Curiously, as a software developer, I’ve never been comfortable for reading for long periods of time from a computer screen, particularly when reading for pleasure. But the eInk display is so much more like paper that I’ve already read through an entire novel in the week or so since I got the e-reader.

A lot of people have asked why the Nook, vs. Amazon’s Kindle or other e-readers. (Or, for that matter, why not wait for the Apple iPad? But that is a topic for another day. Short reason? eInk.)

In a nutshell, what drew me to the Nook specifically were those features which distinguish it:

• Native support for PDF and ePub formats – Without any conversion, as the Kindle requires (or at least did initially), you can drag and drop any PDF or ePub (which means pretty much anything from Project Gutenberg – but more on sources of free and cheap books in a later post) directly into your Nook’s storage, which shows up on your PC as just another drive, like an SD card for your camera.
• The “Lending” feature – This feature has gotten some bad press, mainly due to the restrictions (you can only lend a book once per friend, and for a maximum of 14 days with no renewal) as well as the publishers’ reticence to allow it (they can turn it off for any title), but the plain and simple fact is this: B&N are the only big player doing something about making the eBook market friendlier and more like owning a hard copy book. (Now if they’d just figure out a way to do used eBooks that would be something…)
• In-Store features – Speaking of making it more like hard copy books, the in-store features of the Nook (which they really need to actually get around to activating) are pretty intriguing. In a nutshell, while you’re in any B&N and connected to their (free) Wifi, you can read the full text of any book they offer. Which you can do with the hard copies, so why not with your Nook? This is a stroke of genius – browse the stacks from the cafe or while watching your kids in the children’s area.
• The color touchscreen + Google Android OS – The combination of these two opens up wonderful possibilities for future developments….
• Expandable Memory – I’m a hoarder when it comes to books, and no doubt will be when it comes to eBooks as well. The Nook has an SD card slot which you can expand up to 16GB of memory.
• Replaceable Battery – The Kindle’s battery is, I believe, like the iPhone, not replaceable. This means a hefty price down the road to either replace the device or send back for factory battery replacement when it finally dies. With the Nook, on the other hand, you can already purchase a replacement battery should you so desire.

So… what’s wrong with the Nook? Well, a few things, still:

• Different features for B&N eBooks vs. “My Library” - The Nook separates the books you’ve purchased from B&N, from those you loaded yourself (PDF’s, ePubs, 3rd party eBooks, etc.). With B&N content you get coverflow view, searching by author or title, sorting by last read, etc. With your content, you get – none of those. You are limited to a view sorted by title or author (and BTW – the title sort doesn’t handle “a, an, the” properly). I could, in theory, load the hundreds of books I’ve downloaded from Project Gutenberg into my Nook. But that would mean having to scroll through the list to page 20 every time I wanted to read “Tarzan of the Apes.”
• Sluggish – The Nook is not the fastest thing in the world. After using an iPhone for a year+, the touchscreen is not as responsive as it should be. The eInk takes a second to turn pages, but that is actually tolerable.
• “Open” OS, but… – OK, so it uses Google’s Android OS. Give us custom apps!

I’m hopeful that in future updates (there have been 2 already since Nook’s debut), they will continue to enhance the device and address these shortcomings. I understand from previous reviews that the first releases of the Nook system were barely usable with regard to performance, but that newer updates have really gone far in addressing speed issues. as I said, the sluggishness is tolerable, but could still stand improvement. I’m also hopeful that they open it up to more apps, or even 3rd party development (The guys at nookDevs have already started down this path with hacking the Nook. I’ve tried their stuff, and it has possibility, but is not ready for prime time yet.)

In the coming days (weeks?), I’ll be posting more on the Nook and eBooks, including good sources for free and/or cheap content for the Nook, and a review of the classic novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Stay tuned…

(That’s the sound of me blowing the dust off of the blog… I’ll be back soon.)

The Logos edition of the ESV Study Bible puts the Bible text in one resource and all of the other content in a second resource. This enables you to view the Bible and study Bible content side by side—and even scroll synchronously when both resources share the same link set. The ESV Study Bible Notes resource will function just like any other commentary and will show up in the Passage Guide along with your favorite study Bibles and commentaries. So no matter what passage you’re studying, the ESV Study Bible with all of its rich content is always just a click away.

via ESV Study Bible Coming to Logos – Logos Bible Software Blog.

The unspoken upshot of this is that you will be able to, in Logos, view the ESVSB notes along with other translations, including the ESV Reverse Interlinear, NKJV, KJV, NASB, etc.

Without further ado…

10. Free Audio Book: The Confessions of St. Augustine (sorry, the offer has since expired)

9. On Being Fed Up

8. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

7. New Baby Pics (Atticus, February 2007.)

6. SHAZAM! Or, Now, I Can Be President!

5. Pyromaniacs: Slice Capades

4. The Gospel in a Nutshell

3. Blue for Boys, Pink for Girls

2. Quotes from The Godly Man’s Picture

and

1. Blogging through Psalm 119

And, be sure to add Kubecki.com to your Blog Network as well.

• No more Google Reader links or Del.icio.us links – I got bored with having these in the sidebar.
• I fixed the search results page on the new theme, so when you search, you no longer just see title, you actually see the text that your search hit on. Here’s an example.
• I updated some of the software that runs the site (WordPress plugins for you techie types) so that it runs faster. (Again, for techie types – changed some of the plugins that built dynamic scripts, CSS, etc. based on configured options, to static pages. I don’t change the configuration enough to pay the performance hit.)
• I now have a “Now Reading” section in the sidebar, if you’re curious what I’m reading. Most of the time it is guaranteed to be out of date…

Have a great weekend…

In the meantime, some site news:

• New look. What do you think?
• The site is now iPhone and mobile friendly. Thanks to Jerry for testing the iPhone version. (You don’t need a special link, just visit www.kubecki.com from your mobile browser.)
• I’ve added, per request, email subscriptions. See the sidebar on the right.
• I’ll be updating the blogroll soon.
• I’ve got a cool search engine in the works for searching many of the sites in the blogroll, as well as other sites I’ve found useful. More news to come on that one.

Several folks have asked how Shannon is doing with the pregnancy. She is doing very well, and we appreciate everyone’s prayers. She has some back pain, so pray specifically for comfort, as well as continued good health for both her and the baby. We’re now into the 2nd trimester, so praise God for his blessings!

Thanks to Doulos.