iPad vs Kindle

One steaming hot July 4th I ended up waiting for a transfer at Dallas Airport.

That day in 2007 I saw a Kindle for the first time. I was in the transfers section of the airport for six long hours.

There were ads for the device on the transfer side, but the shop selling it was in the regular departures side. I looked longingly through the glass at the Kindle.

I flew out of Dallas that day, with fireworks exploding in the rouge Texas twilight sky. But with no Kindle in my hand.

I have to admit, I still do not own a Kindle. By the time they arrived in the UK the economy had bombed and I was less keen on buying gadgets.

Now tablet computers have really come into their own. The iPad does so much more than display books – it costs a lot more than the Kindle too. But the Kindle only shows text.

I am thinking it is now time I put right the injustice of Independence Day in Dallas* and got my hands on a digital reader (I do have a Kindle app on my android phone, but the screen can only display about three paragraphs at a time). But the BIG question is:

Kindle or iPad ?????

Advice please…

(*I have been in the USA for Independence Day twice and may describe the other time at some point…)

iPad textbooks – what a great idea

Apple is launching an app for designing textbooks. These will be content rich experiences.

Apparently the cost will be capped at $14.99 and you will be able to buy individual chapters for a lower price.

This will save schools and colleges (and students!) an absolute fortune. The costs historically in publishing has always been in the paper, printing, distribution and storing. All of this is quickly vanishing as the traditional book (printed paper) starts to disappear being replaced by eBooks in their many forms.

The Joy of Ex – have you read it?

My first published book The Joy of Ex  is available from Amazon here.

The Joy of Ex was published in 2008 on Oktober Books.

The back page blurb says:

“It all starts with a drunken bet, well actually it starts with a lot of Jose Cuervo, some casual sex with strangers and a drunken concept, the drunken bet kind of follows naturally along behind. Nick is convinced the spark that gets a girl to sleep with him is still there between them forever, however the relationship ends.

His best mate Blake doesn’t agree. Instead Blake believes the fire between two people is gone, on one side at least, when things come to an end.

To find out who is right Nick bets Blake he cannot seduce and bed six of his ex girlfriends/one nighters – and provide photographic evidence. So is an ex girlfriend ripe for seduction, or is everything truly over when one partner says goodbye? Blake is about to find out when he discovers The Joy of Ex.”