Lucidonline

With my recent purchase of the iPad one of the first apps I downloaded was the kindle app for amazon. At the time there was only the US version of the kindle store on-line but being in Europe there were restrictions on some of the books I could buy. Now that the UK version of the site was up I was greatly looking forward to downloading a greater variation of books to read on the go and using my purchasing history to receive recommendations.

So I receive an email from amazon.co.uk letting me know the kindle is now available. I fire up the ipad and go to amazons kindle page and at the top of the page was a warning that kindle books are not available in my country. I was shocked. I can buy the kindle device from the UK store and have it shipped to me here in Ireland but I can't buy any of the book that I want. Many of the book I am looking for are simply not available from the US store.

I can only assume that the publishers are the ones causing these problems as they don't seem to have gotten there head around digital distribution. This leaves many customers in Ireland, and in fat other European countries with very little options and I fear that downloading books illegally and converting them into a format your device can read will become more common Which is a shame. Hopefully these restrictions will be lifted soon and we can start enjoying the kindle store as it should be.

UPDATE #1 email from amazon

Dear Mr McCabe,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk.

Money is one of those things that you are either good with or your not. Yes you can learn a certain amount of restraint but you are still prone to impulsebuys.But we must remember that impulse buys drive most of western retail ecomony. This is the justification I make to myself when I make some what most people would call unwise purchases.

My latest problem was the recent sale on http://store.steampowered.com for the independance day holiday. Many of there products were massively reduced plus there were daily sales that were huge. In total I would say I spent €130 worth of games that would normally have cost €600. There are nearly 140 games now in my steam store list, many of which I havent played yet. I will of dourse play them, later. Unfortunetly later is one of those magical times that is never now.

I've been throwing up all morning.  I'm at home in bed trying to keep water down.  Looks like I can't eat papa john's pizza anymore

I gave up on the old fashioned way of writing and have moved everything onto my n97 mini.  Its made writing on the move much more easier and I can finally stop using the paper and pen method that has been the bane of my life for the last few weeks.

The problem is that my handwriting is like a spider with 3 broken legs and sometimes even I can't make out what I have written.  The phone has definetly changed that.  I was waiting on the Lorraine joining in me in Hogans pub on Georges Street during the week.  She was delayed as usual so I got a pint and sat down with my phone and continued with a short story called Ice Legacy.  It was a story I had been writing on my laptop for awhile and had abandoned.

Next thing I knew Lorraine was walking and I realised I had written nearly 700 words and moved the story further on than I hoped.  It felt great turning time that I would normally waste into something productive.

As for Legacy of Ice I finished it off last night and today I'm going to edit it and see where I can improve on it.  Legacy of Ice is a murder mystery set in a city being swallowed by an Ice Cap during the start of an ice age.  The magic of the land is changing the people there so that they can survive the harsh climate but something has gone terribly wrong and now people are being murdered.  the son of one of the victims is determined to find out who or what is behind it.