Fantasy Football: The Kindle Way

Football season is upon us once again. There is not a day that goes by where I don't hear someone talking about their upcoming Fantasy Football draft, wondering why on earth Brett Favre is playing for the New York Jets instead of the Green Bay Packers, or speculating whether or not the New York Giants will triumph once again. I, too, am excited about the upcoming season knowing that I now have the NFL Network as part of my Dish Network package so that I can watch football pretty much whenever I want. And, I am just as excited about College Football as I am the pros. So again, what the heck does this have to do with my Kindle? Well as a matter of fact, quite a lot. I am constantly looking for ways my Kindle can help me keep in touch with my hobbies and interests, and my love of football is no different.

Did you know that you can subscribe to several Kindle edition blogs including ESPN - Bill Simmons, NFL: New York Giants, Giants 101, ESPN - The Fantasy Report, ESPN - The Football Playbook, or NFL: Fantasy, Bruno Boys Fantasy Football for just $0.99 per month? Or, you could choose to subscribe to FOX Sports - NFL for only $1.99 per month. There is no doubt in my mind that these Kindle blogs would put you at the top of your Fantasy Football League, while helping you keep up with all of your favorite teams, coaches, owners, and players.

Now you may be asking, why on earth would I subscribe to these blogs via my Kindle instead of just logging onto my laptop to check everything out. Well, here are a few reasons why.

1. Your Kindle only weighs a little over 10 ounces and can be easily shoved into a purse, pocket, backpack, or any other bag, while you usually don't have a laptop that is that lightweight or easily pocketed.
   
2. These blogs are delivered automatically to your Kindle for you to peruse anytime at your leisure, without being in a Wi-Fi spot or using any kind of laptop connect technology.
   
3. It is a whole lot nicer to be able to read up-to-date information while waiting in a doctor's office instead of reading a copy of Sports Illustrated that is 6 or more months old. I think you get my point.

And, if you are new to Fantasy Football, there is a Fantasy Football For Dummiesto get you going. It really is a lot of fun even if you are just starting out.

So, if you haven't gotten yourself a Kindleyet, these are just a few more great reasons why you should. And, don't forget, you are saving trees and helping the environment by doing so. Happy Kindle Reading!

Share Your Kindle With Your Kids

Three years ago, I met the love of my life.....and his two kids (LOL). Along with this meeting came the traditional, extended "divorce decree driven" visits with Dad, consisting of 6 weeks in the summer, spring break, every other Thanksgiving, and either the week before or after Christmas. Whenever the kids came to visit, there were two things that ALWAYS happened. One was that they would ask if they could play games on our cell phones, and the other was them asking if we could read with them each night before they went to bed.

Yes! That's right! His 10 and 12 year old BOYS liked to read. While, I was not always completely thrilled with their choice of books, I WAS excited about the fact that they liked to read. And, during our latest summer visit much to my surprise, the cell phone request was eventually replaced with a different request: Can we read a book on the Kindle? I was completely amazed and encouraged.

They thought the Kindle was the coolest thing ever. They asked if we could buy a couple of books for them and read those each night before they went to bed. Even the boys commented on how it was really neat that they could have more books on the Kindle than they could carry if they physically had each book. It was at that moment I realized you are never to young (or old for that matter) to start thinking and learning about the environment and how the Kindle positively contributes to that line of thinking. So, if you have kids and you haven't bought a Kindle yet, what are you waiting for?

Here are some of the kid's summer book choices, all for the Kindle. Enjoy!

What's In Your Backpack?

The start of school is upon us again, and we find ourselves shopping for school supplies for students of all ages, including those who are college bound. A binder here, a laptop there, some pens and pencils, paper of all sorts, and a Kindle. Why not?

This year, several universities have begun to adopt the idea of e-book versions of textbooks that can be loaded onto a Kindle. What an obviously fantastic idea!

The lastest university publisher to join in the e-textbook game is Princeton. They join Oxford, Yale, and the University of California at Berkeley in publishing some textbook titles in e-book format for the Kindle. Some die-hard college students may balk at the idea of an e-book version of their textbook because they like to make notes in the margins and highlight passages, which when I think back to my college days, highlighting didn't work for me because I found I highlighted more on a page than not, making it difficult to figure out what the heck I was trying to do. Regardless, the Kindle offers highlighting, searching, and notating options, as well as bookmarking, thus making it easy to search an e-book instead of the traditional, manual page flipping in hopes that you find the page you are looking for.

Let's consider a couple of other issues that all college students must face: Finances and the Weight of the Backpack.

Financially speaking, it's no secret that Kindle version books are cheaper than regular books, so why not apply that same logic to textbooks that have become more and more expensive every semester. According to Dr. James V. Koch who, in 2006, published the report: An Economic Analysis of Textbook Pricing and Textbook Markets, textbook prices have risen 186% in the U.S. alone over a span of 18 years. This equates to 6% per year over those 18 years that students have had to pay more for their textbooks. Additionally, Dr. Koch stated that approximately $4.9 billion is spent on textbooks with only 39% of that amount being spent on used textbooks. Most bookstores are owned and operated by the colleges and universities themselves, although some wholesalers, such as Barnes and Noble, have gotten into the textbook game which means that if the idea of Kindle e-textbooks catches on, there could be some heavy duty competition down the road.

When approaching the notion of the Weight of the Backpack, one must remember that the Kindle weighs just over 10 ounces. We all know that textbooks tip the scales A LOT higher than that. Just for kicks, I retrieved 2 of my old college textbooks (Mechanical Engineering and Anatomy & Physiology) and placed them on the bathroom scale which topped out at 9.5 pounds. Add that to the weight of a binder full of paper, a laptop weighing anywhere from 3-5 pounds, along with other miscellaneous items, it is not a wonder so many people experience back problems, especially if the backpack is not used with both shoulder straps or if one chooses a messenger type bag instead.

With that said, I think the idea of merging Kindles with e-textbooks has tremendous promise and merit. Further I think this idea will gain momentum and see a lot more support in the future, especially with the potential future upgrades for the Kindle that include a bigger screen, additional graphical support, and color. It is not only a logical cost savings for the student, it is also a health conscience choice so that everyone can enjoy their post college life back pain free.

Sources: Kindle's Bright Idea: College Textbooks, Kindle Goes to College, Kindle Textbooks, Princeton University to publish Kindle textbooks, College textbooks go digital for Kindle, and E-Textbooks -- for Real This Time?.