A Prediction

SammyWalrusIV Collins Stewart: Believe Amazon will launch 10" tablet priced below $399 in early 2012 and buys Netflix.Wed, Sep 28 18:34:33 from Twitter for iPhone

I like it. Makes sense to me.

Funny

SammyWalrusIV When's my kindle phone coming?Wed, Sep 28 16:07:52 from Twitter for iPhone

Amazon - New Kindles Touch and Fire

So I'm all about the tablets right now... I was like a kid at Christmas watching two live blogs (here and here) yesterday as they covered the announcements from Amazon. I'd been reading all the predictions about how great this new tablet was going to be and then in the 48 hours leading up to the announcement, opinions seemed to become much more negative. The tablet was going to be a hack job and would be replaced with something different in Q1 2012. And what did we get... not only the color tablet we expected, but several new models of the Kindle - including a $79 low-end ebook reader and new touch screen models.

My take... I'm not sure I need anything beyond my Android Nook Color, but I think the future is very exciting! I don't think Amazon is trying to attack Apple directly. Others have said that the Kindle is not a book, but a bookstore. The Fire is a bookstore, movie studio, and a TV network - and maybe a data mine (one view - Amazon attacks Apple... and Google!)


Via Technologizer

Kindle - Nook - iPad Comparison (image from This is My Next)


The Kindle Fire competes with...
Hands on with the Kindle Fire
Amazon makes $199 challenge to iPad
Apple is no longer the only tablet maker that matters.
Playing With Fire: Amazon Launches $200 Tablet, Slashes Kindle Prices
Broken Models - Syncing and Backups
The new browser - SILK
What is old is new - SILK and Opera Mini
Slashdot's Rob worries about Privacy and Security



And again... why SILK and the new browser model means Amazon attacks Apple... and Google!

And when will the Kindle be free?

Bonus Link - you aren't getting a TouchPad.

Blades Everywhere

Being slow has it's advantages.... a long list of knife pics from a gun blogger meme about daily carry knives. My Kershaw G-10 SCAMP on the top and the Ontario RAT1 on the bottom. Both are value knives - about $25 per. Not pictured my Leatherman Juice S2 (Orange - Go Vols!). (Also, this is basically a roll call of all the gun blogger world.)

Shelley Rae
Miguel
Tam
Og
Rob
PDB
Bill
Unc
Jay
Caleb
Weerd Beard
North
Brenda
Mike
Marko
Fred
Kevin

TSA

Given my recent experience, I think this picture is worth a millions words. Picture by Robb Allen (Sharp as a Marble).

Rational Gun: Vickers Tactical Advanced Handgun 3 day class - a review

Rational Gun: Vickers Tactical Advanced Handgun 3 day class - a review:

"On the man himself: Prior to attending the course, I had heard many things on Larry himself and they were all good. His resume spoke for itself as not only being of the best but also as a former Delta Force instructor in which he would in turn train the best. I wasn’t quite sure if Larry would pull up in a gold Trans Am with Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” blaring on the stereo as he steps out wearing a pair of circa 1983 Gargoyle sunglasses, and a T-shirt that read “100% pure, uncut Larry.”  He didn’t rock the “don’t stare directly into my awesomeness” tough guy persona that I was used to dealing with in the security field nor did he present the let’s get this over with because my wife left me for a keyboard player in an REO Speedwagon cover band and I’ve been drinking Thunderbird all night” attitude I’ve endured many times in the past from certain Marine instructors in SOTG (Special Operations Training Group). Instead, Larry showed up with high energy, hilarious, good natured, and on top of his game; able to coordinate a small to large class with safety as well as efficiency at a level and speed I had not witnessed before."

Based on this review, I think I need to take a step back and reevaluate my first impression.

Via Tam (View from the Porch)

IT Generalists

Scaling lessons from Google’s CIO — Cloud Computing News:

"In the question and answer period that followed, Fried elaborated on these concepts, telling someone that IT generalists are probably born, not made. He said at Google, the company looks for folks that want to keep improving their skills, and even has a program to help give those people the tools to be better engineers when they find those traits in employees. He said the Google culture is one where the general engineers who understand the system have a lot of input and power, which is a cultural shift that organizations that want to build at scale should try to implement."

We are all becoming generalists at our company. When there are so few of us, you have to learn a little bit of everything.

Where the wild Zombies are...

Neat map of where we can expect the zombie apocalypse to concentrate in the beginning.

Speaking of Tablets

Woot's Daily Deal:

Motorola XOOM 10.1” 32GB Android Tablet with Wi-Fi

$349.99

• + $5 shipping

CONDITION:

Refurbished

PRODUCT:

1 Motorola XOOM 10.1” 32GB, Wi-Fi, Android 3.1, NVIDIA Dual-Core, Flash, microSD, 5MP; 2MP Cameras

View From The Porch: Snitch Culture.

View From The Porch: Snitch Culture.:

"In Maryland recently, a delivery driver saw something he thought was suspicious in his cargo, and went to the police. What was the suspicious package?

One stop was receiving a delivery of several thousand rounds of ammunition, and the stop wasn't at a gun store or shooting range or police department, but at a private residence."

On a related note, I've seen stories about criminals that were caught with a gun or two and (horrors!) two hundred rounds of ammunition in their car/house. My thought, of course, is "just two hundred? He must have been coming back from the range." Two boxes of Federal Bulk 22lr from Wally World gets you over a thousand rounds.