Kindle Archives - Lazy Man and Money

Black Friday Kindle on Amazon (Hurry!) and Other Deals

November 26, 2010 by Lazy Man 1 Comment

I hope those of you in the United States had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. We had a doubleheader. In the morning we hosted some fellow New England Patriots fans and had a good Thanksgiving breakfast. That’s what you do when you live in California and the football game starts at 9:30. In the evening, my wife and I went to The Digerati Life‘s house which was an amazing time. With the 20 people or so there, I’d have to say it was the best case of organized chaos (pardon the oxymoron) I’ve seen. Fantastic!

I talked with my mother yesterday and she was wondering if I was going out for any of the Black Friday deals. Ten years we both would go out together and get just about everything we wanted. Since then, Black Friday has grown more popular and we haven’t been able to get the deals that we want. We both agreed that we aren’t going to be bothered with getting in line at 4AM (or earlier) this year.

However, at noon (ET)/9AM (PT) Amazon is putting the Kindle 2 (3G version) on sale for $89. (That’s why you act quickly if you are reading this… it will sell out) When I reviewed the Kindle, 2.5 years ago, I said:

“Buy or Don’t Buy – I’m going with don’t buy at this point… The price of $350+ and the lure of potential subscription add-ons just doesn’t seem the right value for me. If you’ve got a lot of disposable income, I can see some value in this, but I don’t think it’s really something that middle class will adopt until it hits $99 price point. The potential is definitely there for this to be big in the next five years, so keep it on the radar.”

Well the value is there for me… and in half the time I predicted. So I’ve hinted strongly to Mrs. Lazy Man that it could be a nice Christmas gift.

If you miss out on that deal, I got a couple of lesser ones for you. First, check into Amazon’s Lightnight Deals often for the rest of holiday season. Last year, I saved a a few coins by doing some Christmas shopping there.

Lastly, while on the topic of Amazon, I’d like to recommend you give a look at their albums for $5. I don’t think you can go wrong with such titles like, The Very Best Of Prince, James Taylor At Christmas, Closer: The Best Of Sarah McLachlan, Christina Aguilera’s Keeps Gettin’ Better: A Decade Of Hits…

… however, I’d like to call your attention to two of the true must-own albums of all time: Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits: 1974-1978 and Radiohead’s The Bends. Go ahead and take the money and run, just don’t leave me high, don’t leave me dry.

Weekend Links – Preparing for Australia/Thailand Edition

August 10, 2008 by Lazy Man 8 Comments

My wife and I will be heading to Australia and Thailand in less than a month. Instead of looking forward to the vacation is excitement, I’ve found myself looking forward with worry. A flight across the United States is almost more than I can stand. I’m not sure how I’ll do on several hours of flights. I’m starting to think that if I had an Amazon Kindle, I could catch up on a lot of eBooks I have waiting for me. Unfortunately a real computer will probably run out of battery quickly. I would even be tempted to pick up a Kindle if I found a cheap one on Craigslist. No luck on the Sony eReader either.

The other thing that worries me is keeping up with Lazy Man and Money. I know that when you are on vacation, you should be on vacation. Still I would like to make sure that spammy comments are kept out, read the good comments that people are leaving behind, catch up with advertising, etc. I worry that there will be no Internet connection or that it will be an outrageous amount to use per minute. On top of that, I need to have a month’s worth of content ready for you guys to read. I’ve never had more than a week before. I have outlines on 10-15 stories – even a couple of sentences for each – but I may have to use those in the short term as well. Do I have the creative juice to do it all in advance? Do I risk not having it all ready and hope to fill in with some articles “on the road”?

While I’m checking my spam filter for cheap places to order Xanax online, enjoy these links.

Articles from The Money Writers that I liked this week:

Looking for an unconventional Roth IRA strategy to lower tax bill? My Dollar Plan presents hers.
Write it down is Million Dollar Journey’s tip of the week.
Money Smart Life says make more money & be happy in your job using a work portfolio.
What are the 5 signs that say your job sucks? Brip Blap knows and if they apply to your job then it’s pretty clear that you are in need of change.
Do you know what the 10 hottest mutual funds in 2008 are? Not sure? Read the Sun’s Financial Times to find out.
Ouch! Hackers steal 40 million credit and debit card numbers – has your number been stolen? Store List provided at Generation X Finance.
Digerati Life asks, how would you grade your money management skills? What’s your answer?

From outside The Money Writers:

Ten things teens should know about money over at 5 Cent Nickel followed by the state of financial education in the U.S. looks at financial education pretty critically. What aren’t your teens learning?
Consumer Commentary says bottled water? What was I thinking? Read more for a look at how gas prices and food prices connect. Save on tap!
Mighty Bargain Hunter writes there is NOTHING unpatriotic about retiring early. What do you think?

