Amazon Echo now reads your Audible books on command ... Other capabilities recently added involve accessing services outside Amazon's walls ... Getting traffic info - sports scores ... Controlling lights in the home.

Amazon updates their Echo voice assistant and speaker to add direct read of Audible books

This has been a big request.  Earlier, people had to pair phones or tablets with bluetooth to have their Audible books read through the convenient and very clear Echo speaker system.

Amazon's wording:

' Listening to audiobooks from your Audible library is easy. Here's how:

- Start any book you own with "Alexa, read [Audible book title]"
- Resume the current book you're reading by saying "Alexa, read my book."
- Control playback with "Alexa, go back/forward."

[You can, of course, also pause it as needed.]

Echo also supports Whispersync for Voice, which allows you to seamlessly switch between reading and listening with your eligible Kindle books.  You can read on your Kindle, tablet, or smartphone and then continue listening on your Echo, right where you left off. '

While Amazon is offering "complimentary extended samples from popular titles and a free trial," there are ongoing monthly Kindle Book specials that feature inexpensive Audible narrations paired with some of the Kindle books featured at larger discounts for the month.  The product page for that month will sayk, "Add narration for a reduced price of ____ when you buy the Kindle book."

  For June's specially discounted Kindle books ($1.99 to $3.99), you can find the listing of 104 Kindle books that are paired, for June, with reduced-cost Whispersync for Voice here.  (In March there were only 53, so they seem to be expanding these.)

And for those who want to try a free Audible example with a free Kindle book to see how Whispersync works, here's the only one available currently.

Here's the help page for using Whispersync with more information.


Amazon's latest Echo features that allow you to escape its semi-walled garden
The Verge's Josh Lowensohn reported, in early May, on the Echo's new ability to work with Twitter, Gmail, and Evernote, "...plus a few others, thanks to the If This Then That" ("ITTT)" feature.  I'm repeating this section for those who had no interest in the Echo at the time but may be interested in some of the newer features.

  Lowensohn mentioned the recent updates already reported here, "things like Pandora, traffic reports, sports scores, and support for Belkin's WeMo and Phillips's Hue products" and describes the new features' capabilities:

' ... the IFTTT 'recipes' for Alexa let you send your shopping and to-do lists out to third-party services like Google Drive, Evernote, and Todoist

... There are 54 combinations in total.  Enabling them requires signing up for IFTTT, then linking it up with your Amazon account.  You also need to go through the motions of activating the various third-party app channels, and approving your accounts there so IFTTT can link everything up behind the scenes. Some of the really good examples so far are:

. Adding your Echo shopping list items to Evernote
. Sending someone a short email with your voice
. Sending someone an SMS with your voice
. Adding Echo shopping list items to the iOS Reminders app
. Adding Alexa to-dos to Microsoft's OneNote '

See the Verge's full article for illustrations and more details on what's involved in using the feature.

Amazon Echo was recently updated to control Wemo switches and Philips Hue smart bulbs in the home, to turn lights on or off in named rooms or to dim or brighten them.

Pandora was added, in May (in addition to iHeartRadio and TuneIn radio features).

The updates are coming quickly lately with more meat to them, and Amazon's obviously serious about making it a key device, as Boston Business Journal's David Harris pointed to Amazon's dedicating an entire floor of its Cambridge, Mass. Kendall Square office "to working on the Echo" and is still recruiting more staff for it, with "a hiring event on May 14, 2015 for roles that run the “gamut of distributed systems, speech/voice recognition, and big data.”


My own use of the Echo
I'm music and info-oriented, so while the device is not super knowledgeable about the universe, I tell 'Alexa' to "Wiki [subject]" which has it go to Wikipedia to read me the first couple of paragraphs, and then it sends the rest of the article to my tablet (or phone). This is helpful when I'm not near my computer and think of something.  It's also good for adding to my Echo Todo and/or Shopping lists when I think of things in the kitchen, and I can just say "Alexa, add [whatever] to my todo list" [or to my shopping list].

