Kindle tips: The Big Deal - Over 500 Kindle books at up to 85% off - is back thru' March 30. Appstore birthday: Fourteen Kindle Fire and Android apps Free TODAY & TOMORROW (3/21-22), worth up $50. Also, 50% off top-brand SD/SDHC memory cards currently. Is Amazon readying a smartphone with 6 cameras?

Amazon's The Big Deal feature headline isn't super clear in the image, but that package is back for the rest of March and promises
  "Up to 85% off on more than 500 Kindle Books."

This special feature page is good through March 30, and carries the usual disclaimer re varying selection and pricing of books offered outside the U.S.

  The Big Deal page is organized this time by a more limited set of categories or genres than usual:

  . Biography & Memoir Deals
  . Science Fiction & Fantasy Deals
  . Teen Book Deals
  . Religion & Spirituality Deals
  . Children's Books

On the right of the page is a list of the Top 10 Best Selers and an option to "See all Best Sellers in The Big Deal"
  This is the top 100 out of the 500 offered.

' These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items. Here you can discover the best The Big Deal in Amazon Best Sellers ... For non-U.S. customers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. '

The bottom of the page is a scrolling list of over 500 books, one by one, with a default sort of "New and Popular" and alternate sorts:
  16 per page, if you choose (inside the gray strip bar above the list) the Orange grid for "Detail"
      OR
  60 per page, if you choose the 4-cell icon for "Image" which will show mainly book covers and basic info.

  Shortcut if you type it: bit.ly/thebigdeal-032114



Amazon's Appstore celebrates its 3rd birthday with free apps TODAY and Tomorrow (3/21-22, 2014)
According to INTOMOBILE's Ian Kersey, Amazon is "giving away fourteen hit titles today and tomorrow, which would normally run you $50 to purchase..." The listing:

Polaris Office ($12.99)
Runtastic PRO GPS Running, Walking & Fitness Tracker ($4.99)
Swype Keyboard ($3.99)
mSecure – Password Manager and Secure Digital Wallet ($9.99)
PrintHand Mobile Print Premium ($12.95)
Worms 2: Armageddon ($0.99)
Worms 2: Armageddon (Kindle Tablet Edition) ($0.99)
King of Math Junior ($1.99)
Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots ($0.99)
Dr. Panda’s Airport ($1.99)
MONOPOLY ($4.99)
Sketchbook Pro ($4.99)
Ski Safari: Adventure Time ($0.99)
SpinArt ($1.99)
Battle Maiden Yuko Runner ($10.00)

Some of you will have less Kindle Fire or pure-Android tablet storage than others.  For Kindle Fire users, getting any or all of these at Amazon's web page, after more easily perusing the features and reviews, will put them in your Amazon Cloud and you can download and install, on your device, only what you want or need when you're ready, without worrying about taking too much of the storage space at one time.

  When ready, you'd just choose 'Cloud' on your tablet's Apps "Cloud" top-bar choice and click on one to get it.

This special ends Saturday night, March 22. Thanks to Intomobile for the tip.


For photo buffs and snapshooters: Amazon's current 50% off deal on SD and SDHC memory cards
These are primarily name brand memory cards.


A prediction to monitor, re Amazon's coming smartphone
In Sept., 2011, while the rest of the tech world was saying Amazon would not be releasing new eInk eReader now that tablets were the main focus, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, often cited by AppleInsider, predicted Amazon would release TWO eInk tablets.  This was pooh-pooh'd by most watchers but he was right, including the smallest details.  So his predictions for Amazon's smartphone get more serious attention. Excerpts:

'.. Will feature mid- to high-range specs, including a Qualcomm Snapgragon 801 processor, a 4.7-inch display with 300-320 pixels-per-inch (ppi) and a 2,000-2,400 mAh battery. The most interesting thing that Kuo suggests about Amazon’s smartphone is not the computing hardware, but rather, its cameras.
...
... Amazon will cram a 13-megapixel main camera sensor made by Sony -- with five other cameras. While one camera will be front-facing for video chats, Kuo said "the other four cameras will be used for gesture control, allowing users to operate the smartphone without touching the touch panel.”
...
... Last year, reports said that Amazon was looking at a glasses-free 3D interface for a Kindle phone. The additional cameras might allow for interaction with hologram-like 3D images to bring a whole new dimension to mobile gaming...
...
... Might Amazon offer Prime members some other incentive for buying its phone to justify the higher price?..."
'

More details for those intrigued are at Thomas Halleck's article for International Business Times.



