The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan – Review
Book Reviews , e-Reader Reviews / May 3, 2016

The Trials of Apollo Book One The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan is the start of a new Greek mythology series from middle grade staple Rick Riordan.  This new series centres around the god Apollo, who has been stripped of his godly powers by his father, Zeus.  Naturally, adventures and shenanigans ensue. For me this read a little younger than the Heroes of Olympus series, more in line with Percy Jackson.  Apollo’s human persona is aged 16, but he spends a lot of time hanging around with 13 year old Meg which naturally makes the feel of the book somewhat younger.  Also, there is no emphasis at all on romantic relationships. What I liked Riordan’s writing style.  After many series including Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Riordan’s light, witty style should be familiar to most readers.  If you enjoyed the earlier books, you will certainly enjoy this one.  They are very funny.  I breezed through The Hidden Oracle in an afternoon.  While it is not necessary to have read the earlier series, I would strongly recommend doing so before picking up this latest one.  There are many references to characters…

Fire HD 6″ First Impressions – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
e-Reader Reviews / October 4, 2014

Last night Amazon’s new Fire HD 6” arrived on my doorstep.  Here are my first impressions of the new budget tablet.  I will direct you to Amazon’s main Kindle page to get the full specs. The good The 6” format is darned cute and practical.  Here are some pictures comparing it to the Fire HDX and Kindle Paperwhite. The format is going to be very practical for sticking in a handbag or pocket to take around.  It is blockier than the Fire HDX or Paperwhite – no tapered edges but it is very compact.  In terms of weight though, there is very little difference between the 6” HD and the 7” HDX – a mere 0.6 of an ounce. The Fire HD 6” comes with the new Fire OS 4 Sangria, which will be sent as a free update to existing Fire devices according to the note on my Fire HDX this morning. There are some really neat features to Sangria.  A backup feature worked well.  This will allow you to restore your device to a previous state if there are any issues. The new About the Book feature which you can setup to open as you read the book could be very…

My thoughts on Amazon’s 2014 lineup of Kindles
e-Reader Reviews / September 18, 2014

Last night Amazon announced its 2014 lineup of Kindle ereaders and tablets.  I will direct you to Amazon’s main Kindle page to get the full specs. Looking at the eIink ereaders first Amazon announced that the basic Kindle now comes with a touch interface.  This will retail for CAD79.  This looks a really nice entry into the ereader market and you could do a lot worse. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the new Kindle Voyage, which is smaller, lighter and with a higher resolution than ever before.  It includes page turn functionality in the bezel – something many people seem to have been requesting – as well as enhanced reading features such as an expanded X-Ray, greater integration with GoodReads.  This all seems excellent, but it does come with a hefty price tag.  The Kindle Voyage retails from USD 199.  It has optional 3G. However, for us Canadians, we’re out of luck.  The Kindle Voyage is not yet available on the Amazon.ca store.  I asked customer service and was told that they had no timeline for when it might be available.  It is available in the UK, Germany and Japan so why not Canada?  I seem to…

Sony’s Reader Store closing in the US and Canada
e-Reader Reviews / February 6, 2014

Today Sony announced that it is closing its Reader Store in the US and Canada.  It will be closing on the 20th of March 2014. The press release indicated that existing libraries will be transferred over to Kobo.  To be honest the news doesn’t surprise me; Amazon and Kobo have long been dominant players in the market. For those of you affected by this, it’s good to know that you won’t lose your libraries and that arrangements have been made for a handover.  My biggest fear is that one day Amazon will close its doors (very unlikely) and that I will lose my entire digital library.

Sony’s Reader Store closing in the US and Canada
e-Reader Reviews / February 6, 2014

Today Sony announced that it is closing its Reader Store in the US and Canada.  It will be closing on the 20th of March 2014. The press release indicated that existing libraries will be transferred over to Kobo.  To be honest the news doesn’t surprise me; Amazon and Kobo have long been dominant players in the market. For those of you affected by this, it’s good to know that you won’t lose your libraries and that arrangements have been made for a handover.  My biggest fear is that one day Amazon will close its doors (very unlikely) and that I will lose my entire digital library.

