len_mullen

I thought most of the apps were suitable for a seven year old. If you select the kids category, there are 127 games and 1346 educational titles. Some will not be age appropriate and some will not run on the fire, but do some browsing and see if you cannot find enough to thrill your 7yo.

I stopped by Staples to grab one this morning. They were still waiting for the shipment to arrive. When I returned to the store after work, Fire posters were in the windows and there was a demo unit on display. After playing with the demo unit for a half hour, I bought two. I used Discover cash back to pay for the Fires, so my cost was $160/unit (Discover lets you purchase $25 Staples gift cards for $20). My Fires were #2 and #3 sold at that store, so they are not exactly flying off the shelves. (The manager told me they were dead for the BF preview event last Sunday.) I unboxed the unit when I got home. It was bigger and heavier than I expected. It's not TOO big or TOO heavy -- just a little bigger and a lot heavier than the Kindle I have been carrying around for a month. You won't slip it in a shirt pocket, but it easily slides into my front or back pants pocket which is nice if you are dashing through an airport. Setup took just a few minutes. The keyboard is much better than my Storm2. Turns out bigger really is better and I like that the pressed key pops up above my fingertip as I type. It was painless to enter my wireless password and amazon credentials. My library loaded almost immediately. The Fire is a good ereader. It works in both orientations and the sepia color scheme is very comfortable for me. When you click a link in a book, the web integration is much better than on my Kindle. I loaded the free Netflix app and watched an episode of The Office. This caught the interest of my oldest. He had 'no interest' in any tablet until tonight (he has a 14" laptop and a Droid2 phone), but monopolized the Fire for a full five hours. He gave Prime a thumbs up (better app than netflix and a surprisingly large library), installed some games (including a free version of Angry Birds), and surfed the web. My wife also used the Fire for a half hour declaring it, "Awesome." I didn't carefully measure the battery life, but 7-8 hours seems to be right on. College Boy returns to school tomorrow. I'll give this thing a thorough once over and post a followup. My first impressions are very positive.

I have the kindle. Very happy. Battery lasts forever. I can slide it into a back or front pants pocket and most shirt pockets. No touch, so no fingerprints. And, at $79, it's not something you worry about losing or breaking. I slid it off a table onto a ceramic floor without consequence. Paired with Libre, this is a great news reader and I can upload my own documents. Browser works better than expected.

When I bought my 50" plasma, the premium was $12/month with the TV on 12 hours/day. Well worth it for the difference in picture quality.

I wanted to love this, but it is a little too big, a little too pokey, and a little too hard to use as a tablet. If you want to gesture and poke, and really want windows, better to wait for win8, I think.

for the line: beach balls, yo-yos, baseball caps, shopping bags, insulated travel mugs; for the office: laser pointers, ceramic mugs. PS the hoodie has to have 'it you can read this..." on the back.

You should post more information about your situation. How far will you sit from the set? Are there windows in the room? curtains? what is your budget? what do you watch? If you have $1000 to spend on a set that you will sit at least six feet from in a room with little glare, dell.com has a 60" 1080p set that will amaze you.

not a good topic to discuss here, of course, but shopping needs and habits change. I have never camped out, and buy less than ever on BF, but I enjoy going out early and shopping with the crowds. Sometimes I get a good deal too!

I flew today. Before I left home, I uploaded my itinerary and started to sync the kindle up to all the papers and magazines I subscribe to via Calibre. I finished syncing at the airport while 'thumbing through' the LA Times and the Boston Globe. Once I boarded the plane, I opened my laptop to do a couple hours of work. All the time, this guy is playing Missle Command on a tablet...without a trackball...lol. I kept sneaking a glance to see if it was an iPad or an Android. When he finally powered it off, there was an apple on the sleeve, so...iPad I guess. I fly a lot and see a lot of apples in the aisles. Most are playing media or games. I guess you *can* work on an iPad so long as there is not too much typing and your work only involves apps for the iPad, but not a go for me. I'm going to content myself with a laptop and kindle until next year when Asus introduces a Win8 transformer. We've had this kindle since day 1 (it's the $79 model because I hate fingerprints). Wife is warm to it and my kids do not like it at all. Oldest has a droid 2 and is waiting for something special, but the Fire is attractive to #2 and Mom. I could be coaxed to do a nook or even a $200 ideapad or some other inexpensive but high quality android tab since I have $0 in my kindle library. But I suspect Fire+Prime will be the best bang in portable entertainment. I think, go2girl, you might also be

I would shop for a TV that pleases you for image quality. If you find one that includes internet toys, great. If not, get a BD player with that functionality. It'll be one more step to netflix, but compromising on image quality to get a TV in your price range with internet access is not a good compromise, IMHO. That said, if you can go to $375, this might be a great TV for you... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M8SAMQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

My favorite thing about BF is the comraderie. After a few years the line in front of Staples became a social circle as the same faces returned each year. At a different level, I am enjoying doing BF with my oldest son. We do a little shopping then have breakfast. Reminds me of when I used to shop with my dad.

