What’s New With The Kindle 2

Earlier this month, Amazon announced its second-generation e-book reader, the Kindle 2. Hardly anyone has been lucky enough to play with one yet, but from my first glance at the pictures, the Kindle 2 looks much slimmer and less clunky than its predecessor, with a bigger screen. The shape reminds me of a first-generation iPod (especially the way they framed it in the photo with the hand on the left side).

“Kindle 2 is everything customers tell us they love about the original Kindle, only thinner, faster, crisper, with longer battery life and capable of holding hundreds more books. If you want, Kindle 2 will even read to you - something new we added that a book could never do,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “While we’re excited about Kindle 2, we know that great hardware is useless without vast selection. That’s why the Kindle Store offers customers more than 230,000 books.”


Kindle 2’s screen is a high-resolution, 6-inch paper display that looks and feels similar to real paper. This was designed to reduce eyestrain caused by reading on a backlit display. The screen shows up to 16 shades of gray, and Amazon claims it can turn your pages approximately 20 percent faster than the original Kindle. I’m especially looking forward to the new Read-To-Me Feature that offers a Text-to-Speech option that reads the words to you (similar to an audio book). The pages turn automatically when the content is read aloud, and you can customize it with a male or female voice.

With its expanded 2GB of memory, the Kindle 2 can hold more than 1,500 books at a time, compared to 200 with the original Kindle. It’s perfect for a long trip since you can read up for to two weeks with no recharge (25 percent more battery life). In addition, it uses the same wireless delivery as the first Kindle - Amazon Whispernet. This allows you to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds and read from your library without a Wi-Fi hotspot, computer or syncing. It uses Sprint’s 3G data network and works in all 50 states (no fee for you).

The Kindle Store has really expanded. There are even 103 of the 110 New York Times Best Sellers in the Kindle Store. Kindle 2 pre-orders started earlier this month, and availability began earlier this week. Find it at http://amazon.com/kindle2 for $359 (unfortunately, no price drop from the first, and it only comes in white).


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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Fastlane Street Racing

If you’re a racing fan and enjoy Ridge Racer, Need for Speed or any of the Gran Turismos, you’ll have a blast with Fastlane Street Racing. It’s high-speed arcade racing on your iPhone/iPod touch. Weave through traffic in busy city streets or do some high-speed driving on the track.

This app comes in a free Lite Edition and a full version ($4.99). The full deal comes with five game modes, 10 original cars, eight city routes, two high-speed circuits, six challenge tracks and the ability to save replays. You’ll have fun with either version.

As with any app, find it on the iTunes Store or download it directly from your iPhone/iPod touch.

Merrie Monarch Festival On IPTV

If you grew up here or have lived in Hawaii for a while, I’m sure you’re familiar with the popular Merrie Monarch Festival. This year marks 46 years, and it will run April 12-18.

This time around there’s a new way to watch it - Hawaii IPTV will offer the first Internet Protocol TV broadcast of this prestigious Hawaiian event. This will be the first time the Merrie Monarch can be viewed live outside of Hawaii. Typically, those of us who live here can watch it live on KITV, but for folks who live elsewhere, it’s a little more difficult.

“It’s an honor to be able to have the Merrie Monarch Festival as a part of Hawaii IPTV,” says Kimberly Dey, vice president of Hawaii IPTV. “This event showcases Hawaii at its finest, and is so rich in history and culture. I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to share it with our customers around the world.”

The Hawaii IPTV box connects directly to your high-speed Internet connection, and the setup process is easy - basically plug-and-play. Hawaii IPTV is all about Hawaii. The lineup features live news broadcasts from Hawaii, including the most popular weekly Hawaii TV shows, movies, latest Hawaiian music videos, historical films and documentaries pertaining to Hawaii.

You can hook up the box directly to your TV, and it does not require a computer. This box is really meant for the Hawaii folks living away from home - the service will not work here. You have to be away from Hawaii for it to work properly. This makes a great gift for your overseas loved ones. Now they, too, can watch the Merrie Monarch and more!

IPTV costs $21.50 per month with a one-year service agreement. Note there are one-time charges for the setup ($125) and activation ($25). You also can opt to purchase a full year of service for $180. Another alternative is the web player. The monthly and annual prices are the same, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee on the box. For more information, check out http://tvfromhawaii.com.


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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Bow Cam

The Japanese company APPLIYA Inc. recently launched Meow Cam and Bow Cam, the iPhone apps that make taking the perfect photo easier by generating sounds. I downloaded the Bow Cam and kind of turned it into my own “Bird Cam“ to take pictures of my bouncy parrot. Sometimes it’s difficult to grab his attention for more than two seconds at a time, so it’s challenging to take a perfect picture of him. To capture his attention and look at my iPhone, I used the Bow Cam to emit various barks and other noises (i.e. cans clinking or a bell).

This app is meant to assist you in taking your pet’s picture by grabbing its attention with the sounds. The app’s description noises worked just fine with my bird - he’ll look up at anything.


Note that sound won’t come out of the speaker when the headphones are plugged in. As soon as you snap the picture, it gives you an easy-to-look-at preview screen so you can decide whether or not you want to keep the picture. Using this to take everyday pictures seems quicker than using the iPhone’s camera directly. Since it’s made in Japan, the app is in Japanese and English. Meow Cam and Bow Cam are both 99-cent apps from the iTunes Store.

