Or Wanted a Tablet...

When tablets first came out I thought that I would like one. Along came the Kindles, Nooks and iPad, etc. These tablets are cool, what would I use one for?

Here is what I came up with:
1. Check email without having to crank up the desktop or laptop.
2. Read my Kindle books.
3. Maybe watch a Youtube video that I received a note about.

As you can see the list is not very big. Tablets are nice and light for these tasks. Anything else will really tax the tablet and for what I wanted to initially accomplish these tasks can easily be handle by the tablet.

Recently I came across this interesting article: They Can Hear You Now: Verizon Patent Could Listen In On Customers and this one All Americans’ Emails Are Collected By The FBI, Says NSA Whistleblower or Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History

Talk about Soviet Russia or even 1984... Wow! Not impressed with the encroachment of my personal correspondence and liberties. What a mess!

Now one question that I asked of myself was what kind of tablet should I get? Which one will allow me to control most of the tablets activities? Is there a way to maintain my privacy? I continued to review my wants and needs...

The tablet I ended up ordering was a Flytouch III. Not as flashy as the iPad or Samsung Galaxy. The Flytouch has Android OS Froyo 2.3.3, 16GB at the time I received it. I have had the tablet for about a year now. The Flytouch does what I need it to do and a little more.

So, what does this table have?
Android Froyo 2.3.3
2 x USB ports
1 RJ54 network jack
1 micro SD slot
1 HDMI
10.2" screen
1 GPS antenna connection w/ antenna

Pros
Let's see what the likes are and see if I reached my initial goals of getting a tablet.
1. Checks emails, fine, easy configuration. Check.
2. Kindle e-books, loaded, works great. Check.
3. Youtube access, works. Check.
4. Price was right at the time of purchase.

Bonus'
Attach the GPS antenna and drive around to test. Pretty accurate and a nice extra. Wi-Fi can be manually switched off. Don't need a network connection to use navigation feature. Just need the GPS antenna to utilize.

Cons
1. You get what you pay for. Construction is good to fairly good. Some folks have issues with the tablet. Check the internet for reviews and comments. But, for me some of the cons were not enough to prevent me from getting one.
2. The audio and WiFi ckt has an isolation issue. I get a bit of noise over the audio channel. But, not bad enough or happening often enough that I cannot understand the audio.
3. Battery life when the WiFi is on will let you go for a few hours.

Summary
I have had the Flytouch III for about a year now. Happy with it and it does what I wanted to do. The GPS feature is nice and I have the power adapter for the auto. I can control the internet access with a switch and not worry about the software controlling network access from a remote source. This does not mean that when I finally connect to the internet a log of my activity is not sent anywhere. But, at least the log is not real time.
I clear the cache often and will have to research further to see if that also clears any log data that gets collected. At some point I will root the device to see about cleaning out some of the un-needed utilities.
This tablet may not be for you, but for some it may be just the ticket. Android can be configured to the users needs. Check it out and see if the Flytouch works. I have read the newer generation is much better all around.

Enjoy,

To Get Amazon Kindle for PC Working on Ubuntu 12.04...

On Ubuntu 10.04 I had the Amazon Kindle for PC working well. At the time there was a bit of trouble and had to spend some time hunting up what needed to be done to make it work. Recently I inherited a laptop from my wife and promptly dumped Winoz for Ubuntu 12.04.
The laptop is an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC. Ubuntu 12.04 works well on the the PC and graphics are nice and crisp. So far so good. I wanted to get Kindle for PC working and was having trouble. The configuration for Ubuntu 10.04 is different that what 12.04 used, however slight. I found a couple of useful links that I will place here that will help one get the job done quickly. No need for me to go into any detail as these links provide all the info needed.
I hope this helps someone out and saves them the hassle of banging their head against the wall.

Amazon Kindle for PC

 Remove or Rename a Wine file

The two links above will have you on your way to accessing the Kindle material in no time.

Enjoy,