Archive for the ‘Kindle 3 – Kindle Keyboard’ Category
Sending personal documents to your Kindle just got much easier no comments
A few days ago Amazon announced a new service which will be useful if you need to send personal documents to your Kindle. Send to Kindle for PC is an application that, when downloaded from Amazon and installed on your PC (Mac support is “coming soon”), adds a ‘Send to Kindle’ option when you right click on a file in a supported format. A ‘Send to Kindle’ option is also added to your list of printers and can be accessed by printing a file.
A few months ago I replaced some of my home theatre setup and the new equipment came with PDF versions of the manuals on disk in addition to the paper documentation. I had been planning to put these on my Fire for easy access and so I used these and a digital magazine I had on my hard drive in PDF format to test out the Send to Kindle for PC app. The app worked very well in each case and certainly makes sending documents to your Kindle devices much easier than emailing them or sideloading over a USB cable. It does take a while for the docs to show up on your ereader though; if you don’t want to wait you can go to the Manage Your Kindle page and force them to be sent to whichever devices you want.
The Send to Kindle for PC app opens a window which lets you name the document and select which Kindle devices you want it sent to. You can choose whether or not the document will be archived in your Kindle Library or just sent to a particular Kindle. Documents cannot be sent directly to a Kindle app installed on a non-Kindle device, but if the doc is in your archive it can later be downloaded to that app. You can also control how the document is sent — the document will be sent free if the Wi-Fi connection is used or the usual charges will apply if you elect to use Whispernet.
The following document file types are supported:
- Microsoft Word (.DOC)
- Microsoft Word (.DOCX)
- TXT (.TXT)
- RTF (.RTF)
- JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
- GIF (.GIF)
- PNG (.PNG)
- BMP (.BMP)
- PDF (.PDF)
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Kindle Keyboard cover deals no comments
Typically when a new generation of Kindle ereaders hits the shelves the cover manufacturers discount their remaining stock of covers made for the previous generation. This has not generally been the case this time as the Kindle Keyboard is still being sold by Amazon and there are a lot of them in use that people are probably still buying covers for. Some of the covers for the Kindle Keyboard have been reduced slightly, but in general the discounts are not very noticeable yet.
An exception is OCTOVO’s line of Kindle 3 covers. While the prices of all of these have been reduced, there are a couple of standout deals. Both the OCTOVO Vintage leather and black leather covers are available for $35 bundled with the Solis ereader light. That is less than half the former price of the cover and only $5 more than the price of the Solis light by itself.
Both of these covers are made with genuine Italian leather. I have an OCTOVO cover for my DX and it is very well-made.
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New software updates for Kindle Keyboard and Kindle 4 no comments
Today Amazon released a new software update (v3.3) for the Kindle 3. Personal Documents are now archived by Amazon, along with any annotations you have made on them and the new update allows you to download the docs to your Kindle Keyboard as needed. Personal Documents are also now kept in sync across multiple devices with Whispersync (with the exception of PDFs).
Other new features include AmazonLocal deals for the Kindle Keyboard with Special Offers and the ability to toggle the Voice Guide off and on by pressing the spacebar while holding the shift key. Voice Guide is an option (found in the Settings menu from the Home screen) that when turned on reads aloud menu options, content listings and item descriptions.
The update is being delivered over the Kindle’s Wi-Fi connection or you can download it here.
There is also a new update for the Kindle 4 — v4.0.1 — that I just noticed. I think this might have been released today as well, but I may be wrong. This update allows you to change how often the display completely refreshes itself from every sixth page turn to every page turn. This is good and may help to address the occasional text fuzziness and light ghosting I’ve noticed, but I wish there were more options between every single and every sixth page. This update will also be going out over the Wi-Fi or you can download and install it yourself here.
I’ve just installed both of these and will update here if either of my Kindles blow up.
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Refurbished Kindle 3 Wi-Fi now $94 no comments
Amazon has slightly lowered the price of the refurbished Kindle 3 Wi-Fi to $94. The Kindle 3 is still available new with Special Offers for $99, and the Kindle Touch Wi-Fi will be $99 when it starts shipping in November, so I don’t think this is such a good deal for a refurbished ereader. We will likely see the price lowered again by the time the Kindle Touch comes out.
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Refurbished Kindle with Special Offers Wi-Fi – $85 1 comment
Amazon now has refurbished Kindle with Special Offers Wi-Fi ereaders available for $84.99. That is about a $30 savings over the new price and seems a good deal to me. Certainly it seems a better deal than the refurbished Kindle 3 Wi-Fi sans offers which still sells for $99.99 .
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AmazonLocal coming to Kindle with Special Offers no comments
Kindle with Special Offers owners will soon be getting ads and special offers
from local businesses in AmazonLocal cities. The new ads will first launch in New York City and will then expand to all 44 AmazonLocal cities by the end of the year.
