Amazon begins its KINDLE-BOOK LENDING program, finally - Update3

AMAZON ACTUALLY STARTS KINDLE-BOOK LENDING PROGRAM.

On time too -- year end.
This started as a preview of the new Kindle-book lending feature as described by Amazon.

  I tweeted this development, at about 3:45 PM PST after reading about it on the forums where it was already a busy message thread.

  That main Kindle Team Forum Announcement is at the Amazon Kindle Community forums, and I'm adding a bit more in this update with modifications to the earlier afternoon report .

  REMINDER: If your web browser (especially Firefox) drops you onto the Amazon Kindle Forum's list of topics instead of bringing you directly to a forum thread, click on Refresh or Reload to get the message thread itself -- or click again on the link here.  I don't know why a 'retry' is often needed with the forums, but it is, in my case at least.

Here's the very brief announcement for the blog record:

Interview w/ Amazon Kindle-Content head + How many millions of Kindles?

INTERVIEW WITH AMAZON'S RUSS GRANDINETTI

The Los Angeles Times' Alex Pham gets some interesting responses from Russ Grandinetti, who is in charge of content for the Kindle  (UK: K3).

  After pointing out that Amazon currently controls 76% of the U.S. digital books market, Pham gives a brief history of the tensions between the publishing industry and Amazon's efforts to keep bestselling book prices lower, with a $9.99 or less standard that "infuriated a number of established publishers, who feared that digital sales would undercut the lucrative hardcover market."

  Yes, think "The Big5" who did admit to fears that selling e-books at that price would 'devalue' their books, meaning their hardcover books.

  Here are some excerpts:

For New and Olde Kindlers Wanting to Do More with their Kindles

CREATIVE USES OF THE KINDLE
Well, pleasurable reading is good enough for most, but there is a lot more that can be done with the Kindle, as shown in the short list just below.
  (I recommend bookmarking this for quick access later.)

  1. an old, continuing favorite forum thread about the more unique uses of the Kindle's capabilities thought up by members of the Amazon Kindle Community, and I saw another idea added today.

  2. a newer forum thread of favorite tips for new Kindle owners from Kindle oldtimers.

NOTE: If your web browser (especially Firefox) drops you onto the Amazon forum list of topics instead of bringing you to the forum thread, click on Refresh or Reload to get the message thread itself -- or click on the link again.  I don't know why a 'retry' is often needed, but it is.

  3. The Kindle Chronicles
  This is a very informative, fun resource for Kindlers at http://thekindlechronicles.com, a weekly podcast hosted by Len Edgerly who, each Friday night, brings us a roundup of the latest news (with links), excellent tech tips, an interview with someone from the Kindle world at large and some from just outside it who are of course in the Kindle net then :-)  Len also presents video reviews as well.  At the site are summaries of what is included in the latest podcast report.  Links are given there for items mentioned in the podcast.

  4. the new Kindle book by Stephen Windwalker, who has been explaining what can be done on Kindles since the Kindle 1, and this just-released book that includes info for the Latest Generation Kindles is only $0.99, which is more than a bargain.


STARTING GUIDE - BY AMAZON KINDLE SUPPORT TEAM - TOP10 FAQs
To START, though, Amazon has made a new 'Announcement' in the forums which introduces Kindlers to Kindle Top Ten FAQ's, and oldtimers add to the thread, explaining some of it from their experience and helping some there who have specific problems starting out.

Here is a regular WEB version of Kindle Team's TOP10 FAQs with active links (bracketed comments are mine).

Merry Reading to All Kindlers Olde and New :-)

AMAZON'S GIFTING OF KINDLE BOOKS CAN'T BE SCHEDULED AHEAD OF TIME
BUT TODAY'S PROBABLY AN APROPOS DAY :-)

This is just a reminder that Amazon did finally make it possible to gift a Kindle book or books to anyone with an email address -- no Kindle required.  Kindle Books can be read on Kindle devices, of course, but also on free Kindle reading apps for iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices.

  For more information on gifting Kindle books (a feature long-requested by Kindle owners), see amzn.to/givekindlebooks.

  To use the feature, choose a book in the Kindle Store, select "Give as a Gift" and send the gift to anyone with an email address.  Notifications of Kindle Books gifts are delivered instantly via e-mail, and the recipient redeems the gift in the Kindle Store to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app.

For convenience, here again is the tiny FAQ at the givekindlebooks page linked earlier above:

'

Frequently Asked Questions about Giving Kindle eBooks

• Do I have to own a Kindle to give or receive a Kindle ebook as a gift?
  No. Kindle ebooks can be given and received by anyone with an e-mail address.  Kindle ebooks can be read either on Kindle or on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, or Android Phone using one of our free reading apps.

• What if the recipient doesn't like or want their gift?
  Kindle ebooks received as gifts can be exchanged for Amazon.com gift cards.

• Are all Kindle ebooks eligible to be given as gifts? All ebooks available for purchase in the Amazon.com Kindle Store can be given as gifts. '

If you don't have a book in mind, Amazon editors' picks for the best books of the year may give you an idea.

1. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
2. "Faithful Place: A Novel" by Tana French
3. "Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War" by Karl Marlantes
4. "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand
5. "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson
6. "Freedom: A Novel" by Jonathan Franzen
7. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
8. "To the End of the Land" by David Grossman
9. "Just Kids" by Patti Smith
10. "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" by Michael Lewis

Also, here is the November 5 blog article on other Amazon best-book links for 2010 so far.

Hope all enjoy the day, free of offices and job duties (for most), but keeping in mind those laboring in the kitchens to provide the special pleasures of the holly day.

Photo credit: http://www.desktopexchange (Free desktop wallpaper offered)


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

EA game apps at 50% off / 8M kindles sold 2010 / My NookColor - a report

ELECTRONICS ARTS HOLIDAY SPECIAL ON ITS KINDLE GAMES
  Electronic Arts is offering their games at 50% off through January 2, for SCRABBLE, MONOPOLY, Solitaire, Sudoku, and Texas Hold’em.   Also:

. SCRABBLE was UPDATED on 12/15 and it now features "improved graphics and enhanced contrast."

  If you bought this earlier, go to that page and there should be an "Update" button for you to get the newer version.

. I had not posted about the now-popular MONOPOLY game either, though you have to make the actual moves for the computer after it's calculated them (!) and I hear there are repetitive features involved.

. Texas Hold'em is another newish one, and I have resisted it since the title reminds me of all the spam ads that used to come at us on the original game.  It's not quite as well rated as MONOPOLY (the name is capitalized and is not my doing) but still gets 4 stars from Kindle owners who have bought and rated it.


AMAZON BEATS ANALYST PREDICTIONS (AGAIN)
From Bloomberg Businessweek comes the headline that "Amazon.com Kindle Sales Are Said to Exceed Estimates"
December 23, 2010, 10:34 AM EST (updated story)   Italics in some excerpts that follow are just for emphasis by me.

' Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is likely to sell more than 8 million Kindle electronic-book readers this year, at least 60 percent more than analysts have predicted, according to two people who are aware of the company’s sales projections.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated, on average, that the company would sell 5 million Kindles in 2010. Last year, Amazon sold about 2.4 million Kindles, said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the company doesn’t disclose Kindle sales figures.
. . .
Amazon has disclosed few details on Kindle sales.  In October, the company said that sales of the lighter, faster Kindles, which were introduced in July, had surpassed total Kindle sales in the fourth quarter of 2009, the company’s busiest time of year. Sony and Barnes & Noble don’t disclose sales of their e-readers either.
. . .
Amazon’s sales demonstrate that the market for stand-alone e-readers is growing even as Apple Inc. builds demand for the iPad tablet, which lets users read books, watch videos and carry out computing tasks. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, sold 7.46 million iPads from their April debut through September. '

  About a zillion competing tablets are due in mid January :-)  The iPad itself is due to come out with an improved do-even-more tablet in Feb/March, per multiple rumors of probable features tweeted the last two days.  I'm hoping it has a USB port and an SD slot instead of a kludge adapter kit that's extra.

