For Christmas I received the Amazon Kindle (from a lovely lady, if I may add). I want to start adding reviews to my site, so this is the perfect opportunity to start.

Should you buy an Amazon Kindle?

Do you read?

If you answered yes, than the answer is yes! (Weird right?)

There is probably more to consider than just a yes or no for most people, but I can safely say that if you enjoy reading there are tons of features that you will love on this mofo.

Features:

• Holds up to 1,500 books – I don’t expect you to actually buy that many books. You would need to do some serious reading to hit that, but having that many choices with you when you’re on a trip is awesome. I don’t even like packing 2 books because they take up too much room.
• Cheap books – Most books are $9.99 or less. For a cheap ass like me that is amazing and will help me read more. There are even a lot of free books, including books in the public domain. I downloaded The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for free and it was glorious.
• Buy Books over 3g Network – The Amazon Kindle has global 3G coverage for free. Unfortunately you can’t surf the web, but you can buy books on the device. You can also buy books online and send them to your Kindle without having to plug it into your computer. Great for snow days in New England when you don’t want to shovel out the driveway.
  
• Download Free Samples of Books wirelessly – This will never replace the enjoyment of going to a book store, but it helps you choose a book before you pay for it. Some samples are better than others.  A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
  had a huge preview, but its also a huge book, whereas The Blue Sweater had most of the first chapter.
• Dictionary – There is a built in dictionary. Put your cursor next to any word and the Kindle will give you the definition on the bottom of the screen, without leaving the page. I use this a lot.
  

The thing that blew me away was how real the e-ink screen looked. After a few extended reading periods I didn’t feel any eye strain. It doesn’t look electronic at all.

If your thinking of getting the Kindle, but your on the fence, I say pull the trigger. I am reading more than I have in a long time and even branching out into new genres because of the book previews. Reading too much is never a bad thing.

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I finally got a PS3. Now my television has the holy trinity of video game systems. After buying it, now I am wondering why I ever bought a XBOX 360 in the first place.

The current consoles are still defined as “Next Generation”, but that is a whole other conversation. I think what really defines this generation of games is not the fact that the graphics are amazing or that the sound is spectacular, I think the biggest thing is not one console has any really amazing games that are console specific (except for Nintendo games). Well of course there is Halo.

The PS2 had a lot of games that the XBOX didn’t have and that is why I got a PS2. The biggest 2 for me were Kingdom Hearts and GTA (I know it came out on xbox as well, but now nearly soon enough) and the XBOX had a lot of first player shooter, probably still does, but I don’t like them, so that means nothing. Then I really understood the difference, but now out of all the games that I have I’m not sure any of them are console only, except for the previously mentions Nintendo games.

The Wii is really next generation, because it is something completely different than anything else has been before and that is what the industry needed, but sometimes it is too much of a good thing. Even though most games are launched for the Wii as well as the ps3 and the XBOX 360, I rarely buy them for the Wii because they just throw in motion controls because they can. Does this add to the game? Most times the answer is no. I play video games when I want to relax and some games I couldn’t even imagine without the motion controls, Wii Bowling for example, but there is a reason I bought Tiger Woods for the ps3 instead.

This was really more of a rant than anything else, but are there any awesome console only games out for any of these systems? The only developer that is making great games and isn’t whoring them out to as many developers is Nintendo and that is for obvious reasons.

NOTE: I am not against the idea of every game for every system, but I do find it interesting. Okay now I am going back to playing Lego Batman on the Wii on the XBOX360 on the PS3

photo credit: Spike55151

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Epic Fail 80's style

Nobody likes to be wrong. I am a very suborn person myself and usually think I am right. Usually might be an understatement. But I can be wrong after the fact and I am okay with that.

Why is it okay to be wrong? We are all working in a new medium and I don’t care who you are, you don’t know everything. The world is changing faster than anyone can keep up with and trends are changing even faster.

In the past marketers played it pretty safe. Maybe you did something a bit crazy with your tv commercials or your print ads were a little too sexy, but lets be honest, its a formula. There is definitely creativity in it, but lets break it down, it’s throwing money at as many people as you can to build a customer base.

Right now if you do this you will not get fired. (I am 100% sure by the end of the year or early next year people who are only doing traditional marketing will be people getting fired) But answer this, how does this help you get above the competition? Chances are your competition have already starting using inbound marketing and social media to their advantage and if you let them get ahead of you now, you will be playing a lot of catchup. Ask Barnes & Noble, they still can’t catch Amazon.

To take inbound marketing and social media to the next level you need more than knowledge. You need the courage to know what you are doing is right and fight for it. If you fail, you’ve learned one more thing that doesn’t work on the way to your world wide rave.  Everyone who is successful can tell you more than one of their greatest fails without having to think too hard about it. Good luck and don’t get discouraged.

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This is normally the time when I post my weekly links, but unfortunately that is going to have to be passed on this week.

I should have posted earlier that I was away all last week.

With that said I was going to try and find some links to post, but without having the time to really catch up on a full week away the links probably won’t be as good as they should be.

Enjoy your fourth of July and check back this week for some new posts.

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