Baofeng UV-3R: Mark II Display

Check out the video to get a feel for the two line display on the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II.

Amazon Kindle Fire

parislemon On Wednesday, Amazon Will Unveil The “Kindle Fire” http://t.co/OOvg4KJdMon, Sep 26 16:31:04 from Tweet Button retweeted by arrington

From the article:

Another thing I wasn’t sure about was the chip inside of the device. I’ve now learned it’s a TI dual-core OMAP chip. This is the same chip used inside many newer Android devices. The PlayBook also uses it. I’m not sure what the clock-speed of the CPU will be, but I’d guess 1.2 GHz. This will make it significantly faster than the rival Nook Color, which uses a single core 800 MHz OMAP.

And...

The Nook Color 2 will also be built on top of Gingerbread, Android 2.3, we hear. That would put it ahead of the Kindle Fire, which is believed to be based on Android 2.1. Again, neither of them look anything like Android, but the APIs available are key when it comes to the Android version. 

How many songs does it hold?

Via The Gun Source

IrfanView

Over at Kevin Kelley's Cool Tool they recommend IrfanView for your image viewing/editing needs. I've been using it since the 90's. It is good stuff.

Slippery Slope

First they came for my detergent.
Then they came for my light bulbs.
And now they want my inhaler.
Bastards.

Amen, brother.

stevenf I don't understand how USB plugs are always upside-down the first time you try to plug them in and ALSO THE SECOND TIME.Sat, Sep 24 23:56:23 from Echofon retweeted by harrymccracken

Dead Six

I finished Dead Six while at the beach. I liked it. A lot. Even better than Larry's MHI series. I may not keep up with MHI, but, if there is another, and I think there will be, I'll grab it up. And reading it on the Android Nook was a nice experience.

Nook Color Android

So I've been playing with my Nook Color Android tablet. My reference points are an iPad2 (the gold standard for tablets) and my Droid Pro phone (running Android). My first impressions were favorable and that has not changed.

I like the 7" form factor. It is very usable and takes up less space in my bag than does the iPad.

The battery life doesn't seem to be as good as the iPad. I've not done any specific testing, but my gut says I'm charging it more often with roughly equivalent usage. I don't think this is a Nook issue - more of an Android problem. My Droid Pro has mysterious battery sucking apps running that fix themselves.

Unlike the Droid Pro, some applications (Google Reader for one) occasionally blow up and have to be restarted on the Nook Color Android. This doesn't happen very frequently, but I've almost never seen it on the Droid Pro.

Overall, a few hiccups but a great value at half the price of an iPad.

The Six Killer Apps of Prosperity

Another intereting TED Talk...

Niall Ferguson - The Six Killer Apps of Prosperity:

1. Competition
2. The Scientific Revolution
3. Property rights
4. Modern medicine
5. The consumer society
6. The work ethic

 

Definitely worth 15-20 minutes of your time to listen to his discussion of why some regions have been more prosperous over time and why they may be losing that advantage now. He suggests that "we" aren't paying attention. I submit that if would read half the blogs I follow, he would know that many of us are acutely aware of the decline.

Via The Simple Dollar

I like the commercial.

Via SaysUncle.