Round up #79: movies on Touch, Send to Kindle for Mac
Send to Kindle for Mac now available
In this
Amazon Kindle community thread
Amazon announces that Send to Kindle has come to the Mac.
That’s significant in a couple of ways.
Not only does it show that Amazon is continuing to work to give us more capabilities (at no additional cost), it also shows that they take the time to notify us…in a customer forum.
I often go back to that as a reason why I like Amazon…customer service.
I was recently made a “Kindle Forum Pro”, which gives me a badge in the forum. It’s based on forum member ratings, and I think they said they reassess it every quarter.
I don’t like the name of the title, actually, because a “pro” to me suggests that I’m getting paid for it.
I’ve also seen the sincerity of one of the Kindle Forum Pros called into question by other posters…the suggestion was actually made that the “pro” got the badge by toeing the company line! I’m surprised at how eager people are to put negative interpretations on things.
Okay, back to the announcement. 
We’ve had Send to Kindle for the PC since January 13 of this year, and it is a nice feature.
It allows you to send documents to your Kindles easily. The announcement says:
“From Finder, simply drag and drop one or more documents on to the Send to Kindle icon on your Dock or launch the application and drag and drop one or more documents on to it. From Finder, you can also control-click on one or more documents and choose Send to Kindle. From any other application that can print, select Print and choose Send to Kindle.”
You can get the Send to Kindle software here:
Touches that Movie You
Everybody knows you can’t watch movies on an RSK (Reflective Screen Kindle), right?
Well, you certainly can’t watch full video, like you would see on Netflix (which just had a worrying financial report, by the way…could Amazon Instant Video be having an impact?) or Hulu.
Thanks to T. Kaya in this
Amazon Kindle community forum thread
for the heads up on this
which shows a Kindle Touch doing animation…sort of.
It’s very limited animation…it doesn’t even rise to the level of an old Speed Racer cartoon. 
It’s more like a flipbook…there are a few images showing an action taking place, and your mind feels in the gaps.
Of course, that’s what happens with all video…but how smooth it is has to do with how many “frames” a second you see.
That’s the current limitation with E Ink and animation…it just takes too long to “draw each screen” to get a very fast FPS (frames per second) rate.
So, you see the gaps.
The dark flashes we periodically get would also make this less effective.
Still, the video is cool…it’s like building a cruise ship out of ping pong balls. It’s not the equivalent of the real thing, but just the ability to do it is impressive.
Shipping News
Amazon started shipping the Kindle Touch internationally on April 20th, seven days early, according to this
Barnes & Noble is also shipping their NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight (TM) ahead of time, according to this
This is something I expect to have come to a future RSK as well…it’s front-lighting you can turn on and off. B&N is ahead of Amazon on it, and is pushing it for Mother’s Day (which is traditionally a big bookselling holiday).
It’s a nicely-written press release, and does say that there are demo models in the stores. They also said there has been “very strong pre-order demand”, which is good to hear, even if a bit imprecise (no less so than Amazon often is, of course).
LYKF update available
My book, Love Your Kindle Fire, now has an update available if you are a previous buyer at your
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
page.
Go to the page, search for the title…and you’ll see a link that says
update available
In the
Actions…
button, you’ll also see a choice to
Update this title
They do warn you:
“Please note: When we send you the updated version, you will no longer be able to view any highlights, bookmarks, and notes made, and your furthest reading location will be lost.”
I’d recommend that you do it, but it’s up to you. I added a new section on the keyboard which I think is helpful, and it’s been updated for 6.3.
I suspected the update was coming when the “bookstream” (live chat) disappeared on my Kindle Fire for this title in the last day or two.
I tried opening the book on my Fire, and it didn’t instantly update (although the MYK page said it had been sent).
I closed the book, did a sync with Amazon
Settings Gear – Sync
and then when I opened it, it had updated.
This ability to get updated titles (and as an author/publisher, to make them available) is really remarkable.
For more on that, see this
Language Optimized Storefront
Oh, that sneaky Manage Your Kindle page!
Amazon keeps adding more treasure there, and not telling us about it. That would be very disconcerting to a Dungeons and Dragons player…when you clear a room, it usually stays cleared.
They’ve now added this:
“Language Optimized Storefront
This setting will optimize the storefront on your Kindle in the language that you choose. Please note that this change will take up to 48 hours to take effect, and is only available for customers residing in the United States.”
I haven’t tested this because, although my Significant Other speaks much better Spanish than I do, I think the change might be…disconcerting. I remember when I finally convinced my SO I needed a GPS in the car, since I drive all over the place in my job (reasonably often to places I haven’t been before). My SO didn’t want something in the car “telling me what to do”.
So, I had it in the car, and my SO went to use it the first time…and I forgot I’d set it to kilometers! Yes, I live in the USA, but I’m that geeky. Needless to say, that was a big “oops” on my part…
Ironically, at this point, I don’t use a GPS (that one eventually failed)…I use my phone instead.
If you do try this out, I’d appreciate an assessment…and I’m sure my readers would as well.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
April 26, 2012 at 4:33 am |
I tried to upgrade my copy of your book, but got an error saying it couldn’t do that right now and gave a phone number to call. Ill try again in the morning, if I still have the same problem, I’ll call them about it.
April 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm |
Thanks for writing, vrwl!
I’m sorry to hear that! When I updated my version (and I do it the same way everybody else does), it went smoothly. Please let me know how it goes.
April 26, 2012 at 1:38 pm |
The update went through fine this morning, so it must have just been a temporary glitch. No problems!
April 28, 2012 at 5:00 pm |
I periodically get emails when there is a corrected version of a book I’ve previously purchased. In the last one I got, I noticed something new.
An April 19 notice (like all the previous ones) contained the language:
“This book has undergone significant changes, so once we send you the updated version of this book you will no longer be able to view any highlights, bookmarks, and notes that have been made in your current version and your furthest reading location will be lost.”
On April 24, for a different book, the email contained the paragraph:
“Before you update to the new version, check to see that all devices that you have used to read this book are connected to a network and that their Annotations Backup settings are turned on. This will ensure that your notes, highlights, bookmarks and furthest reading location are retained in the new version.”
April 29, 2012 at 1:40 am |
Thanks for writing, Margaret!
That is interesting! I know when my book was recently updated, it did wipe out my notes.
I’m not sure if they might have changed something, or if it’s affected by how significant the revision is. If the revision significantly changed locations in the book, it might not be possible to retain the location-based annotations.
I’m not sure, though…thanks for sharing those!