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Kindle Tips: Kindle for Android v4.4 is ready, should fix v4.3 problems and has enhanced features. Free Android App of the day (today only) is the popular The Bard's Tale, usually $3. More solid news of Amazon's coming streaming-video-(maybe games too)-to-TV gizmo. UPDATED

POPULAR $2.99 APP IS FREE JUST TODAY, Wed, 3/19/14

For those who may have missed it (I don't look most days myself), a popular app is the Free Android App of the Day today. It's The Bard's Tale"

And, while we're on the subject of Android apps, the noteworthy Tom Semple sent an alert the other day to the new Kindle For Android update v4.4 arriving finally, after some problems reported with v4.3, somewhat ameliorated by the response by a customer rep (to a customer) that explained which Android app users were most likely to be affected by the problem(s).

The latest Kindle for Android update v4.4 update released this week includes the following features and performance enhancements:

'
* Select additional fonts while reading
* Use the enhanced Table of Contents to search and navigate your book (if available)
* Enable and disable auto-brightness while reading
* Faster book cover loading
* Fixed sensitivity when using the volume buttons to turn pages
'

Amazon's own video-streaming gizmo said to be ready very soon, possibly early in April
CBS Moneywatch News has a details from two stories on this, from Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.  It would compete with Google's Chromecast and Roku products but may be able to do even more.  Click the link to see a good description of what it would do and links to the original stories.

  Update - The Wall Street Journal article by Greg Bensinger is protected behind a firewall, but from time to time they allow access via Google Searches if you google the full title of the article.  Then the full article is shown in those cases.

Some additional details excerpted:

' ... Pricing remains unclear, though the people familiar with the company's plans said the device likely would come with incentives available to members of Amazon's Prime streaming video and shipping program.
...
Streaming video is becoming an important new arena for Amazon, as it battles for viewers with Netflix Inc., Hulu LLC and Time Warner Inc.'s HBO Go.
...
In recent weeks, Amazon has held talks with record companies and music publishers in hopes of creating an on-demand music-streaming service for Prime customers, people familiar with the matter have said.

Amazon has distributed a pre-production version of its streaming device to select app developers, and has indicated it will carry the Fire name Amazon uses for Kindle tablet computers, these people said... '

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

US: New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB - $229/269/309 Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB - $379/429/479 - with 4G added: $479/529/579 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB - 1st Gen $269 $229   $299 Price rise ~2/24/14 - 32GB w/ no special-offers: $314 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi+3G - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free web Kindle DX - $379 $199

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £59 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite2 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire Basic HD 8/16GB, UK -  from £119 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB, UK - from £199. 4G/3G Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB, UK - from £329. 4G/3G CANADA - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite 2 - $139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, 3G - $209 KFire HD Yr 2012 7" $214,  8.9" $244. Yr 2013 KFires: HD Gen2, HDX line India - Amazon India

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Paperwhite 2 WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $209 KFire HD Yr 2012: 7" $214,  8.9" $244 Yr 2013: HD Gen2 + HDX line Australia Kindlestore France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Amazon Japan - Japan

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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Amazon raises its yearly Prime program fee: Details and a round-up of media observations and my own.

AmazonPrime's incrased cost: Is it worth it for you?

On February 27, I wrote an alert about Amazon's US Prime Program cost going up between $20 and $40/yr and said that, in my view, a $40/yr increase would not work.

  An email from Amazon to those of us who are Prime members confirmed the coming increase today, and I'm writing this for those who do not always see their Amazon email and to add information beyond what is in the email, as these communications are customized to the person's Prime program status (regular and student memberships), whether one is already a Prime member, and one's renewal date if so.

  They kept it to a $20 raise ($10 increase for students) -- a new price of $99/year, giving the same reasons they had before when they first announced they might do this, quoted in the earlier alert linked above.

  While the effective monthly cost (paid yearly) by adult Prime members has been $6.58, the new price will be the equivalent of $8.25/mo.

  This is a rise of $1.67 per month for the general Prime program, after 9 years at the same price.

Amazon CFO Thomas Szkutak had said, "...shipping costs have gone up a lot. Fuel costs have gone up a lot."

According to the email I received this morning (which I've reformatted for clarity):

' We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing.  The annual rate will be $99 when your membership renews....

Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same for nine years.

Since 2005, the number of items eligible for unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million.

We also added
  unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video and
  a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

For more information about your Prime membership, visit our Prime membership page at www.amazon.com/prime. '

  The Amazon Student price, (the free-trial period for the less-expensive Student version of Prime has no Instant video streaming, but if it's followed by a paid student subscription, it does), will rise from $39/year to $$49/year on March 20, but for students not yet on Prime, they're offering this:

  "If you start an Amazon Student free trial before March 20, 2014, you'll be charged at a membership rate of $39 when it automatically renews.
  ... If you have an existing paid annual Amazon Student Prime membership that renews before April 17, 2014, you'll be charged at a membership rate of $39.


*Regular* priced Amazon Prime changes
The increased price goes into effect April 17, and if your renewal comes before that date, you'll get the older rate of $79/year.  I wasn't so lucky there.

