Kindle Fire vs iPod Touch 4th gen

I'm a sucker for gadgets, and I think touch screens are cool which is how I ended up with a Kindle Fire (original) and an iPod Touch.  I already had an iPod Touch, but I thought it might be nice to have a larger screen and try out android.  I also wanted to have another gadget because half the time my iPod is being used by my husband or kids.  I'm in the process of deciding which of the two devices will be my primary device and my husband will use the other one.

I know a lot of reviews compare the Fire to the iPad, but this doesn't make sense to me since really, the Fire is closer to the iPod Touch. The price point is similar on the 8 gig model of the two devices.

iPod Touch

• better touch responsiveness
• more apps
• brightens/darkens screen automatically
• buttons for volume
• camera (but I don't use much, so this is isn't really that big of an asset)
• microphone (same as camera)
• light and fits in a pocket 
• can organize apps into categories on the device
• better parental controls

(original) Kindle Fire

• bigger screen
• fewer apps, although most of the apps I'm most interested in are available
• can display Amazon videos
• requires 2 hands to use (at least for me, my wrist starts to hurt if I use it one handed for too long)
• flash - this means I don't need a special app for facebook or twitter, I can use the web one, also pbskids seems to work just fine
• tabbed browsing 
• searching the Amazon app store makes more sense than itunes to me (i.e. you can sort by price)
• the screen is also big enough to make using web-based google calendar useful
• can see more text at once in an e-book

both have

• netflix
• basic email (gmail and hotmail are painless to set up)
• music
• words with friends

I'll probably add more information as time goes by. I haven't decided yet which I like better.  I definitely prefer watching videos on the Fire because the screen is bigger, but in terms of portability, the ipod touch wins.

Lego Friends

So thanks to KSL, I now know about Lego Friends, a line of Legos for girls.  Can I just say, Lego did their homework.  The sets are a tree house, a dog show, a horse show, a pool, etc.  I know my two daughters would actually be very interested in these sets.  The sets remind me of Play Mobile.

In the KSL article, there's some people who are upset about having a special line of Legos for girls, but I don't see the problem.  If this introduces girls to Legos and the fun of building, then Lego should go for it.  I can imagine my girls getting the sets, then getting into the regular Legos for added pieces.

I think I may have found one of my daughter's birthday presents:

 

or maybe this set:

Yeah, that's pretty much her dream Lego set (actually, the dog show is her dream set, but I'm not spending that much on Legos).