Who Do You Trust

Title: The Price of Trust
Author: Amanda Stephan
ISBN: 978-1-61663-047-8
Genre: Romance Religious
Pages: 348
Reviewed By: Brian Knight
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What is the value of trust?


The further Carly runs from her past the closer she gets to her future; she just doesn’t know it. She only knows fear and loss as she is constantly pursued by a love gone wrong. Fortunately for Carly she runs out of gas next to a small town that offers more then just fuel; it offers hope. In “The Price of Trust” Carly struggles to rebuild her life, identify who she is and possibly learn to love again. With the help of a few unlikely friends and her faith in the Lord, Carly travels down the obstacle filled road of life.

Carly’s fortunes turn as she finds employment with an old couple at their hardware store and join them at their church. Unbeknownst to her, every move she makes is being watched and reported. As Carly becomes more comfortable with the town and makes new friends she must confront and conquer her inner turmoil and need to run. Convinced she will be found at any moment she is constantly looking over her shoulder. Her confidence builds with each day and soon becomes aware that she is indeed helping others overcome their inner battles and past heartbreaks. In “The Price of Trust,” we see the power love and faith have to heal all wounds; to bond and rebuild what was once broken.

Will Carly find the strength to love again? Will she be free of the haunting past that pursues her relentlessly?

From the first word, Amanda Stephan weaves a story of survival, drama and romance. With each passing page, it is virtually impossible not to be absorbed in the story. The more you read the more you connect with the characters and it is their tales that begs to be seen.

“The Price of Trust” contains an innocent sensibility that is endearing and lends to the romance of the story. The strength of the story lies in the characters; their growth, flaws and strengths develop and transform from page to page as circumstances and challenges confront them. This novel is for those who enjoy romance in its truest form; a story that allows the reader to escape the world around them.

Author Amanda Stephan’s debut novel is sure to draw you in, wrap you in a tapestry of emotions and deliver a story that will dance in your mind long after the last page.

If you would like to learn more about Amanda and her book or just want to read her blog you can do so by following the link HERE.

Wi-Fi 3G DX - What Does It All Mean?

Recently, and by recently I mean two or more weeks ago, I received a comment regarding the different E-readers out there and was asked what made them different. I've planned to write this article for some time now but last week's activities threw my schedule into a tailspin.

A few years ago if someone mentioned the word E-reader you would get one of two responses. Those being "a what?" or "are you talking about the Kindle?" It is true that the Kindle drew the most attention when it first came out but I'm not sure it was the first E-reader. As time has passed more E-readers have come onto the scene and more have joined the conversation. Now we have the Kindle, Nook and Sony brands to name a few in regular conversations. Of all the E-readers I believe many would agree that the Kindle and Nook are the odds on favorite and leaders of the pack. What about the iPad? The iPad is technically not an E-reader; sure you can get magazines on it and books but in order to few those magazines or books you must first download an App. Ironically there is a Kindle App for the iPad, I find that interesting. The other issue I have with the iPad is that there is absolutely no cost comparison between the iPad and the E-readers. With that said, I believe we should focus on the Kindle and the Nook. As I said before, these are the two top sellers so it makes sense that we start with them.

To start things off, the Nook has two models and the Kindle has three models; before we go head to head let's take a look at the different models first.

The basic Nook is available with two options - WiFi (for $149) or 3G plus WiFi (for $199). In my opinion I'm not convinced that having 3G is worth the $50 increase. What is the main difference between Wifi and 3G? It comes down to one thing - speed. 3G is supposed to be faster; however, if you do not have a strong signal where you are at than it will not matter which you have. You can tell how strong your signal is by looking at your cell phone. I am also of the opinion that WiFi may be better because it is more reliable and has a much broader range. Can you think of an area where you can't get WiFi? It's practically in every hotel.

What I do like about the Nook is the battery life. With a full charge you can go a month before needing a recharge. Keep in mind - if you keep the WiFi setting on it will drain your battery faster so it is wise to turn it off when not needed. The Nook has the capacity to hold 1500 books at a time (that is a lot of reading). The design is sleek and it weighs next to nothing so holding it all day is easy to do. I have talked to friends who have voiced that the download time and selection of titles is cumbersome at times and it took a little time to get adjust to the touch screen. With the Nook you turn the page with a swipe of the finger, there are buttons on the side for you to use also but many of the options are available by touch screen technology.