  For music, I ask it to "play playlist [name]" and I get about an hour of my favorite music, depending on the genre I feel like listening to.  If interested in an artist, I ask it to play [artist] from Prime (which is free Amazon music for Prime members) or I ask it just to "play [artist] and it asks if I want to listen to the musician on iHeart Radio or Prime, sometimes it chooses TuneIn.  I signed up for Pandora but haven't used it with Echo yet.  The local classical music station sounds surprisingly good on it, though this isn't true of some other stations.

The speaker is very clear, is loud enough that I can't use it at max for most material, has more bass than I thought it would for its size, but it's best with really well-recorded tracks. If the treble range is edgy, it's very edgy on the Echo.  I'd like loudness compensation added in the next version for late night listening at lower volume.

 It's great for my kitchen where I have no speakers and no computer. They've added news-sources for flash news but I'm waiting for them to allow direct-access to specific sources instead of my having to say "Next" a few times when not interested in the current source.

I really like that I can control the volume by just saying "alexa, louder" or "alexa, not so loud" when I'm working in the kitchen. Or asking it, "what's playing?" or "who's singing?" and it tells me the artist and album. If you like a track, you can of course buy it (but you need a confirmation code to do it), and I've added a lot of good, free Prime tracks to my library while listening, by just saying "add this to my library."

  Others are interested in being able to get current sports scores or scores for ealier games, and in getting traffic reports, when we give it starting and ending addresses.  (I haven't used it, as I have lifetime traffic status and recommended alternate routes on my Garmin Nuvi, which is a bargain for what it does, well.)

A post on the Kindle Forums mentioned that TuneIn offers a lot of nearby scanner stations if you use the Echo app to enter, in the Search field at the top,
  'fire and police' -- but it doesn't work well by voice.  Just a curiosity.  TuneIn offers local, national, and int'l radio stations (music, talk) with clear, easy access.

  What's struck me most about the Alexa voice is that its answers are often lightning fast, which I wouldn't expect when it needs to go to the servers, access whatever, and then get back to me with an answer, and even then the speech is so natural, I have found myself saying, 'Thank you.'

  I also found that I sort of enjoy ordering something around :-) ... "Do this, do that, get me this, or that. What, you don't know? Take a class, get trained!"

I do shut off its hearing often, by pressing the microphone icon down, because I don't want it to waste electricity waiting for the word-string 'alexa' to fly by so it can say "Your command is my wish."

  I often just use the remote and press the mic and talk without needing to say her name.  She tries to obey, does what she can, and then stops listening for anything unless I press the remote button.  When will Amazon give us a male voice that takes orders from us?


Echo now does Google Calendar
This is one I waited for, except that i started to use a small printed calendar lately.  Why? I don't know, but it's sort of convenient :-)

  I had a bit of difficulty finding out how to do the linking, but finally found this help page on how to link your Google calendar to Echo, and its instructions are very clear.

  Richi Gupta, with octafinance.com has good details on what you can and can't do with Google calendar, from Echo.


Some Echo tips from the Kindle forums

' Beauty Fool says:
Wow... I just discovered you can get the latest episodes of various NPR, APM, etc shows by simply asking for them.
Case-in-point: "Alexa, play Splendid Table."
Reply: "Getting the latest episode of The Splendid Table from Tune-In."

+++
romper says:
If you ask, "what's the weather or forecast" she will give you only today's weather.  Ask "what's the extended forecast" she will give you the next 7 days...