MY NOOKCOLOR
I now have a NookColor for magazines and travel/photoshop books.  The Nat'l Geographic magazine is just stunning on it, and I would like to keep it just for that.

Q&A: Is there a catch with Free 3G? A data-transfer charge was mentioned.

FROM THE COMMENTS AREA, A QUESTION

A question in the Comment area reminded me that many Kindle owners are unaware of an important feature that allows us to send or place 'personal documents' (any file not received from Amazon) onto our Kindles.  The feature is available for personal documents that don't have digital-rights protection on them.

While this can be done with simple transfers from a computer to the Kindle via the USB cable which is part of the power cord and via other methods (see Guides in the reference section in the right-hand colum of the blog), there is also the choice to have the Amazon servers send (and sometimes convert to Kindle format first if needed) the document "over the air" to the Kindle via either 3G cellular wireless (small fee involved) or via WiFi (free) when you are connected to one.

The below question and reply is from a question yesterday to the blog.  Below it, I'll include an excerpt from an earlier blog article that was written to clarify the differences between WiFi-Only and 3G/Wifi Kindle models, to reiterate how Wifi and 3G cellular wireless capabilities differ, since it remains an area of confusion for many.

Kindle for Android newspapers & magazines / Borders, Barnes and Noble dilemmas

LIST OF 100+ NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES IN COLOR, MANY WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES, for KINDLE FOR ANDROID

Amazon has a page now that leads to the listing of magazines and newspapers for the Kindle for Android app update.

  But here are the separate listings for magazines and newspapers for the Android app update.

  They also have a listing that combines newspapers and magazines for Android.

  When you compare these Android-app lists against the usual newspapers and magazines available at the Kindle Store for the Kindle itself (in the listings for bestselling newspapers and bestselling magazines), you'll see which publishers haven't signed up at this point for the Android version.

  For newspapers, the topmost bestsellers missing currently are Wall St. Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Financial Times, etc
  For magazines, the more obviously missing ones currently are The New Yorker, TIME, Technology Review, PC Magazine, The Nation, Bloomberg Businessweek, etc.

  The periodicals not included for Android are explained this way:

' The publisher may have opted out of making it available on certain devices, or the Kindle Reading App experience may not yet be optimized for this publication. '

"JUST NUTS:  TITANIC RUSHING TO JOIN FORCES WITH THE ANDREA DORIA"
Ed Renehan's e-publishing, etc. blog had that colorfully apt title in early December for his blog entry on whether Borders was really serious about buying Barnes & Noble.

Amazon's revised statement on problematical non-lighted Kindle covers

See yesterday's blog posting for details on a Kindle-cover problem and the Amazon Kindle team statement concerning a resolution for those affected by problem batches of the non-lighted Amazon Kindle-3 cover.

  At another forum thread, Marc pointed out that the Amazon-forum response had been edited later to change contact-info for the problem (two telephone numbers are now given) and to clarify that Amazon would be be pleased to replace a problem Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover with a different cover rather than just send a replacement cover:

'                                     Last edited by the author 14 hours ago

The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this.  Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please call us at 877-453-4512 or 206-922-0844.  We will be pleased to replace it for free with a different cover or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased. '

  Marc also posted the following from his forum reading:

' Other people have indicated that Amazon is offering the lighted cover in exchange, or refunding the original cost of the cover and giving an additional $25 credit to users so they can get the lighted cover, or any other cover of their choice. '

  Marc has provided sourcing on that now and adds the following:

' The two people I mentioned, posted on page 13 of the "This cover. . ." discussion.
You can see them here:

http://www.amazon.com/cover-causes-Kindle-freeze-reboot/forum/Fx12U61UWYSO3UY/Tx17O3815XVEMVM/13/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg13?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B003DZ163E&cdSort=oldest.

  Check out Robert M Dunlap's comment, fifth from the top, and Darren_C's comment, that is 11th from the bottom. '

Here is Robert M Dunlap's posting:

' Robert M Dunlap says:

I sent an e-mail to customer support as this issue was happening with my Kindle and un-Lighted case as well.  Sure enough, today they called me and they are sending a free lighted case and refunding the cost of my old case.  Talk about customer service, I upgraded and got my money back.  My orders through Amazon are only going to increase from their already high levels from now on. '

Here's Darren's posting, as one who had a service ticket on this situation for over two weeks:

' darren_c says:

Hi everyone,

I just followed up the Kindle CS team tonight and they have refunded my Kindle cover.  I had a service ticket with them for over 2 weeks with this initial problem, before I found out about the cover issue.  When I called tonight to follow up the CS Rep. reviewed the notes on my file and then asked me if I had the Kindle cover, which I said yes.  He began to ask me to try a few tests and then call him back, but I indicated that after finding this thread last week I had taken the Kindle out of the cover and the problems stopped.  But, when I put it back in the problem began shortly thereafter.  He confirmed that they are aware of a problem with the cover.  Here's what he did for me:

He offered to refund the cover and with all shipping fees as one solution.  He also offered to add a $20 credit to be used towards the lighted leather cover, so basically they would give me the more expensive one to replace the other with no extra cost.  I declined the lighted cover since I discovered that actually prefer holding the Kindle "naked" for reading.  I asked him to go ahead and process the refund the cover and I think I will purchase a sleeve or another type of case.

All of this was done in the most friendly way, so kudos to "Josh" (the Rep. I spoke to) for that!  So, in the end Amazon seems to be acknowledging the issue and offering an appropriate solution.

Hope you are all able to find a similar resolution to this, too.

Cheers! '

Scot and also Tony Reynolds were two of the lead customer-sleuths who gathered enough information for Amazon tech support to identify and confirm the cause of the problems.

In late September, I included information about the lighted, hinged cover including the word of mouth on that cover in two forum threads.  If interested in that, you can follow that link and that information is in the bottom half.

If affected by this, contact the Kindle team and see yesterday's blog for links to a less expensive cover if wanted and to a general list of Kindle covers available for those who have reported problems to Amazon and would like to choose a different cover.

As for Amazon's general Kindle customer support, I had reported on their forum "Thanks" to the Kindle community for "millions" of Kindles sold in the first 73 days of this holiday quarter.  The customer-replies to the announcement say quite a bit about the general level of support.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Kindle for Android updated. Amazon re Kindle non-lighted cover. Revised

Android Community's Chris Davies reports that there is a large Kindle for Android update today and as a result, it's now called Kindle for Android, v2.0 and is, as usual, a free download.

  The updated version now "includes newspaper and magazine support together with 'Move to SD Card' functionality enabled ... allows access to Amazon’s 100+ periodical titles, and shifts the Amazon store into the app itself rather than kicking you into the web version when you want to buy a new ebook.

Meanwhile there’s also support for sharing your reading progress with social networks. The UI has been tweaked, with the option to use your Android smartphone’s volume keys to control page turns, and the chapter title now included in the reader status bar; there’s also zoom functionality for images and graphics."

