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I bought a Kindle back in September as a means of test-driving the e-book version of In the Shadow of Ares, mainly because I hadn’t thought much beyond Amazon when we decided to go the electronic route. I was aware that Barnes & Noble and Borders each had their own e-readers, but Kindle seemed to be the one with the broadest reach and biggest potential market.
We ended up publishing on Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon, but even so, I hadn’t even looked at a Kindle up-close until yesterday. Turns out the Nook Color is a much more impressive platform overall than the 3G Kindle:
The touchscreen is much easier to navigate with (especially when highlighting text or selecting a word to look up in the dictionary) than the Kindle’s “mouse box” buttons;
Nook, like Kindle, has built-in audio capability for playing MP3s while you read, but the player on Nook is actually a proper function of the device, and not a grafted-on “experimental” feature like it is with the Kindle — a feature which, in four months, I have never gotten to work;
Nook also has a built-in photo gallery function, which the Kindle (perhaps understandably in a grayscale device) lacks.
In short, the Nook is a little more like a tablet device than a no-frills e-reader.
On the other hand:
Despite only being a tiny bit larger, the Nook was noticeably heavier (perhaps 25-30% heavier) than the Kindle, with the Kindle already at the upper limit of a comfortably-holdable combination of mass and shape;
Being a backlit color display akin to those on laptops, the Nook was actually a little harder on the eyes than the Kindle with its “e-ink” display that reads more like the page of a printed book;
Though I’m not a big fan of Kindle’s keypad, it’s still far and away preferable to tapping virtual keys on a touch screen.
You might expect that differences like this would drive Amazon to bring a color version of the Kindle, with color e-ink, to market in the near future. Mmm…maybe not:
[Bezos] noted that developing color electronic ink remains a challenge, and while he’s seen things “in the laboratory,” the prototypes are simply “not ready for prime-time production.” He also stated that these lust-worthy, mythical displays were “a long way out,” but that the Kindle would remain focused as a dedicated e-reader moving forward.
And yet, as the links at the Engadget post illustrate, there are in fact color e-ink options out there which may be further along that Bezos suggests.
With the introduction of the iPad last year, though, there may be market pressure to rapidly evolve e-readers beyond simple, dedicated e-book devices by including features like the photo galleries and MP3 player functions the Nook already offers and better, full-featured web browsers to take additional advantage of the built-in wireless internet capabilities (wi-fi and 3G). At some point, then, there may be no real distinction between e-readers and tablet computers besides the owner’s primary habit of use.
High-speed video of droplets of liquid nitrogen rolling across a hot surface, demonstrating something we’ve all seen while cooking but probably didn’t know had a name — the Leidenfrost Effect:
The effect can be seen as drops of water are sprinkled into a pan at various times while it is heating up. Initially, as the temperature of the pan is below 100 °C (212 °F), the water just flattens out and slowly evaporates. As the temperature of the pan goes above 100 °C (212 °F), the water drops hiss on touching the pan and evaporate relatively quickly. Later, as the temperature goes past the Leidenfrost point, the Leidenfrost effect comes into play. On contact the droplets of water do not evaporate away so quickly. This time, they bunch up into small balls of water and skitter around, lasting much longer than when the temperature of the pan was much lower. This effect lasts until a much higher temperature causes any further drops of water to evaporate too quickly to cause this effect.
This works because, at temperatures above the Leidenfrost point, when water touches the hot plate, the bottom part of the water vaporizes immediately on contact. The resulting gas actually suspends the rest of the water droplet just above it, preventing any further direct contact between the liquid water and the hot plate and dramatically slowing down further heat transfer between them. This also results in the drop being able to skid around the pan on the layer of gas just under it
Now that I have a little bit more time available, I’ve been working again on the time-lapse videos from the Iceland trip last July. Have largely given up on ever getting the bumpy spots satisfactorily “deshaken” with the software tools available, but I did discover something that I completely missed at the time and in the first attempt to render out the video — a white rainbow:
Oddly enough, we did see a white rainbow that day, down on the beach about a half hour after the still frame above was taken:
So, not only did we see a strange phenomenon for the first time that day, but twice (arguably, since I didn’t actually see it while driving).