+++
Cheryl Jones says:
as for the weather you can ask her for 10 days. so you can ask for the weather next sat or the weather for may 30 etc. or you can ask if it will rain next sat.... '

Recent mainstream reviews from mainstream tech writers who use it quite a bit
• "Five months in, it's the most used gadget in my home" - James Kendrick, ZDNet, May 15, 2015
• "It sucks.  It's awesome.  It sucks.  We want two more" - David Gewirtz for DIY-IT - May 21, 2015
• "Amazon Echo review" - Margaret Dornbusch - Gadgeteer, May 31, 2015
• "Amazon Echo talks to Google Calendar (and you)" - (more tips) David Gewirtz for DIY-IT, June 1

---

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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News scraps and Kindle tips: Kindle Convert software ... New features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick + availability in the UK and Germany ... Echo's new social network features and its If This Then That 'recipe' capability ... May's free contemporary Kindle books

AMAZON'S RECENT ACTIVITIES + SOME TIPS

The big news this week is what's happening with Amazon's Echo

But first, a couple of things that have happened with Amazon products in the last couple of months that weren't reported here yet + the regular beginning-of-month searchable links for free contemporary (non-classic) Kindle books:

May's free Kindle books (contemporary or non-classics)
    April 2015  May 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

  As ever, there are only a few shown on the first few days of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month -- most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entirely-family-safe titles may show up.  Since this is May 3, the listing will not include more already available, full books.


Kindle Convert - new software
Amazon announced back in February -- in a Kindle Community Forum post -- new software that, for PC owners, will help you convert print books and printed personal documents into Kindle files that can be read on your Kindles.  The forum link just above is to a description of what the software, Kindle Convert can do.  The first paragraph:

' ... a new software application that allows you to convert scans of your most treasured personal books, documents and keepsakes into high quality Kindle books so you can digitally safeguard and enjoy them forever. Kindle Convert preserves all the things that make your books and documents unique, such as hand-written notes, autographs, photos and images, so you can maintain the look and feel of your printed books. '

The forum post explains more.
I didn't blog on this because initial reports and reviews cited difficulty of the process involved in doing this, and I felt later updates may improve the process.

  But I'm mentioning it here because there were a number of reports that "pdf files" did not convert well after all the effort.
  However, the software focus is on valued printed books and documents that you want to be able to read and keep on the Kindle.

  We already have an easy way to get PDFs converted to Kindle book format.  Amazon's own "Send to Kindle" programs works for documents from a web browser, an Android tablet, your desktop, and most of all, from your email.

  We all have Kindle email-addresses assigned to our Kindle devices.  It's in the format [you]@kindle.com and can be found at the Manage your Devices and Content page (formerly called "Manage-your-Kindle" page).

  There, under the image of each of your devices, you'll see the email address for your devices.  You can edit your device's email address name there to something that's easier to remember than the automatically assigned email address.

  Only you can send documents or books to that email address (which wind up in your Cloud area) so that no spam can invade your Kindle or Android tablet (my Windows phone doesn't get one of these addresses) and you can designate those whose email addresses can send docs to your Kindle (if, for example, doing a subscription not available from Amazon Kindle store).

  VIA EMAIL to your [you@kindle.com] Kindlebook-reading email address, you can send any personal text file or *.mobi book file (often an eBook in .mobi format acquired from a non-Amazon source) to your Cloud, to read in Kindle format, with annotations posible.

  Amazon converts these emailed documents for your Kindlebook-reading device.
  If you send a PDF to an email address for an e-Ink reader, it will arrive as a readable PDF on the Kindle and if you put the word "convert" in the Subject field of the email, Amazon will automatically convert the PDF to a searchable Kindle book format but the PDF's special layout of tables or charts and columns will be different.

  For a novel for and one-column docs, this usually won't matter and is free although the older Kindle Keyboard devices with only 3G wireless used will see a 15c fee for a novel-sized file.  It's cost-free for WiFi readers otherwise.

PDFs are easily readable on tablets via a number of PDF-reader apps.  Scanning print books to PDFs yourself can be an arduous task but likely worthwhile for very valued print books you want to have in eBook format.


Bew Features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
In late March, Amazon announced the following new features for Fire TV and Fire TV Stick

' Amazon Fire TV adds expandable USB storage and private, wireless listening with Bluetooth headphones

Watch on the go—Fire TV and Fire TV Stick now support captive portal so you can connect to Wi-Fi at a hotel or dorm room that requires web authentication

Fire TV Stick now available in the UK and Germany — Amazon Fire TV already the #1 streaming media box on Amazon in the UK and Germany '

For now, I'll just link you to the Businesswire announcement for the details on all this.


