Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Getting the Software Update 2.5.x User's Guide onto your Kindle

This was originally to be for Kindle Edition subscribers especially, who get this blog via Amazon delivery to their Kindles.  But an attempted direct delivery to the Kindle from the Amazon links did not work for the Kindle; it halted at some point and gave my Kindle gibberish.  So, don't try to download any of the files below if you're reading this on the Kindle.

While most of us have the latest Kindle software now (update v2.5.x), our Kindles don't tend to have the User's Guide that explains how to use the new features of that software.

About the software itself
  Instead of waiting for the updated features that come with v2.5.x software update, some choose to download the update from Amazon's software update page - see how to get the right update file.

Getting the right version of the User's Guide
  I also saw some confusion by some in Kindle forums about trying to read PDF versions of the User's Guide that had been downloaded and placed on their Kindles - the PDF fonts would be too small for easy reading on the Kindle, and the ".azw" files are actually the ones meant for reading on the Kindle reader.  The PDF versions are meant for browsing on a computer.

Below, for downloads to a computer, are links to Amazon's ".azw" User's Guide files for the latest Kindle software versions for the various Kindles.
  They will NOT work to download direct to the Kindle, unfortunately.
  Click them only from the computer.
 ( The web address for this blog is http://kindleworld.blogspot.com )

Identifying your Kindle model
You can find the serial number on the back of your Kindle.  If it starts with:
B001... it's a 6" Kindle 1 (Kindle Klassic), U.S., Sprint wireless
B002... it's a 6" Kindle 2, U.S. version, using Sprint's wireless network
B003... it's an International or Global version of the 6" Kindle 2 version
      and uses AT&T's wireless network - released October 19, 2009
B004... it's a 9.7" Kindle DX, U.S. version
B005... it's a 9.7" Kindle DX, Global version - released January 6, 2010.

Again, the User's guide files below are for those who'd rather get the ".azw" versions that work best on the Kindle, rather than the PDF ones.

  PDFs are not included below for that reason, although they are on the Kindle documentation page because it's good to have the PDF version that you can read on a computer (the ".azw" User Guide version is not readable on the computer) when your Kindle is not available for reading.

  Those reading the blog at the blog's WEBsite can get the PDF versions for their computers from the Amazon Kindle Documentation page.
 The .azw versions of the User's Guide for each Kindle model are also there for downloading, but they're mixed with the PDF files there and some Kindle owners haven't realized the .azw files are the ones for the Kindle.  (They're eventually moved from your computer to the Kindle via the USB cord after you've downloaded the .azw file to the computer.)

KINDLE DOCUMENTATION FOR DOWNLOAD TO COMPUTER TO MOVE TO KINDLE

Image of KindleKindle (Global Wireless)

Kindle (U.S. Wireless)


Image of Kindle DX
Kindle DX (Global Wireless)

Kindle DX (U.S. Wireless)


Image of Kindle (1st Generation)

Kindle (1st Generation)


Updating the Kindle User's Guide on Your Kindle
You can update the Kindle User's Guide on your Kindle by downloading to your computer the most recent update from the links above and copying it to your Kindle using the USB connection.

To update your Kindle User's Guide via computer -- later moving that file from computer to your Kindle --
  1. Download to your computer the .azw file for your Kindle from the links above.
  2. When prompted, choose the "save file" option to save the file to your computer.
  3. Connect Kindle to your computer using the USB cable, which comes with your power cord.
  4. Check to make sure the USB port on your computer is active.
  5. Kindle will display the message "Your Kindle is in USB drive mode" when connected.
  6. Use the file browser on your computer to drag the .azw file from your computer to the "documents" folder on your Kindle.
  7. If prompted, save the new file over the one currently on your Kindle.
  8. Safely remove the Kindle from the computer after the file transfer is completed, at which time you'll see the file listed, probably with date and size information, in your Kindle "documents" folder.

Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones   Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Qualcomm Mirasol display by Christmas? Plastic Logic's Que vaporizing

QUALCOMM MIRASOL color e-paper technology may be on multiple e-readers by Christmas, if you can believe deadlines given during demos.

Pocket-lint's Rik Henderson headlines that this 5.7 in. device with super-thin static display ... "may be heading Amazon's way."

The article mentions that, at a demo, Qualcomm included "a strong hint that the next Amazon Kindle is to adopt the tech" but I saw it more as an avoidance of an answer.

  I'd not realized just how battery-efficient the technology is.  I've been interested in the new Samsung Galaxy S cell phone using super AMOLED, which has extremely high contrast and strong colors.

  Here is their analysis of the light battery hit when using Mirasol's reflective full color display:
' Mirasol's screen, which is now capable of being manufactured at any size, is colour, can run video content, and requires only 1mW of power to run. In comparison, a similarly sized TFT LCD screen requires 20mW, and an AMOLED display needs a staggering 100-700mW. That essentially means that battery life will be greatly enhanced on a Mirasol-laden device.
. . .
The company aims to have one or more ebook readers on the market by the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, and is working towards building the technology into iPad multimedia devices by 2013...
. . .
"Activity will come from the e-reader sector first," said Cheryl Goodman, director of marketing, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies.  "We are working towards the end of the year, beginning of next, and with multiple vendors." '

  Now, I personally don't consider the content of the next quote "a hint" at all, although Pocket-lint does (Qualcomm, however, has given heavy hints about Amazon in the recent past), but here is the reason given for the writer's optimism about Amazon's possible involvement:
' And while she won't confirm who those manufacturers/suppliers are, when asked if the Kindle will be part of the Mirasol roll-out, Goodman teasingly told Pocket-lint, "multiple deals are in the queue." '
? Maybe there was a twinkle in the eye or something, but the words themselves don't tell me anything.

  There six other photos at the website.

Mobile Entertainment's Tim Green interpreted Qualcomm's answer on the Kindle question as a "no comment" but writes that Qualcomm's marketing director, Cheryl Goodman, "confirmed that contracts have been signed and that the screen tech would be in 5.7 inch e-readers before the year is out."

  Points made by Henderson:
' Mirasol's big boast is a MEMS-based tech that displays perfectly in sunlight and offers a battery life between the weeks offered by electrophoretic readers, and the ten hours offered by iPad.

  Goodman explained [as did Henderson] that it takes one milliwatt to power a Mirasol display, and 100 milliwatts to power an equvalent AMOLED screen.

  What's more, a Mirasol screen will need virtually no extra power to display an image once its loaded.

"Battery power is a huge issue and all the new features in phones are adding extra pressure. But still it's the display that drains the battery the most, so we're very excited about what Mirasol can do," she said.
. . .
She added that Mirasol trials have delivered 30 frames per second rates and that the tech can also support optical and resistive touchscreen functions. '

Production copies seldom meet early timetables though.

PLASTIC LOGIC now vaporware?
And this week we've seen that one timetable missed several times from a promising outfit, Plastic Logic (Que tablet), which has now cancelled existing pre-orders and refunded that money and is not taking new pre-orders, while giving no date this time when the planned business-oriented tablet might ever see the light of day

Wired/GadgetLab's Priya Ganapati points out that the reason for April's delay was a need to "refine" the product and that this is the reason given this time too, accompanied by what is perceived by most as a shutting of the door when pre-orders are cancelled and no new date is given.

See Wired's article for Plastic Logic's interesting wording in its cancellation email.

Earlier Kindleworld blog articles on Plastic Logic:
  . Plastic Logic interface demo at the D7 Conference - June 2009
  . B & N and Plastic Logic 2010 - The Focus - Update - July 2009
  . Costs of delivering a newspaper on the Kindle - May 2009



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Kindle for Android app is READY and Kindle to be sold at airports

KINDLE FOR ANDROID APP IS HERE

Get information on what's possible with this Kindle app here

Here is earlier app info and a hands-on report that I collected.

Last night at the forums, while discussing the new Kindle pricing in a thread made by a buyer bemoaning the lack of a refund for purchases longer than 30 days before the new price, a few of us were talking about changes in electronic offerings and pricing, and ultimately focused for awhile on the new Sprint Samsung Epic 4G, which is Sprint's version of the Samsung Galaxy S, except that Sprint alone, among 4 carriers, added a sliding keyboard that includes dedicated number keys.