If the NASA Space Shuttle is able to reenter from the orbit of the Earth then the NASA Space Shuttle is able to reenter because of the heat of 1,500 °C.
The NASA Space Shuttle isn’t able to reenter because of the heat of 1,500 °C.
Hence, the NASA Space Shuttle isn’t able to reenter the orbit of the Earth.
If the NASA Space Shuttle is able to reenter from the orbit of Earth then the NASA Space Shuttle is in orbit.
The NASA Space Shuttle isn’t in orbit.
Therefore, the NASA Space Shuttle isn’t able to reenter from the orbit of Earth.
They “syllogism” format sure looks familiar from Loughner’s known rantings.
Not sure if this means anything, but given Loughner’s apparent personal obsession with Giffords and the fact that her husband is a Shuttle commander, there could be something there motivating his ranting about NASA.
Some brief thoughts on the Tron sequel/reboot, which I watched last night:
Having not been to a movie in a theater in over two years, I was surprised at how obnoxious the pre-movie advertising has become. Gone are the still slideshows with instrumental music, which one could at least chat over, having been replaced with an uninterrupted stream of video ads with blaring music, voiceovers, and strobing imagery which render socializing with friends nearly impossible.
The plot of the movie was somewhat thin, but plenty enough to tie together the luscious CGI effects, which were truly impressive throughout the movie (with one exception).
In hindsight, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen the entire original Tron movie. I recommend watching it before seeing this one, as there seemed to be a few references to the earlier film that they expected the audience to understand without added explanation. Overall one is expected to be familiar with the basics of Tron, but aside from that nothing I’m referring to was a major problem — rather, a viewing of the original would simply enhance the experience of the new film at the detail level.
The CGI “exception” involved the younger versions of Jeff Bridges. The animation in most places is almost but not quite perfect. With the character Clu, one could forgive the animators a little imperfection (seeing as how the character itself is a digital construct). The scene in the beginning where the real-world Kevin Flynn is talking with the young Sam, however, contains several fleeting instances where the “uncanny valley” effect comes into play. Throughout the film, the tell is always in the movement’s of the mouth, whose movements aren’t quite accurate in some undefinable way. And knowing how the Clu character was played becomes a significant distraction during certain scenes, when he is repeatedly depicted from direct or 3/4 rear views so as to avoid the need to rotoscope the actor’s face.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to disassociate the person of Julian Assange from the character Zeus.
There were a couple of places where I think they could have improved the background story with a few extra lines of dialogue. In particular, the story of the “miracle” that led to Flynn being trapped in the Grid…had they tied it to, say, the exponential growth in information becoming interconnected through the ur-internet of the late 1980s, as a nod to the SF convention of a threshold of information and computing power triggering the spontaneous formation of an artificial intelligence, it would have been quite the slick bit of storytelling.
The gratuitous inclusion of a bit of global warming propaganda was disappointing, as were the other boilerplate expressions of anti-modern pessimism in the same exchange. But the exchange was also thankfully brief and (being wholly gratuitous) had no discernible effect on the rest of the story. It appears to me in hindsight to have simply been a recitation of talking points tossed in at an opportune moment in the film to scratch an irresistible Hollywood itch.
Overall it’s worth seeing for the entertainment value. The story isn’t all that deep, and some of the characters and performances are pretty standard-issue. But the effects are quite impressive, and should be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. While many people said the same thing about Avatar, at least in the case of Tron:Legacy you aren’t force-fed a deplorable ideology and agenda along with the eye-candy.
The show is on from 5 PM to 8 PM on 710 AM KNUS in Denver and 1460 AM KZNT in Colorado Springs. I will be on between 7:00 and 7:30PM. For those outside the Denver area, you can listen to the show online by clicking HERE.
