Kindle Fire News and Tips: X-Ray feature being added to TV shows. A brief listing of recently X-ray-enabled TV shows and movies.

The Latest TV and Movie Instant Videos with X-Ray Feature This feature lets you see who the actors in the current scene are, when you tap the screen or pause the video. Videos with the X-Ray feature are ID'd at IMDB, an Amazon subdidiary whose databases are used for the X-Ray features. For TV, these now include episodes from: Doctor Who; Grey's Anatomy; Justified, Downton Abbey; Glee... For movies, these include: Zero Dark Thirty; Walking Dead; Les Miserables; Life of Pi; Lincoln; Skyfall... (Django Unchained isn't for Amazon rental currently.)

X-Ray for Movies & Tv is available on Kindle Fire and Wii U devices.
  To access this info while watching an Amazon Instant Video title, tap the screen or pause the video to launch X-Ray (then tap it again or start Play to continue the video).

  IMDB plans to "add X-Ray to more television content each week."

IMDB's pages say that to see if a title supports X-Ray, you should look for the "Includes X-Ray" icon on the title's Amazon Instant Video detail page.  (I'm not sure it always shows up -- maybe they're behind on that, or I'm just missing it.)


Will end this here, as I'm working on some follow-up info on the recent Kindle Fire software updates, and I'll do that separately to save the eyes and minds.

---

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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Kindle Tip or Alert: Amazon's latest Kindle Book deal - 20 Kindle books for $2 each, thru' April

Amazon's latest Kindle Books deal: 20 Kindle Books for $2 Each, through April 30, 2013

  Amazon says nothing beyond this except that they include "literary fiction, mysteries, science fiction, thrillers..."

  Just an alert for those who don't receive the special offer alerts.  I've kept them on one of my Kindles.

For those who missed the April 1 monthly round-up of ongoing deals, you can find that here.







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Kindle News: Amazon Vinyls now come w/ free mp3s, StatsPac app, normally $9.99 is free Mar. 5. Cloud Player for Sonos is ready. Google's Same-Day shipping pilot.

Amazon will provide free digital versions of vinyl records you buy or bought, from 1998

AFP report carried by TimesLive, New Zealand.

"...like the initial service for CD purchases, launched in January, the service is being back-dated, meaning that customers with cloud players who have already bought records at any point in Amazon's history that are now recognised as AutoRip titles are set to receive digital copies of those purchases."

Steve Boom, vp of Digital Music for Amazon: "Many of our music customers are vinyl fans and it's traditionally been very difficult to make digital versions of vinyl records-now customers can enjoy the albums they buy wherever they are, not just when they have access to a record player."

  Caveat pointed out by Wired's Roberto Baldwin: "For albums with tracks that appear only on the vinyl version, the record label or artist must supply those exclusive tracks to Amazon for downloading. For example, if you buy The Lions This Generation box set on vinyl with four tracks exclusive to the to the non-digital format, it’s up to the artist and the label to supply Amazon with those tracks."


What happens to get an Amazon shipment to you
Amazon's latest one-million square foot fulfillment center shown in Tennessee
  Local NewsChannel5 cameras gave TV watchers a look inside its new Murfreesborog facility today, and there's a brief video at their page.  The facility is active 24/7.

  Newschannel5's Shannon Royster writes that the center has enough space to contain 25 football fields and "features more than four miles of conveyor belts.

  The center was opened back in September, with 400 employees and that's grown to the 1,100 full-timers they have now, in addition to a smaller group of temporary workers.  Most 'associates' in these centers start as temporary employees.  Amazon has 3 others facilities in Tennessee and another one opening there this Fall.  They seem to be building and opening new ones fairly often these days, one reason for their lower net operating margins (1.1% relative to much higher percentages for EBay and Walmart, not to mention Apple's 22%).

  A longer story yesterday, by Scott Broden for The Daily News Journal, pointed out that the general manager Brian Owens started as a temporary employee in Delaware 15 years ago.
  This article describes the various stages of package preparation in these facilities.  I take these deliveries for granted and don't think about the How, particularly, and this was interesting to me.

  Work hours and pay: "Employees work four 10-hour shifts a week, and the jobs pay a median of $16.50 an hour."


Amazon Cloud Player for Sonos is ready to go
Those with Sonos systems can now stream music, via new Cloud Player for Sonos app, from their Amazon Clouds everywhere in the house.  As expected, you can search, browse, play songs, albums and playlists, controlled from wherever you're sitting.  I've never wanted such a system and wonder what percentage of customers uses these.


StatsPac - for Numbers people
Any stats- or math-heads awake and reading this on Friday April 5 and with Kindle Fires or other Android-based tablets can go download today's free Android app, StatsPac, by MobileCaltronics.com, from Amazon's Appstore for Android, where you can test-drive it first or read reviews. If you get it for free on that page, it'll be in your Cloud and downloadable on your tablet.