A big selling point besides the speed of the cellphone is the 100,000 to 1 contrast ratio from its super AMOLED screen, a type of screen eagerly-awaited in the U.S.  I am needing a new cellphone so was immersed in reading on all this.
  I'm slowly getting to the point.

It's also sold by Verizon as Fascinate,  by AT&T as Captivate,  by US Cellular as Galaxy S,  and by T-Mobile as "Vibrant" (those names!).

  It was mentioned that the Amazon Kindle for Android would be available for these, and it turns out that T-Mobile's version, Vibrant, will come with the Kindle app pre-installed.  The cellphone will be available July 21, and I was not expecting the Kindle app to be ready today - a nice surprise.


KINDLE TO BE SOLD AT SOME AIRPORTS
Newsblaze, in a PR piece, tells us that HMSHost has an exclusive agreement to sell the Amazon Kindle in airports, starting June 28, at HMSHost-branded stores: Simply Books and Authors Bookstores across the country.  HMSHost will be the "only travel retailer" of the Kindle.

The airports where the Simply Books stores and/or Authors Bookstore will start selling the Kindle are: Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta; John Wayne in Orange County, California; Charlotte/Douglas in Charlotte, N.C.; Salt Lake City; Dallas Fort Worth; San Diego; George Bush airport in Houston; Miami; Tampa, Fla.; and Minneapolis-St. Paul.  See the linked PR release above for a current listing of stores and airports.

Alhough HMSHost says it has an exclusive agreement, its Senior VP of HMSHost Retail, Joan Ryzner, said that
' "We are very excited to partner with Amazon to be the first airport retailer to offer the highly acclaimed Kindle to people on the go, and to have it available in our bookstores prior to the busy Fourth of July holiday."

"The Kindle's readable 'easy on the eyes' screen and vast selection of titles are sure to delight travelers planning short or long trips." '

Newsblaze adds that Kindles sold through HMSHost's stores are pre-charged and ready to read.  It'll be interesting to see how they handle the registration process before books can be downloaded by the person on the way to the airplane.  If they help buyers at the counter with that, this would be a nice service.

The report reminds the reader that Kindle's Whispersync 3g mobile wireless technology automatically syncs your library and last-page-read with the Blackberry, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, and now, Android.

Ryzner added,
' "We're making the day better for travelers who will find it convenient to download a book before boarding a flight, on the flight prior to take-off, when making a connection, or even on the way home from a trip." '

(Thanks to Switch11 for the alert.)



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Editions with embedded video and audio for Kindle for iPad, iPhone and iPod

Amazon announced yesterday a new update to the Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch apps, which allows readers to enjoy video and audio clips embedded in enhanced Kindle books.  The first books using this new technology, which include Rick Steve's London by Rick Steves and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway, are available in the Kindle Store at http://www.amazon.com/kindleaudiovideo.

This added functionality for Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch can be found in Kindle Editions already at the Kindle Store.  Examples given in the press release include Rose's Heavenly Cakes, with video tips on preparing the perfect cake, and Bird Songs, with audio clips that relate the songs and calls to the birds' appearances.

For travelers, the new Kindle Edition with audio/video of Rick Steves' London, includes embedded walking tours which allow customers to listen to Steves "as they explore the sites of London," said Bill Newlin, publisher, Avalon Travel.  I hope they have video clips of London's features and surroundings as well (but I don't know if they do).

Kindle for iPhone has been optimized for iPhone 4's retina display.  For more information, visit http://www.amazon.com/kindleapps.

Here are some early forum reactions to the new feature of enhanced Kindle books for use with your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch Kindle apps.



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Target policies on Kindle price-reduction and 30-day Return



Here's a report at Teleread, written to me there, about confusion at Target over whether a price-change credit should be given on a Kindle purchased there only a week ago and whether or not it was returnable within 30 days (as is always the case with a Kindle purchase at Amazon, for any reason as long as it is in good shape and the original box is used for the return).  The writer reporting his experience at Teleread (a great site to read about the ebook world) said that he was told, at first, that returns were accepted only for defective items.

This is a bit tricky as Target would have to get that money back from Amazon, but that should be arranged between the two companies.  If for any reason, the price-change credit or a Kindle return within 30 days are not officially supported, then Amazon and Target would have to be clear about that.  At the end of this story, these policies finally were accepted at that particular store.

Here is the report:
' June 26th, 2010 at 9:47 pm

After talking to a Target national store person & two different answers from clerks at the local Target I finally got a price reduction on my Kindle. It only took talking to the store manager.

I talked to the national rep on Wednesday. She gave me some correct information but also some incorrect. My wife then stopped & talked with a Target clerk on Thursday night who gave her what turned out to be the correct information on how to get the price reduction or how to return the Kindle for a refund if necessary.

I went in Friday night then to see about getting the reduction & ran into a stone wall masquerading as a store clerk who told me in no uncertain terms I could neither get a price break or return my Kindle unless it was defective. And I couldn’t even do that unless I had the store receipt. Being slightly ticked & needing to get to an anniversary party, I left the store & told the girl I’d never shop at that Target again.

My wife called the store manager while I was at the party & finally got the correct information & found him quite eager to help me out. So, I went back in two hours later, asked for the store manager, & he straightened everything out. Even though technically under Target rules he didn’t need to give me a price reduction or need to let me return the device since it wasn’t defective. He also said I didn’t need a store receipt as long as I had the box the Kindle came in & the credit card I used to purchase it.

So, that’s my saga of how I finally got the price reduction on the Kindle. My advice would be to only purchase the Kindle through Amazon or else be prepared to find a sympathetic Target manager. '

I'll try to get a comment from Amazon about policy here, even if Target's staff in this case probably did get some clarification from Amazon and we know that this Target store eventually agreed to honor Amazon's price-reduction policy.

 What's troubling is that they added that technically under Target's rules they did not need to give him a price reduction or accept a return of a Kindle within Amazon's 30-day any-reason return-policy period unless it is defective.
UPDATE - revgeorge, the writer of the report, clarified today in the comments area that it was his own assumption that Target didn't have to do any of this and that the store manager appeared to have gone out of his way to take care of the situation after the store clerk was not helpful.  I would not want it to depend on an especially helpful store manager, so I hope for clarification of policy or no more reports that Amazon Kindle owners are being denied the price-change credit/refund.
  What needs clarification is whether a Kindle bought at Target can be returnable within 30-days or whether this Amazon return-policy doesn't apply to Target.

In the meantime, PCMag reports that "A Target spokeswoman confirmed that the Kindle will also be available at Target for $189."



Check oftenLatest temporarily free non-classics or late-listed ones.
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Friday, June 25, 2010

From the news: Impact of Amazon Kindle price change to $189


After Amazon's reduction of the Kindle 2 price from $259 to $189, I noticed quite a few positive articles about the Kindle, though it had actually started about a week before (and a couple of these are from then) when reporters and columnists probably had written all they could about the iPad and were refocused to the iPhone 4.

 Here are some of the thoughts I gathered over the last few days.

Forbes, and iSuppli
Forbes.com's Lee Gomes wrote in The Economics of Kindle
' The price reduction caught the attention of iSuppli, an analysts' firm known for taking apart gadgets to estimate how much they cost their manufacturers to put together.

  According to iSuppli's figuring, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are no longer making money on the e-readers, as the costs of the "bills of materials" for the devices are equal to what they're being sold for.

"With zero profits on their hardware, both these companies now hope to make their money in this market through the sale of e-books," iSupply says. "This is the same 'razor/razor blade' business model successfully employed in the videogame console business, where the hardware is sold at a loss and profits are made on sales of content."
. . .
E-readers aren't the first gadget to be offered at little or no profit with the expectation of some future revenue stream, as that's essentially the model for many gadgets. Except, of course, those sold by Apple.
  A $500 iPad, says iSuppli, costs Apple just $259.60 to make. '

Trefis.com
Trefis Team reports
'Three Amazon Initiatives That Can Make eBooks a Billion Dollar Business

...increased Kindle unit sales as a result of the price cut will benefit eBook sales by increasing the e-reader user base (classic razor / razor blades model developing here).

...consumers can buy an eBook from the Kindle store and read it on a Kindle, iPhone, iPad, or Android-based device (smartphone or tablet).  So even though the iPad has outsold the Kindle, Amazon still benefits from potentially wider distribution than it had before the iPad was introduced.

