About
This blog is by Kindle author Bufo Calvin, and focuses on Amazon’s electronic book reader, as well as the world of e-books in general.
If you would like to contact me privately, you can leave a comment on this page. Please indicate in the comment that you would like it kept private. When you leave a comment, I can see your e-mail, but my readers can not. If you tell me your comment is private and you would like to be contacted, I can send a message to your e-mail. If you do not indicate it as private, I may choose to publish your comment, as you see below this.
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The I Love My Kindle blog, started in 2009, and which covers the Amazon Echo as part of its coverage of Amazon and the world of e-books, is not affiliated with author April F. Hamilton’s Love My Echo blog.
I Love My Kindle 
September 2, 2009 at 3:38 am |
Hi Bufo! I am really enjoying your blog. The only thing that would make it better is if I could subscribe to it at at the Amazon Kindle store so I could receive it on my Kindle…
September 2, 2009 at 3:55 am |
I appreciate that, Peggy. 🙂
There are two factors affecting the blog getting into the Kindle store, although that was my intent from the beginning. I figure my other titles are there, it makes sense for this to be there.
The first one is that I’ve asked Amazon a couple of questions about the agreement for the blog publishing. They are supposed to get back to me soon.
The other one is that someone recommended to me that I wait a little bit until I build up a few posts. That made sense to me. When people try the 14-day free sample, it would be nice if they got some real value for it, and something that will give them a sense of what to expect.
My guess is that it will be in the Amazon store within a week or so, if all the things work out as expected.
Thanks again for the kind words!
December 3, 2011 at 6:37 pm |
Hello Bufo,
I can’t tell you how helpful your blogs are to getting the most out of my Kindle Fire. I am Canadian living in the US for 6 months. I have concerns about how much I can do on my Kindle Fire when I leave for home at the end of April. Do you think that Amazon will have them available for Canadians by then? Your comment that some of the sites serve more than one country listing Canada among others confuses me. Can you explain further what you mean?
December 3, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Thanks for writing weaverjudeJudy!
Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you’ve found the blog useful.
First, let me address the concern about other countries.
These are the specific sites. When the French Kindle was released, Amazon said that it covered France, Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Interestingly, the German one overlaps some of these (as do the languages: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
I assume if you live in, say, Switzerland, you could buy from either Amazon.de or Amazon.fr.
Canada does not have its own Kindle. If you try and buy a Kindle from the Canadian Amazon site, it directs you to buy one from Amazon.com.
As to the Fire…it would have reduced value in Canada right now. You couldn’t, for example, use the free Prime streaming video. Americans traveling abroad have some restrictions:
Traveling with Fire Amazon help page
In your case, I assume you have Canadian credentials (credit card, address). Currently, with the Fire, you may not be able to purchase anything.
That has to do with licensing restrictions. A company that has purchased the rights to show a movie in the USA, may not have the right to show it in Canada.
Will Amazon make enough deals to make this work in Canada within six months?
I’m always sure that Amazon would like to sell everything everywhere…on the Earth and off it. 🙂 Strictly guessing, I’m thinking that yes, the Fire might be sold in Canada by May of 2013. It might not have access to everything a US Kindle Fire has…in particular, it might not connect with the Prime streaming videos. It would still be useful, though.
I’m just speculating…I’ve been wrong before. 🙂
December 21, 2009 at 9:33 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I have no idea as to the proper etiquette involved, but I took the liberty of linking to your blog from my own. I hope this is okay.
I like your site, BTW. This ought to keep Santa’s favorites (new Kindle owners) busy for a while. 🙂
Regards,
Spad
December 22, 2009 at 1:26 am |
Thanks for posting, Spad!
I think you’ll find that nobody minds if you link to their blog…I don’t think you even have to ask first. That’s assuming it is a public blog, of course.
The only thing where I’ve ever seen concern expressed is when a page is linked on a site (as opposed to a blog) that isn’t the first page. That may mean that people skip some important introductory information, and that can be a problem if there are disclaimers on that first page.
I haven’t had a chance to look at your blog yet, but I will. 🙂 I’m sure I’ll be linking to it, but I don’t want to do it until I’ve seen it. For those of you who are curious, Spad does a blog of literary anecdotes (and more). You can see it here: http://spad1.wordpress.com/
January 4, 2010 at 1:29 am |
HNY BUFO….I took the Gramma’s to Utah over the weekend….to play “Gramma” natch! and….I finally got some quality KDX time….I find it addictive and all I’ve done is (review/trial some) look at all the rags and blogs. I found a “sensitive” spot on the side of my KDX close to the bottom of the “next page” bar…if you accidently touch that area the machine re-boots….but all of home page did return when done. My gel cover is BO, I have to hold it somewhere? (the slippery little devil) I was wondering if your blog is atomatically sent out to all subscribers every 24H?….it seems whenever I wake B’s’K up….”YOOP there you are”…I enjoy ILMK don’t even think otherwise….am just learning, thats all. Last question? I am hopping you share a “work” email with newbies?…I don’t Twit nor Face…I think one day everyone’s address/personal info & all their BF’s same is all going to be hacked then “spoodged” w/spam….so, if you could, it would like….help one more stupid person allot!…thanks for all the “tips” so far.
January 4, 2010 at 1:44 am |
Thanks for writing, blair!
I’m glad you’re getting some time with your KDX. 🙂
There shouldn’t be a sensitive spot. If it’s bothering you, I’d consider contacting Customer Service to exchange your Kindle (if it’s within 30 days of purchase, certainly). On the other hand, you’re right that a cover could resolve it. ..even a skin could reduce the sensitivity.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/kindle-help.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200316870&type=email&skip=true#csTop
The way you are contacting me, by commenting on the About page is a good way to reach me. I check this frequently.
I typically send out a new post at 5:05 PM Pacific time…sometimes I do more than one in a day, like the Flash posts. However, that’s when it appears at the website. When you set up a blog at Amazon, they ask you how often you will post, and I said once a day. So, I assume they roll it out once a day…it may not update to everybody’s Kindle at the same time. Of course, you have to turn on the wireless to receive it. 🙂 When you get it, you’ll get the most recent ten posts on your Kindle.
January 18, 2010 at 5:31 am |
Bufo,
I have a new Kindle as of Dec. 18th (as a gift). I signed up for your blog on December 22 and my account shows my credit card was billed the 0.99 on January 5 (approximately 14 days after I signed on). I haven’t received a blog on my Kindle since the one I got on January 5. It looks like the account gave me the 14 day trial, then stopped.
Can you help or should I contact Amazon?
Thanks,
Tim
January 18, 2010 at 1:00 pm |
Thanks for writing, Tim!
Hmmm…if it’s really the 14-day trial and out, that suggests that there is a problem with the payment method. You could contact Amazon for that…
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/kindle-help.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200316870&type=email&skip=true#csTop
If the 14-days is a coincidence, you may have what I call a “blogjam”. I have steps to resolve those here:
January 20, 2010 at 11:27 pm |
I have to jump on the “I love my Kindle” blog bandwagan as well. Your OCD gets in the way occasionally 🙂 but thats a good thing. I just got “Tim’s” (above) “about” post @gmail address?…is that because I signed up for it?….I thought I would get only responces to some problem that I posted?….but “whathehey”….Tim, I’m sure that Big AM’s programming charges plastic one minute after the 14th day to the minute before that you signed up….just in case you wrote yourself a note to cancel on the day but forgot to write down the time you signed up….why you didn’t recieve but one is something I have not experienced yet….I had to start a note folder of all the tip’s and tricks.
February 2, 2010 at 1:33 am |
I was poking around on Amazon trying to figure out the book sharing among users question and I saw a post from you. I am 99.99995% sure I knew you way back in time (over 30 years ago), since there can’t be very many Bufo Calvins out there.
— Mike Weston
February 2, 2010 at 2:22 am |
Thanks for writing, Mike!
Hmmm…Mike Weston. You certainly might have known me…give me a little more context, if you like.
I’m pretty sure I’m the only one out there. 🙂
Did you have a question on the book sharing thing, too? I actually have a question into the Amazon legal department right now, since they appear to have changed their language a bit.
May 21, 2010 at 3:43 am |
“mulling my options” – if you buy anything but a kindle then how will you still produce the ilmk blog? if this happens i will have to drop my paid subscription! would advise you to buy a kindle or shut down the blog!!
May 21, 2010 at 3:51 am |
Thanks for writing, wilford!
Not to worry, I have a Kindle I’m using now. 🙂 As you may have noticed as I listed the options, the Kindles are all pretty much a better option for me. I have a K1 I’m using, but I did want to give people an insight into my thinking. I can’t see getting a nook or a Sony, really, for example.
As to shutting down the blog: I write quite a bit about e-books in general, as you probably know. I could get another EBR (but again, that doesn’t seem the most likely), and still write based on my K1 and on the other topics.
I appreciate that you are a subscriber, and any decision you would make would be up to you, of course. I can’t see any course where I wouldn’t be keeping you up to date on Kindle information, and I hope you would make the decision to continue or not based on the blog, and not on my personal circumstances.
I certainly wish I still had that Kindle, and virtual fingers crossed, I still hope it will come back…that would be the ideal solution.
May 21, 2010 at 10:20 am |
Bufo.
My post was partly toungue in cheek but at the same time I have to admit that it ‘seems’ like k2 specific tips have been down since your loss of your loved one. May just seem that way to me and pleaaase dont spend time prooving my gray hair wrong statistically! LOL! The k2 will work on the web as both of these blog post were done from mine – hate the tiny keyboard but that is also why I dont send text messages!! Buy a K2 & lets get back to work!!!
May 21, 2010 at 12:03 pm |
Thanks, wilford, I appreciate the clarification. 🙂
I will say that I’d really like to write a thorough post on collections, but I’m a little reluctant to do it without having been able to experiment with them. I’ll probably do something, though. 🙂
Maybe I’ll just go ahead, but I’m thinking I may wait one more month…there may be Dads and Grads specials that could make a difference.
In the meantime, I’m reading on my old K1. 🙂
August 15, 2010 at 4:49 pm |
Hi, I am a big fan of all your blogs and books and subscribe to 2 of your blogs on my Kindle. I have followed your posts about the Agency Model publishers with much interest and for the most part avoid buying their books. I recently discovered a charge from Amazon that was for an amount I knew I had not charged (a recent credit card hacking incident has made me much more vigilant about keeping track of charges). I went through my order history and found the charge in question and was very surprised to find I had been charged sales tax for this purchase. This hadn’t happened before and I have made purchases since this one that were not charged sales tax. Puzzled about this, I contacted Kindle CS and was told that since the book was sold by Harper Collins and not Amazon, that sales tax would be charged (I knew this was an Agency Model publisher book but I REALLY wanted it). The CS rep told me that any book sold by the publisher (stated under the price on the product page) would have sales tax charged. It was my understanding that a company had to have a physical presence in my state to charge sales tax. Looks like I’m going to have to double my resolve to not purchase from Agency Model publishers!
August 15, 2010 at 6:00 pm |
Thanks for writing Jeannine!
I’m glad you enjoy the blogs, and I always appreciate it when someone subscribes. 🙂
Yes, sales tax being collected at the time of sale changed when publishers became the “sellers of record” under the Agency Model. The publisher does have to have a physical presence in your state for that state to be able to compel Amazon to collect sales tax at the time of purchase. However, a physical presence doesn’t have to be a buliding, it can be a sales force.
You may find this earlier post helpful in explaining it:
August 22, 2010 at 8:40 pm |
Not sure where to leave this question, but it seems like you are the guy to ask!
I thought I remembered that some folks *received* their Kindle 2’s **on** the release day. Is that right? Do you think that is possible this week w/ the Kindle 3s?
If they ship on Friday, that means I won’t get it until Monday or Tuesday!!! Wahh!! I’m just excited to see it!
August 22, 2010 at 10:53 pm |
Thanks for writing, Andrea!
I think it is possible some people will get their K3s on the 27th…but I think that’s really the day it is supposed to ship for the earliest orderers. I wouldn’t count on it being there before Monday or Tuesday. That said, Amazon has beaten some deadlines before, so we’ll see.
Virtual fingers crossed for you. 🙂 Do you have an Estimated Delivery Date yet? I don’t…
August 22, 2010 at 11:16 pm |
Nope, no estimated delivery date. I ordered 7/29, fwiw. I’ll try to keep my expectations on next Tuesday, that way I won’t be disappointed and *if* it comes early, I’ll be pleasantly surprised!
November 19, 2010 at 1:40 pm |
Hi,
I’m Kindle-fan and I like your blog very much.
I think you might like to re-publish this nice infographic: http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/11/14/kindle-facts-and-figures-history-specs/
Xaban
November 19, 2010 at 2:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, Xaban!
That’s interesting…it’s similar to my timeline, but I do like it. Oh, it’s not the same…I wasn’t suggesting that…just that we happened to cover similar things.
December 8, 2010 at 5:26 am |
Nice blog!
I happened on your site while searching google on an annotations backup issue.
Have you ever heard of anyone having “Annotations Backup” turned OFF and then when they turned it back ON the highlights from books they marked while the feature was OFF don’t sync.
I did this accidentally and really want to see all my highlights synced to the web. I’d LOVE any help.
thanks!
December 8, 2010 at 12:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, winsomemarketing!
Thanks for the kind words! Always appreciated. 🙂
There are two things that occur to me:
First, the sync to the web feature (where the highlights show up at http://kindle.amazon.com ) only works on books you bought from the Kindle store. If you got the books somewhere else, you can see the highlights on your Kindle, but they don’t go to that site.
Second, you would have to sync from your Kindle before they could show up:
Home-Menu-Sync & Check for Items
Usually, mine do show up pretty quickly
Let me know what happens…I’m curious.
December 11, 2010 at 7:09 pm |
Bufocalvin-
Been reading your blog on my Kindle 3/3G (first model ever for me) for a few months now- well done!
A few comments on what I’m seeing and my observations:
1) As someone who has been involved in the PDA ebook/software adventure since the Pilot5000 days of 1996-’97, and was VP Marketing for Quickoffice for 4 years, and read MANY books, including 3 of the Harry Potter books on my PalmPilots, I think MANY similar issues are playing out in the eBook market that have/are happening in the mobile software market…but I’ll get to that.
[[BIG aside: I negotiated the first PDA deal to bundle Quickoffice, an Office-compatible file editor suite with a handheld (HandEra 330)– including the app Quickword, that could also open and edit Palm Doc files (thanks, Rich Bram, father of the eBook IMHO, for creating the Palm ‘Doc’ PDB/PRC format, and the creator of SmartDoc–which we licensed–for so nicely handling these files) and included a feature that STILL is not present on the mainstream eInk eReaders– adjustable speed scrolling text… is that even on the Nook Color(?) where I see Quickoffice is now again bundled… I am still on frequent contact with the 1996 founder of Memoware.com, Craig Froehle, a professor at Univ of Cinncinnati.]]
2) There are some massive ironies out there in the market right now: I was noticing the incredible wackiness of Seth Godin (somewhat of a guru I follow and see as a pretty bright guy) who was one of the first to provide free PDF book publishing/distribution, toyed with multi-copy sales/distribution models, and is generally a guy who ‘gets it’ to the point he is working with Amazon on the new Domino Project (http://www.thedominoproject.com/frequently-asked-questions) yet has been publishing his books with Penguin (the devil incarnate to Kindle owners opposed to the Agency Model – see http://seekingalpha.com/article/208017-penguin-group-upsets-kindle-owners-with-exorbitant-prices). So, is Godin truly ‘walking away’ from traditional publishing and leaving the Penguin out in the cold with one less author? Is he taking his ball (bald head full of great stuff like purple cows) and going home to type and publish all by himself? We’ll see, but one wonders WTH has taken so long, if he, and other popular business thinkers truly ‘get it’…? Take Guy Kawasaki – great guy, Apple stalwart, who wrote Reality Check in 2008, published through — Penguin — and seems to flash that toothy smile as the Kindle edition sells for $19.99– $.22 more than the paperback edition does!! One has to wonder about these guys.
So, We have a changing ePublishing marketplace to be sure. Free books aren’t getting near the recognition they’d like. Only “branded” authors who have established a following in past years of bookstore/old-model pre-eminence are currently still able to maintain the high former prices. But how long will this hold? Let’s look for an analogy at the mobile software market evolution during the past 13-15 years:
Originally, Mobile computing devices (yeah, we’ll ignore that they have been called many things over time, and now they all have phones crammed into them, too — we are simply ignoring dumb phones here) were purchased by a smallish band of technophiles, largely male, and ready to spend money for useful software. Or books. So, despite the fear intrinsic in publishers’ early wanderings into ebook distribution (Peanut Press history — see http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-future-e-book.ars/4 ) the few who were interested actually paid full hardback or paperback prices for the convenience of having their tome in the manner they desired it. And, they paid a market price for software too– between $19 and $35 commonly. Lots of software developers, selling only between 30k and 50k copies per year, earned enough to quit their full time jobs and just develop mobile software. Ah, the good old days. Flash! forward to today: Apple iTunes store and regimented controls on VISIBILITY of titles means that TO GET ANY VISIBILITY AT ALL, you have to INTRODUCE YOUR TITLE FOR FREE. Look at Angry Birds on Android – ad supported. Free. But, look at it on webOS, where only a few enthusiast are buying phones and software is commonly sold higher than iPhone’s typical $.99 fare: it’s $1.99 at Palm’s store.
The parallels to ePublishing should be obvious: lesser known authors will struggle for visibility by providing ‘samples’ such as prequels, limited chapters, and older writings for Free in online stores, and actual prices for their main works will be in the couple bucks range. books will become low-risk “trial ware”. What will be necessary to change these dynamics is to upset the stranglehold on sales website layout and shopping experiences, and for a new MODEL for online book display and browsing to come to the forefront. My prediction is that the REAL advantage of the color eReaders will be their ability to use HTML5 and video (animation? live action clips?) to SELL the storyline of an eBook or ebook series in a redesigned ebookshoppe that is designed around ebook buyer experience with the SHOPPING DEVICE in mind.
My thoughts, for what it’s worth.
Mike
March 26, 2011 at 10:09 pm |
I notice that you’ve done reviews of Kindle apps in the past. We’ve shipped a version of Checkers for the Kindle:
It would be great to see a review if you feel its relevent to your readers. Thanks for your time.
April 18, 2011 at 6:17 pm |
Bufo Calvin [name corrected],
I was googling around and saw your site doing news blurbs and happenings concerning Kindle and ebooks.
As a hobby thing, I’ve written a chrome web app which emphasizes fast and painless browsing deep into Amazon’s Kindle books offerings. An alternative means to find a good kindle book to read. It started out as a personal project, but I’ve been thinking of elaborating it out. Trying to entice a few users, get some feedback that sort of thing.
Not sure it falls into your usual news happening, but if you like the concept and its execution was wondering if you could do a paragraph or two blurb about it .
http://goo.gl/tPPJz
Either way any feedback or suggestions concerning it is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ray
April 28, 2011 at 4:03 pm |
Hey there
Long time reader, first time poster. I really enjoy getting your blog on my Kindle. Consistently great stuff, and I really appreciate it.
I just wanted to give you a heads up on an Android App that you may like. This provides a daily “top ebooks” list. http://bit.ly/mPR3O5 or https://market.android.com/details?id=com.appmakr.app178039&feature=more_from_developer
The creator of the app is a friend named Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, who is a fantastic author in his own right and very much gets the whole “digital revolution” thing. http://wordsushi.com/
Thanks again for all your good work and keep the posts coming….
Todd
May 13, 2011 at 5:11 pm |
Hi Bufo –
I know you’re interested in tools for the disabled. I saw this at Digital Reader and thought of you, have you seen it?
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/05/13/pagebot-makes-the-kindle-accessible-to-the-disabled/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDigitalReader+%28The+Digital+Reader%29&utm_content=Bloglines
June 5, 2011 at 5:50 am |
Hi Bufo,
After much searching and thinking and experimenting, I finally figured out how to reset the last page read on Kindle books, for those of us who are multi-Kindle families sharing one account. My husband has wanted to be able to read a book on both his Kindle and his phone, and that has been difficult to do when it’s a book I’ve already read, because the furthest page read has been set to where I finished. I couldn’t find a full answer on the web, but here’s what worked for me:
Go to “Manage your Kindle”
At the bottom, click on “Manage synchronization between devices”
Click the button to turn OFF synchronization for the account (the only option.)
Go to your Kindle and open the book(s) you want to reset. Go to the beginning, if you’re not already there.
Sync your Kindle.
Back at your computer, turn synchronization back on.
You may already know this, but I couldn’t find it, so I thought I spread the information around!
June 5, 2011 at 12:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Sherri!
I appreciate you sharing that. I have read that technique on the web (or something very close to it) before, tested it…and I did not get consistent results. According to Amazon, you contact Kindle Customer Service and have them reset it at this point. That’s one of the tweaks I’d like to see: a menu choice to “set farthest page read to current location”.
If it worked for you, great, but if you try it with other books, let me know if it continues to work.
June 29, 2011 at 12:50 am |
Bufo,
New feature on Amazon.com in the Kindle store, although apparently not everyone can see it yet. Amazon is adding Click to LOOK INSIDE to ebooks in the Kindle Store. (I started a thread with this subject in the Amazon.com Kindle forum.)
June 29, 2011 at 1:50 am |
Thanks for writing, Vince!
That’s come up once before and I couldn’t verify it as widespread at the time. I reported it here on May 13, and it links to an earlier thread:
July 16, 2011 at 3:32 pm |
Bufo, wonder if you can answer this. A friend from Taiwan would like to buy a Kindle to take back to TW. To save money, she would like to buy the Kindle WiFi+3G with Special Offers. The question is, will that KSO work in TW? She doesn’t care about the offers themselves, but of course needs the Kindle to work.
I think probably the KSO will work. She could register it either in TW or the USA; at worst, she would have the usual limitations of traveling with a Kindle.
Have you heard definitely about registering a USA-bought KSO to a foreign country?
July 17, 2011 at 2:49 am |
Thanks for writing, Ralph!
Amazon says:
“Kindle 3G with Special Offers is currently only available in the U.S. Customers in Taiwan can purchase our bestselling Kindle 3G from this page.”
I don’t know definitively, but my guess would be that the Kindle with Special Offers can only be registered to someone’s account whose country in
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
is the USA.
If your friend is living in the USA, then buys a KSO, then takes it to Taiwan, I think that would be fine.
I’m sure the advertisers are paying for ads in a particular market, and that’s what lowers the price…
If I find out anything more specific, I’ll let you know…it’s possible people will comment this with their experiences.
July 18, 2011 at 11:26 pm |
News tip (if you haven’t seen it, which you probably have):
Borders to close and shut 399 stores
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-18/borders-landlords-and-creditors-kobo-object-to-bankruptcy-liquidation.html
July 19, 2011 at 3:44 am |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Yep, I’ve seen that one…a bit sad, actually.
July 18, 2011 at 11:35 pm |
PS: This will probably hurt other bookstores for two months, as a huge load of current titles is “remaindered” (in effect). But then the elimination of a big competitor will bring them more sales. B&N especially should get a couple of years of breathing room.
If publishers haven’t yet set aside loss reserves for losses for this event (not getting paid by Borders for books shipped to it), their next earnings reports will suffer.
July 19, 2011 at 3:46 am |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Yes, the quarter that has the liquidation in it will hurt similar bookstores. It depends on how quickly paperbook sales retract (in chain brick and mortar bookstores). If that process is significantly accelerated by this, we’ll have to see how much benefit it is for B&N and B-A-M.
July 22, 2011 at 9:44 pm |
Another article about Borders closing:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/another-retailer-bites-dust-borders-doomed-amazon-deal-163606690.html;_ylt=AgaNVE9daGHlSWc76pk_9Su7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTFjMHAwNWdwBHBvcwM0BHNlYwNGUERhaWx5VGlja2VyQmxvZwRzbGsDYm9yZGVyc2Rvb21l
I have your blog delivered to my Kindle wirelessly and read it there, so I’m not quite sure where to post a general comment like this 🙂
August 25, 2011 at 3:37 pm |
For A Limited Time – Ebooks from Mary Higgins Clark, Jeffery Deaver, and James Lee Burke for $4.99:
http://news.simonandschuster.com/servlet/website/PersonalizedForm?lpthgEL8hhrl.20TBUYVTUUE.26f7be_7.2e.2ey.26zzEqLllpJHDHILssFlpthgHgKlJoNlmLkDJht
September 3, 2011 at 11:17 pm |
I love “I love my kindle.”
I am one of the few without internet access due to a rural location. Well I have dial up but that’s not really internet access. My kindle with 3G is my internet.
I have two kindles. When I added the second one, 1 click in the kindle store stopped working without it requesting a sign in and password. This defeats 1 click entirely. I called kindle customer service twice. One person had no idea. The other said that’s the way it is if there is more than one device on the account. Any way around this?
I have an amazon credit but purchases in the kindle store are not using it up. They still bill my VISA. What to do to apply it?
And the new free book format is too cluttered and NOT worth your time. How about just the genre??
Finally,since my kindle is my internet I am wondering wat kind of access the new tablet might have. Free 3 G possible?
September 4, 2011 at 5:40 am |
Thanks for writing, Kerrin!
Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
Tell me a little more about this…are you using the Kindle store on each of the Kindles (rather than through dial-up)? You do have to put in the username and password to register a device from the Kindle itself, and it does have to connect wirelessly once so it knows it is registered.
Outside of that, though, you should not need to enter the name and password each time you order something. Tell me a bit more about what you are doing when you see that requirement.
If you apply a gift card or gift certificate to your account, 1-click will draw from that before your Visa (until it is gone). When you say you have an Amazon credit, what happened with that one?
Just the genre would be one way to go, but more work…I’d have to select one out of the list of categories, and that creates a new decision point. Decision points are what take time when working with a computer. Not impossible, but harder. I appreciate your feedback on this…I’m looking at all the comments on it.
It’s certainly possible that Amazon would release a tablet with 3G…but free 3G on a tablet would be much more expensive for Amazon than free 3G on an EBR (E-Book Reader). Streaming or downloading a movie would be a much higher cost absorption for Amazon than downloading an e-book. I think free 3G or 4G is unlikely on a tablet, but not impossible (they might get sponsors to support it somehow, or charge a lot initially).
September 4, 2011 at 5:43 pm |
Thanks for answering. So great.
I have internet DSL at work so I manage my accounts that way. I have a regular Amazon account. My kindle shops in the kindle store and I click and buy books easily. That is when I enter a title or go to the kindle storefront. The page for the book looks different than in the amazon site. The buy botton just says BUY,not 1 click. That buy button works on my kindle.
BUT I used to click on the links you put in the blog and ‘buy with one click’ and the book would download. That page looks like amazon shopping site, not the kindle store. NOW that I added a second kindle (I got a refurbished one) when I push the 1 click button on a blog link page, from either kindle, I get a new page with the amazon account sign in and password request. I called amazon kindle support twice, no help. I restarted both kindles, no help.
Right now I memorize the title, go to kindle store and type it in.
Other topic- the refurbished kindle came with USB cable but no electric plug adapter. Annoying for a person like my mother, how to charge it without a computer at home? I had a kindle charger already so no problem for me. Amazon gave me a $20 credit for that and I had previously returned a couple small things for credit. So I am supposed to have $ at Amazon to spend. How can I see the balance and use it for kindle books? The phone help person said I would see a place to apply it at checkout,but the buy button checks out without additional steps.
I love the name Bufo. What is the story behind that? Where can I get the t-shirt?
Should Kindle be capitalized?
Kerrin
written entirely on my Kindle
September 6, 2011 at 6:56 pm |
Thanks for writing again, Kerrin!
Sorry to take a couple of days to get back to you on this.
I’m going to ask for one more clarification:
You are reading my blog on your Kindle through a subscription you have. You click on a link in the blog, and it takes you to the book’s product page in the Kindle store at Amazon. When you click on
Buy now with 1-click
it asks for your username and password?
When you are on that page, does it show you as signed into Amazon? Right below the address bar, to your right of where it says Amazon.com, you would see something like, “Hello, Kerrin X. We have recommendations for you.”
If it doesn’t say that, what I would suggest is that you your Kindles’ browsers (on each of them) to go to
http://www.amazon.com
and log-in. Once you’ve done that, I think you’ll stay logged in on that device. My intuition is that the 1-click button would then work for you the next time. Try that on one of them, and let me know what happens.
When you got the credit, was a number to enter somewhere or did you just get a credit on your credit card? It sounds like you had a number. If you’ve entered that number once, and if it’s treated like a gift card balance, it will be applied to your 1-click purchases before 1-click goes to your payment method. If not, maybe there is something you want that isn’t a Kindle book, and you can buy it without using 1-click? It could be for your Kindle…a cover, a light, a skin…
My first name is classical Latin. When people ask what it means, I tell them, “It means your parents were geeks, too.” 🙂 That’s just a joke, though…the connotation is wisdom.
I don’t think the t-shirts are still available…just as well, it was sort of weird. 🙂
Kindle should be capitalized when it is used as the name of Amazon’s device.
September 23, 2011 at 3:25 pm |
Bufo,
I have noticed a huge number of books disappearing from the copies available list at my library and a significant increase in the number of holds put on books as well since the Kindle came on line yesterday here. I am wondering if others have noticed the same, and what effect this more than doubling of prospective users is going to have on the system.
By the way, thanks for all you do for the Kommunity (I just coined that, feel free to steal it), Your efforts have increased my enjoyment of my Kindle significantly.
Ed Foster
September 29, 2011 at 11:26 am |
Please can you post a Q&A about the whole “Due to copyright restrictions, the Kindle title you’re trying to purchase is not available in your country” issue. As a non-US Kindle user, this is very frustrating for me. Thanks!
September 29, 2011 at 6:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Derek!
I think I’ve written about that before, but I’ll look at revisitng it. I talk a little bit about it here:
Just so you know, the same thing happens with us in the USA, sometimes (not as often). There may be books that aren’t available to us but are available in other jurisdictions.
It starts with copyright, but tends to go to licensing. As global rights purchasing becomes more common, it will become less of an issue, I believe.
September 30, 2011 at 10:37 am |
You left out “store” in:
“It’s the ability to personal documents in your Cloud Drive.”
September 30, 2011 at 12:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
You are right…I was on a really short break when I wrote that one. 🙂
I really appreciate you pointing out little slips like that.! If you can comment the post with the problem, it makes it easier to fix…I can click from the comment to get to the post and fix it.
Thanks again!
September 30, 2011 at 11:43 am |
Change to Andrys
Change to ” … fewer.”
September 30, 2011 at 12:42 pm |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Good catch on Andrys’ name…just a typo.
The second one is a perfect example of where an author needs to be involved in copy editing. I didn’t mean “more problems”, I meant more capabilities….I think. I’ll have to go back and look. Since you didn’t comment the specific post, I’ll have to find the post. I presume you did that on the About post to save me embarrassment, and I appreciate the thought. However, I want you to credit for spotting my errors…I don’t want to hide that I make them sometimes. 🙂
Thanks again!
September 30, 2011 at 8:58 pm
The “fewer” suggestion applies to the “Which Kindle should you get?” thread, just before the table (at the end).
October 3, 2011 at 7:34 am |
Here are some typos in Roundup #48, in sequence:
Change to “cost” in:
“the book looks decent, takes a few minutes to print, and will probably costs you about ”
Change to “their” in:
“Amazon has approached Netflix about doing an app; and it supports there formats…”
Two “n”s in:
“although New Millenials”
Change to “your” in:
“Have you had someone take you Kindle and try ”
Change to “is” in:
“My first thought it to cover Kindle Fire news in this blog”
I’m not being critical–I’d make more mistakes.
October 3, 2011 at 1:00 pm |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Hey, I really appreciate it! After I finished it, it actually occurred to me that it was so long, Roger would probably find some errors. 🙂
It’s bad that I make those errors…words substitutions like “there” for “their” I never used to do at all, and I notice them still when others do it. If I have time to re-read my own work, I’ll see it.
As I make more mistakes like this myself, I forgive others more. 🙂
Again, I really appreciate you reading me that carefully, and then taking the time and effort to let me know.
I’m going to correct those…and I’m going to mention you in the post. 🙂
I don’t want to rely on you doing it…it’s just that writing that much that quickly, it’s tough to be perfect. I can’t guarantee I’ll be better than that…but don’t feel obligated to send me proof-reading…just welcome. 🙂
Thanks again!
Update: Whew! The word substitution wasn’t what happened! It was a typo…that part is supposed to say “these formats”. I’m much more comfortable with a simple typo than with a word substitution. Those formats aren’t Amazon’s, of course.
October 4, 2011 at 2:05 pm |
I just saw this and thought you would be interested. It is a short article on a local website, describing a dispute between the state of Kansas Library and Overdrive. But it says that Overdrive is going to have a 700% price increase over the next three years.
It also indicates that Kansas doesn’t understand the concept of licensing a book as opposed to buying a book any better than the folks on the forums do!
http://salinapost.com/2011/10/04/dispute-may-put-a-hold-on-e-book-lending-in-kansas/
Take care, Ed
October 4, 2011 at 3:24 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ed!
I’ll take a look at it…thanks!
October 4, 2011 at 6:56 pm
A longer article about the same issue.
http://www.kansas.com/2011/10/03/2044746/dispute-may-put-a-hold-on-e-book.html
October 4, 2011 at 7:10 pm
I also noticed the mention of 3M. I hadn’t heard about 3M’s entrance into library E-reader market, but it looks like my ability to check out books on my kindle is going to be short lived as the Kansas library is planning to move over to 3M in December, and of course, 3M is not yet compatible with Kindle.
🙂
October 5, 2011 at 8:05 pm |
I’d love to receive comments on this idea. I even sent it to Amazon.
I’m really excited about the prospect of having both the Kindle and the Fire. Here’s why.
Kindle — Does one thing, and does it really well: Allows you to read text comfortably. Not so great, however: photos, any graphical material, flipping through pages, especially back and forth between an illustration and the associated text.
Fire — Great graphics, speed. Text not as easy on the eyes as e-ink.
Now, what I’m visualizing is an e-book cover that holds both a Kindle and a Fire, side-by-side, or back-to-back. Both have Wi-Fi. Here is where it gets fun: I want them to be configured to talk to each other, with an (as yet nonexistent) synchronizing app that would give me the ability to have the graphics – photos, maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, equations, whatever – presented on the Fire, the associated text being on the Kindle. If I touch (or select) the text, “See Figure 1” on the Kindle, Figure 1 shows up on the Fire, where I could zoom or pan it, in full color of course, while easily referring back to the associated text.
Likewise, if I am browsing my favorite website on my Fire, and come to a lengthy article I’d like to read, I can select it and send it to the Kindle side, as with the “Readability” app that is currently available.
I could do most of this now, but it’d be kind of a duct tape and baling wire setup. Wouldn’t it be great to have one app to sync the whole thing?
October 6, 2011 at 4:13 am |
Thanks for writing, Dennis!
I don’t think most people would want to deal with two screens most of the time. I know you are proposing an app and a cover mechanism, but the Entourage eDGe was a dual screen device that failed in the market. I believe it worked somewhat the way you describe. The first NOOK had a small color screen, then a big reflective screen…so did the Alex.
I have used my Kindle for PC to look more easily at images in a book I am reading, using Whispersync to get to that spot. I don’t think I’ve kept the image on the PC while I read the text on my Kindle, though. I could, just by not syncing while I read, though.
I think what will happen eventually is that we’ll have a screen location that can switch between a reflective screen and a backlit screen. Apple has patented something that does that, and there are probably many approaches.
I do think your idea might have appeal for students, but I’m not sure fiction readers, for example, would utilize it very often…except for the maps in books like the Lord of the Rings, maybe. 🙂
We’ll see what other comments you get…I like it when people come up with innovative ideas.
October 7, 2011 at 12:52 pm |
[dont care about this being private or not]
Any word on how to tell what apps will run on the Fire?
Some seem to think that all apps in Amazon’s Appstore for Android will be supported (which seems unlikely with the lack of a camera or microphone).
I know that Angry Birds is going to be there… but a calendar, phone book and text editor would be nice too.
Also wondering if developer’s have had early access to the hardware yet.
What I really crave is to able to run Evernote (or something like it), but Evernote hasn’t replied to questions about the Fire in their own forums.
Knowing what will and will not run on it is going to make or break some buyer’s decisions. Though I am 96% sure I will be buying one as soon as they hit the brick and mortar stores.
October 7, 2011 at 1:57 pm |
Thanks for writing, jhitt!
The product page for the Fire
Kindle Fire
says this:
“Amazon Appstore – thousands of popular apps and games”
However, as you point out, not every app in the Amazon Appstore will work on the Kindle Fire…while it may be possible to attach a camera (and I don’t know that yet….I’ve heard both things about the USB….that it’s only there for charging and that you’ll be able to attach peripherals which you can’t do on a Kindle), I don’t think you can attach a inclinometer. 🙂
It also says
“Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, The Weather Channel and more, plus a great paid app for free every day. All apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible.”
My guess is that it will run anything in the Appstore…but some of them won’t really work. I think we’ll see an indication that the app is “optimized” for the Fire or some such…sort of like the enhanced books with audio/video you can download to Kindles, but the audio/video part can’t be accessed on anything except an iDevice (currently).
October 7, 2011 at 3:13 pm
I’ve wondered about that “Amazon Appstore” verbage.
On the website it’s called “Appstore for Andriod”.
A small difference that I hope means nothing at all.
None the less, seeing a “Runs On Fire” badge on tested apps would be nice.
October 7, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
Yep, I think we’ll see something just like that. Probably won’t be on the Voice Changer app I have… 😉
October 12, 2011 at 4:07 pm |
Woo hoo! I fired up my Kindle for PC reader today, and a question popped up asking me if I wanted to import collections from another device. So I did! And it worked!
October 12, 2011 at 7:39 pm |
Thanks for writing, katxena!
Yes, that’s great! I find it easier to manage my Collections on my Kindle for PC and then import them to my Kindle.
That update came on July 21…you may find this post of mine on it interesting:
October 14, 2011 at 2:18 am |
Wow. I had no idea. I use the kindle for PC reader fairly often (1-2 times a week) and I never saw that update until a few days ago. It was a pop-up, so I know I would have seen it before, had it come up. I’m really happy to have that feature — it’s just crazy that it took so long for me to get it! Thanks for pointing me to your write-up about it.
October 14, 2011 at 12:01 pm |
Thanks for writing, katxena!
Well, that’s one of the things people say….Amazon doesn’t do a very good job of letting us know about changes. Maybe if it was a subscribable update to go straight to the Kindle/apps. Something like Kindle Developments?
That’s one reason people read blogs like this, I think…I stay on top of a number of things. I typically check several places a day…not something most people have time to do.
I’m glad you like it the new feature!
October 16, 2011 at 4:43 am |
I know you’ve followed the Borders closings. I found the following message from Barnes and Noble in my spam folder, but it seems to be legit as it came to the e-mail address I used for my Borders card. I was wondering if you got a similar e-mail or if this really was spam. I was also wondering what has happened to the “empty” stores left behind when Borders moved out. My local Borders is now the Halloween Store. I don’t know if it will go empty at the end of the month or convert to a Christmas store. Time will tell.
Dear Borders Customer,
My name is William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble, and I’m writing to you today on
behalf of the entire B&N team to make you aware of important information regarding your Borders account.
First of all let me say Barnes & Noble uniquely appreciates the importance bookstores play within local communities, and we’re very sorry your Borders store closed.
As part of Borders ceasing operations, we acquired some of its assets including Borders brand trademarks and their customer list. The subject matter of your DVD and other video purchases will be part of the transferred information. The federal bankruptcy court approved this sale on September 26, 2011.
Our intent in buying the Borders customer list is simply to try and earn your business. The majority of our stores are within close proximity to former Borders store locations, and for those that aren’t, we offer our award- winning NOOK™ digital reading devices that provide a bookstore in your pocket. We are readers like you, and hope that through our stores, NOOK devices, and our bn.com online bookstore we can win your trust and provide you with a place to read and shop.
It’s important for you to understand however you have the absolute right to opt-out of having your customer data transferred to Barnes & Noble. If you would like to opt-out, we will ensure all your data we receive from Borders is disposed of in a secure and confidential manner. Please visit http://www.bn.com/borders by November 2, 2011 to do so.
Should you choose not to opt-out by November 2, 2011, be assured your information will be covered under the Barnes & Noble privacy policy, which can be accessed at http://www.bn.com/privacy. B&N will maintain any of your data according to this policy and our strict privacy standards.
At Barnes & Noble we share your love of books — whatever shape they take. We also take our responsibility to service communities by providing a local bookstore very seriously. In the coming weeks, assuming you don’t opt-out, you’ll be hearing from us with some offers to encourage you to shop our stores and try our NOOK products. We hope you’ll give us a chance to be your bookstore.
October 16, 2011 at 12:16 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Let me research that one. A quick look shows stories that say that’s what happened, but I do want to verify it. I was a Borders member…doesn’t look like I got one. If this an opt-out, I want to verify it.
Would you mind telling me the date and time you got it, and the sending address? That will help.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention, my former Borders also has a Spirit Halloween store in it right now. I’ve considered taking a picture of that, but that isn’t that uncommon with a large empty store this time of year.
I don’t know what they’ll get to go in there…they tend to have a lot of floor space.
October 16, 2011 at 5:47 pm |
The date and time sent was October 14, 2011 11:16 PM
The sender was Barnes & Noble
I haven’t clicked on any of the links just because I wasn’t totally sure it was the real deal or not. I use a Mac, but I’m still cautious about clicking on links when I’m not sure of the sender.
October 16, 2011 at 6:36 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Hmm…appears like I haven’t been sent that e-mail yet. However, you just got yours Friday, and it’s possible the next wave of deliveries won’t be until Monday.
I’ll dig more.
Clicking on links can be dangerous, even on a Mac…
Update: I’m satisfied now that it’s real. I’ll write a post on it…thanks!
October 24, 2011 at 8:44 am |
The current (Nov.) issue of “Fast Company” has a cover story and four sidebars on “The Great Tech War of 2012: Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook”: here:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/160/tech-wars-2012-amazon-apple-google-facebook
October 24, 2011 at 12:22 pm |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Looks interesting! I’ll try to get through it today.
October 31, 2011 at 6:35 pm |
Bufo, I came to U.S. yesterday, I will spend three weeks here, but my first steps went to Target to buy a $79 Kindle. (I could not wait couple of days to get one from Amazon) We have two KKs at home already. When I came to my hotel I connected to wifi, registered the Kindle to my account, I named it Mindle (!) and after several minutes I was able to pick up in a book which I started reading on Kindle on iPad on a page where I left. Beautiful. And out of five offers that appeared on my Mindle I will use two immediately, just have to decide which cover to buy 😉
October 31, 2011 at 9:48 pm |
Thanks for writing, Marian!
I appreciate you letting me know! Just so people know, how would you compare reading on the iPad to reading on the Mindle?
November 1, 2011 at 12:36 pm
For reading a book, definitely a Kindle. iPad is unusable outside because of the light. E-ink is much better for my eyes. And it is also much lighter. I love iPad for apps and videos, for reading I will use Kindle. I wonder how long it will take to have e-ink and lcd displays in one device 😉
November 1, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Thanks for writing, Marian!
That’s pretty much what I figured. 🙂
As to your question…I think it’s not too far away. There was the Entourage eDGe, which had two physical screens (one of each). Apple has a patent for a switchable screen. I suspect there will be other solutions. My guess? Within three years…
November 1, 2011 at 1:56 pm |
Hello, Bufo. I enjoy your blog. I have subscribed since I got my first Kindle. If you didn’t know already, Consumer Reports reviews the Kindle Fire in its December 2011 issue. The headline is “Content is King on new Kindle Fire. The bottom line is that the Fire is competent and affordable.
November 1, 2011 at 8:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lona!
I didn’t see that online right away…I’ll see if I can run into it.
They were reviewing it…but I assume it was hands-off?
November 1, 2011 at 2:49 pm |
There is now way you want to use ipad as your main reading device. The screen is far too bright and the whole experience is the web all over again. Use an eink device by it a Kindle or any other.
November 1, 2011 at 3:14 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jon!
As this point, I wouldn’t consider using a backlit device (like an iPad or the Kindle Fire) as my primary reading device…I was just asking Marian to share her experience for the benefit of others.
Reflective screen devices (E Ink is a brand name, by the way) like the other Kindles, the original NOOK or the Sony Readers have some significant advantages for long form reading.
November 1, 2011 at 3:19 pm |
Yep, understand and agree. There is still a form factor and capability question to be answered but reading on a backlit screen can never be a long term solution.
If eReaders get to ipad type levels of power and feature set (touch, colour, connectivity, zoom etc) then for me its really getting perfect. I clip web content to the Kindle all the time as I hate reading on the web so for me I am already half way to a Kindle only reading experience.
