My Week with the Fitbit Force

[caption id="attachment_13117201768" align="aligncenter" width="560"] My wife's Fitbit Force (she didn't return hers as I did). It's displaying the number of calories she's burned today. The Force comes in two colors, black and "slate" (which is like a teal). Buy it on Amazon for $130. Photo courtesy of my wife.[/caption]

When I first read about the Fitbit line of fitness trackers, I was vaguely interested in them. I felt like they were cool enough but nothing I was particularly interested in. Then I read that they could monitor sleep patterns. That piqued my interest, since I'm just not very good at sleeping. If competitive sleeping was an Olympic sport, I would be so bad, I'd be the last kid picked in gym class.

So, I've been interested for a while in better understanding how I sleep. So, when my wife decided to get the Fitbit Flex, I thought to myself how much better the Flex would be if it actually functioned like a watch, as well. So, I took another look at the Fitbit line and found the Force. I decided to get one and my wife decided to exchange her Flex for one, as well, since I did the work of tracking two down at a Best Buy here in the city.

I know Amazon wants us to buy their new flaming thing but can't they support iThingies a bit better than this?

I know Amazon wants us to buy their new flaming thing but can't they support iThingies a bit better than this?, a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

I snapped this last night while trying to buy the awesome score for the brilliant UK show "Misfits" last night. Amazon's cloud player will work but the media gallery does what you see below. I can stream mp3s via Safari but playing in the background is super flakey. I wish they would just do an app. In the end I did buy the "Misfits" score but had to use my MacBook Pro to download it. Could have DLed it on my Android phone, of course.

Just Sent this to Amazon's "Prove Your Address is What You Say It Is" Department.

As a bit of a pop-culture fanatic, I love movies, TV shows and books. I've been known to link to many over the years and I've used Amazon's affiliate program to try and make a couple of bucks off of said links. So when Amazon's affiliate program banned all California residents, I was disappointed but not worried, since I haven't been a California resident since 2008. Of course, because Amazon keeps affiliate accounts separate from regular Amazon accounts, I didn't realize that my affiliate address hadn't synced with my Amazon shipping and billing addresses. So, they shut down my account. I complained and they said "Well, we'll reinstate your account but we may need you to verify your address" and I just blew off the request when it came a few weeks later. Then I get an email saying my affiliate account has been shutdown because I never proved that I lived where I said I lived.

I then sent them a 5 megapixel photo of my New York State drivers license. They replied pretty quickly saying my account had been reinstated. But I was already too annoyed to keep my digital mouth shut. Here's the email I sent them just now:

When I initially signed up for my Amazon affiliate account I don't remember having to prove that I wasn't lying to you regarding my address. While I understand that you need to make sure I don't live in California, you can assume I'm not lying to you for two reasons: 1) I haven't given you any reason to not trust me and 2) because I've ordered and paid for items to be delivered to my current address in New York and have received them *every one of them* (including a Kindle!). This is true with various products I've bought through the Amazon.com website and via CreateSpace.com where I am self-publishing a novel and have order four different proofs of my book.

The fact that one Amazon hand doesn't know what the other Amazon hand is doing doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence in Amazon as a company. The fact that you think I'm lying to you (why else would I need to prove my address is what I say it is?) makes me question your intelligence as well, since, to date, I am not aware of making a *single penny* on my affiliate account. So, *why* would I lie to you about my address? It makes no sense.

I encourage you to implement a single-account model, like Google has. This way, when I need to change information on my account I don't have to do it three or more times. Also, you shouldn't need me to send you a photo of my drivers license in order to believe that I live where I say I live. If I have ordered multiple items from multiple services over the span of many months and UPS has said they've been delivered to me, you shouldn't even need me to change my address. Your site should notice the difference and ask me if this is my new residence and then that new address should reflect across all of my accounts (or my one account).

The amount of hoops I have to jump through just to make no money at all, is absurd. I know, you, the person reading this, probably has no say over policy, so I hope you'll forward this to your boss and that they will forward it up to their boss, as well. I'm sure many people just *look* at these hoops and don't bother to jump through them. I'm sure many people consider the number of logins and passwords they have to keep track of and just throw up their hands at using Amazon at all. I know you guys are huge and probably feel like you don't need to worry about "the little guy" but think of it this way: you're missing out on a lot of revenue because people are frustrated with the complexities of using Amazon.

I know I'm frustrated.

Thanks for reading.

So there ya go. I think that covers things.  I know Amazon doesn't give a shit about me because they don't have to.  But I had to say something.  I'm just getting tired of crappy customer service from companies that make money and traffic off of me.  I know I'm not Chris Brogan or Seth Goden or whomever, but give me a break here.  They shouldn't need me to update three different accounts.

 

OK, venting done.  I feel (somewhat) better.