...Kindle has an edge over Apple in terms of the availability of eBooks.  Kindle has about 600,000 eBooks in its store.  This also includes 109 of 112 of the New York Times bestsellers.
 In comparison, Apple’s iBook store has far fewer NYT best-selling titles. '

  This assessment by them raised my eyebrows:
'Amazon Could Earn $800+ million in 2010 from eBooks Sold to Kindle Owners
  According to the research done by Foner Books, Amazon could be selling around 24 eBooks per Kindle per year.
 If we consider about 3 million Kindle units in use in 2010, Amazon could sell 72 million eBooks for 2010.
  If we consider the average pricing to be around $12 per eBook, Amazon could be earning $864 million in 2010 from eBooks alone that are distributed on the Kindle device.

  The upside can be even greater if Amazon succeeds in becoming the eBook store of preference on the iPhone (50+ million sold), iPad (3+ million units sold) and Android-based smartphones / tablets...

  If current trends continue, there will be more than 100 million iPhone, iPad and Android-devices in use within the next 1-2 years. Even if each device were to download only one eBook through the Kindle store annually (at $12 a piece), that would imply $1.2 billion of Amazon sales from non-Kindle devices. '

They also speculate that revenue from e-books could increase at a faster rate than they are forecasting if Amazon were to benefit from higher Kindle sales and traction on non-Kindle devices.  With the substantial price cut this week, I imagine they will definitely have higher Kindle sales.

Hydrapinion
Hydrapinion's Adam Turner writes:
' The iPad might be a jack-of-all-trades device, but it's certainly outclassed as an eBook reader by the likes of Amazon's Kindle.  The 6-inch Kindle outguns the iPad in terms of size, weight, battery life, screen technology, price and range of books (especially if you live in Australia, where Apple's iBookstore only features public domain titles).

  Amazon has just slashed the price of the 6-inch Kindle to $US189 - making it an even more attractive alternative to Apple's wunderslate.
  The iPad is an amazing device *if* you can find a good use for it. If you think that use might be as an eBook reader, I certainly recommend you consider the alternatives before handing over your money. '

Huffington Post's Rafi Mohammed
Rafi Mohammed writes that
' Instead of wishfully hoping that e-books will remain a niche product, publishers now have to realize that e-books are officially a game changer.  If an increasing percentage of readers choose to read electronically, it's foolish to thwart e-book sales (which are more profitable due to cost efficiencies) with tactics such as delaying the digital release for months after the hardcover is in stores.  Consumers aren't going to wait.  The pathway to survival for publishers is straightforward: publish (and promote) e-books or perish. '

  Well said !

CNBC's guest expert on money and markets
Michael Yoshikami writes wisely: iPad & Kindle—Room for Two!
' ...Perspective matters.. one of the most popular applications for the iPad as of today is the Kindle reader.  The iPad is designed for internet browsing and running applications, whereas the Kindle is best suited for reading text.  As such, demand for the Kindle could hold up over time as the best way to read digital books. '

Amazon is releasing a version of its reader software to Google's [popular Android platform which means Kindle books will be available on Macs, PCs, and virtually all smartphones.  As a first entrant into the e-reader market, Amazon is clearly the leader in content and is compelling consumers to stay with their format to avoid the need to buy new material for new devices.
. . .
Kindle continues to be a multi-billion dollar opportunity for Amazon, and will likely grow as more and more consumers get used to the idea of e-readers.  Amazon can succeed with its own Kindle reader and the iPad platform.

TopNews
Seher Dhillon points out, in E-Reader Fever Goes On, that
'...customers still welcome the truth that gadgets such as the Kindle have extraordinary screen display technology that lessens strain on the eyes caused by characteristic LCD screens like the one used in the iPad. '

The Guardian
Robert McCrum on Books, for The Guardian, notes that
' E-book sales increased a staggering 177% in 2009, admittedly from a very low base.

  Everywhere I travelled there were Americans reading Kindles.  On the New York shuttle I estimate that as many as 10% of the passengers were reading books or magazines and newspapers on screens.  Every New York publisher I spoke to is grappling the profound implications of the shift to the virtual book.
. . .
  If you like the book review you read in the New York Times on your Kindle you can download the e-book from Amazon with one click.  Some say the hardback will even benefit from this proliferation of e-reading as book lovers acquire hardbacks as lasting souvenirs of a fleeting, electronic literary encounter. '

TMCnet's infoTECH Spotlight
Gregory Karp, a personal finance writer for The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa., writes
' [ In finding "Justification to spend money on hottest tech gadgets," before the price decrease ]

THE AMAZON KINDLE: ... Savings come from two sources: cheaper reading material and free wireless service.
. . .
Assume that during a year you substitute two $25 hardcover books and four $15 paperbacks for the $10 Kindle versions.  And assume you swap a Kindle subscription for the paper version of The Wall Street Journal at an approximate non-introductory price of $250 per year.  Total annual savings: about $120.
. . .
Another source of savings is the Kindle's crude Web browser with free wireless service.  It's tedious to surf the Web using it, but you can check Web-based e-mail and read a few news headlines for free.  If that can substitute for a $20-per-month smart phone data plan, that saves $240 per year.
  [ Emphasis mine ] . . .
You also will never have to rebuy a lost book.  Kindle books are always available to download again.  And you can use the Kindle's voice reader to read aloud some books, potentially substituting for audio-book purchases. '

Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek's Rich Jaroslovsky focuses on the joys of beach reading.
' One of the joys of the beach is beach reading, and the era of the e-reader means no more lugging that extra bag of books -
. . .
Apple Inc.’s iPad is the all-around best, but its glaring weakness is, well, glare.
  The backlit display and reflective screen make it hard to use in sunlight, even if you weren’t concerned about getting sand in the virtual gears of your $829 3G-enabled baby.

  By contrast, Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle thrives outside.  Its grayscale digital-ink display is easily readable even in direct sunlight, it weighs a mere 10 ounces and goes for days on a single charge.

  The built-in AT&T 3G connection lets you buy and download books anywhere you happen to be, taking advantage of a selection that far surpasses Apple’s nascent iBookstore ...
  ... as an added bonus, Amazon’s family of free Kindle apps syncs your reading material across devices, so you can pick up on your iPad precisely where you left off on the Kindle. '

An interesting bit of Amazon history
In "Amazon, eBay and Financial Momentum," Practical eCommerce tells us that
' "Both companies are publicly traded, and both are ecommerce pioneers.  Jeff Bezos launched Amazon in 1994 as an online bookseller in a Seattle garage.  He rigged-up a bell to ring every time an order came through.

  Yahoo! then mentioned Amazon as a “cool” site, book orders poured in, and the bell wouldn’t shut off.
  Amazon has since diversified its product line.  Bezos is now 46 and Amazon has roughly 24,000 employees.  It sells books, movies, games, electronics, computers, consumer goods and much more. '

Another interesting tidbit
In "The iPad and I: Of Love and Meh," Elizabeth Bluemle writes about books that provide movement and 3D features as important elements of their digital offerings:
' The biggest problem with adapted e-books: the transformation of it into a one-way experience, beaming out at the viewer like a TV show.

  With recent studies showing that the human brain while watching TV is less active than the brain while it’s asleep (!), this is something to think about.
  There is a danger in losing the conversation that a book sparks between writer and reader. '

That's all for now ...



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Kindle's new PDF Pan and Zoom feature with software update v2.5.x


The new Pan and Zoom features can be very effective.  The default setting is "Fit to screen" and most will tend to start at the zoom steps of 150-200-300%, all of which require identifying the section you want zoomed in, using a fixed-size box.  You start the zoom process with the Aa Text-key at the bottom near the Spacebar.

After selecting the zoom option, when moving the zoom-area box with the 5-way button, the movement in any direction seems to be in large, fixed increments although the area you want may be a bit more to the left, right, top, bottom than where the box stops.

  What can be missed is the text given at the bottom of the screen which says that we can press, at the same time, the Shift key with the left hand and the 5-way button with the right, to 'nudge' the box in much smaller increments in any direction.
  This "nudging" procedure works when panning a page also.

  You can click on any of the 3 images to see the larger ones.

