Today, Amazon announced that the “Kindle 2 ” – the second generation of its popular e-book reader – will ship beginning on February 24. I admit that I am the proud owner of a Kindle 1 and actually purchased mine shortly after they came out. I agonized for weeks about spending that kind of money, but I’m glad I did. I probably read 3-5 books a week on it and rarely travel anywhere wihtout it (I’ve been meaning to post my review of the Kindle for awhile but haven’t gotten around to it yet – so stay tuned).

According to Amazon’s site, the Kindle 2 is much slimmer than its predecessor, about the thickness of a magazine (.36″) . The Next and Previous buttons are smaller, which is a welcome change. It was too darn easy to hit one of the buttons every time you picked up the device. Other enhancements include 25% longer battery life, the ability to charge the device on your computer using a USB connection, and faster page turns.

The new Kindle also features 2 gig of storage for your e-books – or 1500 books according to Amazon. One feature that looked interesting was the new Text-to-Speech feature. Supposedly, the Kindle will be able to read out loud any book, blog, magazine, and newspaper. Wonder if it work with converted .PDF files as well?

With all the complaints about the inability to create folders/directories on the Kindle, I was surprised to see that this ability is not included in the new version. This is probably my biggest pet peeve with the current Kindle – no way to group e-books on the device. So what you end up with is one long list of your books through which you have to scroll to find what you want. If the ability to create new folders does exist in the new generation, there was no mention of it on Amazon’s Web site. Will we have to wait for the Kindle 3?

My impression is that while the design is a lot sleeker and the annoying large buttons are gone, I’d say that this upgrade is a bit lackluster. If you already own a first generation Kindle, I really don’t see any reason to upgrade and fork out another $350. If however, you’ve been sitting on the fence for awhile, this might be a good time to take the plunge as it seems there are many improvements with the Kindle 2.
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I just purchased CyperPower’s High Speed 7-port USB Hub and I have to say that I am very pleased. I just replaced a small 4-port desktop hub that was rather unsightly so this one was a welcome change.

The hub offers connectivity up to 480 Mbps and works with USB 1.1 and 2.0 devices. The hub can be positioned either vertically (it comes with a weighted stand) or horizontally and takes very little space on your desktop. One thing that I especially like was that it contained ports on both sides and one on the face of the device making it easy to access. It also helps cut down on the mess of cords on the desk.

The hub also comes with it’s only power supply so it is not sucking power from your computer. I have had 5-6 of the ports in use at one time and have noticed no noticeable loss of speed as opposed to a direct connection on the computer. So far, I have used the hub with an iPod Classic, iPod Nano, Kindle e-book reader, Sony e-book reader, Apple keyboard, Logitech keyboard, Logitech mouse, Sony Digital Camera, 1 TB Iomega USB Drive, Belkin switcher and various USB flash drives, ScanSnap Image Scanner, and HP Printer and so far, everything has worked seamlessly. As I use both a PC (only when I have to) and a Mac, the device was tested on both of these platforms with no difference in performance.

As for the down side, nothing stands out. The only thing is that the LED lights are a bit bright and are constantly lit (makes for a good night light). Also, there is no on/off switch so as long as the device is plugged in, it is drawing power and the blue LED lights are on.

Probably one of best purchases I have made recently. So if you are in the market for a desktop usb port, this is definitely one to buy. I give this device 5 stars out of 5.
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