Whoa—I pick up my Kindle 2 for the 1st time in 2 months and look what happens… :/

Whoa—I pick up my Kindle 2 for the 1st time in 2 months and look what happens… :/

Amazon's Kindle 2: ThePete's Take: Better, but Wait for Kindle 3

The new Kindle 2 has been announced by Amazon.com and while I like it better than I did the original Kindle, I still think it has a seriously limited feature set for the price.

The Good News

The thing that makes me salivate for the Kindle 2 is its new design. Holeee crap is the new Kindle 2 easy on the eyes. It looks like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took a third generation iPod, a Blackberry and a first generation iPhone, mushed them all together and made a paperback-book-sized device. The damn thing actually looks like it would feel comfortable in my hand now--unlike the original Kindle which looked much to angular and sharp-edged to be comfortable after an hour of reading.

Part of this new design is the form factor. It's skinny as HELL!! This is what really makes me want to pick up the Kindle 2: it's thinner than the iPhone. Yeah, that's some serious skinniness. A .4 inch width makes Kate Moss look like one of those fat people who can't get through doors.

The Kindle 2 will actually surf the web now. It won't look pretty, but it can do it. The old Kindle could surf too, but not officially (the browser was listed under "experimental," apparently). Officially you could hit up Wikipedia, but that was about it. Kindle 2's browser is limited, but at least you can get out onto the 'net. It'll display text-centric web pages just fine but, one assumes, layouts will be screwed (browsing like a Sidekick 3?) and graphics will go undisplayed. Ironic because apparently this baby has all the right hardware under the hood for much more than it is officially sanctioned to do (shades of TheRedFruit--Apple).

According to some reports (already) it's faster at turning pages and easier to refer to the dictionary.

You can still connect to the web wirelessly with no monthly service charges--which, I have to admit, is pretty awesome. I was going to complain about the Kindle 2 still running on Sprint, but if I never have to pay too much for their services, how can I complain?

Battery life is crazy long. With it's EVDO modem powered up and running, the Kindle 2 can go four days without recharging. With wireless off, it can go two weeks without recharging. Yeah, that's pretty damn impressive. Of course, if you go heavy on the mp3 playing and heavy on the wireless usage, you're going to drop that life down a bit, but still, it beats the iPhone. I was at the NY Comic Con the other day and my iPhone didn't last the six hours I was there. Which is sad since it was just sitting in my pocket with wifi and 3G turned off the whole time.

Since Amazon admits the browser works, other browser-based applications should be usable on it. Over on BlogKindle.com, last May, they posted about using Krypton. Sure, Flash wouldn't show up on the Kindle, but an awful lot of sites are making iPhone-formatted sites available to users--how would they do on the big K?

The Bad News

It lost it's SD card slot. Yeah--unbelievable. The Kindle 2 comes with a whopping 2GB of internal storage (only 1.4 gigs of which you can actually use) and still plays mp3s (like it's predecessor) so between e-books, comics (manga), audiobooks and music, you just might fill that puppy up pretty fast (I definitely would).

Still too damned expensive. The screen is gorgeous for black and white text, but so is the XO and it only cost OLPC $200 to make it AND it's a full laptop. (Well, hardware-wise it is, anyway.) Why does the Kindle 2 still cost $359 when it actually does less than something like the XO or your average netbook? I can get an eee pc for under $300 at Target. It's about the size of some larger paperbacks and it lets me surf the web with Flash and everything.

Then again, it does come with free wireless service forever, so that may make up for the price. I'm on the fence about this.

Why I Want a Kindle 2 and Why I'm Going to Wait for Kindle 3

There are three things that make me want a Kindle 2 and one reason I am going to hold out (or at least try to hold out) for a Kindle 3:

1) Everyone who uses a Kindle seems to love it. My mom got to mess with one at her dayjob at a university library and fell in love with it.

2) My iPhone. Using my iPhone for so very much, as I do, really brings out the limitations of the wonderful little device. The damn thing puts James Bond's Q Branch to shame. GPS, media playing, file reading and a LOT more. The thing is, I'm reading a friend's screenplay on it now and while it's fine, it's missing a lot of features that it really needs--like bookmarking. Also, the iPhone's backlight needing to stay on while I read uses battery life. Plus, the screen is kind of small for so much reading. Simultaneously, I've been reading Naomi Klein's brilliant book, The Shock Doctrine and while it is a great read, it's BIG--I own one coat with pockets big enough to hold it. I'm now so used to taking everything with me on my iPhone that I've found myself wishing I had bought an e-book version of Shock Doctrine just so I could read it where ever I took my phone. Of course, my iPhone was cheaper than a Kindle 2.

Then again, the screen is smaller, too.

SIGH.

