Software strategies and more…

So its been almost year since I gave up books. I chose the Sony eReader Touch back in June of last year b/c I was looking for a quality eReader that allowed me to skip pages by ‘flicking’ a finger. I was also interested in expandable memory as well as choice – I didn’t want a Kindle b/c it was too tied to only the Amazon books.

The Sony PRS-600 seemed like a perfect fit. I did not mind the lack of wifi, I liked the metal feel, and I was intrigued by the ability to buy books from Kobo, Sony and others and at the same time rent from the library as they offered more ePUBs.

Since I purchased the Sony Touch Edition, I have been met with many disappointments. If it where just one or two I wouldn’t have written this bog, but its an on-going thing over nearly a year that I think others should consider before buying a Sony eReader.

Note: I have had the reader for 10 months and read over 20 books on it, so this is not a early view or opinion – I have enjoyed the form factor immensely and am a converted eReader person. and have recommended the form factor to others. In short here are some of the comments after long-term use that I have to share:

1. The battery is lousy, it lasts barely a week.
2. The battery is so bad I have had it replaced (under warranty) once already – Sony did a quick turn around, but still the original battery died 6-months in.
3. The selection at the Sony store is crap – thank God for Kobo; I have bought 80% of the books there based on better pricing and better selection. So if you do use the Sony and haven’t checked out www.kobobooks.com you are often paying too much for your reading.
4. The Sony Reader Library software is crap. Seriously its ugly, it connects to a store that lack titles (50% of popular titles are US only and I am in Canada. Yet Amazon and Kobo offer these here and usually at a better price. I have kept hoping Sony would address this, but has they haven’t I question their commitment to being more than a hardware provider.
5. The software that was packaged with the eReader is weak. I gave up on the expandable memory b/c it promised more things like music and pictures, but if you put more than 1GB of music on the card the reader takes forever for the eReader to reboot.
6. The handwriting feature is terrible. I thought when I bought it I would be able to take passable notes and not have to carry a pen and pad b/c the eReader from Sony had a stylus, but I tried for several months to make this work for me at no avail.
7. The sync database (software) get corrupted once every couple months. The software starts reloading all the books over and over causing sync (in the best case) to cease to function.
8. Note taking and comments on the eReader don’t show up on the software – this is really annoying if you are reading books for your profession and make notes and highlights, but then when your eReader is “in the shop” and you cannot access any of these.
9. Library rental function is a load of sh*t, libraries offer mostly the Free Classics that you can get from Google, Kobo, Sony, Amazon and others. Absolutely no benefit here currently.
10. The O/S is very disappointing. I have over 70 books and the way they are organized is by author, title, or date. There is no search. Some times the author is last name first and some times its first and then last name – same author. So digging for a book in the library is a real pain.

Don’t get me wrong. I love eReader form factors. I have just found myself (after 10 months) thinking I would NEVER recommend or choosing to buy a Sony version again. Sorry Sony I’ll keep using your product until it becomes too unpleasant not to, but don’t expect a repeat customer based on my current experience.

And future customers should think twice before choosing Sony products based on my experience.

As an American expat living in Canada I am often caught between and betwixt the argument about why I live here and the long-term Canada/USA socio-political relationship. I must say I am still proud to be an American and have my family and many friends still there. Yet, over these past few years when I travel to the states I cannot help but be thankful I live in Canada at this point in my life. Yes, I could undoubted make more money in California or Boston (as I work in IT) and pay less in taxes, but would these offset some of the things I just worry (much) less about here. But I have already completed my education.

As a parent of two young girls (who are dual citizens), one of which has just started school, I look at the opportunities they have here to become world-class citizens. Over the years my thoughts have been more around the ‘family values’ of maternity leave (parents should have ample time to be a part of their kid’s first year) and healthcare (not having to worry about deductibles, insurance policy fine print, high costs of pharmaceuticals, “whether that is just an ear ache or not”, etc.) benefits we have here. But over the past few months, I have really been entranced by the changes going on directly and indirectly in US education.