NEW ECHO FEATURES announced this week
The Verge's Josh Lowensohn reported that the Amazon Echo, usually called 'Alexa' by its owners, will now work with Twitter, Gmail, and Evernote plus a few others, thanks to the newly installed feature of "If This, Then That" ("ITTT")

  Lowensohn mentions the recent updates already reported here, "things like Pandora, traffic reports, sports scores, and support for Belkin's WeMo and Phillips's Hue products" and describes the new features' capabilities:

' ... the IFTTT 'recipes' for Alexa let you send your shopping and to-do lists out to third-party services like Google Drive, Evernote, and Todoist

... There are 54 combinations in total.  Enabling them requires signing up for IFTTT, then linking it up with your Amazon account. You also need to go through the motions of activating the various third-party app channels, and approving your accounts there so IFTTT can link everything up behind the scenes. Some of the really good examples so far are:

. Adding your Echo shopping list items to Evernote
. Sending someone a short email with your voice
. Sending someone an SMS with your voice
. Adding Echo shopping list items to the iOS Reminders app
. Adding Alexa to-dos to Microsoft's OneNote '

See the Verge's full article for illustrations and more details.

---

  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 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


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.

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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 Tips: Doing Faster Web Gmail on Kindle Fire w/ Basic Html mode and Article View

Web Gmail (or any web email) can be read from virtually all tablets and smartphones with web access.

The trick is to choose the basic Gmail mode but not so basic (as with 'mobile' versions) that it doesn't resemble what we're used to doing with GMail.

For this, I use Gmail's Basic Html mode (Link: bit.ly/gmailbasichtml )
  Note that "http://" doesn't have to be typed on the Kindle Fire or most browsers anymore, as it's generally put in for us as a web browser feature.

Web Gmail text - Eyeglasses and Full Screen icons at bottom right ('folders' or labels at left)	Web Gmail text display after Full Screen icon was clicked
Web Gmail text after Eyeglasses icon was clicked and now in 'Article View'

Click on any image to get the larger, more readable version

The first screen shows the Kindle Fire bottom status line, which includes a Menu (rectangle looking like a washboard or air conditioner), a bookmark symbol, and -- when "Article View" is available for the content on the screen -- a pair of eyeglasses.
  At the right of that bottom status line, in the corner, is Amazon's web browser's full-screen icon, showing you can enlarge the display and get rid of fat status lines.

  Amazon's web browser is called "Silk" the way Mozilla's browser is called "Firefox"

WEB MENU SETTINGS
That Menu icon mentioned above -- Click on that and then Click on "Settings"
  My own web menu "Settings" (you may want something different) are:
  .  Text size: Normal is Checked
  .  Default zoom: Close is Checked.
  .  Auto-fit pages: Format web pages to fit the screen - Checked
  Advanced
  .  Desktop or mobile view: Desktop: Optimize for desktop view is Checked.
        (That's important for running youtube, too.)


The second screen shows the Kindle Fire text after the Full-Screen icon is clicked.  The Gmail "Basic Html" mode works very well with the most smaller-screen tablets and smartphones.

The third screen, still using the email newsletter from DVD Catalyst (an excellent mp4 converter for Kindle fire videos, and well worth the $10 - see user word-of-mouth on that) is now displayed in Amazon's "Article View" which is nicely sized and formatted.

  I don't remember seeing the eyeglasses icon and 'Article View' available for GMail before, but maybe I just didn't notice it.

I prefer using web gmail instead of email that uses storage space on the Kindle Fire, because it's hard enough to keep track of email as it is, and this will just let you see and reply to any web Gmail from anywhere, using the web browser features available on any of your devices, with all web mail accessible and replyable in one place.

Hope this helps some.  The one thing I hear most about the Kindle Fire is that owners don't know you can double-tap on web pages to get the words at a nice medium size while wrapping the text at the edge of the display, and this often gets the ads and other links out of the way.  However, the "Article View" feature is a bonus feature, as it's considerably more readable.

