Company Loyalty = using Microsoft search to prep for a new job

Microsoft Loyalty Scorecard:
+ 1: Using Microsoft search at work.
- 1: Using Microsoft search to prepare for your upcoming interviews... at work.

Kumo is Microsoft's new search engine that was released internally this month. No one seems to be talking about it much externally, and it doesn't show up in Google Analytics under "Search Engines". Kumo is, however, listed as a referring site for my site, CareerCup, which helps prepare for technical interviews. Almost all the Kumo users are, of course, from Redmond with a couple in Bellevue and Toyko.

Well, hey - while it's not so nice to look for a new job while at work, at least you're using Microsoft's search engine to get there. Your boss must be thrilled.

But, if you're still looking for a new job, I've got one for you.

Learning Spanish on the Kindle? Hmm...

I spent six weeks in Argentina learning Spanish, and I'd love to keep up my limited skills by reading in Spanish. But, the fact is, my vocabulary just isn't good enough, and whipping out a dictionary at every other word is too cumbersome.

With a few relatively straight-forward changes, the Kindle 2 could really help out here. Amazon (or some clever hacker) could modify the existing dictionary to do translation. When you hover the cursor next to a Spanish word, an English translation of the word would pop up.

The technology behind this doesn't seem so tricky. The Kindle 2 already has a dictionary that operates in much the same way: when I hover next to an (English) word, a definition pops up. Thus, Amazon would just need to swap out the English dictionary for an Spanish-English dictionary.

¿Qué piensas?

Amazon Kindle 2 Review (From a Kindle 1 Owner)

I said I wouldn't buy a Kindle 2, as I already own a Kindle 1, and I made it a whole five days. As one friend said, I'd make an awful POW. Fair point. However (this is where I try to justify my choice), my Kindle is probably my most used device, so upgrading isn't so silly.

I love my Kindle 1. I carry it with me in my purse at all times (ah, the benefits of being a woman). I read so much more since I got it. There were the obvious benefits of owning a Kindle (being able to carry multiple books at once), and then the less obvious benefits (being able to read one handed, easily purchasing books while on vacation, not having to buy books at airports).

I must admit though - in the first few hours owning the Kindle 2, it's a serious step up.

Keyboard

The once horrible keyboard is now merely mediocre. The Kindle 1's keys were quite stiff, whereas the Kindle 2's keys have a similar resistance as a mac keyboard. The keys are still awkwardly far apart, unfortunately.

And, now that the screen is faster, the keyboard now feels much faster as well.

Cover

I'm not sure why Amazon didn't put more thought into the Kindle 1 cover, but they seem to have corrected the cover for the Kindle 2. The previous bulky case has been replaced with a trim, firm cover. The Kindle 1 would often slip from it's very lose case - the Kindle 2 locks in place almost like a seatbelt clasp. Snug and slim - perfect.

Underlining and Highlighting

What was once a cumbersome process of fiddling with slow menus is now an intuitive selection process. Want to add a highlight? Move the cursor. Click. Move. Click again. Want to add a note? Just start typing.

Fewer Accidental Clicks

The "Next Page" button has been re-oriented so that you're less likely to accidentally hit it. Frankly, I didn't really have this problem after the first few days of owning the Kindle 1. However, it was a little annoying that every time you showed someone else the Kindle 1 they would turn your page. This has been fixed. This bigger benefit, to me, is that I probably don't need to put on the screen lock any more as things in my purse are less likely to turn the page.

Archived Items

The Archived Items (eg, old books stored on Amazon's servers) are now much easier to retrieve. The previous "Content Manager", which included all current and previous books, has been replaced with Archived Items - a simple listing of all your old books. By trimming it down to only what's _not_ on your device, it's much easier to find what you were looking for.

Look and Feel

The sharp edges (a significant issue when you're reading for long periods of time) have been replaced by rounded edges. The cheap plastic feel that reminded me of the old NES or a children's toy is now something that could have _almost_ been designed by Apple.

Overall, it's not perfect, but it's a big step up from what was already a great device.