I am not a total outsider when it comes to education, my mother-in-law was a teacher for 20+ years, my aunt is a teacher, my sister-in-law works for Emory University, and my sister works at Harvard, and my own Mother was also involved in education for over a decade. As for myself, I am a college grad who is employed as a market analyst and consultant in the hi-tech industry – so life long learning is important to me.

With all of this said, I cannot express my concern enough about the changes going on in the U.S. with regards to the neutering of the education system! This is all happening at the same time that employers are trying to recover from a significant economic downturn and are clamouring for workers that have 21st Century skills and a strong education background. This isn’t a new phenomena, a quick search took me to this article from the LA Times in 2008, “Shortage of skilled workers looms in US” and has continued in recent articles like, “Ageing workforce creates skills shortage…” Yet I watch as teachers and the education system is vilified as underperforming and overpaid babysitters.

In his Op-Ed for the NY Times, Paul Krugman wrote a “Leaving Children Behind” looked that impact of spending cuts by federals government on education, students and teaches. And in a recent TED Talk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates discussed the impact on State budgets on Education. In my opinion this is a potential ‘one-two’ punch that combines cuts from federal and state for education and will have a significant impact on the long-term education of US children, the workforce, and the economic prosperity of the nation as a whole.

The following was taken from the McKinsey&Co. report. “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools”, while its from 2006, the report was published in 2009 and should really concern parents who are expecting improvements in education and thus their children’s future in America.

These current changes are not reflected in a recent study where the US rankings have fallen to average when compared to 70 other countries. Yet they will undoubtedly accelerate this decline in the rankings. And I can only assume that the on-going changes that I have mentioned above will continue as states look to bust more teacher collective bargaining agreements and teacher unions. This study by McKinsey & Company supports this train of thought.

While I won’t say that the schools in Canada are the best in the world, I do feel after looking at the short sightedness in the U.S. at the federal and state level, I cannot help but be concerned about how ready the next generation of Americans will be in terms of leadership, scientific, and economic skills. Of course if you are rich in the U.S. you can continue to send your kids to private schools. And companies can always petition the government for more HIB Visas to get the best ad brightest Indian, Chinese or Canadian minds to manage the average under skilled American worker.

And for the rest of America – well I am sure their kid will be the next Michael Jordan and education really doesn’t matter anyhow.

I got the weirdest email from Nokia today about my @ovi.com email that you get as part of your Nokia account, in short they announced their partnership with Yahoo! mail for their email service in the future. Given the recent Microsoft Windows Phone 7 announcement I cannot for the life of my figure out why Nokia wouldn’t partner with Microsoft’s Hotmail email service as a compliment to Windows Phone 7 and a mobile extension of Office 365.

I mean its great that Steven Elop is getting his ex-boss to pony up over a $1BN in “development” fees and incentives to Nokia, but why the convoluted strategy. Worried about the EU being too worried about another European IT leader going to the US? Is this insurance against a full on (possibly inevitable) Microsoft take over of Nokia? Ah well….

Here is the email from Nokia:

Dear XXXX,

Nokia is partnering with Yahoo! to power and enhance your Ovi Mail experience. In the coming weeks you can enjoy an easier and faster Ovi Mail website, the integration of instant messaging into the mail web experience, and the ability to import your friends’ email addresses from other email services you might already use.

You’re all set to enjoy these service enhancements very soon.

Important to know

Once the transition starts, you will immediately begin receiving new emails into your updated Ovi Mail account, but you may not see your old emails for several days until the transition has finished. Don’t worry because your emails are safe and are being moved to Yahoo!. You will see them in your inbox again once the transfer is complete. We will confirm the completion of the transfer in a separate email.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience that this might cause, but we assure you that this is a temporary situation that will be resolved as soon as the move to Yahoo! is complete.

Thank you for joining us in using the updated Ovi Mail service. We look forward to bringing you further enhancements in the coming weeks!

Sincerely,

Nokia