Category: Uncategorized

From a Forrester blog: Ten eReader and eBook predictions for 2010.

It’s an interesting read, and I tend to agree with things. Once there are alternatives to e-Ink, I think we’ll have an explosion of devices, and the inclusion of the e-paper in other devices. I also think Amazon will retain the large market share, but that will go down. The B&N entry, with their book collection as well as the ability to read Google public domain books and lend the books to other people is big. At least to me. I’d like to be able to let someone try a book for a few days and see if they want to buy it.

I really think the winners will start to come when people get get books from multiple sources and consolidate them. For me, I’ve enjoyed reading on the iPhone for the last 5-6 months. It’s worked well, and being able to spend money at Amazon and B&N, as well as get free books on Stanza has been great. I’d like one reader app, but the iPhone works well for me now. And I like it because I sometimes get GCs for Amazon, sometimes for B&N.

I think Amazon messed up trying to control things too much. They should have spun off the Kindle after a year, opened it to books from other sources, and added clients for other platforms. That would have made it hard for B&N to even enter the market. Instead they tried to control the whole platform. Even Apple can’t do that, with lots of non-iPod MP3 players as well as computers.

I’m not sure when I’d buy another special purpose device for reading. I read a lot, 50-70 books a year, and while the screen on the Kindle is much, much better than the iPhone, it’s not $300 better. I’m not sure it’s $200 better, maybe $100 better and even then I’d probably not carry the Kindle device as much since I have an iPhone app.

I traveled quite a bit in 2009, hitting 3 SQL Saturdays, 5 user groups and a few other events during the year. It made for a busy home life with my wife flying 25,000+ miles for her job and taking a few horse trips. Add in about 7 or 8 scout weekends through the year and it seems I was moving more often than not on the weekends throughout the year. I know I missed 3 baseball games because of travel, which is 3 more than I wanted to miss! I also cancelled SQL Saturday #23 in Louisville and SQL Connections because of conflicts with my wife’s schedule.

In 2010 I’ve already told two events in Jan that I can’t come because of vacation. My wife and I are taking a week for a long-overdue honeymoon (we never got one a decade ago) and we also have a family ski trip planned. My wife is planning on a trip in February, and between that, her birthday, and Valentine’s Day, traveling that month is out. We might be having a SQL Saturday in Denver as well, so I’m not sure I’ll get out.

November has me booked for the PASS Summit, an annual event. Be sure you use the SSC3D code when you register. That might not be the final code, but use it for now. If you can book now, you save a ton of money. Tell your boss and get them to register. They can always move the registration to another person if you leave.

Apart from that, things are somewhat open. My daughter is bugging me to go back to Pensacola for SQL Saturday #22 , which is around her birthday. With TechEd 2010 the next week, it might make sense for me to go down there and then go to the Big Easy for a few days at least.

I just say SQL Saturday #35 in Dallas is set for May 22, and I had tentatively committed to that. Tim Mitchell is a friend and runs it. I have to be sure it’s not graduation weekend as my oldest son leaves high school in 2010 and I can’t miss that.

I am assuming I’ll be renewed as an MVP for Microsoft, and I’d like to go back to the MVP Summit. It’s a good time for me to contact people and catch up with the Microsofties.

There’s also a few other events:

• SQLConnections Spring – I’ve still never been and while I don’t think we’ll sponsor a track here, I’d like to see the event and decide if I think we should do the fall show.
• Utah User Groups – I’ve been telling TJay Belt that I’ll come out sometime. I’d like to hit ski season, so I’ll see if I can get a trip in March, but this year is not looking good.
• SQL Saturday – There are quite a few, especially Charlotte, that I’d like to attend. Unfortunately they’re bunched up. Once again Jan is popular with Tampa, Boston, and Richmond putting them on. Portland conflicts with Dallas, and I’m sure a few more will come about. I’m not sure how many I’ll get to here.

I’m sure some other things will come up. I’ll likely skip speaking at the user groups, but try to convince a few others to do so instead and give them support that way.

I’m glad I called Toshiba last night. When my laptop died on Sunday, and never came back Monday, I wasn’t sure what to do. I searched through all my folders, but couldn’t find a warranty item and when I checked the Toshiba site, it said I was out of warranty.

So I pulled the drive and copied things off it onto my desktop, getting copies just in case and so I could continue working. Then yesterday I called Toshiba in the afternoon to get a price for a repair. After all, a new laptop would be in the $1500 range and I wasn’t sure what my boss would pay. So I just thought I’d compare and then decide.

Turns out I have an extended warranty that wasn’t showing up on the Toshiba site. I have typically gone to 3 year service plans, just in case, for machines, and I was pricing that into a new laptop. I figure that I need things fixed in that time frame, and after 3 years I’d just get a new one anyway. This one is 2 years old, so it would be good to get through 2010, or most of it before buying a new one. Seems like Quad cores are just getting into new machines, and I’d like to go with one on the next laptop.

So I got an order going, and drove down last night to ship out the laptop. It should arrive at Toshiba tomorrow and then we’ll see how long it takes to get it fixed and back. In the meantime I’m moving forward with more setup on the desktop to be sure I can work.

I sure do miss working from bed with the laptop, however.

I found a nice post from a friend, Roy Ernest, on an effective way to learn. He notes that one of the best ways he’s found is to write an article on a topic. It forces you to research, double check yourself, and explain things clearly.

I agree.

Not everyone wants to write an article that is published specifically to an audience, but this is where a blog comes in. Even a private blog or document that you don’t expose on the Internet. If you want to be sure you understand something and look to explain it back to yourself, write it down. You’ll have to do some research, and if you read it carefully, you’ll realize where you don’t really understand things.

That’s if you take pride in what you are putting down. I’ve seen plenty of people scribble things down halfway, not check themselves or their work, and they’re not really taking advantage of the time to make sure they’ve learned something.

If you want to publish, look for places. If you just want to make yourself understand something, try writing it down.