The Nook Color is making waves with its impressive display of full color graphics. Interestingly enough it only comes with the WiFi option and retails for $249. I'm not sure why it doesn't come with the 3G option; they may be having problems with the download of full color documents. I'm sure it will be available in the near future.

The Nook color gives you the option to customize your display screen and gives you extra options to download like games and customized book selections just for the reader. It is sized the same as the regular Nook and has the capabilities of the regular Nook plus the added extras and the bonus of color. The Nook also offers the ability to read magazines and newspapers as well as have it read aloud children's book to your kids. That is pretty cool.

Here is the major drawback to the Nook color - the battery life is approximately half that of the regular Nook. It has an 8 hour read time rating per the specs as compared to 10 days for the regular Nook.

Both Nook models have 6 inch reading screens (approximately), play music, present books with E ink technology and have expandable memory options.

Now that we have checked out the Nook let's move on to the next contestant - the Kindle.

Kindle Wifi - This is the basic model and retails for $139. This is the cheapest of all the models (including the Nook models). This is also the Kindle I have so I know a little more about it. First, it is very sleek and light weight and extremely easy to start and get set up. Ironically I get a stronger Wifi signal on the Kindle then I get signal on my cell phone which really makes little sense to me. It has a very large storage capacity - holding 3,500 books at a time (not much need for expandable memory here). I truly enjoy the option of posting portions of the book or a note about the book on Twitter and/or Facebook straight from the Kindle.

The coolest thing above all though is the rotating screensaver. Each time you switch off the Kindle a new image comes up which is great. Combine that with the enhanced E-Ink technology for low light reading and what you have is a very fun experience. The most impressive aspect about the Kindle is the battery life. Again it is wise to switch off the WiFi when not using it. I fully charged mine on January 28th and now, on February 20th it still has half its charge remaining.

Kindle WiFi/3G - This model retails for $189. It might surprise you that it is the same as the basic model; however, it  gives you the power of the 3G network. My opinions are the same about the 3G here as they were above for the Nook. I have not seen anything regarding 3G that requires an additional $50. I could be wrong and hopefully your comments will shed some light on the 3G topic.

Kindle DX - This is the big brother of Kindles and retails for $349. It has a larger screen (9.7" compared to 6"). It comes with 3G but also has global 3G for the world travelers out there. It is a little heavier weighing in at 18.9 ounces as compared to 8.5 ounces for the regular Kindle. It also incorporates all the features of the regular Kindle. The big draw back, aside from price, is battery life which compares closely with the Nook Color at only ten days.

Which one would I recommend? If you look at cost, functionality, total use of all options provided and comfort then it is hard to beat the basic Kindle model. Others may argue but it really does everything you would want an E-reader to do and adds a lot of fun to the experience. If you would like a side by side comparison of the Kindle models you can check out this link HERE (scroll to the bottom for comparison). If you would like to compare the Nook models you can HERE.

Which one do you have or plan to get? Why?

One Word - Virus

What a week this has been. It all started on Saturday when my wife got on the computer and said "honey, the Internet will not start." This, of course, got my full attention because we all know that the Internet starts unless something is wrong or just not on. This slight annoyance quickly changed to aggravation when I sat down and noticed that none of my programs would start. I would double click, the hourglass would appear and then....nothing. With that knowledge I did what any of us would do; I restarted it and it didn't work. At that point in time I was getting worried. I manually powered down the computer and started it right back up.

Needless to say, my computer had a virus - a nasty virus that was attached to the reboot process. It took me until Thursday to get my computer running to 100%. Yes, six days of fighting a computer virus. I think it was around Tuesday when I really felt like it was a battle between good and evil and Thursday morning I was convinced that the computer would end up flying threw my office window. Alas, it is fixed and everything is back to normal. I, unfortunately, lost a lot of time and feel way behind on my job, e-mail and social networking (including this blog).