SOME AMAZON KINDLE COVERS, NON-LIGHT VERSIONS HAVE CAUSED REBOOTS
There have been various threads at the Amazon Kindle Community forums about what has appeared to be a problem with some batches of the Kindle leather cover without a built-in light but with the hinges that in the Kindle lighted cover make contact with the Kindle to provide power for the built-in light (which goes 'off' when the Kindle is in sleep mode).  In other words, in the lighted-covers, there's no problem but with some of the non-lighted Amazon Kindle ones, the hinges are similar but no electrical contact was intended.

  It's speculated that if the latter's hinges are metal (some seem to be plastic and not causing problems), there is contact made that has caused reboots for some Kindle-3 owners for whom Amazon has replaced Kindles several times to no avail (while other others haven't had any trouble).  And some feel that the problems have shown up more with cold weather.

 In the forums, the customers have been discovering that if they remove the Kindle from their non-lighted Amazon Kindle cover, the reboots stop.

[Edited to clarify this paragraph]
This has been consistent, with what had originally been thought to be problems with certain Kindle-3s but weren't, and the reports about the cover problem for some have been increasing lately.

In a Kindle thread last night, Amazon Kindle Support responded (2nd note from the bottom there) to the increasing frustration due to some inconsistency of response from Customer Support reps at the first-response level:

'                     In reply to an earlier post on Dec. 16, 2010 10:10 PM PST

The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this.  Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please contact us at kindle-response@amazon.com, and we will be pleased to replace it for free or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased. '

Side note:  A couple of Kindle owners have solved the problem for themselves by putting electrical tape around the upper hinge's contact point.

  The non-problem lighted-cover costs $25 more, and while many are happy with it, as seen in various forum threads and a good added light will cost an average $15 or so, this will be too much for some even if they have liked the case quite a bit -- and there are less expensive non-lighted cases.  One example is the Acase, a platform type that costs about $11.  While the quality won't be as high (as pointed out in the few customer reviews from confirmed buyers), people still give it 4 stars out of 5 and, at the least, it will keep the Kindle safe while making a decision on a better one.  Others are planning to accept the refund and apply it to the lighted case.
[Edited the link for the Acase cover as I had the general covers link there instead.]

  But there are a plethora of Kindle-3 covers from which to choose.

  I should add that I use a Cole-Haan with hinges but it has caused no reboots and the Kindle is always in the cover; however, it's expensive and I got it when there was a large discount on it briefly.  So any hinge problems would be with certain batches of the official Amazon Kindle non-lighted cover.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Updated Mobiweb Kindle bookmarks file w/ tips on using gmail on Kindle 3

The bookmarks photo is from petittscreations.com.  I ran across them and liked the bookmarks but have no association with the site.

This is an alert that the ongoing mobiweb file of bookmarks or website-links for Kindles, which includes tips on how to get around problems with Google's gmail and gtasks on the Kindle 3, was just updated to try to make the tips more readable and to alphabetize and boldface the link titles for ease of use.

Before uploading this, I got an Amazon alert that those interested in GPS units might want to know that there's a one-day series of "lightning deals" on GPS units which they say will have discounts of up to 66% today.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Kindle 3 gets another 2010 product award + a renewed kinstant links page

MOBILE VERSIONS OF WEBSITES

"Trusted Reviews" site is an excellent UK site for information on just about any technology in the modern world.  I had meant to include their ultra-thorough review of the Kindle 3  (UK: K3) earlier but somehow forgot.

  Be sure to take a look at that; it includes a video and excellent photographs and details.  They are also knowledgeable enough to understand and value the rather revolutionary aspect of the free (even if slow) 3G web access.  I suspect other reviewers would too if this feature turned up on other e-readers (which won't happen).  The Kindle has the only free 3G web browser not confined to the company store.

Product of the Year, Runner Up
  As it turns out, I see that Trusted Reviews also awarded the Kindle 3 "Runner Up" status, 3rd place in its TR Awards 2010 for Product of the Year 2010.

  What was 1st place?  Microsoft Office 2010/Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, which they said came into its own with this update.
  2nd place?  The HTC Desire HD smartphone

  They gave the Apple iPad an "Honorable Mention" partially because of the cost of it relative to its features, but they recognize that Apple "singlehandedly" created a new hardware segment.

KINSTANT WEB PAGE FOR KINDLE
The title of this Trusted Reviews story, however, is incorrect.  The Kindle browser is in no way "revamped" by the offering of the reviewed website as the title suggests, but the recommended website of mobile links, http://kinstant.com can be very useful while browsing via any Kindle because it is a list of mobile-device-oriented site URLs specifically chosen for use with the Kindle 3 and previous Kindles identified in a slightly different category.   [EDIT: Kinstant also lets you search Google for a site and will squeeze down the sites you visit from Search routine.]

NEWS: NookColor, Kindle Roundup. 'Millions' of Kindles just sold

KINDLE AND NOOKCOLOR NEWS ROUNDUP
Haven't been around the last two days and now that I'm back, I see that the news seems to be almost entirely about the holiday lists all the newspapers and 'zines are making.   I drew attention to one very popular list the other day, but on the Amazon review areas and forums, there are still many people wondering which e-reader to buy or whether or not they should upgrade their prior Kindles, so I'll go again with what's in the news.  Since I missed a couple of days, this will be extra wordy.  I miss a day and you get punished. :-) That's A Kindle World.

In the hot, color department you have LCD tablets like the Apple iPad , Samsung Galaxy 7", Archos 70 at 7" and Archos 101 at 10", and now the 7" Barnes & Noble NookColor].  As I've written, I may get a NookColor eventually as a secondary or supplemental e-reader because I would like a color e-reader for SHORT-session reading (magazines, travel, history, and art reference books), and others want color for their children.

  The trade-offs are battery life, ability to read easily in sunlight or near a window, possible eye fatigue from long-form reading (books) on a backlit screen, weight, and expense.  The iPad starts at $500 w/WiFi Only ($629 w/3G also); the Samsung Galaxy 7", quite a bit smaller but more portable than the 10" iPad, is about $600; the Archos 101 10" tablet is sold out already everywhere at $295, as it has many features the iPad doesn't, at a considerably lower cost (HDMI connector, USB port, micro SD card slot, webcam), and the NookColor e-reader (which is $250 and wisely being marketed as mainly an e-reader since it's officially not intended do what a full Android tablet can).  According to reviews the NookColor has a beautiful display and functions pretty well, especially for those who read mainly magazines (rather than many books a month) and who want to surf the web in color on a portable device.

  My main reason for hesitating, since I do have so many Kindle books with color illustrations, is that a full Android tablet (like the Archos) can actually have ALL the online bookstore apps on it (Nook, Kindle, Sony, Kobe) and there is a new Android app supporting library book rentals as well.

  So, instead of having two devices which don't allow other online bookstore apps, I'm intrigued that a full Android tablet actually could become a device that can read books from all the online bookstores, even those with proprietary e-book formats.  And we are about to see a flood of full Android tablets with price competition.

  For best information on what the Nook can and can't do right now, visit the Barnes & Noble Nookcolor forums and for best how-to information, its Nookcolor Technical Support forums.

  Also, be sure to search each bookstore for your favorite authors.

MOST POSITIVE NOOKCOLOR REVIEWS
  Here are some news items for others who are also trying to decide between the new Kindle with high-contrast e-Ink screen and the new NookColor e-reader, starting with recent appraisals of the NookColor after a few days spent with it.

NYT-David Pogue home recommendations. Tip on initial battery fast-drain

David Pogue's Home for the Holidays

This is his Holidays 2010 listing of recommended tech-related gifts "perfect" for each room in the house.

Heading the list is ye olde Kindle 3  (UK: K3).

For each item recommended, Pogue has the usual whimsical VIDEO :-)

The simple description for the 'living room' Kindle is merely
"There are many e-book readers on the market, but Amazon's Kindle ($139 and up) is far superior to its competitors."