Science fiction fans might want to tune in a little earlier, as one of Ross’ other guests this weekend is SF author and Tea Party figure Andrew Ian Dodge.
This is old news, though. Even back in the 1960s there were Civil Defense debates on whether to give warning in case of an attack, based on studies that showed more people would be sheltered by where they happened to be than would benefit from a warning, since many people would immediately either try to flee, or to return to their homes, winding up in more exposed positions when the bomb went off. And although heavily mocked by antinuclear activists in the 1980s, the duck-and-cover advice from the 1950s was pretty good, considering, and would have saved many lives if it had been followed in the event of a nuclear attack.
I hadn’t thought of this before, but I wonder if this “fatalism” he refers to wasn’t intentional. If surviving a nuclear war is actually fairly straightforward, why cultivate such a deep sense of futility about even trying? Why cut funding for Civil Defense, why ridicule “duck and cover”, and why make demoralizing movies like Testament or The Day After?
Well, if you own a giant stockpile of nuclear weapons, whose effects (while horrible) could be mitigated to some useful degree by simple sheltering methods if those methods were widely known and ready-to-implement, wouldn’t you want to head-fake the enemy into not protecting themselves by convincing them of the uselessness of even minimal preparedness?
Once again, it would seem that the anti-nuclear and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s may have been dupes.
“In the Shadow of Ares” (formerly known around here as “Labyrinth of Night”) is now available for download at Amazon.com:
In 2029, the third exploration mission to Mars vanishes without a trace. Two decades later, the success of human settlement of Mars and the life of a young girl hinge on the secret of what happened to the Ares III mission.
Twenty years later, Mars is a growing outpost of humanity, and 14-year-old settler Amber Jacobsen is a minor interplanetary celebrity – ‘the First Kid on Mars’. Pioneering Mars is hard, unglamorous work, though, and Amber secretly wishes she were just an ordinary girl living on Earth.
When her family’s homestead is destroyed in an apparent accident, the Jacobsens relocate to an independent settlement located on the northern fringes of Noctis Labyrinthus, a vast and largely unexplored canyonland. Their new home promises new opportunities, and Amber looks forward to being just another member of the community. Instead, the other settlers dismiss her as a burdensome child and refuse to accept her as the responsible young adult she has become.
In order to prove the value of her unique knowledge and perspective, Amber vows to uncover the fate of the Ares III mission, whose loss had largely been forgotten in the rush of the Martian settlement boom. But this seemingly harmless challenge thrusts her into a deadly conflict: those who know the truth will kill to keep it hidden, while those who destroyed her family’s homestead would use the secret to secure their dominance over all of Mars.
In solving the mystery, Amber could destroy everything the Martian settlers have worked to create.
It’s priced at an affordable $6.99, and would make a wonderful Christmas present for the science fiction reader or young adult on your shopping list. Especially if you’re buying them a Kindle or they already own one (remember, you can also download the free Kindle app for various electronic platforms if you/they don’t have a Kindle reader).
While I’m going to be occupied for much of the weekend with writing a business plan and attending Christmas parties, I do expect to get the blog at AresProject.com up and running again in the next few days. We will use that forum to discuss the book, the backstory, etc.
Small change in plans: in order to avoid confusion with the twenty-odd other science fiction books set on Mars which use the same name, the book previously known as Labyrinth of Night will now be titled In the Shadow of Ares.
And yes, I’m still struggling to get it ready for Kindle. Almost there…
UPDATE: formatted and uploaded now. Turned out to be a pretty painless process, much to my surprise. Just haggling over what price to set, and then we can publish it.
And before anyone asks, no, the title does not have anything to do with Constellation. Sad to say, we actually had the book half-written and most of the backstory laid out well before NASA applied the name Ares to Mike Griffin’s misbegotten launch vehicles. After I catch up on a few things, I intend this weekend to revamp the book’s website so that we can start giving out tidbits of the backstory and how we came to write the book.
Here’s the cover art:
Bonus points to anyone who guesses where the image is from…
