• They’re heavy (especially big hardbacks). Try holding one above you when trying to read at night!
• They take up space – one of the main reasons I got a Kindle was because I am running out of bookshelf space.
• This may sound silly and obvious, but you can only carry a certain amount around (e.g. on holiday).
• If you finish a book and order the next one straightaway, the soonest you’ll get it is that evening or the next day (if you pay a lot) or, more likely, a few days away. Enough to start a new book, and when you eventually read the sequel to the original book you’ll have forgotten what happened in it.

But there are some advantages to a real book:

• Super high contrast
• Battery life that is endless (well, it’s until the book falls apart so it’s quite a few decades of reading)
• Never go out of date

But I decided the bad outweighed the good so I got a Kindle. Disadvantage of a Kindle:

• Have to charge it (though battery lasts about 2 months)
• Costs around £89-£149 (in the US, the Kindle e-reader line-up ranges from $79-$149 with ads, and $109-$189 for the non ads version – note that the UK version has no ads, the US prices I’ve put don’t include the Kindle Fire, which is a tablet and is $199)
• No colour (at least not yet!)
• Not as high contrast

Advantages of a Kindle:

• Lightweight
• Can hold 1,400 books to 3,500 books on the device depending on the model (but there’s free cloud storage for all your books, so you can remove ones you’ve read and download them for free later – effectively unlimited storage)
• Long battery life
• Cool design
• Get books in 60 seconds over WiFi (all models) or free 3G (selected models)
• Can sample books before you buy

So those are the advantages and disadvantages of Kindles and ‘real’ books. I decided the Kindle was better, so I got that one. Now for why I chose the Kindle Keyboard 3G…

It’s complicated. Basically:

• Kindle Keyboard is the 2010 model of Kindle (it was previously known as Kindle 3). It came in WiFi and WiFi + free 3G models (I’ll refer to these models simply as 3G from now on).
• Amazon introduced a new Kindle lineup in 2011, consisting of the Kindle (no keyboard, 1 month battery life, 1,400 books storage, WiFi model only, most countries), Kindle Touch + Kindle Touch 3G (touch screen, 2 month battery life, 3,000 books storage, WiFi and 3G models available, US only) and Kindle Fire (a US only 7 inch tablet like a mini iPad).
• I wanted a decent Kindle that had 3G, so my only option was Kindle Keyboard 3G because the only other UK model – the basic Kindle – had shorter battery life and didn’t have a 3G option.

So that’s basically Kindles for you. Do I recommend you get one? Certainly if you like to read books. If you’re in the UK, see this page to buy Kindles:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Wi-Fi-6-Ink-Display/dp/B0051QVF7A/ref=amb_link_162945927_2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0Z5HYNVFAKKKBE4ANFZB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=281838027&pf_rd_i=468294

And if you’re in the US, see this page (look for the other Kindles at the top of the page – I strongly recommend the Kindle Touch W-Fi with special offers:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051QYGXA

What are your thoughts on Kindles, or e-readers in general? Do you prefer ‘real’ books, or ebooks?

My Kindle's home screen, just so you know

Just a quick note to say that Angry Birds is now a Facebook app! If you don’t know what Angry Birds is where you basically fling a bird at some pigs (it really isn’t as violent as it sounds). It’s been available as a smartphone app (e.g. for iPhone, Windows Phone or Android) for a while, and you can now play it on Facebook for free! Check it out by clicking “Angry Birds is on Facebook!” above (please note that you will need a Facebook account, and you have to be aged 13+).

Judging others.

The random yet sometimes Doctor Who blog

It’s got the same URL, and I think I’ll carry on posting about the same stuff etc., but it’s nice to have a new name.

In 2011, Doctor Who had a full series (though it was split), plus a Christmas special. Not only that, it had three, yes three, spin-off shows (DW Confidential, Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood). 2011 was a great year for perhaps the best TV show in existence. As was 2005, 2006, 2007 etc.

