a very good Windows 8 book for cheap

I know I said this would be a weekly thing and I think what I'll have to do is make sure I have shorter blogs in between and not have a mammoth post each time. Also I did just finish one of my hardest exams today so I was kinda busy with that. I've got one more on Tuesday which will be equally tricky but I'll hope for the best.

Anyway the reason I'm writing this entry is that I found out about a great deal while listening to Windows Weekly. I've been listening to it for quite a while now and I've found its really handy for finding out about what's new with windows. Paul Thurrott has some good analysis of Microsoft's latest ventures and I find its easier to just listen to this stuff.

Mr Thurrott mentioned that a book on programming for windows 8 by Charles Petzold is only $10 for the eBook and he's actually publishing it as its being written which is quite interesting. It seems like a good idea seeing as many people will be downloading the various previews and people like me, will want to dabble with the new windows 8 stuff which seems to be signifying a huge change in the world of Windows. Apparently Charles Petzold is a really good tech writer so its worth buying, specially since you can get a copy for your kindle and on pdf.

 I'll probably have a larger post on my opinions on Windows 8 later on as this release seems to be maybe just as big as the change from windows 3.11 to windows 95.

[Petzold's Blog]

woops.... Also Kindle's are awesome

Sorry about that, I haven't been blogging at all however it was mainly due to coursework and now I have exams to worry about but I still feel like I can blog about some things whilst still revising for my Exams.

Anyway, recently I have been getting back in to reading and I owe it to Amazon. What they've done with the Kindle has got me back into the flow of reading in a big way. For me it started with the Kindle app for my phone, Originally I was planning on trying to read the Hobbit as an eBook. I wasnt too sure if I'd follow through with it so I'd thought I'd try one book to see if I would actually read a whole book and sure enough I actually read the whole thing. I ended up buying some more books that were on sale and sure enough I read 2 other books on my phone and I finally just decided to take the plunge and get a Kindle.

I'm really glad I did as even though I had a good screen on my phone, I just couldnt read for long periods of time on it. I also tried my PC as well which doesnt have a great screen so I just mainly stuck to my phone. Because of the Epaper screen I'm devouring books so much faster now. I recently read the first Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy book in about 10 days which is really fast for me and now I'm on to the second one. I'm pretty excited to be back into the flow of reading again and it means that I can work my way towards the Song of Ice and Fire books!

I should say as well the really cool bit about the Kindle is the fact that it syncs up perfectly with multiple devices. I can start reading on my kindle and then carry on reading a bit on my phone if I'm in line for something and then pick up from where I left off on my Kindle. Its all pretty seemless. Whenever I read a book I always forget to keep it on me or I just manage to full on wreck the book if its a paper back as my bag just seems to eat books but the kindle seems pretty durable so hopefully it wont get destroyed in my bag.

Another great thing is that I can send articles to it as well and theres even a chrome extension that sends it to your kindle which is pretty cool. It also means I can actually put my notes on there as well for when I'm revising which is good. I really love my kindle and I really cant wait to read more on it!

UPDATE: As an addendum to my post, I thought I should mention that the Kindle has been brilliant for reading lecture slides on a PDF. They have an application to send stuff to your kindle and its really quite handy to be able to right click and just send the document to the kindle wirelessly.

I think the major advantage to reading lecture slides on a kindle is that you dont have as many distractions since the only thing you can do on a kindle is read. So subconsciously you just read and dont think, oo I'll just check reddit for a few minutes. Its really been quite a productivity enhancer for me.

I have been  hearing rumblings of a Colour Kindle with a backlight later this year which seems like a very tempting upgrade but simply due to the fact that its really helped me get into the  flow of reading, I do not regret buying this kindle now. Also I found a nice little light which kinda gets rid of my need for a backlight in the kindle.