---

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

  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 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


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 E-Ink and Kindle Fire - most reliable Gmail mode

I've noticed that E-Ink-Ereader and Kindle Fire owners have reported problems accessing Gmail lately. One aspect is that few settle for "mobile" version on the larger mobile devices and choose 'desktop' mode. I'm one of them.

The one mode that always works for me on either the Kindle Touch or the Kindle Fire, though, is GMail's "Basic Html" mode, which is simpler and faster to load than the "Standard" mode, the latter being the default mode and causing problems for some larger mobile devices.

While GMail apps can work well for some, they are missing features that some depend on in GMail, and as a result some choose the browser version instead and, as I mentioned, Desktop mode.  If you prefer to use a browser version (I do), I have a shortcut that makes sure the Kindle Touch or the Kindle Fire get to the "Basic HTML" version of GMail.

That's http://bit.ly/gmailbasichtml.

The shortcut uses no dashes, so it's easier to type.  After you get to the GMail page in basic-html mode, then you can bookmark it so you don't have to type it again.

The Kindle Touch will show the listing of emails.  To get the folders, see the lined rectangle at top left of that page.  The rectangle represents these days a "Menu" option, and that'll bring up the folders.

Let me know if you have any problems with these.


KEYBOARD Kindles respond differently though.
For older models like Kindle 2, 3, DX, use:
    bit.ly/g_mail (That's an underscore there rather than a space, and the 'http://' is not needed with Kindles, as the Kindle adds it.)
  (Kindle 1 is just entirely too slow and has no direct-screen-link access for gmail.)

In the mobiweb.azw weblinks 'book' file that I've had for download for a long time for older E-Ink Kindles, you can just click on the links instead of going to Experimental browser where you type in links.  The "preferred" GMail shortcut in that mobiweb 'book' file for the older e-Ink devices is the bit.ly/g_mail one (with an underscore rather than a space) mentioned as an alternative.

The Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire models will be less problematical with the various GMail versions.   The mobiweb.azw file mentioned also uses good 'umbrella'-menu sites (such as Cantoni, Kinstant, ReadingTheNet, and Skweezer) which hold categories of links that are better to use when on a slow e-Ink device.

Hope that helps some !

---

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

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

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!

Questions from the Comments area, some with answers - UPDATE2

The below is from recent comment-area questions to the blog.

Q: hi. i am travelling round the world with a 3g enabled kindle. all the lonely planet books on it fantastic. email on the move with no roaming charges. fantastic.
  however. i would like to be able to book hotels on the move. whats the best site to use for really good searches and quick booking. i have only managed to get something booked on the iphone so far but that needs wifi so its not practical.
  any ideas."

A: I enjoy the Lonely Planet books on the Kindle too.
 I've used tripadvisor.com for great user input in connection with decisions on most things and yet find I get a better deal calling the hotels direct, but the search-sites need people to of course book with them if that works out.  I couldn't find a mobile site for Trip Advisor though.

  Recently, I used hotels.com and got a very good deal but they are run by travelnow.com and I'm seeing customer complaints about them.  I lucked out in actually getting the best deal in the area for that night, as it turns out, but they told me they had reserved a specific room when they didn't.
  The Kindle 2 gets a mobile version of the site that is easy enough to use.
  The Kindle 3 gets the regular site and it's very hard to read the small fonts, but I could not type into the input boxes of the mobile version.  The Kindle 3 seems weak on mobile sites, which is unfortunate since they're more readable on a small e-reader.

 Question from me: Do any readers know of any good sites for booking hotels direct on the Kindle?

UPDATE (Original posting 10:42 Am) - Neil has already replied, to recommend booking.com as "by far the best (and cheapest) way to book hotels globally"...
  In trying them out, I found it's best to use m.booking.com on the Kindle, as the full site is not a pleasant experience on a little e-Ink e-reader and the mobile version is quite good.  Thanks to Neil for that.