AMAZON'S Prime Program Membership Fee Changes page
Amazon has added a page with details on the fee changes.


Valuewalk opines:

' Those who order from the service frequently will certainly find it to be worth the extra money just to save on shipping.

  And of course those who frequently utilize the on-demand videos and / or the Kindle lending library will also find value, even in the higher price.  After all, the price is just $3 higher than Netflix, Inc.’s annual price—of $8 a month—and getting free shipping on products enhances the value even further. '

Amazon's pages state that the new Prime Fresh, a their same-day local groceries delivery service, will remain at $299."

  The last I paid attention, they were trying out the same-day delivery of groceries service in Los Angeles and Seattle, with plans to add other cities as it goes.  So, now we know that this costs members of that (more or less beta) program the equivalent of $25/mo.

  Amazon's stock has been rising this morning, since profit margin will be improved while the cost is not so high that people leave the program in droves.

Quartz's Zachary M. Seward has written an interesting story on how the first Amazon Prime price was set. Excerpts:

' Amazon didn’t expect Prime to be profitable at first, but didn’t want to hemorrhage money on it, either.
. . .
  The name actually referred to the “prime position” in Amazon’s warehouses for goods that were eligible to ship in two days at the flat rate, former Amazon executive Vijay Ravindran tweeted today '
. . .
" ... it needed to be large enough to matter to customers but small enough that they would be willing to try it out,” writes Brad Stone in his book about the company.
. . .
“It was never about the $79,” Ravindran is quoting saying in the book. “It was really about changing people’s mentality, so they wouldn’t shop anywhere else.”
. .
If it had kept pace with US inflation, Prime would cost $94.62 today."

A recently added benefit for those who use the Prime instant-video streaming feature (40,000+ movie and tv videos available at no added-cost for Prime members), includes the ability to download many of these to your computer to watch when you're away from your home or a WiFi connection.

Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, wrote today, for Business Week: (emphases mine)

' Bezos believes, even more so than his rivals, that content (books, music, and the like) can be the gateway drug that lures customers into Amazon’s immersive world of devices and digital services.  So over the last few years, he has packed digital freebies into Prime membership...
. . .
Amazon is producing its own television shows and movies in an arms race with Netflix to secure exclusive streaming rights to the most popular TV series. And the company is reportedly working on adding a free music streaming service into Prime.
. . .
In the next few weeks, Amazon will also likely release a set-top box for the living room, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the device touting extra benefits for Prime members. '

In my case, the additional $1.67/month is still worth it to me, as I'm a frequent shopper and watcher of Instant Prime video.

  To be able to order something I need that's even low priced and get it within 2 days without having to wait until I can add more products to the order to make the $35 ninimum for non-Prime Super Savings program, is a real boon.

  Add that, although it's not considered by me as important for my own needs, it's likely that the rumored new TV box and streaming music program will include benefits for Prime members.

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle News: Kindle Paperwhite 2 software update v5.4.3 improves Cloud Collections, PDF pan and zoom. Adds reading-toolbar access to notes. Allows cancellation of KBook purchase during a download. Offers new Power-off options

NEW KINDLE PAPERWHITE 2 Software Update v5.4.3 with substantial feature improvements

Kindle Paperwhite 2 Software Upgrade to v5.4.3

  Devices involved: See Paperwhite 2 (US),   UK Paperwhite 2: here; Global Paperwhite 2: here.

Tne new, free software update available for Kindle Paperwhite 2 can be found [here] [U.S. and some international]

    [Here's the UK-only software update page]

When we had the new software update for the original Kindle Paperwhite 1 the other day, I also linked to the software update pages for the Paperwhite 2).  This separate blog entry highlights the specific features and provides links for both U.S. and UK readers as well as for some International Kindle eReader owners.

The softwares page explain how to check the software version currently on your Paperwhite 2.  I'm usually one of the last to receive software updates, so sometimes I do follow the step-by-step instructions to do a manual download and install to my Kindle if the change is important to me.

This update automatically downloads and installs on the applicable Kindle Paperwhite 2 eventually;  however, as mentioned, you can also manually download the software and transfer the update to your device via USB cable.

Here are the feature enhancements they describe for update v5.4.3 [Emphases below are mine]

* Access Notes from the Reading Menu
While reading, you can view all of your notes by tapping the Menu icon and then selecting Notes. You can also continue to access the Notes tab from the Go To menu in the reading toolbar.  To learn more, go to Add, View, Edit or Remove Notes (US) or, for UK: here.

* Manage Cloud Collections
Use Cloud Collections to organize titles in custom categories and store your collections in the Cloud.  To learn more, go to Organize Your Content with Cloud Collections (US) or, for UK: here.

