Paint Me Blue and Call Me Stupid, But I Want One

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Paint Me Blue and Call Me Stupid, But I Want One

I was in New Orleans and Baton Rouge for several days. The high points of the trip included hanging with my new friend Doug Woolfolk, who very kindly took time out of his extremely busy schedule to give me a tour of the state capitol building, including the hallway where Governor Huey Long was assassinated (or accidentally shot by his own bodyguards, depending on which story you care to believe) in 1935, and to visit Spanish Town, a revitalized neighborhood on the edge of downtown. When I reached New Orleans, I was able to visit with my dear friends Toni McGee Causey, author extraordinaire, and her husband Carl Causey, who may well be among the five most brilliant minds on the planet. Seriously. I also attended a legal seminar, had lunch with video and film director Jason Furrate to discuss a new project, and made some new friends. Oh, and I discovered that Louisiana sells Barq’s root beer by the glass bottle, and it’s different from what they ship in cans to Yankees up north. All in all, not a bad ten days. The downside was that my computer’s motherboard fried on the second night of the trip so that I was reduced to operating my practice and writing by swipe-typing on my smart phone. This is not recommended for those of us on the wrong side of middle age; I am hoping that at some point very soon my left hand comes out of the claw configuration in which it seems to be frozen.

My computer is replaced (it was actually cheaper to buy a new one than to have the old one repaired) and I am busily uploading dis, dat, and de udda to it so this is going to be a short offering this week. So, I’ll take the easy way out and just ask a question: are you going to buy a Kindle Fire, the soon-to-be-released multi-media tablet? Do you want it? Do you need it? To answer my own questions: I am not going to buy one. I might when a 3G version comes out but it really doesn’t do much more than my phone does, from an application standpoint. Do I want one? Yes. Do I need one? No, and hell no. How about you?

14 thoughts on “Paint Me Blue and Call Me Stupid, But I Want One”

  1. Do I want one? Yes. Will I buy one? Not sure. I don’t understand why they didn’t introduce one with 3G. That would have been a big selling point for me, in addition to the color (I confess, as much as I love my Kindle, I miss seeing book covers in color). But the other big reason for me to buy a new Kindle is that my current model does not have 3G (if I correctly understand that term to mean built in accessible wi-fi).

    But then I debate with myself whether it would be wise to have built in wi-fi access, making impulse purchases even easier…

    BK Jackson

  2. Hey Joe. I love Toni. She was a debut thriller author with ITW the year I was. Very talented & so funny.

    I was looking at the new kindle. My current one is 3G b&w. WiFi would be okay since I read off it mostly at home, but finding a hotspot while traveling can be a problem. I recently had a friend of mine visit from Australia, thriller author James Houston Turner was on his US book tour for his latest release, Department 13.

    He struggled with his laptop connections everywhere. My smart phone worked better.

    I’m sure this kindle is WiFi to keep the cost down. I was excited to see something that might compete with the ipad, but without it being 3G, I’m not sure the color part would be worth it for me.

  3. I don’t know yet. The price is right. I didn’t see the need for an iPad at their current price, and this is a nice alternative. I don’t need it to be a camera.

    But I do like my grayscale Kindle, as I prefer not reading a backlit screen. So I’m not sure there’s a need for the Fire, at least for me. Of course, Santa may have other ideas. . .

  5. I have the wifi/3G Kindle and it’s awesome, but I’d prefer a color/ touch screen. I know Amazon has a Kindle touch screen model out now as well, but I also like the idea that the Kindle Fire can display video, play music, and surf the internet. These features move the Kindle from an e-reader to a media device, so it’s going to have a slightly different appeal.

    The lack of 3G does seem a little strange, but it also means no monthly bill, which Amazon may have felt it was too soon for. This works for me because I’m surrounded by wifi. Half the homes in my neighborhood have wifi and you can’t drive four blocks without passing a coffee shop. Wifi is also available at restaurants and some parks and town squares, so I don’t see the lack of 3G as being more than a minor inconvenience. Yeah, I’ll be buying one as soon as I can justify the $200.

  6. Will I buy one? No.

    Do I want one? Not really.