And now we’re in 2012, there just isn’t as much Doctor Who stuff as before. Firstly, there are no spin-off shows whatsoever. Below are the fates…

• Doctor Who Confidential – price cuts
• Torchwood – low ratings, American version didn’t work
• Sarah Jane Adventures – Elisabeth Sladen passed away

It’s not just that – Doctor Who starts in the Autumn this year, and, from what is currently known, there will only be about 7 eps., inc. the Christmas special. The remaining eps. are going to be next year. In case you didn’t know, it’s Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary next year. We were told that the BBC were fully committed to the big event. What a way to celebrate – less episodes. And did I mentioned that there’s no planned 2-parters for this year (or next)? I like 2-parters! You can have longer stories!

So though people are saying that Doctor Who’s going to keep being on our TVs every year, I’m worried about it. True, it has good ratings (bad ratings killed it off in 1989), but they’re not that amazing now compared to other shows (e.g. soaps get way more, X-factor gets way more, even Sherlock - which is amazing – is getting the same viewings). I really hope that DW survives for many more years. But, to be honest, it’ll need more eps., and at least one spin-off show to do that.

Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

As we mentioned last week, you can like and reblog posts directly from your reader, which displays a stream of all the updates published on all the blogs you follow from your WordPress.com account. We’ve also brought the reblog button back to the toolbar that appears at the top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Note that you’ll only see the like and reblog options while you’re looking at individual posts. For example, you’ll see this on the left side of your toolbar while viewing …

Reblogging is (finally) back. Thought I’d share it in case you all didn’t know.

A Carnivore’s Guide to Going Vegan for 30 Days.

It’s a really good blog in general, I recommend you “follow” it.

No, you don't need meat to survive...

And the exact same for part 2:

I’ll stop talking about the trailers now, though, and talk about the actual episodes, which were by far the best in Merlin Series 4. Maybe in all of Merlin – they were that good.

If you’ve read my other Merlin Series 4 reviews, you’ll might know the basic plot – Morgana tries (and suceeds) attacking Camelot. But it’s more than that. Just reading that description would make me think it was a repeat of last year’s finale. It wasn’t, though.

These 2 episodes pack everything that’s good about Merlin into, well, 2 episodes. There’s funny moments, great acting, an amazing plot and an interesting kind-of cliffhanger. I’ll give you an example of ‘funny moments’ – Arthur is made dumb by a spell cast on him by Merlin, and it’s really funny watching him, for example, hug trees and wear simple clothes. Great acting… well, everyone does great acting in Merlin, but Katie McGrath is really good as Morgana. And as for the cliffhanger…

Morgana’s just been stabbed (it seems fatally), and she’s staggering around in a forest. Then the dragon that Merlin saved earlier in the series comes and appears to breathe life back into her…

And then episode ended with the simple words: Merlin Will Return. I can’t wait! Does this mean the dragon will become evil? Will Morgana return? So many questions!

I, like many other people, doubted the success of tablets when they were first introduced. I mean, we already have smartphones, laptops and sometimes separate MP3 players as well, so was there really space for basically a large phone as well? But the iPad proved that tablets can be poplar, and now I wonder why I ever doubted tablets in the first place. Yes, they have the power and storage capacities of smartphones (16-64GB, versus about 120+GB in laptops), and yes, they don’t run, say, Microsoft Office, but they’re just… Brilliant.

Smartphones are for calls and on the go small tasks. Laptops are for work and detailed tasks. iPads, and tablets in general, are for at home music, games and more. They’re also good for things like blogging. Advantages on a laptop include fast boot up, an amazing touch screen, great apps, and weight. True, it’s lacking user accounts and vast storage, but that’s what laptops are for. iPads are not cheap, though, and they’re certainly not a necessary part of life. At £399 for the most basic model at the time of writing, you might as well go for a refurbished laptop that will certainly be more powerful. But if you already have a laptop and you’ve got the money spare, iPads are certainly worth having.

Now to see if I can schedule this post using the iPad, and if not, then what on earth I’ll do. Hopefully, if the scheduling works, you’ll be reading this in 2012 (which is next year for me). I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and New Year. And I hope you’ll have a great day!!