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!

Some tips and cautions on using a new Kindle, Also, a gmail shortcut

The photo at the left is by "legendarypoet" and I was struck by what a beautiful b&w shot it is, of a b&w e-reader.  Click on the image to see his original, or click on screen name to see his photo page.

I spent time yesterday, by request, taking more comparison photos of font and text differences between the Kindle 3 and Kindle 2, and I'll get some up later on.

  I'll touch instead this morning on some subjects that have come up in comment-areas here and in topics being discussed on the various Kindle forums.

FULLY CHARGE A NEW KINDLE
One thing to know as you open the Kindle package is that you can read on the Kindle while it's charging.  Give it a full charge when it's new -- it usually takes about 2 hours, as it already has some battery life remaining.  Mine was halfway down.  The bottom LED light turns a bright, solid green when done.

Q & A
HOW WILL I MOVE KINDLE BOOKS FROM MY OTHER KINDLE TO THE NEW KINDLE 3?
Amazon's few instructions (in an email you receive before getting your Kindle and instructions ON your Kindle) are brief but well written and cover most of what you need.  On the Kindle, the guide is named "Transferring Your Kindle Content" - and since your books and subscriptions content is in your personal area/library on Amazon's servers, you'll need to have the Wireless turned on in order to access those servers.

  For newcomers: With the Kindle, that's done by pressing the Menu button and selecting the topmost choice, "Turn Wireless On" -- and of course that slot toggles the choice, to turn it "Off" -- to conserve battery power.

  You can purchase books from Amazon with your computer while waiting for your new Kindle, as Amazon pre-registers your Kindle and gives it identifying info you can modify later under Menu/Settings).  All books you've bought earlier will already be in your Library, and new ones will be added to it and also sent to the Kindle you designate as the receiving Kindle.

  For more information, see Amazon's help pages for getting files to your Kindle - "Transferring, Downloading, and Sending Files to Kindle."

Archived Items folder/collection
ON your Kindle 3, the "Archived Items" folder/collection that is created by Amazon lists every book you've received from Amazon which is not currently on that Kindle.  Believe it or not, getting one or more archived books onto the current Kindle takes only two steps:
  1. Click on the title of a book you want and then
  2. Press the "Back" button to get back to your place in the Archived Items listing so that you can choose the next book you want transferred from your Amazon-server library to your Kindle.

    You don't need to wait.  Click a title, press Back button
and keep doing this for each archived book that you want transferred to the new Kindle.

Collections for multiple-Kindle owners:
Be sure to get ALL the books you want transferred BEFORE you "Add Other Device Collections" to the new Kindle.

  The books will NOT go into the Collections you previously made for them on another Kindle UNLESS you get the books onto the new Kindle first.
  AFTER that is done, click to add Collections you made from another device.

    The Collections that are then imported from what you created for another Kindle device will check the new Kindle for the books that you had associated with the Collection earlier and then include those in the appropriate Collections on the new Kindle.  If you import the Collections before getting the books, they'll see nothing to include, as that checking is done upon arrival at the new place.

BATTERY CONSIDERATONS AND "INDEXING"
On a new Kindle, there are usually quite a few books added, especially for the ones bought by owners of other Kindles.  It's important to know that for each book you add to the unit, there is a time-consuming "indexing" process that puts words from the books into a database of key words that you can search, either within a book or on the entire device.

  This process is a real battery drainer and is one reason that new Kindle owners are often disappointed to see their battery indicator showing faster drain than they'd expected.
  If it gets too low (below 25%), certain things can't be done and it'll seem more unstable and at the least will start complaining at that point with strong alerts about the battery.

For best results: Keep the battery high - it's not the type of battery that needs or wants to be brought to 0 as the old types were.

  Here are Kindle battery advisories collected from the Kindle Customer Support team at the Amazon Kindle forums.

WILL MY BOOKMARKS, HIGHLIGHTING AND NOTES BE TRANSFERRED FOR EACH BOOK?
Expert Kindle user Fool for Books has created a special message thread at the Amazon forums to ALERT previous-Kindle owners to a problem you could encounter when transferring books to your Kindle via your computer instead of using Wireless, whether 3G or WiFi.

The secondary file that holds your bookmarks, last-page read, and annotations for a given book has the filename extension ".mbp" or ".tan" (the latter '.tan' files are for "Topaz books" which are specially formatted Kindle books that use embedded fonts and are tightly controlled by publishers hoping to control the look of each page and also thwart copyright theft.  These files have tended to cause problems for Kindle readers (we can't change the font sizes or line spacings), including various freezes and sometimes unsightly, large fonts with huge line spacing, and they sometimes seem to use more images as pages than the usual book.  But if you've made annotations, you'll still want to have them.