* PDF Improvements
Pan and zoom within PDF documents more quickly and easily, and adjust the margins for an optimized reading experience.

* Cancel Full Book Purchase from within a Sample
While reading a book sample, you can view the price of the full book and purchase with one tap.  You can also cancel the purchase before the download is complete by tapping cancel purchase.

In a forum discussion, customer and Kindle Forum Pro CBRetriever wrote the following about changes noticed for both Paperwhite 1 and 2 in the (1) Cloud Collections processing (which AVOIDS the Paperwhite 2's initial update problems from a default-automatic-importing of Collections from ALL other devices sharing the same account) and (2) Kindle Paperwhite Restart procedure.  (Bracketed info and emphases are mine):

' It didn't import any collections from my other kindles (YAY!!!!) not even in the Cloud

... my notes so far:

There's another new thing I've never seen before - when I hold the button in for 30 seconds, it doesn't restart, but I'm given 3 choices and I had to pick one (Shut Down, Cancel or Restart) I'm wondering if the new PW2 has the same choices [it DOES] ... I also had to reboot since it came up with a 2G and not a 3G connection. My collections have stars...

It did not bring in the Collections from other Devices.  I have now added 11 more dictionaries and user guides... I had to go download the user guide via manage Your Kindle - it didn't automatically download. ' [UK Paperwhite 2 user's guide here]

New Power-off Options display
  Oddly, my Paperwhite pop-up dialog box showed options different from what's described above for both Paperwhite versions.  The choices I saw during the attempts to either Power Off (holding the Power On/Off button for ~4 seconds) or force a clean "Restart" (holding the Power On/Off button for 20+ seconds) were:
"Cancel | Restart ! Screen Off" ...

  When an eInk screen is displaying a page but there is no change to that screen, the display is having no effect on the battery.
  When you change what's being displayed (changing or adding anything on the page, as in tapping it on the side to get a new page or when an action brings a pop-up window or dialog box), the display IS using the battery.  That's why just pressing the power button for only ~1 second puts the Kindle to 'sleep' during which it displays an image but the Paperwhite light turns off.

  Leaving it in this sleep state doesn't draw battery power as a result of the image display itself.  If, however, WiFi is On during Sleep state, any activity with subscription downloads or a Special Offers download -will- use battery power.

  There is always very slow battery drain in between charges even when a device is turned off.

  So, the "Screen Off" is an odd new choice on mine.  This just blanks the screen and puts it into sleep state.  SOME have requested a blank screen so they know it's "Off" but, in this case, it's only that there's no image seen - not even Amazon's default images during normal sleep-screens.

  "Restart" acts more like a soft-reboot on a computer and clears up memory states that may be causing problems.

  There is NO option on my Paperwhite to completely Power Off or Shut down the Kindle.

  It could be that my dialog box for powering off is different because I chose not to get Special Offers sent to my Paperwhite (I accept Special Offers on my Kindle Fire tablets) and, therefore, blanking the screen with a "Screen Off" does not interfere with the marketing offers on the lockscreen.

  CBRetriever, quoted above, may choose to get the offers on the Paperwhite and, as a result, doesn't get the 'Screen Off' option.  That's just conjecture on my part.

  But she does get the option to 'shut down' her Kindle.  Odd.

  Also, in my case, holding in the power button for over 20 seconds did cause a Restart, as in the past.


IF you experience unusual battery drain
Note that keeping your Kindle always connected to a Wi-Fi network can drain the battery faster under certain circumstances.  If you're experiencing that, then once you've got the update "over the air," put the Paperwhite back to "Airplane Mode ON" via the 'Settings' option on the Menu -- the option lets you toggle Wireless OFF, using the "Airplane On" choice.

  Amazon's Paperwhite development team won't return the Wireless Off/On choice to the front menu as they did last year for the Kindle Touch, removing the 'airplane mode' icon which confuses many.  It's very inconvenient to have the WiFi On/Off setting on a secondary menu and many, as a result, don't even know that they can turn WiFi Off if needed.

  Amazon probably prefers that we keep Wireless 'On' due to delivery of Special Offers but the battery-drain problem can occur when circumstances involve (1) subscriptions that are downloaded regularly (my New York Times Latest News subscription updates the Kindle edition about five times a day - $1.99/month)) or (2) due to a weaker connection that results from the distance from the WiFi router, in which case the device keeps trying to connect when a download is due (and that can be for the special offers that Amazon regularly needs to send for those who choose to opt for the less-expensive model with the special-offers feature) and is then constanty active.

