family love

The holidays are made even more special when spent with your loved ones :)

Quad-core Meizu MX expected in May 2012?

Meizu appears to be readying a newer version of Meizu MX which will have Quad Core processors. The Meizu MX Quad Core version might sport the Samsung Exynos 4412. The handset will launch May 2012.

via Ubergizmo

GameLoft offering .99 games for New Year's Weekend

Gameloft will offer up all it's game titles for only 99 cents each. This includes recent game Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation.

via Slashgear

Rooted Motorola Actv Andoid watch

The Motorola ACTV Android watch has been rooted. This means you can install an app launcher, Android Market, Google Maps, YouTube, the Skyfire web browser, and even Angry Birds.

DARWINmachine Frameshift iPad Stand

DARWINmachine known for their custom desktops has created a new product. The DARWINmachine Frameshift iPad Stand presents a sleek designed stand that is hand crafted out of CNC aircraft grade aluminum. The Frameshift iPad Stand is available now for $99 for a limited time.

Buy it now HERE

Dress up Party!

We have had a fantastic Christmas!  FANTASTIC! 

We met the kids in town for a nice lunch out yesterday after Mom, Dad, Brian and I returned a couple of things and we took Dad through Joplin to see the tornado aftermath.  He hadn't seen it yet.  It is still sobering and sad, but he wanted to see it and we obliged.

Chase and Meredith needed to return a few things and do some shopping, so we had Madelyn last night (darn the luck huh?) and she came prepared for a dress up party!

She really loved everything but the Sleeping Beauty wig. But, she sure wanted everyone else to wear it!

I think Nick wore it best.... He's a pretty man!

Poppaw wore the famous green wig, but would not let me take a photo.  He knew it would end up online!!

We had a big dinner with the family and just enjoyed our time together. 

Today, it is back to reality.  Mom and Dad left this morning because they had to get back to work, The kids all had to go back to work and of course, I need to do the same.

Tonight I am visiting friends I haven't seen in a LONG time.  I can't wait to see them and we are having a big chili feed.  I am making my portabello chili and really looking forward to it!

Beam N Read reading and general light - 1 wk holiday-discount of 25%

BEAM N READ 3-Led light, made by ASF Lightware Solutions.

As regular readers will know, my personal favorite in reading lights (I've bought too many different types) has been the Beam N Read "LED 3 Hands Free Travel Reading Light; for Kindle, Power Outages & More" that I first wrote about in early October 2010.

  I'm including much of what I wrote at the time, as the company who makes the Beam N Read, noting my now long-term enthusiasm, is offering a 25% discount to readers of this blog for Dec. 26 - Jan. 1, 2012.  Sorry I didn't get to this earlier today.  Was caught up in getting some information together for owners of the new Kindles found under trees yesterday.

  As before, I'm including a couple of photos below to show light coverage on my Kindle 3 with the Amazon cover for the Kindle 3, with built-in light vs. using what, by last year, became my favorite light for the various Kindles I have.

This portable light is worn around the neck and has an adjustable strap.  The light is said to last about 120 hours, and I do use it nightly for weeks before needing to change batteries.

  It comes with 4 standard alkaline AA batteries and a clip-on red filter to minimize "night blindness" and soften the light if needed, they say (I've never needed that).  Because it's very lightweight and flexible with a patented flip-up design, reflector, and the adjustable strap, I usually have it on when I'm home.  Going downstairs at night or to a less well-lit room, or when I just can't see something well enough, I can just turn this on briefly, which is done by flipping up the hood/reflector.

For reading a book or an e-book reader, you can also reverse it if you prefer (as I do) to hold the book higher than on your lap, and then flip the reflector down instead, so that the light angles up.  But if someone is sitting across from you, that may not be very comfortable for that person, as the Led lamps would be directed at their eyes too.

 I do love that it's always available when I need extra light.  No, I'm not associated with the company that makes them.  I was just tired of clipping on a light and adjusting it, as much as I love the ease of the Mighty Bright Xtraflex 2 which has the little foam pad where the clip-on meets the top of the Kindle's bezel.  The Beam N Read is pretty good at keeping the light from reaching the other person for night reading in bed.  There are times that I would like a somewhat brighter light, and when I do (not when reading a Kindle), I've used:

  The 6-led version (not part of the holiday promo but I'll include the info for those curious about it)
  Their 6-led version is VERY bright and probably overkill for reading a Kindle 6" reader, though I've sometimes used it for situations where the light is just dim.  I tried one for other uses, and for my Kindle DX in Landscape mode.  The batteries for this last, they say, about 48 hours, only 40% of the lasting power of the 3-Led model.  This one doesn't come with batteries included though it has a magnifier for short-session, detailed craft work, but I found the texture quite hard to see through and it's not not a feature I'd use.

  I DO use both Beam N Read units for piano music though, depending on how well the room is lit.

  I had bought a head lamp for a trip I took in October 2011, since we needed to go into some unlit places (Egyptian tombs!), but I don't at all like wearing something around my head just to read so I wondered if there was anything like this.  Amazon doesn't make this easy to find, but I found it extremely useful for any e-reader.

Here are photos of the effect of two reading lights on my Kindles.

Lit by the Amazon cover with built-in light, the upper right hand corner of my Kindle 3 (UK: K3) ("Kindle Keyboard") is brighter than the lower-left area, of course, and the light isn't as bright as I like but it's useful if you're out and need a light for reading.  That special cover light needs no batteries, as it runs off the Kindle's own battery, and it shuts off automatically if the Kindle goes into sleep mode after about 10 minutes.

The second picture is of the same Kindle lit by the Beam N Read 3-Led light -- the lighting on my Kindle 3, in this case (no flash was used, as you can tell from a click of the image that leads to the EXIF camera data included with the larger image at PBase) is very even and brighter overall than from the one built into the Amazon cover, but one would seldom wear the Beam N Read when out, probably, though I've definitely done it :-).

Again, I hope this helps some who are looking for good lights to use with the Kindle.  I did the various photos, as choice of a light has been one of the most asked questions on the Kindle forums.

Here are reviews and user feedback cited on the company's website collected from several types of communities, including gadget and e-reader blog site staff.  At the Amazon product page, the light, though not promoted by Amazon as a Kindle light, has 23 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars.

I do use this light daily, as I don't have to worry anymore about which light fits which Kindle model and because I use it for other purposes as well, as mentioned.  Although I'm not affiliated with the company that makes and distributes Beam N Read, my enthusiasm's been noted by ASF Lightware Solutions (website: www.readinglight.com ) and I'm delighted they've offered Kindleworld readers the special 1 week holiday pricing of $14.95 for the Dec. 26-Jan. 1 period, as they just released in mid December a new model with a more elastic neck strap that's easier to adjust and can be worn higher.
  Remember that I like to reverse the way it's worn when I'm reading in sitting position as I prefer to hold the Kindle higher than some.

  Amazon customers can use the coupon code "KNDLWRLD" when ordering the 3-LED light model during the next week to get the 25% discount off the MSRP of $19.95.  While I receive many offers of products for review, I don't do actual reviews, writing only about products I've bought and really enjoy.  In this case, I've bought some for friends, and friends have bought them as well.  It's just an unusual, generally useful product.