BF is me time. One year I brought my sister, but she really stretched out my day. Last year #1 son joined me. We had a good time and he plans to come along again this year.

best tablet is the asus transformer and they have a more powerful model ready to release to retail.

I post this in tribute to one of my favorite Cincinnati rib joints -- Burbanks on Dowlin Drive in Sharonville. When I visited, I stayed at a neighboring hotel with a hole in the fence because it was convenient to slip through for dinner. Duke's Drunken Steak, Momma 'n Em's Southern Fried Farm Raised Cafish, Smoked Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, Collard Greens, and, of course... Miss Carol's Sweet Potato Casserole! Yield: 8 servings. 3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes 1/2 c. white sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 stick margarine, melted 1/2 c. raisins (optional) 1/2 c. milk 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 c. light brown sugar 1/2 c. flour 1 c. chopped nuts 1/3 stick margarine Mix first eight ingredients together and place in 9×9 glass pan. Mix remaining ingredients and spread on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until heated through. Recipe may be doubled. Enjoy! We started serving this Thanksgiving after I found the recipe on the web. Now you have it too!

To be clear, my interest would be in one that said "if you can read this..." on the back. I'll be here next year. consider this a pre-order.

I think that signal is going to look bad on most HD sets. They are the wrong shape and would have to scale the picture. If you are not willing to upgrade the box, wait to get the new set. If you REALLY want HD and cannot afford HD Satellite, consider OTA. It's free once you install an antenna and run cables and such.

what was the price estimate for a hoodie? i froze my butt off wearing the t in nh last year ;-)

There are word/text processing for the ipad. For me, the onscreen keyboard is better suited to textin than word processing. That means a keyboard of some kind would be required. These have to be bluetooth/expensive. i would look at the highly acclaimed, much less expensive asus transformer coupled with the keyboard docking station which also doubles battery life.

I grabbed a TomTom XXL 550M (m=lifetime maps) 5 inch GPS from Beach Camera for $89 a couple months ago. Last year (a couple weeks before BF) Crutchfield had the 550MT (maps+traffic) for $110. My aging eyes appreciate the large screen and the GPS has performed very well for me. You definately want the lifetime maps. Traffic has saved my bacon a couple times, but i don't think I'd pay more than $20 premium for the feature and I would not pass up a deal waiting for traffic.

Cheaper at Amazon.com. Mixed reviews. Capacitive screen may disappoint.

Personally, I would opt for the less expensive fire and subscribe to prime. Free shipping on Amazon plus unlimited access to movies and tv are very compelling for $80/yr -- might even ween me off netflix. BUT REMEMBER that the Color Nook II was rumored to be released in September then October, so it would not surprise me if the release coincided with or preempted the availability of the Fire. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393737,00.asp#fbid=4KdomxitGwF

thanks. our library does overdrive, so we have access to those books for free as well. The basic kindle does play games (look here http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sv_kinc_5_US?_encoding=UTF8&node=2534114011), but it's not well suited for them in my opinion. The controls are very simple, so moving the curser with precision or entering text are a challenge to a non-texter like me.