Q: by Woodyjavascript:void(0)
I don't think the Amazon Android Apps store is going to be a KINDLE apps store. It's a competitor to Google's (and Verizon's) app store for android.
  I wish it weren't so - would love a calendar app for the kindle - but there it is.

A: Woody,
They put out a call for developers to do apps specifically for the Kindle and put out some pretty strict rules about the price of the apps based on how much 3G bandwidth might be needed since Amazon says they provide that upfront.
  Some can be free, but if the app requires 3G use, then for certain amounts used (spelled out), they have to set fees.
  I do think that they will also do what you describe...

  I'd be shocked not to get a calendar or notepad app for the Kindle.

Right now I'm using bit.ly/g_tasks in the web browser to just view the tasks list made in my regular gmail on the computer and the gmail calendar has all the tasks in it, in date order.

  GMail Tasks are Not editable in Kindle, just readable -- it goes to an 'android' link and the Kindle isn't exactly an android device, but it does allow me to be able to read the Tasks when I'm out.
  It appears to allow adding new tasks but does not accept new input in either the Kindle 2 or Kindle 3 and definitely no editing of older tasks.

I sometimes just add 'notes' into an existing Kindle file that I made for making notes while out (I made a Notes file on a computer and moved it to the Kindle.  And I can search the file.   It's mainly a ToDo list.
 As a shortcut, I have sometimes added ToDo notes to the My Clippings file and then later I can search the file for "todo"...

The Calendar in gmail is nearly impossible to read on any Kindle, though the URL http://bit.ly/g_mail works well enough on the Kindle for gmail itself (as a quick-look type of thing), up to a point. (I've described in an earlier blog entry the tedium of replying to a gmail note with the Kindle3 right now -- it's easier w/ the Kindle 2, ironically -- the problem is having to go to the bottom of a reply you're making and down-arrowing out of the reply box before you can Send the reply.

Q: My Kindle DX does not turn on. I have have been using it for about six weeks now. It has a full charge. I slid the power button over to turn it on but without success. Any ideas? Thank you.

A: Oldtimers will know this, but those new to Kindle won't.  This works for Kindle 2, Kindle 3, and Kindle DX's.

Slide the power button to the right and hold it for about 21 seconds.
Then let it go.
Go away.
Come back in about 5 minutes and it should be starting up again but let it take its time correcting everything.

If that doesn't work
then plug it in
Wait 10 minutes (go away)
and do the same steps as above.

That works most of the time and is called a "Restart" or "Reset" and is similar to doing a soft reboot of your computer when it's not responding due to memory conflicts, etc.

  ALSO - (Updated information) - It was discovered later that the non-lighted Amazon Kindle Cover can cause starting-problems and Kindle-freezes and reboots.   If you have one, try removing it to see if that helps.  See the article on this Kindle-Cover problem and Amazon's answer for that.  If you're in the UK, however, see the UK Amazon-cover article.

UPDATE2 - If the Kindle still doesn't respond (rare), call Kindle Support at 866-321-8851 or contact them at the Kindle Support web page by clicking on the gold-colored "Contact us" button on the right at that page and choosing the Tab for 'phone' if you can, otherwise, choose form mail.
  Here's a quick web-link for contacting Kindle Support though.

  Also corrected TripAdvisor spelling and made small modifications for more clarity.

Q: by Essjam
My first Kindle just arrived today. A Graphite Kindle 3G. So far I love it, especially the ability to enlarge the font for these old eyes of mine. I have downloaded a few books to start my library. I have been amazed by how quickly they appear.

  The one thing that I find odd is not being able to remove a single "My Clipping" entry by using the device. I found a Google entry about editing the file while the Kindle is connected to a PC as a USB device. Sort of strange, but not a big deal.
  While it was attached as a USB, I was able to upload several PDF files. The built in reader is not too bad.

Thanks for the information on this blog! It has proven very helpful already.

A: Scott / Essjam
Glad it's helped already, and thanks for letting me know.