When the first zoom step is too large for useful viewing
I saw one complaint that the first setting of 150% was already too large for a document tried.  In cases like that, an auto- or manual-rotation to Landscape mode will often give readable, if not ideal results.

  With the Kindle DX, the width of the Landscape orientation isn't much narrower than the 8.5" width of a normal letter-size document, so that actually usually works well.  See examples at KDX screenshots.

 Some PDF document makers manage to make the print too small even for those reading on paper, and that's when the larger zoom-ins will of course work much better.

  It's worth noting for those who work with many PDFs that refurbished 9.7" Kindle DX's are currently being sold by Amazon for $350-$370 (this changes) with a 1-yr warranty.  The price depends on the model.  For links to the right pages, see Refurbished DX info page

 With the smaller 6" Kindle model, obviously too small for most PDFs, use of the Landscape mode (manual-rotation via the Aa Text-key) is essential, but the zoom-ins work especially well if the fixed-box at a zoom-level can cover enough of the area you want.

Sometimes the best choice may be missed.
  The step that can be missed, with the complaint mentioned, is the last option on the zoom-level line:   "Actual size."  Since PDFs are usually sized for an 8-1/2 x 11" piece of paper, this option gives a larger font while requiring (and allowing) panning to the sides.
  Some don't want to have to pan or scroll but would the fonts be made larger, with adequate spacing, without requiring this if you want to be able to see the full page rather than only a section of it.

Examples of a page with very tiny print and the relative size change after a 300% zoom-in:



Page with TINY font
Before zooming in

After zooming in 300%
on a section of the page

The last two 'galleries' at the photo site (though these are screenshots and not photos, which is why the background is white rather than grayish) are for various screenshots used for this blog.

Amazon's Help section for the Pan and Zoom feature

Amazon gives the steps used to zoom in and out on PDFs.
To get back to your normal view, after viewing PDFs in zoom mode, press Aa text-key again, and select the first item, "Fit to Print."

Here, also, are Amazon's steps for the simple image-zoom on a picture in a NON-PDF book:
' To zoom on an image in a book, magazine or newspaper:

1. Position the cursor over the picture using the 5-way controller. You'll see a magnifying glass icon appear.
2. Press the 5-way to zoom the image.
3. Press the 5-way to return to your content. '


If interested in more about Kindle software update v2.5.x, see my Intro to other features of the update.



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Monday, June 21, 2010

The Kindle is now $189. Fast work, Amazon. Nook's turn again

The Kindle 6" International pricing has been lowered to $189, not very long after the Nook announcements today.

  The 3G mobile free wireless full-web access that most countries are reporting  since the 15th, with no change by Amazon to that access for almost a week, seems to be a side effect of having the ability to send a highlighted passage and note to Facebook and Twitter via 3G wireless with the new software update v2.5.x, much discussed on the forums and described here.  See the Intro and Guide to the new software version.

Countries reporting no-cost full-web access are listed in a file associated with the story on June 15, and updated daily.

RECENTLY BOUGHT KINDLES AND PROBABLE CREDITS/REFUNDS
During past price changes, Amazon gave recent purchasers of the Kindle a credit or refund for the difference in price if the Kindle purchase was made within 30 days of the new, lower price.

U.S. Kindle owners should contact Customer Support about this at 1-866-321-8851.
Very recent purchasers outside the U.S. should go to the Amazon Kindle Support page and click on the orange button labeled "Contact Us" to ask about it..

See today's earlier blog article that included a good link to the Nook news that apparently had a big influence on Amazon, though I think they were prepared for this but did not care to be the first to adjust pricing to compete even more on price with the larger multi-function tablets.  I mentioned the differences in the feature sets for the Nook and the Kindle earlier today.  Pro's for the Nook - it does allow public library access, valuable if your local library carries much in the way of contemporary e-books (some don't).

  The lending feature of the Nook is not clearly described by news stories.  If a publisher approves the lending of a nook book (about 45% do), then you can lend an e-book to someone, but only One Time to Anyone in the lifetime of the e-book (ever), and for 2 weeks to the borrower but not renewable by the borrower even if the book couldn't be finished.

  See the blog article on sharing Kindle books on an account, not restricted to a household or relative, just to people you trust on your account.  It's far more flexible than the Nook arrangement but not heavily marketed.

  The new Kindle price is now a real value instead of just a value ;-)



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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KindleText Key: Line spacing, Darker font / Nook $199/$149 / Kno tablet

THE TEXT (FORMERLY 'FONTS') KEY AND SCREEN
The new Kindle software update, v2.5.x, has been described by many Kindle International (Oct. 2009) owners as providing darker fonts and more screen contrast.

  The older Kindle 2 U.S. (pre Oct 2009) model does not seem to have been affected, at least not according to most of the font-change reports in the Kindle forums.

Increasing (or decreasing) font size
  If wanting darker fonts while reading, you can try increasing the font size from the default '3' to '4' as shown in the illustration at the left.  That's done with the 'Aa' key, also known by longtime Kindle owners as the "fonts key" but called the "text key" in Amazon's v2.5.x help area.  That key is right next to the Spacebar, to its right, as you face it.  In writing this, I just rediscovered Amazon's illustration showing the text-key location and the font-size changer.
  Kindle-edition subscribers receiving the blog on their Kindles may also be able to click on the link to see the illustration as it's a rare faster-loading image.  Since they use a security link (https), maybe not.

Decreasing amount of spacing between lines
  This particular trick works only with Kindle-2, 6" models and not the largerKindle DX.

  One disadvantage of using font size '4' setting (for some) is that there are less words on a page, which means page turning is needed more often.

  One way to get a few more words on the page without decreasing font size is to decrease instead the spacing between lines, which some may find too large.

  I think this is undocumented, but if you feel the spacing between lines is too large you can decrease that too.

Hold down the shift & alt keys with your left hand and then type a number that is smaller than the default size '3' -- in this case you'd type '2' and you'll get more spacing between the lines.
  Typing '1' by the way gets the same results as typing '2'...

  I use these setting when under dimmer lighting such as lamps (I don't like overhead lighting), at night.

  These font-size and line-spacing settings made by you will stay put until you change them again.  There's always an instant-preview of the new look in each case.

You can of course go in the other direction too, decreasing font size and correspondingly increasing spacing between lines.

Refreshing your screen's e-ink distribution
Sometimes you'll see a bit of ghosting or possibly fonts that appear thinner
and thus less black.
  Hold down the alt-key and type 'g' at the same time, and that will refresh the e-ink distribution. I sometimes do it 2 to 3 times.  It uses the battery anytime you change the screen display, but the Kindle has plenty of juice most of the time -- unless you keep wireless On, which brings quite a drain.
  So turn off your wireless when not needing it for downloading books or for the Sync and Check for Items Menu option which lets Amazon servers know you would like them to back up your latest-read pages, your bookmarks and -- if you enable them under the Menu -- any annotations, while delivering any pending Kindle books and/or newspapers, magazines, blogs.
  This will also back up changes you've made in your Collections.

Words per Line
You'll see this option under the font-size choices.  It allows you to see the text in a smaller 'column' so that your eyes don't have to go across the screen horizontally as much.  It's probably used more when you're using small font sizes though. (On the 9.7" Kindle DX a smaller column is often appreciated.)
  The default is text to the edges, while the other choices give wider margins and will show less words per line.

Screen Rotation
Remember that you can use the Aa text key (fonts key) feature seen at the bottom -- rotating the screen to display in Landscape mode.  This is especially helpful for PDF files and can help when viewing web pages too.

The older Kindle 1
The older Kindle 1 actually has a default spacing equivalent of '5' in effect, which is unchangeable.  It also has a fatter font, which some find darker, as more black ink particles are seen on the screen and Amazon uses Bold fonts more (as I wish they would in the older Kindle 2 U.S. model.

Some feel that smaller fonts and line-spacing make for a nicer looking page if you're focusing on aesthetics, but in some cases that can make your eyes work harder.  Everyone's eyes are different of course.

BARNES & NOBLE'S LOWER PRICING ON TWO NOOKS
B&N is wisely putting out a WiFi-only Nook and also lowering the price of the current WiFi-3G model (3G mobile-wireless useable only at the store rather than full-web access like the Kindle's, now included at no added charge globally to a large extent). See CNet's report.
  $199 for the regular Nook, $149 for the WiFi only, with no 3G.

