Mini Book Review – Use of Weapons (Kindle Edition)

March 3, 2009
Books
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I just finished Iain M. Banks’ Use of Weapons on my Amazon Kindle 2. First book I read (actually I started it on my original Kindle and finished it on the Kindle 2). I don’t think I’ve read a Banks book before so I’m not sure where all the context around the characters is, but I’m guessing he uses “The Culture” and other aspects of this universe a lot because the thinking on it is …Continue reading →

You Can Buy the Amazon Kindle 2 Now!

February 7, 2009
Books, Uncategorized
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It looks like Amazon is very close to announcing and making available a 2nd generation Kindel electronic book device. Did you know you can pre-order it now!?! As you know, I love my Kindle. Besides my phone and laptop it is, by far the electronic gadget I use the most an is easily my favorite. I am a veracious reader and I can’t image buying or reading books "the old way" any more.  But the …Continue reading →

Best Free Sci-Fi…Ever!

August 11, 2008
Books, Uncategorized
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I don’t understand. I keep blogging about Cheesburger Brown and his amazing sci-fi books but he remains un-discovered. You would have thought this blog, which is read by billionsdozens of people, would have elevated him to Asimov status by now. Oh, well, I’ll just keep trying. Seriously, his stuff is really good and almost all of it is FREE: The Darth Side: Memoirs of A Monster (Darth Vader’s Blog). Written in 2005 leading up to …Continue reading →

Stop using Google!

August 11, 2008
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[Update June 15, 2009 – Updated with Bing info] Use Bing! Bing is sooo much better. Yes, I know "Google" has become a verb but the reality is Bing’s search results are (finally) better. Live’s mapping (http://maps.bing.com) is far superior. Better directions, better satellite imaging, better local information, better looking, and easier to use. The bing.com search page loads just as fast as Google’s and is far more interesting (see below; every day the image …Continue reading →

I Love Amazon.com

August 11, 2008
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I’m pretty vocal about products, services, and stores that I love.  I’m just as vocal about those that frustrate me. I’ve had an iPhone 3G since last Thursday and, frankly, I’m frustrated by it. So frustrated that I’m composing a pissy review in my head that I plan on posting here soon.  But I want to skewer it right, so I’m prepping by posting this rant which is about just how great Amazon.com is.  Charlie’s …Continue reading →

The Wicked Witch Is Dead!

July 21, 2008
Smart Home
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From the Windows Home Server Team Blog: The team is pleased to announce that Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) and is now available on the Microsoft Download Center! This update fixes the data corruption bug that was found in Windows Home Server in December (and has great new functionality too). From Wikipedia, regarding the song “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!” from the movie The Wizard of Oz: The …Continue reading →

Great car photos by Sandro

July 17, 2008
Cars, Uncategorized
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E-Type Jaguar Originally uploaded by smenzel An old co-worker of mine, Sandro Menzel, has been doing an amazing job capturing fine automobiles and then doing really great digital touchup. Check out his Flickr collection here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smenzel/

Extreme auto paint care

July 16, 2008
Cars, Uncategorized
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In 1997 I had "Stongard", a clear 3M film applied to the lower 12" of the hood and other leading edges of my 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera  to protect the paint.  After 11 years the film started to yellow and corners were coming up in spots so I had it professionally removed (to avoid risking having the clear coat come up).  Unfortunately the edge of the film on the hood left a horizontal line all …Continue reading →

ǝɯ ʍolloɟ

July 14, 2008
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Every few months I make a renewed effort to do the "social networking" thing. I download the latest tools, poke around, post status updates, read other people’s stuff, and basically try to "live it".  I’ve been pretty consistent with using Facebook regularly. Last week I jumped in again and discovered that the tools and the actual "network" are far better than they were last time I tried.  I’m now updating my status on Twitter using …Continue reading →

Hacking the Kindle

June 17, 2008
Books
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When I left my Amazon Kindle on the airplane after I arrived from Taipei last week I realized that someone finding it would have no way of knowing it was mine. Fortunately Northwest Airlines knew I was sitting in seat 5B and let me know it was in the lost & found. I did some poking around and found that it is possible to put your own screen saver pictures on the the Kindle. This …Continue reading →

Kindle update

June 7, 2008
Books, Uncategorized
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Wow, has it really been since December that I last blogged? I guess I’ve been busy… Those of you paying attention (not that I actually believe there are very many of you) will probably understand what I’ve been so busy with. It’s probably been the hardest 6 months of my career. But hard work pays off, right? Watch the Windows Home Server Team Blog for some exciting news any day now… Even though I have …Continue reading →

Kindl. Kindel. Kindle.