  BUT WiFi needs to be 'On' after you've read a book and made annotations for a session AND when you then want to be able to continue reading later, on another device (like a smartphone), starting at where you'd stopped.
  If WiFi isn't turned on, the Amazon servers won't have any way of knowing the last-page-read location nor any notes or highlighting you've made, which you'd want to be able to access on the other device.  So, a recommendation:

1. When you're finished reading, tap the top-toolbar and press the HOME icon.
  That will 'close' the book session and record the last page read and log the annotations.
2. Tap the top of the Paperwhite to bring up the toolbar and menu icon.
3. If you see an airplane icon at the top, your WiFi is Off (and you're in "airplane" take-off mode).
4. Tap 'Settings'
5. Turn Airplane Mode OFF, and that'll turn WiFi ON.
6. At that point, the Kindle will try to sync your changes to the Server and will download anything that is pending (a subscription to a newspaper, magazine, or blog, usually).
7. After that's done, you can go ahead and leave WiFi ON if you have no problems with faster battery drain
      OR you can turn OFF the WiFi if you need to save battery power.

Only if you'd rather not wait -- DOWNLOADING and transferring the Update via USB
US:  Go to the Kindle Paperwhite Software Update v5.4.3 download section to get the instructions for the download and transfer to your Kindle via USB:
UK:  UK Paperwhite eReader owners can do the same for the UK-only page

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tips: Large Software update v5.4.4 for Paperwhite 1 (Yr 2012). REVISED for New power-off options. [Paperwhite 2 also being updated, separately, linked to here]

KINDLE PAPERWHITE 1 Software Update v5.4.4

Kindle Paperwhite Software Upgrade from v5.3.9 to v5.4.4.

The Kindle Forum has an announcement that a major software update to the first Kindle Paperwhite is available, adding features to Kindle Paperwhite 1 that were first seen on the Paperwhite 2, the later and current model with a faster processor.  (A Paperwhite 1 U.S/ software update {UK page here} is also ready.)

  Affected Paperwhite models: See Paperwhite 1 (US);   (UK Paperwhite 1: here;  Global Paperwhite 1: here.)   [Bracketed notes are mine.]

  The new, free software update available for Kindle Paperwhite 1 can be found [here] [U.S.and international]

    [And Here's the UK-only software update page.]


 The software page tells you how to check the software version currently on your Paperwhite.  Mine still has v5.3.9 on it rather than v5.4.4

This update automatically downloads and installs on the applicable Kindle Paperwhite; however, you can also manually download the software and transfer the update to your device via USB cable.

  I've revised this blog entry March 10 to add, at the bottom, new information on the Power off options.

The software update includes general improvements and the following new features:

* Kindle FreeTime:
FreeTime lets you create personalized profiles for kids, and give them access to titles from your collection of books. Kids can keep track of their personal reading progress and earn achievement badges. To learn more, go to Kindle FreeTime

* Goodreads on Kindle (US only)
Connect with the world's largest community for readers from your Kindle Paperwhite. See what your friends are reading, share notes, and rate the books you read. To learn more, go to Find and Share Books with Goodreads on Kindle.

* Cloud Collections [Long awaited]
Use Cloud Collections to organize your content in custom categories. See your collections in a Collections view, and customize where your collections show on your device. To learn more, go to Organize Your Content with Cloud Collections.

* Page Flip [Great feature many of us have hoped for]
While reading, you can skim the book page-by-page, scan by chapter, or skip to the end for a sneak peek without losing your place. To learn more, go to Go To Other Locations in a Book

* Enhanced Bookmarks, Highlights & Notes
Access and manage all of your bookmarks, highlights, and notes more quickly and easily. To learn more, go to Bookmarks, Highlights & Notes

* Smart Lookup
When you look up a word or character, Smart Lookup provides you with dictionary, X-Ray, and Wikipedia information.To learn more, go to Explore Your Book with X-Ray.

* Vocabulary Builder
Words looked up in the dictionary are automatically added to Vocabulary Builder. View the definition and usage of the words, and quiz yourself with flashcards. To learn more, go to Expand Your Vocabulary. '

In a forum discussion, Kindle Forum Pro CBRetriever wrote the following about changes noticed in the (1) Cloud Collections processing (which AVOIDS the Paperwhite 2 problems from a default-automatic-importing of Collections from ALL other devices sharing the same account) and (2) Kindle Paperwhite Restart procedure.  (Bracketed info and emphases are mine):

' It didn't import any collections from my other kindles (YAY!!!!) not even in the Cloud

... my notes so far:

There's another new thing I've never seen before - when I hold the button in for 30 seconds, it doesn't restart, but I'm given 3 choices and I had to pick one (Shut Down, Cancel or Restart) I'm wondering if the new PW2 has the same choices [it DOES] ... I also had to reboot since it came up with a 2G and not a 3G connection. My collections have stars...

