Amazon Kindle v. Barnes & Noble Nook

Kindle 2 (left) and Nook (right)

The Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook are 2 popular eBook readers. Both companies make a huge number of eBooks and periodicals available for instant download over a free 3G wireless connection. The Kindle and the Nook include an MP3 player with built-in speakers and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. In addition, you can read Kindle or Nook titles on the Windows, Mac, iPhone, and BlackBerry platforms by downloading a free app.

These readers employ greyscale E-ink displays. E-ink uses reflected light instead of a backlight, so reading an eBook feels more like reading a traditional paper book than viewing a computer monitor. E-ink displays have no glare, and can be read in direct sunlight. eBook readers are substantially smaller than notebook computers, and since they only consume power when changing pages, they have a longer battery life as well.

The Kindle 2 and the Nook both have 6” displays. Amazon also offers the Kindle DX, with a larger 9.7” screen. Both Kindle models sport a QWERTY keyboard, but the Nook uses a color touchscreen for navigation. It’s possible to lend ebooks to other Nook owners for up to 2 weeks; no equivalent sharing feature is currently available on the Kindle. The Kindle, however, does have a web browser - a feature the Nook lacks.

Feature	Kindle 2	Kindle DX	Nook
Developer	Amazon	Amazon	Barnes & Noble
MSRP	$259	$489	$259
Display size	6”	9.7”	6”
Dimensions	203 × 135 × 9.14 mm	264 × 183 × 9.7 mm	196 x 125 x 13 mm
Weight	290 g	540 g	343 g
Color touchscreen	No	No	Yes
QWERTY keyboard	Yes	Yes	No
Wireless connectivity	AT&T 3G	AT&T 3G	AT&T 3G, Wi-Fi (only works in Barnes & Noble stores)
Wirless coverage	Worldwide	Worldwide	U.S.
Web browser	Yes	Yes	No
Capacity	2 GB	4 GB	2 GB
microSD expansion slot	No	No	Yes
Accelerometer	No	Yes	No
Battery life with wireless off	Up to 14 days	Up to 14 days	Up to 10 days
Replaceable battery	No	No	Yes
Text-to-speech	Yes	Yes	No
Operating system	Linux	Linux	Android
Performance	Fast	Fast	Slow
2 week eBook lending	No	No	Yes
Number of books available	450,000	450,000	1,000,000, but fewer new titles
Read entire eBooks for free in stores	No	No	Yes
Blog subscriptions	Yes	Yes	No
Supported eBook formats	.azw, .pdf, .mobi	.azw, .pdf, .mobi	.epub, .pdf, .pdb

 

Barnes & Noble’s comparison of the Kindle and the Nook

Associated Content on Kindle v. Nook

iReader Review on Kindle v. Nook

Rocky v. Rambo

Few actors are fortunate enough to be featured in a successful franchise, much less 2. Sylvester Stallone starred in and wrote the screenplays for the iconic Rocky and Rambo series. Rocky Balboa, aka the Italian Stallion, is the erstwhile boxing heavyweight champion of the world. Despite beating up Dillon from Predator, B. A. Baracus, and He-Man, he’s invariably the underdog. John Rambo is a Vietnam vet and ex-Green Beret who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. With a propensity for ripping out dudes’ throats and taking on entire armies single-handedly, it’s probably best not to tease him about his headband.

Feature	Rocky	Rambo
Total movies	6	4
Movie titles	Rocky (1976) Rocky II (1979) Rocky III (1982) Rocky IV (1985) Rocky V (1990) Rocky Balboa (2006)	First Blood (1982) Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) Rambo III (1988) Rambo (2008) Rambo V [announced]
Worldwide box office revenue	$1.1 billion	$0.7 billion
Has driven Hulk Hogan out of the ring	Yes	No
Has driven a tank into a helicopter	No	Yes
Runs up stairs	Yes	No
Runs up a body count	No	Yes
Usually works topless	Yes	Yes

 

Bonus: Other actors who have appeared in at least 2 popular movie series with at least 3 entries