Adobe Digital Editions and E_ACT_TOO_MANY_ACTIVATIONS error
e-Reader Reviews , Tech Reviews / January 12, 2014

Good morning readers.  I have just spent a very frustrating morning and am hoping my experiences will help some of you save some time and irritation. A few days ago, I borrowed an ebook from the library, via Overdrive.  Overdrive uses Adobe DRM (digital rights management) as its system to prevent your copying/sharing the books you’ve borrowed.  What it means, essentially, is that you must go through the Adobe Digital Editions software to transfer your books to your ereader. The process goes something like this: Download Adobe Digital Editions to your PC or Mac Authorise ADE with an Adobe account (on the Mac it’s under the Help menu) – you may need to set one up if you don’t have one In ADE authorize each device you wish to use (it’s one of the right click menu items) When you borrow (or in some cases buy) a book it will download an ACSM file which when clicked will open the book in ADE. Transfer the book via ADE to your device via USB. Once it’s set up, in future steps 4 and 5 are all that are needed to read the book on your device. Anyway, when I borrowed the book…

Adobe Digital Editions and E_ACT_TOO_MANY_ACTIVATIONS error
e-Reader Reviews , Tech Reviews / January 12, 2014

Good morning readers.  I have just spent a very frustrating morning and am hoping my experiences will help some of you save some time and irritation. A few days ago, I borrowed an ebook from the library, via Overdrive.  Overdrive uses Adobe DRM (digital rights management) as its system to prevent your copying/sharing the books you’ve borrowed.  What it means, essentially, is that you must go through the Adobe Digital Editions software to transfer your books to your ereader. The process goes something like this: Download Adobe Digital Editions to your PC or Mac Authorise ADE with an Adobe account (on the Mac it’s under the Help menu) – you may need to set one up if you don’t have one In ADE authorize each device you wish to use (it’s one of the right click menu items) When you borrow (or in some cases buy) a book it will download an ACSM file which when clicked will open the book in ADE. Transfer the book via ADE to your device via USB. Once it’s set up, in future steps 4 and 5 are all that are needed to read the book on your device. Anyway, when I borrowed the book…

Clearing out my old eReaders
e-Reader Reviews / December 7, 2013

As most of my regular readers will know, I have a tendency to keep up to date with my eReading devices.  I currently use a Kindle Paperwhite second gen, Kindle Fire HDX and a Kobo Aura.  This means that I have a bundle of perfectly good older models just sitting on my bedside table, so it’s time I sold them on to good homes. I have: Kindle Paperwhite First Generation WiFi version Amazon’s first gen eInk eReader with front lighting technology. Comes with original box and USB cable. Used, but in excellent condition. $40 Kobo Touch WiFi Original Kobo Touch non front lit device. No original packing, comes with USB cable Used but in excellent condition Lilac backing $15 Kobo Glo WiFi front lit reader Kobo Glo WiFi eReader with comfort light Comes with original box and USB cable Comes with grey cover Used but in excellent condition $30 Kindle Touch Wifi Non Frontlit eReader Amazon’s Kindle Touch non front lit eReader WiFi version Comes with original box and USB cable Used, but in excellent condition Provided: Amazon burgundy leather cover – cover scratched. $25 I will be posting these on eBay, Craig’s List and Kijjiji shortly.  However, I’d love…

Clearing out my old eReaders
e-Reader Reviews / December 7, 2013

As most of my regular readers will know, I have a tendency to keep up to date with my eReading devices.  I currently use a Kindle Paperwhite second gen, Kindle Fire HDX and a Kobo Aura.  This means that I have a bundle of perfectly good older models just sitting on my bedside table, so it’s time I sold them on to good homes. I have: Kindle Paperwhite First Generation WiFi version Amazon’s first gen eInk eReader with front lighting technology. Comes with original box and USB cable. Used, but in excellent condition. $40 Kobo Touch WiFi Original Kobo Touch non front lit device. No original packing, comes with USB cable Used but in excellent condition Lilac backing $15 Kobo Glo WiFi front lit reader Kobo Glo WiFi eReader with comfort light Comes with original box and USB cable Comes with grey cover Used but in excellent condition $30 Kindle Touch Wifi Non Frontlit eReader Amazon’s Kindle Touch non front lit eReader WiFi version Comes with original box and USB cable Used, but in excellent condition Provided: Amazon burgundy leather cover – cover scratched. $25 I will be posting these on eBay, Craig’s List and Kijjiji shortly.  However, I’d love…

Kindle Fire HDX in Canada – first impressions
e-Reader Reviews / November 26, 2013

Today was release day in Canada for Amazon’s latest tablet, the Kindle HDX and mine was delivered as anticipated.  As always with Amazon, the setup was very easy.  Find and enter my WiFi details and the device recognised me. It is a lovely device to look at – it is a little more compact than the original Kindle Fire HD which I have. The HD screen is gorgeous.  It has a warmer tone than my the original and text is very crisp and clear.  One thing I noticed which really made me happy is that the earphone jack now is fully compatible with my Apple EarPods so that I can start and stop my audiobooks/immersion reading with those.  The placement of the volume and on/off buttons are different and that did take a bit of finding.  I’m sure I’ll adjust quickly though. I added the origami cover (in purple for those who are interested.)  While it’s cool looking, I discovered that unless you fold it up even when you’re holding it in your hand, the buttons are all but inaccessible. I will say that the Fire 3.1 OS did take a little getting used to coming from the original Fire….