The only things that do not go on my credit cards are mortgage, taxes, and my kid's tuition. Every penny that goes on a credit card is a penny earning interest for at least a month. If you get the right cards, you get additional benefits. Most protect you in the case of a dispute with a merchant, some extend your warranty, and many give you some kind of reward for using the card. Christmas is a good time to open a chase account since they often give up to $250 in rewards after meeting a spending threshold. We got out PS3, some peripherals, and a bunch of games this way. I opened an account for the PS3 and she opened one for the other stuff. We paid the balance and closed the account right away (Chase makes their money back on fees). My 'full time cards' are with 1) Discover, 2) Citi (Mastercard), and 3) Kohls. Discover is terrific to do business with. Once the wife forgot to mail out a payment that included my tuition. They said I was a good customer, forgave the late fee, and refunded the interest. Great people. I use this for $90% of my purchases. I use shop discover to earn 5-20% cash back on online purchases. Some merchants double cash back at Christmas. They also run 5% cash back on groceries, gas, etc. thoughout the year and right now Amazon is 2% bak. When you cash in our rewards, you can get discounted gift cards. Last year, I rolled $600 of rewards into $750 of staples gift cards and bought a couple laptops. Thanks Discover! Kohls is my second favorite card. They are always having 30% off and free shipping codes when you use their card. Often, this is coupled with 20% back in Kohls Cash. You do not need to carry the card and you can pay your bill in the store. I have a Citi Mastercard. We use this when Discover is not accepted and for their 5% quarterly promotions. I just got a check from them for $257 that had accumulated in rewards while I wasn't paying attention. A couple years ago, I got an offer to consolidate all of my balances on a 0% card. At the time, I could earn decent money on a money market account, so I did it. Not worth it these days. I did the math once, and my credit cards are worth about $4000 per year in rewards and discounts. That is money I do not pay taxes on, so it represents nearly $6000 I did not have to earn. So, yeah, I think you should get credit cards if you have the discipline to pay the balance each month. Read the fine print and play by the rules.

I think the question you have to answer is what form factor is best for your kid and what apps and services will he/she use...assuming budget is not an issue. Everyone thought the Kindle would be a <$300 iPad clone and it is not. At launch, people dismissed it as an inexpensive android based front end to Amazon.com -- that's wrong too. A kindle does not have a camera, microphone, or gps. The fire is wifi only. If you want to 'tag' pictures, or video chat, no Kindle is right for you. Otherwise, I think you would be very happy with a Fire. I have had a kindle (the $79 version) for less than a week. This has no speakers, no color, no 3g, and it's still a hit. I have installed Calibre on a PC and subscribed to around 30 services (free except for the wall street journal which I was already paying for), I have downloaded fifty free books from amazon.com, and I have copied (via usb) a bunch of documents (including the itinerary, menus, and supporting documents for a business trip). I'm looking forward to the companionship of my kindle in the airports and restaurants. My wife took it to dialysis this week. Also very tingly. She started Pride and Prejudice but ended up reading TMZ and the Boston Globe. Today, we are conflicted as she has dialysis and I have a boy scout event. I win! (she has a TV and internet) Santa will be bring her a Keyboard Kindle. We think this will be great for her mom who does not have internet. She'll need a 3g device, so we are thinking touch or keyboard. I can send her kindle stuff via kindle email over 3g. I looked at these for my 14 year old reader. I thought this would be great for him since he always has a book in his hands. I was shocked to see that he was completely unimpressed with the Kindle. He thinks books are fine and likes browsing a library or book store. This from a kid who sleeps with a zune! I think he will love a fire, though. We'll see. His brother started college this year. He had no interest in a tablet when he got there, but they are routinely available and he has expressed interest. He has an android phone and a laptop, so I think a touch or basic would be best for him, but he wants a Fire. So be it. So much buzz over a toy none of us ever even thought about until last month. I think Jeff Bezos has achieved what Steve Jobs and Bill Gates failed to attain -- a very compelling ecosystem of infotainment. Browse through the amazon android app store, check out the kindle books (select a genre and sort low to high to see the free stuff), and look at the movies and TV shows in the Prime service. For the price of an ipad, you can get your kid a Fire, a year's worth of streaming media, a couple games, and a bunch of books. That's my recommendation.

I have no interest in the Fire or any other tablet with an LCD screen. I have a notebook and a smart phone and the tablet niche is just too narrow at any price. The Kindle, Nook, and other e-ink devices, on the other hand, have caught my attention as they solve a lot of problems. First, the e-ink screen looks very good even in direct light. If you want to read something beside the pool, at the beach, or at a campground, this is a much better option than an LCD. Second, these devices are very energy efficient. My smartphone dims the alreay dim display before I can finish reading a page. Third, the prices of these devices are so low that there is no risk of buyer's remorse. In the case of the Mindle (minimal Kindle) and Kindle Touch, the form factor is very appealing. These devices will fit in my pocket while providing as much text real estate as a small paperback. I am holding off on purching a Mindle until i get to touch a Touch, but one of these will likely fill the gap between my laptop and smartphone. If you REALLY want a keyboardless computer, I suggest you look at the Asus Transformer. It's not cheap unless you are looking at an iPad.