sassholes: HTC Evo 4G

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Devices With The Dragon Tattoo

It has been a while since I have read a good thriller, and there is nothing like the feeling you get when you are approaching the end of a page turner, reading fast and furiously, racing toward the grand finale, but at the same time wishing the feeling (and the story) would never end. I just finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and, thanks to my gadgets, I was able to extend the experience a few hours more than I expected, and flesh out the images and enactments of the story that the brisk words of Stieg Larsson had etched in my mind's eye.

Kindle Fuels The Fire

I bought the Kindle version of the first book in Larsson's now acclaimed "Millennium Trilogy" and took full advantage of Amazon's clever cross-platform cloud based whiz bang of Whispersync. At one time or another I would read portions of the intriguing tale of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander on my Android HTC EVO, my iPad, my actual Amazon Kindle, and even my laptop PC. Thanks to the slick Kindle software I could move seamlessly between devices and always keep my place in the story. No matter where I was or what I was doing, I had access to my book, and the ability to slip in some reading and dive back into the adventure, living vicariously through the vying Vanger family.

Next Up...Netflix

I finished reading DRAGON TATTOO on my iPad, and as I feverishly swiped my way through the pages of the novel's delicious denouement, I was conflicted by both the excitement of reaching the end of the story, and the disappointment of reaching the end of the story and having to end my engagement and entertainment immersed in Larsson's well characterized world. As I finished the finale and exited the Kindle App on my iPad I suddenly smiled and said to myself, "but wait...there's more!" Sure, there are two more novels in the series, but I wanted more of this story. I wanted to relish more in the tale just told. No problem! After just a few taps of my iPad screen, thanks to Netflix and their great iPad App I was instantly watching the extremely well done Swedish film of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on the same screen that I had just finished reading the book. The characters I had been imagining in my mind were now fully realized before me, faithfully (for a film adaptation) reenacting the drama that I had been living through the digital pages on so many devices.

My Head (And Entertainment) In The Cloud

Thanks to the intricate interoperability of all my digital toys and "the cloud" I was able to enjoy a good novel in ways that were not so readily possible just a short time ago, and it was great. Having your books follow you everywhere you go makes reading a good thriller a thrill, and having instant access to the movie of the book as a visual dessert to a hearty literary meal is a delicious way to extend the end of a great story. I have already started reading The Girl Who Played with Fire (the second installment in Larsson's trilogy) and I look forward to the movie, and to repeating the process again with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I realize it is perhaps unusual to have a novel trilogy with a matching trilogy of faithfully produced film versions, but diving into Stieg Larsson's MILLENNIUM Trilogy in this fashion is perhaps the most fun I've had with digital entertainment this millennium!

How about you? Have you found new ways to enjoy your reading and watching thanks to your digital devices?

(Disclosure: All the book and DVD links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links)

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Android App Alphabet: Still in the "A's" with App 2 SD

I could not imagine going through the day without my trusted HTC EVO. I rely on it for so many daily functions, from waking me up in the morning as an alarm clock, to acting as my mobile media center for my daily fix of podcasts, social network updates, news and information, and even for the occasional phone call. With that in mind, when my EVO starts getting sluggish and begins to under perform, it becomes an instant source of unnecessary stress in my life (yeah, I know, I shouldn't be complaining if the "stress" I am worried about is related to the performance of my smartphone...but, hey, such is the life of a gadget geek!)

Thanks For The (Lack Of) Memory...

It seems the greatest contributor to my occasional Android angst is the lack of internal memory. So, when I overload my phone with too many apps and too much data I am faced with a fatigued device, prone to frequent failures, from crashes to missed calls to cutting off my ability to add more apps. What's a geek to do? Of course, deleting data and memory gobbing apps is one way to free up space on your Android, but it can be frustrating if you like to have lots of apps at your fingertips. The latest versions of Android do let you store and run apps from the SD card, which is a great solution except that not all apps are capable of being moved to the SD card. It is a function developers must actively include in each individual app. As a result, you may have to go through the painful process of checking each app on your phone, one by one, to see if it can be moved to the SD card. Not a happy way to spend the day.

Sam Lu To The Rescue!

The best answer I have found so far is a neat little free app from developer Sam Lu, App 2 SD. As the name implies, App 2 SD scans the apps on your Android device and let's you know which internal apps are capable of being moved to the SD card, and then it lets you move them all with a single click. Nice! It even can move itself to the SD card, all in all providing a very simple, efficient way to free up as much internal memory hogged by apps as you can. You can also use Apps 2 SD to move apps from the SD card back to the phone, if need be.