But Amazon will have to cut pricing somewhat despite now enabling full-web access all over the globe.  It'd be nice to see lower Kindle pricing, of course.

 Shouldn't the Agency plan for e-books, even if fought by Amazon, benefit Amazon where they were losing money on bestsellers?  Maybe that could help subsidize a price decrease in the Kindle readers.

Border's Kobo will suffer because, at $149, it has NO basic features other than straight reading currently and public library access.  It has no Search of a book (useful for finding characters and events), no dictionary, no annotations.  It does have some bad bugs they're trying to fix.

But the $149 Nook with wifi only is a good buy if you can bear with the slow, menu-heavy implementation of the functions for Search book, Dictionary (fewer results), and annotations made that the Nook owner can't easily find later.  Maybe the new update coming will help.  Kindle owners may be able to thank B&N for doing this.  One can hope.
 And Amazon's policy has been to give refunds of price differences within 30 days of a purchase of a model that has had a price decrease.

TOSHIBA LIBRETTO -- ONLY $1,300 IN JAPAN AND MAYBE "HIGH HUNDREDS" IN THE U.S.
Those interested in the DUAL 7" screen color LCD, one of the screens doubling as a (virtual) keyboard, at 1.9 pounds, can view the hands-on article by Laptop Magazine.

At that price, I don't think it's targeting the Kindle as some news reports say, but more the KNO dual-screen tablet already lusted after by college students.



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Kindle Software v2.5.x Tip 06/20/10 - Subscriptions and Personal Docs


I'm a fan of the TeleRead website - News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics - and recommend dropping by the site if you haven't, for a treat.  Varied, stimulating reading.

SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x CHANGES IN HANDLING OF "SHOW ONLY" categories
While at TeleReadtoday, I wrote a reply to a commenter's question, which is one that is asked often on the Amazon Kindle forums since the slow arrival of the new Kindle software update, which allows user-customizable categories and folder-like organizers named "Collections."

  (See the Intro and Guide to v2.5.x Features for one quick way to get the update for your Kindle model if you don't want to wait for the slowly distributed wireless delivery to a few million, globally.  It includes a step-by-step walkthrough for downloading the software and starting Collections.)

PERIODICALS AND PERSONAL DOCUMENTS, IN SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x
  Because the Kindle owner is able to decide the type of organization that would work best for them, Amazon eliminated the older structure of pre-set folders at the top of the Kindle (hidden until one navigates there) that allowed us to view only "Personal Documents," only "Subscriptions" (Periodicals), or only books (the default was: all Kindle content).

  The whole idea of Collections or categories with the new software update is to give us more control over how we want to see certain types of material.

  Here's what can be done for similar filtering of views.

Periodicals
When you sort your Home page listing by "Most Recent First," the "Periodicals" folder (a pre-set 'Collection’) is always on the last page, as is the "Archived Items" folder, which holds the titles of books at Amazon you own which are not on your Kindle currently but can be re-downloaded at any time.

The process to get to "Periodicals" (Subscriptions) is sometimes a bit faster now, since cursoring up, up, up is quite slow on the Kindle.

Now, you would just look at the number of pages shown at the bottom for your Home listing.
  Example: Page 1 of 8

If it's 8 pages, and you’ve chosen "Most Recent First" sorting:
  type '8' on the keypad and you’ll see gray text come up that says to 'click’ (on the 5-way)
  Example: click to go to page 8
Do that and you'll be on the last page, which has Periodicals and Archived Items

If you’re sorting by Title (alpha) on the Home page, then type ONLY the first character (no more than that or you'll be taken on a long Search instead) of the title you want and you'll see that gray-text, this time saying
  Click to go to P titles
which, if done, will get you to the P's where you’ll find the "Periodicals" pre-set folder or Collection.

Otherwise, "Periodicals" and "Archived Items" are always together on the last page when sorting Home listing by either "Most Recent First" or by "Collections."

Personal Documents
Another pre-set category that some Kindle software v2.5.x users miss is the "Personal Documents" view, but that was always problematical before, with Amazon deciding what a personal document is.  It often didn't correspond with our idea of it.

  Books purchased from sites like feedbooks.com or manybooks.net (mnybks.net) too often wound up in that folder, and actual personal documents could show up on the main book listing.  So, I prefer the current flexibility.
  The Kindle owner now decides what to designate a Collection or folder for any type of book or document.

  In fact, you can make a Collection titled Personal Docs and put ALL your personal documents in there as well as add each one to more topic-oriented Collections.

The new system is flexible when we remember that any book or doc can "belong to" a few Collections.

Wrinkles and Features
The latest issue of any periodical or subscription will show up on the Home listing, even when viewing by Collections sort, and the older issue it replaces will be put by Amazon into the Periodical pre-set Collection.

The latest blog overwrites (removes) the previous one and will always show up on the Home page listing.

Hope that helps some!



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
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Friday, June 18, 2010

Too late for Father's Day? Some ideas from Consumer Reports

At KDKA.com's Consumer Web Extras last night (June 17), their top recommendation for a Father's Day gift caught my eye - yes, a Kindle.
  That turns out to be based on Consumer Reports' recommendation for the holiday, but they had Kindle as the lead paragraph:
' KDKA) Father's Day is Sunday, and if you're still not sure what to get your dad, Consumer Reports has some suggestions.

If your dad likes to read, one of the hottest new gifts this year is an e-book reader.

Consumer Reports recommends the six-inch Kindle e-reader. It's easy to use, loads quickly and costs about $260. Best-selling books range from $10 to $15 at Amazon with free downloads. '

 It's too late, if one wants one from Amazon, to reach the household on Sunday, but now there's Target, and the Kindle seems to be at most of their stores country-wide now,  if only as a demo model,  until they're more set up.  Instead of 30 days given by Amazon to return it for a refund, Target allows 90 days.  So that might be something to consider.

Other recommendations by Consumer Reports, and they should be easy to find where you are if you're in an urban area on Saturday:  (I'll provide Amazon links for info {if available} or for checking after the holiday for other occasions)

  1. Pocket camcorders like the Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra-HD,~$180, said to be among the best at capturing HD-quality video.
  2. For still camera photographers: the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W380,~$140
  3a. digital picture frames: 10-inch HP Dream Screen 100, CR considers the best of the bigger frames but it's ~$200 ($150 at Amazon)
  3b. For much less, testers recommend the eight-inch digital Spectrum Memory Frame MF 801, at ~$70
  4. Garmin Nuvi 265-T GPS unit for ~$150 - a full-featured navigation unit with free traffic service.
  5. Gas grills - Two lower priced choices: a Grillmaster from Lowe's for ~$200 (Lowe 10% off coupons from Home Depot: (1)),   (2)
    and from Walmart, the Uniflame #GBC1059WB grill for ~$250.
  6. Cordless drills: top-rated Panasonic EY6432GQKW combines performance and light weight, but ~$200 cost
    The Craftsman 11588 - "which right now is on sale at Sears for ~$99;
    or you can even further downsize to the Ryobi HJP001K for $80, a compact drill that's a good alternative to pricey cordless screwdrivers."
  7. For the yard: "the electric Black & Decker GH1000 String Trimmer for $~70 is easy to handle, and the Toro Ultra Blower Vac 51599 for $70 blows away the competition."
  8. For the Steelers fan, "the Olympus 8x21 RC-I binoculars for just $50. They say the binoculars' ability to focus close-up makes them a good choice for someone who attends live sporting events."

So, you still have Saturday, to look around your neighborhood :-)



Check oftenLatest temporarily free non-classics or late-listed ones.
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Kindle Collections: Creation and book-transfer advice from Customer Service

In the Amazon forums, there's been no small elation over finally being able to organize Kindle books into user-customizable 'folders' of a type, named "Collections."

 It's easy to do but somewhat time-consuming if you have anything like 400-700++ books on the Kindle.  I had only about 200.  Well, they do encourage us to use the Kindle as a personal library and it's fun for that.

DON'T TRANSFER TOO MANY BOOKS AT ONCE FROM CALIBRE OR MOVE TOO MANY BOOKS AT ONCE INTO COLLECTIONS
  Probably, best advice: Do Not work on more than 100 books at a time without turning on Wireless and doing a Menu/Sync & Check to make sure the work is backed up before working on moving more books.