While at this page, I was struck that it included two of my recent buys, both unusual.  Since I have recent positive experience with these, I'll include these in case some readers are interested.

The one that's now always with me is the The pocketable Canon S95 which is fully automatic if you want and yet gives full manual control and is just terrific in low-light situations.  It's my favorite camera, ever (including my Digital Rebel), but it has only the screen-image (high resolution and contrast) and no viewfinder.

  For anyone else seriously looking into a really excellent low-light pocketable camera (no flash needed, my preference) with amazing image stabilization, here are reviews to browse:  Trusted Reviews (thorough), Burrard-Lucas blog (fun read), and Pogues' own florid piece


Also, the LG BD590 WiFi Blu-Ray player with a 250G hard disk. It allows you to play youtube, netflix, etc on it.


TIP:  UNUSUAL BATTERY DRAIN WHEN THE KINDLE IS NEW
I replied to a public question on Facebook recently, and the suggestions in my post did help the person who had been having fast draining of her battery despite the Kindle being new and not doing that much reading on it.  Here, in case it might help others (as this problem does come up on the forums) is the conversation in the Kindle forum there:

' Q:  I have been reading everywhere about people getting up to a month out of a single battery charge on their K3.  I have my Wi-Fi off & use my Kindle solely for reading for about an hour a day & have had to charge it once a week since I got it in. Sept.  Is there any reason why this could be happening? When not in use, I keep my Kindle in a leather case inside my purse, along with my other devices (Cellphone, iTouch, etc.).  Can batteries drain off each other when stored together like that? May seem like a stupid question & rather unlikely but I'm really reaching for answers here.  Under similar conditions I only had to charge my Sony once every 3 weeks or so.  Any help would be just peachy - thanks!

A:  J, if you don't expect subscriptions and have wireless on at times, it should last longer if you're reading only an hour a day.

D had a good point re it not holding a fuller charge when it's new but also it's not the kind of battery that you have to discharge, as it has no memory problems, though sometimes at first maybe a few batteries might be confused for all I know.

I collected a group of official Kindle Team or Customer Service advisories put out on the Amazon Kindle forums in announcements -- about best battery maintenance practices, which is at http://bit.ly/kbattery.

There are also a couple of other factors (and one important one is not to leave even your bag with Kindle in a hot closed car for awhile but especially not to leave one in a hot car with windows closed).

When a Kindle is new you tend to download more books to it than at other times.  Each book must be 'indexed' to make a list of key words for Search routines of the entire Kindle to find a word or phrase in a book, on the device and also for searches within the book you are reading.

That takes a lot of battery life initially. If you suddenly download a lot of books at anytime, it'll cause a lot of battery activity to do the indexing of each one.

Then there is occasionally a book that for some reason never finishes indexing (maybe something happened during the download).  You can find that type [of problem] by doing a kindle search for a [nonsense] word at the home screen.

At the Home screen, type any nonsense word such as 'xyyx' which will not be found in your everyday book, and press the Enter key or the 5-way button (to click it, as it will search your items on the device that way).

While the Kindle is searching every book, it will also tell you if a book (or periodical) has not been 'indexed' yet.

If one book never indexes completely, delete it. If you can't delete it using the Kindle (unlikely), delete it via your computer when you can connect the USB cable to the computer's USB port and see the Kindle files under the "documents" folder of the Kindle drive.

It's not easy to know which book is which, due to the odd titles that Amazon uses, but you can open the book, make a bookmark or a little highlight and then close it.
  That will become the "most recent" book accessed and will show at the top when you sort files by latest date.  (You can also use the free Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac apps to check that the most 'recent' book is the one that's not fully indexing.)

But it should be easy to delete anyway from the Kindle.  If it's an Amazon book, you can just re-download it.  If it's not an Amazon book, you should have it backed up.  Maybe re-downloading another copy of it will fix it.

When you DO have wireless On, to download books maybe, a bad connection or reception where you are will cause larger battery use when trying to get a file.

But you've given it a month and it should hold longer.  If it continues not to hold more useful charge than that, call Kindle Support [866-321-8851] who will do a log or record keeping with your help and if it doesn't hold a charge long enough, they will likely send a replacement while you keep the old one until you know for sure the 2nd one is okay.

4 days for an hour a day of reading is not how it should be, at any rate. (Also make sure the battery isn't left on accidentally as I tend to do with mine.)

- Andrys

Q: (and issue may be resolved)
I discovered that mine was indeed still indexing books.  I did as you said, Andrys, with the search & found it was still indexing & had 200 books to go  (BTW, I loaded it with almost 3,000 books I had converted from my Sony prior to this).
  So, yeah, it makes sense that it has simply taken it this long to index all those books.  I left it plugged in & checked it the next morning & it was down to 5 books to index.  When it was finished I unplugged it & have left it alone all day.  I'm checking the battery now...& the level is at almost full, just missing the tiny lower right corner on the battery pic.  So, we'll see over the next few days if it holds.  I mean, it seems logical that that was the problem, so hopefully it's all sorted out now.  Thanks SOOOO much 4 your help & I'll post an update later in the week. :)

Q: (Actually, a brief follow-up report)
OK, so, it's been about a week since my last charge & the battery is at just below half full. That's definitely better than before!

Q: final follow-up report seen
T - read Andrys' big post towards the top of this thread.  She gives a lot of great & very helpful information that ultimately got my Kindle's battery sorted out.  A week and a half on one charge thus far.  Try her suggestions & let us know. '

WELL, I left in the nice feedback, mainly to show all that wordiness contained something that did work for her.  But the battery drain from initial indexing is not very well known.

Also, many are not aware of the Kindle customer service battery-maintenance advisories.

 When the Kindle is new, many download as much as possible, usually from the free areas, or from a collection they already had on another Kindle or from their Calibre Kindle file-management program..

  Hope this will help people who find it :-)


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Blackjack for Kindle (free) and other recently released Kindle games

HERE'S THE LATEST FREE KINDLE GAME

I was so caught up in the Books in Browsers announcements yesterday, I missed the alert from Golf11, who usually sees these things earlier than most.  Blackjack!  Of course, the display won't be in color but the Kindle-book covers are shown in color too.  This is playable on all Kindle 2, 3, and DX models.  As far as I know, Kindle  (UK: K3) games are not yet available outside the U.S., but the plan is that they will be eventually.  Here's Amazon's description:

' The Kindle version features all of the most common aspects of the game including splits, double down, surrender and insurance, as well as multiple options for customization that allow you to play the style of Blackjack that you want to play.  For example, you can configure the game to match specific structures like 'Dealer must hit soft 17' - a common rule variation in many Las Vegas casinos.

The built-in advice feature, which you can turn on and off at any time, applies basic strategy and will recommend the best course of action to maximize your chances of winning. '

I try not to think about Kindle games lately (they've been releasing quite a few) because I became a bit addicted to the first two games (Every Word and Shuffled Row) and wasn't reading anymore, so I went cold turkey after reporting on Electronic Arts's Scrabble game.

Since then, Amazon has released other games, the most recent one being Mahjong Solitaire

This is also available for all Kindle 2, DX and Kindle 3 models.  Amazon's statements about shipping outside the U.S. eventually are quoted in the linked "Every Word" page above.

  The product page for Mahjong Solitaire shows it is "sold by Mobigloo" and that "This price [$3.99] was set by the publisher."

  Amazon's description:

' In Mahjong Solitaire, you match pairs of identical tiles in order to remove them from the board. Only free tiles can be matched. Tiles are considered free if they do not have other tiles to either the left or right of them, or on top of them. The objective of the game is to clear all the tiles from the board. The game ends when all tiles have been removed or when there are no more free tiles left to match.