• Tim Allen (The Santa Clause, Toy Story)
• Antonio Banderas (El Mariachi, Shrek, Spy Kids)
• Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean)
• Jackie Chan (Police Story, Lucky Stars, Rush Hour)
• Sean Connery (James Bond, Indiana Jones)
• Matt Damon (Bourne, Ocean’s)
• Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry, The Dollars Trilogy)
• Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Indiana Jones)
• Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future, Stuart Little)
• Mel Gibson (Mad Max, Lethal Weapon)
• James Earl Jones (Star Wars, Tom Clancy)
• Christopher Lee (Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings)
• Ian McKellen (X-Men, The Lord of the Rings)
• Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop, Shrek)
• Mike Myers (Austin Powers, Shrek)
• Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop, The Santa Clause)
• Talia Shire (Rocky, The Godfather)
• Bruce Spence (Mad Max, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings (sort of))
• Patrick Stewart (Star Trek, X-Men)
• Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, Transformers)
• Bruce Willis (Die Hard, Look Who’s Talking)

Maxim on Rocky v. Rambo

game v. sport

A game is any entertaining activity governed by a set of rules. Hide and seek, chess, whist, tennis, curling, air hockey, Twister, Monopoly, Mega Man 2, baseball, rally driving, crossword puzzles, and Olympic fencing are all games. A sport is a competitive, physical game. The same activity may be considered a game if it is played informally, or a sport if it is regulated by a governing body and records of player or team rankings are maintained. All sports are games, but not all games are sports. From the above list, tennis, curling, air hockey, baseball, rally driving, and fencing are recognized as sports.

In addition, game is a term for a sporting event, regardless of the level of play.

PlayStation 3 v. Xbox 360

PlayStation 3 slim (left) and Xbox 360 Elite (right). Image courtesy of Kotaku. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are seventh generation video game consoles. The systems, which come equipped with similar CPUs and graphics processors, both have wired network connections, HDMI output, and wireless controllers with vibration feedback. In addition to playing games, either device can be used to view pictures, play music, play standard DVDs, or stream Netflix movies.

The PlayStation 3 can play Blu-ray movies, includes a web browser, is less likely to experience hardware failure, and, at the $300 price, is a better value considering its features. The Xbox 360 has a larger selection of available titles, is backward compatible with older Xbox games, and offers a very polished, unified online experience through the paid Xbox Live service. In the table below, more desirable features are bold.

Feature	PlayStation 3	Xbox 360
Manufacturer	Sony	Microsoft
MSRP	$300, $350	$200, $300
Hard drive	120 GB, 250 GB	None, 120 GB (proprietary drive)
Optical drive	Blu-ray	DVD
Online gaming	PlayStation Network (free)	Xbox Live (paid subscription)
Game selection	558 games (160 exclusive)	736 games (119 exclusive)
Game installation	Mandatory installation and long load times	Optional installation and shorter load times
Wireless connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi (proprietary addon)
Wired network	1 Gbps	100 Mbps
Backward compatibility	Newer PS3’s no longer support PlayStation 2 games.	Many original Xbox games can be played on the Xbox 360.
Supported media	SD, Sony Memory Stick, CompactFlash, USB flash drive	Xbox memory cards, USB flash drive
Controllers	7 maximum (USB or Bluetooth), built-in rechargeable battery pack	4 maximum (USB or 2.4 GHz wireless), removable AA or rechargeable battery pack
Best-selling games	Gran Turismo 5 Prologue MotorStorm Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Grand Theft Auto IV Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Resistance: Fall of Man Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Final Fantasy XIII Resident Evil 5	Halo 3 Gears of War Gears of War 2 Grand Theft Auto IV Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty: World at War Halo 3: ODST Forza Motorsport 2 Fable II
Console failure rate	~11%	~54%
Market share	~17%	~36%

 

Hardcoreware.net on PlayStation 3 v. Xbox 360

rip v. burn (digital media)

Ripping is the process of extracting digital media from a source, such as a CD or DVD, and copying it to a hard drive in a format that can easily be manipulated on a computer. Creating a group of compressed, tagged MP3 files from an audio CD is an example of ripping.

Burning is the opposite operation. An optical disc image is temporarily created from music, video, or data files on a computer. This image is then copied to a CD or DVD. You can use applications like MediaMonkey, Windows Media Player, iTunes, and Nero to rip and burn discs.