See the thread that Fool for Books created, and regularly updates, to read how to make sure these secondary files get on your Kindle.  Essentially, it means copying each secondary one to your Kindle "documents" folder but it's best to read the details and tips that Fool for Books and others in the forum community offer.  There is good advice in general there for setting up a new Kindle.

The thread also reminds you that you can't just copy a purchased Kindle book file from one Kindle to another one.  These book files are given unique keys at Amazon for a specific Kindle unit and can't be used on other Kindle devices.

EMAIL - Specifically GMail
The usual mobile-device-optimized sites for GMail worked well on Kindle 2 but seldom work on the Kindle 3.  Even the full Gmail site, which Amazon gives us a Kindle 3 bookmark for, looks good but doesn't work well.  The mobile optimized ones can fail to load certain pages on Kindle 3 while the full site does not allow us login-input that's recognized.

  A recommended URL of http://mail.google.com/mail/x works for me on the Kindle 3 only when I have sufficient memory remaining after experimenting with many websites.

  One time it required a reboot, which I did manually with Menu/Settings/Menu/Restart. (NOTE: Stay away from Factory Reset unless a customer rep is working with you on it, as it gives you a clean slate, which means no books!)

  A Restart can also be done by holding the power slider to the right for about 15-20 seconds and then letting it go -- it restarts after awhile.  It's not a harmful 'cold reboot' and is often recommended by Customer Service to clear memory and give a fresh start.  For me, it's always worked after I overexercised the web browser at very challenging sites.

  "Bill" commented that the recommended GMail URL above is working for him again  Lately, that one has worked for me each time, and for another commenter also, and I've given it the shortcut http://bit.ly/g_mail.  Note that there is an underscore between 'g' and "mail" (not a space).
  Curiously, it doesn't work for me on the computer, sending me to the Accounts page instead, probably because I have more than one acct on the computer.

  Bill also found his dependable URL for Google Tasks not working and then noted that a successful one went to "https://mail.google.com/tasks/android?/source=mig&gl=us&hl=en"
  So, I made a shortcut for that also, requiring less typing on the Kindle:
  http://bit.ly/g_tasks -- again, that's an underscore not a dash.

REBOOTS REPORTED
Some Amazon forum members have reported odd reboots when just reading a book or looking up a word.  Because two of them interpreted this as meaning Kindle 3's in general are buggy and titled a message thread with that generalized 'self-determination,' those without problems were hard on them.  Customer Support at 1-866-321-8851 is replacing any units with recurring problems like that after a Restart doesn't fix the problem (usually a one-day replacement), as it shouldn't happen at all, but there are a couple of message threads for those who aren't having problems to try to judge how much this might be happening.  Anyone seeing a problem should call Customer Service.  They've been watching the forums and contacting customers, offering to help one guy who said his was fine :-)

    UPDATE: 9/6/10
Tony Reynolds, an Amazon forum member, recommends writing kindle-feedback@amazon.com if your Kindle 3 is having any freezes or reboots.  Give them your phone number.  These tend to be routed to the development team.  They continue to be proactive on this and have installed an interim test patch on some of those Kindles with success on what seems most so far, but not all.  One customer said that the rep she talked with suggested a possible modem problem and another rep said they think it has affected about 3% of "millions" sent out.  That's an off the cuff statement paraphrased, but it was interesting as the 2nd time I've heard that number-word quoted.

 I've taxed my Kindle 3 but it hasn't given me problems except for the usual web browser idiosyncracies and hesitations that the Kindle 2 always had when I pushed it (as usuasl) on web browsing.  That is categorized as 'experimental' for a reason.

INVALID CERTICATE ALERT
I've received this alert at the DearAuthor site but if I indicate it should be ignored, the browser just continues on.  At one point when it said the Kindle couldn't load the rest of a page, I told it to just continue anyway, and there was no problem.

KINDLE OWNER MOVEMENTS   (I just found this amusing.)
Something else to watch for.  Now that the power slider is on the bottom of the unit, one columnist said this morning that he places his Kindle on his lap, more or less vertically, and finds he's been shutting it off inadvertently when he moves :-)
 The worse that happens there is that the Kindle goes into Sleep mode. But it definitely must be disconcerting when you're actively reading a book rather than falling asleep.

There are a lot more tips on all the new features to mention here too, and I'll be doing that, so check back.  I also want to report on the reaction to the new Sonys also.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   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.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    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!