Mahjong Solitaire tracks the number of pairs of free tiles available to be matched for you. In addition, the game allows for unlimited undos, and contains a Hint feature that will give you suggestions for your next move, as well a Shuffle feature that will rearrange the tiles when you get stuck.

Mahjong Solitaire provides 10 different game board layouts to choose from. The game maintains game statistics that track your best time for each layout finished. '

On December 3, two other games were released.
  These are actually two versions of the popular word scramble game Jumble for Kindle: Jumble 10 which contains 10 Jumble puzzles ($.99), and Jumble 50 which contains 50 Jumble puzzles ($3.99).

You can read about how these work, at the linked pages.  Amazon says that Jumble "is one of the longest continuously running word games in the world. More than 60 million people in over 600 newspapers, in books and magazines, on dozens of websites and on mobile apps enjoy Jumble every day. Try out Jumble on Kindle today and find out why."

I must admit I've never heard of it.  Pricing above can be changed at anytime, and these are shown just to give you an idea.  The Kindle forums have positive word on most of these.


ALSO relatively new: Hangman for Kids and EA Sudoku.
  You'll see various other Kindle games recommended too on those pages.  While the Kindle Apps store is not "launched" yet, it seems to be churning out games and there are customer ratings for them.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Amazon Kindle for Web vs Google EBooks and a roundup of news - UPDATE

KINDLE FOR WEB
The Kindle for Web demo took place today while I was writing this blog entry.  Here's the upshot, from Amazon, via Bradenton.com.  The new app was "demonstrated on-stage at a Google Chrome event today and will support Chrome OS devices, including the new Chrome OS Notebook, as well as the Chrome browser and other web browsers."

' “Kindle for the Web makes it possible for bookstores, authors, retailers, bloggers or other website owners to offer Kindle books on their websites and earn affiliate fees for doing so,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content.

  “Anyone with access to a web browser can discover the seamless and consistent experience that comes with Kindle books.  Kindle books can be read on the $139 third-generation Kindle device with new high-contrast Pearl e-Ink, on iPads, iPod touches, iPhones, Macs, PCs, BlackBerrys and Android-based devices.  And now, anywhere you have a web browser.  Your reading library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights are always available to you no matter where you bought your Kindle books or how you choose to read them.” '

NEWS STORIES: GOOGLE EBOOKS (See Update of Dec 8.)
Earlier today, the title at the Google eBooks site was "Google eBooks" but it now says "Google eBookstore" which probably differentiates it from the older Google Books site we've been using but which didn't have books for purchase from Google itself.

Kindle for Web, demo'd today for more than book samples finally, will provide web access to all purchased Kindle books also, functioning in a similar way to the Kindle for PC and Kindle for Macs apps (free), which have for some time made purchased books readable on any PC or Mac and have required no Kindle device).

  Now the Kindle books will also be readable on any web browser.  Does that sound familiar?

NOTE: The FREE Google eBooks are readable on the Kindle.
  See the blog article on converting free Google books to Kindle format, free, and easily done yourself or via the RetroRead website, which does it for you at no cost -- that's all explained in the article.  For a long time, free Google books can be read on the Kindle directly via these two methods, the latter one requiring only a download of the converted file after making a form request for a free Google book.

  The Internet Archive's Books in Browsers Conference (BIB10) that I was able to attend recently was a very timely one, with the sudden access to our purchased (and free) books online via a web browser at any time, whether via Google or Amazon.

I've read today that the Nook, Sony and Kobo owners can use the Google app to read the Google eBooks online via web browser AND can also download the books to the devices themselves (for easier navigation of the book pages), by downloading them via Adobe Digital Editions software and then transferring them to their devices via USB.

Zacks.com
  I'm not sure Zacks is aware of this, as they mention a couple of times in this article that the Kindle allows device usage while the Google is done through online web access.

  They also say that:
  "While Google’s ebook store is available from practically any device with a browser, including ebook readers, such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Sony Corp’s Reader and Apple Inc’s iPads, it will not be accessible from Amazon.com’s Kindle."

  That's not true, actually, as I used my Kindle to purchase a Google eBook today and then went to my Google eBooks area and used the Kindle's web browser to read it.  It certainly IS accessible from the Kindle.

  With the free 3G experimental web-browsing feature of the Kindle (on Kindles for 3 years so far), you can 'read' your Google eBook residing in the cyber-cloud from almost anywhere you are, including on a bus or at the beach.

However, it's very awkward and cumbersome to access a Google eBook that way, although once you're IN the Google book (online) and have set your font size, line spacings, justification style, foreground/background etc., and can bear clicking on the symbol used to do a Next Page instead, it is fairly useful for Kindle owners who want to read a book that's not available at Amazon.
  There is no other reason to go through that though.

  But, again, once set up it's not bad; however, those needing much larger fonts can't increase the fonts large enough this way without narrowing the column of text to uselessness, as google reserves space for its various Options on the left.

  While the Google eBook app for ePub E-Ink readers provides the access to the web reading of a G-book, I don't know yet how it handles the 'next page' mechanism (which, on the browser version, is similar to how the Kindle apps for PC and Mac handle that), as it's awkward on an e-ink screen using cursor access.
  Navigation should be much better on an LCD e-reader when reading through the web.  But the Adobe-rights-protected ePub files can be read in the normal way on these e-readers when downloaded for reading on the device.

 Google has scanned 15 million books and are making a few hundred thousand of them available for purchase when the rights-holders agree.  (I did some screen shots and might put them up later.)

  Zacks adds:

'...Kindle allows highlighting and marking, making studying online easier and this feature is not yet available for Google books. '

GigaOm.com
GigaOm's James Kendrick points out that this first launch of Google eBooks

  . has no Bookmark feature
  . ironically has no Search feature  [It does.*]

It also has no dictionary of course, but Wordweb can help with that, for Windows users.

It of course does record the last page you read and places you there when you next access the GBook.

******* Begin Update *******
UPDATE Commenter Tom Semple (follow the link to his thorough explorations of the Kindle and Google eBooks) said that there IS a Search feature and of course there is, though it had looked like a 'zoom' feature to me and I had not tried it out but just quoted GigaOm.

  He also mentioned that 'n' and 'p' (as well as 'j' and 'k') allow you to use the keyboard to go to the 'Next' and 'Previous' pages, which is TONS easier than moving the cursor into the areas of the ">" and "<" page-turn symbols.   When selecting your Google eBook, be sure (on the Kindle) to cursor to the right to find the "Read now" button, which once you click on it gets you into your eBook.   It's good to know that if we can't find a book on Amazon, we may be able to find it on Google eBooks area and read it there.   I have TWO shortcuts to get to Google eBooks for use on the Kindle. Remember that on the Kindle, you shouldn't use the "http://" portion as the Kindle does it for us.
  Yesterday, I'd used 'http://bit.ly/g-books' but the hyphen is placed in a very hard-to-reach area of the Kindle's "Sym" key so I made a 2nd shortcut today, which is "bit.ly/gbookstore" which has more characters than the first shortcut but doesn't require finding the dash on the Kindle keyboard.  And it has 6 less characters to type than "books.google.com/ebooks" and is easy to remember, if you're used to the "bit.ly" shortcut site.

BOOKMARK the google books page once you get there.

HOWEVER, the quickest way to get to a website is to:
  type the URL (w/o 'http://') on the HOME screen and then right-arrow to the "go to" to get to the website without having to go to the experimental features menu.