I do apologize for not posting this week and hope that you understand my situation. I did learn from this experience and, since we pretty live on computers in this day and age, I wanted to share a few with you. First, I have no idea how I drew the attention of such a nasty virus but my friends tell me that it is becoming common place for normal sites to carry viruses. One friend caught one from an ad attached to msn.com of all places while another had to save his aunts computer when she got a virus from the website of a teddy bear company. The people that develop viruses and malware are becoming smarter and craftier with each day. Where does that leave us? What should we, the average computer user, do to protect our work and hardware from these programs?

• It is imperative to have a reliable antivirus and malware detection program. It is also critical to have a solid firewall. The firewall will not be a problem as most computers come with that built in; however, antivirus and malware detection programs are a different story.
• There are thousands of antivirus and malware programs out there BUT, as I learned the hard way, if you don't keep them updated and current then you leave your computer open for these programs to slide in and cause major problems. Some of the antivirus and anti-malware programs update automatically bit it is still important to regularly check and confirm that they are doing so. I use free software for this and they work very well (as long as I update).
• Your virus protection is not the only thing that need be updated on a regular basis - printer drivers, program updates and security updates for your operating system need to be completed on a regular basis. These are not normally done automatically because it slows your computer far too much to be efficient so it is important to remember and check them.
• I highly recommend a program such as Glary Utility. This program cleans up your registry, deletes temp file and tracks and also identifies other potential problems. Think of it as house cleaning, if your computer is clean then it will be easier to diagnose, identify and fix any potential problems and delete viruses.
• Don't be afraid to research on potential problem or error message on the Internet. You can find a wealth of information by doing so and can often find the solution quickly.

It take a lot of effort to keep a computer running smoothly but it can be done and will save you from frustration and the desire to destroy your computer.

The Kindle's Tiny Details

I have so many things to talk about and share that it was tough to select just one. In the end the Kindle won out. I know you have heard many things about the Kindle but the details and the little things are just as important. What kind of details and little things?

• The appearance - I know who've seen pictures but they don't sum up what the Kindle is all about. It is sleek, thin and lightweight. You can almost forget that it is in your hand due to its size and weight. This, of course, can be a bad thing because I don't think you would want to drop it.
• Proportional - Everything from the keypad to the directional arrows on the side are placed ideally for someone with average size hands. You don't have to stretch your fingers to hit a button and the buttons are spaced far enough apart that you really don't have to worry about striking the wrong key.
• The screen size - I have to admit, I was worried about this aspect. I mean, six inches just didn't seem that big to me. That all changed when I began reading the users guide. The text and the page fit perfectly within the boundary of the screen.
• The Font and Text size - This surprised me; the font and text size is very easy on the eyes and rather pleasant to read. Even better than that, you can zoom in and make the words bigger.
• The screen saver - this is perhaps the most impressive 'tiny detail' they included with the Kindle. Each time you turn off the Kindle a picture of a classic author or book cover fills the screen. This is smart because it refreshes the screen much like a screensaver on a computer but here is the cool part - the picture changes each time. I get just as excited when I turn it off as I do when I turn it on because I don't know what image I will see next. I know, I am easily amused.
• The dictionary - It has always been reported that the Kindle includes a dictionary and you can look up words that you may not know. What was not reported is this - when you select a word the definition appears at the top of the screen and doesn't overlap any of the text. This makes for a clean, unobtrusive tool that helps you without hindering your reading.
• Social Networking - If you have WiFi or 3G capabilities around you then you can use this option. You can link your Kindle to your Facebook and/or Twitter account. Why would you want to do that? The Kindle allows you to select text from a book or make notes about a book and will post that to your account(s). If you wanted to share that awesome first line of a book you're reading you can do that.

There are more but I will save them for later. What I will say is this, the developers of the Kindle should be applauded because it is evident that they took time to think about this product; they tested it and they didn't cut corners with the little things that make using a Kindle such a fun experience.

Do I have anything negative to say about the Kindle? Not yet, I'm still playing like a kid in a candy store. Do I expect to? I don't think so but if I do you will be the first to know.