It did not bring in the Collections from other Devices.  I have now added 11 more dictionaries and user guides... I had to go download the user guide via manage Your Kindle - it didn't automatically download. ' [UK user's guide here]

New Power-off Options display
  Oddly, my Paperwhite 1's pop-up dialog box showed options different from what's described above.  The choices I saw during the attempts to either Power Off (holding the Power On/Off button for ~4 seconds) or force a clean "Restart" (holding the Power On/Off button for 20+ seconds) were:
"Cancel | Restart ! Screen Off" ...

  When an eInk screen is displaying a page but there is no change to that screen, the display is having no effect on the battery.
  When you change what's being displayed (changing or adding anything on the page, as in tapping it on the side to get a new page or when an action brings a pop-up window or dialog box), the display is not using the battery.  That's why just pressing the power button for only ~1 second puts the Kindle to 'sleep' during which it displays an image but the Paperwhite light turns off.

  Leaving it in this sleep state doesn't draw battery power as a result of the image display itself.  If, however, WiFi is On during Sleep state, any activity with subscription downloads or a Special Offers download -will- use battery power.

  There is always very slow battery drain in between charges even when a device is turned off.

  So, the "Screen Off" is an odd new choice on mine.  This just blanks the screen and puts it into sleep state.  SOME have requested a blank screen so they know it's "Off" but, in this case, it's only that there's no image seen - not even Amazon's default images during normal sleep-screens.

  "Restart" acts more like a soft-reboot on a computer and clears up memory states that may be causing problems.

  There is NO option on my Paperwhite 1 to completely Power Off or Shut down the Kindle.

  It could be that my dialog box for powering off is different because I chose not to get Special Offers sent to my Paperwhite (I accept Special Offers on my Kindle Fire tablets though) and, therefore, blanking the screen with a "Screen Off" does not interfere with the marketing offers on the lockscreen.

  CBRetriever, quoted above, may choose to get the offers on the Paperwhite and, as a result, doesn't get the 'Screen Off' option.  That's just conjecture on my part.

  But she does get the option to 'shut down' her Kindle.  Odd.

  Also, in my case, holding in the power button for over 20 seconds did cause a Restart, as in the past.


IF you experience unusual battery drain
Note that keeping your Kindle always connected to a Wi-Fi network can drain the battery faster under certain circumstances.  If you're experiencing that, then once you've got the update "over the air," put the Paperwhite back to "Airplane Mode ON" via the 'Settings' option on the Menu -- the option lets you toggle Wireless OFF, using the "Airplane On" choice.

  Amazon's Paperwhite development team won't return the Wireless Off/On choice to the front menu as they did last year for the Kindle Touch, removing the 'airplane mode' icon which confuses many.  It's very inconvenient to have the WiFi On/Off setting on a secondary menu and many, as a result, don't even know that they can turn WiFi Off if needed.

  Amazon probably prefers that we keep Wireless 'On' due to delivery of Special Offers but the battery-drain problem can occur when circumstances involve (1) subscriptions that are downloaded regularly (my New York Times Latest News subscription updates the Kindle edition about five times a day - $1.99/month) or (2) due to a weaker connection that results from the distance from the WiFi router, in which case the device keeps trying to connect when a download is due (and that can be for the special offers that Amazon regularly needs to send for those who choose to opt for the less-expensive model with the special-offers feature) and is then constanty active.

  BUT WiFi needs to be 'On' after you've read a book and made annotations for a session AND when you then want to be able to continue reading later, on another device (like a smartphone), starting at where you'd stopped.
  If WiFi isn't turned on, the Amazon servers won't have any way of knowing the last-page-read location nor any notes or highlighting you've made, which you'd want to be able to access on the other device.  So, a recommendation:

1. When you're finished reading, tap the top-toolbar and press the HOME icon.
  That will 'close' the book session and record the last page read and log the annotations.
2. Tap the top of the Paperwhite to bring up the toolbar and menu icon.
3. If you see an airplane icon at the top, your WiFi is Off (and you're in "airplane" take-off mode).
4. Tap 'Settings'
5. Turn Airplane Mode OFF, and that'll turn WiFi ON.
6. At that point, the Kindle will try to sync your changes to the Server and will download anything that is pending (a subscription to a newspaper, magazine, or blog, usually).
7. After that's done, you can go ahead and leave WiFi ON if you have no problems with faster battery drain
      OR you can turn OFF the WiFi if you need to save battery power.

Only if you'd rather not wait - DOWNLOADING and transferring the Update via USB
US:  Go to the Kindle Paperwhite Software Update v5.4.4 download section to get the instructions for the download and transfer to your Kindle via USB:
UK:  You can do the same for the UK-only page

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle tips: Kindle basic and Paperwhite e-Ink readers on sale for one day, at $49 and $99, recent reviews. Free Android app of the day is a highly-rated educational one for kids (of maybe any age) - US geography

A one-day sale on these two e-Ink readers

(I don't know why it's only a one-day sale.)

