Kindle Fire Vs. iPad (Forget the Rest)

Amazon last week revealed their iPad rival, the Kindle Fire. At a price of $200 and with a seemingly comparable array of features it demands to be considered as an alternative.

Overall tablet use in the U.S. has skyrocketed up from 3.4 million devices in Q2-2010 to 13.6 million devices in the same period in 2011, a growth of 303% (see chart below). Just walk up and down the aisle on a plane ride and you’ll see how ubiquitous these tablets—and in particular the iPad—are becoming.

I feel as though we are about to break through to the next frontier of multimedia. The infrastructure is being put in place but we’re not quite there yet. I love the fact that with a tablet you can read and listen to books, watch instant movies and TV shows (and mirror those programs onto your TV), view photos, browse and shop online, email, and a whole host of miscellaneous activities through 3rd party apps. Add to that the fact that the cloud solution for remote data storage is becoming more and more practical and you’ve got a very compelling option for multimedia consumption.

My gripes with the above are the following:

• e-reading is still too expensive relative to paperback and library (new books should cost closer to $5 not $10, and physical purchases should come with a free e-copy)
• Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are missing way too many movies for their streaming format offering, and purchasing movies/shows through iTunes is far too expensive, and renting is too restrictive with its viewing windows.
• The standard Amazon Kindle has excellent screen resolution for reading text but not for viewing photos or video. The iPad has excellent screen resolution for viewing photos or video but not for reading text.

While I don’t yet personally own a tablet device of any kind I believe these general issues discussed above will be resolved soon and I am therefore on the cusp of jumping into the market and changing the way I consume multimedia. Is the $300 savings worth it to go with the Kindle Fire and not the iPad? Here are what I view as the biggest considerations when making that decision:

• The Kindle Fire has a surprisingly small screen (7’’ compared to 9.7’’)
• The Kindle Fire lacks a camera and video camera (not a big deal most of the time unless you are hoping to do video chats)
• A purchase of the Kindle Fire is an implicit commitment to Amazon’s online media store and its cloud storage system. A purchase of the iPad is an implicit commitment to Apple’s online media store and its cloud storage system. Both products have some crossover content but both companies are pushing to get you to fully commit to their online media stores by offering free cloud storage, and potentially instant access to files not physically stored on your device.

For me, I have to wait and see how the cloud systems work out and whether the iPad 3 (supposedly coming in Q1 2012) will have Kindle-like screen resolution for reading.

An Ode to Lake Powell

Now that I have lived on the East coast for the past 3.5 years or so I'm better able to step back from a lot of the things I used to do/eat/not do/not eat/etc and reassess how cool/uncool they are/were.

Lake Powell is one thing that I can clearly categorize as cool.  Not that I didn't already know that, but that classification has been solidified now that I juxtapose it with some of the dinky and crowded lakes and parks on this side of the country.

They just don't look like this in the East

Some of the landscapes and mountains out West are majestic, expansive, and awe-inspiring in a way that other parts of the world simply are not.  After we landed in PHX, the next morning we made the 4- to 5-hr drive to the lake to launch the houseboat and ski boat.  We happened to have checked out a book on CD from the library and the book was 'No Country For Old Men'.  It turned out to be perfect material for my drive across the desert.  As the narrator painted a picture of the scene with words like bajada and caldera and brush I didn't have to use my imagination much to envision it--I was already there.  It became very apparent to me why you have authors like McCarthy and Stegner who were so inspired by the scenery that they incorporated it heavily into their writing.

Even the drive up there is nice

The basic outline of these trips is we get a houseboat and we drive it up the lake 20 miles or so and scout out a nice beach where we can tie down anchors.  Then you stay put for a week or so and you take out your ski boat several times a day for waterskiing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, tubing.  You also take a trip or two up the lake to explore the canyons, swim, cliff dive, fill up on gas.  Back at the houseboat you do your meals and you can watch movies, play guitar, canoe, have dance parties, etc.  If you don't have fun then there's something wrong with you.

Our camp at dusk

Here are some fun factoids about the lake:

• Lake Powell has over 2,000 miles of shoreline which is more than the combined states on the Pacific Coast. It is 400 feet deep, 186 miles long and has a water storage capacity of 27,000,000 acre feet of water.
• Over 3,000,000 people visit Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreation area every year. The average length of stay of 4.5 days is the longest stay of any federal park.
• Lake Powell was formed when the Glen Canyon Dam was completed on the Colorado River in 1963. Lake Powell took 17 years to reach "full pool" in 1980.
• Glen Canyon Dam provides essential water storage and electric power to small rural electric co-ops, Native American reservations and towns throughout Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.  The power plant has eight generators with a combined capacity of close to 1.3 million kilowatts.
• Lake Powell was named in honor of Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell who led an expedition in wooden boats down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869.
• Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural bridge on earth, is the most famous site on Lake Powell. 