All that said I think you will have both types of devices. ereaders after all are not the device to be using for the transactional web experience.
November 2, 2011 at 1:38 pm |
The article says, “Based on our brief experience using a preproduction Fire …” It’s a half page article on page 27 of the December issue. This issue focuses on electronics and has an article on tablet computers on the facing page. On page 29 there is an article on e-book readers. That article gives the Nook Simple Touch the highest marks, but 3 of the 4 “best buys” are Kindles.
November 3, 2011 at 3:34 am |
Hi Bufo,
I’ve been subscribing to your blog and loving it since I got my first Kindle 2 eons ago. I am a Prime member, and have been since long before my wife and I got Kindles. We do an awful lot of shopping at Amazon.
In response to the queries in your latest post. “Water for Elephants” is available in the Owner’s Lending Library for Prime members. And my Subscription Settings page does have a Manage Prime Membership link.
I’m anxiously awaiting my Fire and my Kindle Touch. After reading on my iPhone Kindle app I sometimes try touching my Kindle’s menus but it never works 🙂
Jim
November 3, 2011 at 3:58 am |
I re-read your question about “Water for Elephants” and realized you were asking about a link on the web page. There is no link on the web page. It looks like the only way to borrow it is through the Kindle Store on one’s Kindle. On my Kindle, there is a “Buy” button and a “Borrow for Free” button with the limitation “Prime members only” below it.
November 14, 2011 at 8:13 pm |
Bufo:
Fire and Touch user guides are available, but hidden. Here’s the Fire one:
Click to access Kindle_Fire_Users_Guide.pdf
go to the help page, select kindle, then in the left sidebar, select the model of the kindle, then down at the bottom one of the links is to the user guide…
November 14, 2011 at 8:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, tuxgirl!
You made my day! I’ve been checking the Kindle documentation day, and it hasn’t been there. This deserves its own post (and I’ll credit you). I’ll also get to reading. 🙂
Thanks again!
November 18, 2011 at 5:42 pm |
Hey Bufo,
I stumbled upon this in the discussions boards today (11/18/11) and did not remember any post from you on this. I could have missed it though 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_ttp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx3RREJMCPFYF0Z
It appears that you can now subscribe/unsubscribe to special offers weather you ordered a Kindle with SO or not.
PokerRun3
November 19, 2011 at 12:42 am |
Thanks for writing, PokerRun3!
That’s great! With all the Fire stuff and my new Touch, I hadn’t seen that one yet. 🙂 That deserves a separate post and will get one…thanks!
November 20, 2011 at 5:39 pm |
Bufo-
Have you heard anything about Penguin /Putnam pulling out of the Overdrive Library Lending Program?
People are reporting huge drop in available titles at their libraries.
nospin
November 20, 2011 at 6:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, nospin!
Hadn’t heard that one yet, but it’s certainly possible. Macmillan and Simon & Schuster do not license e-books to public libraries at all, and HarperCollins limits check-outs.
I found the Overdrive announcement when Penguin came onboard, and didn’t see a length of term for the contract:
http://overdrive.com/News/getArticle.aspx?newsArticleID=20080827
Hmm….I just checked my public library…no e-books from Penguin, but other format books. That’s suspicious. I’ll ask the blog readers. That wouldn’t be a big surprise, but would be disappointing.
November 21, 2011 at 4:53 pm |
I have had a weekend with my Kindle Fire and I have noticed three bothersome things. I contacted Kindle Support and got non-responses. I thought I would share these with you. If you know any fixes that would be great. If there are none, publicizing the problems might help. These are either “bugs” or “features” according to the spin.
1. No blogs (I read yours from my wife’s subscription or online). Why?
2. Reading magazine articles there are no bookmarks nor does the Fire save your place when you go to Home to do something else. I was reading a novella and you can imagine the fun. I had to write down the page numbers and flip through to get back where I started.
3. There is no way to clip items and no equivalent to My Clippings.
I like the Fire but that’s a lot to give up (I still have my Kindle 2).
November 21, 2011 at 8:25 pm |
Thank you, Bufo for all your time and patience in the blog and forums.
I have a heads up for your and your readers on a TTS issue.
I was happily listening to the Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs as my “commute book” until the drive in to work this morning. TTS was disabled when i accepted the “corrected” file over the weekend.
The product page now does say TTS Not Enabled, FWIW.
I double checked the email from Amazon about the corrected file; there was no mention of disabling that feature. I emailed Kindle Tech Support this morning, but they can only tell me that they will offer a refund if I want one and that they have no control over what the publisher’s file contains. The direct quote is:
The content in the Kindle Store is provided to us directly by the publishers or authors who own that content. They may choose not to include items that appear in the printed version such as a text to speech, cover image, linked tables of contents, linked endnotes, etc.
[Query how and when TTS appears in a print version, but I quibble].
I just wanted to give you a heads up on this issue. While this is not the magnitude of the 1984 issue, if a feature is going to be removed from a book, as opposed to making corrections, I think the purchaser should be warned. I would have elected not to get that update and kept listening to the book had I been given the choice.
Actually, in the best of worlds, I would have finished the 12% I have to go, then gotten the corrected version if I want to re-read it or use for a reference in the future.
Cheers,
GeekyGal
November 21, 2011 at 10:03 pm |
Thanks for writing, GeekyGal!
I checked that book as soon as it was listed in the store, and it said at that time that the text-to-speech access was blocked. That’s why I haven’t mentioned the book before.
My very strong guess is that when you bought it, it said the feature was “Not enabled”.
My thought here? It was accidentally sent out without the code that the publisher inserts to block access. If they do nothing, the book will be accessible via text-to-speech. So, the correction was to make it match the product page.
How sure are you that you checked the product page when you bought the book?
November 25, 2011 at 11:22 am |
I’m on a trip to Jamaica right now, and I’ve brought along my Kindle Keyboard with WiFi and 3G, and My Fire. I thought you might be interested in what I could and couldn’t do outside of the US with both devices. I’ve been connected to the resort wifi hotspots off and on depending on where I move about (and where I stop to read for a few hours!)
I was able to purchase a book with the Kindle (KK) from the Kindle Store as I do at home – but I didn’t try it with the Fire. The book did show up immediately on both devices, but I had to download it from the cloud with the Fire. I tried to rent a movie with the Fire, but Amazon told me that I could not make purchases outside the US.
I borrowed a book from my public library at home using my Netbook computer, and it oddly shows up in the Fire – but not to my Kindle, where I had it sent to from my Amazon account. When I went to the Archives to retrieve it on the KK, it was greyed out. I’m assuming I will be able to retrieve it as soon as I re-enter the states.
The Kindle has a few messages from Amazon, informing me about subscription services while overseas. I have opted to suspend my service until I return. I use SendToReader also and I do get those deliveries every time my KK detects a hotspot.
I was able to purchase free apps on the Fire and download but not apps that require payment.
I have been carrying both devices with me constantly since I left home, and alternate between the two. I found using the KK for email (with my Gmail account) is easier in the bright sun of Ocho Rios than finding shade to see the Fire, even though the Fire is much quicker. When I come into restaurants for a drink or a bite to eat, the Fire has been fast and perfect for keeping up with the kids (who I left at home) via Facebook and a text messaging app I downloaded before leaving home. Taking the KK on a sunny tropical vacation – well, that speaks for itself! My vacation wouldn’t be nearly as nice without it. I’ve also noted I’ve seen a few Nooks and a few Fires, but mostly I see Kindle Keyboards at the resort, and at the airport.
Also, the Fire has been very fast and responsive – faster even than my pc.
I subscribe to your blog through Amazon, it’s the first one I read when I get multiple updates! I hope this comment is useful for you and you are welcome to share it with your readers if you think my experiences would be beneficial to others.
November 25, 2011 at 8:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Kim!
Thanks for the kind words! Thank you especially for subscribing…that really helps. 🙂
I love field reports…especially “far afield” reports like this one! 🙂
I’m sure that will be useful for other people. I’m not quite sure what’s up with that…it should be available in the archives to both devices. It’s possible the book has one device license, particularly if it’s a textbook..that’s very unusual, though.
I was on a tropical island on vacation once, and read through all of the books I had brought with me pretty quickly (no surprise…I use to pack an extra suitcase for paperbooks). The only books to buy on the whole island were Remo Williams books…I read several of them, even though that wouldn’t necessarily normally be my first choice…
November 27, 2011 at 2:14 pm |
Just finished your “Fire” book-good info. What I am missing on my Fire is the tweet/share feature at the end of a book; did I overlook this, is it not there, or is it coming? I enjoy sharing a good book via facebook.
Thanks.
November 29, 2011 at 6:30 am |
Bufo:
Heads-up on an important Fire bug. I reported to Amazon already, but we need to make sure people know about this. If you have magazines or newspapers that you have marked “keep” on, to keep them on the device, rebooting the device *will* clear the “keep” flag. I’m going to be backing up my magazines to my laptop for now, to avoid losing anything, but if somebody reboots their Fire, it’s completely possible that they may permanently lose access to a subscription item due to it being removed automatically.
November 29, 2011 at 12:43 pm |
Thanks for writing, tuxgirl!
I appreciate that.
When you mark something as “keep” on a reflective screen Kindle, the file is actually stored locally, and I would guess that would happen with a Fire. Did you search for the file? I’m thinking maybe it’s just the newsstand display that’s affected, rather than the loss of the file.
I use the free app
ES File Explorer
December 1, 2011 at 10:41 pm
I haven’t searched yet… I just have noticed I have to.periodically go in and re-keep the files… I’m particularly nervous because on my k3 one time, I had a magazine where each issue was removed when the next arrived, and you couldn’t download.past issues at all. I had a really busy month, and didn’t even get around to keeping.an issue, much.less reading it, and I.lost it completely. It was frustrating, since I had paid.for the.issue, but was never able to read it.
November 30, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
Link to article about bookstore in NH sign re don’t buy Kindle:http://t.co/YoNJHvGG
Hope it works. I copied it from the PW Tweet this morning.
December 3, 2011 at 8:39 pm |
Bufo, you answered all of my questions and some. Thanks so much. I will be enjoying my KF for the next 5 months and I am hopeful that it will be functional in Canada sooner rather than later. I do have an American bank account for purchases.
December 6, 2011 at 3:00 am |
Hi, Bufo –
Wondered if you’d seen Jakob Nielsen’s column on Kindle Fire Usability:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fire-usability.html
I was going between giving my husband a Kindle Fire and a “Mindle” for Christmas; now I’m leaning toward the latter. (Also, I actually don’t think he’d get enough use out of the Fire to justify the purchase.)
December 6, 2011 at 11:12 pm |
More on the sales tax question, especially in states other than California:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2011/12/04/amazons-special-deals-with-states-unconstitutional-law-profs-say/
December 8, 2011 at 6:41 am |
When I clicked on the Forbes link, it brought up a gray page with no text. Is it a subscribers only page?
December 8, 2011 at 6:03 pm |
If I forget to click the gift button and receive the Fire can I change the account from mine to the recipient anyway and how?
December 8, 2011 at 7:11 pm |
Thanks for writing, Don!
Yes, absolutely.
Settings Gear – More – My Account
Edited to add: sorry I couldn’t be more thorough…I was replying from my phone. 🙂
If you mark a Kindle Fire as a gift when you are purchasing it, it should come unregistered to any account. If you don’t, it should come registered to the account on which it was purchased.
However, you can always deregister a Kindle and register it to another account. On the Kindle Fire, I’ve given you the instructions above. You’ll see the Setting Gear in the top right corner of the homescreen.
You can also deregister your Kindle Fire from
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
under
Manage Your Device
If you have more questions about it, feel free to ask.
December 9, 2011 at 1:28 am |
I’m noticing, when I try to clip articles from the blogs I subscribe to, that I get a message telling me I’ve exceeded my clip limit. (Actually, the message doesn’t, but that’s another story. (I’ve sent a complaint to the Kindle team.) It wants to tell me that. And there’s a correct notice in my My Clippings file.)
First, maybe you could fill people in on the subject of these limits, as a general matter. Who sets them, what are the pros and cons, etc.
Second, it’s occurred to me that the availability of free PC/Mac apps like SENDtoREADER (thanks to alerting me to it, BTW) might affect the rationale for where to set clip limits. If nonpaying online blog users are now able to “clip” articles without limit, it seems odd to impose much of a limit on the paying (penny-a-day!) customers. Your thoughts?
December 11, 2011 at 12:40 am |
I, too, encountered the “exceeded” notice today when I tried to clip an article from the NY Times blog. It was about a book that the author was writing, and it sounds like a book I’d be interested in reading once it’s done. I can’t make notes in a blog. I can’t highlight in a blog, so clipiping the article is the only way I can save the information to check for the book in the future. Unfortunately, the small part of the story that did clip didn’t contain the information I needed, so I had to go to the NY Times website to find the article and use copy/paste to make a note on my computer.
December 11, 2011 at 1:48 pm |
Bufo –
I just got word back from the folks at Buzz Voice that they fulfilled my request and added ILMK to their blog list. Tried it out and it works great. Now you can listen to ILMK with text to speech on Kindle Fire.
December 12, 2011 at 4:40 pm |
Bufo –
Fire is in the NY Times this morning:
Not completely flattering, but does mention a planned software upgrade in a couple weeks.
December 12, 2011 at 5:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
Wow! I haven’t had that unpleasant a spin since the teacup ride at Disneyland. 😉
I may have to write about that article. It’s so hyperbolically negative, it could be a 1950s cautionary short. My favorite line from the article:
“If I were given to conspiracy theories, I’d say that Amazon deliberately designed a poor Web browsing user experience to keep Fire users from shopping on competing sites,” Mr. Nielsen said.
I’m happy to see that Amazon will continue to improve the Fire for its customers.
December 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm |
This comparison of Fire, Nook and Vox in ComputerWorld yesterday:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222529/In_depth_Using_the_Kindle_Fire_vs._the_Kobo_Vox_vs._the_Nook_Tablet?taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=1
December 15, 2011 at 12:55 am |
hello- love your blog- have subscribed to it since i got my first kindle- just got my second- a kindle keyboard and need to move all my books to the new one from my kindle 2- have checked the discussions and your blog- is the only way to move books is to go to archives and move them one book at a time- i have over 500 books on my kindle 2!!!! i moved collections over and when i move the archived books it DOES go into the right collection but this will take forever- is there another way using the usb on your computer?
also does the kindle Fire have whispernet on it or do you have to have an external internet service- i am unclear on this point…..thanks and keep up the great work
December 16, 2011 at 4:23 am |
Thanks for writing, Elaine!
Wh
Thanks also for the kind words! I really appreciate you being a subscriber…that’s part of what makes this possible for me. 🙂
The key question is…why do you want to move the 500 books to the new Kindle? I only keep about ten Kindle store books on my Kindle at a time. The rest (more than two thousand) are in my archives, and I can get them easily enough when I want them.
If you do want to move them, it is one at a time. There are a couple of reasons for that:
* When you download a book from the Kindle store, it is usually keyed to a specific device. That’s partially to keep people from distributing them freely on the internet. That means you can’t take your book files from one of your Kindles and directly transfer them en masse to another Kindle
* Kindles can’t handle a lot of files at once very well. They have to index each file as they get it, and that’s an effort. When people back up their Kindles, and then put those files back on the same device from which they got them, I recommend they do it in fairly small batches and wait in-between
As to the Kindle Fire…it has wi-fi, and does not have 3G.
The early Kindles only had 3G. Current RSKs (Reflective Screen Kindles) may have just wi-fi, or wi-fi and 3G.
Either one is just a way to get to the internet.
With 3G, you are basically using a cellphone network.
With wi-fi, you are connecting to a short range broadcast of the internet…often about the size of a house.
A Kindle Fire would be a lot harder to use if you didn’t have wi-fi in your house. If you have internet in your home (maybe from your cable company), you can typically buy a wi-fi router (under $100, usually) and use that to set up the wi-fi for your Fire. Otherwise, you could wirelessly download at places like a Starbucks or a McDonalds. You can download book files using your computer and transfer them to the Kindle Fire…but you could watch streaming video if the Fire doesn’t have a wi-fi network to use.
December 16, 2011 at 4:16 am |
Bufo, Amazon has added the ability to return Kindle content directly from the Manage Your Kindle webpage.
Found it in the Amazon.com Kindle forum.
Return for Refund from the Manage Your Kindle page
Link to discussion:
http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_ttp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx38JY9XSPP2J78
December 16, 2011 at 4:39 am |
Thanks for writing, Vince!
I hadn’t seen that one yet..it’s worth a post. 🙂 Thanks!
December 16, 2011 at 4:24 pm |
Thanks so much for answering my question- the reason i keep so many books on my kindle- in case you wondered:) is i download a lot of free books and keep them on my kindle in collections- since they are free and there are a lot of them i cant remember all the titles and their content- so when i am reading and feel like say a mystery i go to my kindle and look under mystery and find several books that i can choose from and know they are mysteries- that way i can check the description in only a few books rather than my entire archives
thanks for the info about the kindle fire- my husband is looking for a tablet and although we have read many different reviews about the fire- we are still deciding how we can utilize its features for what he needs it for most.
i love my kindle 3- it is very crisp and clear- i forgot about that feature
December 19, 2011 at 6:18 am |
Wow, incredible blog format! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you make running a blog look easy. The entire glance of your web site is fantastic, let alone the content!
December 19, 2011 at 2:39 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ereader!
I have virtually nothing to do with the appearance of the blog…it’s standard WordPress (the Kubrick template, I believe).
I appreciate your comments about the content, though. It’s interesting…if you weren’t “Ereader”, I would think that this might be one of those generic compliments people do just to link to their websites…I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, though. 🙂
The first post was on August 28, 2009…over two years now!
December 23, 2011 at 1:47 pm |
Hello Bufo,
I don’t know if you noticed, but there was an update to Kindle on iPad app which allows to download personal documents to iPad from the cloud ! It also gives to iPad app an unique email address. Very nice.
December 23, 2011 at 2:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, Marian!
I hadn’t seen that one, but that’s great!
I talked about Amazon saying that the personal document service was coming to reader apps
back in October…glad to see it’s here for the iPad.
Thanks!
December 25, 2011 at 8:31 am |
Bufo! so great to get up to speed on the Fire before I get one.
You said that if you deregister a Kindle the books already downloaded will remain BUT that then you can’t get them on a new Kindle after that. What about other Kindles already on the same account? can they no longer download them? If they are on those other Kindles do they disappear?
ps. one click on my Kindle still requires email and password everytime. Does not keep me logged in to Amazon account. Annoying.
kerrin
December 25, 2011 at 12:59 pm |
Thanks for writing, kerrin!
The books remain available to all of the Kindles on the old account. What happens if that the person who left that account (by deregistering the Kindle) couldn’t download them to a new Kindle not on the old account.
I’m going to make that part clearer as my next move this morning. 🙂
Let’s go back to Mom, Dad, Sister, and Brother.
Sister deregisters a Kindle from what I’ll call the “family account”.
The books that are on Sister’s Kindle (actually downloaded to it) stay there, as long as it isn’t a Kindle Fire. Mom, Dad, and Brother can download them to their Kindles and to future Kindles registered to the family account.
Sister can read them…until she deletes one. If Sister buys a new Kindle which is not registered to the family account, she can’t put the books from the family account on that one.
Where are you running into the issue about having to re-enter your password? Is that on a Kindle Fire, or on a computer?
It sounds to me like you either didn’t check a box to keep you logged into Amazon, or you don’t have cookies enabled. I can explain more about those, if you have questions.
Do other websites keep you logged in on that device?
December 27, 2011 at 5:20 am |
The Amazon website gives good directions for how to borrow a book if you’re a prime member, but it really doesn’t say how one returns it. I know you’ve recently joined Prime. Have you borrowed a book yet? If so, does the borrowed book have a “return button” at the end where a purchased book would have the “rate this book button”?
December 27, 2011 at 12:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
The Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL) became available to me in November, when I got my Kindle Fire. I did pay the $79 annual fee to continue having it…convinced in part by free Prime streaming video, in part by the KOLL…and yes, I enjoy the accelerated shipping (even if we don’t save a lot of money doing it in our household).
I’ve borrowed the maximum…one book a calendar month so far:
The LAST LECTURE
by Randy Pausch (currently priced at $9.44)
Water for Elephants: A Novel
by Sara Gruen (currently priced at $5.44)
I know I haven’t answered your question yet…that’s coming. 🙂 I wanted to list the prices because, although i see people vehemently talling others on the forum that it isn’t worth it to get Prime for the KOLL…that it’s just an added benefit for people who have Prime for the shipping, that hasn’t been the case for me so far.
If you divide $79 by 12, you get about %6.58.
On that basis, I’ve saved money with Prime just for the KOLL. That’s $14.88 for me so far, at a cost of $13.16. I don’t know that it will continue that way, but so far, so good.
I certainly get the other benefits, though..I’ve used the Prime video.
Now, as to your question…
There is no due date when you borrow a book from the KOLL. You could hypothetically keep one forever.
The limit is that you can’t borrow more than one at a time.
So, the fact that you have a book out from the KOLL doesn’t really matter until you want to get another one.
What I did was go to borrow the second book after everybody on my account was done with the first one. When you do that, it tells you that you have one out, and asks if you want to return it. I said yes..mission accomplished.
You can also return the book at
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
and using the Action button.
I know some people like to clean things up, even if there is no practical impact. 🙂
For more information on the KOLL, see this:
Amazon’s KOLL Help Page
December 27, 2011 at 10:56 pm |
>>I know some people like to clean things up, even if there is no practical impact.
I’m still in the one month free trial, so I was worried what would happen if I decide not to continue with the plan once I have to pay for it. I didn’t know if it would just take a phaser hit and disappear or if I’d be charged for it if I hadn’t returned it. It took me awhile to find a book that hadn’t originally been free or at a reduced price. I finally chose one of the Richard Castle books. I’m a fan of “Castle,” but I wasn’t sure if I would like to book or not, so I didn’t want to risk the cost. So far, I’m enjoying it, but I don’t think it will be a “keeper.” I probably will stay with prime after the trial is up. It would be a better value for me if I had WiFi and an iPad or Fire.
December 29, 2011 at 4:51 pm |
This comes from an old F___t that came late to electronics. I have a couple Kindles including the Fire and have enjoyed the reading sessions. Now to the fire, and it’s / my problem with it. I have spent several hours and several emails with Amazon tech reps about email problems on my Kindle Fire with disapointng results. I can send and receive email to myself with both Kindle and PC, but only to and from myself. If I try sending to any of my contacts, it says “unable to send some messages” and they remain in the out folder until I delete them. I have purchased and read your book, “Love your Kindle Fire” and even that dosn’t help me. For the Kindle, I am using an AOL account as on my laptop. My son has a Fire and has the same problems. This make me wonder, how many others have this problem and do you have any suggestions?
December 29, 2011 at 5:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Allen!
I’m testing that for you, and haven’t had a problem yet.
Two things:
Are you typing in the address or adding it from a contact?
My other concern is that you might not be using the whole address. For example, you might be able to use something like
sherlockholmes
when you are using AOL if the consulting detective had an AOL account…and need to spell it out all the way
sherlockholmes@aol.com
when in the Fire’s e-mail app.
Update: my sending to a different address was successful.
December 29, 2011 at 5:57 pm |
Thanks for the rapid reply. I know what my problem is now – one must be smarter than the average box of broken rocks! Since I posted, I reread your book and went back to my old DOS memory stage. It was then I remembered to check spelling and syntax. Typing on the Fire can lead to much misspelling and other errors. Thanks to you and old computer use, I think my problem is solved after correcting mistakes in my contact list. Time will tell.
Thanks again. Allen
December 29, 2011 at 6:22 pm |
Thanks so much for letting me know what happened, Allen!
I really appreciate that kind of feedback. 🙂
December 30, 2011 at 10:19 pm |
Do you think that the Kindle versions of blogs will ever have the capability of becoming interactive? I subscribe to this blog on my Kindle because I prefer reading things on the Kindle screen, but I also have it e-mailed so that if I want to comment on articles, I can. It may seem silly to pay for what I’m also getting for free, but I think you more than earn that $0.99 a month! Just curious.
December 30, 2011 at 11:52 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
You know, I’ve never quite understood their strategy towards blogs. I don’t know if they make money on the program or not, for one thing. I think it may be the only content area of Amazon that is shrinking.
No blog subscriptions on the Kindle reader apps, or on the Kindle Fire, or in most countries.
My guess is that those of us with bestsellers make them money…and that the vast majority of them don’t. Then, if having the blogs in the store cost them money (for accounting, for example), they might be a net negative. Allowing links might make that worse, due to 3G charges.
I would presume that wi-fi changes that calculation, so maybe this will change…
December 31, 2011 at 1:54 pm |
Hi Bufo. I am a Prime subscriber and while I would normally prefer reading to watching TV, I must confess I’ve been enjoying some of the “free for Prime members” movies and old TV shows. I have discovered a wonderful feature of Amazon Prime but thought I’d run it past you before posting anything on the Boards. We have a TV that is web enabled. Playing around, my son in law discovered an Amazon icon. Following the simple instructions on the screen, we were able to link that icon to my Prime account, allowing me to watch the free Prime videos, movies and TV show on the big screen. I can also watch any of the “for pay” shows. The cost will be charged to my Amazon account. This is very cool!
I hesitate to mention this on the Boards because set up may differ from TV to TV, opening up more questions than I can answer there. What do you think?
Carol
p.s. No need to keep my identity private if you decide to talk about this in your blog.
December 31, 2011 at 7:05 pm |
Thanks for writing, Carol!
Yes, that’s going to vary by TV. I use my Roku to do the same thing, with what is now an older (not web-enabled) TV. Another cool thing you’ll find: you can watch part of the movie on the Fire, and pick up in the same place on your TV! That’s fun.
I think if you do post it on the forum, you’ll find quite a few people know about it, and others will appreciate hearing about it. I wouldn’t worry too much about the questions: you won’t be held responsible for answering all of them. 🙂
December 31, 2011 at 10:03 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I’m a long-time reader of your blog and thoroughly enjoy it. I suspect you may have a similar problem to the one I have since I have collected physical books for more than 50 years and now seem to collect ebooks.
My problem is with the Carousel on the Fire. According to Amazon, I have over 4,900 books in my account. So when I received my Kindle Fire, all 4,900+ books showed up on the Carousel and I couldn’t get rid of them. Now they have given us the option of removing them from the Carousel but, alas, only one at a time. Removing 4,900+ books one at a time is next to impossible for me because of arm and hand problems. Amazon tells me they cannot move them to my Cloud (or anywhere else) as a group.
As a sidenote to this, when I order ebooks from Amazon, I tell it to send the book to my K2, the Cloud or the Fire. That part is great! However, no matter where I tell it to send the book, they all end up on my Fire – so I still have to remove them one at a time. It would be so nice if it would only send the ones to the Fire that I ask to be sent to the Fire.
I’ve had several people from Amazon tell me they have never seen someone with that many books, so I’m not sure how problematic this is. However, I think that the longer we have access to ebooks, the more prevalent this will become.
Any ideas, discussion, solutions or help?
December 31, 2011 at 11:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, Dottie! Thanks for the kind words, and for being a reader…both of my blog and other things. 😉
4,900…I’m impressed! 🙂
That’s not contributing to the issue, except for the additional labor involved on your part.
First, let me say…hang in there. 🙂 I do think we’ll get the ability to control this, and my guess ie that it will be in the first month or two of next year.
Second, what’s confusing when you order is that what you are seeing on the Carousel is both the books on your device and on the Cloud (in your archives). It would be as if, on your K2, your books didn’t show up as an Archived Items line item on the homescreen, but all of your archived books showed up as individual items on your homescreen as well as the ones you’d downloaded.
When you tell the book to go to your K2, it’s doing that…it’s not actually moving to the Fire, it’s just showing up in the archives. You can tell this if you go to the Books tab, and tap on Device and compare it to Cloud. The ones on the Device tab are on the Fire…the other ones are not.
That doesn’t make the mechanical operation any easier for you, but I hope the explanation helps. 🙂
There are a lot of ways for Amazon to approach this, and I think they’ll figure something out soon…
January 4, 2012 at 2:56 pm |
[dont care about this being private or not]
ScreenDim (Pro, didn’t try the free version)
Strongly recommend adding this to the “must have” list of apps.
I’ve no connection whatsoever with the developer, I just find myself reading in the dark often.
This app allows you to dim the screen all the way to black.
January 4, 2012 at 7:05 pm |
Thanks for writing, JJ!
Since you don’t care, I’d rather other people benefit from your experience. 🙂
My new Fire should be here on Thursday. The free version is a three day trial, so I’ll get it and check it out.
I think it’s because of my partial color vision deficiency (“color blindness”), but I see really well in the dark. I’d love to have the screen get darker…
January 6, 2012 at 2:30 am |
[Don’t care about privacy either]
Hi, just curious what your take is on the Kindle Compass newsletter flap; what it says about customer service, the thinking behind the newsletter, and if you know anything more about it?
Great blog as always,
thanks
January 6, 2012 at 5:59 pm |
Hi Bufo, I discovered your blog after I upgraded/added a Fire to my first gen Kindle. I enjoy reading the blog — and getting the emails from my subscription.
Don’t know if there is any help for this, but it is nice to share. I enjoy using the map app on my iPhone and would like to do the same on the Fire — just for planning purposes. There is no resident program, but there is Mapquest. I know there is no GPS. One fellow in the review of Mapquest was amazed it seemed to know just where he is located — or pretty close. I expect they are using a method of wifi tower pinging, similar to what Apple was doing early on with its phones.
Here’s the problem: I live on the Gulf Coast of Texas, but most all the time it locates me just south of Fort Worth, which is over 400 miles away. I have tried deleting, shutting down and also doing several wifi syncs before opening the program. Mostly it puts me up in Fort Worth. Mostly. Once in a great while it will place me not only in the right city, but on the right street. But, this is seldom.
I wrote two emails to Mapquest through their provided contact link and got no response. I called Amazon and they said it has to do with the location of my internet provider. (I think this is bogus. My provider is AT&T and they are nationwide. I can’t imagine everyone in the country with a Kindle Fire coming up as located just south of Fort Worth.)
Amazon said also since this is a free app there isn’t much they can do. They were very nice and even posted a few dollars to my account.
They are right this is a free app. It is also the only mapping app I can find for the Kindle Fire free or paid. I’ve tried to get Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and done general searches, but have found nothing. I would be glad to pay a resonable fee for a map app that works as Mapquest says it should — and as it may be working for most users.
That’s probably more than you want to hear or know about this, and the fact is I use my Fire a lot more for reading and streaming videos than the small amount of time I spend on maps, but I would like it to work as intended.
January 6, 2012 at 6:55 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jeff!
Thanks for the kind words!
Well, as you note, the Kindle Fire doesn’t have the GPS hardware, so there is only so much you can do. On the Mapquest app’s product page in the Amazon Appstore, it says:
I’d say 400 miles is less accurate than four meters. 😉
Are you able to manually enter your address? I’m unfortunately unable to test it right now.
January 6, 2012 at 7:29 pm |
Thanks for your quick response. Hope you are soon reunited with your missing Kindle Fire and the one on order becomes a bonus.
As I said, I know there is no GPS, but if they are going to use a wifi location system I wish it would work — at least to get me in the same city. What’s really annoying is that it does just that sometimes, but very rarely. About once in 30 times.
Yes, I can manually enter my address. I wish there was a way to “lock” the “homebase” in as the “current location.” Silly me, but I just think if it says it will find your approximate location using wifi then it should do so. I’d be happy if it was in the same city. (I’d also be happy if there were an alternative map program to compare.)
January 7, 2012 at 10:48 pm |
Hi Bufo! I have been a loyal DX user for about 3yrs but I think the time for me to trade it in has come. The fact that it is no longer supported plus the trade-in value of $100 has made my DX loyalty waiver 🙂 In your opinion, would it be a better choice to get the Kindle 3G Keyboard or the 3G Touch? I would like to choose the one that has the “best bet” in being supported the longest. When I got the DX I was unaware that it would be a flop (in Amazon’s opinion) which led to them not pushing updates anymore. I want the 3G option but special offers is fine. Money isn’t an issue & I’m neutral about touchscreen vs keyboard, my focus is software update longevity. Any opinion on the Touch vs keyboard?
January 8, 2012 at 6:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Morgan!
That’s an interesting question!
In the case of tech hardware like this, I would be reluctant to make a decision based on future support for that particular model. A Kindle is so much more than the hardware…it’s what I call the “Kindle Service”. The important thing is to go with a company you think will be around, and who won’t abandon the concept entirely.
You appear to have already made that decision. 🙂
Let’s see…the Kindle Keyboard has already been around a relatively long time. I would also consider it the more mature device: I think it does what it is supposed to do better than the Kindle Touch at this point.
On the other hand, the Kindle Touch has the X-Ray feature, which I think may eventually really catch on for school use. If it does,that could give it a slice of the educational market, which really helped Apple survive years ago.
I took a look at the popularity and satisfaction (based on the star ratings) of the current models.
The sales ranking is
Fire
Touch wi-fi only
Mindle
Touch 3G & wi-fi
Keyboard 3G & wi-fi
That’s ignoring ad-supported or not.
However, looking at the ratings, it’s different:
Model Average Reviews Points
Keyboard 3G&wi-fi 4.51 36179 163515
Mindle 4.31 2765 11909
Fire 3.93 10626 41790
Touch wi-fi 3.85 8051 2093
Touch 3G&wi-fi 3.85 2104 8099
That was interesting to do! I would have guessed the Mindle (the $79/$109 model) was most highly-rated, but it’s the Keyboard. The Touches are the lowest out of this set of five…lower than the Fire.
That would suggest that the Keyboard might be around longer…but I wouldn’t bet on that. It could also mean that the Touch will get more attention, since it’s flagging a bit in satisfaction.
Thanks for asking the question! I’m not giving you a very definitive answer, but hopefully, this helps a bit.
January 9, 2012 at 3:27 am |
Thank you so much! Your response helps ALOT. I wil still “sleep on it” but the fact that the Touch is “flagging a bit” really stands out for me- that is what occured with the DX (as you know). I love Amazon, the Kindle, the CS, everything… that being said, I find it very irksome that the DX isn’t supported anymore and I would like to avoid that experience again. Obviously I know that what I buy next will eventually be phased out but, in my opinion, the DX was ended prematurely. Also, thank you for pointing out that the Touch has xray. I hadn’t realized that the Keyboard didn’t.
January 9, 2012 at 3:59 am
Thanks for writing, Morgan!
Great, I’m glad you found that information useful!
I’m not quite sure why the Keyboard doesn’t have X-Ray…I don’t see a technical barrier to it…
January 8, 2012 at 1:31 am |
I got the following e-mail in the account name I use for Amazon purchases. It seems legit. I haven’t read the book yet. I downloaded it because it was free or very reduced in price, I can’t remember which now. I won’t lose any notes because I haven’t made any. Is there any downside to allowing the update to, well, update?
Hello,
We’re writing about your past Kindle purchase of Megan’s Way (2011 Beach Book
Festival Award Winner, 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist) by
Melissa Foster. The version you received had formatting issues that have been
corrected.
An updated version of Megan’s Way (2011 Beach Book Festival Award Winner, 2010
Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist) (ASIN:B002LISR7C) is now available.
It’s important to note that when we send you the updated version, you will no
longer be able to view any highlights, bookmarks, and notes made in your current
version and your furthest reading location will be lost.
If you wish to receive the updated version, please reply to this email with the
word “Yes” in the first line of your response. Within 2 hours of receiving the
e-mail any device that has the title currently downloaded will be updated
automatically if the wireless is on.
You can find more information about Kindle related topics here:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
Please Note: in order to receive the updated version, your e-mail response must
come from the e-mail address associated with your Amazon account. Responses from
other email addresses cannot be processed.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your business with
Amazon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/
January 8, 2012 at 6:29 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, that should be fine…I’ve gotten several like that.
That’s what I’ve been trying to get them to do with Love Your Kindle Fire, and they say they will…but it hasn’t happened yet.
January 8, 2012 at 3:38 pm |
As an early adopted of the iPhone I watched as it was improved and features added to the iOS. In many cases “fixes” came as a result of input from users.
I’m certain you and your readers have good ideas and I’ll bet Amazon is listening.
How about a little “survey” asking what one feature or tweak your readers would like Amazon to add in the next update?
For me it would be adding one virtual button. I like to keep an eye on my battery status. I’d like to be able to press the gear button in the upper right hand corner and, in addition to being able to change volume, adjust brightness and access wifi, i would like to check my battery percentage without the extra step of having to drop down to “device.”
January 8, 2012 at 7:05 pm |
Thanks for writing, JefF!
It’s been a while since I did a poll like that…maybe I’ll think about doing it again.
This was the most recent, I believe:
I find the visual representation of the battery enough for me. I think there are some apps to be able to make checking it easier.
That wouldn’t be very high on my list (text-to-speech which is compatible with Kindle Store books would come first), but i wouldn’t mind it. 🙂
January 9, 2012 at 2:09 am |
Bufo – Have you taken a look at the app, Splashtop, in the Fire app store? It was offered as the free app of the day a day or two ago. I’m using the app to run my Macbook Pro laptop from my Fire with the computer’s desktop on the Fire. Now I can do on the Fire everything I can do on my laptop!
Just started playing with it so I don’t know all the pros and cons yet, but this is potentially really useful. I do have a few observations though.
1. Responsiveness – pretty good. Fully adequate for non-video function; a bit laggy for video but tolerable.
2. Works for remote access to multiple computers, both Mac and PC. (Windows on Kindle!)
3. Control and navigation – Here’s where the balkiness of the Fire touch screen is a bit annoying. The remote desktop has small features since it’s presenting a large desktop on the small Fire screen. Sometimes really challenging to click on the precise place given Fire’s somewhat imprecise touch registration (even with a stylus).
4. Security – need to make sure you use a strong password for access to the remote computer so you don’t expose that system to being run by someone else. Also, current version doesn’t encrypt traffic, so you might want to think twice about doing anything with sensitive information from a public wi-fi hotspot. (I read in one of the review entries that the app authors may be working on adding encryption, but that’s certainly not authoritative. )
Anyway, you might want to check this out. It certainly expands what you can do from the Fire.
Regards,
John
January 9, 2012 at 2:57 am |
Thanks for writing, John!
Yes, I mentioned to one of my other readers, Edward Boyhan, that I got it as the FAOTD (Free App of the Day). I have been playing with it a bit today, but not enough to review it yet.
I did think the set-up was pretty easy…and I do also find the interface a bit balky. I sometimes had to drag the mouse arrow where I wanted to click, rather being able to just click. There might be a setting that affects it…but I found the documentation lacking.
On the other hand, it really has potential. I can see definite uses.
After I try it out a bit more, I’ll write about it.
I appreciate you taking the time to give people such a thorough comment!
January 12, 2012 at 1:40 am |
OK, this is odd. Based on your article in the blog today, I went to the Amazon website intending to write a positive review about this blog. I got to the page that lists the blog, but I was stopped by this notation:
This mobile site does not currently support the purchase of this item. Add it to your Wish List and you can view and purchase it from your computer.
I WAS viewing it from my computer!!! I don’t know if this is a temporary glitch or what, but I don’t have any mobile devices, other than the Kindle, with which I could access Amazon.com. And even the Kindle 3 has trouble accessing the Kindle store because what ever G3 network they use for it has lousy coverage where I live. I’ve never had a problem connecting with my Kindle 1, but trying to connect or stay connected with the K3 is an exercise in patience and futility!
January 12, 2012 at 4:08 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I used to see that mobile warning when clicking links from my Kindle, but haven’t notice it recently.
Maybe you are using a browser that fooled it? Do you mind sharing which one?
If your K1 connected better, that suggests that you may get Sprint better than you get AT&T…
January 12, 2012 at 6:01 am |
I’m connecting using an ancient eMac running system 10.4.11 and the most recent version of the Camino browser. I thought maybe it was a browser problem, so I emptied my cache and tossed my cookies, but the problem persists. I wanted to order an item later this evening using one click, and it told me I needed to turn one click for mobile on. Since I’m not using mobile, I didn’t want to do that. I wrote to Amazon, but they want me to call them, and I’m too tired and cranky to deal with it tonight. I also want to try different browsers to see if it’s totally browser related. And then, we all know that sometimes if you just ignore a problem long enough, it goes away on its own. If it’s still a problem tomorrow, then I’ll call.
January 12, 2012 at 1:46 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Hm…I don’t know much about Camino, except that its Mozilla-based, I believe.
If you do hear more from them after you get some sleep, let me know. 🙂
January 13, 2012 at 12:07 am |
When I checked this afternoon, I found this reply to my second attempt to get an e-mail reply. I checked, and sure enough, everything is back to normal.
“I understand that Amazon.com is treating your Mac computer as mobile.
I’ve reported this to our technical team, and they’re working on it.
Errors like this are usually corrected shortly after they’re reported.
We appreciate your patience while we fix this problem. We look forward to seeing
you again soon.
Thank you for your recent inquiry. Did I solve your problem?
Best regards,
Abhilash T
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company.”
January 13, 2012 at 2:30 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I appreciate hearing about the resolution…I also think “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” is an interesting goal…
January 16, 2012 at 5:49 am |
I don’t know if you saw this or not, but it’s another NY Times article that seems to have an anti-Amazon spin. Just thought you might be interested.
January 17, 2012 at 10:38 am |
Hi Bufo
USA Today had an interesting article on e-textbooks
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-16/ebook-textbook-sales/52603526/1
January 17, 2012 at 1:44 pm |
Thanks for writing, Tom!
Interesting article!
I think the trick may be to break what is now one big textbook into individual topics (sort of the way iTunes broke albums into individual tracks). It’s that chunk of money all at once that’s hard, especially if you are buying many textbooks. If students could buy the digital “chapter” they needed when they needed it, it would make it appear more affordable and work better with cash flow. An e-chapter would likely be cheaper than a used full textbook, and could be updated more easily.
January 20, 2012 at 2:58 pm |
just wanted to say how much i enjoy your blog. i am a tech-idiot and yours is the only blog i have ever read. i find i dont always know what you are talking about, but the things i do understand are fascinating 🙂 keep up the good work. thank you!
January 20, 2012 at 3:17 pm |
Thanks for writing, Robin!
Thanks for the kind words!
That’s really important feedback. There are times I know I am writing more “inside baseball”…when using the jargon is a way to connect with the intelligensia on the topic. I try to be careful to define things most of the time, though. If you ever have a question about something I’ve said, feel free to ask. 🙂 I probably get accused of over-explaining a lot more than I do of under-explaining…but I can be a pedantic geek (and use words like “pedantic”). 😉
January 20, 2012 at 9:18 pm |
I really enjoy your blog. Your post on Apple getting into the publishing business was interesting. Here’s another take on it, in case you don’t already know….
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/apples-mind-bogglingly-greedy-and-evil-license-agreement/4360?tag=nl.e539
January 26, 2012 at 4:26 am |
Would like to thank you for your help, You have been most informative for the past few years. Again, thank you. You may be able to find or know the answer for me. At the end of Jan 2012 Brilliance audio will no longer allow Overdrive public libraries to purchase downloadable audio books. My concern is that many of our patrons favorite authors like J.D. Robb, Stuart Woods and a host of others will no longer be accessible. There are many good reasons to have downloadable audio books both for the library and the patrons, I find this outrageous and disappointing. I have search the Web and have yet to find a good reason for this decision. I wrote to Amazon since it is the owner. Do you know or can you find out? Brilliance nor Overdrive have explained this. We at the library will be left to try and explain this to our patrons with no good explanation. This is a bad move. Thank you for all you do and God Bless.
January 26, 2012 at 1:22 pm |
Thanks for writing, Deborah!
I appreciate the heads-up on that! I hadn’t heard about it, and I’ll research it.
I can see a few reasons why this might occur (including some sort of reorganization at Brilliance), but I’ll dig more into it. It’s probably worth a post, and that may result in additional information.
It may also tie into some other method of distribution…I could see this being tied into Amazon’s Prime program in some way, since they have indicated more benefits were coming to that.
Thanks again!
January 26, 2012 at 3:02 pm |
hi –
Have enjoyed becoming aware of and reading your blog.
I happen to discover that the WordPress blog has the companion articles posted for RSS readers.
Therefore, I am reading the blog via my Pulse app on my NookColor running full Android tablet with the N2A SD card. I would rather continue reading via Pulse vs having a Kindle subscription and having to open the Kindle app on the Nook.
Since your blog is an interesting resource for me, I would like to contribute to it’s well being.
Therefore, I would like to suggest that you add on your blog a place for “donations” via Paypal or other means to show appreciation without doing a Kindle subscription.
tnx –
January 26, 2012 at 3:25 pm |
Thanks for writing, Phil!
Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you’ve got it set up on your NOOK. I use the Pulse app on my Kindle Fire, and really like it.
