My story of owning a Kindle 3

I am a man who enjoys great works of literature. Reading is one of my prized pastimes, and I regularly keep track of my reading progress like I keep track of my exercise activities. My favorite reading material are works of fiction, however, I also enjoy reading non-fiction works like articles, opinions, etc., so long as they are relevant to my interests. I am fond of my ability to stay engrossed and lost in reading for extended periods of time. The average human attention span has reached an all-time low for the past few decades that reading an entire novel from beginning to end sounds like running a hundred miles while on crutches. If you have reached this far, congratulations. Most people wouldn't even get past the first sentence. But I digress.

To fuel my need of literature, I carry books along with me. I typically read them during hours where the time is better spent doing something other than just staring blankly into the distance, like while on the bus. It is uncommon for me to find time to read books full-time, as my time is divided more unevenly than the Philippine social system.

Books suck for a couple of reasons though. First, they take up space. I already think that my HTC Desire HD consumes too much space due to its 4.3" screen, despite it being almost as thin as a copy of Newsweek. An average pocket paperback weighs just about the same as my phone, though they are much thicker and larger.

Friends once asked me, "Why don't you get yourself a tablet?" "Sure," I replied. "Which one?" "The iPad." they would reply, and I would later contemplate why my dear friends would recommend such shitty contraptions. Knowing myself, I would probably root for an Android tablet, like a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but I couldn't afford such.

To hell with tablets. They're overrated expensive toys for little boys and girls. Besides, no one really uses tablets to read books anyway (unless comic books and manga count). Most people use their tablet computers to just play Angry Birds. I have no intention to spend more than half a thousand dollars just to play some game involving flightless, suicidal birds and architecturally-talented green pigs. If I owned a tablet, I would only read books and manga on them. So why wouldn't I just get a device whose primary purpose is to view works of literature?

So I lurked around the Internet (probably in a three-piece pinstripe suit, black, shiny loafers and a monocle), and I discovered e-readers. What makes e-readers completely different from tablets is the screen. Tablet computers use touch LCD screens, while e-readers use e-ink screens. E-ink screens are different from LCD screens because they use "electronic paper" that manipulate ink (real ink) to display text in different shades of gray. E-ink screens are superior to LCDs when it comes to contrast and reading in direct sunlight. Text is really much clearer on e-ink screens when compared to LCDs. However, since e-ink screens do not have backlights, it is impossible to read in the dark without an external light source. Additionally, since e-ink screens manipulate ink, it takes a while for them to refresh, which makes them incapable of displaying animation.

I've researched many different e-readers when I stumbled upon the BeBook line of e-readers. They were inexpensive and seemingly reliable (with a touch interface to boot). I have also perused the Sony line of e-readers, which were touch-capable but a lot more expensive. However, I immediately understood that choosing a not-very-well-known brand of e-readers would merit a small library of books. It's much like choosing an iPhone over an Android or a Windows Mobile phone because they have more (albeit shittier) apps.

I went to Amazon and examined the Kindle 3. There were two versions of the Kindle - one has both Wifi and 3G connectivity, and the other only has the former. I did not need a 3G connection - Wifi will have to do. For $139, it was a pretty sweet deal. I only had to add forty dollars for shipping and customs. It was scheduled to arrive a week after I ordered, but it came four days later, which was a great bonus.

The Kindle 3 was indeed an amazing device to read electronic books on. The screen itself was very crisp, and handled itself in bright sunlight. The device was lightweight and somehow pocketable, if your pocket can carry pocket paperbacks. I bought a jacket for it, which was not really a jacket built for the Kindle 3 but for the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It fitted snugly since the Kindle was about as large as the Galaxy Tab.

It was happy moments for two weeks after that. I brought my Kindle everywhere, and nobody really gave shit about it because it looked like a small, leather notebook when I carried it by hand. I've finished reading George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita", and a couple of other classics with my Kindle.

All of those moments came to an end, however, in an unfortunate Sunday. I was sitting in a grassy meadow, with the Kindle in my pants pocket. When I fished it out to continue reading James Patterson's "Tick Tock", I was surprised to find the top of my screen "cracked", with a tear running diagonally from the top left corner to the middle right side of the screen. I thought it was just temporary so I began to repeatedly refresh the screen by using the "Alt-G" key combination. It was futile. The e-ink screen was cracked from the inside. The Kindle was broken.

