Track Amazon prices with CamelCamelCamel!

I was in the market for a new cable modem. I did some research and found the one I wanted on Amazon. I put it in my shopping cart, but got distracted and didn’t order right away. When I got around to it later in the evening, I found the price had jumped from $82 to $88! That’s over a 7 percent jump and I really felt stupid for not ordering initially.

I figured there had to be some automated way to track Amazon prices and I stumbled onto CamelCamelCamel.com. I pasted the URL of the Amazon product page into CCC and saw this nice graph. Wow! I couldn’t believe how often and how much the price changed. I input a desired price of $82 and after about a week got a price-drop email. I quickly got onto Amazon and was able to buy the darn thing for $79!

I’m amazed that the site can track the prices of so many items. I tried to stump it and see if I could find something that didn’t have a price history, but couldn’t find one in my few attempts. I’m sure they can’t track everything.

Well, the service is free and seems to work quite well. I highly recommend it!

Added a Kindle 3 to my collection of gadgets

Just got my Kindle 3! The screen is pretty cool. When I first got it, I couldn’t decide if the picture was printed on a covering sticker or actually the screen…it was the screen. It is amazing and the refresh is not annoying at all–this was one of my biggest fears. It’s actually really easy to read even in low light.

I got it because my iPad is just too heavy for long extended use. It’s been giving me a backache no matter how I held it. Propping up with pillows, putting it on my knees, etc. Pain. Pain. Pain. I’m hoping the Kindle, being a fraction of the weight, will be easier on my back.

I’m disappointed that Audible on the Kindle is a little clunky. After all, it is owned by Amazon too. You have to install the Audible Manager software on your PC and then connect your Kindle via USB cable. The interface is basic basic. Lame. No chapters! It tracks progress using “Sections”, but these appear to have no relationship to “Chapters” used on the iPhone app. So if you listen to something on one, it’s hard to figure out the corresponding place on the other. No Whispersync! C’mon Amazon!