About four people during the last few days reported that, while working on creating many collections for hundreds of books on the Kindle, at a certain point their Kindles suddenly restarted and the Collections they'd created were gone.  This shouldn't happen of course, but at least we've found that Amazon has two recovery methods for the Collections, as these are apparently backed up automatically when "Wireless" is On for awhile or when you decide to Sync & Check during a Wireless On session.

  (Remember that you can plug in the charger while working with or reading on the Kindle.)

1.   In the case of Chelsea S. Lewis, she received this response from Kindle customesr service:
' I'm so sorry for the issue you've had recently with your Collections after the 2.5 update for the Kindle.

You should be able to recover your Collections by simply de-registering and re-registering your Kindle to your Amazon account.

On your Kindle, visit the Settings screen from the Menu button and select the "Deregister" link.

Once your Kindle has been de-registered, select the "Register" link to re-register your Kindle to your account.  Your Collections should be restored.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If re-registering your Kindle doesn't resolve the issue, please give us a call. [all the information about calling again here]

I hope this helps.  We look forward to seeing you again soon.

[ Andrys here: I hope not for the same reason :-) ]

Best regards,

Jeff
Amazon.com '
And, I assume, not THE Jeff   ;-)  but definitely a helpful one.


2a.  V. Thompson reported:
' I spent hours getting my 430 books from Calibre to my Kindle, into collections over the last two days. Finished them last night.  I ordered five new books, and turned on WN.  I got a funky message saying my Kindle was full and to delete items from home...

I spoke to CS this morning, he was baffled, and had me do a restart.  The last collection I created last night vanished and the 200 or so books I had put in other collections came out of the collections and were back on my home screen!
The CS rep said he was going to be checking it out, and V. started her collections again, but the same thing happened.

Ultimately, the next day, V. had to use a more serious tool -- one to be avoided by users unless they're being helped by Kindle customer service at the time, as this Menu choice removes your books from the Kindle -- but the Amazon books can be re-downloaded for your Kindle later while your non-Amazon books would normally be backed up to your computer so you can move them over later.  A step most of us would want to avoid at any rate.

  The more serious step?  CS had her Reset to Factory Defaults ... Since all her books were in the Calibre program, she went ahead and did that.

After that, the 5 new books did download fine and her original collections were all there. No books were  in them but she had her backups available and used them.

2b.  KINDLE CUSTOMER SUPPORT'S ADVICE TO V
The advice to V was that too many books were moved from Calibre at once, probably overloading the Kindle, having it index too many new books at once (extracting all the words in all the books, for keyword searches).  The CS rep explained that we:
should not download so many books new to the Kindle at a time and to leave Wireless On and the Kindle plugged in while moving many books to the Kindle all at once.

He also explained that the indexing of keywords from so many new books can take a long time, 24 hours or more if you do a large batch of books.

  V. decided to move from the Calibre program no more than 100 books per session onto the Kindle and then leave the Kindle plugged in during the indexing of that many books.  She also did a Sync & Check from the Menu after doing each batch of approximately 100.

 She also chose to turn back 'On'  the Annotations Backup (also under the Menu).  V. explained that what she was told meant that the problem didn't occur due to sorting books into Collections but:
' loading up your Kindle with too many [new] books at one time.  If your books are all already on your Kindle and just need to be put in to collections you can do them all at once.
 I would do a sync when you are done though.  My problem was dumping 430 book from my computer on to my Kindle at once.  Well, in two batches, but I think it was just too much to process. '

WHEN NOT TO WORRY
Melinda Varian, a Kindle owner with vast technological experience in her background, whose advice I always read with interest, advises also:
' With all this discussion of lost collections, I think it's worth mentioning that when one restarts a Kindle with collections and it displays the home screen, that screen at first displays the collections as being empty.  After a minute or two, all is well, but it can be something of a shock at first.  I realize that people are actually losing their collections, but this situation is not a symptom of that. '

AMAZON COMES THROUGH FOR CHELSEA
Chelsea later reported:
' As a further "pleased by customer service" note, Jeff From Amazon just called me again to ask me to e-mail him the "collections" file from my Kindle (it's in the system folder, which you have to unhide hidden folders and operating system files to see, and apparently it's where all your collections data is stored) and to ask permission for tech support to go messing around (remotely) in my Kindle looking for information on what might have caused the bug.

  He said there are a lot of people on the Kindle team currently working on troubleshooting this particular bug (though he said it hasn't happened to a lot of people, but clearly if it's happening to anyone it's a concern).  He also apologized about fifty times and said he was applying a $30 credit to my Amazon account for my trouble.  Which I just checked, and it's there.

So yeah, my feathers are officially unruffled now. Go Team Amazon! '
A nice ending, with good advice.



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Hands-on: Forwarding a passage or note from the Kindle via free 3G wireless


Use your Kindle 2 to send free Tweets over Sprint's 3G network


Betanews' Tim Conneally points out that:
' ...owners of the Amazon Kindle can manually update the software of their E-readers to Version 2.5, and can start Tweeting. This is especially useful because the Kindle has a free connection to Sprint's 3G network, and you post semi-standalone Tweets (I'll explain further) or links to longer text segments. '

Once you have Kindle v2.5.x installed, you can go to Menu/Settings, then choose "Social Networks" to "Manage" (click on that word on the Kindle) and choose whether you'd like to link your Kindle to Twitter or Facebook or both of them.

After choosing at least one to link, then you can start a highlight on any passage in one of your books (either Amazon or non-Amazon), then don't click to end it but look at the bottom to see that you can press alt-enter or alt-return on the Kindle to 'share' the highlight.  Then you're given a box to type a small intro -- you get only 100 characters or so for the intro.  If your quoted passage is from a non-Amazon book, you might want to name the book or document, as Amazon doesn't.

SAVE what you typed in (watch the number of characters left in the bottom left of the box), and off it goes to Facebook and/or Twitter.

Here is Conneally's dark image of his screen showing what this process looks like. He adds:
' Of course, you don't have to even link to text from the book you're reading. You can simply add a text annotation to your book and share that, just start typing and hit "save and share." '

Here's the result at the Amazon page linked to by his Facebook message.

He ends with
' As you can see, that text is also presented with a link and hashtag, so your space is limited.  But since the Kindle has a free connection to Sprint's 3G network, it's easy to overlook such a shortcoming when you can freely send updates wherever there's coverage. '

  I later sent a brief highlight and usual note from the Kindle to Facebook and this is the Amazon page result linked to by the Facebook intro.  A Facebook result is shown earlier in my intro to software update v2.5.x.  Here's that Amazon page result that was linked from the Facebook page.  The quote can be a quite a few more lines longer.

Almost as soon as I lift my hand from the Kindle 'Save,' the forwarded note is at Facebook and Amazon.

  Next time I'll try starting a blank note from a mostly blank page of a book.



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Experimental Web Browser Expands Globally. Glitch? Seems Real - UPDATE4

The Kindle Web-browser expanded to 61 more countries?

Updated 10/29/10 - Original posting, 6/15/10 - 6:39 AM
See "Global Kindle Free 3G Web Browsing: Where? Some Answers. UK table of countries" and the updated Countries Listing also.

Updated 6/16/10 and 6/18/10 - Original posting, 6/15/10 - 6:39 AM
It looks as if Jay Marine, director of product management for Kindle, was serious when he was reported to have said that Amazon does intend to enable its experimental browser in every country.

  I'd read posts from Kindle-owners in other countries saying that their Kindles were suddenly enabled to use the Experimental Web browser.  My speculation had been that it might be a glitch in setting up the new software update and that Amazon may have inadvertently enabled the web browser for many more countries or areas.

An inadvertent enabling occurred with Canada last year when Kindles were first released there.  But there the country-specific features-information at the time for Canada at the Kindle International product pages did show Canada not enabled for the web-browser and that was an error and they disabled them, unfortunately.
  This is different.  The product pages tend to match the noticed new full access by some.