 Recent articles (February 2014) that might be of interest to people who are wondering if this is for them or not:

  . USA Today - "E-book readers vs tablets: Which one is right for you?"

  . Tapscape: Detailed review, titled, "Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2013) Review: the best ereader yet?"

  . Business Today: Kindle Paperwhite Sixth Generation.  India got its Kindles much later than we did, so there are many recent reviews from there, as a result.

  . In fact, Economic Times's review on Feb. 10 focuses on what the Paperwhite 2 has that the first Paperwhite doesn't, a good article for anyone wondering whether to go to the newer Paperwhite or not.  I didn't, as the first one is good enough for me, but have been tempted at times by the ability to flip to other pages while remaining on the same page underneath that flipping, along with the noticeably speedier response.

  . Oxford University review, UK  - "New Kindle Paperwhite Makes e-Reading Easy"


Odd changing pricing
The Kindle Paperwhite with 3G is normally $189 and is showing that today.  But 2 days ago, when I was blogging the various thpes of Kindle book discounts, I saw it shown on the header as $209 - something I'd never seen before and I thought it was strange that Amazon would raise the normal price like that without saying anything in advance.  Today the price is back to $189 and shows as normal pricing again.

If interested in the 3G model and whether it could be worth that much more -- in this day of smartphone ownership, not so much, for my situation, but maybe so for those who either travel a lot to various locales outside the U.S., or just don't want to use smartphone data charges for downloading books and shopping Kindle store or for browsing Wikipedia on Free 3G 24/7 with the 3G model) -- there's a recent review titled, "So long, Paper. Is the new Kindle Paperwhite 3G a good travel companion? Two airports, two bumpy flights and two cities later, here’s what we felt."


Stack the States  - Free Android App of the Day

It has good customer reviews and looks to be a fun educational tool.  Might help people interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel's street interviewer :-)

From the Product description:
-  Voted Best Educational Game App - iEAR.org 
- "Stack the States is a must have." - The iKids Blog 
- "If you have children who are elementary school aged this is a fantastic educational app that’s also a hoot." - The iPhone Mom.com 

Product Features  (from the app's product page) Hundreds of unique questions Interactive map and 50 state flash cards Choose any of the 50 friendly-looking states as your avatar Create up to six player profiles Collect all 50 states and track your progress on a personalized map Earn FREE bonus games: Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler and Capital Drop High resolution pictures of famous US landmarks All games are powered by a realistic physics engine Fun sound effects and music

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Current Kindle Models for global reference, plus free-ebook search links.

US: New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB - $229/269/309 Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB - $379/429/479 - with 4G added: $479/529/579 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB - 1st Gen $269 $229   $299 Price rise ~2/24/14 - 32GB w/ no special-offers: $314 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi+3G - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free web Kindle DX - $379 $199

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £59 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite2 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire Basic HD 8/16GB, UK -  from £119 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB, UK - from £199. 4G/3G Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB, UK - from £329. 4G/3G CANADA - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite 2 - $139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, 3G - $209 KFire HD Yr 2012 7" $214,  8.9" $244. Yr 2013 KFires: HD Gen2, HDX line India - Amazon India

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Paperwhite 2 WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $209 KFire HD Yr 2012: 7" $214,  8.9" $244 Yr 2013: HD Gen2 + HDX line Australia Kindlestore France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Amazon Japan - Japan

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

March 2014's Monthly Kindle Books for $3.99 or less - 110 items currently - listings by Most Popular or by Average Customer Rating. Also, free non-classics by publication date + discounted-book alerts

For newcomers to the Kindle or to this blog, here are the special book deals for March, 2014 -- where to find them, etc.

MARCH 2014's Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK page below.)

I often highlight this monthly deal at or near the beginning of the month for those who don't know about it or might not remember.

For those who want to quickly look first at only the ones that are star-rated at 4 or above, I ran across Amazon's page for exactly that.

  On the main monthly Kindle book deals page, separate categories are highlighted, using Amazon's usual horizontally-scrolling pick-lists, for the following topics highlighted on the main page. They link to "See all" at the bottom of each horizontally-scrolled category row [ I'm adding direct links to the full category listings ]:

  1. Editors' Picks used to be one of the categories, but I don't see it set apart anymore.
  2. History and by Avg Customer Rating
  3. Biography and Memoirs and by Avg Customer Rating
  4. Literary Fiction Deals and by Avg Customer Rating
  5. Religion and Spirituality and by Avg Customer Rating
  6. Science Fiction & Fantasy and by Avg Customer Rating
  7. Whispersync for Voice and by Avg Customer Rating     New
        The Whispersync category showed up with an explanation that the
        corresponding audio book is also sold at the monthly-deal price, if wanted.

