Archive for the ‘kindle dx’ Category
A couple of new interactive text-based adventures for Kindle ereaders no comments
Choice Games has released a couple of new text-based adventures for the Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and Kindle DX ereaders. As you make your way through the story you get to select different actions that will determine how the story unfolds.
Choice of Broadsides (A Text-Based Adventure) $4.99.
Choice of Broadsides is a text-based adventure ![Choice-of-Broadsides-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders_thumb[2]](file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Greenlee/Local Settings/Temp/WindowsLiveWriter-429641856/supfiles147799E/Choice-of-Broadsides-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders[4].jpg "Choice-of-Broadsides-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders_thumb[2]")
where your choices control the story. On most pages, you’ll choose between a set of options, determining which action you will take next as a young and promising naval officer.
If you like gamebooks, you’ll love Choice of Broadsides. Its unique approach to interactive fiction allows larger, deeper, and richer stories than traditional gamebooks. Will you discover all of the hidden endings? Will you become an admiral, or will you be court-martialed? When on shore, will you marry for love or for career advantage, or will you leave aside romance and spend your time gambling and dueling? The choice is up to you.
The sails have been hoisted and the guns run out as the enemy ship approaches. Your country is counting on you!
Choice of the Dragon (A Text-Based Adventure) (4 stars/2 reviews) $4.99.
Choice of the Dragon is a text-based adventure where ![Choice-of-the-Dragon-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders_thumb[2]](file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Greenlee/Local Settings/Temp/WindowsLiveWriter-429641856/supfiles147799E/Choice-of-the-Dragon-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders[4].jpg "Choice-of-the-Dragon-interactive-text-adventure-for-Kindle-ereaders_thumb[2]")
your choices control the story. On most pages, you’ll get to choose between a set of options, deciding which action your dragon will take next. Choose between Brutality or Finesse, Cunning or Honor, Disdain or Vigilance. Or just try to gather as much wealth as you can!
If you love gamebooks, you’ll love Choice of the Dragon. Its unique approach to interactive fiction allows larger, deeper and richer stories than traditional gamebooks. Will you discover all of the hidden endings?
Dominate the local kingdom, loot and pillage, and inspire terror in the hearts of your enemies!
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Panda Poet – New Kindle word game no comments
Panda Poet is a new word game for the Kindle ereaders. The object is to form words from the letters available on the game board.
With Panda Poet you use the letters on the game board to form words. Words formed from letters in open spaces create pandas. Words formed from letters near pandas make existing pandas grow.
The goal is grow the biggest panda possible.
You get the highest scores from either creating the biggest possible panda or from forming the longest possible words.
To add to the challenge, each letter is only available for a fixed number of turns. Each time you enter a word, all the letters on the screen come one step closer to expiring. When a letter expires, it is replaced by a skull, which prevents you from growing your pandas in that direction. This makes playing Panda Poet a delicate balancing act: you must consider where a letter is located on the grid and how soon it will expire, not simply spell the longest word you can.
Panda Poet is $2.99 and will work on the Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and the Kindle DX ereaders. This is from Spry Fox which also made the Triple Town Kindle game.
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Staples to Carry Kindle 2 comments
Beginning this fall Amazon’s Kindle ereaders
will be available at Staples. Staples announced today that it will be carrying all three of the new Kindle models, including the Kindle DX.
Having its NOOK ereader in stores where customers can actually try it out before buying has been one of the advantages Barnes & Noble has had. Target also sells the Kindle, but from what I’ve seen doesn’t do a very good job of marketing it.
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Kindle DX 2 – PDF no comments
I’ve just made a video of viewing a PDF file on the latest generation Kindle DX (Kindle DX 2). The Kindle DX is the best e-ink based ereader I’ve seen so far for handling PDF files.
With its larger screen, in many cases zooming in will not be required – especially with the magnification that the landscape mode provides.
I’m really happy with the Kindle DX. I do find that I like reading on a larger screen, but in my case I mostly use my ereaders at home, so portability is not really an issue for me.
It is rather suspicious that Amazon is out of stock of the Kindle DX for several weeks. Is a new DX incoming? If so, I imagine more than a few people who purchased the “latest generation” Kindle DX will be unhappy that their generation was so short-lived.
If Amazon is about to release a new Kindle DX 3 it will probably have only incremental improvements. There will no doubt be a Wi-Fi only version that will cost less, and the PDF handling improvements introduced with the Kindle 3 (contrast adjustment, annotations and dictionary lookup on non-scanned PDFs) will also be included.
Hopefully the better PDF handling features can be ported over to the Kindle DX 2 as well – this should only be a matter of a software update.
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Kindle DX Sold Out; Laser EB101 eReader Gets a Review no comments
Apparently the Kindle 3 is not the only member of Amazon’s ereader family that is selling well. The graphite Kindle DX is currently being shown at Amazon as expected to ship in two to three weeks.
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A few days ago I wrote about the Laser EB101 ereader which is a new device being launched in Australia. The Laser has been reviewed at Oz-E-Books (via iTWire) and seems to follow in the footsteps of the less than fully functional lower priced LCD ereaders that we have seen released lately in the US.
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Kindle DX2 Graphite – Unboxing and First Impressions 1 comment
I unpacked my new Kindle DX today and have 
had a few hours to play with it. So far it is a pretty impressive ereader. Everything from Amazon’s smart packaging to the device itself seem well thought out, well designed and properly constructed. The batteries even arrived with some charge, so you can play with your new toy for awhile before having to plug it into the wall.
As you can see in the photo, the DX2 comes with a quick start guide and a wall charger/USB cable.