I believe setting up PayPal contributions would complicate the tax situation. When people contribute a random amount that way, what are they getting in return? One reason I like going through Amazon is that those tax liabilities are appropriately reported for me, and that wouldn’t happen in the case of PayPal.
January 26, 2012 at 10:09 pm |
>>Getting to Amazon through links on my blog is helpful…
Do you get any credit for clicking on the links to the freebies?
January 26, 2012 at 11:43 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Um…I can’t really answer that. In fact, thinking about it, I’d better edit that comment.
January 27, 2012 at 10:37 pm |
Bufo – thought you ight be interested in these stats. http://gigaom.com/2012/01/27/kindle-fire-edges-galaxy-tab-as-most-used-android-tablet/
January 29, 2012 at 4:50 pm |
Hi, I am a subscriber to your ILMK and receive it on my Kindle KB 3G. I also now have a Fire and am wondering if I can receive it on that as well (via wi-fi)?
Thank,
BillC
January 29, 2012 at 5:42 pm |
Thanks for writing, Bill!
Thanks also for subscribing! That’s really what makes this possible. 🙂
Unfortunately, you can’t subscribe in the Kindle store and have it sent that way to your Fire.
You can, though, get it through the Pulse app.
Here are some instructions, from my book on using the Kindle Fire:
Go to your homescreen and tap the Pulse app (you’ll probably see it on your Favorites shelves) or open it from the Apps tab
Click the menu icon (the horizontal lines in a box) at the bottom of the screen
Choose Manage Sources
Tap the blue bar with the plus on it
Tap the Search magnifying glass at the top of the screen
Tap the Search box and type ILMK
Tap the magnifying glass
It should find I Love My Kindle at http://ilmk.worpdress.com/feed/. Tap the blue plus box at the end of that line. It will say “Added”
Tap the back arrow…you can drag it to the top of your feeds, if you want, or wherever you want it to be
Love Your Kindle Fire: The ILMK Guide to Amazon’s Entertablet>
February 3, 2012 at 3:08 pm |
Hi Bufo –
I’ve been reading for a little over a year and send any new Kindle owners your way. I appreciate the thoroughness of your posts and your fair views on the ebr world.
I tend to read my blogs on my iPhone (iOS 5). Yesterday I ran into Kindle book links that don’t actually allow me to purchase. It wasn’t universally yapping yesterday, but it is today. Instead of the usual “Buy Now with 1-Click” and a drop down to choose the device I want it delivered to I get a “Shopping Cart” button and a “Wishlist” button. If I scroll all the way to the bottom there is also no longer a “Full Site” link which I used fairly frequently to check on lending ability. I’m curious if you’ve heard anything about this? Is this due to another power struggle thing between Apple & Amazon?
I’ve tried the Kindle Store short cut I set up when the purchase option was removed from the app (which I never really used, I read on my K3) but the result is the same. Oh, and the shopping cart button doesn’t even work. It takes you to the cart, but doesn’t add the item to the cart.
I can provide you with some screen shots if you would like. Just let me know!
Thanks!
February 3, 2012 at 3:27 pm |
Bufo – More survey information about user likes/dislikes about Fire done by Changewave Research: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57370148-64/survey-cites-amazon-kindle-fire-likes-and-dislikes/?tag=rtcol
February 3, 2012 at 3:41 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
I have that one sitting in my queue to write about. 🙂 I went with the Walmart ad, since people might have been buying a Kindle Fire today…
They can see it from yours, though, and I do plan to write about it. 🙂
February 4, 2012 at 1:03 am |
Bufo, you can now download the Bluefire reader from the web. See blog http://www.bluefirereader.com/blog/
I did and works like a charm! 🙂
February 4, 2012 at 1:04 am |
I meant to say for the Fire!
February 5, 2012 at 12:16 am |
I thought you would find this portion of an email I received 1/28/12 from Goodreads.com… Wonder what Amazon’s restrictions are?… The email says, in part. “For years, we’ve used Amazon’s data for information such as the book title, author, and publication date. Unfortunately, the terms required by Amazon have now become so restrictive that we decided it makes better sense to work with other data sources. However, the deadline to make the transition is Amazon’s, and they have told us that we must stop using their data by January 30. We have to meet this deadline.”
February 5, 2012 at 1:00 am |
Thanks for writing, Morgan!
Hmm…I’ll dig more into that. I wasn’t aware of any recent change, but there was a change a while back I recall. Basically, Amazon makes its database available for people who want to link to Amazon to sell things. If you are using their data but linking other places, they may not approve that use. I’m not sure those are the rules, but I’ll check a bit more. Of course, Amazon owns Shelfari, which could be considered a competitor for Goodreads…
February 5, 2012 at 1:33 am |
Morgan, I did find more about this on GoodReads blog:
http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/338-goodreads-transitions-to-new-data-sources
They talk about restrictions that Amazon has in using their database, and they don’t seem unreasonable to me (including not taking Amazon’s information in order to link to other bookstores).
I find this comment of GoodReads’ odd:
“If you see a book missing a cover, feel free to find a new one on the author’s or publisher’s Web site and upload it to Goodreads. While many of the missing cover images will be included very soon in our ongoing imports, we also welcome book information from Goodreads members. ”
It’s one thing to link to an image, but if you are actually copying a copyrighted image without permission, especially for a commercial use, I would think that would be an infringement in many cases…
February 5, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Thanks Bufo! I did see your blog posting about this, I must admit it made me happy to see a “shout out” to me in your blog :-)… I think Shelfari is a competitor to Goodreads. I know that I switched to Shelfari b/c I buy 100% of my books from Amazon & shelfari allows me to upload my purchases. Another plus is that I like the “bookshelf” better b/c it contains the book covers.
February 6, 2012 at 5:42 pm |
Bufo –
Amazon in the Process of Launching a Retail Store:
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/amazon-in-the-process-of-launching-a-retail-store/
Regards,
John
February 7, 2012 at 7:25 am |
I’ve had my Kindle 3 (renamed Kindle Keyboard) for about a year now, and it’s gotten to the point that I have to recharge the battery almost every day. At first, I could go at least a week between recharges. I’m not using it any more or any differently than when I first got it. (I access Whispernet 2 or 3 times a day to allow blogs to download.) Is it possible to replace the battery? I’ve changed out the battery twice now on my Kindle 1, but I can’t see any way to get inside my K3.
February 7, 2012 at 1:52 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
If you are within a year, I’d definitely talk to Kindle Support at
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
You’ll see a
Contact Us
button on your right. I’d call them or have them call you.
The K3 doesn’t have a user-replaceable battery in the way a K1 does, but you can do it…there are videos on the web. Doing that, though, may invalidate your warranty (it’s possible just opening the Kindle does that), so I’d go for an Amazon solution first.
You could also try resetting it to factory defaults: I’ve heard of people having success with charge issues that way. However, it does wipe out a lot of things you may want on your Kindle (including wi-fi networks, if you have wi-fi, and internet bookmarks). I’d typically try other answers first.
February 7, 2012 at 1:36 pm |
i needed that, yet another fantastic read. thx, you have made my day:)
February 8, 2012 at 7:46 pm |
Hi Bufo, I have been enjoying your blog since I got my KK last January. I came across something odd in my library’s lending of Kindle books yesterday. Several of the newly released books I wanted to check out from Random House are only available in epub. These are ones that have come out in the last few weeks. They include: Behind the Beautiful Forevers; Orphan Master’s Son; Defending Jacob; and Thuvia, Maid of Mars. I hadn’t heard of Random House limiting their checkout of library books in any way. Did I miss something?
February 8, 2012 at 8:02 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lisa!
That’s interesting, because it was recently reported that Random House specifically wasn’t limiting their library lending (unlike some other big publishers):
Hm…I get the same results with Defending Jacob.
I’m not, though, seeing a big mismatch between Kindle editions and EPUBs from Random House. My library’s most recently added title was in both.
I’ll keep my eyes open…
February 8, 2012 at 8:09 pm |
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! I had read that about Random House and that was why I was baffled when I saw that yesterday. The thing I noticed is that the only books that don’t have the Kindle editions are the recently PUBLISHED titles. (Behind the Beautiful Forevers was actually published yesterday). Older titles that the library recently acquired have both Kindle and Epub editions. Could it be that it is just taking longer for the Kindle editions to be posted?
February 8, 2012 at 9:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lisa!
I appreciate that clarification!
When I search at my library by date published, rather than date added, it does match what you saw, I think.
The most recent Random House Kindle edition released was on November 29, 2011. Books published November 30, 2011 and after are only in EPUB.
When I don’t limit it to Random House, the most recent Kindle edition was released on January 31, 2012.
I don’t feel like there is enough data here to really make a conclusion yet…we’ll see if others chime in.
February 9, 2012 at 5:56 pm |
I’m trying to help a friend select a Kindle and he asked a question I can’t answer. He is leaning toward a Kindle Touch 3G and he wants to know if he can send and receive email. I could find no reference on the Amazon web site for this device, so I did an online chat. The rep told me that it was possible, but I still have to wonder if that IS a feature why is there NO reference I can find among the various bullet points for the Touch.
February 9, 2012 at 8:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jeff!
Nice of you to help your friend!
It’s because it isn’t a specific feature of the Touch. You are just going to use your web-based e-mail through the experimental web browser…and I’ll warn you, it will be a clunky experience. I’ve done it on RSKs (Reflective Screen Kindles…anything but a Kindle Fire) since the Kindle 1. It has improved, but if e-mail is an important function, an RSK isn’t the best device. You can read the e-mail (slowly), but composing can be quite hard. For one thing, an RSK can only have one window open at a time…I think that’s still true.
If reading books is ninety percent of the use, an RSK is good. If it’s not, looking the Fire make sense.
This earlier post may help, but do ask if you have questions…I did that one before I had hands on with the latest versions:
February 9, 2012 at 8:28 pm |
Thanks Bofo, I have a first gen Kindle, in addition to my Fire, and I have surfed on it some. That is a tough way to go. My friend really needs a unit with 3G to meet his specific needs. I have been pitching the Fire. (First hurdle was to get him to actually consider an ereader. ) The 3G is the reason he started to lean toward the Touch. The email question kind of came out of left field. Thanks for your explanation, that explains why Amazon doesn’t make a deal of email access on the web site.
February 12, 2012 at 1:11 pm |
Bufo, is there a way to get email contacts imported into the Fire? The only choices I see are importing from SD (internal) and exporting. I was able to set up 3 email accounts fine, but don’t want to manually set up all those contacts! Thanks, and hope your birthday is off to a great start! 🙂
February 16, 2012 at 2:09 am |
Nevermind, I figured it out. Since my contacts were in Outlook I just converted them to a .vcf file and manually transferred them to the Fire root directory and they worked fine.
February 12, 2012 at 8:26 pm |
I’d like to point out that the Kindle Fire has GPS available out of the box. Use the Map Quest app, free, and check it out. You can use it to show routes between your location and a specific address. It will show you food and gas locations on request. Of course, you must have wi-fi available to take advantage of it.
February 13, 2012 at 3:29 am |
Thanks for writing, Harvey!
When people use the acronym “GPS”, they are typically referring to a specific type of hardware that uses satellites…one definition of the term is “Global Positioning Satellite”, although it’s more properly Global Positioning System.
My understanding is that the Kindle Fire does not have this hardware.
That doesn’t mean it can’t do some kinds of “geolocating”, as you note. If you take a look at the product page of the Mapquest app, it says:
“NOTE: MapQuest is most accurate when it uses GPS to obtain and update your location. If your device doesn’t have GPS capability, the app will use a Wi-Fi Internet connection to obtain your position. In this case, MapQuest’s location will likely be less accurate than if it were using GPS.”
That latter method is, I believe, what is happening with the Fire…
February 14, 2012 at 1:19 am |
I understand what you are saying but for all intents and purposes the app works nicely. When I typed in an address to MQ the map updated to show me a yellow route line from my residence to that address. You can’t use it in a vehicle of course but for locating places it seems accurate enough.
February 14, 2012 at 2:35 am |
Thanks for writing, Harvey!
Yes, that app does work with it…good to point that out. I believe that there are quite a few apps taht need an actual GPS to work, but I’m not positive about that. Some apps do need a higher level of precision, but Mapquest can wi-fi can find a building-sized object okay.
February 15, 2012 at 4:17 pm |
Hi Bufo, I just learned an interesting thing with Mindle, maybe it is widely known, but it was new to me…
I am on a business trip to Dubai. I have only wired connection in the hotel room. So I started Linux with wifi hotspot. I can browse through it with my iPad easily. But when I try to connect with Mindle, it complains that it cannot use corporate or peer-to-peer networks to connect to Internet. And indeed, when I tried it in the office (corporate network), I got the same message.
Just wanted to share…
February 15, 2012 at 6:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Marvin!
Yes, that’s right…your iPad may have greater wi-fi access than your Mindle (the $79/$109 model). That’s also true of a Kindle Fire, by the way…although I do think that may have improved since the initial release. This is what it says on the Mindle product page:
“Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS); does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. “
February 19, 2012 at 10:08 pm |
I’ve downloaded the”Tonido” app which looks to be very useful. However, I’m stumped at the registration. There are spaces to enter: Server, then Account and last Pasword. The server box must begin with http:/ . Can you help me figure this out? I always thought my server was Century Link but when I enter that it gives me http://tonidocenturylink and that’s in no way right by them. Can you help, please? I know it works on the Kindle because Steve Meyers mentioned it on Len Edgerly’s blot #185.
February 20, 2012 at 2:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, Deb!
I’ll try and test it out for you…don’t know offhand.
February 20, 2012 at 2:35 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I have a question
1) I added a contact to my gmail account on my kindle fire. However it did not sync to my gmail account when I used my laptop. It is on the kindle fire gmail contacts …but not synced so I can use it when sending an email from my laptop
Is there a step in getting it to sync? I tried tapping the” gear” and then i clicked “sync”
Thanks you, Wes
February 21, 2012 at 1:58 am |
Thanks for writing, Wes!
If you are using the included e-mail app on the Kindle Fire, I don’t believe it will sync to your account. While it may seem to you that you are adding the contact to Gmail there, you are, I believe, just adding it to the Kindle Fire’s contacts.
Were you using that app, or something else?
February 21, 2012 at 4:34 pm |
Yes, I was using the E-mail included app. Really limits the appeal of the app, I think. Thank you for your timely reply. I really appreciate your posts and insights.
February 21, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Thanks for writing, weshenson!
Well, I love that I can see several of my e-mail accounts in one unified app. It would be complex for it to merge your Gmail, AOL, and Hotmail contacts and sync all of those to those different entities.
Have you tried using any of the Gmail-related apps in the Amazon Appstore?
You could also use something like Splashtop to host your Gmail on desktop, but work with it on your Kindle Fire.
February 20, 2012 at 4:24 pm |
I did a search on the blog and didn’t notice this but…
What’s going on with HarperCollins and the Agency Model?
While looking through some of my wishlist I noticed:
$21.99 for LotR trilogy on that edition but there’s another edition where there’s an Amazon price of $9.99 If you click on the Amazon version of the ebook then the $21.99 copy isn’t available (though searching takes you to the more expensive one still at this point).
The Hobbit has a similar situation: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hobbit-ebook/dp/B0026REBG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329754694&sr=1-1
Maybe it’s just related to LotR as the Narnia books are through HarperCollins and they still show the “New from” price instead of an Amazon price option.
February 20, 2012 at 11:25 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jonward!
I don’t think that’s an Agency Model thing in that case. If you take a look, there are two different publishers.
The one you linked
is published by HarperCollins, as you note, and is $21.99.
The other one
is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and is $9.99.
They also have a different number of pages in their sources paperbooks.
I don’t know why the e-book rights would have been negotiated with two different companies, but perhaps they are two different editions.
February 20, 2012 at 4:48 pm |
I could have sworn I could click on a KOLL book on my iPad or laptop in Nov. and borrow for free. I noticed that now you can only get that “Borrow for Free” bitton on your Kindle. Was I imagining things? I usually shop on my iPad and send to whichever Kindle I want it on.
February 20, 2012 at 11:30 pm |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
As far as I know, you’ve always been only able to borrow a KOLL (Kindle Owners’ Lending Library) book from a physical Kindle device. You can see if you can borrow them other places, but the actual borrow button doesn’t show in any of the apps, I believe.
February 22, 2012 at 1:13 am |
Bufo, did u see the free book “the Last Bookstore in America” by Amy Stewart? Thought u might be interested since you used to manage one. 🙂
February 22, 2012 at 1:34 am |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
I appreciate the tip! I picked it up. 🙂 For those of you who are interested…
The Last Bookstore In America
February 22, 2012 at 5:46 am |
Where did my collections go? AARRGGHH!!!! I got a phone call when I was in the middle of a game on my Kindle Keyboard, G3. I set it down, and it went to sleep in game mode. When I tried to wake it up, it got cranky and decided it needed to reset itself. By the time it got done, all my collections had disappeared any my 256 items were all out of their folders. So many of those had been “freebies” that I had downloaded for future reading. When I downloaded them, I had the description to go by and put them into folders for Sci-Fi, or Mystery, or Memoir, or all of the other headings. I made sure to create just enough folders so that they took up a whole page meaning that when my blogs downloaded, they would all be at the top of the second page and I wouldn’t have to scroll all the way to the bottom to read the new blogs. (Please, Amazon, could you have blogs load ahead of folders instead of behind them? I know, Amazon isn’t reading here.)
Anyway, is this a common problem? Was it caused by not exiting the game before letting the Kindle go to sleep. I’m starting to see a pattern that ever since I downloaded that addictive little game, my Kindle has been having major behavior disorders. I also finally downloaded the software 3.3 version and installed it a few days ago. Was that the problem? (The game is Bubble Pop, but you can delete that if you think it’s irrelevant. I don’t want to sully the reputation of a fun little game if it’s not at fault.)
It took me hours to put all the books back into folders. In some cases, I had to go to Amazon to remind myself which category the book belonged in. Oh well, it could have been worse. I could have been required to download them again!
February 22, 2012 at 1:10 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m sorry you went through that!
I have seen reports of people losing Collections before. I believe what Amazon recommends is deregistering the device and then re-registering it…and the Collections are back, Bob’s your uncle. It should be able to be done in a minute or so. It might be necessary to sync after that, and I suppose it’s possible you’d be taking the steps to add your own device’s Collections…but I haven’t heard that part.
It’s hard to say if the game is responsible. I’m going to leave the name in there, so people know about the game, and we might get some other people’s experiences with it. My guess is that your post will sell more of the game than discourage people.
February 23, 2012 at 6:34 am |
I was afraid if I deregistered it, I would have lost everything! I know I probably keep too many books on the Kindle, but with 3G, it takes forever to upload and download. I wish there was some way to switch my Kindle Keyboard to the same wireless carrier as the Kindle 1. I rarely connect at more than 2 bars on the newer, and nearly connect with 5 bars with the old one. I rarely lose connections with the old one, but I usually lose the connection every time I click a new link or go to the next page on the newer one. And when it loses connection, instead of trying to reopen the 3G connection, it tries to grab on to the wi-fi networks of the houses on either side of me. Why on earth don’t we have the option to tell your Kindle not to even bother to look for a 3G network unless we specifically tell it to? I keep suggesting. Maybe someday!
February 23, 2012 at 1:58 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
With anything except a Kindle Fire, deregistering is not a huge inconvenience. Certainly, it feels scary, but your books will stay on your device. I did it at one point, just to test something…probably on a Kindle 2.
I don’t remember if I had to redirect my subscriptions afterwards…that’s possible.
As to control over network type, that makes good sense. 🙂 I presume they don’t do some of these because they want to reduce friction…if somebody turned off 3G, and forgot (or if somebody else using the device did it), they might be calling Customer Service later…or just complaining to friends and online that they can’t get a signal.
I’d generally rather have options, personally…just speculating about why it might be.
March 5, 2012 at 6:00 pm |
Bufo, when you search the store on the KF, shouldn’t it check for all books and not just kindle books? I had to go to the website to buy a book because it wasn’t Kindlized. Also, if I want to clean off my K3 and start over because there’s too many books and it’s way too slow, do I just deregister and then register again? I don’t care about collections – i just want a clean slate! Thanks!
March 9, 2012 at 11:58 pm |
hi Bufo, just wondered if you saw the report today of possible 2 more Kindle Fires.
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Digitimes Reports 7″ and 10″ Fire Tablets Are Coming
March 9, 2012
March 10, 2012 at 2:45 am |
Thanks for writing, jean!
I’m not quite sure where you copied this?
That would match what I’ve been suggesting…
March 18, 2012 at 12:54 am |
Wow! Amazon has changed the look of their home page online. The first thing I usually check is the “recommendations” to see if they’ve added something new. I couldn’t even find “recommendation” when I first clicked on the home page. I finally found it on a drop down menu under “your account.” They’ve added some sort of gimicky feature named “betterizer” that seems similar to the “like” feature on Facebook, though it doesn’t seem to be connected to Facebook. I’m not a Facebook member and don’t plan on becoming one any time soon.
Ewwww! I hate changes. I’m a spatial learner, so when familiar places get moved around, I don’t like it one little bit.
March 18, 2012 at 3:22 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m not seeing it yet. I have been seeing two different versions of Amazon for a while…one which is more tablet friendly. I’ll see what happens after I log out.
I’m not a big fan of change…my life is pretty good the way it is. 🙂 I’m not such a spatial person, though.
March 19, 2012 at 8:06 pm |
I sent feedback to Amazon letting them know that I felt they were making it harder to navigate. I also told them I thought the whole “betterizer” thing was a crime against the English language. Anyway, I got the following reply which explains why we might be seeing different things:
“From time to time, we test both new and existing features on our website to determine which characteristics or services drive customer purchases and satisfaction. We’re currently testing our new website look with new features.”
But for now, clicking on the Amazon home page is taking me to an ad for the Amazon dress shop. The last time I bought a dress was for my mother’s funeral 20 years ago,o obviously their betterizer needs some tweeking if its purpose is to steer me towards something I’d actually purchase.
March 21, 2012 at 3:46 am |
Hi, ive been reading your book, “I Love My Kindle Fire,” which is very helpful, thanks for writing it. I have a question that I don’t see covered. With my kindle, I could make groups of books,by authors, genre,etc. It was especially helpful to make a group of sample books to choose from when I was ready to make a purchase. Is there’s way to do this on the Fire?
March 21, 2012 at 12:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, Linda!
Thanks for the kind words on the book!
The feature that enables the ability to organize the books into groups is called “Collections” on the other Kindles that have it. That feature is not currently available for the Fire, although I have seen indications that Amazon has said it will happen. You could wait a bit and see…or, if you think the experience of the Fire outside of that is worth it to you now, go ahead and leap into the Fire, so to speak. 🙂
My guess is that we may see some implementation of that before the middle of the year, but I’m just guessing.
March 28, 2012 at 12:22 am |
Hi! So excited that I just figured out how to find your blog (duh, just search for it!) but I’ve enjoyed ILMK on my Kindle 3 for several years now. Glad to finally have a way to interact with you. This post is about Pottermore. I just discovered it several hours ago and ordered the 7 book set. Interestingly, I first tried to order it thru IE browser thru rr.com and it didn’t give the set as an option, AND it wouldn’t take my credit card after setting up an account and going thru the entire order process. I called Chase amazon visa and they said they had authorized it, and they were just waiting for Pottermore to release the order confirmation. but, it would never go thru even after trying again after my call to chase amazon. Later I tried again thru aol, then amazon, then pottermore, used a different credit card, a different Visa, was able to get it in the set for 10% off and this time all went thru perfectly. And, they
downloaded effortlessly into my kindle. Wondering if others might have a similar problem on the sight. I was quite surprised to see the books being offered, but am happy to now have them forever. Love the ILMK, keep up the good work
March 28, 2012 at 5:30 pm |
Thanks for writing, Joann!
I’m glad you found me. 🙂 I also really appreciate getting that field report.
Could you do one thing for me?
Check at
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
and see if your omnibus (the combined books) appears there under books? If it does, it should be the same as ordering them one at at time, in terms of functionality.
Thanks also for the kind words!
March 28, 2012 at 11:52 am |
6.3 located here:
http://kindle-fire-updates.s3.amazonaws.com/update-kindle-6.3_D01E_4019920.bin
First undocumented change I noticed is the keyboard layout is different (the hide key is on the left now).
March 28, 2012 at 2:44 pm |
Another keyboard change: a long press on the period brings up a pick list of other punctuation marks. Pretty sure it didn’t do that before.
March 28, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
Yes, that looked new to me, too. 🙂
March 28, 2012 at 6:28 pm |
Hello again,
To answer your question, all 7 Potter books are listed individually in the manage my kindle list, book#7 listed as most recent. I just digressed to check to see if Potter #1 opened correctly on my Kindle3G keyboard, no problem whatsoever. On that kindle home list, #1 is listed first (?!)You might want to know that the Pottermore customer service was excellent, getting back to me way sooner than 24 hours to reassure me I wouldn’t be billed twice, and back again to answer my “why” didn’t the amazon card work. As with Amazon, I appreciate good CS.(I think I mentioned I called chase amazon right away and they had authorized the charge pending Pottermore. Should someone else have this problem, chase amazon assured me the charge would just fall off, but to check my online account.swell)This minor annoyance didn’t damper my enthusiasm that Potter is now a part of the e-world. I thought about getting the volumes a few at a time, but worried so many people would want them they might become limited, so went for the omnibus! ILMK is the first thing I read every day, then on to special offers which I also love and opted in for. Thanks for a great blog experience!
March 29, 2012 at 1:46 am |
Facebook is updating its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities — if approved, account holders must agree not to use the words “Face,” “Poke,” or “Book.” Seriously???? What about all the Facebook accounts that have to do with books?http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57405532-93/facebook-users-beware-dont-use-the-word-book/?ttag=fbw
March 31, 2012 at 2:27 pm |
Hi ! My daughter managed to hit my mindle screen with a pen. Now I have there a thin mark about 2mm long, the ink is always on at that spot, looks like kind of a print error you see sometimes in printed books. But this one appears on every single page, in every book, in every magazine. Something which one would not consider when buying EBR 😦 But I am not going replace my Mindle…
April 1, 2012 at 12:26 am |
Thanks for writing, Marvin!
Sorry that happened! E Ink screens (like the Mindle uses) can be damaged by pressure, from what I’ve heard, and the sharp impact of the pen might have done that.
First, I’m going to presume that you are sure that the mark isn’t ink from the pen. 🙂 I’d turn the Kindle all the way off, and try cleaning the screen.
Second, Amazon may replace it for free for you, even though you said you don’t want to replace it. I’d check with them at
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
You’ll see a
Contact Us
button. I’d call them or have them call you.
If they don’t replace it, you are no worse off…
They replaced a Kindle of mine that was knocked out of my hand.
April 1, 2012 at 1:53 am |
Hi Bufo! I’m one of the state reps for the class action suit and wrote you one other time in the past. This was posted online today and I will let you know how this affects the class action suit once I hear something.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57407363-243/apple-publishers-to-settle-e-books-price-fixing-suit-report/?tag=mncol
April 1, 2012 at 3:24 am |
Thanks for writing, Sue!
I remember you. 🙂
Interesting article! This is what I’ve thought was a likely scenario…that the Agency Model folks would settle to avoid a court battle.
The “most favored” clause wouldn’t affect just Apple, by the way…
I think the class action might get settled with pay-outs: that’s a different matter.
April 1, 2012 at 3:10 pm |
Hi Buffo! I recently purchased a Kindle Fire and a copy of your
“Love Your Kindle Fire” ebook. I have a question about installing an app that is now approved by Amazon. I changed my settings to allow the installation of apps from unknown sources. I then went to Google Play to install the “Launcher Ex” app in order to customize my Kindle fire home page. The Silk browser on my Fire shows that it was downloaded. However, I don’t see the app listed among the apps on my Fire. Can you help?
April 1, 2012 at 6:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, dorachild!
Google Play can complicate things, since you have to go through an account there, I believe. I’ll check that out more.
In the meanwhile, I tested this method for you. 🙂
Download from here:
http://golauncher.goforandroid.com/2012/03/go-launcher-v2-85-beta/
After that, it was easy…you’ll see the notification number in your top left of the screen change, showing you that it is downloading. When it’s done downloading, tap it there, and it will install.
I haven’t done much with it yet, but that seemed pretty much like it, in terms of getting it installed.
April 1, 2012 at 3:40 pm |
Bufo – Here is an interesting article about long-term competition in the non-iPad tablet market. Author makes a case about Amazon’s ability to compete against Google.
: http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9225707/Why_Amazon_can_t_win_a_tablet_price_war_against_Google?taxonomyId=15
Not sure I buy this thesis. I think it hinges on the assumption that people who are attracted to low-price tablets are also not going to spend much on content. I’m not sure that’s true. People LOVE their movies and surfing even though they may want it in the cheapest “box” (the tablet) they can get.
April 1, 2012 at 6:44 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
No surprise for a tech writer, but there is a major non e-component that the writer is missing…and where Google doesn’t compete with Amazon.
To me, one of the main purposes of the Fire is to get people to buy Prime, so they buy physical goods (and get those “boxes” the author references). That’s where the money is…not in what I would guess is low profit digital content.
As I like to say, “It’s about diapers and windshield wipers”.
Amazon can keep dropping the price of the tablets if they make up that loss on people buying physical goods.
April 2, 2012 at 11:18 am |
Sure you already know, but just to add to the chorus: Potter has arrived. (squee!
Cheers,
Evan in NY
http://ebm.e.bn.com/c/tag/hBPeU50B8GcokB8hn7vNstFVPYf/doc.html?t_params=EMAIL%3Deselinske%2540aol.com%26PASSWORD%3DB8GcokNstFVPBPeU505atuhX2s08Tz&sourceid=L000004573&cm_em=eselinske@aol.com&cm_mmc=Non-Member-_-Misc-_-120402_NH_HARRY_POTTER_SOLO-_-hps3
April 2, 2012 at 1:32 pm |
Thanks for writing, Evan!
Yes, good to see them! Here’s my article on it:
April 7, 2012 at 3:00 pm |
Bufo – an interesting take on DRM:
DRM is crushing indie booksellers online
http://paidcontent.org/2012/04/06/drm-is-crushing-indie-booksellers-online/
April 7, 2012 at 6:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
You are right…that is an interesting perspective! I can sense the spirit of a fellow bookseller in it, but I think they misunderstand a couple of key points.
This paragraph, in particular
“Once one of the big “A”s can freely set the price of e-books, they can determine the conditions of the market for everybody. They can charge consumers anything, pay publishers very little (for who will exist to sell their products otherwise?), and leave writers hoping for some small crumb of the pie.”
shows that they don’t understand the existing dynamic between Amazon and the biggest publishers. Amazon doesn’t set the prices: the publishers do. Amazon doesn’t pay publishers very little…they pay them more (70%) than they do for paperbooks. That could change with the Agency Model evolving or disappearing, but this idea of Amazon controlling the market just doesn’t fit with my sense of it. Nothing stops the publishers from selling directly to consumers, and with e-books, that could happen. From what I’ve seen, Amazon has lost every time they’ve fought the publishers (text-to-speech, the Agency Model).
Amazon is trying to build a way around that by being more of a publisher itself, but right now, what the article describes just isn’t a threat, in my opinion.
The other key thing is that the publishers don’t require small sellers to provide DRM: they require them to sell books with DRM. That’s a very different thing. Many small entities are making money, I believe, by being Amazon Associates (and other similar arrangements). No, you don’t get the 50% markup: you have to sell more licenses than you do copies…but you also benefit when somebody clicks through a book you recommend and buys a…microwave oven.
Then there is the idea that “casual sharing” of paperbooks means that there should be casual sharing of e-books..the agreement is very different, but we share e-books in my family far more readily and commonly than we ever shared paperbooks.
I think that the authors want a direct analog of a brick and mortar store to an online store, and I just don’t think that’s how the logistics and economics work.
April 19, 2012 at 5:15 am |
I have a question about the Audible Audio Books for Kindle. I know you like text to speech, but have you tried the Audible books? Do they contain the full text as well as the spoken word? I’m not an auditory learner, so when I listen to a book it tends to go in one ear and out the other. There are a few books I’d like to reread that are only availble for Kindle in the Audible Audio Books library. I’ve tried to be patient and hope the eventually become available, and a few of them have. But I’m losing hope that Travis McGee will ever make it to the Kindle, and I’d really love to reread the whole series start to finish, but I can no longer read paper books.
April 19, 2012 at 3:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, I’ve done a few audiobooks from Audible. That’s not my preference, as you note, but I’ve found it interesting.
Audiobooks are like listening to a vinyl record: there isn’t any text with it.
When we see audiobooks and not Kindle editions, that suggests that the rights for the e-books haven’t been negotiated in the jurisdiction. One exception is that there may be e-books in Canada in particular that aren’t for sale through Amazon, but may be through, say, Indigo.
They’ll all come to e-books eventually…unless the rules about public domain are changed. 🙂 I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long, but presuming all the rules were followed and the copyright was renewed, the first one (The Deep Blue Good-bye) would enter the public domain in the US on January 1, 2060. That’s not even forty-eight years from now…no big deal, right? 😉
Amazon just made the deal for the Ian Fleming James Bond series…wouldn’t surprise me if this on their acquisition list (along with Perry Mason, another frequently requested).
April 19, 2012 at 11:31 pm |
I’ll just have to live to be 108! I wonder if books and Kindles will still be around by then. Maybe they’ll have perfected the holodeck and we can watch the book like a 3D movie and interact with the characters. I’m still amazed that Star Trek “communicators” turned into flip phones, so anything is possible.
April 20, 2012 at 1:55 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Given my preference for text-to-speech over audiobooks, maybe I could set the holodeck on “stick figure mode”. 😉
April 20, 2012 at 10:19 am |
Bufo, have you noticed that for some books you buy, you can’t send to the cloud reader? Every other option is available, but cloud reader is greyed out. Why is that?
April 20, 2012 at 12:32 pm |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
I have had that happen! I haven’t gone back and checked to see if there was anything special about the individual books…not sure what that would be. It certainly seemed random to me at the time. That’s where I normally send e-books if I don’t want to read them right away, so that’s where I’ve seen it.
April 27, 2012 at 8:56 pm |
Hey Bufo, looks like I missed the closing of Longest thread-where’s the new hangout? See you soon, Lisa
April 28, 2012 at 1:44 am |
Thanks for writing, Lisa!
It’s here:
Elephants Three at the Grandest Hotel
The name may seem weird, and might tickle your brain a bit…Elephants Three is an anagram of Stephen Leather (who started the first thread) and Grandest Hotel is an anagram of The Longest Thread. 🙂
May 2, 2012 at 2:36 pm |
Hi! My mom told me this morning there is a different charger available for the Fire that allows you to charge while watching video. I’ve searched the internet high and low and can’t find anything about a different kind of charger. Do you know anything about this, or has she been misinformed? Sorry if you’ve already covered this somewhere – I swear I searched for an hour with no results before I decided to ask.
May 3, 2012 at 1:26 pm |
Thanks for writing, onmylunchbreak!
I wanted to wait to test it out for you.
I figured that you could charge the Kindle Fire with the charger that came with it while you watched video, but I wanted to do the experiment. 🙂
My Fire was at 93% (you can check by going to Settings Gear – More – Device).
I plugged it in, and had it run a half hour sitcom streaming from Prime. That’s probably about 22 minutes.
At the end of the video, my Kindle Fire was fully charged.
So, it charged while it was showing a video, with the standard power cord that comes with it.
May 3, 2012 at 4:22 pm
I asked mom for more details on this elusive power cord she was talking about and was she SURE she couldn’t watch video and charge at the time? At this point I was concerned something was wrong with her Fire. Her response: “Well yeah, if you’re close enough to a power outlet!” Sigh. Sorry to have bothered you… LOL! I’ll get her a power strip with a longer cord for Mothers Day. 😉
May 3, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Thanks for writing, onmylunchbreak!
🙂
Wireless transmission of power is, I believe, something in our future. I think it’s been done already for short ranges, but we don’t have it yet.
May 3, 2012 at 2:32 pm |
Hi Bufo! You said at one point that I could get all my books off my K3 by “resetting it” I think, but not sure what you mean. I chatted with Amazon C/S and they said I had to do one by one. If I deregister, I believe that whatever is on the K3 stays, you just can’t add. There has GOT to be an easier way! Can you elaborate? Thanks!
May 3, 2012 at 4:22 pm |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
Sure. 🙂 You can reset it to factory defaults, but it’s worth noting that is an extreme solution.
It will:
* Remove all downloaded Kindle store books (you can redownload the ones you want, except in rare cases where the book has been removed from the Kindle store for legal reasons)
* Delete all personal documents you’ve put on the device
* Delete your internet bookmarks (that’s the one that takes me the longest to restore)
* Wipe out any wi-fi networks you’ve had it memorize
Pretty much, it’s everything you’ve done to the Kindle except for Kindle software updates.
To do that:
Home – Menu – Settings – Menu – Reset to Factory Defaults
Notice that you are hitting Menu twice to get there…that’s to make it less likely that people do this by accident.
May 3, 2012 at 9:00 pm |
Bufo – IDC estimates of Fire sales Q4 and Q2: http://blogs.wsj.com/overheard/2012/05/03/kindle-fire-sales-extinguished-in-q1/
Hopefully, not correct.
May 3, 2012 at 9:15 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
That’s not a big surprise to me. It was a new, super-hyped product in Q4 (which is the holiday season). No surprise that sales might significantly drop in Q1. 700,000 in Q1, if accurate, doesn’t sound that bad to me. Sales will bump up for Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Graduation, and in the holiday season. Just staying at 700,000 for twelve months is about 8.4m units. I would guess they could sell ten times that in the holiday season. Doesn’t sound like an allusion to a tragic mass suicide is justified to me.
May 6, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Another view on this topic – Fire winning in Android sub-market, but everyone still losing to iPad: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2012/05/05/kindle-fire-is-the-ipads-latest-casualty/
May 6, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Thanks for writing, John!
Yes, I think that article gets it, even though the headline has no real connection to the story. 🙂
The headline says that the Fire is a “casualty” of the iPad…at the same time showing how much the tablet market grew. The say (significantly):
“According to comScore, over the December 2011 to February 2012 period, no other tablet gained market share, which seemed to indicate that the Kindle Fire was cannibalizing sales from all the other players. In fact, in two months Amazon had almost doubled its market share and driven all the completion bar one player — Samsung — into single-digit market share.”
The headline makes what I think is a mistake of thinking that the iPad and the Fire compete head-to-head…despite different price points and different marketing (and markets, in my opinion). That may change as they both introduce new hardware. For now, though, the market in which the Fire is competing is growing very rapidly, and it’s market share of that market (not the overall tablet) is increasing. Sounds like a good place to be. 🙂
May 8, 2012 at 5:31 pm |
I enjoy your blogs and your books. Both have been very helpful. On Monday, you wrote that if we clicked on ___, we can watch the “SNL Parody” on the Kindle but naturally, I can’t on my (keyboard) Kindle, and I learned that we cannot get your blogs on the Fire (I have both). Someone suggested I get your blog on PULSE which I haven’t tried yet. Is that what I need to do?
I especially love my keyboard Kindle and am just learning how to use the Fire. I am sure there are things I can consolidate as sometimes I am carrying BOTH Kindles with me (which makes my purse heavier than it needs to be….LOL…)Unfortunately, I read that Kindle Fire email doesn’t ‘recognize’ AOL email as it does Yahoo and Hotmail. Is that true?
Thanks so much. (Can’t wait for the T-shirts to be ready too so I can purchase one).
May 9, 2012 at 1:15 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lois!
Thanks for the kind words!
You are right: Amazon doesn’t make blogs available by subscription through the Kindle store for the Kindle Fire. I really appreciate people who do subscribe (thanks, subscribers!): it’s a large part of what makes the time and effort I spend on this justified.
You can get the blog on your Fire, and that’s where that Pulse app comes into play. Here is how to get ILMK delivered to your Fire:
===
Go to your homescreen and tap the Pulse app (you’ll probably see it on your Favorites shelves) or open it from the Apps tab
Click the menu icon (the horizontal lines in a box) at the bottom of the screen
Choose Manage Sources
Tap the blue bar with the plus on it
Tap the Search magnifying glass at the top of the screen
Tap the Search box and type ILMK
Tap the magnifying glass
It should find I Love My Kindle at http://ilmk.worpdress.com/feed/. Tap the blue plus box at the end of that line. It will say “Added”
Tap the back arrow…you can drag it to the top of your feeds, if you want, or wherever you want it to be
===
That’s an excerpt from Love Your Kindle Fire:
On the t-shirts…I think that’s something a reader of mine was doing at one point: I don’t remember exactly. 🙂
May 16, 2012 at 12:34 pm |
Hello,
i have site similar to kindle.. i would like to purchase 125*125 banner sidewise
let me know your contact detail so we can discuss the price
thanks
May 16, 2012 at 2:01 pm |
Thanks for writing, nauman7859!
I appreciate your interest. However, I do not currently sell advertising on this site.
The way you reached me is a good way to go. Just so others know as well, if you want a comment to remain private, please let me know in the post.
May 23, 2012 at 12:51 am |
Hi Bufo,
A question: I’ve had a Kindle 3 since it came out that I love, and now my son wants a Kindle for his birthday. I’ve had a look at the different models side by side in both Target and Best Buy, and It looks to me as if the screens on the Touch and the “Mindle” are not as bright as on the 3/keyboard.
The specs all say that both the Touch and “Mindle” have the latest pearl e-ink displays, but I could swear they are darker and greyer; more like 2nd gen Kindles. Have you noticed this or Is it just my imagination?
Thanks much as always!
Cheers,
Evan
May 24, 2012 at 4:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, Evan!
The Mindle, the Kindle Keyboard, and the Touch all use the same screen technology.
There is some individual variability in the screens, from what I’ve heard.
It’s also possible that how bright it looks to you may have to do with the color of the device. Generally, a darker frame around a screen makes the screen appear lighter to people. Another thing is that there are display settings (such as the typeface choice) that make change that.
I’m unfortunately not the best person to ask about how dark they are, since I have some color vision deficiency (“color blindness”), which means I see the way they look differently from most people.
May 28, 2012 at 10:52 am |
Hello Bufo,
I think you use (or used to use) also Kindle for Android. I’ve got my first Android phone, my first app installed was Kindle. I see all my clound content, I downloaded one magazine. But, when I read the magazine and then close the app and open again, I am at the table of content, never on the page where I left. I am not talking about sync between devices, I know it does not work for magazines, but I cannot get Kindle to open on the page where I was when I left. Is that normal behavior ?
And the other problem is, I cannot setup an email address for this device, I see the default one in my MYK page, but I cannot change it as I was able to do for my iPad Kindle app.
Any suggestions ?
Thank you
May 28, 2012 at 8:31 pm |
Thanks for writing, Marvin!
Interesting point! I hadn’t really used Kindle for Android for a magazine, but I did just test it a few ways for you, and you are right…it did not reopen to where I was in the magazine. It did indicate which articles I had read by changing the appearance of the descriptions in the table of contents. So, I’d say it is normal behavior.
Zinio takes me right back to where I was very well, by the way.
I didn’t have any trouble changing my SmartPhone’s e-mail address when I just tested it.
http://www.amazon.com/myk
Then
Personal Document Settings
not
Manage Your Devices
You should see an Edit button…if you don’t, or you have other questions, comment again. 🙂
May 28, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Thank you, you are correct about changing the email address, that helped.
May 28, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Thanks for writing, Marvin!
Excellent! I appreciate you taking the time to let me know. 🙂
May 30, 2012 at 2:53 pm |
Hello! I’ve only spent a little time perusing your site but didn’t see this issue tackled.
I recently downloaded a digital audiobook from my local library. Originally I was going to listen to it via my ipod but that didn’t work out as the file type is incompatible with the ipod. So, I then decided to try listening to it on my Kindle. I figured it would be a snap! Hm. Not really. I moved the file from my computer to the Kindle via usb. It shows up in the audiobook files perfectly. But, the Kindle itself doesn’t show the file and a search brought up nothing. I’m afraid that I’ve found another incompatible file/device.
Do you have any idea of what I might be doing wrong or if the file is not compatible?
I appreciate any help you can offer, even if you say to stop trying to listen to audiobooks 😉
Thank you!
May 30, 2012 at 6:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, April!
I’d never suggest you stop listening to audiobooks, even though I don’t do it much myself…I prefer text -to -speech, which I know is unusual. 🙂
It seems odd that it wouldn’t work on both your iPad and your Kindle, unless it was WMA.
I’d be surprised if your library doesn’t have MP3s available.
What kind of Kindle do you have?
May 30, 2012 at 6:59 pm
It is a Kindle 3 Keyboard. And it was an IPOD not an IPAD that it also wasn’t compatible with so that might make a difference.