3) Hackers. The iPhone has been wonderfully hacked to bits (and bytes--ha) since it was first released--my 3G iPhone, included. I am no longer with AT&T, I can drag and drop media files to the iPhone, can shoot video, etc. So, I'm hoping the hackers will go to town on the Kindle 2 and really let software take full advantage of its hardware. The catch? The Kindle 1 has barely been looked at sideways by the hacker community--I can only find one guy who has hacked it in all the time it's been out. Igor Skochinky reverse engineered it, unlocking cell-based GPS, minesweeper, the ability to take screenshots, and a few other cool things. Check out Igor's not-updated-lately blog on hacking e-book readers here: http://igorsk.blogspot.com Sadly, he's all I could find Kindle-Hacker-wise.

I'm thinking that the reason hackers aren't flocking to the Kindle is because of the price. Right now, the Kindle seems like the laserdisc player of the gadget world. Sure, everyone knows it's cool and everyone would like to own a Kindle, but they're just too expensive. However, like I said, if you think about wireless service fees for a year or even three, the thing kinda pays for itself. Or at least, it would, if it had VoIP capabilities. Ha!

The reason I will wait for the Kindle 3 (barring a Christmas gift, an extreme price drop or a lottery win), is the that hardware really can do a lot more than Amazon will let it do. I mean, come on, guys, I can watch videos on my phat Nintendo DS. You're telling me the Kindle 2 can't handle video? Sure, the screen is e-ink and is only black and white, but what about that? Why not license the XO's display from OLPC and give us a dual-mode B&W and full color display with the ability to turn off or on the backlight?

I'm not even asking for touchscreen, here--I love that the Kindle has a tactile keyboard. It's the one thing I miss about my iPhone (especially now that I have cut and pasted now--yay!).

If Jeff Bezos has any smarts in him, the Kindle 3 will have full multimedia capabilities--it'll play video, audio and that will be on top of it's ability to read e-books, and connect wirelessly to the 'net. OH and it'll list price at UNDER $300! Come on, Jeff! It's the economy, stupid! No one can afford this thing right now!

Just my ¥2, as always!

Posted via email from thepete's posterous

AMAZON'S KINDLE: ThePete's Take: Not Even for Kindling

Yeah, I really think Jeff Bezos is not the person to listen to when it comes to considering the future of technology. This is the guy who agreed with the guy who made the Segway who also said that cities would redesign themselves for said Segway. Oh yeah, Bezos is also the guy who built his own spaceship. Now what is he spouting on about? It's that thing to the right--it's called the Amazon Kindle and he's convinced it's the future of books. But check out the features:

6 inch diagonal B&W (grayscale) screen

Uses Sprint's EV-DO network (connects to 'net via cell phone network) to hook you to the Amazon Kindle Store (think iTunes Music Store for digital books)

QWERTY keyboard for entering in book titles (and such) to said AKS, you can also annotate and bookmark

Compatible with Audible.com tracks as well as standard mp3s

Has an SD (low capacity) slot for "expansion"

Supports something called "Kindle format" for text docs, along with PDF, Mobi, HTML, plaintext, and image files like JPEG, GIF, and PNG (source) but I have yet to read conclusively that it surfs the web

Comes with a built-in dictionary and allows you to wirelessly connect to Wikipedia.org

All that for just $400.

I haven't even told you how expensive books and newspapers are.

Books: $9.99 (for most titles)
Newspapers: $9.99 to $14.99/mo
Magazines (the only reasonably priced thing here): $1.99/mo

Will it flop? Well, I haven't heard of Bezos making any flights into orbit and I only see Segways zooming down the street when there's a blue moon out, so, based on those two facts and the cost of the Kindle, I'm going to go out on a limb and say:

Baring an extreme price drop, the Amazon Kindle will bomb.

I mean, think about it: you're saying the future of a passtime that hardly anyone does is in an electronic device that costs $400???

For that price you can get a laptop--hell, the eee PC is the same price and it runs XP! I just dropped $400 on an XO laptop and it has basic PC features (like web surfing) and it has an e-Book mode. So, why should I be expected to drop another $400 on the Kindle? Just because it has free Sprint EV-DO service?? Well, it only has free EV-DO to the Kindle store and to Wikipedia--that's hardly a robust Internet experience. I can do more on my Sidekick 3--which also cost me $400. But my SK3 is a phone and I can surf and check my email and IM and, a short stack of other things.

So, remind me again why I should drop $400 on the Kindle?

I'd say this thing is worth $100 for what it does. Ditch the free EV-DO service and just let us load our own stuff in it and I'm good. Oh and the books that cost nothing to copy over and over and over? Those should be about $3--not $10. Who the hell do you think you're kidding, Bezos? $9.99 for a digital book? Where do the costs go? Not to cover design or printing--just to marketing and download service support (I'm assuming that most of the mark-up on the Kindle, itself, goes to pay for the EV-DO).

Frakkin' greedy bastards. All these guys think about is how much they can charge instead of how little. Do they want their device in everyone's hands? Newsflash, guys! The cheaper your tech is, the more people will buy it! This is especially true if your device is as useless as the Kindle.

sources: Amazon Kindle product page Engadget: here, here, and here.