My first instinct was to contact Amazon's Customer Service and kindly ask for a replacement device. I first contacted them through e-mail, but they replied that they could not process replacements through e-mail and I have to call their international phone line. Now, I've heard horror stories about customer service representatives on the phone, so I've decided to stall for at least three days before calling up Amazon. I read some comments of people on the Web about Amazon's customer service when it comes to Kindles. They say that the customer service was excellent, and they will agree to send me a replacement device with no questions asked, provided that I return the broken Kindle in return. I took their word for it and I gave it a try, and soon I was sent a replacement Kindle (which would arrive in about four to five days of course).

The Kindle has not yet arrived today, however, I am anxiously anticipating its arrival. Once it arrives, I'll send the broken Kindle back to Amazon. Hopefully I'll only have to do this once, though some people claim they are on their third or even fourth Kindle replacement.

Overall, the Kindle is a great inexpensive way to view electronic books. However, if you want something that can take a bit more wear and tear, I'd suggest something like the Sony Reader or the Bebook. Or just stick to reading real books.

Hate your life? Try writing self fanfics.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fan fiction as "stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet - also called fan fic". Most works of fan fiction are generally obscene, insane, unrealistic and written with grammar ripped from a fifth grader. But really, that's just the point of fan fiction. It's basically, "Who the fuck cares, this is my work, I can make anything happen." And in fan fictions, anything is ANYTHING. Some fan fictions actually make the story better. The rest are just literary Rule 34.

Although writing fan fictions has been a favorite pastime for both writers and non-writers, writers of the genre usually have a very, very small reader base (i.e. himself). So what's the point of writing something that only you are willing to read? The whole situation could be a little better if you wrote a fan fiction about you instead.

While writing a fan fiction for oneself would violate the definition given above (you are no longer writing about a  fictional character), it's a great way to escape the harsh view of reality. Say for example you made a mistake that fucked your life up good. You can write a fan fiction as a recount of that event, but instead of portraying yourself as a failure you can actually fix everything by rewriting it. It sort of like photoshopping a shitty photograph to make it better. Remove some key events, change how everything happened, maybe even throw Chuck Norris in as some sort of equalizer for that story of your life.

However, as amusing or awesome your self fan fiction will be, it would be best that you DO NOT publish it to be read by other people. Keep it somewhere confidential. Nobody really wants to read your fan fiction about fighting dragons part-time being the reason you are late at work everyday. And when they do, the consequences are almost always never the same.

Books are dying, kept alive by tablets, e-book readers

Books are, in my opinion, one of the best innovations known to man. While many earlier forms of storing information and literature have existed long before people wrote shit on paper then binded them together, books have remained living until today. And by living, I mean it's currently holding on for dear life.

Electronic book technology has allowed people to read works of literature on their shiny tablets, Kindles, iPhones, etc. My Desire HD carries a large collection of ebooks of which I spend an hour or two everyday to read. While I do have a large collection of ebooks, I also have an equally large collection of physical books. You know, those that are written on "paper" and binded together.

Reading on paper is way better than reading on some LCD screen. I've never enjoyed looking at electronic screens anyway. No matter how many innovations in display technology are being made every day, like high resolution LCDs, LED-backlit screens and the like, I just really don't get the hang of reading text on a bright screen. I've even had a hard time writing this post because it appears that my laptop's screen is fucking me with its brightness. And that's why when I read text, I try to invest a lot in anti-aliasing and high resolution displays. Also, something that's not too bright on my eyes.

This kind of ranting is strange to hear from someone who spends his time in front of screens of all sizes, be it dark UNIX terminals on my laptop or my phone. But seriously, nothing beats the sensation of reading a physical book in the presence soft light. There's even the aroma of aged paper that pulls you in to read further. Additionally, while reading physical books, there's the strange effect where you won't try to skim the story or skip parts the first time you read it. In reading text in screens, your TL;DR instincts start to kick in. With physical literature, the concept of TL;DR simply could not exist (unless you're reading a shitty book).

I know this ranting makes me sound like I'm sixty years old, but honestly I'm not even of legal age yet. But it really sucks that lots of people (old folks included) begin to favor ebooks over the original, physical ones we've been enjoying for more than a thousand and a half years. But then again, who reads ebooks? The longest piece of literature the majority of people read today is probably a Facebook status message. And statistically, 99.99999% of Facebook statuses don't even count as literature. "Random shit jumbled into decipherable words" would be a more appropriate term for it.

TL;DR: E-books suck.