  ' Now you can seamlessly switch between reading featured Kindle books and listening to them without ever losing your place...
  First, purchase the Kindle book for $3.99 or less. Then add the narration from Audible for $3.99 or less to enable the feature. '

But the Whispersync category was removed from the main Monthly Deals page while I was writing this up, although the deals still exist (there were about 54 of these Whispersync-ready books in the monthly deals).  They ARE included in the overall scrolled monthly deals (110 as of this writing) that can be sorted by several options at the bottom of that main page.  Maybe Amazon hasn't fully coordinated the audio-book pricing yet.

This main monthly deals page also has, on the right, two vertically-scrolling categories:
  1. Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense highlighted + more in the linked full list w/ sorting options)
      Here's that fuller listing by Avg Customer Rating
  2. Romance and by Avg Customer Rating.

THEN, at the bottom of the new main monthly Kindle book-deals page, they offer the FULL current monthly listing, defaulting to sorting by "New and Popular" and there are 119 in all, currently, but the number may vary.

  Here's a direct link to that Full-listing (US), sorted by "New and Popular" for the month, so
    it's a good one to bookmark if you just want to jump to that) and
    you can choose another sort option for this full listing, such as
        Avg Customer Rating or by Price: Low to High

These newer options should make it easier to find books of interest to you.

The pricing for March's group of Kindle books ranges from $0.99 to $3.99, as is usual for this monthly deal.

  The Kindle books you'll see on this special monthly-deals page  (UK version here) are new for March 2014.

(US Link: amzn.to/mkbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)


FREE KINDLE BOOKS (Non-classics) for March (and February)
I've updated the "Temporarily-free books -- Non-classics" search results to show free contemporary Kindle books for MARCH, sorted by publication-date, as of March 1, 2014.  There are only a few shown on the first day or two of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month.  On the first few days of the month, most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entire-family-safe titles may show up.

  Here, also, are the current Search results for still free Kindle non-classics, by publication date during the last month (February).


The ongoing Kindle Daily Deals page
for any given day usually shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.

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DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks III - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  This is an ongoing message thread in which Kindle owners share information on recent drops in pricing on specific Kindle books, often with some added info by the person posting it.

  Here's a link to the thread, starting at a February 26 posting that includes a book that's still on sale today March 1,.

  It includes a title I saw while driving by quickly to see what might still be discounted 3-4 days ago -- "The Kid Stays in the Picdture" by Robert Evans.  The average Customer rating is high, and the publisher's description is of course overblown, but here's an excerpt re the content:
  "...universally recognized as the greatest, most outrageous, and most unforgettable show business memoir ever written.  The basis of an award-winning documentary film, it remains the gold standard of Hollywood storytelling...Filled with starring roles for everyone from Ava Gardner to Marlon Brando to Sharon Stone, The Kid Stays in the Picture: A Notorious Life is sharp, witty, and self-aggrandizing, and self-lacerating in equal measure...a must-read for fans of American cinema and classics of the canon, including The Odd Couple, Rosemary’s Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown."
    Was $11.83, and during the last two days, it's $2.99.  A 75% price drop.  HarperCollins

  The books discussed here tend to be very short-term discounts.

  That forum topic link is to a specific post to start, in this case, a book alert on Feb. 26, as mentioned.  Previous titles mentioned for that day had small discounts, but you can look at previous posts or days, or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, because Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.
 While many of the better deals seem around $1.99-$4.99, there usually are a decent number of larger-publishing house deals included (primarily price-matching) that tend to end in a DAY, so you'd need to double-check the current pricing of ANY Kindle books that interest you to see if the discounts are still active.

  Again, Kindle book prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.  Most of the large-publisher discounts last only one or two days even when they originate the discount.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount than usual) on cases for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on cases for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets but NOT HDX tablets
  3. Accesdories for all Kindles, with some discounted.


If that's not enough, there are the Goldbox and Lightning Deals, especially active currently.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount as a "Spring Sale: than usual) on covers for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on covers for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

US: New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB - $229/269/309 Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB - $379/429/479 - with 4G added: $479/529/579 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB - 1st Gen $269 $229   $299 Price rise ~2/24/14 - 32GB w/ no special-offers: $314 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi+3G - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free web Kindle DX - $379 $199

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £59 Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite2 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire Basic HD 8/16GB, UK -  from £119 Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB, UK - from £199. 4G/3G Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB, UK - from £329. 4G/3G CANADA - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite 2 - $139 Kindle Paperwhite 2, 3G - $209 KFire HD Yr 2012 7" $214,  8.9" $244. Yr 2013 KFires: HD Gen2, HDX line

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Paperwhite 2 WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $209 KFire HD Yr 2012: 7" $214,  8.9" $244 Yr 2013: HD Gen2 + HDX line Australia Kindlestore France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Japan - Amazon Japan

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!