******* End Update *******

Bookseller.com
Bookseller.com has a "What the Media Said" feature that's very helpful here.  They mention that some were less impressed:

  . Washington Post

' "The company held up support for copy-and-paste and printing, for example, after too many publishers balked.  Highlighting and annotation features won't happen until later.   The same goes for text-to-speech capabilities that would allow Google's reader programs to read a book aloud."

  After trialling the service, it added, "I can only think this store could use another run through the typewriter." '

  . The New Yorker blog
    The New Yorker's Macy Halford in a mostly-positive article, and a distaste for enriching Amazon (he says), writes "faulty cataloging system that Google has used for Google Books since the beginning is exacerbated here".

  . Publishers Marketplace
    Publishers Marketplace repeats that the large publishers using the agency plan elsewhere get to use it here too and adds some info that other reports said was not available yet, but there seems to be an error there:  For publishers already selling via the agency model,

[Publishers already selling on the agency model] ' indicate they receive the same 70% of their consumer price as they get from all other retail partners.  Google takes 10% and Google's retail partners receive 20% (assuming one is involved in the sale).

    Under wholesale terms Google takes 10% of the RRP ['Recommended Retail Price'], while the publisher and retailer split the sale price 63%/37%. '

    That probably should have been that Google takes 10% while the publisher gets 63% and the retailer gets 27%.

EcoLibris blog
5 reasons why independent bookstores shouldn't count too much on Google Editions
 There are some very good points made in this article.

Digital Trends
Jeffrey Van Camp writing for Digital Trends points out that Amazon will demo new features for the Kindle that will “enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books.”

ComputerWorld
Computerworld's Matt Hamblen reported the email from Amazon that they'd be demo'g the new Web app today.

  Illustrating the confusion today around how Google eBooks works
    I originally wrote, while taking notes for this round-up:
    "What's odd is that Computerworld keeps referring to Kindle for Web as a "device" rather than a Kindle app and opines that
    "...it was clear the device isn't ready for sale" -- adding that "It could get an official launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at research firm Gartner.  The Kindle for the Web concept first surfaced about a month ago and seemed like a "natural evolution" of Amazon's e-book strategy, he said.
    Weiner said he expects Kindle for the Web to still run on a proprietary Amazon operating system, something that he said Amazon needs to change to be fully competitive with Google's new e-book system."

Computerworld corrected the earlier report and added this later today:
"Editor's note: This story was corrected from an earlier version which incorrectly called Kindle for the Web a device from Amazon.  In a beta announced by Amazon in September, Kindle for the Web is actually an application for browsing the Web to read first chapters of Kindle books.  This story adds a new fourth paragraph with some adjustments to the third paragraph."
  The rest of the story had very interesting points though:

' James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester, discussed Amazon's ability to let independent booksellers sell books through Kindle for the Web as Google is doing (places like Powell's Books and Alibris).

"In the long run, Google eBooks may just convert more people to e-reading who may then go on to buy a Kindle," McQuivey added.

Google has talked about supporting the PDF and ePub formats for making its approach more open than Amazon's, although McQuivey dismissed those formats as not all that important.

[Blog comment: Writers keep describing Google's purchasable books as "open format" when what they mean is that Google and other companies challenging Amazon for market share are using the Adobe digital rights-management (DRM) system which is then the "standard" used while Amazon is using its open own DRM rather than paying Adobe to use theirs.  While ePub is meant to be an open format, it's not 'open' when DRM is wrapped around it for rights-protection.]

  "EPub doesn't mean anything to most buyers, especially when reading on the Kindle platform feels a lot like reading on the cloud," McQuivey said.
...
  Weiner said. "If Amazon is serious about the device space, they are
going to have to open up devices ... whether that is based on
Windows or Android or something else."
  ...Google has to "prove to be a worthy competitor to Amazon, which has years with a global footprint, really strong apps on every device and a great brand."

"Amazon also has the ability to allow a quick online checkout, which comes from years of experience selling books and other goods online, and is a tool that Google lacks, Weiner said. "Amazon also has a return policy that's amazing with great customer service," he added. '

Popsop.com   Brand Magazine Online
Popsop.com points out that "This is the largest collection of all types of books of different genres and by different authors of all epochs.  Most of them are available for sale in Google eBookstore—but only for U.S. citizens so far."

A GOOGLE EFFECT ON THE FIRST DAY
  And now we come to why that odd image is at the top left.  But I did that before writing too much from the interesting reports I was seeing.
  Los Angeles Times blogs reported on a curious effect of the Google launch today.

A book by a debut novelist ("The Pericles Commission: A Mystery of Ancient Greece" by Gary Corby) came out of nowhere to land up #16 on Google's new bestseller list.

  At Amazon, in a sub-sub category it's visible but barely.  He has all 5-star reviews, although the only-5 customer reviews so far isn't a reliable gauge.  One person with a 'Amazon Verified Purchase' titled her customer review: "A Riveting Romp Through Ancient Greece" and there are other colorful review titles.
  His Twitter following of 1600~ might have helped.  The Google eBookstore ranking stayed the same throughout the day, while Amazon's changes hourly.  I just like stories like this.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Oprah and the Kindle giveaway, Google Books Store launches - details

GOOGLE BOOKS STORE
Google ebooks store (contemporary books as well as the free ones we've accessed) launched today, to challenge Amazon, B&N, Sony, Borders, Apple, et al.

They are not offering lower prices because they've signed Agency agreements with the usual large publishers and the prices are the same at all stores. They're apparently paying independent publishers 52% on a sale vs the 70% that Amazon and Apple offer.

In Google's case, a main feature is to read your books in the "Cloud" (on the Web), and each person's books will be stored there the way they are at Amazon, except that you read Amazon's own books on the Kindle or on the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, Android-based devices, PC, and Mac using the free Kindle reading apps.

  The advantage for Amazon customers has been the ability to sync the reading between one's various devices and this syncing has been relatively seamless.

  Google will sell the books with an emphasis on the ability to read them on the web from anywhere on any device that can browse the web -- and that means you'd be connected to the web while reading your book and there is then the ability for Google to use advertisements during the reading.

  Apparently, you'll also be able to download your purchased books to many devices for which the digital-rights mechanism used is covered, but they won't be compatible with the Kindle's digital-rights method.

  How they will cover sync'g for those books that go on individual devices is unclear but they're not offering this. If you read your books on the web, then your last page would always be noted on the web.

  Highlighting and annotations:  Haven't read anything on that yet.

  Customer service is probably also a new area for them to think about as I've never been able to reach Google support for anything.
  Amazon allows refunds within 7 days for e-books that have problems, badly formatted, unlinked table of contents, or when you felt you didn't mean to order it. B&N's general policy is no refunds even if the book has mssing pages (I read this on their forums).

OPRAH TODAY AND THE KINDLE GIVEAWAY PLUS DOUBLE BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Oprah thanked Amazon for providing each audience member a "3G Kindle"  (UK: K3) and said, while holding the physical books, that she still loves books but that if you travel, you've "gotta" love the Kindle.  Then they gave the audience both types of books :-).

  The audience reacted as if they had won expensive cars :-) but they did get the Kindle model that can download books and do web lookups from anywhere you are and does not depend on being at a WiFi hotspot.

  As mentioned before, the show featured author Jonathan Franzan.

OPRAH'S 65th BOOK CLUB PICK: Charles Dickens double-header -- A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations
  Amazon's PR says that the two Oprah-recommended books today (Charles Dickens special) are FREE at Amazon, although the Kindlestore top-right-corner ad leads to the "enriched" double-book for $7.99, which includes: "illustrations of 18th century fashion and culture in Dickens’s Victorian world, the early reception for both..., a filmography of Dickens’s novels, further reading about the author as well as what informed the thematic elements of these classic novels."