Re the "My Clippings" file - it's essentially a log file in chron order of COPIES of any and all annotations you've made and is an added file that allows you to have all notes in a text format file so that you can copy the text-file to your computer in order to print portions of it or to edit it.

The actual notes are put into the book's secondary file, which is in binary format and therefore isn't in editable text format.

Then you can move the My Clippings file back to the Kindle or copy it to the Kindle after backing it up on the computer OR delete the one on the Kindle and start fresh on the Kindle.  (When the Kindle is attached to the computer via the USB port, you can edit the Kindle My Clippings file directly but I'd rather leave it alone until I know my edits are okay.)

Then there's the password-protected personal webpage Amazon makes for each customer who doesn't disable backup of annotations. You can read about that at http://bit.ly/knotesweb.

That lets you see all your highlighting and notes for any Amazon-received book, and to see them all on one scrolling page if you want.  That can be highlighted and copied to your computer for editing/printing etc.

That's all part of a larger piece on the My Clippings file readable at http://bit.ly/kclippings.

That also includes information on a free macro file available that takes your My Clippings file and outputs the info sorted by book into table format.

That should get you started.

I agree that the PDF reader is pretty good and the main problem is that PDFs were meant for a physical page that is more than twice the size of the 6" Kindle. But it can be very useful.  I tend to read PDFs in Landscape mode when on the Kindle.

You can also ask Amazon (by sending an email to [you]@free.kindle.com with 'Convert' in the subject field]) to convert a copy of the PDF into Kindle format for easier reading (if it's not a complex PDF) and to be able to use all the Kindle features, while keeping the original PDF (layout) on the Kindle for reference.

You can use the search box at top right to search for topics...

Kindle Forum questions I just happened to respond to a minute ago.  Thought I may as well add them here also:

Q: (A wish was expressed for a shortcut avoiding Experimental Web page.)

A: Richard,
You can go to the Kindle's Home screen.

There, just start typing without ado (no menu pushes) something like

cnn.com

and then use the 5-way button to go right until you see "go to" and click on that. It'll take you right to the url.

(That assumes you've turned Wireless ON, but if you haven't, it'll offer you the choice.)

Q: (Frank, wondering whether or not to get a Kindle said he was told the dictionary was "a little basic.")

A: Frank,
The dictionary definitely seems basic to those who don't know that it is just a summary-definition on the status line for the word your cursor is on and that you need to press the Enter key if you want the full definition, pronunciation, and etymology.

When finished reading the full dictionary entry for a word, press the Back button to return to the book page you were on before looking up a word.


If this is useful, I may do more of these, since I spend a lot of time answering questions, which aren't seen when people visit the site or read the Kindle Edition blog.


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. 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!

Working with the Kindle 2 and DX Web Browser

The experimental Basic Web browser on the Kindle 2 can be used from almost anywhere a cell phone works and at any time.

Expectations for it should be in line with what you'd expect from any mobile phone except for how much of a web page you can see on the screen (considerably more with the Kindle 2) and no color.  Mobile unit web browsing is best done on sites which make versions for mobile units' small screens.

 With a Kindle, you don't have to hunt for a WiFi hotspot and hope that it's free, because Wireless access is almost always available where there's Sprint cellphone coverage, but it's slower than WiFi, which is slower than your normal cabled Internet experience.

  Most of the steps below (but not the 5-way button portion) work on a Kindle 1 also, though the Kindle 1 is slower in response time and doesn't always finish rendering a page with larger photos.

The key is knowing how to choose between several settings offered by the Home page's Menu option for "Experimental" which gets you to "Basic Web" (which you just click on, as the other options are not available there, only described).
  The Kindle will ask you if you want Wireless 'On' if it's not on already and then you can OK that.

  You are then taken to the Kindle's Bookmarks page with a choice of websites for mobile unit access.  Press the Menu key there and choose Settings.
  These are all toggled options.

