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For Father’s day I got a Kobo eReader Touch a product that has been released in just the last few weeks.  I am very much liking it.  If you are a reader you should seriously consider an e-reader.

Yesterday at the Gym I was listening to tunes on my iPod, pedalling the recumbent bike, and reading on my new Kobo – living the geeky dream.

The Kobo touch is a very close cousin to the Nook simple touch most any review of either product could be a review of the other unit with the names switched.

The new Kobo and Nook have a new “less flashy” page turn algorithm.  E-ink works a bit like a Magna Doodle .  Historically the black “ink” gets “stuck” and the whole screen has to be wiped black and white with every page turn so the previous page doesn’t stick.  This was a problem with the first half hour or so of using the devices until you stopped paying attention.  The new algorithm puts off the full page flash/wipe for 4-6 pages – this makes the annoyance much less.  A few weeks ago when preliminary reviews were out for the new Kobo and Nook only the Nook had this – after 2 software updates on the first day I owned it my new Kobo had it too.  it is interesting what they can “fix in post.”

Buying books – you can buy books for the Kobo using the device while in wifi range, using your computer at the Kobo website, or using a kobo app on your smartphone – like my iPhone. Books you buy any of those places are available in any of those places.  Bookmarks in the books you read in any of those places are synchronized as long as you are reading in network range – put down the iPhone with kobo app, pick up the eReader and you pick up the same page of the book.  It is quite sweet.

e-book prices – if you are used to buying music in iTunes/FutureShop and have enjoyed the price of an album go down from $24 to $10 in the past few years – even if you still buy it on CD – you are going to be shocked at the price of e-books.  e-books often cost between the price of a hardcover and a softcover book.  You are going to want to have your eyes open and check out the prices on the different websites.  Leatherbound is an e-book price comparison engine that will show you the sad state of perfect competition that makes all the prices exactly the same.

Blogging is too much work when you never get a comment. On Facebook I can tell that people are reading. If you found me here – go get current info there.

Cameron Bales profile on Facebook.

Cameron Bales Flickr photostream.

I’m addicted – what can I say? I added a new Geocoding plugin to this site – Now to see how it works.

I’m working in Woodstock NB this week, so if you look at the map that’s where I am.

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The New Brunswick Commission on Legislative Democracy has released their Final Report and Summary of the Final Report Go give them a read – they are pretty clear.

They propose mixed-proportional representation, fixed election dates, independently drawn election boundries after census and plenty more.

After you read them fill out their Questionnaire – Final Report and Recommendations, and contact your MLA. For the terminally curious you can see the Pre report questionnaire results that at least some of the proposals are based on. If you are afraid of original sources there are plenty of news stories about this.

I will be commenting on this after I have read and digested it. I wonder if giving lottery tickets to people after the put a ballot in the box would boost voter turnout?

Harold recently commented on Practice and Feedback. Part of the message is: muscle memory will commit you to what you practice – if you practice incorrectly then that bad form will stay with you. My friend Mike Gallant who is a Coach and Teacher is very careful to say that “Perfect practice makes perfect” not that “practice makes perfect” Harold has been talking a lot recently about what we as teachers should be taking from coaching.