  If not interested in the special illustrations, filmography, and further reading, here is a quick way to find Dickens' free books on Amazon, and these are sorted by how well they have been selling -- the $7.99 Oprah double-book heads the list despite a request for only free Dickens books.

  As most Kindle owners know, Amazon has about 20,000 other free classics at Amazon, which one can sync between devices and also there are millions of free out-of-copyright-books available to read on the Kindle at the various sites mentioned in the ongoing Free Kindle Books blog article.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Updating of Best Kindle Bookmarks for Kindle web browser.

This is just a link to the updated blog entry for the free, downloadable Best Kindle Bookmarks for the Kindle Web Browser;  for some reason, the Google Reader does not place older updated articles at the top, even when they have new dates on them, so this is to make sure RSS readers can find it.

As mentioned there, today's update was to add special links to Facebook and to Google News that work better on all the Kindles.  I also explain what can't be done on the Kindles at those sites.

I also modified some of the notes about all the links to try to make the tips a bit clearer. The filename remains the same, so you can just re-download it if you already have the older copy.

Free Download of Best Website Bookmarks for Kindle Web Browser - UPDATE5

UPDATED December 5.
  Today's update was to add special links to Facebook and to Google News that work better on all the Kindles.  I also explain what can't be done on the Kindles at those sites.

  I also modified some of the notes about the links to try to make the tips a bit clearer.  The filename remains the same, so you can just re-download it if you already have the older copy.

You can see earlier updated info (9/29/10) here on how to get the file to your Kindle via WiFi directly or via 3G and how to transfer it to the Kindle via USB if unable to send it there directly.

  As of December 5, the Kindle orders are limited to three per customer, and estimated shipping time for orders outside the U.S. is several weeks.

I've updated the freely downloadable bookmarks file andrys.com/mobiweb.azw to include links to sites that work better for Kindle 3 models  (UK: K3), as some of the websites have worked well with Kindle 2 and Kindle DX's but not with the Kindle 3, due to the new model's typed-input not always being recognized by some of Google's productivity sites.

This is a separate Kindle file (in 'book' format) for mainly mobile-device-optimized website bookmarks, which you can use as a Kindle file made up OF the bookmarks listed -- the websites are linked already in that file so that you can use them for the Web when your Wireless is On and this 'book' is open.  The Kindle 3 seems to do better in some cases on non-mobile-device-optimized sites, so those are included also.

  Still part of that bookmarks file are the website links that work well for Kindle 2's and DX's, and at the bottom there are general websites that work well for all Kindles.  See the original blog article that explains it and which also has links to how to use the various web-browsing modes of the earlier Kindles, and with tips in general for browsing on the experimental and limited web browser, whether through the free 3G cellphone network capability (usable without a need to locate a 'hotspot') or via the faster WiFi option (if one has access to a local WiFi network) available for Kindle 3's.

  For anyone not clear on 3G vs WiFi-only, you can read the blog article on 3G and WiFi-Only Kindle 3's - What does it all mean? Which should I get?.

  The Kindle 3 shortcuts added should avoid problems w/some sites when accessing with that model.

    Kindles earlier than Kindle 3 use BASIC and ADVANCED/DESKTOP modes.
    Kindle 3 uses WEB Mode, with ARTICLE Mode available for some web articles.


You can download the file to a computer for transfer to the 'documents' folder of the Kindle or download it directly to your Kindle using the Kindle itself to get the file.  To do any of this, you can

  . either use a USB cable to transfer or "sideload" the
      downloaded file from computer to Kindle's "documents" folder.

  . OR type into your Kindle at the Home screen, bit.ly/kmobiweb
      then 5-way right to "go to" and click on that
        and that will download the file direct to the Kindle

  . OR if in the Kindle Edition blog,
      click on the file link and it should download the file direct to Kindle. 

UPDATE: 10/1/10
Possible problem for some (corrected since, at the server, for lack of recognition of file types by the Kindle 3  even though the Kindle 1, 2, and DX models recognized Amazon Kindle format files for normal download).
  The Kindle 3 opened the Amazon file instead of downloading it as a file, and Kindle 3 users saw gibberish appearing on the screen, which was harmless but ugly.  For me, it happened only with the Kindle 3.  The Kindle 1, 2, and DX's were able to see it as a file.

  I'm putting the details into a new post so that the programmers might become aware it's happening, as my feedback received a boilerplate response.  See today's post (Friday, Oct. 1) for why it happened and how it was corrected for access at this server.

The ALWAYS RELIABLE ways are #1 above (move downloaded-to-computer file to Kindle) and the similar but more direct way of computer-to-Kindle transfer, which is:

  . Attach Kindle to your computer that is online with the Net
  . The Kindle will be seen as a separate 'drive' such as "F: {Kindle}"
  . Click on the 'documents' folder of the Kindle drive, to enter it.
  . In your browser, right-click your mouse on the file-link
      (some Macs require holding the mouse button instead).
  . Choose "Save Link as" or "Save Target as" or "Download/Save"
      depending on your computer and browser
  . Choose the Kindle 'documents' folder for the download.

Then the file will be where it belongs on the Kindle.  After that, use your computer's way of "safely ejecting" the USB device - in this case, the Kindle. 

The Kindle will show the Home screen again, and eventually the new 'mobiweb' file.

(That's like slower ground transport vs air travel.)

Also, Amazon is, for some reason, not considering an .azw Amazon file that IS a personal doc which they converted, to be a file that is acceptable for emailing to your Kindle.   For over a year, that caused no problem, but it is one now, so I deleted the instructions for emailing personal docs to the Kindle.

    Otherwise, you normally can send personal documents to [yourself]@free.kindle.com or to [yourself]@kindle.com once you have gone to your ManageYourKindle page and have approved any mail-to-Kindle-from-email-addresses for the section titled "Your Kindle Approved E-mail List."

The bookmarks file includes the following advice along with the links:

MAPS option works with Kindle 3, but is blocky and slow.

  Directions sub-option will show you text AND map (workable if ROTATED to landscape -
   almost impossible in portrait or vertical mode.

  TEXT directions, step-by-step are much easier to get and read.

    USE http://maps.google.com/m/directions

      See Kindleworld guide for that at bit.ly/kdriving.

MAIL – If you choose this from this Google menu, it does the usual over-complex mail-threading and folders display and is painfully slow or cumbersome even with WiFi.
  Shortcut to painful mode: http://bit.ly/gmail

  USE http://bit.ly/g_mail for a faster experience and bear in mind that to finish a Reply, you need to arrow to the end and leave the Reply box. If you know a better way, let me know.
  (PgDn gets you down faster but doesn’t allow exiting the box
   but you can PgDn and end with cursor-down to exit.)

    Credit to Bill in Kindleworld's Comments area for the Gmail and Gtasks URLS

  ALTERNATE: For a compromise, here’s Advanced Gmail in Basic HTML
    USE for that: http://bit.ly/gmailmobile
      It’s slower but not so painful.

TASKS/CALENDAR (Google still)
  There are problems, with the Kindle 3, in being able to type input into login or search-fields sometimes, with Google features, even though the Kindle 2 and DX’s can handle those fine.  The new shortcuts I‘ve made for google sites are to versions that work with the K3.

  USE http://bit.ly/g_tasks (that’s with an underscore)

  Tasks are coordinated with your calendar when in Gmail on the computer.

GOOGLE READER (RSS feeds)
  USE http://bit.ly/g-reader '

The bookmark links start with the ones Amazon put on the Kindles, and modifications or recommendations are included.

