I received my iPad Mini about a month ago after an almost 8 week wait. My use case remains as I laid out in A mini upgrade?.

How is it?

Exactly what I was hoping it would be. It fits nicely into my workflow. It’s my primary consumption device. It’s also my mobile content creation device (I’m writing this post on it). I remain loyal to my eInk eReader for books, but otherwise I’m reaching for my iPad Mini.

Battery life is great. The screen is nice but I have yet to appreciate it fully beyond the additional real estate. I haven’t really used the Apple Pencil v2 yet, but I like how it’s magnetically attached if I need it. Connectivity using my Google fi data SIM works great.

About the Pencil and the magnets — they’re surprisingly strong. I was worried about the Pencil falling off but so far that hasn’t been an issue.

Fundamentally, the device is great. I’m disappointed that my Lightning connector add-ons are not viable with this, but I’m moving as all-in on USB-C as I can.

My issue still revolves around the fact that iOS/iPadOS needs refinement and bug fixes — as an OS they seem unfit for the task. I would love for Apple to take a tick and/or a rock off and just work on making the user experience better instead of releasing new features.

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court lobby card

Amazon Kindle e-readers are showing a blank screen – Good e-Reader:

Amazon Kindle e-readers are suffering from a major bug. Customers are receiving new Kindles with a blank screen out of the box and the e-reader cannot be used, existing e-readers are also suffering from the same issue. The problem stems from the new Kindle UI that the company implemented last year, that makes the Kindle e-reader look similar to the apps for Android and iOS. Kindle users have petitioned Amazon and the company says they are working on a fix.

There is no rhyme or reason why this glitch is happening. Some users are just using their Kindle normally and all of a sudden they have a blank screen. Some new users go through the setup process and are reading an ebook and all of a sudden the entire e-reader becomes unresponsive. Reboots and wiping the device seems to have no effect. Users on Reddit speculate that some of the backend services provided by Amazon that power the Kindle experience are having problems.

I stopped trusting Amazon on updates years ago. Here’s my solution; YMMV:

1. Get to a version of the Kindle Firmware which makes you happy, or at least doesn’t fill you with rage
2. Turn on airplane mode
3. Delete your wifi information from the device
4. Go to Amazon and delete your saved WiFi information
5. Download your books to a PC or Mac and transfer them to your reader
6. Use a tool like Calibre to help you manage your device
7. Search out legal non-DRM options for when Amazon eventually blocks downloads for USV¥B transfer 

My advice for other ebook vendors is basically the same.

Goodreads lost my entire account last week. Nine years as a user, some 600 books and 250 carefully written reviews all deleted and unrecoverable. Their support has not been helpful. In 35 years of being online I’ve never encountered a company with such callous disregard for their users’ data.

(Via Nelson Minar)

As Nick Heer wrote on Pixel Envy:

Goodreads is not some scrappy start-up. It has been owned by Amazon for nine years. These are big companies with big budgets and lots of customers, but they still act like they are just figuring this stuff out. That era is long over. Software needs a warranty, and so do services.

This all goes back to a maxim of mine that I continue to refine: if you value your data, you need to own it; relying on platforms to “do the right thing” is a fool’s game.