How I Just Made Two Purchases

Image via CrunchBase

Last night in Union Square I met a fellow Ingress player called Omar, Ingress name Slomar. We talked. I griped about "battery life." He suggested I get an external battery.

Today I googled around. Then I gave up. The choices were too confusing. I was gonna wait.

Then I did the near daily thing of visiting TechMeme. From there I ended up at this news story.

Google must act quickly on libellous Blogger posts, says appeal court

At the bottom of the news story was this ad.



It was a near perfect price for a perfect product, something I really needed to get. The ad did what my Google searches were not able to do.

So I proceeded to place the order.

While doing so Amazon said they would give me a free 30 day trial on Amazon Prime, if I accepted, the product would get free two day shipping. I opted in for the two day free shipping.

Then I have been browsing around their movie catalog. It is quite amazing. I think I am going to stay with Amazon Prime after the month long free trial is over. It is $79 per year. I could easily watch 50 movies in one year. And I guess you get to borrow one book a month for free. I am not a frequent Amazon shopper. But free shipping is enticing. I am now more likely to search on Amazon before elsewhere for some future purchases. I am locked in a little I guess, but I am not unhappy about it.

Here Google and Amazon did not compete. They provided me with a seamless experience. This is sound capitalism. The consumer won. I won.

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An External Battery As Big As The Phone

I have loved my Nexus 4, but my number one gripe has been the battery. The battery life is almost cosmetic. I am a power user. When I am out and about I am fiddling with my phone. It is my mobile office. I am deep into Ingress. And so I went ahead and plunked 40 bucks into getting me some extra juice. The thing is going to be bigger and heavier than my phone. I guess now on it will be like carrying two phones with me. But would bring a lot of peace of mind. And as for Ingress, see you at Level 8, because that is where I am headed. Now I also have enough juice to make the most of Social Media Week next week.

I just bought: Anker® Astro3E 10000mAh Dual 5V 3A USB Output External Battery Pack Charger for Smart... via @amazon amazon.com/dp/B009USAJCC/…
— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) February 16, 2013

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