  The most used Settings to choose from when browsing would be:
    1. "Switch to Advanced Mode" (if you're in "Basic Mode)
          ("Desktop" mode on DX's)
          or "Switch to "Basic Mode" (if you're in Advanced Mode).
    2. "Enable Javascript"
    3. "Disable Images"

Choosing Modes:
. Basic mode, Disable Images - Fastest.  Use when you just want data quickly and don't want to wait for images to load.
. Basic mode, Enable Images - 2nd fastest.  Best with simpler websites and small photos.

  With Basic mode, article bodies will be in B&W rather than the harder to read gray shades that emulate color gradations.
  You'll need to remember that on pages with columns of links or ads, all of the first column's text will show up first, going down and you have to "Next Page" (or down-arrow) through them before getting to the center column for the article.

. Advanced Mode - Use this when you want to see the full width of a web page and all columns showing.
   The browser will then make the fonts TINY to fit it all in and will emulate colors, giving harder-to-read multi-gray shaded text and sometimes the background may be too dark.
  With some sites, it can be surprisingly readable though some will want a magnifying glass.
  With this mode you won't have to page through several Kindle 'pages' of a website's left column.
  The Kindle often chooses advanced mode, and when I want to read an article in the normal sized font, I'll switch to Basic and do the NextPage thing.

. Advanced Mode, Enable Javascript - the Kindle browser often switches to this when it knows javascript is needed to load the page at all.  This will be the slowest mode.
  Sometimes the javascript is needed just for an ad and you can do without it, and at those points I have sometimes tried "disabling" javascript to speed things up.  But most won't bother as it doesn't make that big a difference.  If javascript is needed but isn't enabled, the page never loads, so I tend to leave it alone.

Other web browser options:
. The browser Menu lets you "Enter URL" to go to a specific page you want.
. You can "Bookmark This Page" if you're on a webpage you want to return to without having to type the URL again.
. There's a (current-session) "History" page so you can jump to a webpage you want to revisit.
. You can "Go to Top" of the webpage.

Moving around the webpage
You can move around the page with the 5-way button, which will take you to areas for input, or links to click on for another web page or web-page area, and allow you to scroll down (instead of having to use 'NextPage' if you're on a long page.
  To get back to the previous "jump" (from a link) press the "Back" key.

. You can generally change the text size but not the line spacing on a web page.
. You can download some files offered, usually "TXT" files and unprotected MOBI, PRC ones.  The Kindle format is AZW, and you can download that and AZW1 files, though I've never seen these offered outside the Amazon store.

See an example of links on a Kindle webpage.   For other webpage examples for both the Kindle 1 and 2, see the screen comparison page that I made for these.

For more information and screen samples, see Section 6.1 "Using Basic Web" in the "Kindle 2 User's Guide, 2nd Edition" -- this is at Location 834,

Caution: Using wireless for browsing will drain the battery faster during a session than reading a Kindle document will.  It'll be a shorter time before you need to recharge.  Here are customer service advisories for how to keep the battery in good shape.

TIP: When sending an email from gmail.com or yahoo.com, you'll get an alert that a connection could not be established with the website's servers.  98% of the time, it's a false error alert.  The email goes through (but typing on this unit is arduous, at best, so I e-mail rarely), and the same thing occurs with posting a reply to a forum.  The reply does go through and is posted despite the alert.  Do log in before posting, though.

The Basic Web browser on the smaller Kindles is extremely handy for quick lookups when away from your home/office computers.  It isn't something you want to do at length, though I was surprised that Wired can come through so well, with good resolution on the photos on the Kindle 2.

FILE DOWNLOAD - BOOKMARKS
You can download a file of bookmarks I collected for mobile-optimized sites, which will load faster.

( If you find blog entries like this one helpful, please check the "Interesting" box so I can get an idea of the level of interest for how-to's for features not often used -- judging from what I read on the forums.  Thanks for taking the tme. )
  7/5/09 - I've eliminated the 'Interesting/Cool' Google widget because it caused the page to take too long to load, but on the Tips/Guides, it did give me good (easy to rate) indication of interest in those. Thanks to those who took the time let me know.

---

Check often:  Latest temporarily free non-classics or late-listed ones.
  Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. 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!