   

High On Low

Back in April when I was living the bachelor dream (i.e. pop tarts and nachos for dinner and never having to do the dishes) my first real act of being a one-month bachelor was going to a concert with my friend Paul.  This is not to be confused with the piano recitals and violin concertos that Paul often refers to as concerts; no, this was a real, check your ID at the door, ink stamp on your fist, people wearing weird clothes, rock concert.

The band was Low and the venue was The Black Cat in DC.  Low was touring their new album, 'C'mon', which I highly recommend by the way.  The new album, and the live performance served as a reminder that Low is an awesome band.  

As white males standing 6'2''and 6'1'' respectively, Paul and I fit right in to Low's target market demographic

They are pioneers and perfectors of the "slow-core" rock movement.  It's the kind of music to which you can get lost deep in thought one minute, and then find yourself doing feet stomps and air drums the next.

I was surprised to see just how good of a singer and performer Alan Sparhawk is (lead vocals, lead guitar).  His vocals were floating up and down the treble clef and he is impressive in his ability to sustain notes at the top of his range (I was further convinced of this when I tried to play some songs on my own at home and was downright ashamed at how awful I sounded).  His guitar style is completely unique as well.  Almost everything is in alternate tunings and he's an unconventional strummer.  When he plays the more intense guitar parts he appears like he's trying to simultaneously chop wood and birth a child.

And on the skins (simple drums) is Mimi Parker.  Her voice is mostly melodic and angelic, but occasionally harrowing.

What is even more interesting to me is the band's personal life.  Alan and Mimi are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (you're welcome, President Packer).  This seems like a real struggle to have to balance what seem like two incompatible lifestyles.  And from what I can tell it has been a struggle for Alan Sparhawk (some skeletons in his closet include drugs and a belief that he was (or is) antichrist).  Add to this the fact that they are raising two children and one has to wonder how they manage.  I won't try and guess; but maybe they manage just fine; maybe they manage better than you and I do.

It seems like a whole different kind of romance and marital connection to me to have two people sing together and harmonize the way they do.  I think all couples should find some format in which they can really get on their own wavelength like these two do.  I really admire it.  This youtube clip is a good example of how they achieve that wavelength (just ignore the fact that they look like drugged out hippies).

My wife still can't get into Low (she cites monotone and boring and heavy as her key criticisms) so I guess they won't be our "wavelength," but I'll convince her eventually.

The King Of Limbs (Music Review)

'The King Of Limbs' is Radiohead's 8th studio album.  It was self-released on Feb. 18 and is available from the band's website for $9 as an MP3 download

I have gone through the whole album about 6 or 7 times by now. I find that the best way for me to enjoy new music is to just clean around the house with my headphones on. If the music is really good (like in this case) I get a lot of cleaning done.

I'm a big fan of the music and they repeatedly cement themselves as one of the best (the best in my opinion) bands since the 90's. They've practically achieved a PhD in sound engineering at this point. Their recent music (particularly 'In Rainbows' and now 'The King Of Limbs') sounds so crisp and rich, it's hard not to enjoy it.

Radiohead: The best band since the 90's 

I find similarities between this album and 'Hail To The Thief'. The style and feel of some of the more avant garde tracks of the latter (e.g. "Where I End And You Begin," "Myxamatosis") find their way back on 'The King Of Limbs' in a big way. Where they were almost afterthought songs on 'HTTF' they are the main attraction on 'TKOL'.

Tracks 1-5 are as strong a string of songs as Radiohead have ever put together. The percussion work is AMAZING and the bass and vocals complement it perfectly. It's almost modern jazz. It's almost techno. It's almost rock. But it's none of those really.

But then track 6 comes along which feels so dull and simple. And then track 7 is kind of cool but it seems a bit campfire-ish and out of place. And then they get back on track with track 8 and before you know it the ride is over.

So, I love the sound they achieve but I think the album suffers a bit from being too short and from having a couple of songs in there that sound out of place to me.  But they get props for managing to blindside the entire music industry with the release of the album.  With only about 1 week to get hyped up about the album and to build expectations it was hard to be disappointed.

You can also buy the "newspaper" collectors edition of the album (available May 9) with vinyl records and tons of original artwork.  It costs $48. 