I’ve noted before that I really like reading on my iRex DR800. After getting used to the 8.1-inch screen of the iRex it almost seems like I’m stepping down when I read on an ereader with a 5 or 6-inch screen. The smaller screens feel like I’m reading text on a device, while the iRex feels more book-like. This is probably due to the fact that the screen of the DR800 has a wider format – which seems more like an actual book to me – whereas most other ereaders spread their screen real estate out in a taller and narrower format. Amazon also takes the tall and narrow approach with the DX, but even after a few minutes I find the device fading away into the background and the immersion in my reading taking over.
Construction quality seems to be a common issue with ereaders as manufacturers try to keep the costs down. With the iRex, for example, I can feel the bezel flex if pressed in some places because it doesn’t fit perfectly with the back. The nook has also had its own problems with bezel cracks around the page turning buttons.
This is absolutely not an issue with either the 6-inch Kindle or the DX2 ereaders. The parts all seem to be mated perfectly and fit tightly together. I have not experienced any bezel flexing or any other signs of poor construction with either the DX2 or the 6-inch Kindle ebook readers.
Another notable feature of the iRex DR800 is the way in which the slightly tan bezel complements the e-ink screen. Amazon has also done this to very good effect with the graphite bezel of the DX2. The graphite color does a very nice job of enhancing the appearance of the e-paper.
Because of its larger size the DX is of course heavier 
than the 6-inch Kindle, but not uncomfortably so for me. The slim body with its slightly rounded edges and matte finish feel very good in my hands.
There are only page turning buttons on the right side of the DX, so at first glance it would seem to be less friendly to lefties. The DX comes with an accelerometer though, so you can turn your ereader upside down and the buttons will then be on your left. If you need to use the keyboard you will have to turn it right side up again unless typing upside down is part of your skill set.
The DX uses the new Pearl e-ink display which is advertised as increasing the contrast by 50 percent. Unfortunately I don’t have an older DX at the moment to do a side-by-side comparison, but next to the 6-inch Kindle the contrast is better, but I would say less than 50 percent so.
Apparently the Pearl display is a stepping stone to color e-ink. A recent article in the FT Techblog quotes the head of E Ink global sales as saying that, “We are in the process of building a colour display – our colour display is essentially a monochrome display with a colour filter on top.” Because this filter cuts down the light reaching the display and therefore reduces contrast, a display with better contrast was a required step on the road to developing color e-ink.
So far I am very impressed with my new Kindle DX2
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eReader News – 7/7/2010 no comments
Lots of ereader news today, and not all of it good.
First of all, there are reports that Interead has gone into liquidation. Nothing seems to be confirmed yet. At the COOL-ER online store the ereaders are out of stock for every country I searched in.
Sad news, but I’m not surprised. The main thing Interead’s COOL-ER ereaders had going for them was their jelly bean colors. Before the agency pricing model took over the COOL-ER ebook store was much pricier than the competition as well, although the prices there seem more in line now.
At CES Interead announced new models that were supposed to be out about now with Wi-Fi and 3G.
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Amazon’s new Kindle DX graphite has started shipping and is shown as being in stock on the Amazon site. I ordered one a few days ago, but mine has not shipped yet – can’t wait!
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Hachette Book Group announced that bestselling author James Patterson has sold over one million ebooks – the first novelist to do so.
James Patterson said, “Things have really changed in the digital space. With more and more people reading on iPads, Kindles, and Nooks, taking time to create interesting, user-friendly, enhanced ebook editions is becoming more and more important. And if ebooks get people who might otherwise not be reading to pick up a book, then that makes me happy.”
James Patterson has to date sold more than 205 million copies of his books worldwide.
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New Kindle DX Announced no comments
Amazon has just announced a new version of the
Kindle DX ereader that will be priced at $379 and will have a new e-ink display with higher contrast. The new DX has a graphite colored body – that alone should give an apparent boost to the contrast. It looks like the white version will also be available if you prefer.
EDIT: Only the graphite model is the new DX. The white Kindle DX,
Amazon says the new display is 50 percent sharper than the present DX ereader.
The display size remains the same at 9.7 inches.
Pre-orders for the new Kindle DX
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Amazon Kindle Top of the First Consumer Reports eReader Ratings no comments
Consumer Reports for the first time rated ereaders and found the Amazon Kindle to be the best choice for consumers.
Nine different ereaders were tested by Consumer Reports. The Kindles were found to have “crisper, more readable type” in addition to other features that were better than other models.
The testers at Consumer Reports also liked reading on dedicated ereaders more than on the iPad, which was tested but not included in the ratings. “Consumer Reports recommends buying the iPad for e-books only if consumers are willing to compromise to get a multifunction device. “
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Kindle Update 2.5 Coming Soon no comments
Amazon has released details of an upcoming software update for the Kindle and Kindle DX on the Kindle help pages. Software update version 2.5 will include the promised improvements to the way in which you can organize your library in addition to other new features:
- Collections: Organize books and documents into collections.
- PDF Zoom and Pan: Adds the ability to zoom and pan your PDF documents.
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Password Protection: Adds the ability to password protect your Kindle ereader when you are not using it.
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More Fonts and Improved Clarity: Two new larger font sizes and sharper fonts.
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Facebook and Twitter Posts: Will add the ability to share book passages directly from the Kindle to Facebook and Twitter.
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Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you are reading.
These are all great features and will be welcome. The password protection sounds as though it totally locks the Kindle. At some point I would also like to see the ability to lock individual books or documents. This might be useful for adults who share their Kindles with their children. Maybe someone will make an app for that? It is also interesting to see the Kindle adding more social networking. Once all of the usability and accessibility features we want are successfully implemented this will probably become an increasingly important feature for the ereaders of the future – social networking is the main feature that Copia is building its ereading community around.
The new Kindle update should see general release in late May 2010.