What is WMA? Whatever it is, it is probably something not compatible with either – which is how my luck generally plays out! Perhaps it would be better if I got the cd version of the audiobooks and then downloaded and converted to something useable by one or the other?
May 30, 2012 at 9:35 pm
My apologies for not being more complete. I am away from a computer, which adds a considerable degree of difficulty. I’ll give you a fuller reply later. If you don’t mind sharing, which public library is it? WMA is Windows Media Audio.
May 30, 2012 at 11:11 pm |
Not a problem! Thank you for the response. The book is from the Orange County Library in Orlando Florida. Now that I’m home I can now see the file and the extension is .odm whatever that might be.
I appreciate the help. They have many different versions of some books and I probably got the wrong one though I had thought that the little icons said it was compatible with Kindle. I’ve been known to leap before I look though, so anything is possible!
May 31, 2012 at 1:47 am |
Thanks for writing, April!
Okay, I’m on a computer with a physical keyboard now…I still find that much easier. 🙂
ODM files are “Overdrive Media” files, and are designed to be used with the Overdrive Media Console. That can not be installed on your Kindle Keyboard, but can be installed on the Kindle Fire…they might have been talking about that.
I checked the Orange County Library for you. They have specific collections for MP3s, which will work on your device. Here are the MP3 fiction titles:
http://ocls.lib.overdrive.com/D6554C5E-F044-44E6-8F88-0B34DD833E17/10/527/en/BrowseMP3Fiction.htm
Here are the MP3 nonfiction titles:
http://ocls.lib.overdrive.com/D6554C5E-F044-44E6-8F88-0B34DD833E17/10/527/en/BrowseMP3NonFiction.htm
If you need more help with this, let me know. 🙂
May 31, 2012 at 9:05 am |
Ok, thank you very much for the help!
June 9, 2012 at 2:57 pm |
Dear Bufo,
My name is Kenny Dill and I have a new book out called Get a F**king Job (written by Kenny Dill, illustrated by Vincent van Gogh). It was recently featured on the blog of best-selling Kindle author Colleen Hoover (http://colleenhoover.com/). Best of all, it is free in the Kindle Store for all of Saturday, June 9th, 2012. I hope you love it.
Sincerely,
Kenny Dill
p.s. Here is the Amazon address: http://www.amazon.com/Get-F-king-Job-ebook/dp/B0074YV95K/
June 9, 2012 at 7:34 pm |
Thanks for writing, Kenny!
As my readers know, I don’t post advertising, but given that the book is free for today, I went ahead and approved this in case they are interested. 🙂
I’ll take a look at it myself, as well…
June 9, 2012 at 9:38 pm
That’s awesome Bufo! Have a great weekend!
June 21, 2012 at 6:59 pm |
Is there some reason you’re aware of why Amazon won’t let us buy, download samples or add to wish list the Harry Potter books directly from the Kindle Store? Accessing the Kindle store from a Kindle leads us to a url for Pottermore, but with a G3 that has an aging battery, websites don’t work well on my Kindle. So I tried to access from the Amazon website, but again, you can’t access the buy, download sample or add to wish list buttons from the website. The only, to get there, you have to click a “Buy” button, and I don’t know if it automatically purchases the book or if it takes you to the Pottermore site. At least on the Amazon store page on my Kindle, I got the URL of the Pottermore site. If there’s a link to Pottermore on the website, I can’t find it. And the url is on my Kindle in the other room, and I don’t want to distrub the cat (who’s draped across my shoulders) to go get it. You shouldn’t need both the Kindle and the computer to find purchasing information about a kIndle book! The borrow button is there on both Kindle and Amazon, but I’ve already borrowed a book this month. I like to download a sample before I buy or borrow a book just to make sure the formatting is something my eyes can cope with, but I can’t find the road leading to samples or wish list.
June 21, 2012 at 11:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That need to go to Pottermore isn’t done by Amazon.
JK Rowling is selling them through Pottermore, and all sites that go to sell, I’m sure, are directed there. You set up an account there…but one nice thing, it appeared to me that I could use that same purchase and get a Kindle or a NOOK license (or both, basically).
Here’s my article that gives you the details. It also has the links to the books, so you don’t need to disturb the cat. 🙂
June 23, 2012 at 5:02 pm |
can I download the apple app 4 the Ny times to my fire? it is the one u. down load onlline
and then can read offline. thx.
June 23, 2012 at 6:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, george!
An Apple app is going to use the Apple operating system, and won’t work on an Android device (like the Kindle Fire).
You can subscribe to the New York Times for your Kindle Fire:
The New York Times
That’s designed for people who don’t already subscribe.
I’ve seen good reviews for this one, but I haven’t tried it. It looks like it gives you an easy interface to the NYT webpage, but I haven’t tested it:
US Newspapers
The New York Times also has an Android app:
http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp5558.html?campaignid=37WYW
You would want to get one for a tablet, but it hasn’t been approved by Amazon for the Fire. It’s possible it wouldn’t work and hypothetically possible (but unlikely) that it would damage your device.
To install it, you would need to go to
Settings Gear – More – Device
and allow installation of apps from unknown sources.
July 5, 2012 at 12:47 pm |
An article about a UK hotel providing the Bible as a Kindle read.
http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2012/07/hotel-puts-bible-on-kindle-ereaders/796583/1?csp=tf
Thought you’d like to pass this on to your readers as a new post.
July 5, 2012 at 1:37 pm |
Thanks for writing, Coleen!
I’ve had this version saved for a few days:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/02/uk-hotel-ditching-paper-bibles-for-kindles-rocky-raccoon-to-get/
I do intend to write about it, but it isn’t particularly time sensitive. 🙂 My guess is that I’ll include it in a round-up in the next day or two.
I need to go back and look at something I wrote about hotels and Kindles some time ago, to give it some background.
July 23, 2012 at 1:05 pm |
Hi Bufo. Nice blog, but I have a suggestion. Your first post is a pinned listing of current kindle models, which is useful, but the first thing a visitor sees on your blog is a post that appears to be from November 2010.
My first impression when I first visited your site was that it had been abandoned since 2010. I decided to scroll down for the heck of it and discovered that it was indeed active.
You might want to move the listing of Kindle models to a sidebar rather than a pinned post at the top.
July 23, 2012 at 1:37 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jim!
That’s an interesting suggestion, and I’ll definitely think about it.
The post looks different (it has a different background), and it’s quite short. My thought would have been that most people would not find it as a barrier to getting to the most recent post. However, like everyone else, I have to take into account the smaller screens e(cellphones) people may be increasingly using (although I have speculated that tablets may, and I emphasize may, come to dominate those small screens in the next few years if they can make phone calls effectively.
I do find that many, many people don’t see the sidebar…I’m impressed that you found the information to leave a comment on the About page. 🙂
Edited to add: I found a simpler fix…I changed the publication date for the sticky post. 🙂 I’ll just need to remember to do that from time to time…thanks!
July 23, 2012 at 8:50 pm |
Hi Bufo, very nice blog! The info about e-book is very helpful and comprehensive. As a doctorate student in Economics, I’m doing a research project on e-book market and I’ve learnt a lot from your blog!
I was wondering whether you can help me get some information about historical e-book prices and ranking data. I noticed that you do a snapshot of Amazon webpage every month. All the info I need are exactly in that single webpage. I have a list of consumer transaction records at hand and I need the corresponding paperback price and ranking info.
Your help will be very crucial to me and I’ll really appreciate it if you can help me get the data, or suggest any other ways to get them (e.g. other websites taking snapshot and have historical data?) Perhaps we can discuss it in detail via email if you like. Thank you very much!
Looking forward to your reply!
-Catherine
July 24, 2012 at 1:09 am |
Thanks for writing, Catherine!
I’m glad my Snapshots are going to prove useful to you!
I think this site of past New York Times bestseller lists may help you get the comparative data you need:
http://www.hawes.com/pastlist.htm
If that doesn’t have what you need, comment again.
July 24, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Hi Bufo,
Thank you for the info! I didn’t know that website before. It’s exciting to see that such kind of websites do exist! The problem is that most of the book titles I have in mind fall off the top 15 list in that webpage. For each book title at a particular point in time in 2011, its Amazon.com webpage actually has all the info I need: price and sales ranking of the paperback and the kindle version respectively. I was wondering whether you happen to have the cached historical info while you do the snapshot. Please let me know. Thanks a lot!
Catherine
July 24, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Thanks for writing, Catherine!
I think that the Amazon pages you are seeing may be giving the current (2012) price, rather than the 2011 price.
I don’t cache any data like that…I gather that day and put it in to the spreadsheet, but I don’t have anything additional.
Your best bet may be the “Wayback Machine”. You may be familiar with that, but here is the link for Amazon:
http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.amazon.com
Let me know if that works for you…
July 25, 2012 at 2:14 pm |
Hi Bufo,
Thank you very much for your suggestions! I totally agree with you that the price and ranking data on the current page of Amazon are 2012 ones, not 2011 ones. The “Wayback Machine” helps, and it seems not comprehensive enough to cover my search request.
May I ask what kind of data are there in your spreadsheet? The title, price, ranking, and the date it was gathered? Feel free to reply by email if you find it more comfortable.
You’ve been really helpful in guiding me to boarder information sources. I really appreciate your timely reply! Thanks again!
Catherine
July 25, 2012 at 2:25 pm |
Thanks for writing, Catherine!
Everything that is in my spreadsheet is in the post, I believe.
I don’t record the titles of the New York Times hardback fiction bestseller equivalents, for example. In the past, quite a few of those would block text-to-speech access, and for that reason, I didn’t want to promote them…so I didn’t record the titles.
July 25, 2012 at 2:38 pm |
Oh I see. Thanks for your reply! Have a nice day!
Catherine
August 1, 2012 at 8:09 pm |
Bufo, did you see that there is a new iPad app for Amazon videos? http://tablet.pcmag.com/?ref=299555&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcmag.com%2Farticle2%2F0%2C2817%2C2406293%2C00.asp
Also got an email that Amazon Visa Reward Members get 40% off plain Kindle and the one with special offers, along with sale on accessories. Sounds like a new one is coming!
August 2, 2012 at 12:52 am |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
Thanks! I did see that about the iPad app. It’s interesting…you can now watch Amazon videos on an iPad, and easily import your iTunes music to your Cloud Player (well, 250 songs of it easily).
The hardware decision may become decreasingly determinative of your media purchases…
New models? I’m waiting with bated breath. 🙂
August 8, 2012 at 7:47 am |
Bufo,
In Round up #101, you discussed a new press release from Amazon.co.uk, and said “England has, of course, a very rich and strong traditional publishing history …”
Please note that Amazon.co.uk serves the entire UK, not just England, and that it is the entire UK, not just England, which has a long and proud publishing history. The UK comprises 4 constituent nations: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
August 8, 2012 at 1:02 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jean!
I appreciate you bringing that up. I did actually think about it being the UK when writing the post, and I didn’t mean to short anybody. Scotland has, for example, the Scottish Publishers Association
http://www.publishingscotland.co.uk/Default.aspx?pid=1
The Macmillan brothers, who founded the well-known publishers, were Scottish.
Northern Ireland also has a publishing group:
http://publishingni.com/
I know this might seem surface, but being a fan of Torchwood has raised my awareness of Wales. 🙂
I’m sure many of my readers are familiar with the Thursday Next series by Welsh writer Jasper Fforde. For more on Welsh writers, see
http://www.literaturewales.org/home/
I do think we Americans tend to shorthand the UK as being the same as England, and of course, as you point out, it isn’t. I’ve found a bit of a parallel when I’ve been outside the USA and people find out I’m from California…and assume I live in Hollywood and know movie stars. 😉
Thanks for standing up!
August 10, 2012 at 2:22 pm |
It’s all your fault!!! I have a new addiction since you introduced me to Flipboard on my Kindle Fire! Thanks for brightening my days with your wit and wisdom.
August 10, 2012 at 6:24 pm |
What is flipboard? I must have missed that, sounds interesting. Thanks for all the info.
August 10, 2012 at 7:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, Linda!
Flipboard is a free “magreggator” (I just made that up) 😉 app. It takes news sources you choose, and turns them into a sort of magazine.
It has become, for me, like a morning newspaper in the old days.
This is it:
Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine
I’ve written about it a few times…if you have questions, let me know.
Oh, this is only for the Fire, amongst Kindles.
August 16, 2012 at 7:10 pm |
Hi Bufo,
At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, I ask if you see a color RSK in the future? Is it even possible?
The reason I ask is that I don’t want all the bells and whistles of the Kindle Fire — I just want to read in color! I also don’t like the weight difference of the Fire.
I want to stick with Kindle so I have access to all my books (I have about 200.) Please give me your best guess for the future. I’ve had my Kindle for 2 years and I’m ready for an upgrade.
Gail Ford
August 17, 2012 at 2:05 am |
Thanks for writing, Gail!
Nothing wrong with sounding like a weirdo…if there was, I don’t think I could get away with writing. 😉
Yes I think we’ll see color reflective screen devices, perhaps before the end of 2013.
It’s a little tricky, though: as I understand it, color devices like that are likely to be more expensive, slower, and use more battery charge than grayscale. What I’ve seen in the media so far has also looked washed out compared to a backlit screen.
Still, it would be seen as an innovation and make news.
The other thing is that reflective screen devices will probably eventually be fast enough to give reasonable animation…at which point the demand for color would be high.
August 21, 2012 at 9:35 pm |
I got notice from Amazon that “Love Your Kindle Fire” has been updated, so I downloaded the update. Thank you for making it available. Why does somebody who doesn’t have a Kindle Fire care? Because I hope to have one someday;)
August 21, 2012 at 10:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I just wrote about the update…thanks for letting me know about the e-mail. 🙂 It’s a big update.
Hey, nothing like being proactive… 🙂
August 27, 2012 at 3:48 am |
Just in case you haven’t already seen this article in the NY Times, I thought you might find it interesting.
August 28, 2012 at 3:49 am |
Article of possible interest:
A Novel’s Odyssey from print to ebook
August 28, 2012 at 12:59 pm |
Thanks for writing, Patrick!
I am going to leave this comment posted, but in the future, I strongly recommend that you identify yourself as the author when linking to articles about your own books. Many readers interpret it as deceptive when you don’t.
In this case, I appreciate that you didn’t promote the book in the comment (“possible interest” is pretty soft), but it would have been more upfront to say something like, “Your readers might find this article I wrote about my book’s path from print to e-book interesting.”
If you had posted it on the Amazon forum the way you posted it here, I’d be quite sure you would have gotten some negative responses…
August 30, 2012 at 10:33 am |
Thought you might find this interesting –
http://www.boston.com/2012/08/29/massachusetts-consumers-get-million-part-proposed-million-ebook-pricing-settlement/3Bw182WFGcPTL4WjOA0ukN/story.html
Diane Fowler
August 31, 2012 at 2:05 am |
Thanks for writing, Diane!
I appreciate the heads-up…you’ve probably seen that I’ve already thanked you in the blog. 🙂
September 6, 2012 at 1:02 am |
Bufo, back in early June, you posted a news tidbit saying that Amazon would begin offering closed captioning on Prime Instant Videos that meet certain criteria, as of July 15th. That date has come and passed, and I have not found any items on Prime that are either captioned or subtitled. I’ve spot-checked several recent TV series and a few movies – nothing. Do you have any additional info on this and/or can you follow up with Amazon for a status on that initiative?
September 6, 2012 at 1:37 am |
Thanks for writing, Penny!
It wasn’t specifically an Amazon initiative…my understanding of it (now and then) is that it was a legal requirement.
I also have not found it.
Are you trying it on a device that shows you closed captioning on video from other sources?
I’m hoping we get some announcement about this tomorrow as part of the press conference…
I’ll try asking Amazon again.
September 6, 2012 at 6:27 pm |
Howdy… just in case you haven’t seen this: Judgement in the price-fixing case. (Busy day in the Kindle world!)
http://paidcontent.org/2012/09/06/breaking-judge-approves-e-book-price-fixing-settlement/
September 21, 2012 at 7:12 pm |
Ars Technica has a very interesting review of the Fire HD:
“When your best just isn’t good enough: the Kindle Fire HD”
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/when-your-best-just-isnt-good-enough-the-kindle-fire-hd/?utm_source=Ars+Technica+Newsletter&utm_campaign=34a8b7282f-September_02_201rorlin@mac.com1_Newsletter&utm_medium=email
September 21, 2012 at 7:13 pm |
Corrected link:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/when-your-best-just-isnt-good-enough-the-kindle-fire-hd/?utm_source=Ars+Technica+Newsletter&utm_campaign=34a8b7282f-September_02_2011_Newsletter&utm_medium=email
October 1, 2012 at 2:39 pm |
Bufo –
Two quick items that I’d love your feedback or article/discussion on:
1. I’ve never heard you discuss the inconsistency between the icon image of a book (as seen on the store, your Kindle Fire carousel etc) and the “cover” that you get when selected from the TOC.
Often the TOC cover is bland, mostly text with a plain background, instead of the image normally seen when purchasing the book – kindle or paper edition.
This really bugs me. Is there a reason i can rarely view a full screen image of the book cover art?
2. I’m noticing more and more ebooks being sold as DRM free. Mainly science fiction publishers such as TOR or Baen books. (Though I haven’t found out how to buy DRM free from TOR yet).
Today I noticed a message:
“At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.”
at the bottom of a classic scifi book by Verner Vinge on Amazons Site.
I think this is very interesting but I’ve not heard further mention anywhere.
Keep up the good work!
October 5, 2012 at 8:56 am |
Dear Bufo, I seem to recall a post you did once about books disappearing off the Amazon Kindle store. Wondering if you could point me to the link? I have a friend who has self published using KDP and for some inexplicable reason his book has disappeared from the Kindle store. No explanation from Amazon or anything. It’s not even like his book is in need of censoring since it’s a finance book. Can you help shed light on this mystery?
October 5, 2012 at 1:23 pm |
Thanks for writing, Daz!
Your friend should e-mail
kdp-support@amazon.com
and ask what is happening. It’s actually best to do it through the KDP website (where your friend published the book), but you can do it directly…the book title and ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) should be included.
October 6, 2012 at 7:40 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I am a long time subscriber to your blog and just received my new Paperwhite. How do I change my subscription destination? I’ve looked all over and it seems my only option is to cancel the subscription, then resubscribe, directing it to go to the PW. That does not seem right. Please advise.
Carol
P.s. I love your blog! Keep up the good work.
October 6, 2012 at 8:10 pm |
Thanks for writing, Carol!
Thanks for the kind words!
It’s at
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
under
Subscription Settings
Sorry this looks weird…on my phone
October 10, 2012 at 2:28 pm |
Hi Bufo,
For some reason your blog is not updating on my Kindle Fire HD – Pulse App. All the other blogs I have configured update fine but not your’s. Do you have any insight on this?
Thanks,
October 11, 2012 at 2:30 am |
Thanks for writing, Bill!
I’ve written to Pulse, and haven’t heard from them yet. I think it must be them, because the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed works in other places.
I’m looking for an alternative to Pulse for people on the Fire.
I appreciate you being concerned…you’re not the first to mention it, and I’m concerned about it myself.
October 11, 2012 at 3:41 pm |
Thanks for looking into it.
I’m still reading your blog regularly on the web. I’ve got full wireless coverage in my 3-4 worksites so it is no problem. I just like the aggregation of all my interest in one place that Pulse gives me.
I’m looking forward to the issue being resolved.
October 12, 2012 at 10:50 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I’ve been enjoying your helpful hints for years (5 Kindles worth). After the last page in Kindle books, I have always rated the book. I could then go over to Kindle.Amazon.com and it was recorded there. The rating is no longer transferred over. Does a setting need to be changed on my Kindle 4 or PaperWhite?
Thanks for your help.
Donna
October 15, 2012 at 2:27 am |
Thanks for writing, Donna!
No, there shouldn’t be any setting to change. They recently changed that
http://kindle.amazon.com
site, and people haven’t been happy with it. After they changed it once, they changed it again, and I think they are just working out a few things.
October 15, 2012 at 1:03 pm |
Thanks for answering, Bufo. I also discovered my Paperwhite was not syncing so I did a hard reset. That solved both problems. I should have remembered in the world of electronics to always try that first!
Thanks again for always patiently being there for everyone in “Kindle World.”
October 15, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for writing, Donna!
Great!
That reminds me of the old joke:
There are three engineers in a car: an electrical engineer, a civil engineer, and a Windows engineer.
The car starts developing a problem.
The electrical engineer says, “It’s probably the electrical system.”
The civil engineer says, “It’s probably the road.”
The Windows engineer says, “We pull over to the curb, roll the windows down, roll them back up again…it should work.” 😉
October 13, 2012 at 2:49 pm |
– OK to make public or use in part –
On learning that there would be no more updates to the 2011 Kindle Fire, I decided to take a chance on upgrading mine to Jellybean (Android 4.1).
Results: Mixed
It makes the Fire a profoundly better tablet.
It makes the Kindle a somewhat mediocre reader.
Despite the claims, I did not find the process to be “easy” or well documented. There are several web pages that give step by
step instructions, but even then there is a rather high assumption of previous knowledge (ie: you are told to copy a package, but not told where to copy it to).
Very, very glad I made a back-up. The whole process took several attempts and about three hours to get it right. I can not recommend this process for the casual or non-technical user.
But when it’s done the Fire is like a brand new device… and it now has a sync-able calendar and access to Google’s Play (Amazon take note: you could easily have kept me as an exclusive customer).
Of the apps I bought from Amazon, only one refused to download and install (out of dozens and dozens).
The one really big negative: the Kindle reader app for Android is slow, frequently Force Closes and took more than a day before it was fully synced with my library of 14K+ titles.
October 13, 2012 at 6:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jj!
I’m sure that field report will benefit other people who may or may not do the same.
My one question is that you seem to have predicated doing this on the basis that Amazon will not be updating the Kindle Fire 1st Generation. I’m curious where you saw that, since I haven’t seen anything from Amazon on it and I personally would guess that they will update it in the future.
October 13, 2012 at 8:46 pm
This admittedly second hand reference to an anonymous source:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/old-dog-new-tricks-the-159-kindle-fire-review/
“… the 2011 Fire is still running the older Android 2.3-based operating system, and an Amazon representative informed us that the old Fire would not be receiving an upgrade to the new software despite the fact that it was released less than a year ago and has very similar internals.
This is the approach that the company usually takes to updating its E Ink Kindles, so it’s not entirely surprising that last generation’s products won’t receive this generation’s software improvements.”
October 13, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Thanks for writing, Jj!
Oh, yes, I wouldn’t expect them to update to a later version of Android. First, you would get some people mad doing it (bye-bye native Flash, for example…I think that would happen), but the difference in the “internals” can’t be ignored. The processor and the drive space are both significantly different, I believe. I think I heard that Android requires (or at least recommends) there to be 16GB to run some later versions of the OS…don’t hold me to that, I’ll have to double-check. 🙂
I do think we’ll get other updates, though…new features, in particular. Not necessarily the same ones the KFHD models will get, though.
Update: I’m talking about the Kindle Fire HD, and now that I’ve gotten to the article, I see they are also talking about the KFSD (or Kindle Fire 2nd Generation), as well.
October 15, 2012 at 2:32 pm |
I didn’t know if you had seen this, but I think for some folks this will be a big deal… 🙂
http://audiobooker.booklistonline.com/2012/10/12/overdrive-app-for-kindle-fire/
October 19, 2012 at 11:27 pm |
I have a question about something I’ve been noticing on the product page for some Kindle books lately. It says “Kindle Edition with Audio/VideoAudio/Video content only available for iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch devices.” Does this mean that the content is not available for Kindle Fire? Why would Amazon offer something that can only be viewed on competing products? [I’m considering getting one of the Kindle Fire 3G’s, but if they aren’t fully functional, I’ll probably opt for the iPad.]
October 20, 2012 at 12:34 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That’s been the case with those “Enhanced editions” since they were released. If you buy one of those for a Kindle, you can read the text, but you can’t use the added multimedia content.
As to why carry them? Amazon’s Kindle store is used by people who use iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. I think it doesn’t make sense not to carry something that those people want to buy, even if not everybody who uses your store can use the product. For me, that wouldn’t be enough to switch me to an iPad, but up to you. Neither device is “fully functional”, since the Fire can get content the iPad can’t (there are many exclusives for the Kindle, for one thing), and vice versa.
October 22, 2012 at 5:51 pm |
Speaking of Robots Bufo, did you ever see Runaway (1984) with Tom Selleck in the 80s? That was one of my favorite bot movies of all times. I thought the spider robots were so cool. Here’s the imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088024/
October 22, 2012 at 6:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, Paul!
Yes, Runaway is great cheese. 🙂 Gene Simmons brings the “ham” to the cheese sandwich. 😉
October 26, 2012 at 12:44 am |
Hey Bufo,
Don’t know if you’ve heard about this from your other readers, or on your own FB pages… but this just came in my newsfeed on FB today from Amazon.com;
Kindle Fire HD Giveaway
Learn more: http://amzn.to/RhTjG1
October 29, 2012 at 4:39 pm |
I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that my 10-year-old daughter Claire has published her first Kindle ebook called “The Halloween Plan” to the Kindle Store today. Claire is already an avid Kindle reader and with this ebook she is becoming a writer too.
My wife and I were stunned when we read the book; it’s really good and not just for a 10-year-old! Claire wrote and edited the story all by herself. My wife was on the edge of her seat and had tears in her eyes at the end.
I hope lots of kids will read it and perhaps be inspired to write and publish their own stories. Claire is donating all proceeds to her school.
It would be amazing if you could help get the word out. Not only would Claire be very proud and encouraged to write more but it would help her school as well (Westwood Charter School in Los Angeles).
Best wishes,
Dotan (AKA proud papa)
October 29, 2012 at 6:15 pm |
Thanks for writing, Dotan!
I don’t usually approve posts that just promote a book, but given the circumstances, I’m going to go ahead. I appreciate that you didn’t link to the book actually in your post. I also see it is available in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL).
For my readers, here is the book:
The Halloween Plan
The payment cycle does take a while, so I hope the school trip isn’t too soon…
October 29, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Thanks for helping her cause! Much appreciated.
Dotan
Sent from my iPhone
November 7, 2012 at 6:35 am |
I saw this cartoon online and thought you might appreciate the humor:
http://www.gocomics.com/moderately-confused/2012/11/06
November 9, 2012 at 3:06 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That reminded me of this one, as I think it might also have reminded you:
https://ilmk.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/if-e-books-were-first/
November 11, 2012 at 8:37 pm |
Hi Bufo,
As a person who has every Kindle, would you recommend more the Kindle Fire or the Paperwhite for reading in bed without disturbing the spouse?
I really do mean strictly that criterion. I’ve never been drawn to the Kindle Fire for it’s tablet features — I simply like to read. But though the next logical purchase for me, now that my keyboard is 2 years old, is the paperwhite, the ads make it look as if it glows brightly. What do you think?
Gail
November 11, 2012 at 9:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, Gail!
If what you want to do is read, I’d definitely recommend the Paperwhite. The screen brightness is adjustable (although it can’t be all the way off). The Fire is also adjustable, but the light from the Paperwhite is directed towards the screen, not towards the reader…less obnoxious for someone else around. 🙂
It’s also much lighter (in terms of weight, not in terms of brightness). You wouldn’t want to accidentally drop a Fire on your face if you fell asleep. Battery charge life is also significantly longer.
No reason to get a Fire unless you want the tablet features and/or text-to-speech (which the Paperwhite doesn’t have; no speakers).
November 11, 2012 at 11:01 pm |
I see Groupon has the Nook Color 8gb refurbished tablet for $75 if anyone is interested.
November 20, 2012 at 1:01 am |
Is there a problem with receiving your blog in a timely manner? I got last Thursday’s post and then didn’t get anything until late Sunday evening. This seems to be happening more and more.
November 20, 2012 at 2:43 am |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
Thanks for letting me know! There was a problem a little while back with Pulse delivery, but outside of that, I’m not aware of anything.
How are you subscribed to it?
November 20, 2012 at 5:52 am |
I have it sent to my Paperwhite, which I love by the way!
November 23, 2012 at 8:59 pm |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
Okay, I’ve rerouted mine to my Paperwhite to give it a test.
In the meantime, try this one…you’ll have to adapt it slightly to the Paperwhite, but it may help:
November 25, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Dottie, mine delivered to my Paperwhite once I turned on the wi-fi and did a sync and check. Did you get your post today?
It’s “Kindle file management I’d like to see”.
November 23, 2012 at 10:18 pm |
I have not received a post today. I just now cleared my cache and cookies. Hope it helps.
November 24, 2012 at 3:47 am |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
I think you’ve cleared it since my last posting. I’m hoping to get one out tonight, so you should be able to tell if you don’t get it tomorrow (especially if I do).
November 26, 2012 at 12:18 am |
I leave my wi-fi on all the time and when I’m home, my Paperwhite lives about 10 feet from the router. Yesterday (Saturday) I got it after 10 PM. I haven’t gotten it today yet (it is after 6 PM Central Time). I did a sync and check at least 3 times yesterday and today.
November 26, 2012 at 12:40 am |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
Great, it sounds like it is working, then! I probably haven’t sent one out since it delivered, based on what you are saying on the time. Was the last one you got about Kindle file management? If so, you seem to be back getting them. 🙂
I’ll send another one out pretty soon.
November 26, 2012 at 1:24 am
I just sent one out…while I don’t think they get delivered to everybody instantly, it shouldn’t take long.
Please let me know if you don’t have it by tomorrow.
November 26, 2012 at 3:54 am |
Yes, I may be getting them on time now. The one I got around 9 PM Saturday (24th) was the Kindle file managment one and looks like it was sent at 8:21 PM (I don’t know what the time difference is.). The one you sent today (25th) at 7:21 PM came in around 9:30 PM Central Time. I hope I keep getting them when you send them. I don’t like it when I don’t get any for 3 days and then get them all at once.
December 14, 2012 at 2:30 am |
Kindle Fire HD 7″ just received another update (7.2.3) — not sure what was changed/fixed?
December 17, 2012 at 12:33 am |
Thanks for writing, Jay!
This one is just “bug fixes”…we probably won’t see much in the interface.
December 19, 2012 at 1:43 am |
One down, 2 to go!
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/penguin-settles-with-justice-department-in-ebook-price-fixing-case/
December 30, 2012 at 2:54 pm |
I wanted to start off by thanking you for your blog–I read you on a regular basis. But the real purpose of this post was to bring something to your attention that I haven’t seen commented upon in the Kindle blogsphere.
I didn’t know that the Kindle bookstore offered the option to rent books but I saw an option to “rent this book” in the Kindle store for the book “The Final Freedom: The Civil War, The Abolition of Slavery and the Thirteenth Amendment” by Michael Vorenberg.
I think that the option to rent a Kindle book is an absolutely fantastic idea! The listing for this book in the Kindle store gives you five options. You can buy the ebook for $14.04. You can rent the book for 30 days for $7.73; 60 days for $9.67, 90 days for $11.37 or 120 days for $12.32.
Do you know anything about the “rent this book” option in the Kindle bookstore Buffo? How wide spread is it? I think that many Kindlers would just love to be able to rent Kindle ebooks for limited periods of time.
December 30, 2012 at 5:41 pm |
Thanks for writing, dorachild!
Thanks for the kind words!
Yes, the rental program has been around for a while, specifically for textbooks. I think they may be classifying this book that way.
Here’s some more information on it:
The one you cited isn’t priced like a textbook, though, so they may be expanding it.
January 3, 2013 at 6:30 pm |
The Kindle Fire as part of pop culture!
I don’t know if you or your SO are fans of the TV cooking competition, Top Chef on Bravo. Last night, the Kindle Fire played an important role in the main challenge. Each contestant had to pick out a Kindle Fire that contained an iconic past moment from one of the 9 previous seasons. Their challenge was to update the “dish” featured in the video clip on the Kindle Fire.
When it came time to tell the loser to “Pack your knives and go,” the Kindle fire made one final appearance. The bottom two once more viewed a clip, this time from their own season, and had a final face off to decide who stayed and who went home.
January 5, 2013 at 3:10 pm |
I want my iPad to remember my amazon password so it won’t ask for it every time I download a kindle book. I don’t want it to remember all my passwords because this is a library iPad that is going to be used by the public. How do I get it to remember just the amazon password?
January 16, 2013 at 1:21 pm |
Hello there Bufo, since the word is that you are everything that is Kindle, I wanted to check to see if you are interested in doing a blog report or having me do a guest post about a unique kindle product. Currently it is the only movie-style spy thriller graphic novel series on the Kindle platform. I just started the series. Let me know if there is an interest.
Angelic Genesis (Chapter 1) (The Angel of Death)
Shaun Hoilett
[Bufo’s note: I removed a link to the book so this wouldn’t be seen as advertising by my readers.]
January 16, 2013 at 1:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Shaun!
I removed the link to the book (but added the title), so this comment isn’t seen as advertising by my readers. I have downloaded a sample, and I’ll take a look at it.
January 25, 2013 at 5:59 pm |
An article in Forbes shows the differences in decision-making and buying habits of users of iPads and Fires… frankly I found the results unsurprising, and my guess is that a much greater divide would be between users of tablets and e-ink devices of any brand. (Which may speak to the stereotype that e-ink devices are used by “serious readers.”)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelwolf/2013/01/24/3-ways-ipad-and-kindle-fire-users-behave-differently-when-it-comes-to-e-books/
Cheers
February 13, 2013 at 11:46 am |
Hello Bufo. My Kindle 4 (Mindle) just downloaded and installed an update. It is 4.1.1(1813030025). I cannot find anything new in menu. I tried to check on the web, but I found no information what was changed. Any idea ?
Thank you
February 13, 2013 at 2:46 pm |
Thanks for writing, Marvin!
The Amazon website says:
“The software update will be delivered wirelessly and includes optimizations for your Kindle’s performance.”
That typically means it’s just bug fixes and such…I wouldn’t expect you to see any new features from it, just (hopefully) improved performance.
February 13, 2013 at 3:22 pm
So no glowlight 🙂 That would be a software update which I would gladly pay for 😀
February 18, 2013 at 3:20 am |
Hi Bufo! I like your blog a lot, especially the snapshots you are keeping about all kinds of stat about Kindle books. I’m thinking about using these figures to do a final project for my stat course. I was wondering whether you have an excel version of those snapshots – in that case I might not need to manually enter the numbers from your blog post – and if yes, can you send it to me? I’ll appreciate it very much!
Also, those snapshots are about Kindle books only, right? Do you happen to have similar snapshots for print books available on Amazon?
Thanks in advance!
February 18, 2013 at 2:42 pm |
Thanks for writing, Catherine!
Although I have used Excel in producing the Snapshots, I don’t think it’s in a format that would be all that useful for you. Since I just use that as a tool, I don’t tend to label things well and there are many elements that don’t get into the spreadsheet. I also sometimes correct the posts without correcting the spreadsheet. I wouldn’t really be comfortable sending that out.
Yes, what you are seeing there is only for digital media. In doing your own strong work for your final project, there are two resources that might be helpful for physical media:
Amazon maintains bestseller lists for previous years on their website:
Amazon Past Bestsellers
including books and the subset which are Kindle books.
I assume you are familiar with Archive.org’s Wayback Machine, which preserves websites at specific points in time, but here’s the link for Amazon:
Archive.org Wayback Machine for Amazon.com
If you are comfortable sharing your project with me later (I won’t publish it anywhere without your permission), I’d be curious to see it. 🙂
February 18, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Thanks Bufo for your prompt reply and helpful information!! I’ll start working on the data and hopefully get some interesting results to share with you 🙂
-Catherine
February 18, 2013 at 5:31 pm |
Hi there. I just wanted to say I am enjoying a couple of your books. I loved the Star Trek parody. Now I am not saying I love my kindle but I have gone from about 100 books to 3800+ books since I got my kindle fire in December. Yes most are free.
February 21, 2013 at 9:50 pm |
Guessing you may have seen this, but if not:
http://lifehacker.com/5985336/heres-how-to-see-all-the-books-you-can-borrow-for-free-on-your-kindle-from-your-browser
I found it helpful because I could never figure out the simplest way to sort and browse them.
Cheers,
Evan
February 21, 2013 at 11:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, Evan!
I’ve given instructions (and a link) for doing that before, but I think they should always be accompanied by a very strong explanation. You can not borrow the books from your computer, although you can search for them. I mention that because I have many times seen where someone is asking why they were charged for a book in the KOLL (Kindle Owners’ Lending Library). It often happens because they ordered it from the computer.
The key things are:
* You must borrow a book from the KOLL from a hardware Kindle (not a computer, not a Kindle reading app)
* You must click a button that says “Borrow”, not one that says “Buy”
I appreciate you sharing that! I just want to make sure people don’t make a mistake with it. 🙂
March 8, 2013 at 4:02 pm |
[…] My reader commented on the About page for this blog, and asked me to keep the comment private. That is the best way to reach […]
March 9, 2013 at 7:47 pm |
The Pulse feed for ILMK has stopped again. The last article that came through was on Feb. 28. Has anyone else reported this or is it just me? My other blogs are updating without issues. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.
March 10, 2013 at 5:37 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jackie!
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll check my devices and follow up on it, if necessary. Which Kindle Fire do you have?
http://www.amazon.com/help/kindle/which
March 11, 2013 at 4:38 pm |
Bufo, have you seen this article? It seems Amazon is looking into the possibility of a market for “used” ebooks
Amazon received a patent in January to set up a “secondary market for digital objects.”
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/09/coming-soon-a-market-for-used-e-books/
March 11, 2013 at 5:28 pm |
Thanks for writing, Carol!
I hadn’t read that particular article, but here’s my take on the patent:
Looks like I’d beaten them by a day. 🙂 You might find my analysis of the economics interesting…
March 13, 2013 at 4:48 pm |
Is there a topic thread about this over on the Kindle forum ?
Can’t seem to find one….
March 13, 2013 at 5:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, phil!
A topic thread about what, specifically?
If it’s about this blog, authors don’t post about their own writing on the general Amazon Kindle forum…that’s not really an appropriate place for it.
However, we can also have our own Amazon Author Central pages, which have their own forums. There is a thread for this blog on my AACP:
I Love My Kindle blog thread
March 13, 2013 at 5:43 pm |
sorry – related to the latest posting…. the article about the Amazon selling back issue or donating – how it relates & compares to paper and the copyright law, etc – Was just searching on the Kindle forum and couldn’t find a thread about the Amazon/Kindle patent and/or a link to your take on the economics of the scenarios.
March 13, 2013 at 7:30 pm |
Thanks for writing, phil!
Here you go:
March 16, 2013 at 2:16 am |
In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day Audible has ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ available for free.
http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00BQZRPAQ
March 19, 2013 at 4:05 pm |
Bufo,
I didn’t know if you had seen this yet,
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/56435-supreme-court-upholds-first-sale-in-landmark-kirtsaeng-ruling.html
but, I think it is going to be a big deal. The affirmation of First Sale in this case, doesn’t directly affect ebooks, but it does seem to follow a pattern of reasserting copyright law for what once would have been considered “extraordinary” kinds of circumstances.
I think we are in the next few years finally see the orphan book issue resolved and many of the other copyright issues associated with ebooks as well.
Anyway, thought you might want to take a look.
Your supporter,
Ed
March 19, 2013 at 10:11 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ed!
Thanks for the link!
Yes, I’d heard about it, but I want to read the opinion before I write about it, so it may be a few days before I do a full post on it.
I don’t see this as definitely directly related to e-books, but I will need to read it first. I think it’s also possible that other countries are not going to be happy with this (since it’s possible that it could be interpreted as us ignoring their copyright laws), which could ultimately have a negative impact on e-book readers.
E- book licenses are more directly equatable to contracts than they to paperbooks manufactured in another country, but again, I’m going to try and read the decision first. 🙂
I always appreciate a heads-up, even when I’ve heard of it already…thanks again!
March 20, 2013 at 6:40 pm
I appreciated your analysis on the front page. Copyright certainly makes for interesting debate and consideration. I thought I would point you to a link I gleaned from the Publishers Weekly latest comment on the ruling. At the end of his article James Grimmelmann writes, “Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante is already proposing significant reforms to the Copyright Act. Ladies and gentlemen, start your lobbyists.”
The link takes you to this speech, http://www.copyright.gov/docs/next_great_copyright_act.pdf while the topics she hits are wide ranging, it is also fascinating.
March 20, 2013 at 11:29 pm
Thanks for writing, Ed!
I’ve read the statement, and I may write about it. I try to keep my site varied, and not post too many similar things in a row. Nothing there is going to immediately create action, so I want to take my time to really absorb it before I do write about it. I didn’t want to wait on the Kirtsaeng case, because I thought people might be led to making unsupported conclusions by the coverage, and those are hard to change later. 🙂 It won’t surprise me to have somebody say, “Didn’t the Supreme Court legalize selling used e-books?” based on some of the stories I’ve seen…
The process for change in copyright is interesting in and of itself. On the one hand, you have one individual, the Register of Copyrights (currently Maria Pallante), who has a lot of power, and can yet can actually move pretty quickly by making what are basically administrative rulings. On the other side you have Congress, which can change the laws…but moves really, really slowly (if at all). The Supreme Court is also a major player, but they can make a ruling like Kirtsaeng and then essentially say, “If you don’t like it, Congress, pass a law.” 🙂
March 28, 2013 at 9:00 pm |
Here is another story I bet you will want to get out in front of. We have been asking for something like this… I wonder how the GoodReads folks are going to react?
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/56575-amazon-buys-goodreads.html
March 28, 2013 at 9:42 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ed!
I’d started to write an article on it when I saw your comment…I appreciate the heads-up!
March 29, 2013 at 1:11 am
You are welcome… Seems like there is a lot happening in the publishing – reader world right now. The Harper Collins/Open Road lawsuit is interesting too.
Thanks for all that you do. You really are an invaluable part of the eReader community!
March 29, 2013 at 2:28 am
Thanks for writing, Ed!
That one is on my list. 🙂
Unless something is about to disappear, my main goal in the blog isn’t always to be first. I like to bring more insight into it, if I can. For example, on the HarperCollins/Open Road bit, I’ll tie it into the Rosetta/Random House case. So, I expect to get to it, but probably not right away.
I like to get lighter things into the mix as well, and I think that’s probably next to be done.
March 30, 2013 at 6:24 pm |
I think you meant to say:
March 30, 2013 at 8:19 pm |
Thanks for writing, Roger!
I’d be interested to hear your opinion on the grammar, but that is what I intended to say. 🙂 What I mean by it is that I might link to a book thinking that it did not have text-to-speech blocked, and then it might turn out that it does (for example, they might block it after I created the link…people sometimes visit these posts years later).
Edited to add: I was responding on my Fire, so I want to make this clearer now that it’s easier to post. 🙂
My construction is meant to say that I might accidentally link to a book that blocks text-to-speech, but that is not my intent.
Your construction would read to me to say that I take a purposeful action not to link to books with text-to-speech blocked.
My intention is the former.
March 31, 2013 at 5:58 am |
OK
April 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm |
Bufo, I’m sure you have probably read this already but in case you haven’t I thought it was an interesting read. I think the author erred in saying that there are no distribution costs associated with e-books. Anyway, here’s a link to the article:
http://gizmodo.com/5993800/why-do-we-keep-making-ebooks-like-paper-books?utm_source=Gizmodo+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5c246f4e79-UA-142218-3&utm_medium=email
April 6, 2013 at 6:28 pm |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
Yes, I read it this morning through Flipboard, but thanks! I might include it in the next Roundup. It felt a bit to me like the person had just found e-books, and wasn’t aware of earlier thinking around them. The basic idea, that e-books shouldn’t try to emulate p-books, is a good one.
April 18, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Good morning! I’m sure you’ve already read about this but thought I would throw it out there anyway. Here’s a link:
http://www.kobo.com/koboaurahd/
April 18, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Thanks, Glenn!
Yep, it’s on my list for today. 🙂 I still always appreciate a heads-up, though…I do sometimes miss things, and it also lets me know what is catching my readers’ eyes. 🙂
May 3, 2013 at 5:29 am |
Just thought you would like to see this…maybe Amazon will follow the same? I would like some apps that are not available in the Amazon app-store but is available in Google Play.
May 14, 2013 at 9:49 pm |
I don’t know if you saw this or not: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/14/corporate-logos-subliminal-messages/
It singles out the “smile” and the arrow pointing from A to Z. Somehow, those never seemed subliminal to me. Amazon even points out the smile in its ads. Just thought it might give you a smile.
May 15, 2013 at 12:14 am |
@ Lady Galaxy:
You’re unusual IMO in noticing the little visual quip in Amazon’s logo. It was news to me until I read the Amazon-biography, “Get Big Fast.” My guess is that 90% of Amazon’s employees and customers are similarly unaware, unless it’s been explained to them. (And a quip that has to be explained lacks wittiness.)
