Pros & Cons of my new International Kindle – purchased in US, using it in the UK

Quick review of my International Kindle, in case someone else is looking to purchase a US version and import it over to another country.

Pros:

• I can actually use the wireless Whispernet service internationally…but if I want to wirelessly download books, it costs an extra $1.99/book…that’s not bad (BUT, see the cons below for using Whispernet for more regular updates for blogs, periodicals, etc)
• The Kindle is super lightweight & can’t wait to travel with it
• It’s pretty (see image at the bottom)
• I can purchase books online, and then synch it via USB to my Kindle, so I do not need to incur wireless charges (although the synching is not intuitive)

Cons:

• If I want updated daily blogs & periodicals, there is a weekly $5.00 charge (that can get expensive over the course of a year!) – no Techcrunch for me I guess…
• The Kindle store on my Amazon account is not that intuitive
• Apparently when charging my Kindle through my computer using the USB, I cannot use the Kindle for reading…the error message makes no sense (will post a picture later)
• I had to switch my home country from the UK to the US on my Kindle Amazon settings to get a better catalog of books
• At first it was quite unclear how to get blogs & periodicals onto my Kindle – the User Interface is not that intuitive
• I would prefer a touch screen
• It would be nice to be able to adjust the contrast of the screen text (maybe there is a way?)
• Unclear how easy it is to damage the Kindle…if I drop it, am I out of luck?  Does the screen scratch?

A camera that records your entire life! Crazy – this reminds me of the movie Memento…and Banksy’s CCTV

Just saw this article on a camera that basically records your daily life.  Apparently it was created by Microsoft Research for Alzheimer patients to help jog their memory by providing historical photos of people they met and places they have been – very similar to Guy Pearce’s character in the movie Memento who needed polaroids to recreate the recent past.

Now this camera, called a SenseCam, is being put into production for people who want to automatically document their daily lives. The camera is motion activated and takes snapshots (not video yet), and has the capacity to take 30,000 snaps.   Craziness….a little Memento picture and some Banksy to set the mood.

The SenseCam

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

Banksy – London