Tablets' brave new world

I find myself staring down an interesting decision at the moment.

My birthday gift this year from my family was any Kobo product of my choice. I ended up deciding that pre-ordering a Kobo Arc was the best course of action. While I liked the Kobo Touch and Kobo Mini, I really wanted to be able to read in low light. While I liked the Kobo Glo, I also was really intrigued by the idea of subscribing to Visio and reading magazines, or by downloading comics. A quick check through my family and friends resulted in the conclusion that an e-reader/tablet combo was likely the best option for me. It was time to stop relying on my 15" Macbook Pro as my only electronic device, and time for me to enter the brave new world of tablets.

Unfortunately, my physical book collection has gotten quite cubersome. I've already moved twice in the last 2 months, and it is entirely possible I might be moving again relatively soon. Trucking my 150+ paperbacks around just isn't a feasible option anymore, it takes away space that could be used for other things. An e-reader actually makes a lot of sense for me. The Kobo app on my iPod worked very well, but the main limitation was the comically small screen. This leaves me, currently, with my laptop. Given that I spend the majority of my time consuming content, not creating it, the laptop is probably overkill, not really that portable and not wholly neccessary. SO. Tablet. E-Reader. Together. 7 inch tablet. The Kobo Arc is exactly what I'm looking for, right?

An accurate representation of what it will look like in my ownership.

Pre-order goes in. Plum Rewards are used. Money saved, everyone is happy. The Arc looks like a really impressive chunk of tech. Nice screen, Google certified, solid memory, good processor and running on a skinned Ice Cream Sandwich with a Jelly Bean update soon to come.

And then f***ing Google has to go and screw it up.

Hey, Brad, f*** you.

The Google m*****f***ing Nexus 7. Google's newest salvo against Apple. It's running Jelly Bean. It's visually appealing. You can download a Kobo app for it. All of the Kobo books you buy are in .epub format, so you could use them with any reader. AND the Nexus line hired GSP to do advertising. No, seriously. When GSP tells you to go and buy a Nexus, you shut the hell up and go buy a Nexus.

Did ah stutter?

But seriously: Here's the problem I have. Technically they match up very very well. Every review I've read of the Nexus 7 makes me want to go and buy one. The Arc is still a bit of a wild card, what with it not coming out for another 4 days. The Nexus has the benefits of astounding reviews, no lag time on OS updates and some pretty impressive reviews. The Arc looks like it will match up just fine.

I'm shamelessly nationalistic. I buy Canadian products just because they're from Canada. While Kobo is now owned by Japanese investors, to me it will always be Indigo's crazy foray into the e-reader world. It is based in Toronto. It is the only e-reader-centric company in existence that I know of. It is trying to prove that companies who focus on digital publishing can make it, and that it isn't only the tech industry heavyweights who can make a good product. 

I really want to get a Kobo.

I'm also shamefully someone who wants to be "different" from "the crowd." Everyone is like "Muay Thai and BJJ! Awesome!" and my response is "I would rather do Sambo and Sanda or Savate." For a couple years there was a lot of "Krav Maga! Real fighting for real life! Yeah, Krav is amazing," and my response was to get into Filipino Martial Arts.  Most people's first cars were Chevrolets, mine was a Saturn. When all my friends were getting XBoxes, I threw my money into Sony.

Apple is kicking the industry's ass right now. They really need some competition to keep them honest. I, personally, really want to be able to get a similar/superior experience off of a competitor, hopefully for less money. Because of this, I really need Android to be a legitimate competitor to iOS. This crazy experiment needs to succeed, if for no other reason than RIM's failure to be that competitor. How does this experiment succeed? It makes money.

I really want to get a Nexus 7.

So...bollocks. Ultimate first world problem. Two very comparable products each with merits both measurable and sentimental, where the primary difference between them is branding. The choice is actually which brand do I like more. 

I guess on those grounds, I'll go with Kobo, it hits my heart strings better.

Besides, if it sucks then I can always sell it to a family member and get a Nexus 7 on my own dime.

On failure

Despite our best efforts, everyone one of us is going to encounter failure.

School, work, hobbies, traffic, family, friends, at some point you are going to try to do something and you will not be able to do it.

For the longest time I heard the phrase "Failure builds character" and "You learn from failure, this is how you get better." I had always believed that there was a very direct application from those messages, that things aren't that bad and you should enjoy the opportunity to improve. That you should smile the whole way down, because you had just been given a glorious chance to learn and get better. My belief was that the takeaway should be "Don't let things get you down," that shortcomings and disappointment should be welcomed with wide open arms. If something is hard, smile, you'll be better for having persevered.

It is worth noting that I have experienced my share of failures. I have recently graduated with an Economics degree, believing that I had done "the right thing" for a middling entry level position doing financial analysis. Despite solid references, oil and gas experience, a long list of organizations I have volunteered for, and 70+ job applications, I am still working retail. When I do not move my hands for a while they ache to move, a product of dozens of fractures through my hands as a result of Kali. My right knee has a shooting pain if I twist it wrong, my right eye does not open as wide as my left following multiple impacts to the head and my rotator cuff still features a laughable chunk of scar tissue masquerading as a tendon. On a personal level, I have seen countless friendships turn sour and even violent following conflicts and confrontations ranging from stupid and childish to unsettling and depraved. I have said things I want to reel back into my mouth instantly, and not said things that would have traded pride for friendship. My relationship with women, on a grand scale, is kind of messed up and on a specific level has been disastrous to the point of comedy.

I have screwed a lot of things up. A lot of things have gone wrong. Currently, I feel like I couldn't buy a win to save my life, like I'm running out of things to go wrong.

I like to think that I'm now hitting the stage of maturity where I can "get" it. Historically I look back ~5 years and laugh at how immature I was, so hopefully this will not be one of those occasions.

You don't buy success with failure. Failure sucks. Failure is horrible. It pounds away at your self esteem, it eats away at your conscience and it drags you kicking and screaming into despair. You should never welcome failure or smile at its presence. Knowing that you can grow from it does not make it better. It is not an opportunity to improve, that opportunity was always there, it is letting you know that you wasted an opportunity. In every way you should work as hard as you can to not fail.

It serves one purpose. It teaches you how good success feels.

You don't drive through pain and despair to say "Golly gee, I can't wait to come back again later and succeed." No man in a marathon has said "Well I'm running a massive disappointment, I can't wait until next marathon when I'm awesome." No boxer has every said "Shoot, he's better than me. Guess this is my cue to shape up and improve." No, you say "I am not going through this to lose." You go out on your shield. What you have at the end is the thought "If failure feels this bad, how good will a win feel?"

Failure sucks. Success is wonderful. You can't know one without the other. Advice that trivializes defeat suggests that failure is okay. Failure isn't okay, it is simply neccessary. You focus on winning now, and if you can't then you think about how good it will feel to win later. Then go make it happen.


[mic drop]

Weird vocal cadence OUT