December 10, 2007
Books, Kindel
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Back before the invention of the printing press my great, great, great grandfather came to the United States from Bavaria. His name was August Kindl. At Ellis Island the immigration officials added the ‘e’…hence my family’s name. We pronounce it Kindl.  Not Kind-el. Kindl translates to "child" in Bavarian. Those who know me well will find this fitting. Amazon recently launched their Kindle reading device. Pronounced the same way as my last name. I find …Continue reading →

Book Review: Halting State

December 10, 2007
Books
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This was my first Kindle book. That’s right Charlie Kindel bought a Kindle. I have to say it’s getting annoying having everyone saying my name… Here’s my quick review of Halting State by Charles Stross… The big idea is an interesting one: the future world where MMORPG gaming becomes so ubiquitous that the following happens Humans participate everywhere because their mobiles are powerful enough to get them in the game.  Gesture based control with head’s-up-displays …Continue reading →

Windows Home Server is actually useful!

December 1, 2007
Smart Home, Uncategorized
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Today, instead of being the GM for Windows Home Server, I was simply a user… For the last two weeks my wife has been giving me the gears because the voicemail attachements from Vonage refused to play in Outlook on her computer. It was one of those weird software problems that defied logic.  All other types of attachments opened fine. I could send her an email with a .wav file attached and it would play …Continue reading →

10 years ago I had hair. I and I loved COM.

November 27, 2007
Kindel
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Somewhere Henk de Koning unearthed a video of me taken 10 years ago yesterday touting The Component Object model.  Back then I was "the COM guy" and I had hair. Egads. "Don blogged about a video of Gudge explaining COM. This reminded me of an old video I found while cleaning up my office. I promised Don to digitize and publish it. So, here it is. Charlie Kindel on the wonderful world of COM. recorded …Continue reading →

Book Review: Scorpion Down

October 29, 2007
Books, Uncategorized
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In 1987 I was an intern at IBM Federal Systems Division in Manassas, VA. I was working on testing the software for the AN/BQQ-5D bow-mounted spherical array sonar system for the SSN 688 Class (Los Angeles) fast attack nuclear submarines. This was shortly after Tom Clancy had written The Hunt for Red October, one of my favorite books of all time. In fact, my "interview" for the internship was almost entirely a discussion about the …Continue reading →

Book Review: Queen of Candesce: Book Two of Virga

October 29, 2007
Books, Smart Home, Uncategorized
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Late last year I “discovered” Karl Schroeder when I read Sun of Suns: Book One of Virga. Recently he released the 2nd book of this series titled Queen of Candesce: Book Two of Virga and I finished it this weekend. Like the first book I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like the first book, I found a few too many “convenient” plot alignments. But overall, Karl paints an amazing picture of a “world” that is extraordinarily rich …Continue reading →

The connections are eerie

September 25, 2007
Smart Home
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Via my regular browsing of blog searches for Windows Home Server related stuff I came across this poor guy’s extremely sad story of data loss. http://adams-allegory.blogspot.com/2007/09/weve-lost-everything.html First connection: He should have had a Windows Home Server. Second connection: As if to make himself feel better he adds a funny video from YouTube to his post. The Windows Home Server team has a great sense of humor.  (Yes, this is a tenuous connection to be sure, …Continue reading →

Book Review: Spook Country

September 7, 2007
Books
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Johnny Mnemonic, Neuromancer, Count Zero, Burning Chrome.  All phenomenal stories.  Some of my favorite reads. The Difference Engine & Pattern Recognition: I never finished them. They just didn’t resonate with me. But I still will buy anything William Gibson writes and give it a go. I just finished his latest novel, Spook Country and here are my thoughts… In the end, it’s a great premise. I won’t spoil it for you but the premise is …Continue reading →

I want more life!

August 13, 2007
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I like to like things somewhat off the beaten path. But when asked what my favorite movie of all time is, like almost everyone else I know who has even a smidgen of taste, I say “Blade Runner“. No need for me to wax poetic about how great it is. I mean it has been around for 25 years now, and if you don’t already dig it nothing I say will change your mind. I …Continue reading →