Free Phones From Hawaiian Telcom

We all remember when the power went out the day after Christmas ... fun times. Through it all, if you had a landline phone with Hawaiian Telcom, you probably still had service. Since that power outage, Hawaiian Telcom is extending its free phone program for its customers through the end of this month. As long as you’re a customer, you’re entitled to a complimentary corded phone, which does not rely on electricity to work.

“In light of the recent island-wide power outage, we have decided to extend the program for another two months to ensure that all eligible customers have time to pick up their phones from a Hawaiian Telcom retail store,” said Craig Inouye, senior vice president-sales. “When the power went out on Dec. 26, most other phone services could not operate, but customers with Hawaiian Telcom’s reliable landline service and a corded phone could continue to reach emergency services and loved ones.”


The complimentary corded phone available is GE’s Slimline. It’s a very basic phone that has handset/ringer volume control, 10-number memory, one-touch redial, flash function (for three-way calls) and is hearing aid compatible. These phones work on the low-level electrical current provided from Hawaiian Telcom’s central offices, which have backup power in case of an emergency. So far, thousands of customers have received their free phone since the program began in June 2008.

For more information, check out www.hawaiiantel.com, or to visit one of the Hawaiian Telcom stores: Hawaiian Telcom Building (downtown), Kapolei Shopping Center, 1409 Kapiolani Blvd. (formerly Francis Camera), Pearlridge Center or Windward Mall.

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: TrueFlirt

With Valentine’s Day a few days away, there’s love and flirting in the air. Most of the younger crowd flirts virtually with text messages, and TrueFlirt is an app designed to accomplish this in a fun way with your iPhone/iPod touch. You can send interactive virtual “flirts” with your device by tilting, tapping or shaking your phone. “More than half of the 50-100 SMS text messages sent daily by the average 14- to 24-year-old are flirtatious in nature. TrueFlirt was designed to make flirting less stressful, more playful and fun,” said Rob Frasca, CEO of Viximo. “The iPhone is an ideal device for adding a deeper layer to the social dialogue and taking the art of flirting up a notch with the TrueFlirt app.”

TrueFlirt combines text messaging with 2D animations that respond to your interactions and comes preloaded with 10 Flirts. You can offer an object of your affection such as a love potion that bubbles and pours when you tap or shake your iPhone, or you can open a virtual fortune cookie that can be opened to reveal a tempting prediction about your blossoming romance. You also can send a romantic balloon ride and watch the fireworks. All the Flirts take advantage of your iPhone’s screen tilt, touch and sound experience.

The full version of TrueFlirt costs $3.99, and TrueFlirt Lite is free. You’ll see a few more features with the paid version. It’s a unique and cute way to say you care to the one you love.

Kodak's OLED Frame

There were countless digital picture frames at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), just as last year. But this time only one stood out: Kodak’s Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) frame. This is the world’s first consumer-available wireless picture frame using OLED technology. It allows deeper color depth and saturation with an extremely thin, low-profile design. While an OLED is probably too small these days for a full-blown TV, it’s perfect for a high-end picture frame. In early 2008, Kodak received the 2008 OLED Technology Display Leadership Award for the frame’s development.

“Kodak is a worldwide market and technology leader in digital picture frames, and OLED technology was created by Kodak, making us uniquely positioned to bring the benefits of OLED to consumers,” says Pete Jameson, general manager, Digital Devices Group, Eastman Kodak Company. “We’re tremendously proud to introduce this exciting new picture frame.”

Kodak’s OLED frame features an ultra-thin 7.6-inch display (with an 180-degree viewing angle), enhanced by Kodak Perfect Touch Technology, which automatically processes your images to improve exposure, brightness and color. Its built-in Wi-Fi enables you to display pictures and videos that are stored on your computer elsewhere in the house. Stream your pictures from Flickr, Kodak Gallery or FrameChannel, or you even can upload pictures directly to the frame using Wi-Fi.


The frame can store up to 10,000 images using the 2GB of built-in internal memory (depending on how big each picture is). If that’s not enough, there’s a USB port and a built-in memory card reader. The aspect ratio is 16:9, resolution is 800x480, and the white to black ratio is >30,000:1. The frame requires no backlighting, and it incorporates an ambient light sensor that optimizes your viewing experience by adjusting the display brightness based on the frame’s surrounding light.

Unfortunately, OLED is not cheap; it retails for $999. Find it at Amazon.com or Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com, online store only). Also, there aren't any available on-island that I know about.

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Click Chick’s App of the Week: iFu Kung Fu
Hawaii’s own Oceanit Laboratories recently unveiled iFu Kung Fu. This is the company’s first iPhone app, and according to marketing manager Ian Kitajima, it began as a summer intern project to develop something in two weeks. Apparently it was successful through trial and effort, and it was out the door at the end of December. Right now it averages about 500 downloads a day.

iFu reminds me of the PhoneSaber app that plays lightsaber sounds from Star Wars. You’ll hear “Hiiiiyaaah!” or “Waaaaahhh!” sounds that pay homage to the good ol’ kung fu movies of yesterday. As you move your iPhone, you’ll hear those sounds, including the impact of body blows, flying kicks and the swinging of nunchucks. If you’re using an iPod touch, you may want to plug in your earphones or hook it up to external speakers so you can hear the sound effects.

In addition, you’ll also see various graphical bursts (as you would see on the old Batman TV shows) as the impacts are made. It’s apparent when you die: The screen turns red, and you’ll hear the voice fade out.

This fun, locally made app is free from the iTunes App Store!