Amazon Kindle: Buy or Not?

November 18, 2009 by Lazy Man 17 Comments

When I first started this blog, I announced that I’d write about technology 5% of the time. Since I have written more than 700 articles at this point, I’m allow some 35 articles on technology. I think I used up a few of them with articles on my Asus EEE. As usual, with any technology article, I’ll attempt to tie it back to personal finance.

You may have already read about the Amazon Kindle. It’s yet another attempt by the technology industry to replace books. Companies have been at it for a few years, but it’s hard to replace books. They are extremely portable, require no power, and very easy on the eyes.

Before I completely disregard the Kindle, it’s worth taking a deeper look. Here are some things about the Kindle that I love:

Easy on My Eyes – I’ve spent a lot of time looking at computer monitors. Human eyes weren’t meant to look to at poor resolution, backlighted screens. I hate to admit it, but Mom was right about sitting to close to the TV. My eyes simply can’t tolerate the computer screen like they should. This Friday, I’m seeing a doctor about what I can do aside from the normal advice. The Kindle uses electronic ink which is not backlit in the same way – and delivers a great reading experience from all reviews I’ve seen. The 250 blogs that it has available would save my eyes considerable wear and tear.
Light weight – At 10.3 ounces it doesn’t weigh too much more than my Palm Treo. On a vacation last year, my wife wanted to pack a pile of books. Unfortunately, we could only take a few of them due to space/weight limitations on the airplane. If we had a Kindle we wouldn’t have had this problem.
Google Maps – This is an undocumented, unofficial feature of the Kindle. However it seems you can get Google Maps anywhere where Sprint has EVDO service. That’s a huge amount of area. While it’s not as good as a GPS navigation system it might be one of the best “bonuses” a product has ever offered.
Constant Free Internet Connection – This is the only device I’ve heard of that has free unlimited ability to connect to the Internet. Amazon has negotiated with Sprint to use their network at no charge. This means free Wikipedia almost anywhere in the US.. wow.
Automatically Updating Blogs – The Kindle will allow you read more than 250 blogs. One of them is my favorite sports-writer Bill Simmons. If he wrote as much as he used to this would be a huge selling point.
Newspapers and Magazines – Some of the most popular includes: Forbes, Fortune, Time, Reader’s Digest, NY Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, and Investor’s Business Daily. All are at an additional charge – not that you’d expect to get this content for free outside of a library.

Pro Summary

The Kindle might be more portable than traditional books and possibly easier on the eyes… while providing time-sensitive information.

Here are some things that I don’t like about the Kindle:

Existing and Future books – If you already own a book or bought it off of Amazon in the last two years, do you get a Kindle version? No. If something better comes along like an Apple iReader will your Kindle Books work on it? They may not.
Internet Connection limited to the US – Remember that vacation that I talked about above… it was to Aruba… The Internet connection wouldn’t work and I wouldn’t get updated blog information.
Blogs cost money… every month – Not only do they cost money, but there are no personal finance blogs available. I’m a content producer and I do like to get paid, so I shouldn’t be so upset by this. However, I do provide my content via an RSS feed with minimal advertising. I think Amazon should provide that option.
Limit Blogs Available – This is an extension of the above. There should be a simple RSS reader available – preferably something that connection to popular services like Bloglines and Google Reader.
Only One Person Can Read it at a Time – This seems obvious, but it is worth mentioning. To go back to the vacation example, the Kindle would have been a poor solution for us to reduce the number books we carry. We would have needed two of them so we can both read on the airplane or by the pool. That’s two Kindles, two sets of subscriptions, etc.
Potential Theft – I would be very nervous about leaving my Kindle in plain sight and going for a swim. Some people might quickly snap up an unprotected $350 gadget. On the other hand, people are less likely to steal a copy of Your Money or Your Life.
Newspapers and Magazines are also expensive – I’ve been offered a better deals than $2.99 a month for Forbes… usually about a $1 an issue.

Con Summary

Financially, there are some issues… You might end up buying the same books you already own. You might have to have a Kindle for each member for of the family. You might end up paying a lot for content that you can reader cheaper or even for free. It could get stolen where you have to buy the device again.

Buy or Don’t Buy – I’m going with don’t buy at this point… The price of $350+ and the lure of potential subscription add-ons just doesn’t seem the right value for me. If you’ve got a lot of disposable income, I can see some value in this, but I don’t think it’s really something that middle class will adopt until it hits $99 price point. The potential is definitely there for this to be big in the next five years, so keep it on the radar.