Rating: 9.0

Best Albums of 2010

1. The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monae
2. Sisterworld [Deluxe] - The Liars
3. Brothers - The Black Keys

This band is two dudes from Akron, Ohio, named Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.  Their 2004 album, 'Rubber Factory' was the subject of some praise but in hindsight I think it sounds a little too much like an indie version of The White Stripes, whereas this newest album is totally original and more energetic.  It's a fine production and it's apparent that they put a lot of work and finishing touches into the project, and with 15 solid tracks stacked one after the other it really makes for an enjoyable album experience.  "Tighten Up" is one of my favorite singles of the year.  And, "my next girl will be nothing like my ex girl" is just a cool line.

Rating: 8.6

4. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
5. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
6. This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
7. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [Clean] - Kanye West

Hailed by many critics as a masterpiece, a glimpse inside the mind of one of the most interesting personalities of our generation, best album of the decade, and various other superlatives.  This is a good album, but I don't think it's that good.  When one of your tracks is a Chris Rock voicemail that sounds like he just discovered the echo effect on the Inception app and can't help hearing himself talk I think you just wrote off your chances for the best-album-of-the-decade-award.  "All Of The Lights" is a really cool song and I like the Rockyesque horn bit.  "Lost In The World" is another one of my favorites from the album and I think having a chorus of robots is such a simple yet ingenious idea.

Rating: 7.0  

8. Go - Jonsi
9. Body Talk Pt. 1 (and Body Talk Pt. 2, and Body Talk) - Robyn

An ambitious Two Thousand and Ten for the sexy, sassy, Swedish pop star.  She released a trilogy of albums all within a year for her 'Body Talk' project.  Her music has the bubblegum pop appeal to make you want to sing and dance upon first listen but it also has the attention to detail, and production quality, and clever lyrics etc. to give her music staying power.  "Fembot," for example, has just the right blend of funny computer terms and futuristic sound effects to make me a certain kind of happy that I hadn't experienced since listening to Neil Young's 'Trans'.  The way she uses bass guitar and synthesizer helps to bring an emotional charge to the music and is reminiscent of the great Billy Idol.  This must be why my brother, Des, likes her so unabashedly; at the risk of being a feminist sympathizer... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Rating 6.9
 

10. Le Noise - Neil Young

This album also got a lot of love from critics and it even won a grammy for Best Rock Song with "Angry World" (Neil Young's first grammy, in fact), but I didn't care for it tons.  The appeal is the exposure that Neil Young allows for in this record.  It's just him and his guitar and his producer (Daniel Lanois) in an empty mansion (I heard) somewhere in LA.  It all makes for a dreamy effect and you have to be in a certain mood to enjoy the album.  I still prefer the classic stuff (especially the Archives Volume 1 box set which was released in 2009) but kudos to Neil for continually reinventing himself.

Rating: 6.5

Last Possible Place: The Age Of Adz - Sufjan Stevens

I was dumbfounded at how awful this album is.  But it all made sense after reading an interview in which Sufjan said, "I'm very aware that this material is far less popular and accessible than the kind of songwriting on Illinois. I'm also willing to admit that these songs don't measure up to the songs I was writing five years ago; these aren't great songs in terms of the palpable, fundamental nature of a song. But I'm not interested in songwriting anymore. I'm interested in sound and movement." Translation: "I've gone off the deep-end."  I'm actually OK with sound and movement experiments (I mean, I definitely prefer Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" to David Byrne's more experimental "Glass, Concrete & Stone") but the problem is when you decide to sing like a shameless prepubescent teenager at the very top of his range.  Listening to this album the whole way through was one of my greatest accomplishments in 2010.

Album Rating: -9.0

Good Things to Come: 
Low: C'mon (April 12)
Radiohead: The King Of Limbs (February 19)

Update

Fans,

I have not managed to write a post for a while.  I think blogosphere activity has been down in general; though not over at Trifecta's blog which appears to have been overrun by Chinese spammers (his most recent 100 posts or so are either exercise ads from buyallonline.com or investment strategy tips), as evidenced by the picture below which appears on one of his posts.

Fortunately, he has added a Twitter feed to his blog where you can find one of his top 25 quotes of all time: "I hope that I can make my genus side of me to kick in and make me a company that will make me money. I am very intelligent not ur Average."

Anyways, to make up for my lack of posts I am treating everyone to this new blog design which should be a lot easier on your eyes than the white text on red background (though we sure had our share of good times).

I look forward to a happy and prosperous and entertaining 2011.