Posted by Timothy Fisher Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:37:00 GMT
For those who Twitter, the Ruby on Rails Bible book now has a Twitter feed of its own.
You can follow Ruby on Rails Bible for content updates and corrections, new content, discussion about the book and its contents, and Rails knowledge sharing.
You can follow Ruby on Rails Bible here: http://www.twitter.com/rorbible
Posted by Timothy Fisher Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:09:00 GMT
and other online book sellers. Another Rails author,
Noel Rappin
, also contributed content to this book. Noel is the director of the rails
practice at Pathfinder Associates.
Posted by Timothy Fisher Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:51:00 GMT
With all the hype that the iPhone and the new Google G1 phone are getting,
I’d like to talk about a device that I think is probably the most underrated
electronic gadget that is available today. This device is the
Amazon Kindle
I’ve had my Kindle for about 2 months now, and I have to say I absolutely
love it. Like most people, I am someone who always preferred reading actual
books and hardcopy over computer screens. However, reading on the Kindle is
a completely different experience than reading a computer screen. What you
see on a Kindle screen looks more like words on paper than words on a computer
screen. There is no backlighting on the screen. The technology used is something
called E-Ink. If you are someone who reads a lot of books, articles, papers, etc.
you will love the Amazon Kindle.
The selection of books available through Amazon on the Kindle is at over 190,000
and growing weekly. You’ll save money on the books you read also. Most Kindle
books are priced at $9.99. This includes new releases and best sellers. Compare
that with the $25-$30 that you would typically spend for a new physical book.
Unfortunately, most computer and technical books even in Kindle form do tend to
cost more than the
standard $9.99, but they are still discounted from the physical book price.
However, the books available for the Kindle are only a
small segment of what you can read on your Kindle. Other content that you can
subscribe to through Amazon includes popular magazines, newspapers, and blogs.
I actually have more free
content on my Kindle than content that I’ve paid for. You can find free books
compatible with the Kindle at sites such as
manybooks.net and
feedbooks.com.
It is also very easy to
transfer your own documents to the Kindle. Kindle accepts most common document
type formats. The Kindle support for PDF is officially considered to be
experimental; however, I’ve transferred many PDF documents to my Kindle and
have never had any issues with their display. Documents can be transferred
to the Kindle through a USB connection, or by emailing documents to an email
address that every Kindle owner is given. Documents sent to that email address
are sent to your Kindle.
So far I’ve talked about the e-reader features of the Kindle only. However,
the Kindle has much more capability than only as an e-reader. What I think
is a hugely overlooked feature of the Kindle and under-marketed by Amazon is
the fact that with the Kindle you are given absolutely FREE high-speed wireless
Internet access. Every Kindle has access to the WhisperNet network which is an
EVDO cellular network that Amazon provides through the Sprint cellular network
at no charge to Kindle owners. Compare this to the $50.00 monthly fee you normally
pay for a wireless data plan on your cell phone. The Kindle has a browser built-in
that allows you to read GMail, access Google, Wikipedia, and other websites. You also have
access to the Kindle Store which allows you to search for, read reviews, and purchase
Kindle books and have them sent to your Kindle in a few seconds. Here’s another great
feature; You can get a
free chapter sent to your Kindle of any Kindle book that is available. I find myself
taking advantage of this feature quite often to sample books before I purchase them.
I’ve always been an avid reader, but since getting my Kindle I have probably doubled
the amount of content that I read. If you’re an avid reader, I highly recommend that
you check out the Amazon Kindle.
A good blog to check out that is dedicated to the Kindle is
The Book of Kindle.