That’s because the arrow in the Amazon logo does not actually point TO the Z (although it “clips” its lower right corner). It points toward the O (if you look at where it is pointing, not the letter it is under). In order to make its “point” clear, the arrow-head should be left-shifted by half a letter, and the lower left corner of the Z should stretch out downward and to the left to connect with it, the same way the lower right corner of the A stretches out to link to the tail of the arrow.
I’ve suggested this improvement in an on-site comment to Amazon. The person I talked to there who called me back was unaware of the A-to-Z “message” of the logo until I told her about it, and agreed with me that a redesign would make sense. So I urged her to buttonhole JB at the water cooler about it, which made her laugh. (“God is high above, and the Czar is far away,” as the old Russian saying goes–or went. Meaning the bigshot is out of reach and out of touch.)
(And try getting the original logo designer to agree that he made a blunder! It’s clear to HIM, so that’s the end of the discussion!)
May 15, 2013 at 12:43 am
PS: Bufo–Why don’t you poll your readers as to whether they were aware of the A-to-Z quip implied in Amazon’s logo? It might impress Amazon that a change is needed if only a minority “get the ‘point’.” (Especially since the unaware are less likely to report truthfully than the witting.)
May 15, 2013 at 2:25 am
Thanks for writing, Roger!
Well, there is a very big difference between a quip (which is aimed at the conscious level) and something which is subliminal (which is aimed at the subconscious level).
I also don’t consider the design to be a blunder. You are extending your vision to where the arrow is pointing. As somebody who has worked with flowsheets, I see the line as connecting the two letters, and the arrowhead just to show the direction of flow (A to Z, not Z to A). The line even distorts the Z where it bumps into it.
This reminds me of the line from Bruce Lee’s character in Enter the Dragon:
“It is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. Do you understand?”
You could argue that you are seeing the moon…but I do think the connection is what is intended, and in a geektopia like Amazon, I’m sure flowcharts were a common frame of reference.
It would also, of course, be tremendously expensive to re-do a logo. I might do a poll…but I’d include the question of whether or not people think it should be changed. I wouldn’t want to be presumptive that people would agree with me and the designer, or with you and the person to whom you talked.
May 15, 2013 at 6:55 am
OK, “quip” wasn’t the mot juste. “Double entendre” or “pawky humor” are better terms–their “points” are implicit, like the point of Amazon’s logo. But the A-to-Z link-up isn’t made clear enough in the graphic to give the viewer the hint that it’s trying to convey a subtle message. All most viewers get, IMO, is the image of a smile.
But it doesn’t bump into it, because it’s not pointing at the indentation in the Z. It’s not even pointing at the Z!
May 15, 2013 at 6:59 am
Oops–I mis-indented at the end above.
PS:
But nearly all viewers lack that background, so they’re less likely to see what you see.
May 15, 2013 at 7:05 am
PPS: If the message Amazon wants to copmmunicate with its arrow is “A to Z,” the arrow should point TO the Z! If it doesn’t, many viewers will miss the message.
May 15, 2013 at 2:18 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That is a cute point…pun intended. 😉 I think Lab 126 is more subtle…126 also stands for A to Z (A being the first letter of the alphabet, Z the 26th).
May 16, 2013 at 12:53 am
Oh my! What have I started here? Do we need a time out? Do I even want to get involved? All I know is that the arrow pointing me to the exit doesn’t have to actually touch the exit door handle for me to find the way out. So I will follow in the footsteps of Snagglepuss and “exit, stage left.” Or was it “stage right”? Oh dear, where is that blasted arrow????
May 16, 2013 at 1:07 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Oh, believe me, I’m grateful. My Significant Other used to say that our kid and I would “argue for sport”. 😉 We once spent half an hour in the car debating (we prefer that term) over whether or not my kid had ever seen the back of their own head (the key point…did a reflection in a mirror count?). 😉
Snagglepuss was often, “Exit, stage left”, but it depended on the exit, or course. 🙂
May 23, 2013 at 5:11 am |
Hi Bufo,
I’m not sure if you know about http://www.clippingsconverter.com. I run the site and of course would be over the moon if you could mention us to your readers.
Thanks
Jim
May 23, 2013 at 4:55 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jim!
It’s a free service, so I’m posting your comment. I’ll have to experiment with it before I share. 🙂
May 24, 2013 at 4:19 pm |
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at our site. Thanks again…Jim
May 27, 2013 at 6:42 pm |
You recommended the ES File Explorer app which I downloaded and am trying to use to delete a file I downloaded from the Web browser. How can I delete a useless file that I have downloaded to the Kindle and could only find in the ES File Explorer app or under the Web’s “downloads”?
May 27, 2013 at 6:44 pm |
Just kidding…I just figured it out. :0)
June 6, 2013 at 10:09 pm |
When you browse the web on the non-Adroid kindles, what works best & what do you enjoy most?
June 7, 2013 at 1:45 am |
Thanks for writing, pancake!
You can’t install different browsers on a non-Android Kindle, so I’m afraid I can’t give you much in the way of options. I do find that mobile sites are easier to use…
June 11, 2013 at 9:07 pm |
One of my online friends just bought a Kindle Fire, but she cannot figure out how to use it. She’s searched online for instructions, but is totally lost. I know there has to be a user’s manual on the Kindle Fire, but since I’ve never used one, I can’t tell her how to get to it. If you could please lead me to the most basics of how to get to the manual on a fire, I will link her to it. thanks!
June 11, 2013 at 10:45 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
If it’s a first gen (it probably isn’t), I do have a book I’ve written for that one. 🙂
What Amazon has done is left all the Help online. You get to it on the device by
Swipe down – More – Help & Feedback
I don’t think they’ve made an offline user’s guide available…
June 13, 2013 at 10:52 pm
I tried to post a “thanks” last night, but there was some sort of glitch where there were double boxes, so that must have kept it from posting. I started my reply in what looked like a regular reply box, but the post comment button was missing. Then halfway through a second box appeared. When I continued typing, the data went into the second box leaving the first box with the beginning of my post. The post comment button was under the second box. I’m not sure if the glitch was on my side or the blog site, but I cleared my cache just in case. That seems to be the usual culprit when web pages act wonkier than usual.
My friend is starting to feel a little more comfortable with the Fire. Now she is wondering if there is some sort of virus protection available or even needed for it.
I seem to remember a previous article about your finding a keyboard to use with your Fire, but I can’t seem to find it in the archive. If you could find the link, I’d like to share it with her. Thanks!
June 14, 2013 at 1:23 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’ve had WordPress glitch somewhat like that, so it might not have been you. 🙂 Thanks for being persistent!
Viruses are probably not much of an issue, but I did just install (and will write about)
Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile
It’s the first locator app that I’ve used with my Fire that actually found it (or close enough). 🙂 It also scans for some problems…and it is free.
I wrote about the main Bluetooth keyboard I use here:
I have another one that rolls up, but it was a gift. It also doesn’t work as well, although it does work in a pinch.
June 15, 2013 at 3:49 am
Thank you so much for all your help.
June 22, 2013 at 4:02 am |
Sometimes Amazon does things that make me just sit and stare off into space and wonder if I somehow ended up in an alternate universe. I had checked out the top 100 free on my Kindle earlier. There was a book that I wanted to check out when I got online, but by the time I got online, I couldn’t remember the full title. All I could remember that something about eating with your left hand was part of the title, and I was curious if that applied to folks who are left handed already. So I put the words eat, left, and hand” into the Amazon search box. The result was that they had nothing in the Kindle store that met my search, but they offered me 3 possibilities in the Amazon store. One was a book about the right side of the brain, which at least makes sense because the right side of the brain controls the left hand. the second was for a left handed spoon. Who knew? Being ever curious, I checked on the link and discovered it was a special spoon for folks with arthritis who needed extra support holding a spoon. . But the third item in the search was for an iPod touch that was outdated. I have an iPod, and it seems to be easily usable from either hand. I finally found the book by going through the top 100 free, and I read enough of the sample to discover that you should eat with your left hand so your right hand is free to shake hands with new people you might meet. Curiosity satisfied, but then I had another thought. Is there a left handed Kindle? On all my Kindles, the main controls are on the right side. The K3 has page controls for both hands, but the 5-way controller is on the right side. The DX has no controls on the left side. I’m right handed, so it’s not a big deal except that I’ve gotten into the habit of turning (or whatever you would call the kindle version of page turning) with my left hand, so I’m still finding the DX to be awkward. But do left handed people complain about the 5 way controller being on the right side? Does the Fire, like the iPod, work equally well with both hands? Sorry for the long winding road here, but that’s just how my mind works sometimes.
June 22, 2013 at 3:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, left handed people have complained about the Kindle controls. I’m an ambidexter, but I suppose interestingly, it does both me a bit that I don’t get the choice. 🙂 Some things are culturally mandated, such as shaking with the right hand, as you note. In this case, the advice to eat with you left hand suggests a lack of knowledge about how that is considered quite impolite in many parts of the world. There are areas where, as I understand it, the left hand is sort of reserved for…unsanitary things, so eating with your left hand would provoke the same sorts of reactions that eating with your feet would here (even if your feet were actually clean).
July 6, 2013 at 3:17 am |
I was wondering if you had seen this article in the NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/business/as-competition-wanes-amazon-cuts-back-its-discounts.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0
and was curious to see if you had any comments about it. Maybe I’m missing something, but why are the authors complaining about Amazon not selling their books inexpensively enough. Should they not be complaining that perhaps the publishers have set the list price too high?
July 7, 2013 at 4:22 am |
Noticed that the Kobo Mini is currently on sale for 40.00 off, which makes the price 39.95. I’m pretty sure that’s a new low for any ereader.
July 7, 2013 at 2:00 pm |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
I wrote about that sale here:
It’s good through July 18th. It’s worth noting that it is a smaller screen (5-inch) than most EBRs (E-Book Readers).
Is it the lowest price? It’s going to depend on how you define an EBR and where you look…for a mainstream EBR in the USA, though, it’s definitely a good price.
July 7, 2013 at 3:18 pm
I found that a little after posting my note. I sat on the fence for an hour and ended up ordering one. I’ve wanted a reader with EPUB support.
July 17, 2013 at 5:27 am |
Hi Bufo,
My wife came across a Kindle book that is listed for $0.99 on the Amazon website, but lis listed for $2.99 through the Kindle store on her Kindle – a Kindle keyboard. “The Witch Doctor’s Wife” by Tamar Myers. Is this a common occurrence? I don’t recall reading about this and was rather surprised.
Steve
PS I don’t care if you quote this publicly or not.
July 17, 2013 at 11:41 pm |
OK, I figured it out. There were two editions of this book – one on sale. The search on the browser defaulted to one version and the search on the Kindle defaulted to the other version. Generally a search will show all possible choices, but for some reason both searches only gave one choice, a different choice.
July 18, 2013 at 1:14 pm |
Thanks for writing, Steve!
I appreciate you sharing that!
You know, it seems to me that I’ve heard of that before…different search results on a Kindle than on a computer.
July 30, 2013 at 7:48 pm |
I just had the most interesting experience.
In December 2012, my good friend’s Kindle Keyboard 3G, that was out of warranty, died. We are such good friends that I had bought her the Kindle, she is on my account and we share books. I wanted to get her a Paperwhite, but they were backordered, she was staying by the side of a dying friend and really wanted it ASAP. I ordered her a new Kindle Keyboard 3G.
Two days ago, the new one just got all kinds of lines on the screen and despite 3 hard resets, it became unreadable. I told her how to call and get a new one–since this one was under warranty and had extended warranty as well. They said, no problem, we can replace your Kindle free of charge, but we no longer sell the Keyboard 3G. We will send out your new Kindle Touch by 2 day mail.
My friend called me and told me what they had said.
Now, I had paid $177.25 for the Keyboard 3G. The Kindle Touch WO Special Offers is $139 and WIFI only. That is not a fair trade as far as I’m concerned. I called and spent over an hour on the phone and finally got them to agree to send me a Paperwhite 3G WO Special Offers for $17.95 (The difference in price between what I paid for the Keyboard 3G and a new Paperwhite 3G.
Unfortunately, I still had to buy a new cover for her Kindle. The old one wouldn’t work.
July 31, 2013 at 12:36 am |
Thanks for writing, wingwifeusmc!
I’m glad that you got it resolved! I agree with you…you shouldn’t have had to spend an hour on the phone with them. That’s one of the tough things when they sunset models…figuring out the equivalent.
If they’d still been selling the Kindle Keyboard, you would likely have gotten a refurbished one as a replacement, since you’ve been using it for that long.
July 31, 2013 at 5:31 am |
I wouldn’t have had a problem with a refurbished–it would still have had the same warranty. Now I find out I only got refunded a prorated amount for the Protection Plan–not the whole $39.99. So my “free” replacement cost me $15.00 more for the PP, the cost of a new cover and the $17.95 difference.
Know anyone who needs a lighted Keyboard 3g cover? LOL
July 31, 2013 at 10:37 pm |
Wow! This is discouraging for me. I have a year old K3 that is starting to have all kinds of problems with the 5-way controller. I had assumed Amazon would still have some refurbs around for replacements. I don’t really like either the touch or the Paper White.
August 1, 2013 at 1:08 am
I just heard from Service Net. They are going to refund me the entire $39.99. Yay! Squeaky wheels and grease:)
Lady Galaxy, I am a total convert to the Paperwhite. Only annoyances are the inadvertent page turns. It’s small, lightweight, the screen is very easy to read–and I love being able to read in any light.
August 2, 2013 at 12:24 am
Thanks for writing!
I think your display name has changed…
I’m glad they took care of it! That’s more of what I typically expect.
I agree with you: I like the Paperwhite a lot.
August 2, 2013 at 4:12 am
I’m afraid the screen of the paper white would be too bright. The grayer background on the K3 is easier on my vision. I’m glad you got the refund for the protection plan. I also bought a protection plan for the K3. I’ll keep all this in mind for the time when the 5-way controller finally goes completely kaput. For now, it just does wonky, unexpected things when I press “enter.” Most of the time, it does what it’s supposed to do, but at least once a day it does something odd like turn on the screen saver or send the Kindle into restart mode. It was extra noisy when I first got it. I should have sent it back then instead of waiting to see if it got worse.
August 2, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I know people’s vision is different (mine isn’t typical), but I do find the Paperwhite the most comfortable reading experience I’ve had…including paper. You can adjust the brightness easily, and the background is not as white as many paperbooks. That’s a problem I have with my local TV news station’s app…they use this super white background when it is booting up: I have to squeeze my eyes shut first thing in the morning while it is getting going. That’s with the Kindle Fire’s brightness turned down, by the way. However, I am unusually sensitive to light, so that may be more me than the average person.
July 31, 2013 at 10:41 pm |
I don’t know if you’re a fan of the “funnies” or not, but I thought you might get a kick out of this one.
http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/zits/s-1362643
You can get to the further adventures in a real world book store by paging forward.
August 29, 2013 at 3:46 pm |
Bufo, just a heads up on an interesting development.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/58915-amazon-expands-kindle-offerings-in-mexico.html
I am very excited about the introduction of KDP into Mexico. The ramifications of that may be huge.
August 29, 2013 at 7:03 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ed!
I saw a press release this morning, and that is exciting! Mexico has a rich literary heritage…and their copyright term is longer than ours. 🙂 I can’t write easily where I am right now (I have my Fire, but not a computer), but I will definitely look more at that when I get a chance.
August 30, 2013 at 2:13 am |
Active Content seems to be slipping into the sunset.
Noticed today that Active Content is no longer a menu pick in the ‘Kindle Store’ on the Paperwhite. The category has also disappeared from the website, as well as the ‘Games’ links to the category.
The apps are still listed, but you have to search for them by name and already know wha you are looking for.
August 30, 2013 at 2:19 am |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
You can still get to them here:
http://www.Amazon.com/kindlegames
September 8, 2013 at 4:02 am |
This isn’t a Kindle question, it’s an Amazon question. I got an e-mail from Amazon inviting me to join its “Woot” community. I clicked the link, but it required my Amazon password to get into the site. That sort of set off a little alarm bell, so I closed back out. Is there such a community on Amazon and does it require a password in order to view the place? The URL it sent me to was:
http://www.woot.com/?utm_source=Amazon&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=acquisition_amzn_brew32
I guess the word “acquisition” in the URL was what alarmed me.
September 8, 2013 at 5:39 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Amazon owns
http://www.woot.com/
which is a good place to get deals…if you are fast. 🙂 They have one super deal for the day, and it can sell out early.
They do have a community there as well…sort of like the Amazon Kindle forums.
My intuition is that what you got was a legitimate e-mail, but you could go directly to Woot and sign up…that messes up their marketing evaluations, perhaps, but it would be secure for you.
September 9, 2013 at 12:44 am
Thanks!
September 10, 2013 at 2:18 am
Update. I finally received a reply from Amazon customer service that the e-mail I received was not from them, so I forwarded it to stop-spoofing@amazon.com. . I had already changed my password and run a virus scan. It was a very good looking fake. I almost fell for it.
September 11, 2013 at 1:48 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I appreciate you sharing that! You might have saved some other people.
September 15, 2013 at 4:49 am |
I love your blog, thank you so much for all the interesting information you provide.
I’m trying to find out if there is anywhere I can look to see a list of items that I have borrowed from Amazon using the Prime Lending feature. Do you know if there is one?
I appreciate any help you can give me. Deb
September 15, 2013 at 10:01 pm |
Thanks for writing, Deb!
Interesting question! I haven’t found something anywhere that shows your previous KOLL borrows…I just looked for you. Not in
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
although you can see the one you still have out (if any).
Not in your orders history.
I checked my personal e-mail, where I get notifications from Amazon: nope.
Going forward, I can tell you that if you make a note in a KOLL book, it is preserved at
http://kindle.amazon.com
So, you could just make a note like, “Borrowed from the KOLL on 10/1/2013”, and then you would at least have a record…
If I come up with something, I’ll let you know…
September 15, 2013 at 3:59 pm |
Howdy Y’all Mr. Bufo (a real Lone Star State greeting…you’ll see why in a moment),
I’m sure you’ve already heard of this, but on the extremely remote chance you haven’t, here it is, FYI.
from NPR News Blog The Two-Way Sep. 14, 2013
Breaking eBook News from Bexar County, TX
An all-digital public library opens in Bexar County, The Bexar County BiblioTech Library…
Bookless Public Library Opens In Texas
by BILL CHAPPELL
September 14, 201312:08 PM
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/14/
222442870/bookless-public-library-opens-in-texas
I dig the cool artist rendering graphic above the opening paragraph, the yellow oranges, the curved wall and the endless rows of computers.
Am interested in your viewpoint re this development in the eBook universe.
Official Site: bexarbibliotech.org
Have a good one!
September 15, 2013 at 10:44 pm |
Thanks for writing, ludisperse!
I appreciate the heads-up!
I did write about it earlier in the year before it was open:
assuming that San Antonio and Bexar County is the same one. 🙂
PS Message received and acted on. 🙂
September 17, 2013 at 10:13 pm |
Hi Bufo,
First let me tell you I love your blog and have subscribed to.it for years. My only problem is that I cannot read it on my Kindle Fire HD. I have contacted Amazon every 6 months or so since I bought the original Fire, and never got an answer to why this can’t be done. Well 2 days ago I asked Amazon once again if I could read this blog on my Fire HD and I was told that it is not compatible with the Fire, and that this was a publisher’s issue not Amazon.
Well are you not the publisher, and if so why would you block readers from using their Kindle Fires to read your amazing blog? This does not make sense to me, so if you could please tell me why a text based blog can’t be read on a Fire I would finally have an answer to question that I have been asking for years. Carrying two Kindle devices around in order to read ALL my paid content does not makes sense to me. Help!!!
Thank you for your time,
Gary
September 18, 2013 at 12:57 am |
Thanks for writing, Gary!
First, thanks for your loyalty and your kind words!
Yes, I am the publisher, and I make it available in the Kindle store through Amazon’s own platform, Kindle Publishing for Blogs.
Your question prompted me to go back and dig through that site in detail, and I don’t see any option that would allow it to be a paid subscription through the Kindle store for the Kindle Fire. I have written to their blog publisher support to double-check.
As you can imagine, I would love it to be available on the Fire, and have written about that several times.
The only way I can see to do make it a paid subscription in the Kindle store for the Fire would be to make it an app.
I checked the top five best-selling blogs in the Kindle store, and not one of them says it is available for the Fire. They all say they are available on these devices:
Kindle
Kindle Touch
Kindle Paperwhite
Kindle Keyboard
Kindle DX
Kindle (2nd Generation)
Kindle (1st Generation)
I’m guessing that the person with whom you spoke was thinking of an app as the option.
I’ll post what I hear back from their support (I’m guessing it will be tomorrow).
Again, thanks for your interest in the blog!
September 18, 2013 at 1:31 am |
Thanks But I that would be great. I subscribe and read it on all my RSK units, this is how I always have done it. I didn’t think it would be so complicated to read it on a Fire.
October 3, 2013 at 2:32 pm |
Is it possible for my wife to deregister her Kindle from her account, then register it to my account, download a book I’ve bought and then deregister the Kindle from my account and register it back to her account again?
Aside from wanting to restrict who has access to your Amazon account (not an issue within a family), wouldn’t that be better than loaning a book for 2 weeks?
I think creating a single account for both of us would screw up birthday/gift shopping. Setting up a third, shared account and each then having two Amazon accounts seems a bit of a hassle.
October 3, 2013 at 2:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, noternie!
Yes, many people do what you describe, although it depends a bit on what sort of Kindle she has. A Kindle Fire won’t work: when you deregister it, the books become unavailable. Without that, though, you can do what I call the “register/deregister dance”. 🙂
Lending, as you point out, is limited. There is no legal obligation to allow lending (you are purchasing a license, not a physical copy), although some people do lend physical Kindles, even buying ones specifically for that purpose.
Being on the same account works great in our family. We have four people in two timezones using it. We can all typically read the same book at the same time, at no additional cost.
I am amused, though, at your suggestion that there would not be an issue about payment and such within a family. 🙂 There is a lot of diversity out there in how families interact, and it might be that there are friends or other groups that have less difficulty with trust than some families. 😉 I was a banker for years, and I saw really nasty stuff taking place within families!
Having multiple accounts is also not that difficult, but up to you. Some people have an account just for Kindle purchases…and they could have many people on that account, if they want. Then, they have a separate account for other purchases.
There are a lot of options…if you have questions about the specifics, feel free to ask.
October 3, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Bufo:
Thanks for the quick and thorough reply. I was discussing it with someone else in my office who was intrigued by the thought of sharing books with her husband in the same way. Now, we can each at least consider the options based on what’s possible. Who knows which any of us will prefer.
I was amused by your amusement. I’m guessing it’s not interfamilial distrust that has your family living in different time zones? 🙂 I understand the issue you raise, though. My wife is a divorce lawyer! It’s possible that she’s seen more nasty stuff than you have!
October 3, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Thanks for writing, noternie!
Nope, no distrust…just adults living our own lives. 🙂
Here’s one post where I went through what applies to your question at a more leisurely pace:
Divorce lawyers do see…people whose emotions might be affecting their judgement. While she may see some good stuff, I expect that I’ve seen more of that professionally than she has…and that she has me beat on “nasty”.
October 17, 2013 at 2:24 pm |
My credit card was billed today for my HDX. I think they are ready to ship.
October 17, 2013 at 4:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
Yep, mine is shipping now!
October 27, 2013 at 11:47 pm |
I am a long time fan of your blog and kindles. I have had most of them and am now using PW which i love, except no text to speech or audible. I am thinking about a fire. Amazon has offered a kindle fire hd 7 for $95. Should i do that or bite the bullet and get the new one? I have Ipad 1. If that helps :).
October 28, 2013 at 12:31 am |
Thanks for writing, Kathryn!
Thanks for being a fan! 😉
Tell me more about where you are seeing the Kindle Fire HD 7″ for $95…is it a certified refurb?
I like the HXD a lot better (although the first gen has an HDMI out…I think Amazon may do something interesting with Miracast in the near future), although yes, it’s a lot more money than that. Mayday is an amazing feature, and the image on the new one is quite a bit better. As you probably know, I use text-to-speech a lot, and I do like the option of having different voices on the HDX. That’s just a couple of things…
October 29, 2013 at 2:08 am |
Thanks for your reply, yes, its a refurb from Amazon as a replacement for one of my kindles that died…really miss that text to speech.
Sorry about your kindles being kidnapped!
November 14, 2013 at 5:28 pm |
Assuming you’ve seen this, but just in case:
Google prevails over authors in book-scanning U.S. lawsuit
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9AD0TT20131114?irpc=932
November 15, 2013 at 1:31 am |
Hi, I thought you’d be interested in an experience I had with an instant video on Amazon. I have a number of videos in my library that I “own.” A couple days ago, I watched one of them about 1/2 way through and then stopped. I went back to it the next day and it wouldn’t play and I didn’t feel like trying to figure out why so I just watched something else. Well, over the past couple days I have occasionally tried to watch that movie and it won’t play….not on my kindle fire, my computer, or with my wifi connected blu ray player. The other movies in my library that I tested all played fine. So finally I called Amazon tonight. They told me that they lost their license agreement for that particular version of the movie because a new “extended version” was released. Unfortunately for them, I bought the original for $4 during a black Friday sale. The new version was $12 so they credited my $4 to my credit card and gave me an $8 credit on my amazon account to make up the difference. Now I have to re-purchase the video. I’m not complaining or anything, I just thought you’d find my experience interesting because you frequently mention the difference between owning a physical product and having a license on amazon. Here’s a real-life example for you!
November 15, 2013 at 2:00 am |
Thanks for writing, Emily!
In your case, then, you really came out ahead by owning a license and not a copy! You tripled your value, because you bought the license to watch the movie, and it was the only way Amazon could accommodate you.
Thanks for telling that story!
November 28, 2013 at 12:38 am |
What do you think is going to happen to the Kindle “first” books when the new month rolls around. The description never says we own the rights to the book. The explanation page just states: “Every month Amazon Publishing editors give you the chance to read one of four pre-release Kindle books for FREE as a benefit of your Amazon Prime membership..” Does that mean that once the beginning of the next month rolls around it will just go “poof” like Cinderella’s coach? Or will it stay on the device but not in the cloud? If it stays on the device and in the cloud, will it go poof if or when members choose to drop Prime? When I check the product page for the book I selected, the header says “You purchased this book on November 1, 2013,” so does that mean it’s a keeper?
November 28, 2013 at 1:15 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
It’s true that the language is, at first, somewhat ambiguous, but dig a bit deeper and Amazon says:
“Kindle First books can be read on any Kindle device or free Kindle reading app and become part of customers’ permanent libraries.”
Since they are part of our “permanent libraries”, I assume we own the license, as we would with other Kindle store books.
November 29, 2013 at 4:57 am
Thanks. Guess we can add this to the list of things Amazon could have explained better. In fact, it was your post about some of their other not so clear explanations that got me thinking about this issue. One of the things I’m thankful for today is this blog. Thank you for maintaining it so splendidly!
December 10, 2013 at 3:38 am |
Omg! thank you for the posts about the latest sale. Customer service came through but w/o your blog I would not know! Saved on kindle I bought as gifts!! BUFO you rock!
December 10, 2013 at 2:48 pm |
Thanks for writing, marge!
Great! I appreciate you letting me know. 🙂 You mentioned “rock”…now you can “roll” on to buying books with the money you got back. 😉
December 10, 2013 at 3:43 am |
3 of them btw.
December 10, 2013 at 11:28 pm |
I can’t seem to find the post where we were talking about drones, so somebody else who could find it has already commented on this CNN report:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/10/us/colorado-town-drone-ordinance/
It mentions “federal” drones, not commercial drones, so perhaps the Amazon drones would be safe. I’ve got to say with this snow that seems to be plaguing me, I’m wishing we had drones that could deliver pizza, assuming it could hover in front of the door with said pizza until it was delivered into my hungry little hands!
December 12, 2013 at 5:04 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Well, yes, they say Federal…but I suspect it would be pretty hard to tell from the ground in the few seconds you might have to make a decision. Besides, Federal property is our property…we taxpayers pay for it, right?
If they did drone delivery of pizza, it likely could get delivered into your hands. I suspect the wait and non-aerodynamic properties of a pizza in a box would make it difficult…
December 10, 2013 at 11:35 pm |
I’m having mega problems getting this to post. This is my third and last attempt:
This is a separate request, so I hope you don’t mind my taking up two slots. I know the purpose of this blog is all things Kindle and some things Amazon, but I was wondering if you would ever consider a post about WordPress and the pros and cons of using it to host your blog. I’ve considered starting a blog mainly just to give my online friends a place to gather. I like the way this blog looks on the surface, but I’m wondering how much hard work goes into making it look so clean and easy. I’ve located lots of Kindle books about how to use WordPress, but it’s hard to tell which ones are written by folks who really know what they’re talking about and which ones are written by folks who read a “how to make a gazillion bucks writing a Kindle book per day”! If you’ve already made such a post, I can’t find it. If you would think it might look like a shameless plug for WordPress and would rather not comment, I totally understand. Anyway, thanks for providing a place to ask questions!
December 12, 2013 at 5:06 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Since I’m just a user of WordPress, I wouldn’t have any conflict in saying good things about them. I’ll think about doing a post. I’d say one of them key things is that there is more than one flavor of WordPress. I use the free hosting, which limits some of my abilities: others pay for it. It generally works pretty well for me, just to sum it up for now.
December 30, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Bufo, love your writing! I was at Barnes and Noble a few days ago. Sitting in the corner in a chair with her significant other on the floor, was a female reading a book. Next to her was a two liter Mountain Dew, cups and a large bag of chips. She was sharing with her SO who was also reading a book. I know you use to manage a bookstore a while ago. Don’t you find this practice odd? I now there are Starbucks in Barns & Noble, but are they so hard up for business, its ok for free reading with drinks and chips? Do the pages get chip stains? They were eating Cheetos! It just looked strange to me.
Thank you for all you do. I was in a B & N in Newport News, Virginia by the way.
George Evans
December 30, 2013 at 11:31 pm
Thanks for writing, George!
Thanks for the kind words!
I do find it strange. I was in a B&N not too long ago, and someone was apparently just reading through unpurchased magazines at the cafe part. I’m guessing their loss from damage has gone up from the practice, but it’s possible that the additional business it has brought into the store (or that they’ve retained, when they wouldn’t have) makes up for it.
As a customer, I would never have read a whole article or a chapter in a store, unless I had bought the book. I know not everybody agrees with me on that. 🙂 If you were looking at a book to decide whether or not to buy it, that seemed legitimate to me. If you were actually getting value out of the content without paying for it, that seemed inappropriate.
B&N does let people read e-books in the store, or at least, that used to be their policy. That makes more sense to me: no damage.
January 3, 2014 at 6:20 am |
Seen this?
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/amazon-pulls-book-giving-dangerous-advice-to-parents-of-gay-teens/discrimination/2014/01/02/81060#.UsZTfLSvelo
I’ve mixed feelings. The book is distasteful, but I’m no fan of censorship. Even when the person doing the censoring is well within their rights. Especially when there is even more vile hate literature available on Amazon (ie: George Lincoln Rockwell’s books being but one example).
January 3, 2014 at 2:57 pm |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
I hadn’t seen that one yet…thanks!
Well, as I’ve written before, if you think someone’s ideas are bad, spread them far and wide. Expose it, let people judge…don’t hide it. That only creates a mystique and an underground movement.
This one appears to be legal…according to the poll I did here:
I would guess that something like two thirds of my readers would say it should be carried by Amazon. The context here is a bit different, but I’d be surprised if most of my readers think the right thing is for Amazon to stop carrying a book because it is offensive…while they would recognize that it is Amazon’s right to carry (or not carry) what they want.
January 6, 2014 at 12:53 pm |
I love my Kindle Fire HDX 7″ but now we are a two-person household with 4 Kindles. I’ve decided to trade-in the first gen Kindle Fire and have printed the shipping label. It seems pretty straightforward but would you do anything to the Fire before shipping it? It doesn’t indicate you should deregister it and says it will be cleared of personal information. I thought I’d delete my documents, but would you do anything else? Thanks!
January 6, 2014 at 1:57 pm |
Thanks for writing, Helen!
If I was never going to see a Kindle again, and it wasn’t going to stay on my account for someone I knew, I would always reset it to factory defaults. That will wipe everything off it that you’ve done to it (except Kindle software updates). It is possible that my recent hack of my e-mail came from someone working on Kindle devices that were stolen during a burglary.
While unlikely, it’s possible your Kindle could be intercepted before it got to Amazon…no harm it wiping it clean first, just in case.
I think it’s under
Setting Gear – More – Device
January 10, 2014 at 12:59 am |
I know different types of Kindles show different types of information to those of us who use the Kindle to shop in the Kindle store. Today on my K3 [Keyboard] I noticed a new option. Under “Try a Sample” and “Add to wish list” there is now a link that says, “Enter a code.” I’m not sure what code it refers to. I’m assuming it’s for either a special offer code or a gift certificate code, but since I didn’t actually intend to purchase the book (I wanted a sample) I didn’t click it to see where it led. I did check a few other books to see if it was something specific to the book I was browsing, but I saw it on every page I checked.
January 10, 2014 at 3:01 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Fascinating! I hadn’t noticed it before you pointed it out, but I’m going to write about it now…big news, I think!
January 17, 2014 at 10:49 pm |
Since I didn’t shop at Target during the time of the security breech, I assumed I was safe. Today I got an e-mail saying that the hackers obtained my name, address, phone number, and e-mail address from their database. I couldn’t understand how they could have gotten my e-mail address since I never gave it to Target.
I did some online research on the letter because there were some inconsistencies in the headers. I discovered it had been sent out through a third party that handles marketing and mass mailings. In the comments section, others were wondering how Target got their e-mails. Somebody mentioned third parties, and then I remembered that last year I ordered something through Amazon that came from Target. I can only assume that’s how they got my e-mail and phone number. I had thought that Amazon didn’t share e-mail information with the original seller. I take great steps to keep my phone number private. I’m more concerned about that getting out than the other information which is available online anyway. I’m also not happy about the e-mail address since it’s the one I use only for orders and other business actions.[Not the one I use here.] Perhaps I’m wrong, but I can’t think of any other possible way Target could have my phone number and e-mail address. If Amazon did share that information with Target, that really makes me angry!
January 18, 2014 at 2:44 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
First, don’t click on anything in that e-mail (I think you probably know that). There are going to be a ton of scam e-mails out there, many of them just sent out at random.
Here’s the
Amazon.com Privacy Notice
If I were you, I’d go ahead and check with Amazon…they’ll tell you if what happened could have meant that Target was given your information.
It also may be relevant that it appears that the “hackers” may have gotten into several other retail chains. The news is suggesting that the code might implicate Russian organized crime, although I can also see why there would be strong motivations to have people think that, even if the link was tenuous.
January 18, 2014 at 10:04 pm
There were no links in the letter. Here’s a link to a discussion about that letter:
January 30, 2014 at 7:59 pm |
I got my Kindle Fire last year. I often used a link to check the Free App of the Day. This year, I reset My KF, which deleted the bookmarked link to the FAOTD. I’ve done searches to get that specific link, but I’m not finding it. All I’ve found is a bunch of free Amazon apps, none of which are “for the day,” and aren’t particularly interesting. Has Amazon discontinued this feature? If not, could you please provide a direct link? Thanks a lot. 🙂
January 30, 2014 at 11:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, MelQ!
I get the FAoTD every day. 🙂
I’ve had the link saved for quite some time, and it seems to be the same.
The one tricky thing is that it isn’t a separate feature: I just go directly to
Amazon Appstore for Android
Oh, I suppose the other possibility is that you are outside the USA?
January 31, 2014 at 2:31 am |
Thank you! That’s exactly the link I needed, the daily app offering, not several freebies. I live in the USA, and I didn’t find that link, even when I went directly to Amazon, so thanks again. Btw, I live in Washington State. Go Seahawks!
January 31, 2014 at 2:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, MelQ!
Great!
I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I think people tend to want the team that beat them to go all the way. That way, you can say, “It was just their year…nobody could have beaten them.” 😉
March 23, 2014 at 12:32 am |
Hi Bufo, Sorry there is probably a more direct way of reaching you. I remember back when the HDX first came out that you had a problem with the wireless continually disconnecting and that you had found a work around. I have been working with Amazon over numerous phone calls (including over an hour trying to get them info they needed regarding my particular wireless router from my isp…such as which radio channel and what access point and is the MAC filter on, etc.). The current Amazon position is that they are working on a software fix for the issue. I guess that each router is slightly different and many are different enough to not work well with the HDX. It could be next week or next year before the fix is found and sent out. In the meantime, could you tell me what you do to stay connected?
Thank you very much for any assistance you are able to provide,
Jessica
March 23, 2014 at 1:17 am |
Thanks for writing, Jessica!
Don’t apologize: this is my preferred way for people to contact me. 🙂
The short answer is…I don’t have it fixed. It seemed to get better after the last update, but I still toggle it on and off several times a day.
That takes under a minute, of course:
Swipe down from the top – Wireless – Airplane mode on – wait a few seconds – Airplane mode off
Still, it is irritating…and I’m looking forward to that fix. 😉
March 23, 2014 at 3:24 am |
Some users have reported fewer dropped connections using this method. Turn Airplane mode on and leave it on. Then manually turn Wifi on. Leave LBS (Location Based Services) turned off. While certainly not a fix, it may make the issue a little less painful to deal with. I solved my problem completely with the purchase of a new router.
March 23, 2014 at 1:43 pm |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
For me, I didn’t really notice turning just LBS off made a difference, but thanks for suggesting that for other people’s benefit.
This is a pretty new router, and I realize that might be part of the problem. This one came from my cable company, and was part of upgrading to faster internet. It has caused some problems with other devices as well, so it is worth noting that.
Edited for clarity
March 23, 2014 at 7:02 pm |
With my previous router which was four years old, both my HDX and my wife’s new IPad Air had the dropped connection issue. The replacement router corrected the issue for both devices. It seems from the number of posts that the Aaris router supplied by Comcast is the one most susceptible to dropping connections on the latest generation of devices.
March 23, 2014 at 7:38 pm |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
My new one is an Arris, as was the old one!
Which router did you get?
March 23, 2014 at 7:43 pm |
I got this one. Easy to setup and works great.
March 23, 2014 at 9:29 pm |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
You talked me into it. 🙂 I’ll give it a try…
March 24, 2014 at 12:01 am |
Uh oh, it better work!
March 24, 2014 at 1:32 am |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
We’ll find out. 🙂 If it doesn’t, I still will have learned something I can share…
March 24, 2014 at 2:56 am |
There’s also Amazon’s liberal return policy as well. Please share the results which I’m confident will be favorable.
March 24, 2014 at 12:52 pm |
Thanks for writing, Glenn!
Indeed: I’ll share. That’s part of the point of my trying it. 🙂
I would consider returning it, certainly, if it isn’t better than what I have now with the Arris…
March 25, 2014 at 11:08 pm |
Hi Bufo
I have been reading your blog forever and I need an expert. I have written to ask questions on the discussion page and sometimes that is helpful and sometimes they cut your head off. I have had Kindles since 2008 and have several on my account. Last week I mailed back a paperwhite (1st gen) to get the rebate thing and I ordered a new paperwhite for my husband. It has been a mess since then. The new one came without the newest update. We did that but it also came loaded with all of the books and collections as were set up on mine.
Two customer service reps could not explain why but showed me how to delete them. When I turned my paperwhite back on (the one we already had), all of the collections had been stripped from it, all the books had gone to the cloud and all of the word games I play had gone back to new status as if I had not played them.
My biggest issue though is that when I get through with a book and delete it from the collection (on the device), it moves to the cloud but stays greyed out. Is there anyway to remove it entirely?
Thanks
Karen in Seattle (wet and windy)
March 26, 2014 at 1:57 am |
Thanks for writing, Karen!
Love Seattle!
Please clarify this for me a little bit.
Before you mailed back the Paperwhite, you had two of them? So, a new one came, and one had been in the house the whole time?
If that’s right, it sounds like the one that had stayed in the house got deregistered from the account. The word games stayed on it through the process? If that’s the case, that’s what makes me think the device didn’t reset to factory defaults.
As to the books being greyed out…is that in the Collection?
If so, it isn’t on the device: the book is in the Cloud, and you’ve designated that book as being part of the Collection. That can often be a good thing. For example, I have a TBR (To Be Read) Collection for me. The books in that Collection aren’t all downloaded to one of our Paperwhites (most of them aren’t downloaded anywhere…they are just in the Cloud). They appear in the TBR Collection on that Paperwhite…but the ones in the Cloud are greyed out. That way, when I do want to download one to read, I can just go to that Collection.
If you’d rather they didn’t appear in that Collection on any device, you can remove the book from the Collection. Long press (hold your finger or stylus on it for about a second) the book within the Collection, and choose “Add to Collection” (even though you are going to remove it.
Alternatively, long press the Collection before it is open (showing you the items) and you can “Add/Remove Items” from it.
Some people would like the added functionality of being able to view the Collection with just that are on that particular device showing on it…that’s not available now.
March 26, 2014 at 2:28 am |
Thanks for answering and figuring out this mess for me. Yes, we had 2 paperwhites, one first generation and one second generation. The first generation is on its way to Kentucky and I deregistered it. The one that stayed here was not deregistered by me but I have no idea what the two customer service reps did in the almost 1 hour they had me on the phone!
Thanks for helping me remove the books. It made me crazy today!
March 29, 2014 at 3:58 am |
How do I change the default Kindle for One Click downloads. Somehow, it got switched to my Kindle DX as the default. I rarely turn on wireless on the DX because the operating system is so old that some books won’t even work on it. I try to remember to change the Kindle destination when I order online, so then I have to download it from the archive. I’ve looked in the one click settings page but can’t seem to find a place to change it back to my primary K3.
March 29, 2014 at 1:32 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
The reason you can’t find a place to set a primary delivery device is…there isn’t a way to do that. 🙂
What determines where the book goes first (in addition to into your cloud) depends on where you are when you are shopping.
If you are shopping from a device (a Kindle in your case, or a Kindle app), the book will go to that device first. That’s using the Kindle shopping thing that is on that device/app.
If you are shopping from your computer or not in the app (using a browser), it will go to the first Kindle alphabetically (Kindle Fires count as Kindles here). The “deliver to” order in that case is: Kindles alphabetically, followed by apps alphabetically.
At least, that’s the way it has worked in the past…I’ll try to double-check.
Have you changed the name of a device recently? Did you deregister one? Are you shopping a different way? Those would be the main questions…
March 29, 2014 at 8:55 pm |
OK, that makes sense. I did change the name of the DX to something that begins with the letter A. I’ll change it to something that begins with a Z and see if that fixes the problem.Thanks!
April 13, 2014 at 1:31 am |
Hi, I was wondering if I can use (mirror) my Kindle Fire 7″ HD (1st gen) to the new Amazon Fire TV?? Hopefully over my wifi?? I haven’t bought either the Fire TV or the micro HDMI cable yet. Your reply could me make the right decisions. Thanks!! Jay
April 13, 2014 at 1:13 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jay!
With a first generation Kindle Fire HD, you connect it to a TV with an HDMI cable. It does not connect to the TV wirelessly.
Some people like the wired connection, but it does have its drawbacks. Some apps (like the Xfinity one) will detect an HDMI cable being inserted and prevent playback: they don’t prevent playback when mirrored. Mirroring a current gen Fire through the Fire TV is so easy, I find that’s also an advantage.
The Fire TV has an HDMI out, not an HDMI in: I don’t think you’ll be able to connect your 1st gen KFHD to your FTV…but you don’t need to do that to show it on your TV (with an HDMI cable). Many TVs have two HDMI in ports, so that could work for you.
April 23, 2014 at 6:42 am |
First, is there any way to get this page to sort by newest first? On my old desktop, which can no longer get online, I had an extended keyboard, so I just had to hit the “end” key to get to the leave a reply box. On my lap top, I had to swipe and swipe and swipe to get to the bottom.
Anyway, did you see the Amazon list of 100 Thrillers and Mysteries to read? http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=8994558011
Mysteries are one of my favorite genres, but I’ve only read a dozen on this list. I’ve read other books by quite a few of the authors listed and would have chosen different books from several of them as representative. I’m surprised that Kathy Reichs, Marcia Muller, and Sara Paretsky were left off the list. I love the Dresden file series, but I would have labeled it as sci-fi rather than mystery. I was glad to see John D. MacDonald, but would have chosen one of his Travis McGee series. For James Lee Burke, I would have chosen “In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.”
April 23, 2014 at 1:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I don’t know of any way to sort it, but often, CTRL+F (on a Windows computer will let you find text on a page). So, you could first search for “Comments”, then on that page, search for “Leave a reply”.
