Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Without all the fanfare of either
Seattle-base Amazon or Apple, Barnes and Noble has come out with a
pair of new tablets. There was no big build up over weeks having us
speculate at just what they will be announcing. They didn't make a
big presentation, with media invited, to show off their latest
products. Barnes & Noble just simply released their two new Nooks
with just a simple announcement about the pending release in a couple
of month and a link for pre-ordering the tablets.
“With
the combination of the highest resolution screen, lightest weight and
expansive access to content rendered in a digital quality never
before seen, NOOK HD is the world’s best 7-inch media tablet,”
said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes and Noble
in a press
release. “We designed our larger format tablet NOOK HD+ because
we think there’s big demand from customers for a super-light,
extremely high quality 9-inch tablet, at half the price of the iPad.
Both our 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ deliver an exceptional
customer experience and we enthusiastically encourage customers to go
to nook.com and learn more about them.”
Just like the Kindle the Nook has added
HD to their name and the tablets come in both 7-inch and 9-inch. The
7-inch Nook HD cost $199 just like the Kindle Fire HD of the same
size but the 9-inch starts at $269 a 30 dollar savings over the
Kindle Fire HD. A couple of more differences on price between the
Nook HD and the Kindle Fire HD are that the since the Kindle Fire HD
has ads you have to pay an additional 15 dollar opt-out fee and with
the Nook HD there are no ads and the charge is included with the Nook
HD where the Kindle Fire HD sells theirs separately.
There is also several differences in
features
between the Kindle Fire HD and the Nook HD. The Nook HD has a slight
advantage on display resolution with the 7-inch version at 1440x900
compared to 1280x800 on the same size Kindle HD. The Nook HD wins
again on the weight coming in at a tiny 11.1oz. Compared to 13.9oz on
the Kindle Fire HD. The Nook HD also has a microSD slot where the
Kindle HD still lacks in that area. The Kindle Fire HD does win on
battery life by the slight margin of 11 hours compared to 10.5 for
the Nook HD. On the large version of both the Nook HD and the Kindle
Fire HD the differences in features
are much more closer between the two although the Nook still has a
slight advantage in those same categories.
For more on the new Nook HD you might
try reading:
Monday, September 24, 2012
Review: Fiona Thorn and the Carapacem Spell
Fiona Thorn and the Carapacem Spell by
Jen Barton is a delightful work of children's fiction and adventure.
The book tells the story of a teenage orphan raised by an
organization known as “bright eyes”. With her “bright eyes”
partner and traveling companion Manzanita Rose, a talking horse, they
set off to free their friend Jaydin Rowan, a fairy, that has been
accused of placing the Carapacem curse on a boy. Fiona and Manzanita
know their friend is innocent of the crime but they have two small
problems. They are not able to prove it and the Fiona is not in good
standing with the King. So, Fiona comes up with the idea of blowing
up the jail cell and then find the proof se needs later. Her plans
soon change when they run into the three young Princesses and they
offer to take Fiona to their father for an audience. Things soon go a
wry when Fiona and the Princesses overhear a plot against the king
and find themselves in peril and on the run. Escaping the clutches of
Graven the Fiona, Manzy and the princesses find there way to the
fairy realm and Caelia Rowen, the fairy Queen and Jaydin's mother,
for help in their quest to free Jaydin. Caelia helps by telling them
what the vision Fiona saw means and gives Fiona and the three
princesses one special power each to aid them on their quest. They
find out though there is a price to pay for the vision that Fiona saw
and that price is a life. With their new powers the four girls, Manzy
and Kevin they set off to find the real culprit behind the Carapacem
curse. The trail they follow though is full of hidden dangers that
threaten their success at finding the culprit, proving Jaydin's
innocence and paying the price of Fiona's vision that is slowly
killing her.
Ms. Barton uses the element of suspense
extremely well in her book. A couple of good examples are the way
that she makes it seem that Fiona and Manzy are doomed when they are
attacked by a pair of spotted cats but leaves us with a glimmer of
hope that the will be fine. Then there is when we are all concerned
that the three princesses will succumb to an attack by an Ogre but
when all hope is lost it seems as though the youngest of the
princesses, Cricket, will save the day.
I would recommend this for children
over the age of 12 since there are some dark parts. For younger child
it would be I would recommend having an adult read along with you.
Review: At the gates of Walhalla
At the Gates of Walhalla by Justen
Forge is a gripping thriller that will keep you hooked through all
319 pages. The story revolves around fictional border enforcement
officer Kurt Sorensen. The veteran agent loses his beloved wife and
twin boys in a vicious attack and soon leaves the wild
Mexican-American border and head north back to his hometown. He joins
the border agency at the Canadian border in the little town of north
Walhalla. He goes along his job of apprehending contraband before it
can get into Canada. His job soon get more complicated then he ever
dreamed when he finds out a secret that could prove deadly if he
isn't careful. He devises a plan to fight the new enemy and recruits
some of his co-workers and citizens of Walhalla as warriors in the
fight. The 'sons of Thor' as Kurt and his group are know wage their
own war even though the stakes are high and they may not survive.
Mr. Forge does a marvelous job of
making the characters and surrounds so vivid that you are drawn into
the story. You can actually picture yourself in the crop duster as
Steve, one of Kurt's co-workers and a 'son of Thor', as he takes to
the air. In other parts of the book you can easily find yourself with
the group as they search through vehicles looking for drugs. In
another part the description is so vivid you can actually see the
tattoo that every member of the 'sons of Thor' wear on their neck.
I would recommend this book to anyone
that enjoys action, the struggling the underdog and a little blood
mixed into the storyline.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
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