    I have a Kindle, but I’, content to read it. I have a nice television for when I want to watch something, and I can hook my laptop to it if I really, really want to. I don’t want to have multiple entertainment options at my fingertips 24×7. Now I have to account for how I scope out my day, at least to myself. Things get done, even entertaining things, because I made time for them, not because they were handy. I like it like that.

  7. I have a color Nook and I can think of no reason to switch. I’m happy with it and its performance, and I’m the One Person on the Planet not enthralled with Amazon. So I could watch a movie on it. I have a 58″ plasma for that. Surf the web? Umm, have a computer, and do you know how small the typeface will be on web pages? And that whole stretching thing is so annoying. I’ve never figured out tablets, either. They’re like a computer, but typing is awkward on the touch screen, and you can’t do anything serious. So far as I can tell they’re just an expensive toy with a monthly bill. I just don’t get it.

    I have wifi only. This concerned me when I bought it, but it’s not a problem at all. I have a wireless network in my house. It’s sufficient that I can (and do) impulse buy books at 2 o’clock in the morning. Since I have the app on my phone I can read the current book when I’m out during the day anyway so I rarely take it with me.

  8. No, already have an iPad with WiFi….here is why: 1. I am old enough that the first music I bought with my own money was “Get Off My Cloud” by the Stones…it was a 45. I bought the iPad because I can read and buy ebooks in all formats. 2. WiFi…you do not need 3G. It is just another scam to get into your pocket. Let’s be real, when was the last time you were any place that was not 5 minutes away from a WiFi source? You do not need another provider contract, use that money to buy books.

    My advice is wait until Apple comes out with the iPad 3, then buy a refurbished iPad 1 or 2 (you really don’t need the camera since you probably don’t use the one you already have on your phone)from the Apple Store. I bought a refurbished iPad 1 64G for $499…the price of a new iPad 2 16G….do the math. The deals will be even better when the iPad 3 comes out.

  9. Oh, and the iPad has a 10 inch screen….good luck watching a video/video on a 7 inch screen. And did I mention that I can plug my iPad into my TV and watch videos/movies.

    In all fairness it took me two years to finally pull the trigger and buy the iPad. It was only after playing with son-in-law’s iPad at Christmas that I decided to buy. I have not regretted it one day. I use the iPad multiple times a day….it even allowed me to turn off the internet on my laptop so I get more writing done.

  10. I have a Kindle 3G, but do not live anywhere near a 3G network, so, while I appreciate the gift, the wifi would have been fine. Plus, it gets my book to me about 5 seconds after 3G would. So, 3G is not a dealbreaker for books, but vid is a different story.

    Yes, I lust after the KF tablet, but it would be too tough to justify right now. Howeve, my laptop is on its last legs and I am going back and forth over another laptop or a tablet. We’ll see what Christmas and post-Christmas sales bring.

    Terri

  11. Sorry for you motherboard, as IT guy I know all too well about replacement vs. repair. I was glad to get out of the computer retail business and into tech support for the gov.

    As far as a Kindle Fire, I don’t want one or any kind of pad really. I’ve got a Kindle 3 w/ 3G & Wifi for reading. I’m cool with using my Android phone for mobile web access and my laptop for everything bigger. For watching videos online I have a permanent little PC hooked up to my plasma screen for just that purpose so no need there either.

    My beloved on the hand is drooling over one of those things. She’s been shopping for an iPad for a couple of months, not willing to pay the price though. With this at $199, I know what she’s getting for Christmas.

    And lastly… the self-narrated audiobook version of my novel 65 Below (self narrated meaning that I narrated it, not that it narrated itself…that would be weird) was released on Audible this weekend. To check out the action packed military thriller set in Alaska click here!

    Yippeeeee…. or as we say in Alaska… Yippeeeee!!

    Win a kindle – go to http://www.basilsands.com to enter.

  12. Thanks for the very, very interesting comments and opinions. I don’t currently own a tablet since it would only give me one more thing to drop and break. I got my wife one for Valentine’s Day last year and she loves it. She has problems using a computer but has no problems at all with a tab. For me, I’m good with a computer or,in a pinch, my smartphone. Still, this tempts me. It will be extremely interesting to see how the sales go after November 15.

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