I saw that at Slashgear the U.K. writer says:
'...we’ve also just tested the web browser on our Kindle in the UK – which previously was restricted to viewing Wikipedia – and it seems Amazon has unlocked the 3G connection so that you can now view any site. '
Today, there are about 52 more countries with Amazon product-page feature descriptions which no longer list them as having the web-browser disabled for Kindles bought for use in those countries -- only blogs are disabled in those countries now, as it's been for most International Kindles all along.

  The wording for countries with the web browser disabled tends to be:
"Blogs, social networking features, and the experimental web browser are currently not available for your country. You will have free access to Wikipedia if wireless is available. "
  (The 'social networking features' are new and that feature isn't often mentioned for the possibly affected countries.)

UPDATE: I received corrections from people who know more, for some of the now 65 countries/areas listed on the the preliminary countries-listing linked to below.

Along with the web-browser feature, some European customers are reporting that some books that are free to U.S. residents are now also free to them rather than ~$2.00 as they have been.

This is all coinciding with the new version 2.5.x software.

AGAIN, Amazon has not confirmed ANY of this and it may all be the result of a system glitch on their country product-pages for all I know. But it looks, two weeks later, to be true and in process.

UPDATE: The international 3G access with the experimental web browser turned out to be true and not a system glitch.

UPDATE - See country details on a separate page.

COUNTRIES WITH CUSTOMERS REPORTING FULL ACCESS BRIEFLY BUT FOR WHICH
  THE AMAZON PRODUCT PAGES WERE NOT SHOWING THE 3G WEB BROWSER AVAILABILITY
  Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden product pages at Amazon didn't currently show them enabled, but some Kindle owners reported full web access in those areas for a brief time after software update 2.5.x -- the access became UNavailable for most in those 9 countries, with a later 2.5.x software update in August.

    UPDATE: The Amazon Kindle country product-page wording changed constantly during August through September.

Last updated September/October, 2010



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Monday, June 14, 2010

DOWNLOAD v2.5.x. - An Intro and Hands-on Guide to Kindle Software Version 2.5.x Features - Updated Info7

A KINDLE GUIDE

KINDLE SOFTWARE VERSION 2.5.x READY FOR DOWNLOAD

KINDLE-3 users should jump direct to the Intro and Guide
by clicking HERE
.

  You can now download the official software version 2.5.x instead of waiting for it to come to your Kindle over wireless.  Thanks again to Frankie Sutton for monitoring the appearance of it :-).

To check whether you already have it (if, for instance, if Amazon already sent it over Whispernet when reception makes that possible and your Wireless is On), press Menu Button, select Settings, and then look at the lower-right of the status line.
  If the version number has "2.5.2" or "2.5.3" you already have the new version.

  As mentioned, it is also being delivered over Whispernet, and as usual, it can take a few days or weeks.  So, you can also wait to get it that way, of course.
  I found v.2.5.3 appearing on my Kindle DX U.S. to my surprise, over the air, and v2.5.2 appearing on my Kindle 2 U.S. as well.

  As of this moment, the server files for all 4 Kindle types have filenames of v2.5.2 though people report Kindle 2 Int'l and Kindle DX (US at least) settings of v2.5.3 (probably Kindle DX Int'l too).

Also, here is an adapted Guide to Installation of update from an Amazon forum posting by Marc Miwords.   First,
. Go [to the help page].
. Download the file associated with the Kindle version you have.
(Do you have K2 or DX and is it US or International?)

. (You can find the serial number on the back of your Kindle.  If it starts with:
B002... it's a 6" Kindle 2, U.S. version, using Sprint's wireless network
B003, it's an International or Global version of the 6" Kindle 2 version and uses AT&T's wireless network - released October 19, 2009
B004, it's a 9.7" Kindle DX, U.S. version
B005, it's a 9.7" Kindle DX, Global version - released January 6, 2010. '
. Another way to get the serial number is to have Wireless On, press Menu button, click on Settings and then input the numbers 411

Steps to Start a Collection (no periods used after each step)
. Once you have loaded the file, put it on your desktop [or to a download folder you normally use], so you can easily find it
. Plug your Kindle in to the computer using the USB cord
. Find the Kindle, usually shown as a 'Drive' or labeled "Kindle"
. The space you then see with a bunch of folders showing is called the "root directory"
. Drag your new .bin (update file), to the root directory. [Make sure your file is placed ABOVE the folders you can still see, such as "Documents" "Music" etc.
. Safely eject your Kindle the way you normally would
  (How you do this depends on what operating system you have...do you have XP or Vista or a Mac? etc.)   For Vista, you go to "Computer" and right click on the drive letter with the Kindle.  For Marc's Vista, it's "F" but with other operating systems it could be 'G' or 'H' etc.  It may also be labeled "Kindle"... (You will see a choice to "eject" {or 'remove' on some Macs} and you click on that.)
. Unplug your Kindle from the computer
. From your Home page on the Kindle, click "Menu"
. From that menu, click "Settings"
. From the settings page, click "menu" again
. "Update My Kindle" should be black rather than gray'd out
. If black, click on it to start the update
. Your Kindle will update. (Takes a while because the file is large.)
. The Kindle wording will alert you to do nothing until it completes
. It reboots during all this of course
. When it is updated, click "Home" button


COLLECTIONS KINDLE 3 USERS - Ignore above section
. From Home, click on "Menu"
. Go to "Add New Collection"
. Name the Collection.  Repeat as wanted  *
. Go to your books
. At each book, push the 5 way controller to the right
. From that menu, click "Add To Collection"
. Using the 5 way Controller, scroll to a collection you want to use for that particular book
. Click the 5 way controller
. One click ADDs it, another click REMOVES it -- from the collection but not from your device
. Press Back button to get back to where you were in the books
. Repeat until you have all of your books in collections.

ALTERNATIVE Collections-creation method
* NOTE: You can, instead, create a Collection, name it, and THEN choose to
ADD books to it
, and you will be taken to your book collection and you
can mark the books that are to be added to the collection.
  A book can be added to many collections. '


*** Kindle 3 users should start here ***
INTRO AND GUIDE - Main portion

Kindle Update v2.5x
, featuring the new Collections capability among other new items. is still being rolled out via Whispernet while the files are downloadable from their servers.

 Amazon indicated that Kindle Support received good feedback on the few update version 2.5 files sent out early in May and were making 'small adjustments' based on what they did hear.  The update scheduled to be available 'before Summer' when announced in November made its deadline.

 Basic answers to questions we had initially are in the online documentation.

  So I've linked to the Amazon help pages for each new feature when I've found one, as those describe how these new features work.  As mentioned, the software updates have been delivered to many Kindles but without help files or alerts that a new nicely-different update was installed.

The topmost-left image starting this blog article is of my Kindle screen after I applied  a workaround recommended by knowledgeable Kindle user luvmy4BRATs.   Using certain symbols such as '*' or '[' or '{'  forces the Collections group-names into an above-individual-books alphabetical sort when using the  "By Title" option, which people with many Collections will find more useful than the official and separate "Collections" sorting that is done by the new software.



That official Collections Home-listing, as seen in the image at the right, sorts only by most-recently accessed Collection and at times it even appears to be random.

  With 30 Collections and three pages of those on my Kindle 2 (U.S.), I had problems finding any Collection I knew held the book I wanted because I had to check each Collection name on the Home screens.

  See image on the right for how the Default listing for Collections displays.

  Then note image at top-left for the workaround recommended by luvmy4BRATs.


THE LIST OF ENHANCEMENTS - emphases mine:
* Collections: Organize your books and documents into one or more collections.


 

Sorting Content and Using Collections


Once you have this software (most of us in late May), we would still go up to the top of the HOME screen and navigate the SORT options, which will now include "Collections," which are categories we create.   The set-categories given us before (Personal Docs, etc.) are no longer shown.


The HOME screen will look the same, but when we go up to the SORT options area at the top of the screen, we'll be able to view the Collections we've created.  You can see that the categories or collections are shown along with the number of books or documents in those collections.  The default option will remain "Most Recent First" unless we arrow over to Collections option and click on it.

Collections are created from a Menu option on the Home screen and can be renamed or deleted later (see screen image below).

  A book can be in several collections, but even if it is in only one collection, the deletion of that collection won't affect the book, which will then just show on the Home screen.




  Collections can be transferred across registered Kindle devices and you'll be able to import collections from your other Kindle devices under the Archived Items page, using "Add Other Device Collections.