I have seen that the list exists, but haven’t had a chance to go through it.
Something can be both sci-fi and a mystery, in my opinion. I don’t think literature is that siloed, at least for me.
April 24, 2014 at 3:43 am |
I have a Mac. My brain just doesn’t wrap itself around Windoze;) I did finally discover that command+the down arrow will take me to the bottom of a page and command+the up arrow will take me to the top. Maybe I’ll eventually figure out this MacBook Pro!
April 27, 2014 at 5:39 pm |
Hi Bufo,
I love your blog! I finally got a Kindle to replace my old Nook, I’ve been loving it so far. But since I had already accumulated a large collection of ePub books, I needed to convert them to Kindle format. Lo and behold, one of my friends showed me a website called http://www.sendepubtokindle.com
That site takes care of converting the ePub AND delivering to the Kindle in one step, and has made it very easy for me to send all of my ePubs to my kindle. Anyway, I figured it could be a helpful resource to some of your other readers who might have a few ePubs but haven’t been able to load them on their Kindle 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Jackie
April 27, 2014 at 6:11 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jackie!
Thanks for the kind words!
I appreciate the heads up. I’m following up with that site, but let me ask you as well: did this work with EPUBs you purchased commercially from Barnes & Noble? I’m trying to get a handle on what it does with books with DRM (Digital Rights Management).
April 28, 2014 at 3:44 am |
I’ve noticed that Kindle book prices seem to have escalated recently. Any comments?
April 28, 2014 at 2:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, Johanna!
I’ll reply more later, but for now, I’ll direct you to a post where I showed that that is indeed the case, at least this year on New York Times bestseller hardback fiction equivalents:
April 29, 2014 at 12:50 am |
Hey Bufo,
I received this invite from Amazon to look at Woot. Have you looked at this? Comments?
April 29, 2014 at 1:37 am |
Thanks for writing, George!
woot is owned by Amazon, so that wouldn’t surprise me. Did they want you to look at anything in particular?
April 29, 2014 at 2:06 pm |
George, FYI I received an e-mail that appeared to be from Amazon inviting me to join Woot awhile back. I was unsure if it was legit or not, so I forwarded it to Amazon. They wrote back to tell me it was NOT legit. You might want to check this out before you input your password.
April 29, 2014 at 1:46 am |
No just to take a look at their site. I had never heard of it until I received the email. Don’t think you had written about it right?
April 29, 2014 at 1:41 pm |
Thanks for writing, George!
I have written about woot from time to time: here’s the post where I mentioned Amazon buying it (back in 2010):
May 5, 2014 at 11:54 pm |
I ordered a paper book the other day and was surprised to learn that the settlement funds were used to pay for it. I had assumed it would apply only to Kindle books. I don’t know why I assumed that.
May 6, 2014 at 1:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I can understand why that would be the instinct, since the settlement was over e-book pricing, not p-book (paperbook) pricing. However, they did say it in the e-mail:
“We will automatically apply your available credit to your next purchase of a Kindle book or print book sold by Amazon.com, regardless of publisher. ”
I suppose it could have applied to audiobooks too, but I don’t believe it does.
May 9, 2014 at 2:15 pm |
I know you enjoy articles that mention Amazon. Even though it’s only mentioned in passing, I thought you might find this one interesting:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140508133157.htm
May 10, 2014 at 1:47 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Certainly, it’s an interesting article…thanks! Personally, I’d say my reactions don’t match the research (just at a first skim). I always appreciate it when an Amazon package arrives earlier than promised…and I do notice. 🙂
May 23, 2014 at 2:43 pm |
I assume you’ve already seen this, but just in case:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/amazon-escalates-its-battle-against-hachette/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
May 30, 2014 at 2:02 pm |
Just got update 13.3.2.3.1_user_323001620
May 30, 2014 at 4:24 pm |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
Interesting! Mine is at 13.3.2.2, so yours is one ahead. I just checked…didn’t indicate there was one available. Mine is a 7″.
May 30, 2014 at 2:12 pm |
Probably should have added that’s for a HDX. No clue what is new or different.
May 31, 2014 at 12:30 pm |
Wish these updates came with release notes, because I haven’t noticed anything new or different.
June 6, 2014 at 3:58 am |
How do i permanently remove a book from my Kindle app that i have onmy Galaxy Samsung tablet? When i ask it to remove a book from my device, it just puts it in archive. I need to remove books i have read from my device to hopefully speed up my tablet, which seems bogged down a lot
June 6, 2014 at 1:03 pm |
Thanks for writing, cindy!
The books in your archive on not on your Galaxy: they are being stored for you on Amazon’s servers, and are therefore not slowing down you device. Unfortunately, that means something else may be. Have you tried Clean Master?
June 11, 2014 at 2:47 am |
Saw the oddest Amazon ad about an hour ago. It was on the right hand side of the page on Facebook. Refresh the page and it’s gone….
But it featured “e-readers at Amazon” (did not say Kindles). It showed a number of devices fanned out like playing cards. Big to Small… Starting with an 8.9 Fire and working on down to a KOBO Mini …There was another Kobo near the middle of the spread.
Clicking on the add took you a page that featured only Kindles though. If I see it again I’ll take a screen print.
June 21, 2014 at 5:22 pm |
Did something go wrong with the digital library at Amazon? I’m unable to listen to preview clips, and when I tried to access my digital library, cloud player, I got a pop up that said, “We’re Sorry
We are unable to complete your action. Please try again later.” Makes me wonder if it’s a regional server problem or if all this “free” music crashed the system.
I sent feedback to Amazon about it. Hope it clears up soon. Meanwhile, back to my iTunes library.
June 21, 2014 at 6:40 pm |
It must have been temporary, because it’s working again.
June 21, 2014 at 10:41 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m glad it’s resolved! Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner…we were seeing Jersey Boys. 🙂
I just checked: my music library is fine (and yes, they have the original Broadway cast album of Jersey Boys…but no real Frankie Valli, I think).
June 22, 2014 at 12:31 am
Of course Amazon tech support emailed me telling me I needed to uninstall and reinstall something I’d never installed in the first place. I thought I was very clear in my explanation to them of what was wrong, but apparently not so much.
I still have the original 45’s of most of the 4 Seasons hits. Then I got the CD’s. Then I imported them to my iPod. The thing I’m finding about a lot of the available music through Prime is that I’ve already bought it in multiple platforms, though somehow I managed to miss the 8 track tape incarnations.
June 22, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I didn’t have an 8-track…but I did have a reel-to-reel. 🙂 I put together party music that lasted several hours on that.
July 16, 2014 at 10:00 am |
When using a Kindle to “shop in Kindle store,” I see that two of todays “Kindle Daily Deal” books are listed as “kindleunlimited.” Underneath is a link saying “Subscribers read for free.” If you click that link, it leads to the kindleunlimited page offering a 30 day free trial .”Unlimited reading, unlimited listening, any device, $9.99″ a month.” It offers over 600,000 books. So far, I can’t find a link to it in the online Amazon store.
July 16, 2014 at 12:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m investigating this right now…and it may be that it’s only being seen by some people.
Which titles? What kind of Kindle were you using?
July 16, 2014 at 2:23 pm |
I was using my K3. One of the books that had the kindleunlimited link was Gone South. I don’t remember the other one. When I went back to check after the Kindle recharged, the links were gone.
July 23, 2014 at 4:48 pm |
Two things;
In reference to the Hachette/Amazon negotiations, Bob Mayer sums up the simple position I have had all along, that Amazon doesn’t HAVE to sell Hachette books. Hachette, though, needs Amazon to sell their books:
http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/
“Now we have Kindle Unlimited and how writers are being divided into classes? Duh. Always been. Simple answer if one doesn’t like Unlimited. Pull books from Select. Just as the authors putting an ad in the NY Times should focus their energies on something they might actually be able to do: get their publishers to pull their books from Amazon. Does anyone else find it strange that they’re ‘fighting’ Amazon while still working with Amazon? That’s called collusion. Amazon’s a corporation that doesn’t owe them squat. There is no right to have Amazon grant a pre-order button (ask indies who have fought this battle for years) or even stock your book. The contract these trad authors signed was with their publisher not Amazon. Focus on the real deal you signed.”
As far as the latest PW2 update syncing latest read pages across all devices, I asked in the Kindle Help Forum and their answer is below. Basically if you have sync set to Off under Kindle settings on the Library and Devices web page, nothing changes. Whew! That would have driven my 82 yo vision impaired mother crazy.
“By Abigail R. – Forum Moderator on 22-Jul-2014 19:14 PDT
“Hi Ellen – If you’ve turned syncing off for your Kindle Paperwhite, we won’t change that setting. You shouldn’t see any changes if you’ve opted out.”
Reply | See this reply”
Hope this helps. I love following your blog on Feedly.
Ellen
July 23, 2014 at 5:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Ellen!
Thanks for the kind words!
Part of what is interesting is that Hachette might decreasingly need Amazon to sell their books. I wrote about that some time back:
If they can figure out other sales channels, the calculation changes. Amazon may not need Hachette books…but it helps. 😉
I can see one way that it would work is Hachette putting those ancillary works I mentioned (or being fine with their authors doing it independently) into KU, and then selling the main books directly from the publisher. Amazon gets exclusive content, Hachette gets discovery. However, Hachette would have to a lot more figuring out of direct sales before that will work. They might also find other channels.
Thanks for sharing the information on the update and syncing, too!
July 24, 2014 at 5:58 pm |
Here’s another thing I have noticed that no one else seems to have picked up on. If you look at the Kindle Forum thread “Discounted/ Price Dropped Kindle Ebooks III” thread there seem to be quite a few price drops on Hachette books over the past few weeks. I’m not sure what is driving that but it appears something is at least happening behind those closed doors. I’ll see if I can make a list of the Hachette drops for July to make my point. Before I do can you let me know if there is some shortcut or search term I should use before opening each link to see if a title is Hachette?
On a slightly off Hachette topic but on Amazon Search topic do you know of any way I can see if any Kindle titles on my WishList are available on KU without opening each one?
And Bufo – I agree with you comments about Hachette finding their own sales and distribution channels. However, that was posted over 3 years ago and a lot of folks may have forgotten your amazing foresight. Perhaps it may be time for an update of that post? And how hard it is to develop from scratch. It is not just about creating the hardware and software to sell books and ebooks. It is also about things like cataloging and warehousing and shipping and discovery and … many more things I can’t even think of now. If I were Hachette I would be looking at a company to acquire who does this sort of thing with a totally different product, like clothes or some other consumer commodity and make an acquisition and reuse (dont cha like that word) and iterate to what they need. What will stop Amazon will be the next disruptive model.
And Bufo – I feel honored that you would respond to a general reader – nontechie like me.
Cheers … Ellen
August 8, 2014 at 5:38 pm |
I believe in the adage that if you haven’t tried it, don’t knock it, and I realized I’ve sort of been knocking the KindleUnlimited program. So I decided to try the free month offered, and I have a few questions and a comment. First of all, how do you return a book you’ve borrowed? If you simply delete it from whichever devices to which you’ve downloaded it, does that count as a return? Is there somewhere on the Amazon home page where you can check to see which books you have borrowed? If you decide to write a review of a book you purchase Amazon places a “verified purchase” logo with the review. If you review a book you’ve borrowed, will you get a similar logo?
One thing I’ve always appreciated about Amazon is that if you go to the product page of a book you’ve already purchased, there will be a banner at the top of the page telling you that you’ve already purchased it and showing the date on which it was purchased. Unfortunately, there is no similar banner to tell you that you currently have this book on loan from Kindle Unlimited.
August 9, 2014 at 12:38 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I try to go a bit farther on that…even if I have tried it, I don’t knock it. 😉 Well, okay, I do have constructive criticism sometimes…
You can return a KU book either from your device or from
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
The latter is also where you can see which books you currently have borrowed…there is a category for Kindle Unlimited. Similar to the KOLL (Kindle Owners’ Lending Library), I don’t think there will be a record for ones you have borrowed and returned.
To return it from your device per Amazon:
Open the Kindle Store.
Access the Kindle Unlimited landing page:
Kindle eReaders: Select All Categories, and then select Kindle Unlimited.
Kindle Fire tablets: Select Kindle Unlimited.
Free Kindle reading apps: Select Kindle Unlimited.
Select My Kindle Unlimited Books, and then Return.
I don’t know the answer to the “verified purchase” question: my guess would be no, because I don’t think they’ll track which ones you’ve borrowed for you (doing so would cost more money…not much more, but some).
Nope, no indicator on the purchase page that you currently have it borrowed…that may also be a cost issue.
August 9, 2014 at 3:57 am |
Thanks! So many steps to do such a simple thing;)
August 29, 2014 at 4:07 pm |
Have you had any complaints about blogs not updating? Yours was the first to stop updating earlier in the week. I restarted my Kindle, twice, with no success, so I unsubscribed expecting to resubscribe in a day or two. Then one by one, my other 4 blog subscriptions stopped updating. When I checked in the Manage Your Devices area, there were no downloads pending, so I unsubscribed to all of them. I don’t know how long to wait before resubscribing because I’m not sure what the problem is. I’ve had problems with individual blogs in the past, but I’ve never had all of them stop updating before.
August 30, 2014 at 2:50 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I haven’t heard about anything widespread…I’ll ask around.
August 30, 2014 at 9:00 pm
The only blog I can’t read online is the New York Times blog. They charge a fee after so many articles. So I tried resubscribing to that one on a different Kindle thinking maybe the problem was with the Kindle itself. The Kindle I switched to is still a K3, but it has the most recent software upgrade. Usually when you resubscribe to a blog after you have unsubscribed, you don’t get a new 14 day free trial, but despite having previously subscribed to it for about 5 years, I got the free trial anyway. If that one continues to update, then I’ll try resubscribing to this blog on the newer K3 next.
August 31, 2014 at 1:53 am
What were the four that stopped delivering?
August 30, 2014 at 8:56 pm |
Lady, Amazon is looking into this for me, and they’d like to know what blogs aren’t updating for you. I won’t publish your response in the blog comments, unless you tell me otherwise.
I just checked my Paperwhite, and I did need to restart it…but it does have ILMK for today.
August 30, 2014 at 11:00 pm |
After I resubscribed to The New York Times Latest News and got the “free trial,” I noticed that the version that downloaded contained only headlines and a paragraph summary of the articles. Previously, the NY Times Latest News blog contained full articles. If it’s only going to be headlines, it’s not going to be worth the $1.99 a month! It was the last to stop downloading on August 28. It hasn’t updated since I resubscribed, and that’s a blog that previously updated frequently. The other blogs that stopped downloading were AP US News ,TV Guide Breaking News, and Amazon Daily. They all stopped updating on August 27. Your blog stopped updating a week or so ago. I don’t remember the exact date now. I was going to give it until September 1 and resubscribe, but then the others clogged up. The Kindle that stopped updating is running version 3.3(611680021). I know there’s an update, but as I’ve previously mentioned, I’m not going to update that Kindle because the update brought changes that make it harder for me to read.
August 31, 2014 at 2:38 pm |
It’s been almost 24 hours since I resubscribed to the NY Times Latest News, and it hasn’t updated yet.
September 1, 2014 at 7:11 pm |
It’s now been 48 hours since I resubscribed to the NY Times Latest News, and it has never sent an update after sending the initial sample. When I check under “pending deliveries,” there is nothing listed in the queue. I really don’t know what else to do.
September 2, 2014 at 8:15 pm |
I finally canceled the renewed subscription to the NY Times blog since it was obviously never going to update. I resubscribed to the Amazon Daily since it’s free, and it has been updating. I went to the Manage Your Subscriptions area on the Amazon website hoping to resubscribe to ILMK, but even though I could find it in the “inactive” subscriptions section, I could find no way to resubscribe from that page. I guess I’ll have to do it through the Kindle itself. I also noticed that all of my previous subscriptions said “no valid credit card”, but I know the card I used when subscribing to the 4 recently unsubsribed blogs was/is valid, so I can only wonder if they strip out the previous card data when you deactivate a subscription. I’m so confused.
September 3, 2014 at 2:18 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I haven’t been posting your comments about this, because I wanted to protect your blog subscription names (unless you tell me it is okay).
I would still like to get the names of the blogs, if you don’t mind, to share with Amazon: they want to look into it.
I would contact Kindle Support, if I was you…they can tell you the issue with the credit/debit card.
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
September 3, 2014 at 6:35 pm |
I gave you the names of all the blogs above, but perhaps they got lost in my flurry of posts. Here they are again in reverse order of loss of fresh downloads. I don’t mind if you mention the names of the blogs. Nothing I would expect to be delivered in a “plain brown wrapper.” 😉
New York Times -Latest News [Last update was 8-28-14 6:58 AM]
AP US News [last update was 8-27-14 11:46 AM]
TV Guide Breaking News [Last update 8-27-14 12:01 PM]
I Love My Kindle [This was the first one to stop updating it, but when it first failed to download new material, I deleted it thinking that might help jumpstart it back into the queue. I didn’t!]
Amazon Daily [currently restored to functionality.]
I checked recent reviews of New York Times-Latest news to see if anybody else was mentioning problems with downloads. I didn’t see any of those, but I did see a lot of complaints about the blog having inexplicably gone from full articles to headlines/brief summary with no prior notification for NY Times or Amazon that a change was coming. Apparently enough people complained that according to a review from yesterday it has once again been restored to its previous format. The date of the first complaints of change of format coincide with the date that it stopped downloading for me, so I’m wondering if somehow in the reformat process, it lost whatever tag tells the Kindle it’s ready for a fresh download? Of course, that wouldn’t explain why the “new, not necessarily improved” version failed to download again after I resubscribed on a different Kindle or why the other blogs stopped functioning properly. The NY Times-Latest news is the only one I can’t find online, so it’s the most frustrating loss. In fact, I’ve discovered that the TV Guide blog is actually better online because the pictures are in color. I won’t be resubscribing to that one. I’m on the fence about the AP-US News. It’s nice to have news download without having to turn on the computer and go online, but lately, the downloads have consisted of sometimes only one or two articles at a time. ILMK will be my next attempt to see if a blog I pay for will download. I probably read it online more often than I read the Kindle download, but your online blog is ad free, and I want to support it to help make sure it continues. It is probably the best bargain in the Kindle Store! I’ll shut up before you have to go buy a bigger hat;)
September 4, 2014 at 5:41 pm |
If Amazon wants to look into this, they might start by reading the most recent one star reviews for the blog. I should have started there. So far I’ve found no explanation for why the NY Times blog went off the grid, but at least I now know I wasn’t alone. I’m going to wait a week or so to make sure the fix stays fixed before resubscribing. I resubscribed to ILMK yesterday, and it has updated once, which matches the new article posted online. I’ve decided I can live without the TV Guide Breaking News and AP US News blogs.
September 10, 2014 at 4:46 pm |
I got a notice from Amazon today that there has been a settlement in the Apple case, but I’m not sure why. I never bought any books from Apple. I’m pasting in the text from the letter for you to see in case you haven’t gotten a copy yet. Please feel free to cut it out if you feel it might be a violation of fair use to show the show the whole thing.
I do like the idea that the Apple settlement seems to give folks the option to receive a check for the refund. I wish they would have done that in the other settlement. I donated my refund to the local library for their summer reading program, but I had to take the money out of my checking account. I eventually used it all up in purchases, but somehow it didn’t feel as if it had gone to the library.
“Dear Kindle Customer,
We previously emailed you about Settlements between several eBook publishers, State Attorneys General and private plaintiffs. On March 25, 2014, Amazon made credits from the proceeds of those publishers’ Settlements available to eligible customers. You can learn more about those publishers’ Settlements by clicking here.
The Attorneys General and private plaintiffs have now settled similar claims against Apple Inc. The court where those claims are pending has directed us to send the following legal notice to you to advise you of your rights in the Apple Settlement. If you have any questions about this notice, or your legal rights, please visit the E-book Lawsuits website or call the phone number listed at the end of this notice. Amazon’s customer service will not be able to answer questions about your legal rights in the Apple Settlement.
Thanks for being a Kindle customer.
==========================================================
Notice ID Number: [deleted]
Legal Notice
Benefits from E-books Settlement with Apple
Para una notificación en Español, llamar o visitar nuestro website.
Records indicate that you are eligible for a payment from a Settlement reached by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs with Apple Inc. (“Apple”). The Apple Settlement resolves Plaintiffs’ claims for money damages against Apple in antitrust lawsuits about the price of electronic books (“E-books”). Amazon has not been sued in these cases. It is providing this notice as a service to its customers.
What the Apple Settlement Provides
The Apple Settlement provides for three possible outcomes, depending on the decision of an appeal of the District Court’s July 10, 2013 finding that Apple violated the antitrust laws (“Liability Finding”). First, if the Court’s Liability Finding is upheld, Apple will pay $400 million to Eligible Consumers. Second, if the Liability Finding is sent back to the District Court for further consideration of whether Apple violated the antitrust laws, Apple will pay $50 million to Eligible Consumers. Third, if the Liability Finding is reversed, Apple will make no payments.
If Apple is required to pay Eligible Consumers under either of the first two options and if the Court approves the Apple Settlement, you will receive an automatic credit to your customer account. The credit can be used for the purchase of products or services sold by Amazon. The amount of your payment, if any, will be determined based on the qualifying E-book purchases identified by Amazon in your customer account.
How to Receive your Benefit
If Apple is required to make a payment to Eligible Consumers, you do not need to do anything to receive your credit unless you change your email address. (If you do change your email address, you should update your Amazon profile or visit http://www.EbookLawsuits.com and click on the “Update Your Contact Information” link.) Because you are pre-qualified, your credit will be applied to your account by Amazon automatically, and you will receive another email letting you know when it’s available. If you bought E-books from more than one retailer, you may receive other notices with different instructions on how to receive a payment.
If Apple is required to make a payment to Eligible Consumers, you also will have the option to receive a check instead of your credit. You can request a check by calling 1-866-686-9333, or going to the Apple Settlement website listed below, and clicking on the Check Request Option link on or before October 31, 2014. Be sure to reference the Settlement ID number found at the top of this email. Customers who received a check from the earlier E-books settlements do not have to re-submit a check request for the Apple Settlement. However, if your mailing address changes before you receive your check, please visit http://www.EbookLawsuits.com and click on the “Update Your Contact Information” link to update your mailing address.
Your Other Rights
You can choose to exclude yourself from the Apple Settlement and keep your right to sue Apple on your own. If you exclude yourself, you can’t receive any benefits from the Apple Settlement. Your written Exclusion Form must be postmarked by October 31, 2014.
If you don’t exclude yourself, you can submit objections about the Apple Settlement. Your written objections must be postmarked by October 31, 2014.
Please visit the Apple Settlement website below for detailed information on how to submit a valid Exclusion Form or objection.
The Court will hold a hearing on November 21, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. to consider whether to approve the Apple Settlement. You or your own lawyer may ask to appear and speak at the hearing. The hearing may be moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so please check the website below for additional information.
For more information:
Call 1-866-686-9333 or Visit http://www.EbookLawsuits.com
==========================================================
(c) 2014 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon.com, 410 Terry Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98109-5210.
Reference: [deleted]
September 11, 2014 at 1:17 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
We’ll just have to see how this plays out…I don’t feel like I’m owed money, but I think a settlement like this (if legit and if it holds up) is more about punishment than restitution. I think this e-mail may have mostly been sent out to tarnish Apple’s announcement…I don’t see anything here that was time sensitive in their mailing it.
As to posting it, my understanding is that the intended recipient of a letter has the right to publish a letter (or e-mail) unless the sender says that it is private or not okay to publish.
September 17, 2014 at 10:14 pm |
You’ve probably seen this, I’m guessing: http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/17/6323519/kindle-voyage-amazon-specifications-rumor? I’m so excited and hope it’s true…I’ve grown to accept the need to touch the screen on my Paperwhite but I really miss the physical page turn buttons from older models…this one, if it really is what it looks like, will be my favorite Kindle yet.
September 18, 2014 at 1:29 pm |
Thanks for writing, Melissa!
I appreciate the heads up! As we now know, it’s true. 🙂 That may have been one of the shortest rumor cycles on record…from rumor to reality in mere hours.
September 18, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Seriously. I read that article, thought to bring it to your attention about an hour later, and by the time I looked at it again after sharing it here, there was an update on it confirming the rumors (and within another few hours, I had mine on order). Excited!
October 13, 2014 at 10:23 pm |
Bufo can you show me to siate that will allow me to download and install a non amazon app. (intellicast weather). THANKS
October 14, 2014 at 2:29 am |
Thanks for writing, weshenson!
Before I do, I need to be clear: installing an app not from the Amazon Appstore is done at your own risk. Since Amazon won’t have vetted it to make sure it works and is safe for your device, there is no protection for you from them if something happens.
Whew! Am I in the clear, now? 😉
I’ve used 1Mobile, and they do have that app:
http://www.1mobile.com/intellicast-weather-753240.html
October 14, 2014 at 2:46 am
Thank you very much!
October 14, 2014 at 2:53 am |
Bufo, I followed the site and got the app downloaded and installed on my kindle fire hdx. however when i went to open it i got this message
“GOOGLE PLAY SERVICES
Google play services, which some of your applications rely on, is not supported by this device. please contact the manufacturer for assistance.”
any thoughts? Thank you
October 14, 2014 at 6:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, weshenson!
Google Play and Fires don’t work together…and I’ve heard explanations that blame each side (either that Google elects not to recognize the Fire, perhaps in part because of the forked Android or for competitive reasons, and that Amazon won’t go through Play again because of competitive reasons with their appstore).
If the app requires Google Play on an ongoing basis, it’s not going to work with your Fire…
October 25, 2014 at 8:31 pm |
My Fire HDX updated to verion 4.x of the OS this morning.
Look and feel is a little different. A lot more orange.
Already had the Office app and see nothing new there.
Weather is app is simple and nothing to brag about.
Contacts has been reworked and looks pretty good.
October 26, 2014 at 9:18 pm |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
Interesting! I’m still on 13.3.2.6…no update since September 23. Contacts have always been a weak point of the HDX for me, so I’ll be interested to see what they’ve done. They may also be getting you ready for the Family Library.
The official site is still on my current version:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates
so it looks like you’re riding the curl of the update wave. 😉
October 31, 2014 at 12:54 pm |
Bufo,
I;d like to remove the drm from my .azw books — have you a recommendation?
October 31, 2014 at 1:39 pm |
Thanks for writing, lpress!
If you are asking as an author, it depends on whether or not you published through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). If you did, there is a setting in your bookshelf (for each individual book) at
http://kdp.amazon.com/
If you were traditionally published, it is up to your publisher…your agent may be able to help there.
If you are asking as a reader, it would likely be illegal…so I don’t have a recommendation.
November 2, 2014 at 7:21 pm |
I realize that different Kindle devices see different Amazon Home pages, so this might not be happening on all Kindles, but on the Kindle Keyboard (K3) the direct link to Kindle Unlimited has been replaced by a link to Audible Audiobooks. I can no longer find a way to return borrowed books directly from my K3. I don’t know if this is a temporary design glitch of if Amazon has decided that KU is no longer worth promoting via that direct link. For me, it’s frustrating to have to use my computer to return borrowed books when I finish them.
November 3, 2014 at 1:44 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
It shows up on our PW2 on the home screen under Featured (not in the menu).
When I borrow a book (if I already have ten), it will ask me which one to return (suggesting the one we’ve had the longest first)…does that work for you? I realize you might not have ten out at a time, and still want to return one.
Can you get to it through the experimental browser?
November 3, 2014 at 7:54 pm |
The experimental browser on a K3 connecting through 3G is even slower than connecting a 15 year old computer through a dial up modem, and the print is smaller than my vision can handle, so that’s not an option. If borrowing 10 books will solve the problem, then I can easily do that. I’ve looked through all the other “hiding” spots from the K3, and KU isn’t anywhere. There’s no even a link to the listing of all the available KU books. I don’t know if this is just an oversight that will be fixed soon or a move away from KU. From time to time, the Kindle Daily Deals disappear from the Amazon Store page and then they return in a few days. I’ve registered a complaint about it with Amazon. They sent back instructions about how to return a Kindle Unlimited book that involve tapping, something you can’t do on a Kindle 3. They also say to click “see all categories” and select KU, except it isn’t there! Apparently tech support has no idea that the tech folks have made some major changes to the Amazon Store Page on the Kindle 3.
November 4, 2014 at 3:11 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’ll ask Amazon and see if I get any more relevant answer.
I would doubt it’s a move away from KU…my guess is that it’s been doing well for them, and it seems to be featured pretty prominently on the website.
November 4, 2014 at 4:00 am
Maybe it’s just another move away from the Kindle Keyboard. Unfortunately, each new Kindle model is designed to look more like a book. The more book like it becomes, the less readable it becomes. If I could read books, I wouldn’t need my Kindle. Oh well! Until the batteries fail!!!!
November 4, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I don’t think Amazon’s deliberately abandoning the model, but yes, there may be a move towards a more p-book (paperbook) like design. However, they do seem to be keeping most accessibility features (excepting audio as an accessibility feature, which it clearly is, on non-Fire devices). My guess is that the store is just evolving away from the K3, which is not being updated in parallel.
November 4, 2014 at 6:27 pm
The link is back today. I don’t know if they finally understood what I was trying to tell them and fixed it or what. Kindle Unlimited is back in the “all categories” section as well.
November 4, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Woo-hoo!
Glad to hear it. 🙂
November 4, 2014 at 10:10 pm
Two last comments, then I’ll shut up! I heard back from Amazon, and they are giving me a $15 credit if I purchase something fulfilled by Amazon. That was nice and totally unexpected.
I got to wondering if Kindle Unlimited had been added to the oldest Kindle operating systems, but unfortunately, my Kindle One battery is kaput. If they’re still available, that might take all or most of my credit. Then I checked my DX, and KU is linked in two places on the DX Amazon Store page. That page is not totally up to date, though. It still lists the Kindle Daily Post, but if you click the link, it takes you to an article from July 2013.
Thanks for letting me vent!
November 5, 2014 at 3:11 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
No problem…happy to be here for you! 🙂
Sounds like Amazon stepped up…good to see. Interesting about the outdated link!
November 20, 2014 at 11:52 pm |
I mentioned in a comment on one of your posts about trouble ordering from the Kindle Store from my K1 because the Kindle store can’t link the K1 with my account. I can’t remember where exactly I posted that, so I thought I’d give an update here. I restarted the K1 twice, but the Kindle store still won’t recognize it. I can’t even download a sample. I get a pop up telling me to register the Kindle, but when I check on both the Kindle and Manage Your Devices, the K1 is authorized and registered. I can still use the content manager to download items that are stored in the Amazon cloud. I tried to find an active Kindle 1 discussion in the Kindle Help Forum, but my search brought up mostly links to 1-Click instead of K1. I know you are a frequent flyer in the help forum, so if you happen to run across a discussion about this, I’d appreciate a link. I don’t know if Amazon is in the process of sunsetting the K1, or if it’s just a glitch. I mainly use the K1 as an archive, but I liked using it to download samples because I could make a note in the sample. I’m afraid if I try to unregister and then reregister, I’ll lose the connection to the SD card.
December 3, 2014 at 6:52 pm |
It hasn’t been an easy decision, but I’m going to let my Echo invitation expire. I’d rather buy a hundred dollars worth of books.
I’ll probably be first in line for the second generation when it comes, but right now Echo doesn’t bring enough to the table. Grocery lists are fine, but I’ll wait until I can dictate an email to it.
December 4, 2014 at 2:40 am |
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
That makes sense. I do think this generation of the machines will be able to do all that. I’ve been wondering if they might make something on the Fire Phone exclusive to the Echo…not sure that would be a good strategy, but it might sell more Fire Phones!
December 4, 2014 at 3:15 am
Agree. It’s essentially an audio terminal. The real work is done in the cloud. There won’t be a need to buy a new device just to get new features, that can all be done behind the scenes on Amazon’s side.
But I’m just as sure, for marketing reasons, that in a year or two we will see new hardware. Maybe even stereo. And new shapes besides the current black beer can. Cubes, something meant to fit on a bookcase, a picture frame and colors that aren’t black.
December 4, 2014 at 2:37 pm
Thanks for writing, jjhitt!
One big thing I could see them doing is giving a later version of the device more sensory capabilities. For example, it could be given a visual scanner and interpreter like Firefly. You could hold up the UPC (Universal Product Code) “zebra stripes” on a product, and it would identify it and know it from then on.
It could hypothetically be given a thermometer, barometer…facial recognition, gesture recognition.
All of that might feel like it could be moving it away from the verbal interaction, but I don’t think it would. If your Echo could facially recognize you when you walk in the room, like a Kinect, and then carry on a conversation with you, that would work. That gets you much more into HAL 9000 territory.
A later version could also have a rechargeable battery…I had somebody ask me yesterday if you could use it in the car…
December 9, 2014 at 9:15 pm |
I’m not sure where to put this, so I’ll put it here. If you think it belongs elsewhere, please feel free to move it for me.
My Voyage arrived yesterday. I haven’t decided yet whether I like it or not. I’m a creature of habit, so change is difficult. I’ve pretty much figured out how to do the simple stuff, but there’s stuff that I could do on my K3 that I can’t figure out how to do on the Voyage. Any help you could give would be appreciated.
1. On a K3, you an skip forward to the next chapter in a book by pressing the right side of the 5 way or skip back a chapter by pressing the left side of the 5 way. I can’t figure out how to do that on the Voyage.
2. Even though the instruction manual for the Voyage talks about landscape view, I can’t find out how to change to it. On my other Kindles, the option is in font controls, but not on the Voyage. It doesn’t automatically change just by turning it sideways. Any suggestions?
There are some major wonks that I hope will be fixed with an update soon. The biggest wonk is the brightness control. For reasons that defy logic, if you set it to auto brightness, it goes dark in a dark room and bright in a bright room when it needs to go bright in a dark room and dark in a bright room.
And I fear I’ve gotten one of the dreaded two toned screens that are resulting in a lot of one star ratings. I don’t get the blue and amber affect, but the top third of the screen is noticeably darker than the bottom part, and both parts are somewhat blotchy. There’s not a straight line of demarkaction. It only evens out if I slide the darkness control all the way to the bottom, which gives me the same gray as my K3. Even though that’s what I’m accustomed to, it seems to defeat the point of buying a Kindle that is supposed to “let there be light.”
The pressure bars to turn pages don’t work reliably. Sometimes they turn a page. Sometimes they turn several pages at once. Most of the time, they don’t do anything at all, so you have to tap the screen to turn the page which again, defeats the point of buying a Kindle that is supposed to have allow you to turn pages without having to tap. When you press them, the Kindle sort of vibrates and hums, which is just irritating. Even there’s an area in settings for page press control, changing the settings doesn’t seem to make any difference in the amount of pressure needed or the amount of “feedback” given.
As I’ve discussed before, I have visual difficulties that can’t be corrected with lenses due to ocular myasthenia. I had to quit reading paper books because I would get double vision after reading a standard sized chapter. The early Kindles had fonts that didn’t cause that problem. Unfortunately, the more they try to make a Kindle page look like a book page, the less readable it becomes for me. The font sizes on the Voyage appear to be the same as on the K3, but they are not. There are the same number of size icons, but they don’t display the same size as on the K3. My default font size on the K3 is the third choice from the right. On the Voyage, that choice is too small for me to see. I have to use the second from the right to get the size I need. Most of the serif fonts, which I prefer, are too thin even in the larger sizes, so I have to use one of the sans serif fonts.
Worst of all, it’s so small that it’s uncomfortable for arthritic hands to hold. I’ve had problems with “trigger finger” in my left thumb, and holding onto the tiny bottom space on the Voyage really puts stress on that thumb.
The space needed to tap an icon is too small. Even though I have average sized fingers ranging from ring size 3 to ring size 7, I have a really hard time tapping the exact spot to go to the cloud. Instead of getting to my archive, I’m more likely to open the first book on the Kindle list or refresh the home page.
I fear that Amazon is catering to the young folks who have the eyesight to read small print and the manual dexterity to comfortably hold small objects and tap small spaces with accuracy. For me, buttons and five way controllers give me more dexterity than taps and swipes.
And just a minor irritant, the user manual keeps using the world “whilst” instead of “while.” When I was going through the set up process, I accidentally tapped British English instead of American English and couldn’t go back to change it until I had completed the whole process. When I changed it to American English, it went through a restart, but I’m wondering if I got stuck with the British manual instead of the American one?
December 10, 2014 at 1:45 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
The blotchiness concerns me…that doesn’t sound normal, and Amazon will probably replace your unit if you ask at
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
If you tap towards the top of the page in the middle, you’ll bring up the toolbar. You can use Go To to go to any chapter you want. At the bottom of the screen (I’m assuming this is the same as on my Paperwhite), you’ll see another bar with an up chevron ^). Tap that, and you’ll get a browsing screen, wher eyou can go forwards or backwards in the book without actually going there…it lets you look ahead or back. It also has buttons which look like this || at the bottom (not up in the middle). Those will jump you by chapters.
You are adjusting the feedback setting? That’s the one that should affect that.
===
Tap the Menu icon, and then tap Settings.
Tap Reading Options, and then tap PagePress. Select your option in the menu that appears:
PagePress: Turn the PagePress controls On or Off.
Note: Even with PagePress turned off, you can still turn pages by tapping the left or right side of the screen, or swiping a finger across the screen to the left or to the right.
Feedback Settings: Set the level of feedback provided when a page turns to Low, Medium, or High. To turn off feedback, tap Off.
Tip: If your Kindle Voyage is in a cover, it’s recommended to set the feedback to High.
Pressure Settings: Set the amount of pressure required to turn a page to Low, Medium, or High.
===
After you set it, is there any kind of “okay”? If you go back into Settings, does it show it with the change you made? Have you tried restarting it? That sounds cliche, but might save your setting.
Try Settings and Device Options to change your Language and Dictionaries.
I’m looking at this on our PW2…you are making me wish I’d bought a Voyage, so I could check this for sure for you! 🙂
I don’t think it’s so much catering to younger people, as trying to make things smaller and lighter.
Oh, and on the brightness…that’s interesting! That is the way it is supposed to work: brighter in a bright room, darker in a dark room. You don’t need more light to see what’s on the page in a dark room: your eyes adjust to the dark, so you need less light. The nightstand mode for the clock on the Fire is red letters and barely on…with my superior night vision (perhaps related to my color vision deficiency), I love it! 🙂 When my Significant Other first saw my bedroom, there were a few “oddities”. One was the piles of books on the floor (you literally had to jump to the bed from about three feet away)…I didn’t have a floor to ceiling library there. The nightstand lamp was only a 25 watt red bulb…I had to change that. 😉
If you don’t like the Voyage, I know you know you have that 30 day return policy. I like the PW2 a lot…you might consider that one.
December 10, 2014 at 2:39 am |
OK, I found the ^. Thanks. I didn’t realize it was a hot spot. I just thought it was part of the divider. I also notice it tells me how many minutes it will take to finish a chapter. Does it keep track of how fast I read?
When I change the settings for feedback or pressure, I don’t get any sort of “OK”, but when I check back, whatever change I made has stuck. I finally turned the feedback off because even though I know a Kindle isn’t a physical book, I don’t want my e-book to hum and vibrate!
I chuckled when you said you wish you’d bought a Voyage because when I was going through the early stages of figuring this thing out, I was thinking, “I wish Bufo had written a book about how to use this thing!” Thinking back, I probably should have let it get to room temperature before I tried to use it. I’m the 5th from last stop on the mail route, and the poor thing had been sitting in a cold mail truck all day. No wonder it was so cranky! I’m thinking maybe I acted too hastily when I named it Kobayashi Maru, but for awhile there it seemed like a no win situation.
I’m holding out on asking for a replacement. There’s always a possibility that it’s a “break in” type of thing. Maybe if I use it for awhile it will smooth out. If it doesn’t and I decide I want to keep it, I’ll ask for a swap. I’m still really on the fence.
Now that I’m feeling more comfortable, I’m going to resubscribe to “I Love My Kindle” from Voyage and see how blogs work on it.
If I do keep it, I plan to give one of my K3’s to a friend. I want her to be able to read a few of my books before I transfer it over to her account. I’d like to lock out the Kindle store so she doesn’t accidentally buy books that will end up on my account instead of hers, but I want her to be able to download from the archive. I know I can use Parental Controls to do that, but the notice says when Parental Controls are enabled, you can’t deregister or reset to factory defaults. Does that apply to the device only? Can I still use “Manage Your Devices” to deregister from my computer it so that she can then register it to her account when the time comes?
Thanks for all your help.
December 10, 2014 at 2:24 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, contemporary Kindles track how quickly you read. I don’t find it to be terribly accurate…I have a tendency to leave the Kindle open to a page while I’m doing something. For example, I have it on the towel bar when I’m brushing my teeth and such, so it might sit open while I’m getting something ready. Still, I do use it sometimes. You can rotate between what it is showing you…time left in chapter, time left in book, location, pages (if available): try tapping that display.
You might find this short help page and video helpful:
Reading Basics (at AmazonSmile*)
I suspect I would also turn off the hepatic feedback: I do that with my SmartPhones, too. I don’t need it buzzing and vibrating in my hands. It reminds me of the Beatles in Help: “Is that you buzzin’?” 😉
You know, your display may have been affected by it being cold…it might be worth restarting it (hold in the power button until it shuts off and then restarts…usually about thirty seconds).
Thanks for resubscribing! I really appreciate that.
Yes, the deregister option is available from
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
when a device has Parental Controls turned on. MYK is supposed to be used by the “managers” of the account, so it is generally fully powered. 🙂
December 10, 2014 at 3:35 am |
OK, I discovered another major glitch. When in the Kindle store, pressing the bars doesn’t turn pages, and tapping just selects whichever item is on whichever spot you tap, so all I could see was the first page of any category. Maybe I need to check to see if there is a software update. Just because I got it yesterday doesn’t mean it came fully updated.
Also, bad news for Bloggers. Blogs aren’t listed anywhere on the Kindle Store home page, not even under “All Categories.” If you type “blogs” into the search box, it gives you a “blogs on Kindle” option. I could only see the first page which listed the top 6 blogs. The header says, “694 titles, sorted by relevance.” I know there are way more than 694 blogs, but if you can only see the first page of listings anyway, I suppose it doesn’t matter if there are 7 or 7 gazillion!
I finally got to the “I Love My Kindle” blog by typing the title into the search box, and I subscribed. Even though I’ve been a subscriber for a long time, it gave me the two week free trial. Usually when you resubscribe, it tells you you aren’t eligible for the free trial. Sorry about that. It downloaded quickly. Best of all, the text appears with left justification instead of full justification. I hope someday Amazon gives us back the ability to choose left justification for books.
December 10, 2014 at 2:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yow! Thanks for putting in the hard work to subscribe!
Amazon doesn’t seem to want to do much to promote the blogs. I suspect that in many cases, the blogs are a net loss for Amazon. It costs them something to maintain the listings and do the accounting, and I would guess there are many that never sell a single subscription. I am surprised you are having that trouble navigating within the store, though.
December 10, 2014 at 5:41 pm |
First of all, THANK YOU so much for helping me figure out how to use my Voyage. You have gone above and beyond, and your effort has not gone unnoticed. I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into helping not only me but all your readers to overcome difficulties with their Kindles.
I tried checking the Kindle Forum to see if others were having problems with the page bars in the Kindle Store, but there were 30 pages of posts and I couldn’t seem to refine my search to get exactly what I need. I did see several one star reviews on the product page that mention that their page turn bars don’t work in the Kindle store, either, but that the page swipe works. I’m thinking maybe I haven’t quite perfected the swipe motion. Maybe a touch pad swipe is different from a touch screen swipe. The instruction manual assumes everybody knows how to swipe already, so they don’t define exactly what you need to do. I’m having lunch with a friend who has a Kindle Fire. I’m going to have her try to swipe pages in the Kindle Store. If she can get it to work, then she can show me how to do it properly.
There is a system upgrade available for my Voyage. Mine came with 5.5.0 and the most recent on the Kindle update page is 5.6.1. Oddly enough, the Manage Your Devices page doesn’t show the Voyage as needing an update. I have to do it manually since I don’t have wi-fi.It’s been a long time since I’ve done a manual update, and I’ve never done one using my current Mac. On my old Mac, the download appeared on my desktop with a disk icon. This one appeared in my download folder as a file. The downloaded file has a .cpgz extension. When I clicked on the download, it expanded to a .bin. The instructions don’t say which file to drag onto the Kindle icon on my computer. I know you don’t use a Mac, but I’m asuming that file extensions are the same across platforms. Do you know which one I should use? [Hoping you aren’t sorry you told me to ask for help if I ran into problems, but I think I may have tossed my Voyage into the wheat field across the road by now without your help. I’d offer a big hug, but the Klingons might be watching.]