A new Kindle 3 update is on the way that will enable the AmazonLocal content. More from the release:
Upcoming AmazonLocal deals for New York City Kindle customers in Downtown, Midtown, Uptown (including the Upper East Side and Upper West Side) and Brooklyn include:
- $7 for a one-hour bike rental in Central Park ($15 value)
- $5 for $10 at Dangerfield’s Comedy club
- $59 for one month unlimited yoga classes at Bikram Yoga Grand Central ($180 value)
- $5 for $10 worth of ice cream and ice cream cakes at Coldstone Creamery
- $45 for lunch at City Winery ($98 value)
Customers can view their city’s AmazonLocal deals and purchase the deal directly from their Kindle, without re-entering account or credit card information. Once a customer purchases a deal, they will receive a voucher directly on their Kindle’s home screen. Customers can redeem their purchase by simply showing this voucher on their Kindle to the local merchant or by bringing in a printed copy. Customers can print a copy of the voucher by visiting www.local.amazon.com/purchases.
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New Kindle feature lets readers connect with authors no comments
On its Kindle Daily Post blog Amazon has announced a new social reading feature for the Kindle ereaders. @author lets readers ask authors questions about their books. To use the tool highlight a passage in the book on the Kindle ereader with the 5-way controller and then type “@author” followed by your question. Amazon will tweet the question and it will be posted on the Author Page. If the author answers your question you will be notified by email.
The feature us still in beta — some of the authors currently participating:
- Ted Dekker: (@tedDekker) Forbidden and The Priest’s Graveyard
- Timothy Ferriss: (@tferriss) The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek
- Marie Force: (@MarieForce) Ready for Love and Fool for Love
- Barbara Freethy: (@BarbaraFreethy) Love Will Find a Way and One True Love
- Steven Johnson: (@stevenbjohnson) Where Good Ideas Come From and Everything Bad Is Good for You
- Robert Kiyosaki: (@theRealKiyosaki) Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant
- J.A. Konrath: (@jakonrath) SERIAL and Endurance
- John Locke: (@DonovanCreed) The Love You Crave and Lethal People
- Elisa Lorello: (@ElisaLorello) Ordinary World
- C.J. Lyons: (@cjlyonswriter) Blind Faith and Borrowed Time
- Debbi Mack: (@debbimack) Identity Crisis and Least Wanted
- Brad Meltzer: (@bradmeltzer) The Inner Circle and The Zero Game
- Scott Nicholson: (@hauntedcomputer) Ashes and Write Good or Die
- Susan Orlean: (@susanorlean) Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief
- Deborah Reed: (@DebReedAuthor) Carry Yourself Back to Me and A Small Fortune
- James Rollins: (@jamesrollins) The Skeleton Key and The Devil Colony
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NFB does not like Nook no comments
The Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Howard County Library System are both library systems in Maryland that have Nook ereaders that they loan out to patrons. Now the two libraries share something else in common — they both just got letters from the National Federation of the Blind asking them to offer ereaders that provide more accessibility features for those with visual impairments.
The Kindle ereaders now have various features to improve accessibility, some of which were added after some of the early ‘Kindle in the Classroom’ experiments drew fire (and lawsuits) from the NFB.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "E-books and the devices with which to read them present a historic opportunity for blind readers to have access to the same books at the same time as sighted readers, but only if publishers and manufacturers design their products in a way that allows access by blind and print-disabled readers. It is disturbing that institutions committed to free access to information for everyone would purchase e-readers that cannot be used by all of their patrons when technology that would serve everyone, including those who are blind or print-disabled, is readily available. We hope that our Maryland libraries will honor their legal and moral obligation to provide equal access to their blind patrons and send a clear message to publishers and technology vendors that access to information and literature is critical for all Americans, not just those who can read print."
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Amazon lowers prices of refurbished Kindle 3 no comments
Amazon recently lowered the prices of its refurbished Kindle 3 ereaders to $99.99 for the Wi-Fi only model and $129.99 for the 3G version. There is lots of speculation on the net today that this means Kindle 4 is on the way.
Actually, the lower pricing on the refurbished ereaders has been in place for awhile. I don’t remember exactly when the prices dropped; I think it has been a couple of weeks now. The thing is, it just does not really seem compelling (or newsworthy) to spend $100 or $130 for a refurbished Kindle 3 when you can buy a brand new Kindle with Special Offers for $114 or $139.
I do suspect we will have a Kindle 4 announcement soon; it is about time and Amazon is under a lot of pressure from B&N to release a new model. The lower prices of the refurbished Kindles may well have something to do with this. But I suspect that the price pressure being applied by the Kindle with Special Offers has just as much or more to do with the price drop.
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Kindle 3G with Special Offers reduced to $139 no comments
AT&T has begun sponsoring the Kindle 3G with Special Offers, which has enabled Amazon to lower the price by $25 to $139. This is the same ereader as the $189 Kindle 3G but the price is lower thanks to its being partially sponsored by advertising.
The advertising is not really intrusive: Small ads at the bottom of the homescreen and ads as screensavers. There are no ads in the ebooks themselves. This would be my first choice for an ereader with 3G.
£149.00
£109
