for that incomplete, flaccid bullshit.

Me, 2012: Who’s After the dotBOOK Top Level Domain

WSJ, today: Amazon’s Quest for Web Names Draws Foes

Another one paid for incomplete bullshit all hinging on anti-Amazon, as if no one else is after the dotBook domain.

Now I know why it’s called the lamestream media — even in TV commercials.