December 11, 2014 at 2:25 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
You would use the .bin file. The cpgz file is like a zip file, if you know those. Essentially, it takes a larger file and compresses it into a smaller one, to make the data traffic easier. Then, you expand it again into the type of file you want to use…in this case, the .bin.
I love that people ask for help, and I love giving it! That’s a big plus for me.
In terms of the hug…given the mechanics of the gesture, perhaps it would be “Clingons” who would be more interested. 😉
December 11, 2014 at 8:05 pm
Thanks again! I’ll let you know if the upgrade solves the remaining glitches. My friend showed me how to swipe on a touch screen, so I can now turn pages in the Kindle Storefront, but I still think the page turn buttons on the Kindle Voyage should work there! Apparently, I was using too light a touch. Heavy pressure on a touch pad creates a click. Light pressure on a touch screen creates a click. Who knew?
\\//_
December 12, 2014 at 2:50 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I think it’s because you aren’t “turning pages”, so it may need a different signal than the button sends.
I don’t think I addressed your question about the British dictionary (interestingly, I say “whilst”, and didn’t even realize that was British). Typically, if you change the interface language, it downloads the new dictionary. If that doesn’t happen, I think you can send it from
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
Where the dropdown says “Books”, change it to “Dictionaries & User Guides”.
December 12, 2014 at 3:25 am
I did the manual upgrade today, and with it came a new User Guide version 2.0. It uses “while” instead of “whilst.”
I think I finally figured out the reason why the page turn bars don’t work in the Kindle store. In the Voyage Kindle Store, lists keep going down the page the same way they do on a computer screen, so in addition to swiping right to left as if turning a page, you can also swipe bottom to top to keep going down the list. In the K3, DX and K1 Kindle Stores, the lists are on separate pages.
I also have a theory about why the top of the screen appears darker than the bottom. The way I hold my Voyage, the top is closer to the source of light while the bottom is farther away. When I turn the auto bright off, the page appears more uniform. Perhaps the automatic adjusters are too sensitive and are adjusting different areas of the screen to match the amount of light received. If that’s the case, the designers need to realize that some people aren’t bothered by two tone pages while others get eyestrain and headaches because their eyes can’t adjust.
December 13, 2014 at 3:27 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I always turn off the auto adjust for the brightness on my devices, because they always set the brightness too high for me. It would be nice if you could set it to be a certain brightness (just indicating it to hold it at the current level, and then let it adjust to conditions to keep it that way…sort of like a thermostat), but that doesn’t seem to be an option.
You may like it better with that feature turned off. 🙂
December 31, 2014 at 4:08 am |
Hi Bufo, I have been following your blog ever since I received my (first) kindle for Christmas a number of years ago. We are now a 10 kindle extended family spanning 3 generations and I’ve become the Family Librarian for 7 out of the 10, with a debt of thanks to your virtual mentorship in my kindle journeys.
I recently discovered the “Kindle Classroom Project ” which is bringing the joy of reading, and the benefit of the reading technology in the Kindle line to urban youth in the Bay Area. Seems like a great project and a new life for ‘unwanted’ kindles–though I shudder to think of them that way. (See http://iserotope.com/kindle-classroom-project/) I thought you might be interested to know about this effort if you didn’t already, and perhaps you might decide to share about it with your readers.
Thanks — for everything your blog covers!
Susan
December 31, 2014 at 2:53 pm |
Thanks for writing, Susan!
I’ll definitely look into that! If that’s the San Francisco Bay Area, that happens to be where I live. 🙂
December 31, 2014 at 11:50 pm |
Hello. Today I downloaded The Little Mermaid for my child. It has the “x-ray” feature, which is ruining the movie for her. Is there anyway to turn it off?
January 1, 2015 at 1:29 am |
Thanks for writing, Melinda!
You should just be able to tap the screen outside of the X-Ray box, and it will go away while you watch the movie (unless you tap the screen again).
What model Fire does she have?
January 3, 2015 at 12:30 am |
Thanks. It’s a Kindle Fire Generation 2. There must have been an update, because now all of her movies and songs are captioned. She doesn’t like either. She touches all over the screen, but only x-ray covers about 1/3 of the screen, which is annoying. I’m trying to teach her to touch just the black rim. (She’s developmentally disabled.)
January 3, 2015 at 3:22 am |
Thanks for writing, Melinda!
I’ve checked, and I’ll confirm, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to universally turn off X-Ray for Movies.
The way it should work, and I just tested it on my HDX, is you tap in the middle of the screen when the video is going to start, and that turns it off (unless you tap again). If you do launch an X-Ray card (by tapping on an X-Ray section), there is an x in your top right corner.
You can turn off the captioning. I’ll check on our guest Fire, but on my HDX you swipe down from the top to get to the Settings Bar, tap Settings, then tap Accessibility.
I’ll have a better chance tomorrow to check our Guest Fire.
January 10, 2015 at 2:33 am |
Hi Bufo, Just wanted you to know that Tuesday, January 6 was the last blog I received on my Voyage. I contacted Amazon today and they were “working” on it. Do you have any idea why I suddenly stopped receiving it? I’ve been really bummed out because your blog is the first thing I read before the NY Times. I’ve been reading on my computer, but it is just so inconvenient! Thanks!
January 10, 2015 at 2:46 am |
Thanks for writing, Norma!
Thanks for letting Amazon know! You are the second person today who has told me. I don’t know why it’s happening…Amazon glitched like this recently, and had it fixed pretty quickly.
I appreciate the kind words, and hopefully, it will be back to normal soon.
January 25, 2015 at 8:30 pm |
I ordered an Echo! Actually I have two Amazon accounts and got emails for both on the same day so I ordered two Echos. I have been reading about them and am looking forward to setting one up for my elderly mother. My mother can’t manage remote controls or EBRs. She becomes confused about the buttons and can’t push them consistently. But she can speak clearly.
I was hoping the Echo could control the TV. Everything I am reading right now implies that the Echo is controlled by an App (which I will handle for my mother) but that it only controls radio and music. Do you think it will ever learn to turn on a Fire TV and go to a certain channel, or to play a Prime video? That would be very handy for my mother, who cannot turn on the TV or play a movie because those activities require her to push buttons on a remote.
Can you send this request to Amazon R and D? I bet you are more able to get my request noticed than I would be.
Thanks a bunch for your great blog which I subscribe to on my Paperwhite.
Kerrin aka Avidreader aka CityLimitsRanch
January 25, 2015 at 9:59 pm |
Thanks for writing, Kerrin!
Congratulations on being able to order the Echoes! I’m curious, what’s your expected delivery date?
Yes, I expect the Echo to eventually be able to control at least the Fire TV…and I think it may happen before it is actually released (which may be some time off…I’m thinking maybe for the holiday season this year). Turning on the actual TV set would be more of a challenge (given the many makes out there), but interacting with the Fire TV (or Fire TV stick) to find a particular program? Yes, I expect that.
One solution might be to leave the TV on all the time. Modern TVs don’t take a whole lot of power, I think. The Fire TV shows “screensavers” for a bit, there it goes to a blank screen.
Have you looked into any other home automation options for her? I expect the Echo to eventually interact with some of those, but for now, there are some voice activated options.
I’m not able to send anything to Amazon Research and Development…I have no access to them. 🙂 When you get the Echo, you’ll be given a way to send feedback. My guess is that feedback from you in that manner would be just as effective as feedback from me. One of the reasons I think the roll-out is going slowly is that they are very carefully analyzing all the data…including feedback.
Thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate you subscribing! That makes a big difference to me.
February 8, 2015 at 4:27 pm |
Bufo, I’ve loved your blog, books, etc. for many years. I’ve learned so much from you and your readers. I cannot begin to thank you for all your hard work. But I now have a question for you about piracy. I got an unsolicited email from Author Meet Review and when clicking on the link saw that I was listed as amazon reviewer with all my contact info. No problem, I love reviewing new to me authors and have found some new favorite authors that way. But when I clicked on the Author Meet Reviewer link to the website to “choose books” I was aghast when it’s stated clearly “100,000 Stolen e-books” and stating it’s Amazon’s fault for not stopping it. I’ve not been on this site before (www.authormeetreviewer.com) and am thinking this is nothing but a site which “steals” e-books from the hard working authors. Have you heard of this site? Is it legit or is there someplace to report it? This is the first time I’ve seen or dealt with pirated e-books in all the years I’ve been reading them – since the first kindle. I do not know if this should be private or not – I leave that to you. It could be legit, but the statements are all wrong. Or my head cold is affecting my reading abilities 😛
Thanks for any info you can provide.
February 8, 2015 at 6:15 pm |
Thanks for writing, sherylpainter!
I wasn’t familiar with the site, but have now investigated it a bit, thanks to your e-mail.
This page states their position:
http://www.authormeetreviewer.com/Author-Victim.htm
I don’t think the site is offering those pirated books…they are complaining about piracy, and blaming Amazon for having insufficient DRM (Digital Rights Management).
They list books which are both sold on Amazon and available in unauthorized editions on Usenet.
I think it’s worth reading that page to follow the argument.
It’s presented in a way that I find tends to make things less persuasive for me, mentioning Jeff Bezos’ personal appearance, for example. However, it’s also not just an allegation with no research at all behind it, based on the post.
My feeling is that there isn’t an indication here that the site itself is involved in illegal activities.
Sorry to hear you have a cold!
February 8, 2015 at 6:21 pm |
Thank you so much for the clarification. You are such a blessing to all us readers!
February 8, 2015 at 8:41 pm |
Thanks for writing, sherylpainter!
Glad I could help…
April 4, 2015 at 11:24 pm |
I’ve changed Kindles. I subscribe to your blog, but it’s being delivered to my old Kindle. How can I get it sent to my new Kindle?
April 5, 2015 at 12:28 am |
Thanks for writing, Jane!
Thanks especially for being a subscriber! That truly is one of the thing which has enabled me to do this for more than five years. 🙂
Assuming the new Kindle is registered to the same account and is compatible (Amazon doesn’t allow Kindle store blog subscriptions to Fire tablets at this point), go to
http://www.amazon.com/myk
Then
Settings – Newsstand Subscription Settings – Manage Your Subscriptions
There should be a column for
Deliver future editions to…
You should be able to click an “Edit” link there in the ILMK row.
Thanks again!
May 9, 2015 at 5:56 pm |
OK, so the unresponsive script problem at Amazon isn’t getting fixed! I got so frustrated going through the Big Deal books today! I had no problem with the main page or the list pages, but as soon as I clicked on the individual book pages, I got the beachball spin followed by the unresponsive script box. Here’s today’s list of broken scripts. Please report it to Amazon for me since I don’t think they are understanding what I’m trying to tell them.
I am using a Mac with OS 10.7.5. When using Safari 6.1.6 (7537.78.2) Safari totally locks up so that I have to use a force quit to get out of it. When using Firefox 37.02 I get the unresponsive script popup.
Warning: Unresponsive script
A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue.
Script: http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…=2089861762&pf_rd_i=6180870011:1
Warning: Unresponsive script
A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue.
Script: http://www.amazon.com/Greek-Go…ie=UTF8&qid=1431191993&sr=1-67:1
Warning: Unresponsive script
A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue.
Script: http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-F…e=UTF8&qid=1431192263&sr=1-116:1
Warning: Unresponsive script
A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue.
Script: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Swal…e=UTF8&qid=1431192423&sr=1-132:1
Warning: Unresponsive script
A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue.
Script: http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Beac…ie=UTF8&qid=1431192800&sr=1-79:1
TIA for any help you can give.
May 11, 2015 at 10:50 pm |
I don’t know if it was your help or complaints from other Mac users or both, but I am once again able to view the individual product pages for Kindle books!
May 12, 2015 at 12:09 am
Well shoot! I celebrated too soon. The script has stopped responding again. I can only hope they’re still working on it!
May 12, 2015 at 1:11 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Drat! I was all excited when I saw your first comment.
I have submitted it to them, but haven’t gotten a response yet. I’ll keep you informed.
May 17, 2015 at 6:53 pm
This may be only temporary, but I turned off “Enable Java Script” on Safari, and I can now navigate Kindle book pages.
::::::::::Knocking wood::::::::
I can’t find where to disable it on Firefox, so I’m still getting the spinning beachball followed by the “script not responding” pop-up. It could just be a coincidence, or it could be that the script problem involves Java. I’ll keep you updated.
And those three phantom books are back again as Kindle Daily Deals. Yesterday, the Christmas 3 in 1 book appeared again. This is another one of the phantom books that appears at least once a month. When I clicked on the link in the KDD section of the Kindle Storefront, it took me to a version of the book that was no longer available. However, when I did a search on that book title, it took me to another link to the book that IS currently available.
However, that version of the book did not have the KDD special pricing either. I haven’t checked the Potash and other industrial books to see if they have alternate links to books that are available. [There are storms in the area, and my K3 can’t seem to find the Kindle Storefront right now.] I’ve seen it happen before with books that have been offered for free at one point or another. If you choose “book description” from the Kindle menu on some of those books, it takes you to a page that says the book is no longer available, but if you search on the title, you find a link to the version that is still available. I can only assume that they update the book when they do that and disable the pre-update version. Which also means you don’t get the “you purchased this book on …” notice to warn you that you already purchased the title. Oh, and when you alphabetize by author, those “no longer available” titles generally alphabetize by author’s first name instead of last name.
May 17, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yay! Hopefully, you found it…virtual fingers crossed. 😉
Here’s how to disable Java in Firefox:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-turn-off-java-applets
Basically, it’s Menu|Add-ons|Plug-ins.
I haven’t done anything with the phantom books question yet, although it is intriguing. 🙂
May 17, 2015 at 11:58 pm
So far, turning Javascript off is still working! Thanks for the info about how to turn it off in Firefox. Since disabling Java also disables local weather interactive radar and we’ve been having some rough weather, I might leave Java enabled on Firefox and disabled on Safari. I also need to check to see if I’m using an outdated version of Java.
The phantom books isn’t a big deal. I’m just one of those people who likes trying to figure out puzzles. None of the books are ones I’d ever want to purchase, but I just can’t figure out why they keep coming back on K3 and DX but not on Voyage. Since the software on those earlier Kindles hasn’t been updated in ages, it’s probably some sort of coding change that meant one thing in earlier versions and something else in later versions. For now, I’ll have to store it on the shelf next to the box containing Schrödinger’s cat whilst pondering chickens and eggs and irresistible forces and immovable objects.
May 18, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I let Amazon know about the Javascript possible fix…good work!
I understand enjoying puzzles. 🙂
Hm…you’ve prompted me to ask the Echo some of those classic questions:
“Alexa, which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
“Dinosaur eggs were around for ages before chickens.”
“Alexa, what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?”
“I wasn’t able to understand the question I heard.”
“Alexa, is Schrodinger’s cat dead or alive?”
“I wasn’t able to understand the question I heard.”
Well, one out of three isn’t… 😉
May 30, 2015 at 12:46 pm
So the real question should be “Which came first, the dinosaur or the egg?”
I heard on the news yesterday that Amazon is going to build a data computing center in my state, so as of Monday, Amazon will start collecting taxes for all Ohio sales. That’s a relief because it means I won’t have to keep track of it myself any more. Apparently I’m in the minority of those folks who pay the sales tax anyway. It’s been harder to keep track since Amazon started collecting taxes on some but not all my purchases.
June 3, 2015 at 2:57 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Well, eggs may precede dinosaurs considerably…they might be ten times older!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104005307.htm
I was very happy and relieved when Amazon began collecting sales tax in California (where I live)! It was always such a bear to figure out those taxes.
June 7, 2015 at 4:44 pm |
Is there a list somewhere containing the names of all books offered as Kindle Firsts, and if so, where can I find it? I remember most of them, but not all of them, and I’d like to make a collection on my “archive” Kindle containing just the Kindle firsts. TIA!
June 7, 2015 at 6:29 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m not aware of a list…but I’m pretty sure I’ve named them all in the blog. 🙂 Here is a search:
https://ilmk.wordpress.com/?s=%22Kindle+First%22
I do try to record things like that here…
June 7, 2015 at 8:14 pm
Give me a little while…you inspired me to compile a list. 🙂
I expect to have it together in the next hour or so.
Well, they announced it in September 2013, so I’m missing maybe the first year so far…but maybe this will help:
9/1/2014
Tunnel Vision by Aric Davis (mystery)
Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond (young adult fantasy)
Playing it Safe by Barbie Bohrman (romance)
The Moonlight Palace by Liz Rosenberg (historical fiction)
10/1/2014
The Fire Seekers by Richard Farr (Science-Fiction Thriller)
The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning, Samuel Willcocks (Historical Fiction)
The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter by Craig Lancaster (Fiction)
My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni (Mystery)
11/1/2014
Ticker by Lisa Mantchev (fantasy)
The End of Secrets by Ryan Quinn (espionage thriller)
The Unimaginable by Dina Silver (romantic adventure)
Shadow Boys (A Jon Cantrell Thriller) by Harry Hunsicker (crime thriller)
12/1/2014
Marked (Servants of Fate Book 1) by Sarah Fine (romantic fantasy)
The Last Passenger
by Manel Loureiro, Andrés Alfaro (suspense)
Fatal Puzzle (Zons Crime Book 1) by Catherine Shepherd, Julia Knobloch (thriller)
Guardians of the Night (A Gideon and Sirius Novel) by Alan Russell (mystery)
1/1/2015
Everything Burns by Vincent Zandri (thriller)
Flirting with Felicity by Gerri Russell (contemporary romance)
Heart Collector by Jacques Vandroux, Wendeline A. Hardenberg (mystery)
Miramont’s Ghost by Elizabeth Hall (historical fiction)
2/1/2015
The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble (fantasy)
The One That Got Away by Simon Wood (crime thriller)
The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley (mystery)
Wreckage by Emily Bleeker (contemporary fiction)
3/1/2015
Younger by Suzanne Munshower (thriller)
Helen of Sparta by Amalia Carosella (historical fiction)
It Had to Be Him by Tamra Baumann (romance)
The Gemini Effect by Chuck Grossart (science fiction thriller)
4/1/2015
Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1) by Melissa F. Olson (urban fantasy)
Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani (contemporary fiction)
The Altar Girl by Orest Stelmach (mystery)
This Thing Called Love (A Mirror Lake Novel) by Miranda Liasson (romance)
5/1/2015
(R)evolution (Phoenix Horizon Book 1) by PJ Manney (science fiction thriller)
Queen of the Trailer Park (Rosie Maldonne’s World Book 1)
by Alice Quinn, Alexandra Maldwyn-Davies (mystery)
Crow Hollow by Michael Wallace (historical fiction)
Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall (contemporary fiction)
6/1/2015
A Dark Lure by Loreth Anne White (psychological thriller)
Bum Rap by Paul Levine (legal thriller)
The Perfect Son by Barbara Claypole White (contemporary fiction)
Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle Book 1) by Rachel A. Marks (urban fantasy)
June 7, 2015 at 10:54 pm
Thank you! That’s going above and beyond.
June 18, 2015 at 3:48 pm |
The latest FireOS breaking Kindle HDX 3rd generation.
The global search and backs “buttons” no longer and the keyboard no longer works.
go into Settings and presses on the Keyboard option nothing happens. As if no keyboard exists.
June 19, 2015 at 3:03 am |
Thanks for writing, pea!
That’s the model I use, and I think I have the latest version which works fine for me. Which version do you have?
Home – Swipe down from the top – Settings – Device Options – System Updates
We’re on 4.5.4.
If you have that one, try restarting the device…hold the power button until it turns off. Then start it again.
If that still doesn’t fix it, contact Kindle Support:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
July 1, 2015 at 9:15 am |
While checking out the new monthly deals, I discovered that there are at least 4 books in the KOLL that are not also part of KU. I think they were all former Kindle Firsts. This gives those of us who are both Prime members and KU members the chance to get that 11th book to borrow this month. The titles I found were “A Dark Lure,” “Bum Rap,” “The Perfect Son,” and Darkness Brutal.”
July 2, 2015 at 12:59 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’d be surprised if any former Kindle First books (all published by Amazon imprints) are not in KU. They can’t be in KU until they are published. So, I checked Bum Rap today (July 1st), and it was part of KU. Looks like you also posted on July 1st, though…maybe it just took part of the day before the KU part showed up?
When I ran the numbers for today’s monthly Snapshot, there were a lot more books in KU than in the KOLL…although, of course, that doesn’t mean that KOLL book is in KU.
July 2, 2015 at 3:40 am
I was able to swap out “Guns, Germs and Steel,” a KOLL book that had been languishing on my K3 for a couple of months for “Darkness Brutal.” I see that it is now also listed as part of KU.
I’m a major league night own, so I know that it takes awhile for all the monthly deals to show up. Now I know that if I want to snag a KOLL book it may pay to check just after 3:00 AM on the first of the month.
July 2, 2015 at 1:04 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
“Night owl”, right?
Did you get to read GGS?
July 2, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Well, night owl or vampire. 🙂 I generally go to bed around 5:00 AM and sleep until noon or later.
I skimmed through GGS reading bits here and there. It was an interesting concept, but I got bored with too much detail. I wonder if the percentage read that Amazon uses to pay authors for KU also applies to KOLL? I hope I read enough for the author to be compensated. I would hate it if my non linear form of reading causes authors to lose out on payment. Would it be dishonest to set the Kindle to use text to speech to move through the passages I skip just so authors can receive full payment?
July 5, 2015 at 12:40 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I like detail. 😉
The “pay per page” does also apply to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL):
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A156OS90J7RDN
Under the new system, you will have read enough for the author to be compensated, as I understand it, if you read enough for it to be measured as one page. 🙂
Are you planning to actually listen to the pages (which I’m sure would be totally honest), or just leave the book playing without you hearing it? I personally wouldn’t be comfortable with the latter.
July 5, 2015 at 2:51 am |
For example, some cookbooks contain cooking terms and instructions for the new cooks. I’ve been cooking since dinosaurs roamed the earth, so there’s no need for me to read those pages, but the author shouldn’t be punished because I already know how to cook. I don’t like fish, so I skip the fish section of cookbooks. If I see ingredients in a recipe that I don’t like, I’ll skip to the next recipe. Again, the author shouldn’t be punished because I don’t like pasta or green beans. Should I have to read every recipe in the book for the author to get paid? If I find at least one recipe in a cookbook I consider it a successful borrow, but Amazon would tell the author, “Sorry, Charlie.” The same goes for reference books. I might borrow a book on home repairs just to find out how to replace a shower head. The author shouldn’t be punished because I don’t need to replace the whole bathtub. I’ve read quite a few non fiction books where as much as 25% of the end pages were footnotes and bibliographies. I don’t generally read those. Will the authors be punished for backing up their writing with research and references?
In fiction, I have no interest in reading long detailed love scenes, so I quickly skip through those pages. Other readers might complain if there were no love scenes in an urban fantasy. What’s an author to do? I really think this whole by the page approach is unfair to the authors, and I’m going to find it hard to continue to benefit from something that is not fully benefiting the authors. I also think it’s unnecessarily intrusively to the consumer. I don’t like being tracked by which parts of the books I read and which parts I skip and which parts I read quickly and which parts I pay closer attention to. I can read extremely fast, I just generally prefer to read at a more leisurely pace. [When I use text to speech to turn pages for me when my hands are tired, I generally have to wait for a page turn even at the fastest speed.] I don’t know if the algorithms take into account that most readers adjust reading speed according to level of difficulty, as well as lack of interest in particular passages.
July 5, 2015 at 5:58 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Well, I’d say it seems like the opposite to me. 🙂
I’m going to simplify this example for the purposes of demonstration.
There is a cookbook with 100 recipes, and each one is one page long.
You like and read three of the recipes.
Under the ten percent system (the old system) that author/publisher gets paid zero.
Under the pay per page system (the new system), let’s say they get three cents a page…so they get nine cents.
Under the typical system, you would pay $2.99 (let’s say) when you buy the book. Either you paid for 90% of the book you didn’t use, or you would return it (not being satisfied with the selection of recipes), you get a refund, and the author/publisher gets nothing.
As to fiction…again, there’d be the risk for the author/publisher that someone would read part of a book, hit a part they didn’t like, and return the whole thing for a refund.
Paying by the page read is different, but it doesn’t seem unfair to me.
As to the tracking…I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t increase the amount of tracking. 🙂
To the speed: anything which is long enough that, according to the algorithm, was long enough to “parse” the page counts. I suspect that will cover that range of slower and faster reading.
July 5, 2015 at 7:56 pm
I also wonder if they take into account the “free sample” pages. I frequently download the sample before buying the book. Once I make a purchase, I find the location number of where I left off in the sample and go directly to that location in the book download. Does the algorithm give the author credit for my having read the material from two different sources?
I’m seriously considering dropping KU as soon as I finish reading the books I currently have on loan. Pay per page is a concept that I don’t like.
July 5, 2015 at 8:36 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Payment starts from the “start point” of the book, usually Chapter 1. I don’t know about the sample pages…interesting question. I would think they count…Amazon likely knows how much you read of that sample.
I’m interested that your reaction to the payment method is that strong. I’m sure there will be some fine tuning of it over time, just like there is with any contract, but it seems like a logical concept to me. I may need to explore this more deeply in a post to get a better idea of how other people feel about it, and to look at the issue more deeply.
July 7, 2015 at 2:52 am |
I don’t know if you have seen this article yet but I thought it was something you might find relevant regarding the future of the nook. http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/new-barnes-and-noble-ceo-will-kill-nook
July 23, 2015 at 7:23 pm |
I got this notice from Amazon today. “Good news! You are entitled to an additional credit of $14.64 for some of your past Kindle book purchases. The credit results from legal settlements reached with publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin in antitrust lawsuits filed by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of eBooks. This credit is in addition to the credit that you received from these settlements in March 2014.” I’m wondering where the extra bucks came from. I donated my last amount to the library. Since this amount is smaller, I’m being selfish and using it to get a new release by a favorite author that is above my usual price limit.
July 25, 2015 at 1:57 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I appreciate that heads-up! I haven’t had a chance to write about it yet…it’s been very busy! My Significant Other is out of town, work has been particularly long days, and I’m taking the dogs to “doggie daycare” since we have workers in the house! We haven’t had a working stove in many years, and we refinanced the house to do some repairs and such.
We did get an additional credit, too…$7.32.
Since that’s exactly half of yours, I’m guessing that is a multiplier..or maybe, it’s $3.66 or $1.83.
Here’s the page on it, in case anybody else wants to check what they are getting:
Information for eBooks Antitrust Settlement
August 7, 2015 at 2:23 am |
Hi Bufo, just bought a Kindle touch 2014 to replace my Kin 3 keyboard. I notice I could not “search” my items universally like searching in Kin3 Keyboard. Which means I could only search in the Title of my items but not in its contents.
I have to go into an item and do the search individually. Is this a drawback of the Kindle?
Could I search its universally?
thanks for your answer in advance.
Hien
August 7, 2015 at 3:53 pm |
Thanks for writing, Hien!
I believe it should search universally…that’s what I recall. Are you searching from the Homescreen, using the top bar?
The other big possibility is that your items haven’t indexed yet (they have to do that on each device). I only usually keep about ten Kindle store books on my devices, so it doesn’t take long to index. For most people, though, I recommend they leave it plugged in sleeping (not turned off) overnight once after downloading a bunch of books.
August 8, 2015 at 5:30 pm |
Hi Bufo, I just ran across something that might interest you (even though it doesn’t relate directly to Kindle. There’s an app (in Chrome and Android versions) that will add a text to speech function to your internet browser. I haven’t personally tried the app, but there’s info here: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/08/add-text-to-speech-function-to-your.html .
Thanks for all the useful information on your blog.
August 8, 2015 at 7:09 pm |
Thanks for writing, Kathy!
Sounds interesting…I appreciate the heads up, and I’ll check it out.
August 21, 2015 at 12:55 am |
Bufo, I thought that you might be interested in the following link which is a blog entry of the National Federation of the Blind. Apparently, the New York public school system is planning on delivering electronic books to its students via Kindles. The NFB claims that the content from some of this material presents some accessibility barriers for blind students and wants the school system to not go ahead with their plans. It’s an interesting situation. There is a lot to this issue, along with some unanswered questions which the blog entry doesn’t address. If you choose to pursue this and blog about it I’ll definitely weigh in with my comments as a blind user of electronic books. https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/we-must-stop-amazon-fail
August 21, 2015 at 4:32 am |
Thanks for writing, David!
I appreciate the link! I’m going to investigate the situation more.
My initial reaction is that when anyone writes with that much vituperation and apparent hyperbole, they are probably wrong. 🙂 That’s just my gut reaction, though.
The Kindle DX failed as a textbook device, partially because of challenges to them by the print challenged.
My first question would be whether or not the Amazon plan would diminish the available of currently accessible versions. Kindle editions are more accessible than p-books (paperbooks) for many people with certain challenges, but it’s possible that they don’t access certain features as well as p-books with certain accessibility technologies.
I’ll need to research more.
August 21, 2015 at 2:17 pm |
Bufo, I’m going to compose a brief response to the NFB’s stance on my blog within the next 24 hours. When I do, I’d be happy to share the link with you if it might be of any value.
August 22, 2015 at 3:05 am |
Thanks for writing, David!
Sure, I’d love to get your link…thanks!
August 30, 2015 at 10:56 pm |
Bufo,
I want to give my mom a Kindle a for her birthday. Problem, they live in an area of rural North Carolina and only have dial up. I have loaned her my Kindle from time to time and it constantly wants her to connect to a WiFi and confuses her. I normally download a bunch of books from my home and take her a preloaded Kindle.
Any suggestions on how to stop the device from trying to connect all the time?I did buy her a Kindle, 6″ Glare-Free Touchscreen Display,It was on sale and a great deal.
I love your blog! Thank you for all your work!
August 30, 2015 at 11:24 pm |
Thanks for writing, George!
Thanks also for the kind words!
Yes, you can put it into “airplane mode”. That turns off the wireless.
Home – Menu (horizontal lines) – Settings – Airplane Mode
August 30, 2015 at 11:41 pm |
Bufo, forgive me for jumping in here, but I’m wondering if George is complaining about the same problem that bugs me. George, does the Kindle have both 3G and wi-fi, and does this happen when your mother is trying to connect through 3G? If so, I have the same problem. Whenever it can’t connect through 3G for who knows what reason, it will try to connect to my neighbor’s wi-fi. I don’t have wi-fi, and I don’t want to use my neighbor’s wi-fi even though it is not password protected. In fact, I don’t want my K3 to connect to wi-fi ever because it will get an unwanted update. And yes, I have told my neighbors about this, but they keep a guest account open anyway. Unfortunately, I have never found a way to keep the 3G Kindle from trying to find a wi-fi signal when it can’t find the 3G signal. This is true for my older K3 and my newer Voyage.
August 31, 2015 at 1:10 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That’s a good suggestion…if that’s the issue, George, I don’t think you can stop a wi-fi and 3G Kindle from trying to connect to wi-fi when it can connect to 3G. It’s either both off or both on. However, if you get a wi-fi only Kindle for her, then you can just keep it in Airplane Mode if you don’t want it to connect at all.
September 21, 2015 at 3:12 pm |
Will you be doing a comparison of the new kindle fires with the HDX?
I’m wondering if an upgrade is warranted.
September 22, 2015 at 12:52 am |
Thanks for writing, Kathy!
That’s the plan. 🙂
I have an HDX, and really like it. I’m looking forward to the software upgrade, which I do think we’ll get. Do you know which generation of HDX you have?
4th generation (September 2014): versions of the Fire HD, Fire HDX, and a kids’ version
3rd generation (September 2013): introduces HDX, new HDs
September 22, 2015 at 1:11 am |
I have the 3rd generation HDX.
September 24, 2015 at 3:11 am |
Thanks for writing, Kathy!
You are on the same software version (4.5.5.) as the 4th gen (current) models…my guess is that you’ll get the update, although I don’t know for sure.
November 6, 2015 at 8:27 am |
I’ve noticed a change in the way comments are handled recently. In the past, if I posted a comment, I could still see what I had written along with a notice that my comment was awaiting moderation. Now, after I hit “post comment” my comment just disappears. Did you make this change, or is it something out of your control. The first time it happened, I thought my comment hadn’t posted at all. I almost double posted, but instead waited and then saw it after it had been approved.
November 6, 2015 at 1:29 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I haven’t made any changes…must be something WordPress did, if you haven’t changed anything else (like browser, for example). There was a WordPress update not too long ago, which changed how things look when I’m composing a post…might be related to that. You could give WordPress feedback…
November 7, 2015 at 6:51 am
I was using the same browser as always. Now I’m trying my other browser to see if it makes a difference.
November 7, 2015 at 6:52 am
Nope, I still don’t see my comment awaiting moderation.
November 18, 2015 at 8:48 pm |
I received the following from Amazon, but I’m not sure if it’s a legit offer or some 3rd world scammer trying to get me to store my stuff in their fake Amazon cloud. I checked the source code, and there were no red flags there. Have you heard of others receiving this sounds too good to be true offer? Why would the purchase of a $5.99 album lead to such a big bonus, or was it this purchase that tipped a scale? I buy more music than books lately. I had previously signed into my Amazon account, so which I clicked the link, I didn’t need to sign in again, which also seems to indicate it really came from Amazon:
“Your recent purchase of the “Appalachian Holiday…” comes with a 1 FREE year of Unlimited Everything cloud storage from Amazon Cloud Drive (a $59.99 value).
You can securely store unlimited files, auto-save photos to free up space on your phone, share large files like videos, and more.
To receive your free cloud storage, click the below link and log in with your Amazon account.
This offer is valid until December 31, 2015 in the US only and cannot be shared with anyone else. Your promotion will begin when you click Accept. If you have already purchased the Unlimited Everything plan, your free year of storage will begin at the end of your current subscription period. For all other paid plans, you will receive a pro-rated refund of your current plan and immediately start your free year of Unlimited Everything storage.
Thanks again for shopping at Amazon.”
November 19, 2015 at 3:51 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I would confirm it with Amazon…you can contact them through
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
and click or tap
Contact Us
My intuition is that it’s legitimate, but there is no harm in checking. That’s the kind of thing that can be quite “sticky”…in other words, once you have it, you aren’t likely to want to give it up.
November 19, 2015 at 9:36 pm
Thanks! I know what you mean. I expected to drop Prime and KU after the trial period. Still paying for both:)
November 21, 2015 at 3:56 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m curious…did Amazon confirm or deny the e-mail?
November 22, 2015 at 2:09 am
I forwarded it to one of their customer service e-mail addresses, but it must have been a no response address because I never got a response.
November 22, 2015 at 8:39 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Here’s the Amazon Help Page on sending them an e-mail like that:
Report a Phishing or Spoofed E-mail
(at AmazonSmile)
December 17, 2015 at 5:37 pm |
I thought you might find this story interesting, as it is about an attempt to give Kindles a full, open OS, so they could be used for anything: http://observer.com/2015/12/kindle-maps-hack/
December 19, 2015 at 3:54 am |
Thanks for writing, bradydaleobserver!
First, just so my readers are aware of it, you are linking to your own article…I would say it’s best to identify it that way in comments in the future. I don’t mind when people do that (as long as it isn’t simply advertising…I don’t consider yours that). My readers would, I think, prefer that people be up front about that.
With that out of the way :), it’s an interesting modification. There have been quite a few modifications of Kindles in the past…including animation, and early language hacks.
I think the suggestion that Amazon thinks we don’t own the devices is a bit…odd, though. Customers own their devices: they can do anything to it they want (as long as it is for themselves, of course). What they don’t own is Amazon’s services/store.
If someone chooses to change the software, Amazon can’t support the warranty on the device…that seems reasonable. If someone would rather hack their Kindle, and stop being an Amazon customer, I think that’s probably okay with Amazon. Again, that assumes that nothing is distributed. I know the Terms of Service at least used to have something where you agreed not to reverse engineer…I probably should have read the current ToS before I wrote this comment. 🙂
December 19, 2015 at 5:25 am |
First I want to thank you for being a proponent of TTS. I had a stroke during a surgery 2 years ago and lost a great deal of my vision. I have owned every Kindle except the first one and when I couldn’t read, my body went into withdrawal. I was shocked that I had a physical reaction to not being able to read. Luckily, my ophthalmologist gave me a suggestion of how I could retrain my eyes to track left to right so that I could read again. When I was in stroke rehab, I bought the Kindle DX because I thought the size would help, but I soon discovered that contrast was more important than size. The Paperwhite became my favorite reading device. Then I bought the Voyage and it was even better. I can’t read long on the Fire, but the Voyage is clear and the contrast is perfect. Now I qualify for Talking Books through the Library for the Blind so listening to books is nice too. I still can’t seem to get enough books. I guess because I read every day of my life for 60 years before losing my vision.
I’d also like to let you know how much Amazon’s Echo helps me. Just asking Alexa the time is very useful to me. Setting alarms for when I need to do things is very helpful since it is hard for me to tell if it’s day or night. I have a talking calculator but I rarely use it since it is so easy to ask Alexa to do the math for me. I don’t know if Amazon had visually impaired people in mind when they designed the Echo, but it is amazing how helpful it is. I’ve been reading your blog since the beginning I think, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the only thing I still read on my Paperwhite. I know I can change that, but I still like to use it. I’m sorry this is so long, but I wanted to thank you for being an advocate for those of us who need TTS. Feel free to share this if you think it would be of interest.
Thanks for all you do!
Dottie
December 20, 2015 at 1:55 pm |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
I really appreciate your kind words. TTS is an important issue to me, and it’s one of the things that makes me feel like I’m doing something good by doing this blog.
The Echo has been a great benefit for a relative of mine. The issue is different from your, but a voice interface makes many things (including home automation) accessible to many more people more easily.
I’m glad you’ve been able to keep reading!
December 21, 2015 at 2:27 am |
Dear Calvin,
First, thank you for your long standing service to readers of ebooks around the world. When I am having a hard time connecting to gratitude, thinking about your dedication almost always helps me get tuned in again. I really appreciate you.
Next, you may enjoy a brief blog post entitled, “readers at a big desk in bookstore” which features a giant desk that can accomodate 100 readers, located at Kyobo Book Center in Seoul S. Korea. Talk about a brick and morter bookstore that creates a very particular “experience” ! Find the piece, including photos and sketches of people at the giant desk, at http://www.urbansketchers.org. I am affilliated with neither this website nor the bookstore where the big desk is located.
Best regards,
Lannie
December 21, 2015 at 3:35 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lannie!
Thanks also for the kind words! 🙂
I loved that article! I can certainly see how I might have hung out at a place like that, some time ago. 🙂
January 17, 2016 at 5:12 am |
Bufo, I wanted to give you some news that I just read on Redmondpi. It reports that the Echo can now read Kindle books. This is something that I always wanted to see as a feature, not only for sighted but also for blind readers. This is just way too cool. http://www.redmondpie.com/amazon-echo-can-now-read-kindle-books-to-you/
January 17, 2016 at 2:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, David!
I always appreciate it when readers give me a heads-up.
I called this a “huge development for me” and also noted its value for those with print challenges.
You can read my take on it here:
February 2, 2016 at 11:20 pm |
Hi Bufo,
Looks like there’s a new Kindle update this month:
http://smile.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=13550053011&ref_=pe_2405760_166011780_deveng_ku16
February 3, 2016 at 1:56 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jay!
I always appreciate a heads-up! I plan to write about it this morning. Amazon sent me something yesterday, but I was interviewed for Len Edgerly’s Kindle Chronicles podcast yesterday, and that took up some time I would have otherwise spent writing. 🙂 There was a big rumor yesterday about Amazon opening hundreds of brick-and-mortars…I hope to write about that soon, too.
February 9, 2016 at 4:52 pm |
I just got notice from Amazon that if I don’t upgrade my two Kindle 3’s to the most recent software, I will no longer be able to access Kindle services from those Kindles. I did upgrade my first Kindle 3 to the most recent version, and that’s when text became unreadable on most books. That’s why I bought an additional Kindle 3 when a batch fell off the back of a turnip truck awhile ago and a few became available. The most recent upgrade causes huge gaps in lines of text on the font size that I use making it very difficult to read. The Voyage was the same way when I first got it. There were improvements with the 5.6.5 update, but I still find there are a few books with full justification that are just unreadable on the newer software.
I wrote to Amazon to explain why I do not wish to upgrade, but I don’t know if it will do any good. The changes go into effect in late March. Here is part of the text of the letter:
“If you do not update the devices’ software by March 22, 2016, you will no longer be able to access Kindle services or get the update via Wi-Fi or a wireless connection. To resume access, you will need to manually update the software on each of your Kindle devices. Please visit our Help page for more details on how to update automatically:”
I assume that means I will no longer receive blog downloads, will no longer be able to buy books directly from the Kindle store, will no longer be able to even visit the Kindle store, and will no longer be able to download from the cloud. I don’t know if I would still be able to download books to my computer and transfer them manually to the Kindle. I also don’t know what this means for my Kindle DX or K1.
I’m going to have to carefully go through the books in the cloud and download the ones to which I want to continue to have access. There are also some in the cloud that I haven’t read yet but intend to read eventually. I could try them one at a time on the Voyage and only download to storage the ones that aren’t readable on the Voyage. Considering that I have over 1000 books in the cloud that aren’t on any devices, that could take awhile. It would take less time if the cloud would tell me which devices books are already stored on, but it’s still a daunting undertaking, and it will really slow down the Kindles once they’re bloated up with books.
February 10, 2016 at 3:40 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yow! That’s really distressing to hear! I’m going to write to Amazon to try to get a statement from them.
Do you mind if I quote your comment in another post? I’ll give them a chance to get back to me first (and I guess I might get the same e-mail, in which case it won’t matter).
February 10, 2016 at 5:02 am
Feel free to quote. I’ve been e-mailing back and forth with Amazon most of the day, and they just don’t get it. They keep trying to tell me that if I would just call tech support, they would walk me through the steps to solve the problem. I’ve tried to tell them that I know how to download and upgrade, but if I do that, I’ll make two more of my Kindles unusable. I even sent them jpg files of scans I made of the same book at the same location point on the K3 with the older software and the K3 with the newest, to compare how ragged it looks.
I’m not sure the next person who contacted me in response to the scans has English as a first, second or third language. Ravi says: “I understand that due to new update many changes occurs and Kindle justifies text causing big gaps in the text at the font size so you do not want to update your device.
“Please be informed that our system automatically upgrade your device and it is better for your device because it fixed many bugs. Also please be informed that new update has many additional features which will make your device much better and you will be able to access your all eBooks and content after new update. ”
I’m tired of banging my head against a brick wall, so I’ve spent the evening testing out books one at a time to see which ones work well on Voyage and which ones don’t. For those that don’t, I’m downloading them to my two doomed Kindles.
February 11, 2016 at 1:08 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Sounds frustrating!
Well, I’m not saying that I’ll get any more action on it, but there are people at Amazon who read my blog, so it’s possible my recent post on it (inspired by your comment) may get noticed. I’d put additional comments there, if you have them…I don’t think they’ll see comments on the About page.
This is that post:
I don’t mind at all if you copy and paste from these comments to there.
You could also e-mail Jeff@amazon.com. That’s Jeff Bezos’ e-mail there…doesn’t mean the CEO will read it personally initially, but it is a different pathway to express concerns.
February 11, 2016 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
😦
I’m planning to write shortly about what happened with me…I updated one of our Paperwhites…and it broke it, and even with about an hour with Kindle Support, it’s just toast. It was out of warranty…
February 12, 2016 at 11:43 pm
I’m working on a e-mail to Bezos about how so many of those things that Amazon considers to be improvements are making the Kindle less accessible to folks with disabilities. It’s not just the fonts that are a problem. The touch screen is difficult to use if you have any sort of fine motor skill disfunction. I have a slight familial tremor in my hand, so I often miss the spot on the screen that I’m aiming for and end up doing something I hadn’t intended to do. When I’m tired, I don’t always have the strength to press hard enough to bring up the dialog box to let me do things like add books to collections. It’s also hard to drag the page up and down in the Kindle Storefront. The physical buttons on the K3 make navigation so much easier. Have you ever tried to bring up the top navigation bar when in a linked table of contents? It either opens the top link, or if you tap the far right corner, it bookmarks the page!
You can’t do it. You have to page forward and backward until you get to a page that isn’t full of links.
I don’t understand why the programmers are working so hard to make the Kindle more like a physical book. Books are old technology. They need to move beyond the book and aim for readability and usability!
February 10, 2016 at 9:55 am |
I keep thinking of all the things I’ll have to do if my Kindles do lose access to Amazon. I’ll have to make sure I’ve returned my Prime book or at least removed it from the affected device. I’ll have to change the destination on my preorders. I’ll need to change all my blog destinations. And eventually, I’ll lose the ability to sort by “most recent” because if you don’t turn wireless on from time to time, the Kindle will “forget” the date and time.
