My Take, by Tim Chemacki

A collection of thoughts, news, and views on web design and development, marketing, and technology.

I'm Considering Using Google's New Public DNS Service

Google recently announced it's new Google Public DNS service. This announcement intrigued me. Google claims that this service will provide a faster Internet experience. However, others claim that the speed improvement is just the bait to get people onboard--that the real reason is to allow Google to capture huge datasets of browsing behavior (without abusing or compromising our personal information). This information could benefit Google's search algorithms and I'm sure it would also help with its advertising business as well. Despite the possible ulterior motives, I think it may be worth seeing if the speed benefit is real.

I'm considering using this new service, for grins if nothing else. How about you? I'd love to hear your experiences with the Google Public DNS (or others like OpenDNS for that matter). How was the configuration process? Did you use Google's free phone support? Do you notice a speed increase?

Further reading:

Amazon Kindle for the PC

After hearing about the Amazon Kindle for the PC, I immediately downloaded and installed the application on my desktop and laptop. Heck, FREE is a lot cheaper than the Kindle hardware, right?

What I like about the Kindle concept is the ability to keep a bunch of books all in one place without having to drag around an entire bookshelf. But, I really do not want a separate gadget (though a Kindle is easier to read on than a PC), nor can I really afford to buy a new gadget right now. So the free PC software sounded like a good way to get started.

Right off the bat, I found a couple free, short Star Wars novels which I promptly "purchased" and downloaded to my Kindle software (I've read the first already). Next, I purchased a web programming book which I've begun reading.

The Kindle software for the PC is functional, and easy to use. It's extremely basic. You can essentially only:

  • View your list of books,
  • Read a book (i.e., move forward or backward, jump to sections with hyperlinks or use "Go To..." to jump to a page),
  • Change the font size and number of words per line,
  • Add bookmarks, and
  • View Notes, Highlights, and Bookmarks

I've never used the Kindle hardware, so I can't really compare it to that. When I read part of a book on one instance (e.g., my laptop) and then open the book on the other, I get the option to jump to where I left off. That feature is a definite must have. However, I have to say that it really needs the ability to highlight and annotate text--particularly for textbooks. The Amazon Kindle for the PC web page states:

Thanks to Whispersync, you can already read your notes and highlights from other devices on Kindle for PC. We'd like to add the ability to create notes and highlights using the Kindle for PC application.

So, at least it seems like this functionality is in the works, which is good to hear.

Overall, I like the Amazon Kindle for the PC though I'm looking forward to the future enhancements and the Mac OSX version. I'd love a Kindle DX for Christmas too, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that.