Real Cost of Apple iPad vs Amazon Kindle 2

January 27th, 2010

ipad_vs_kindle

With all the gadget websites slamming the iPad for touting less features or design than their Dream Apple device, it got me thinking what type of consumer would be interested in the upcoming Apple iPad.

Question: Who’s gonna buy this thing???
Answer: Someone interested in an e-book reader.

Based on the limited information Apple has made available thus far, the following price comparison can be made:

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle DX Apple
iPad
Device $260.00 $489.00 $630.00
3G Wireless FREE FREE $30 / month
International Coverage FREE FREE $X for micro-SIM in visiting country
Book
(True Compass: A Memoir)
$9.99 $9.99 $14.99
Cost to Read e-Book over 3G: $270 $500 $675
(or 2.5x / 1.3x more!!)

Obviously the iPad is capable of much more than the Kindle, but go back to who’s going to buy this thing. Perhaps an iPad is just the Christmas present Grandma was looking for? Of course, that’s assuming she’s hip with the latest in gadget trends. If not, she may appreciate that Kindle at least 2.5x more.

Apple, EPIC FAIL

Some Game News…

January 26th, 2010

Mass_Effect_2_metacritic_score

See you at Fry’s!

Oh, and a woot-off is happening now too.

Games

SANS 502 – Get Your GIAC GCFW Cert in Burbank, CA

December 11th, 2009

GCFW_Silver

SANS 502 – Firewalls, Perimeter Protection & VPNs is an undiscovered gem in the SANS armada of training offerings. It’s an excellent overview of technologies and concepts that any entry level Information Security professional going into a corporate environment needs. While it may not be as sexy as the penetration testing classes SANS also offers, it definitely still holds value for anyone who plans (or ends up) responsible for protecting a corporate network environment. This class corresponds to the GIAC GCFW certification. Personal comments aside, here’s the flyer SANS has just sent out:


Please join in me Burbank, CA starting on February 11 for SANS Security 502: Firewalls, Perimeter Protection & VPNs. Experience this local class and SANS award winning security training first hand in the popular Mentor format! For complete course details and registration information, please click on http://www.sans.org/info/45104.

Register by December 15th and receive $500 towards any single course* in 2010. Enter in the discount code “BYE09″ in step 3, group discount code.  Instructions to redeem your $500 award will be sent to you upon receipt of your paid registration.

Benefits of the Mentor Program https://www.sans.org/mentor/about.php are:

  • Save 25% off the regular SANS tuition fee with the ability to save even more with group discounts (see below)
  • No need to spend money on travel outside of your local area
  • Small, locally run 10 week classes utilizing the same great SANS courseware presented at larger conferences
  • Evening classes do not conflict with daytime commitments
  • Direct, hands on contact with a qualified Mentor

The Mentor program reviews the courseware at a slower pace giving the student more time to learn the material. Students can apply the class material the next day when they return to the office and bring questions back to the Mentor each week!

“The SANS Mentor program is a great value. It allowed a learning environment that was local, with a knowledgeable instructor, and fellow like minded individuals.  All of this without having to travel!”
- Sean Nixon – Fidelity National Information Service

EXTRA TUITION DISCOUNTS are available for 2 or more students who register from the same organization. To obtain the Group Discount fee for this course, please contact Heather Kohls directly at mentor@sans.org PRIOR to registering with your company name and contact information of those wishing to attend.

Discover the quality training only The SANS Institute has to offer and register today!  Once again, for complete course details, course outline and to register, visit http://www.sans.org/info/45104.

Information Security

Barnes & Noble Nook Review: Pretty Good

December 9th, 2009

Gizmodo has posted a good article discussing Barnes & Noble’s latest entry into the ebook reader market, the Nook. Plenty of comparisons to Amazon’s Kindle to be found.

Barnes & Noble Nook Review: Pretty Good

(Via Gizmodo: Top.)

Toys

User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them

December 8th, 2009

Mark Coleran designs User Interfaces that are used in film. One of my recent favorites was Tony Stark’s computers in Iron Man, however apparently he can’t take credit for that one. Still, this is a pretty cool job, similar, but less challenging than that of a video game UI designer job in the real world.

[Mark Coleran via Metafilter and Gizmodo] Read more…

Programming, Worth Watching

A Romance Flowchart: When Is It Inappropriate to Use Your iPhone?

December 7th, 2009

Awesome. But am I allowed to bust out this chart to justify phone usage?


Click the image to view a larger version.

Based in New York City, Shane Snow is a graduate student in Digital Media at Columbia University and founder of Scordit.com. He’s fascinated with all things geeky, particularly social media and shiny gadgets he’ll never afford.

(Via Gizmodo.)

Silly, Toys

7 Reasons Why You Should NOT Eat Breakfast

November 21st, 2009

No More Breakfast
Breakfast. Image credit: Andreza Pinheiro.

I’ve always been told that skipping breakfast is unhealthy. So, I found the article from StrongLifts.com below to be eye-opening.

Read more…

Health

Motor Trend Car Of The Year: 2010 Ford Fusion

November 19th, 2009

The newly-refreshed 2010 Ford Fusion was just named MotorTrend’s Car Of The Year for 2010. Not a bad choice in our opinion as Ford’s got the most money to spend on marketing. Also, the car’s damn good.

(Via Jalopnik: Top.)

Toys

Study indicates MacBooks are pretty reliable

November 18th, 2009
17nov09compach0qw83.jpg

A laptop reliability study conducted by Squaretrade reveals most reliable laptop manufactures. The sample size was from over 30,000 devices over a 3 year lifetime. No big surprises here as the cheaper bargain laptops and netbooks round out the highest failure rates and the more expensive systems last longer. The linked PDF is full of pretty graphs which is always a win.

Of personal importance is my current laptop manufacturer of choice the Macbook Pro’s ranking in the study.

[via Engadget]

OS X

Metasploit Framework 3.3 Released Today

November 17th, 2009
metasploit_hax_small.jpg

The Metasploit Framework 3.3 was released today (Tue, Nov 17th.)

Tons of bug fixes and more exploits for us to play pentest with!

(via SANS Internet Storm Center.)

Information Security