  At the end, I've added general bookmarks to websites I've enjoyed using on the Kindle.

  That includes pure-text versions of the full NYTimes - much faster to read through on the Kindle when you just want to see the latest news.

You can also reference these on the PC or Mac at the same time if you want, while using the file on the Kindle.  If you haven't already downloaded either of these free apps for your computer, you can do that at Kindle for PC page or at Kindle for Mac page.

Suggestions for links I might add later would be very welcome.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Oprah and why the Kindle may be in even shorter supply Tuesday

OPRAH TO FEATURE KINDLE THIS COMING WEEK
Lisa Respers France, writing for CNN about The Oprah Show's final year on television, made a casual mention of a segment that will be shown this week.

Bookworms, a book club in Jamestown, North Dakota, "recently headed to the show in Chicago, Illinois...for the episode featuring best-selling author Jonathan Franzen."

' The group was thrilled with the chance to be in the audience, which [member Shelly Jystad] said included a 100-year-old fan who had followed Winfrey's career, and the gift of a free Amazon Kindle e-reader to every audience member. '

  Looking further, I see that TV Guide's Natalie Abrams noted on Nov. 30 that
  "Oprah Winfrey will announce her latest book club selection on Monday.
  Harpo Productions also announced Tuesday that the episode will feature Winfrey's latest book club author, Jonathan Franzen."

  So there you have it.  The last time she had a show during which she gave everyone a Kindle (October 24, 2008), it sold out well before Christmas and in that case there were no more until a newer Kindle in late February, the Kindle 2.  The show airs this Monday, December 6.
  Take note, if you've been planning to get one for Christmas 2010...

  Amazon has been calling the WiFi-Only Kindle "the Kindle" so that is more likely to be the Kindle she gives away rather than the Kindle 3G/Wifi  (UK: K3-3G), although I'm curious whether her staff chose instead the model with 3G included, as that was a big feature of the original Kindle she gave away back in 2008. (I don't expect the Kindle DXG will be given out as most in her audience would probably prefer the smaller, purse-sized one.)

  eBayers will be active on this also but Amazon Kindle orders are limited to three Kindles per customer, so that should help.  Since avid readers are said to make up, at best, 10% of households, there will likely be quite a few Kindles sold on eBay later by audience members not really that into reading books but they will probably cost more at eBay if Amazon runs out as they did the last time Oprah featured one.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Survey shows misunderstanding of iPad's place in e-reader market

The subject title of this piece belongs to TechGear's Tim Conneally, who is one of the very few writers who seem to have noticed the glaring flaw in the basic premise of the survey by ChangeWave Research which asked consumers which "e-readers" they were likely going to buy this holiday and presented them with the choices of the iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony, A Smart, and "Other."

  The survey conclusions were regurgitated without any analysis by about 95% of the news stories on the first day.

  The iPad is the portable equvalent of a small computer that runs multimedia apps, and only secondarily is it used for reading e-books.  Has anyone ever expected that it would sell less than a dedicated e-reader which is by design a niche product?

  Never mind that although it was roundly predicted that the Kindle  (UK: K3) would be 'killed' or even entombed by the iPad (or, earlier, by the Nook) by the end of 2010, the Kindle is an item for which demand is so great since April that columnists often mention the error of those predictions and the now-obvious happy co-existence of the two types of very popular gadgets.

  Add that the consumers surveyed include those who would have little interest particularly in getting an e-reader and are drawn to the web-surfing, video, and games features of the iPad (per just about every other survey I've seen, most put the e-reading feature last).

 In other words, does any serious survey pit two entirely different types of gadgets against each other and declare a 'loss' for the one that offers one finely tuned capability at considerably less cost for those wanting that one capability?

  The basic question (as asked in this survey) of what "e-reader" a person might be interested in buying assumes that each participant is actually looking for an e-reader rather than showing an interest if asked -- though many will certainly be interested in an all-in-one.  Should they stop making dedicated, inexpensive printers because all-in-one printer/fax/scanners gaining ground on the less-costly, dedicated ones ?

  Should Canon stop making sub-compact cameras because the iPhone has a very good little camera in it?  Would a serious survey ask people to choose between an iPhone camera and dedicated cameras?

  Actually, the comparisons are based on expected hardware sales rather than on the actual way the hardware would be used.


TECHGEAR/TIM CONNEALLY'S PERSPECTIVE ON THIS
Here's some of what TechGear had to say about the survey:

' ... ChangeWave said Amazon's Kindle holds a "rapidly diminishing lead" over the Apple iPad in the e-reader market, and that the iPad's overall presence in the space has doubled since August.

[Yes, the iPad sold 3 million in 80 days -- and after that, Amazon's can't keep Kindles in enough supply for shipping to other countries without large delays.]

According to buying intent stated by consumers, ChangeWave also concludes the iPad "will be the biggest beneficiary of the expanding e-Reader market this holiday season, followed by the Amazon Kindle."

Naturally, this has led to headlines today declaring that the Kindle is somehow "losing" to the iPad.

Unfortunately, the entire survey is based on an unsound premise, because it seeks to compare hardware e-readers with software e-readers.
. . .
Interestingly, the survey goes on to illustrate exactly why the iPad and smartphones should not be placed in the same category as hardware e-readers.

ChangeWave asked consumers "which of the following types of content do you currently read with your e-book reader?"
  Unsurprisingly, the majority of Kindle users said they're reading e-books, while iPad users said they tend to read newspapers, magazines, blogs and RSS feeds.

  In short, this shows not that the iPad is stealing market share from the Kindle.  But instead that consumers who read e-books are buying e-readers, and consumers who read colorful and web-derived content are buying tablets. '

Yes, and one tablet in particular, but people are really taking to the Samsung Galaxy 7" despite Steve Job's insistence that people are not interested in that size tablet (rather like his earlier insistence that the Amazon Kindle was not going to work because "people don't read anymore."  And there is coming a rain of capable tablets in a month or two.
  UPDATE 12/2/10 - Already there is the Archos 101, a 10" tablet for ~$294.

COMMENTERS TO THE TECHGEAR STORY
Here are some really blunt and insightful comments to Conneally's story:

' ___
By Frankwick:
From a purist point of view the ipad (I own one) is a horrid e-reader.  It is too heavy to hold for long periods of time.  Plus, the screen is way way way too glossy in certain places which makes reading a pain in the eye socket.  As far as ibooks goes, it is miniscule compared to the nook and Kindle stores.  Then there is the cost of the ipad - OUCH! '

___
By skapig
E-reader versus tablet appliance with a very large difference in price between them.  Not the most well-conceived study, but the point is really to get the name of the research firm out there by pushing something with these popular keywords down the wire.

[ Exactly what came to my mind because it is such a carelessly designed study, but today's focus on getting stories out quickly more than anything else means the survey makers will get their name out there when stories are done for "first" announcement and then auto-duplicated wildly rather than the news-seconders actually looking at the story to see if there's anything there.

___
By alan@statistixl.com
Nice to finally find a breath of sanity in this debate :-)  I use both and they are definitely horses for courses.  The Kindle is vastly superior for prolonged reading and reading text (it's much lighter, easier on the eyes, has better batter[y] life and enjoys sunlight).  The iPad is much better for browsing the web and flicking through items that require colour. '

In the meantime, ChangeWave itself describes the following questions answered, in its brief online report

' Going forward, e-Reader demand remains strong for the holidays, with 5% of respondents saying they are Very Likely to buy an e-Reader and 10% Somewhat Likely over the next 90 days. '

Here's their full Consumer Electronics Report ($1,500).


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.