February 11, 2016 at 1:21 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Oh, there will be a lot of things!
I’m not sure you can change destination for pre-orders…I’ll try to check that. You’d still have the pre-order on your account, but would have to send it to the (now) appropriate device.
February 12, 2016 at 8:06 am
I couldn’t find a way to change the destination on my pre-orders, so I canceled them. One of the affected Kindles has “special offers.” I’m wondering if the final special offer screen saver will be a poster saying, “Resistance is futile. Upgrade or else.” So far, I’ve downloaded and checked out 150 books to my Voyage to see how they look on it. I’m finding that the percentage of books that have the ragged full page justification is fluctuating between 20% to 25% and there is no rhyme or reason to it. I follow several series of books. In the Hollows series, the first and last book of the series have full justification and the remaining ones all have left justification. Way back when I first started trying to bring this problem to the attention of the Amazon programmers, I was told that the publisher has the final say.
I wish I could find out if I will still have the option to download books to the older Kindle manually.
One bright side. I had been rereading all the Sharon McCone mysteries in the order written, but I got sidetracked because a few of the middle books weren’t available for Kindle. I checked today, and two of them were not only available, they were priced at $4.99. I was able to preorder a third one that will be available March 1, so I can archive it on the older Kindle if the print isn’t readable. That leaves only one book still not available for Kindle.
I know eventually the two older K3’s are going to no longer work. Either the battery will die, or the 5 way controller will break. The bottom edge that controls page down is getting very thin in the middle of my oldest Kindle where my thumbnail hits it. I hope by then text handling will be improved so that readers have better choices in font size and spacing. My first typewriter was manual. The second was electric. The third was electric with separate daisy wheels so I choose between Pica, Elite, and Italic. Then I had a word processor with a 16 character delay so you could correct errors before they printed out. Then I got a computer where I could not only change print size and font, I could move things around. Maybe the K1 was the manual typewriter, the K2 was the electric typewriter. The K3 was the daisy wheel. The Voyage was the word processor. Maybe the next Kindle will be the computer with seemingly unlimited choices.
Sorry. It’s 3:00 AM and I’m rambling. Thanks for putting up with my whining.
February 14, 2016 at 1:01 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Don’t worry…I was probably up at 3:00 AM (that’s after having slept).
I had a similar progression of devices.
I think one of the most interesting obsolete pieces of technology I actually used in a practical was was the cash register in the first store I worked. Not only was it one of those where you cranked it and the flags popped up, there was no slot in it for twenties…I assume they never figured you would get a bill that big. 😉 We put them under the drawer.
Tablets already have more options than EBRs (E-Book Readers), of course…although the Kindle app on my Kindle Fire HDX doesn’t have a justification setting.
February 14, 2016 at 7:44 am
I remember those cash registers! I think the most outdated equipment I ever used was when I taught a semester at a private “business college.” They had a hand crank mimeograph machine. After you cut the stencil, you had to squeeze out the gooey black ink onto the felt pad before you started cranking. This was at a time when most public schools at least had automatic mimeograph and “ditto” machines (aka purple passion) and most successful businesses had Xerox machines. It was embarassing teaching and office practice class how to use machines that they would most likely never use anywhere again. They also had the Dictaphones with the big, wide bands of recording tape. At least they had IBM Selectric typewriters for the typing class I taught.
February 15, 2016 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Oh, I remember pouring something into a tray hand-cranking to make copies!
As far as dictaphones, my experience with them came in handy. I was teaching a beginning computer class (way back when), and when I came into the room, one of the students had put the mouse on the floor. Fortunately, I knew exactly why: they thought it was like a dictaphone pedal. That pedal was cool, and practical. As I would be transcribing, I could use the pedal (with two buttons) to go back a few seconds if I missed something.
February 16, 2016 at 8:25 pm |
Did you see that Scribd has decided to change from an unlimited service to a 3 books/month + a pool of rotating “unlimited” books?
February 17, 2016 at 12:00 am |
Thanks for writing, Marjorie!
I had not seen that yet, but now I know what I am writing about tonight. 🙂
March 4, 2016 at 10:40 pm |
Hi Bufo Today the postman delivered a package from Amazon Fullifillment Cener which had been opened. There was a piece of pottery inside which I never ordered and obviously was supposed to be delivered to someone else. It doesn’t show up on my order page. I can’t find a contact phone number for Amazon and have seen that lately there have been several misplaced deliveries according to the general forum.
Can you help me?
March 5, 2016 at 1:07 pm |
Thanks for writing, Kathy!
Nice that you want to help!
Start here:
http://amzn.to/1oXITzw
Then do
Need more help?
and
Contact Us
.
April 24, 2016 at 8:07 pm |
You might find this interesting. It’s about people gaming the system to get money from Kindle Unlimited.
http://boingboing.net/2016/04/21/kindle-unlimited-is-being-floo.html
April 27, 2016 at 2:41 am |
Thanks for writing, Peter!
Amazon had indicated early on that it was more sophisticated than just “Did you reach x point?” My guess is that people are trying this…but that it isn’t working, that Amazon doesn’t give them that split of the pool, or at least doesn’t do it twice.
June 4, 2016 at 9:10 pm |
I have my Voyage set as the designated destination to send books I purchase from Amazon while I’m browsing online. Then, when I turn the Voyage on, they get downloaded from the cloud automatically via Whispernet. When I then attempt to add those Whispernet downloads to a collection, I get the following error message. “The item you added to this collection was added to this device directly from a computer. Adding it to a collection will not sync the item to the cloud, so you may not see this item in your other Kindle devices or cloud.” The trouble is, I did NOT download them directly from my computer. I’ve never, ever done that with the Voyage. The only thing I download directly from my computer are the software updates because I do not have access to wi-fi, and yes, I do have the most up to date software on the Voyage. I first noticed this problem in the next to last update. I assumed it was a glitch that would be fixed in the latest update, but it wasn’t.
I know you also have a Voyage. Have you had a similar message? So far, I’ve checked the downloads and they do show up in my Archives on my Kindle Keyboards. I know eventually I will lose all access to the archives on my K3’s, but until I do, I’d like to know new books are available to them because if the text is fully justified on the Voyage, I can download that book to one of the K3’s where it will be left justified.
June 5, 2016 at 9:36 pm |
Thank for writing, Lady!
I hadn’t seen that message…but I hadn’t sent something to my Voyage in some time, since it has the “Guest bookshelf” on it, and I’ve been mostly using it to re-read the Oz books. 🙂
I downloaded a recently purchased book to it to test for you…and it let me add it to a Collection without a problem.
So, I got a new book sent directly (I got the free version of Little Fuzzy, but free should work the same way). That also worked.
You might want to check with Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
June 5, 2016 at 10:10 pm
Did you download via wi-fi or 3G? When I asked, I forgot that you have a wi-fi connection. You might not have the 3G capable Voyage, so the software would be slightly different.
I’ve just been through an ordeal that involved 3 separate calls to Amazon because the first two people I had the misfortune of contacting didn’t know how to process a third party return. I think the third person I talked to finally got it right, but I won’t know for sure until my credit statement comes. I know you’ve had great luck with Amazon representatives, but I haven’t, so I hope you understand why I really don’t want to talk to anybody from Amazon any time soon.
June 6, 2016 at 2:53 am
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, I can understand why that would be frustrating!
My Voyage is Wi-Fi only…
June 6, 2016 at 4:15 am |
If I may chime in here, I have gotten the same error message on my voyage when I try to move a newly downloaded book to a collection too quickly after downloading it. It seems to work fine the next day but it is irritating to have to wait. I also understand the problems with Amazon’s Customer Service. It has really gone downhill. I have been hung up on twice and promised calls that were never made. It just makes me angrier when they say they tried to call me. If they tried to call me, they will get me. If they tried to reach me, my phone would show a missed call. There is always voice-mail on those rare occasions when I can’t answer. But again, my phone would show I missed a call. So they are either lying to me or hanging up on me. I’m not saying I’ve had bad service from everyone at Amazon, but it is definitely not like it used to be.
June 6, 2016 at 9:20 pm |
Thanks, Dottie. It’s good to know I’m not the only one getting that error message. Next time, I’ll try waiting a day and see what happens.
June 8, 2016 at 3:39 am |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
Thanks also for sharing that! It’s helpful for people to know it isn’t just them. 🙂 I can ask Amazon about it, see if I get a response. I haven’t had to talk to Amazon recently, so I can’t fairly judge the experience you two have had, even anecdotally.
June 18, 2016 at 12:43 am |
eReaderIQ is now showing this message on their site:
Important Changes Regarding Our Service
As of June 10, 2016, eReaderIQ is no longer eligible to participate in the Amazon.com affiliate program. This means is that we are no longer able to monetize this site simply by having users click on our links.
Because of this, we will need to rely on user donations to keep the site running while we figure things out. We hope to generate enough support to cover the costs of operating the site.
If you would like to donate, but the link above does not work, please click on the “More Info” button above for further instructions.
We thank you for your support and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
June 18, 2016 at 1:13 am |
Thanks for writing, Vince!
Wow! I appreciate the heads up!
I’m not connected to that site, but we have had some correspondence. I’ll write about it…
July 11, 2016 at 1:25 am |
Saturday morning, I got an e-mail from Amazon that said in part, “An important software update for your Kindle (1st Generation) device “*****Kindle” is required by July 12, 2016 to continue to download your books and use Kindle services. This update will ensure wireless coverage so you can continue to have the best possible reading experience.
To update your Kindle wirelessly, follow these steps before July 12, 2016:
1. Turn wireless on by simply sliding the wireless switch on the back of your device to the “On” position.
2. Plug your Kindle in to charge during the update.
3. Leave your wireless on and the Kindle plugged in overnight.
While the device is asleep, the software update should download and install automatically. Your device may restart multiple times during the update process. You will receive a final confirmation letter once the update is completed.
If you do not update the device software by July 12, 2016, you may no longer be able to access Kindle services or get the updates wirelessly in your region. To resume access, you will need to manually update the software on your Kindle.”
First of all, way back in March when this was first threatened, I updated my Kindle 1 and received confirmation that it had been updated. Secondly, I checked “Manage your devices,” and the only Kindles that are not up to date are the K3’s that I am purposefully not updating because the most recent software version for the K3 makes the text kerning so jagged that I can’t read 80% of my books. Still, I followed those directions to the letter, and nothing happened.
Last of all, the directions are confusing. Though it specifically states to turn on wireless, it does not say anything about turning on the actual power to the K1. Did whoever wrote that e-mail forget that there are two separate switches on the K1? I tried it both ways, with both power and wireless on, and as indicated in the e-mail with wireless on and power off. Nothing happened.
I really don’t care if I lose cloud access to the K1 since I use it mainly as an archive. I haven’t been able to buy directly from the K1 for over a year, and the March update did not solve that problem. The Kindle storefront on the K1 still has links to things that no longer exist, like the Kindle Daily post. When I go to the cloud from the K1, it sees me as a “guest” without giving me the option of signing in.
I’m assuming this letter was sent to me in error. They should have sent a reminder about my two out of date K3’s. I’ve been expecting to lose access to the cloud from them ever since the original deadline passed in March, but so far I can still get there. I kept hoping that whatever changes they had made didn’t affect the K3 after all, but now I’m assuming this letter means that July 12 is the new deadline for updating all Kindles. How ironic that they plan to take away cloud access on “Prime Day.”
I’ve made a test run of downloading books to my computer to load to the K3’s and it still works, so as long as it continues to work after the great blackout, I’ll be fine.
July 17, 2016 at 9:23 am |
Not private. Any comments on This?
httpt://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-audiobooks-read-by-the-author.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
July 20, 2016 at 2:31 am |
Thank for writing, alanchurch!
Well, I’ll start out by saying that the tone of the piece is one of which I’m not fond. 🙂 It suggests that one way is always right, and if you like the other way, you are simply wrong.
I prefer to have my books read by software. 🙂 However, I have enjoyed some actor-read audiobooks…and I have also enjoyed authors reading their own work. As someone who has been an author and an actor, I will say…different skill sets. 😉 There are authors who wouldn’t want to read their own works out loud, and wouldn’t do a good job if they did. Writing and reading just aren’t the same…
July 20, 2016 at 5:41 am |
Hi Buffalo, I may be in a unique position to comment on this because I became visually impaired about 3 years ago. I have learned to read on my Kindle Voyage but my eyes tire quickly. I receive Talking Books for the Blind and list to books 8-12 hours a day. Some of the books I receive are commercial audio books so some are read by the author, some by actors but most are read by the same small group of people who I believe are professional book readers. I have listened to a memoir read by the author who was an actress. I enjoyed that very much. I have written a memoir (it’s on Amazon) and I don’t think I would be a good person to read it because I could see where my emotions might come through in my voice. I love the books read by the book readers because it feels like a friend reading a book to me. But the latest addition has been the Amazon Echo’s ability to read my Kindle books to me. I have over 18,000 of them and I want to read them all. But that probably won’t happen because I get tired of Alexa’s voice after several hours. I had read every day for 60 years when I lost my vision and books are extremely important to me. I am very grateful for being provided with ways to listen to books now that I can’t see too well. I’ll take them all.
July 21, 2016 at 12:59 am |
Thanks for writing, Dottie!
I appreciate you sharing that insight!
I agree that the experiences are different. A memoir being read by an author is one thing…for me, a novel is something else. I do listen to the equivalent of Alexa for hours…but not in a row. 🙂
Sounds like you can certify your print disability: are you using
https://www.bookshare.org/cms
?
I’ve heard good things about it…
September 19, 2016 at 7:18 pm |
Hi,
I’ve created an online bookmarking tool called Paperbin and I think it will be of interest to your readers
Using Paperbin, users can better organize their links and easily send articles to their eReader.
I know there are other products that offer similar functionality, but Paperbin nicely bundles functionality that would otherwise require multiple services (Pinboard, Instapaper) and some advanced search options they other guys don’t have.
I hope you’ll share Paperbin with your readers. If you have any questions please let me know.
http://paperbin.co
James Webb
September 23, 2016 at 2:54 am |
Thanks for writing, James!
I posted your comment, and I’ll take a look at Paperbin later to consider writing about it.
September 21, 2016 at 1:47 am |
I saw an old post (2013?) on whether a Kindle Fire could replace a desktop. Your verdict was no. I’m actually thinking of going with the Kindle Fire 8 coming out on the 21st of Sept. and maybe purchasing the keyboard to go along with it. Have there been improvements over the past 3 years to consider replacing a laptop (4 yrs old at this point) with the new Kindle 8? My computer usage is moderate.
September 23, 2016 at 2:52 am |
Thanks for writing, davidsaleeba!
It’s an interesting question. At this point, I’d think my Galaxy S7 Edge could come close to replacing a laptop, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mirroring to a larger screen.
The issue is multitasking, and the Edge has gotten a lot better at it, including split screen (seeing two apps at once). I’d have to say that it depends on how much you multitask, in part.
October 4, 2016 at 1:25 am |
Did you see that Amazon is no longer allowing reviews in exchange for free or discounted products? I do think that many of the companies will still try to manipulate rankings
and reviews. I used to use Amazon reviews daily but I don’t find them as reliable anyway.
October 6, 2016 at 1:31 am |
Thanks for writing, Marjorie!
That is interesting! It’s on the guidelines here:
http://amzn.to/2dTCq4D
Amazon says, “Offering compensation or requesting compensation (including free or discounted products) in exchange for creating, modifying, or posting content.”
and
“Book authors and publishers may continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review.”
They have a help page just for this question:
http://amzn.to/2dtYOn7
I’ll probably include this (and a comment on it) in my next round up…
October 5, 2016 at 10:11 am |
Did you see that Amazon now has a program called Prime Reading? Prime members can choose from over a 1000 books, comics, and magazines. I’m happy about this. I had to cancel my kindle unlimited subscription due to budget concerns so I am delighted that Amazon is doing this.
October 6, 2016 at 1:38 am |
Thanks for the heads-up!
I was writing my post on it before I saw your comment. 🙂 Really appreciate you taking the time to let me know!
November 8, 2016 at 4:48 pm |
I have been subscribing to your blog for years but lately I have found there are large gaps when they are delivered. I haven’t received one since Nov 2. This is the first time I have looked at your blog on the internet and am surprised how many posts I haven’t received. I just wanted to let you know delivery is a bit slow on the Kindle end of supply. I have not posted on a site before so apologies if I did it wrong.
November 10, 2016 at 6:47 pm |
I love your blogs and subscribe to them on my Kindle Oasis via Amazon. I haven’t gotten a new update for your The Measured Circle blog since Sept 21. I saw where your ILMK blog encountered a blog jam. Could this be the case with this blog as well? I miss reading it. Your blogs are so informative. Thank you for your time.
November 11, 2016 at 12:31 pm |
Thanks for writing, Tammy!
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for being a subscriber! It really helps. 🙂
I’ll investigate…I have published blogposts in TMC since then.
January 18, 2017 at 7:20 pm |
Hello, Bufo!
I was wondering, knowing you are a big fan of the Oz books, if you have seen the NBC mini-series, “Emerald City,” and what your thoughts might be on it. This doesn’t need to be a public comment, but no reason it couldn’t be.
Thanks for all you do to keep us all informed and entertained with your blogs!
January 20, 2017 at 3:28 am |
Thanks for writing, Joe!
I haven’t seen it yet…but it’s literally on my (Hulu) watchlist. 🙂
As far as I’m concerned, one sign of great art is its ability to be adapted in many different ways. I wrote a piece about seven years ago called Hooray for remakes!.
One of the movies I mentioned was…the 1939 Wizard of Oz, which many people seem to think of as the “real Oz”. It’s not actually very faithful (although it pulls from a number of the books…and the stage show), which is part of why it flopped when it came out (readers particularly didn’t like the now-beloved Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion). I was amused to see a comment from someone on Goodreads who was surprised that the Oz books were a series. 🙂
That said, the first book, the famous one, is actually quite dark (and one of my least favorites). There are over 100 deaths, and slavery (which continues to be a theme) is prevalent. Later on, no one can die in Oz, but they can be destroyed.
As to sex, which may be part of the miniseries, that isn’t explicit in the series, and it would be complicated. You see, once Oz became a fairy land, no one aged…which meant that Ozites who were babies stayed babies and other people had to care for them forever (that’s actually in the books). It’s hard to tell if a baby would even develop, so procreation would be questionable. Sex for fun should be possible, but that presumes they have some sort of contraception (which could be magical) if we are talking about two sexes, and we didn’t hear about that, either.
That’s more than you expected, probably. 🙂 If I do get to it, I’ll likely write about it in The Measured Circle.
January 20, 2017 at 3:43 am
Oh, and I meant to link to this post of mine:
It’s my (satirical) idea for an Oz update…you might enjoy it. 🙂
February 6, 2017 at 1:39 pm |
Good day, B.C.,
I got a kick out of your “stupid pitch” for Ozpocalypse post! Very clever, as usual. And, I have seen your posts about the “Emerald City” series. I have been enjoying it, the production values are pretty high for network TV, several good performances by the cast, and the update, or reboot regarding Dorothy’s circumstances, (taking refuge in the police car, Toto is a police K9, “scarecrow” and “tin man,” etc.) is pretty interesting to me.
Hope you and yours are well!
Joe B.
February 7, 2017 at 1:31 am |
Thanks for writing, Joe!
I’m glad you liked it! There are a couple of similarities to Emerald City…but that’s a coincidence, I don’t think that show is “stupid”. 🙂
June 20, 2017 at 7:34 am |
Hi Buffalo,
Amazon is offering a free 6-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited when you purchase a new Paperwhite. The offer is on the Paperwhite page, underneath the first photo. According to “Terms and Conditions”, the offer expires at 11:00 p.m. (PT) June 23, 2017.
The Amazon Smile link is:
Keep up the good work!
Jay
June 20, 2017 at 1:17 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jay!
Great find! I’ll write about it…thanks!
June 28, 2017 at 9:20 am |
Hi Bufo
I purchased a second hand kindle keyboard reader. The reader is almost brand new and in awesome condition. Serial number starting with B00A. This is supposed to be 3G & wifi. However I can’t get it to connect to register the unit on my Amazon Account. I have reset it to factory settings, tried to do an update as the unit has not been updated to the latest software version but all to no avail. In desperation I logged a call with Amazon. Its now been 21 days and no resolution to the problem. According to what I see this model is for Europe, but I am in South Africa. The gentleman who owned it before had books on it. I deregistered it from his account using the unit. It connects to the internet but that about it. I can’t seem to come right. Any kind advice you could give would be most appreciated. Thank you kindly. Larga
June 29, 2017 at 12:26 pm |
Thanks for writing Larga!
Hmm…tell me more about it connecting to the internet: what do you see? It’s also possible to “blacklist” a lost or stolen Kindle, so it can’t be registered…did Amazon give you any insight there?
I also suppose that the modem in it might not work in SA, but I’m not positive.
June 30, 2017 at 10:23 am |
Hi there. Thanks for replying. Much appreciated. According to Amazon the unit has not been reported as stolen or blacklisted. I can go onto any website but when I click on the link to register the unit or even register a new Amazon account it takes me to a web page and not directly to Amazon’s register block (if that makes sense). According to Amazon this unit is an international one and should work in SA. The unit is also on software version 3.4 not the current one. No matter how many time I try and do the update manually it still remains greyed out, on the unit. I know how to do the upgrade. This is the 3rd kindle i have had. Reason I am so stuck on this specific unit is that it can read to me. Just love that text to speach functionality! Thanks again.
June 30, 2017 at 5:44 pm |
Are you sure you are loading the correct update? I’m not sure about versions in other countries, but in the USA, there are different downloads for the wi-fi only and the 3G/wi-fi combo. I have the combo. I once made the mistake of downloading the version for wi-fi only and it remained greyed out when I tried to apply. I also remember that I had to do an in between updated before I could do the most recent update.
I still have two additional Kindle Keyboards that are running on the older 3.3 software and as of today, anyway, they can still connect to the Kindle store though I’ve been expecting to lose that capability any day for the past 16 months.
July 1, 2017 at 11:12 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Excellent point! The wrong update would make it not enabled for the update, I believe.
July 1, 2017 at 11:05 pm |
Thanks for writing, Larga!
Oh, I listen to text-to-speech for hours every week…I understand.
They probably had you do this already, but did you try resetting to factory defaults? That will wipe everything off it…except for updates, I think. I also think Lady Galaxy may be on to something: if you have the wrong update, it would stay greyed out. Another reason would be if you’ve put the update file in the wrong place…
July 2, 2017 at 12:34 am
One other thing I thought of. Did you check to see if the previous owner had set parental controls? If so, that can interfere with any attempt to reregister the Kindle.
July 11, 2017 at 7:39 pm |
HI Bufo & Lady Galaxy!
Thank you so much for the responses. Awesome you guys are! Now as weird as this sounds, today when I accessed my kindle account on Amazon I saw that the unit has been registered to me. How, I have NO idea. The query has not been resolved by them in any way nor have they responded to my copious emails and chats….So this was just a huge surprise. Well after the unit was registered lo-and-behold- the update I did this evening went down 100% smoothly without a hitch. I even have new books on that I sent earlier today to the device. I am so, so pleased. Interesting about the parental guidance Lady Galaxy, would never have thought of that and no one at Amazon mentioned it either! But they also never said that if the device is not registered you wont be able to update it. So I have a “brand new” second hand device which is perfect. I am ever so chuffed.
I have another unit which I have given my elderly mother and so she gets books for “free” whenever I download them to her. Imagine an retired old lady with very little spending money who can now read to her hearts content! Its amazing, almost like a mini blessing every time I send a book to the unit. and best is it can read to her as her eyesight is not what it used to be.
Whyever they removed the TTS is beyond my comprehension. As it is these units are not cheap in my part of the world and now to “save” money they have just eliminated it – so sad.
Thanks once again. PS I have now subscribed to your blog……………
July 13, 2017 at 1:31 pm |
YAY! I was wondering if you ever got the problems resolved. I’m so happy for you. I have a K1, K3, DX and Voyage, and the K3 is still my favorite!
July 14, 2017 at 12:45 pm |
Thanks for writing, Larga!
Excellent! I appreciate you updating us, and it sounds like things are going well. 🙂
Yes, e-books are great for people with a variety of challenges, including your mother. The ability to share books on an account (and all of the free books which are legally available) has been important in addition to accessibility tools (the way you can increase the font, and text-to-speech when available).
TTS has been a big issue for me for years in this blog…some people might say I write about it too much. 🙂 Some recent Kindle EBRs (E-Book Readers) can Bluetooth to a speaker to do TTS, so in that sense, it is back. The reason why it went away is not, I think, so much about saving money. They eliminated speakers altogether (which also meant no audiobooks or MP3s), I think in an effort to make the devices slimmer and more battery efficient.
I published this back in 2009 on the issue…you may find it interesting:
I also really appreciate you subscribing! That does make a difference.
I look forward to hearing from you again in the future…
August 8, 2017 at 12:35 pm |
I was reading an article in the local online newspaper about steps that mall owners are taking to help bring back business. They mentioned partnering with Amazon Treasure Trucks. I’d never heard about it, so I looked it up. It’s an interesting concept. Have you encountered the “Treasure Truck”? Might be a topic to explore on ILMK some day when you’re looking for inspiration.
August 8, 2017 at 7:49 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I have signed up for Treasure Trucks, but they are not in my area yet. It is an interesting concept, and I can see where it would be a lot of fun, it is sort of like the food trucks that tweet you where they are. I figured I would put it in the next round up.
September 23, 2017 at 7:05 pm |
Ever since I updated my Kindle Voyage to the most recent software version, I’ve been having a problem of losing content when turning a page. I worried that maybe my Kindle was starting to have mechanical problems, but then I read somebody complaining of a similar problem in a review of a book. It’s kind of hard to describe because it happens in two different ways. And it doesn’t happen on every single page. Sometimes when I press to turn the page, the next page is blank. When I turn the page again, it’s obvious that some of the text has been left out. If I page back, I then discover an additional line or two at the bottom of the page I had turned from. Other times, the next page has text, but it’s obvious that there are words or lines missing. Again, when I turn back, I find the missing text at the bottom of the previous page. The first few times it happened, I though maybe I had just failed to read the line, so I tried to be more mindful about making sure I’d gotten to the end before turning the page. That’s when I realized there was a display problem. It doesn’t happen with every book, but it has happened with at least two books. I tried to find mention of it in the Kindle forums, but I’ve never successfully figured out how to navigate through the thousands of topics to find what I’m hoping to find. Have you or any other of your blog readers mentioned a similar problem?
Another problem I’ve been experiencing is page bounce back. I press to turn the page, it shows the next page for a flash, then it bounces back to the previous page.
September 27, 2017 at 1:36 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Hm…I haven’t noticed that with my Voyage. I usually only read a few pages at a time on that device (that’s the one I use before I go to sleep), but haven’t seen any problems. What version of the software do you have?
There is a search box (an imperfect one, last I checked) on the Kindle forums…if I get a chance, I’ll look for you.
September 27, 2017 at 2:20 am
I have the 3G/wi fi Voyage. Most recent update was update_kindle_voyage_5.8.10.bin.
September 28, 2017 at 9:05 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Mine is wi-fi only. You have the latest version. I’m not having those issues, and I searched online but haven’t seen those complaints.
Have you checked with Amazon on it?
September 28, 2017 at 11:27 pm
I have not had good experiences with Amazon customer service with the most simple of problems. This one is difficult to explain. The last time I called Amazon tech support was because I got one of those “prove you’re a human” screens that I couldn’t get past because the purposeful blurriness of the letters causes my ocular myasthenia to go into overdrive and everything gets too blurry for me to see. No matter how many times I tried to explain the problem to the support person, she kept insisting that I had set up a second step in the verification process. No matter how many times I told her I did not set up any such thing because it required a cell phone, she kept insisting that was the problem. She told me I needed to have somebody with a cell phone come to my house and help me with it. After an hour of putting up with this, and after three previous requests for her to transfer me to somebody else, a supervisor finally came on the line. She immediately understood the problem, got me out of it, and gave me a code to use in case this prove you’re a human screen ever comes up again.
Maybe it will get fixed in the next software update. Maybe some day I’ll stop getting the notice that a recent purchase I was attempting to put into a collection wouldn’t be synced because I downloaded it directly from my computer even though I just purchased it through the Kindle Storefront on my Voyage and that I have never, ever downloaded anything other than software updates to my Voyage from my computer. The problem has persisted through the last 3 updates.
October 4, 2017 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’m sorry to hear that…and I can’t say I haven’t heard it before. The vast majority of my experiences with Amazon Customer Service have been good, and I don’t think that’s because they know who I am as a potential “influencer”. 🙂 We’ll see fewer of those “prove your a human” things in the future, as identification moves into different methodologies.
September 27, 2017 at 8:42 pm |
To be more specific 5.8.10(3202090019)
As a side note, I was glad to see this version claims to finally give the ability to display text as fully justified or left justified, but I have yet to find a book where it actually works. Fortunately, about 90% of books are already displaying with left justification. For now, I can still download the fully justified books to my old K3 where 99.9% of the books appear with left justification.
September 28, 2017 at 9:14 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I’ll keep my virtual fingers crossed for your K3!
October 4, 2017 at 11:07 pm |
Hi,
I don’t see the Bookish birthdays for October 4. Will you be posting them? I really enjoy seeing which author has a birthday.
Thanks,
October 4, 2017 at 11:17 pm |
Thanks for writing, Irene!
It was published and I am able to confirm that. It may just not have updated for you yet. Thanks for letting me know that you like them!
Oh, I did publish a post after that, so you may need to look back one.
October 4, 2017 at 11:18 pm
Actually, it might be back two. 🙂
October 5, 2017 at 1:01 am
Here’s a direct link to it on the site, in case you still aren’t seeing it…great list today!
https://ilmk.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/happy-bookish-birthdays-october-4-to/
October 25, 2017 at 7:20 pm |
have you tried sccrol.com for publishing content or guides and recipes and having echo readout your published sccrol?
October 28, 2017 at 1:26 am |
Thanks for writing, Jason!
Are you connected with the site in some way, other than as a user of it?
January 31, 2018 at 7:29 pm |
Do you guys do anything with audiobooks?
February 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm |
Thanks for writing, Eric!
Yes, I sometimes talk about audiobooks…did you have a question?
February 2, 2018 at 2:09 pm
Well, I created an audiobook with over 40 different voices, but I wouldn’t call it a radio drama. I was wondering if it’s something you’d be interested in.
February 3, 2018 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for writing, Eric!
If it’s something that’s available to my readers, which means via an Amazon device (that’s quite broad…Fire tablets, Alexa devices, and so on…downloadable MP3s or streaming works), sure! Did you do the 40 voices yourself? There was a time I could have. 🙂
Feel free to give me a title and a link…
February 14, 2018 at 3:20 am
It’s free if you have an internet connection via Youtube, Soundcloud or Spotify (plus Audible if you want to pay for it). Book is called Artifice – http://artificebook.net
February 15, 2018 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for writing, Eric!
I appreciate the information!
Two questions:
Is it an adaptation of a book, or an original?
Did you do the voices yourself?
Thanks! I’ll check it out…
May 17, 2018 at 5:47 am |
What did you think about this analysis of the value of Prime membership?
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-membership-should-cost-785-2018-5
May 22, 2018 at 2:01 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Well, I appreciate their listing of how the value of Prime has increased, but the suggestion that that means that Amazon should raise the price is, I think, intentionally inflammatory (in a mild way, if that’s possible)…I don’t think they believe that.
This is presented with the “error” that I suggest many customers of store make, looking at the individual transaction, when it is the population of transactions which matters. Prime members likely spend a lot more (in excess of what they would have spent as non-Prime members) than it costs Amazon to have them. They also, I believe, tend to spend it on higher profit items…
November 5, 2018 at 12:07 am |
Bufo Calvin
I have routinely e-mailed PDF to my Kindle Fire with no problem. However the last two weeks (Since Oct 21) they fail to show up on my Kindle Fire.
Other documents do (WORD) I can type convert in the heading of the PDF FILE and it will show we up as a WORD file..
I contacted AMAZON’.. They said they are working on it.
My question.. Am i the only one this is happening. To? Or is it system wide?
Thank you. Wes Henson
November 7, 2018 at 12:26 pm |
Thanks for writing, Wes!
Sorry to take a bit of time getting back to you on this. I haven’t found anything which indicates a widespread problem, although your response from Amazon suggests it isn’t just you. I tested it by sending a PDF to my Fire tablet, and it worked just fine.
Hopefully, it will work again for you soon.
January 1, 2019 at 5:18 am |
Would love to see you write about materials entering (finally) public domain in 2019. Thanks
June 11, 2019 at 3:14 pm |
What’s up with the Amazon Early Reviewer Program? I got an e-mail from Amazon today offering a $3 gift card for a review of a recent order. “You have been selected to receive a $3 Amazon Gift Card* in exchange for providing honest feedback on one of your recent purchases through the Amazon Early Reviewer Program. But, you must act fast because there are only a limited number of rewards available and they will be given out on a first-come first-serve basis!”
I thought Amazon was against “paid” reviews. How is this different? They’re offering me $3 to write a review about a product I have no desire to review. I rarely write reviews on Amazon any more because I got tired of having my reviews vanish without explanation. The item I ordered was not something I liked so much I had to spread the word or hated so much I’d feel obligated to warn others, so I’m not going to write a review.
June 12, 2019 at 9:16 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
That certainly sounds like a scam, rather than being letitimately from Amazon. I’ll take a look. Does it ask you to click on anything to submit the review?
June 12, 2019 at 10:36 am |
It’s not a scam. The e-mail contains my given name, and lists the product I purchased. I checked the headers and footers, and they looked legit. The letter included a FAQ with this q&a. “Do I need to mention in my review that I received a reward?
No. Your review will be identified with a badge that reads “Early Reviewer Rewards” so additional disclosure is not required. ” I went directly to amazon.com through my saved bookmark and checked the product page for the item I bought. It showed a review with that badge along with a link to more information about Early Reviewer Rewards. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202094910&ie=UTF8
June 14, 2019 at 10:58 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Yes, your link looks legitimate! I’ll look into it.
June 12, 2019 at 11:51 am |
I love that your blog is clearly for and by book lovers! Would you consider writing a post about a fill-in-the-blank word game available for Kindle Fire and made by a book lover (me) for book lovers? It’s called WordWhile https://www.amazon.com/Studio-Goojaji-WordWhile/dp/B073PDK452 . I’m sure many of your readers would love it.
Here’s a snippet from the description: “Nursery rhymes, tongue twisters, proverbs, great prose and poetry. These timeless texts are missing words. Tap the author’s word and feel clever. Don’t know it? Don’t sweat it! Our ”Wrong answers” are usually pretty funny. Now you can even add your own! Nearly 5,000 timeless words in 50 playable texts with over 1,500 missing words and 15,000 hand-crafted Novel alternatives to select…or avoid.”
July 28, 2019 at 1:04 pm |
I’be been reading books on Kindle for iPad for years. I use the built-in dictionary and foreign language translator when I run across something in French (for example). How can I add a Latin Dictionary? When I go to my Amazon account, Manage Content and Devices > Dictionaries and Userguides, there is nothing there. I can’t figure out a way to add anything. I purchased 2 Latin English dictionaries, but they don’t show up either. I appreciate any help you might give me. Thank you!
July 28, 2019 at 8:46 pm |
She is!
Sent from my iPad
August 20, 2019 at 9:30 am |
You may have already written about this. If you did, I missed it. They did a feature on the local news about how it’s affecting one of our libraries. The article I found is dated June 25, 2019, but this is the first I’ve heard of it. I hope it isn’t the start of a trend:
https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=macmillan-announces-two-month-embargo-on-library-ebooks
September 18, 2019 at 8:21 am |
Very interesting and, yes, possibly concerning. MacMillan claims that 40% of its ebook reads are from public libraries, which is astonishing. OTOH, I assume they have no idea how many of its print reads are from public libraries.
This has been one of the problems digital media has had to contend with from the beginning: they are trackable, but are being compared with an untrackable analogue version. For years companies complained about the low click rates on their internet ads and therefore wouldn’t buy them, but of course they had no idea how many “clicks” they would have gotten on a magazine ad.
I personally am an avid borrower, both from Amazon and the library, but I still buy plenty of books, and agree with the person in the article who pointed out that the library is often where we learn about new books and authors.
OTOH, my local library doesn’t have a whole lot of ebooks. Does anyone know of other sources? (I know about Open Library, but as far as I know you can’t put those books on a Kindle (I have a Voyage).
Thanks for the article, Lady Galaxy.
October 2, 2019 at 6:38 pm |
Whatever happened to the ability to use e-mail to send feedback to Amazon? I want to complain about their delivery policy, but the only options are chat and phone call. The most recent order had a notation that the delivery person might contact me by text or phone for help making a delivery. The package might arrive as late as 9:00 PM. I do not like that Amazon is giving out my unlisted phone number to random delivery people who may or may not have been properly vetted. If they can’t find my house, then send the package through USPS. My mail carrier knows where I live and delivers packages during normal business hours. I don’t want strangers tripping after dark on my sidewalk that is in 4 sections with a step at the end of each section. I certainly don’t want strangers walking right up to my front door that late at night.
October 6, 2019 at 11:38 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Do you have a Twitter account? You can write them that way:
@AmazonSupport
I don’t know if this is current, but this used to be an Amazon Customer Support e-mail: CIS@amazon.com
October 7, 2019 at 4:55 am
No, I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. Luckily the package arrived before dark without the need for a phone call. I don’t answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number. In fact, I leave it turned off most of the time. I did see in the local news that Amazon has switched delivery companies for the “last mile” deliveries from the center that receives packages destined for my area. I hope this will result in better service. Time will tell.
November 2, 2019 at 1:20 am |
Are comments broken in the main part of this blog? I’ve left comments for the last 2 “Wednesday” posts and both of them have disappeared without a trace. Usually I can see my pending posts, but that ability disappeared for awhile so could have been taken away by WordPress again, but I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t have approved either of the posts. If this post disappears as well…
November 2, 2019 at 8:55 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
I really appreciate you taking the extra step to post this!
Comments haven’t been broken…I have. 😉
November 2, 2019 at 9:08 am
Well, not exactly broken, but certainly, bent a lot by recent happenings.
* We were part of power shutoffs in our State. For days, we had no power, no internet, no phone service on our regular phones. We were better off than many…no medical equipment to power. Coming back, there was a lot of catching up to do and some confusion, certainly. We got our power back when some did not and we are grateful for that. This is Saturday: that’s my first chance to go through and sort it out. I plan to respond to your comments then, but I do wish I’d seen and approved them sooner
* We have a major, very positive, family event coming up soon…that’s taking a lot of prep
* Oh, in addition to power outages, there are fires…one big one fairly nearby. That smoke does affect me more than many, and refreshing your go bags and putting them near the door is emotionally draining
* At work, the best coworker I have ever had is on leave for a very good reason. Another good coworker retired. We have been able to hire two new team members who I’m onboarding (a process which will really take six months until they can practically help me: it’s a complicated job). It’s really just me right now, plus the time I happily am giving to work with getting them up to speed, when there should be four of us. That’s meant days without lunch breaks, working early and late, and so on. I love my job, even when there’s more to do than usual like this
The power could go out again we’re told, but barring that, I plan to respond to your comments today. I learned how to schedule tweets ahead of time which will lessen some small amount of pressure.
You are honestly one of the reasons I try to keep doing as much (and hopefully more) in this blog as I have been. I love getting comments, and yes, I love responding to them…I’ll try to be more diligent about approving them. I could just set them to auto-approve, but I do get spam comments which I don’t think my readers would appreciate. 😄
Hope things are going well for you! I didn’t mean to break this into two replies, but hit the send button accidentally…
November 3, 2019 at 10:50 am
I didn’t mean to nag. I know you’ve had a lot on your plate made even worse by lack of power and nearness to wildfires. If I had still been able to see my “unapproved” posts I would have figured you just hadn’t gotten to them yet. When I couldn’t see them at all I knew either WordPress had changed something or something was broken.
I understand about woodsmoke. I live in an area where lots of folks have wood burning fireplaces and wood burning stoves they use to heat homes. I live in a hilly area and the windows on the north side of my house are parallel to the top of the chimney of my next door neighbor’s fireplace. I was so relieved when they switched from burning wood to a gas log.
The longest I was ever without power was 4 days when hurricane Ike came inland and hit my state with hurricane force winds. Over 90% of the power grid went down. I was lucky to get it back so soon. I had friends that were without for 2 weeks.
I hope life settles down for you soon.
November 7, 2019 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for writing, Lady!
My apologies…I didn’t realize you were saying that something had actually changed (the visibiity of the pending comment). I knew I’d been less responsive, and just assumed it was that. One of my mottos: “When in doubt, take the blame.” 🙂
You can get an N95 mask on Amazon…they help.
November 29, 2019 at 6:38 pm |
I’ve noticed that the “Your Content and Devices” section of “Accounts and Lists” Amazon is now putting a “read” notice next to books it thinks I have read. Unfortunately, the list is not very accurate. None of the books I’ve read using the cloud reader are listed as having been read. (Since I don’t have a Fire Tablet, picture books are not readable on my K3’s or Voyage.)There are also quite a few books I’ve read on my Kindle Voyage that are not listed as having been read. Does Amazon only count a book as having been read if we wade all the way through to the point where the “rate this book” page pops up? Some books have as much as 1/3 of end pages of footnotes, indexes, bibliographies, etc. Even more puzzling there are books listed as having been read that I gave up on halfway through or read the first and last chapter and skipped the middle. I looked for some way to turn off this feature but couldn’t find one. I also looked to see if I could sort by read/not read, but that’s not an option either.
I think I’m going to do some experimenting and use the “go to” feature to go to the end of those books I know I’ve read but that aren’t listed and see if that changes their status.
November 29, 2019 at 11:23 pm |
I’ve noticed this as well. One thing is that if I finish a book but go back to reread a section it will definitely not count as read.
November 30, 2019 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for the feedback, Laura. That might be my problem. When reading fiction, I rarely read books in a linear fashion. I tend to read the first few chapters, skip to the last two chapters, then go back and read the middle. However, I usually reread the last two chapters. If I don’t like the ending, I skip the middle. My experiment of skipping to the end of books I know I’ve read didn’t work, either. In non fiction, I sometimes skip a chapter that doesn’t pertain. For example, I recently read a book about only children. I found a lot of interesting information, but I skipped the chapters about being a parent to an only child since I’ve never been a parent and the chapters about being a being a spouse of an only child since I’ve never been married. I checked, and that one didn’t get marked as read, either, even though I read most of it
I frequently highlight passages or quotes or facts and statistics I like or might want to revisit. Isn’t that the point of providing the highlight/note writing tools?
Since authors of Kindle Unlimited books get paid on a sliding scale for percentage of the book I’ve read, I’d hate to think authors get short changed because I don’t read a book the way Amazon thinks I should read a book.
I wish there was a way to let Amazon know I don’t like this feature, but Amazon no longer provides a convenient way to send feedback.
April 10, 2020 at 9:25 pm |
I just wondered if you’d heard about this.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/04/10/alexa-help-me-a-coronavirus-patient-begged-her-smart-speaker-for-help-dozens-of-times-before-she-died/23975065/
April 19, 2021 at 11:50 pm |
I know you’re busy with work, life, and other projects, but I’m wondering if you could recommend a good keyboard for a Kindle Fire HD8 (10th generation). I finally got wi-fi up and running in my house, but I’m having trouble figuring out how to use this thing. The touch keyboard is just not working for me. Also, do you know of a good manual for it? The onboard help isn’t much help and the KU manuals I’ve tried so far have been pretty useless.
Thanks in advance. If you’re too busy to respond, I understand.
April 22, 2021 at 9:48 am |
Hi!
I appreciate your recognition of how things are for me right now. Covid-19 has made my work in healthcare more intense, for one thing. I don’t work in direct patient care, but I train those who do, which has put me into areas where C19 positive patients can be.
On the keyboard: absolutely yes! I love my iClever BK-05. I made the mistake of trying a different brand recently, and I couldn’t even really use the other one. The keys weren’t all the same size and the hinge interfered with my typing.
Since I wrote this:
iClever has even improved the product. I’m hoping to travel later this year, and even though I’ll plan to write every day, I won’t bring my laptop, I’ll be able to work with my phone & my keyboard.
One thing they’ve done is made it very easy to switch between devices. I can easily use it both with my work iPhone and my personal Android. It will work with your Fire tablet.
As to a manual, I don’t know offhand. If I get a chance to take a look and let you know, I will. I’d suggest looking first in Prime Reading: there might be something there covered by your Prime membership.
Hope you and yours are doing well!
April 23, 2021 at 4:37 am
Thanks, I’ll check out the keyboard. I’ve tried a couple of how to use the Fire books from Kindle Unlimited, but they weren’t very helpful. Guess I just need to keep trying:)