  If you re-download a deleted book, it will download to the collection or category it was a part of before.


M O R E     O N. . .
THE COLLECTIONS FEATURE
Except for no option for Alpha sorting of Collections, this feature is especially well thought out, so it's intuitive, logical, and therefore easy to use.   It has a tag-type structure, so that you can have a book in several groupings at any time.  There is only one level of groupings though.

  See a Step-by-Step for Adding Collections and books for them, by Marc Miwords, above.  After reading that, press 'Back' on your browser to return here.

  Already I have 30 named Collections under which I want to find things.   But it's still brought my list of 200+  books and documents way down.  And it's really easy to find the books I'm in the mood to read now.

   I had wished earlier that we could mark and move several books at once into this or that collection.  A few reporting having a thousand or more books on their Kindles would need this even more.
UPDATE - Ray Fowler (and later, Eric) points out in the Comments area that we can "Open a collection.  Press Menu.  Select Add/Remove Items.  Now you can go through your list of books checking them off as part of the collection or unchecking them as you go."
  While it wasn't what I had in mind exactly, as I wanted to check books off and then create or fill a new 'Collection' for those, it fills the bill.
  Thanks to them for taking the time for the reminder.  I had not looked forward to opening 30 collections one by one and then reviewing over 200 books each time to see what should go in, but the way I had wanted would have its own probs.


* PDF Pan and Zoom: Zoom into PDFs and pan around to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics

  Zooming on Images and PDF Documents
  That page will show how it's done for books and for PDF documents. 
    Normally, rotating to Landscape, which fits the PDF width to the Landscape screen   will be all that's needed.

   But, you can also Press "Aa" key (font & layout key) to magnify a section by 150%, 200% and   300% -- or view in "actual size," which sometimes allows you to scroll to right and left.

   When using the little boxes to identify what you want zoomed, be sure to use the Shift-key with 5-way button to "nudge" the box in any direction you want to get something closer to the specific area you need.


* Password Protection: Password protect your Kindle when you're not using it. 
  Here's the guide.  This feature is Off as a Default and is optional.
    The password is set from the Menu/Settings screen and you provide a hint.
    If you don't remember the password, you'll get a phone number for
    Customer Support who will help you reset it.


* More Fonts and Improved Clarity: Enjoy two new larger font sizes  and sharper fonts for an even more comfortable reading experience.


* Facebook and Twitter Posts: Share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from your Kindle.

    Sharing Highlights and Notes on Facebook and Twitter
  The linked Amazon help page for this (just above) details how this is done.


* Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you're reading.

  Annotations: Highlights ...
    Part of this feature is already included in our private, password-protected Annotations webpage (we have this page if we left Annotations Backup enabled in the Menu/Settings options).
   Here's an example of what highlights for a book look like on our private annotations webpage (ignoring my own idea of privacy for a moment) before the recent addition of  "popular highlights."

  If three or more people highlight overlapping portions of a passage, this will trigger the alert, in your book, that others have highlighted a given passage.  You can turn this feature off under Menu/Settings.

  I think I'll turn this off until I've read
the chapter or book because I don't want to be influenced by what others highlighted while I'm still reading.  I don't read movie reviews in detail for the same reason.  I'd like to read just what the author wrote, without cues from others.  The feature is probably very useful for bookclubs though.

(Often wished-for enhancements that are Not on the list:   Direct editing of PDFs and ability to directly-read non-rights-protected ePub w/o converting them first).


M O R E   O N . . .
PAN AND ZOOM ON PDFS
This is very effective for zooming in on a selected area (zoom box size is not extendable as they fit what your chosen magnification is).  Using the  'Aa' font-key, we can choose magnifications of 150, 200, and 300x.  And the resulting scaled-up text is VERY clear.

  I'd like, though,  a smoother way to move to another part of the page, to the right especially, when using the moving box border but the shift + 5-way button to nudge it a bit over helps.


HUGE FONT SIZE
The Amazon Customer Service Team mentioned on the official Kindle forum and on Facebook earlier that this update promised before Summer would include a font that is twice the size of the current largest Kindle font.  The new fonts really ARE huge..

  There'd also been some hope that Kindle menu-options would be included in text-to-speech by then but I don't see that audio feature listed.  


FACEBOOK/TWITTER HIGHLIGHTS SHARING FEATURE
  The Facebook/Twitter features are ready, and the online-tutorial I'll link to shows you how to use it and what we'll see when we send out a highlighted section for others to read.  Those familiar with Facebook and Twitter know that these two companies ask you to link other webpages or processes to your page on their sites.  Some will be more comfortable with that than others.  Some already do like the feature quite a bit.  I decided to test it out and here's what the Facebook portion of this shared-highlight looks like there:


The actual highlight I made (and the nicer aspect of this is that we can make a longer highlighted passage this way) is linked to at Facebook (or at Twitter if you choose that) and the passage is then shown at an Amazon page made for that.  Here's how the highlighted portion appears at your shared highlight page at Amazon.

  News writers seem to find this by far the most interesting feature though Kindle-owners have long pushed for the other new features.

  Not only is Sharing across cables apparently sexy (newswise), but few e-readers have easy wireless access, not to mention almost-anywhere-anytime 3G Wireless access at no added cost.  So, you could be sitting on a bus, or a bench somewhere, reading a passage you want to share with friends, and you can just highlight something of interest to friends at Facebook or Twitter and send it off.  The advantage for Amazon is obvious. 


WHEN DO MOST OF US GET THE V2.5 UPDATE? (Only  maybe 25,000+ received v2.5, but many more have received v2.5.2).   This firmware update will probably be updated now and then and delivered over Whispernet (Kindle Wireless). I had said that Amazon is probably readying a final version or about to designate v2.5.2 v2.5.3 official and will eventually have an announcement about it and hopefully the proper files for each Kindle model, as usual, for manual download when necessary.  So that time has come (6/14/10).

  For Whispernet downloads when available - What I do - I plug in the adapter at night after turning Wireless ON through the Menu system, just in case.  Amazon has said that the update will be delivered when the Kindle is in 'deep sleep' mode. I've also read that they say that leaving your wireless on for 30 minutes a day when expecting an update will serve to get the update if it's been 'sent' to your Kindle.

  It's *important* also to remember to turn Wireless OFF after you remove the power adapter the next morning to avoid fast battery drain once you've  downloaded any subscriptions/periodicals that might be coming in that day.   I do appreciate the early birds taking care of any bugs before the rest of us get it though :-).

  Their over-the-air (OTA)Whispernet updates are usually distributed over a matter of weeks, so some will wait for what can seem a long time if they're reading about an update on the forums. With v2.5.x we now can download the software version and install it. (See top of this intro and guide.)

UPDATED INFO6 - Now that the current Kindle v2.5.x software update is downloadable from Amazon's servers via their manual update process, I've removed the history of Kindle owners sharing various files and previous files in order to get the update they saw others getting.

  I imagine this was encouragement for Amazon to finally get updates up, but it's also likely that Amazon wanted a subset of the v2.5.2 version to go out globally to see if there were problems with being able to use it intuitively and to make sure there were no obvious problems for the non-tech users which is their target audience.  For that they'd need non-beta-test-type users, and of course their software version would have been bullet-proofed earlier against damage to the Kindle and the users' files.
  It IS intuitive, to the extent that software with so many features offered in e-reader can be.

The Kindle-owner history of sharing unofficial update-files where there were none that they could download but people around them were getting them, which I felt was an unhealthy situation for Amazon but one that brought cheer to Kindle users not getting such an important update, is now at this page as a sort of "blog-archive."


EXCELLENT HANDS-ON GUIDE FOR THE UPDATE v2.5
Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng has a fine hands-on report on the Kindle software upgrade, thoroughly illustrated.  Don't miss this one.


KINDLE 1 INCLUSION SOMEDAY?
  Wording on the page had indicated the update would not be for the original Kindle 1, no real surprise, as the screen-handling of the cursor navigation for the Kindle Klassic, as it's often called, is "indirect" and uses entirely different software instructions from the "direct" screen cursor access for the current Kindle 6" and Kindle DX.
  But a note from Customer Support to a Kindle 1 owner suggests strongly that they may well be working on a similar organizational feature for the Kindle 1.



Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

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