graffiti in experience

As a non-NYC living commuter, do I get a monthly unlimited or pay-per-ride Subway ticket? That’s a question that perplexed me for a bit, until I decided to solve it once and for all.

This calculator is designed to determine if your commuting patterns would be better served with a NYC transit 30 day unlimited vs. a pay-per-ride option.

It’s based on the premise that you are primarily a commuter, and are not living in the city or doing a lot of non-commuting travel on the NYC subway system.

1. Selecting a specific start/end date allows you to get a accurate comparison, especially for the pay-per-ride option.
2. Regardless of the date in a month selected, this calculator will assume purchase of the full month of the unlimited.
3. The default one-way fare is for the highest price. If you have special circumstances (i.e. child, student or you qualify for a reduced fare, please adjust the fares accordingly.)

Of course there are other specific comparison criteria on the newly redesigned MTA web site.

This was designed for the NYC subway system, but there is no reason it can’t be applied to any other transit system to compare. Just modify the program details in the transit constants fields. I.e. the fixed cost monthly, and the per ride costs. If you are not getting a bulk purchase discount, then simply keep the adjusted pay-per-ride cost the same as the actual cost.

In part 1 of my review, I talked about some of the form factor of the Kindle 2. But all said and done, the proof is in the eating, or in this case reading – oodles and oodles of reading. To best illustrate how the most mission-critical part of the Kindle 2 stacks up, I thought it best to let the pictures do the talking.

Mind you these are not screen grabs of any kind. They are are un-artificially lit (read – no flash) pictures, captured in natural light on a grayish day.

As you can see, it really is just like reading a book. None of the eye-strain traditionally associated with electronic device screens. The reason is that it is not backlit. Reading a backlit device is a lot like staring into a light bulb. This screen relies on the reflection of external light on the e-page.

This means there are 2 great benefits. First, the Kindle is remarkably comfortable on your eyes, even after hours and hours. Longest stretch I got was about 5 hours on a long-haul flight. The second, this thing works like a charm in bright light. That’s means you can read this in the park, on the beach or anyplace else you might typically take a book.

As you can also see from those screens, there are some experimental features on the Kindle 2. These include a plain vanilla mp3 player. I say mp3, because besides that and the aa or aax formats – other audio types are not supported. It has the basic functions (alt+space to start/stop, alt+f to go forward) – which work just fine if you want a little light background music when reading. Audio quality isn’t fantastic, and there is some noticeable static when refreshing a page.

There is a rudimentary browser, but because of the refresh rate of E-Ink, it is really not too useful for anything beyond looking something up on Wikipedia.

It’s relatively easy to search for and add books in the store via the device, but if speed is what you’re looking for, you will be better off shopping at your traditional desktop computer. Once you’ve added books, the Kindle will sync them wirelessly (within the US). If you are like me and want to extend battery life, then you have to turn wireless on via the menu.

The final challenge is what to contain the device in. I had very few requirements. It should look good, form-factor weighs heavily. It should offer some protection to the device (I’m not expecting an Otterbox, but it should cushion some impact) yet be very secure. Most of all – it really shouldn’t break my Kindle.

After lots and lots of hunting. I finally settled on this gem by Trendy Digital.

Nice secure slide in instead of flimsy elastic straps, little padded for those slight bumps, doesn’t use the poorly design side hook/sockets which appear to cause the cracks, no annoying plastic sheet over the screen that makes it excessively glossy and best of all – it looks sharp.

Parting thoughts – you definitely do not have to spend lots of money on books to start. New releases, sure – but look out for deals. Amazon frequently has free book offers. There are also lots of public domain books available.

• Public domain books by Gutenberg.org – also available on Amazon
• An alternate to Project Gutenberg – freekindlebooks.org (may have better formatting for some titles)
• Amazon’s Kindle store – filters out public domain books, then price sorted,  so free is first (filter further by star rating to get the user-rated ‘better’ books
• Another source
• And another

There may be some duplication there, but there’s a good enough source of free books to get you started without spending a dime. And the beauty of being able to hold 1500 books at a time, is that you can just get it. Remove it from your Kindle if you run out of space – but it will stay on your Kindle account, so you can add it back in later.

This past winter, I got a Kindle 2. I had my eye one for a while, and having compared the available options (including the Nook by B&N and Sony’s selection as well as some other cloned varieties), I took the plunge.

With the recent iPad release, and the unfair comparisons or predictions that it would replace the Kindle – I thought it timely to do a review of features and overall experience of what is uniquely a book replacement device.

Now this isn’t a multi-media device (though it does do music, more on that), nor is it designed for heavy web browsing (while it can do simple textual browsing). More importantly, it was designed for a very specific audience – book readers – who want access to new releases in near real-time, or don’t want to lug a library on those long-haul trips.

On to the good stuff.

It comes in a nice lean eco-conscious package just large enough for it. But it was in perfect shape. The package includes detailed instructions (also digitally loaded on the Kindle) and a USB cable / power dongle combo a la the iPhone.

Boasting a slim profile, this device is sleek and slick, with a brushed aluminium back, power slide switch and a headphone jack. The most surprising thing initially, is the weight of this reader. It is very light and yet fits ergonomically in either hand. One can see using this device for hours on end without too much hand/arm fatigue.

The buttons are firm to the touch, but in a very solid way and they seem built to withstand some abuse. Additionally, in a tip of the hat to lefties, pagination can now be managed on either side of the device. The 5-way switch is a common feature in most modern electronics, and the Kindle is no exception. Only tiny gripe is that the push-down feel of the 5-way seems a little squishy. The keyboard is well spaced, not the most ergonomic (RIM, maker of the popular BlackBerry smart-phone still holds the record on that.) But then again, how much typing are you planning on doing?

The device comes somewhat charged and will get you going, though charging it is recommended. The convenient USB cable / power dongle combo makes charging a snap whether at an outlet or using a USB powered connection. The light turns from an amber to green to indicate that charging is complete. Of course if you let it go long enough, you’ll eventually run it down, but the nice thing about the display technology is that last screen always stays up.

Now to the meat of things – how does it compare to a good ol’ paperback? It beats the pants off it.  In so many ways. Pictures of the screens, one of the best carrying cases and more, in the next post.

He came up with Mailinator which is conceptually simple yet absolutely brilliant at what it does.

The gist – you go to some random site, they force you to register (sometime later I’ll talk about why I don’t think this is a good idea). Dang, which free email account do I use for spam again. Well never again. You just sign-up with anything@mailinator.com. No pre-registering with Mailinator, no passwords, nothing. Then pop over to mailinator.com, type in your created name – and BAM! – you’ve got that ebook, or software or whatever it is someone decided filling their CRM database with spam was woth doing.

Now some site may block it, like say Facebook but there nifty ways around it. (You would think they learned their lesson with the bugmenot incident)

Oh and he’s running this on a computer in his bedroom. Ok not quite, but it is still a very elegant and light setup.

So I say to you Paul, bravo. If only my college roommate’s late night rantings could be so profound and so technologically efficiently executed. You’ve made the world a better place.