 Description excerpt: "Includes all basic descriptive statistics like IQR, boxplots, histograms and scatterplots. Performs regression analysis, linear regression T-testing and proportion-test..."
  It's normally $9.99


Tech Media and its typical war-like language
One gadget or new feature is generally viewed as "killing" another entire lineup, in the tech blog world.  I still remember the big tombstone image Jason Perlow posted in his article on the imminent death of the Kindle back in early 2010.  The thinking:
  "April 3, 2010 will mark the beginning of the end for Amazon's great hardware experiment -- the Kindle. Faced with inexpensive, multipurpose tablets such as the iPad, which will be able to consume content from multiple sources including Amazon itself, consumer interest in the Kindle will fade into oblivion."   The tombstone read "amazon kindle 2007-2010"  :-).

  Today we read, in Seeking Alpha's article by Schlomo Wiesen today, that "Google Can Sink Amazon with Same-Day Shipping" (what about the products that are being shipped?).  Why "sink"?  Might they all fill varied needs?

  Wiesen's referring to Google's announcement of the launch of a "same-day delivery service, starting with its pilot program in San Francisco."

  The questions are not only about what the products being shipped are but what the customer support policies might be on unsatisfactory products (Amazon's current reputation strength). Google will provide express shipping but customers will be dealing with companies who've signed up for this, including Target, Toys "R" Us, Walgreen, Staples, American Eagle, "and a few local SF shops.

  Google Shopping Express will be free to start, during its SF pilot stage and "is expected to hire local courier services to carry out the same-day shipping."

I'm very impatient when it comes to shipping, but two-days free shipping with Prime has taken care of my overemotional needs on this and, currently, I have reason to believe that Amazon stands behind the shipping expectations and the quality of the merchandise delivered.

If you got this far down the page today, and have thoughts on this (whether this same-day delivery is exciting and you'd go for it, past the pilot stage, for whatever the charges will be), I'd love to hear the thinking of others, either in the Comments area below or, if you're a Facebook user and it's more convenient, at the Facebook page.



  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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Kindle News Roundup: AT&T Kindle Fire 8.9" for $249 w/ 2-yr data plan. Amazon Cloud gets File Sync. Amazon's new Kindel, Director of mobile-something.

AT&T is offering, "for a limited time," starting April 5, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G LTE (cellular network access) tablet for as low as $249 (rather than $399) if you agree to sign a two-year contract for an AT&T data plan.

  This is to clarify a bit what you get and what you agree to, for that price.

The lowest cost option for this is $10 per month to connect the tablet with an AT&T Mobile Share plan, which requires a smartphone with a data plan.

 As their press release states:
  "With Mobile Share, new and existing customers can share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets, and other compatible devices. Customers can select Mobile Share or choose one of AT&T's individual or family plans."

  As quickly as tablets are upgraded these days, a 2-year lock-in is something to ponder though.

  As mentioned -- for the Mobile Share plan, a smartphone with data plan is required.  And if you already have one with a data plan, it would cost you $10/mo. to share its 4G LTE (4G where it's available and 3G otherwise).

  I pay $20/mo. to do that tethering, using the cell phone as a modem, giving the Kindle Fire WiFi capability that way when no WiFi network is available.  It uses the smartphone battery at the same time of course.  And there is a limit to the amount of 4G data on the smartphone plan.

  According to their description you can get $100 off any tablet if you agree to a 2-yr wireless agreement with data for a minimum $14.99/mo.* or the Mobile Share plan.
  "...An additional $50 activation credit is available for customers who purchase their device at AT&T retail stores."  And that's how you arrive at the $249 figure.

  Once you've used the max data alloted for a month on any plan, it's "$15 per GB for add'l data."


* Currently, AT&T's normal $20/mo. plan covers only 300MB/mo and that's only enough to do some email and text reading (not so much web browsing and certainly not movies).  In January, AT&T's $20/mo. plan replaced their $15/mo. plan that offered only 200MB/mo.

  Amazon's own $399 price comes with the option of 4G/LTE for one year at 250MB/mo. for $50 per year the first year and there's no requirement to be on a data plan the 2nd year.
  That's a total of $449.

  That's important because with the cheapest, smartphone-sharing plan at $10/mo. that's $240 over the $249 price, or $489 total required.  For the $15/mo. individual plan for a tablet, it's only 300MB~ data/mo. and that would be $360 above the $249 cost, for a total $609 total price over two years.

  If you want that 4G data, 300MB/mo. won't be enough if you use it for web browsing, and it will cost another $15 per GB of add'l data in a month.

  If you do want 4G for your tablet (and why else would you buy the 4G model, except that it does offer 64GB storage space) and you already have a data plan on your smartphone, then that $120/yr to share your phone's data plan is worthwhile but they require a 2-year sign-up for that, so consider the $240 additional in your price comparisons.


"Amazon turns Cloud Drive into a Dropbox rival with file syncing."
  ArsTechnica's Jon Brodkin writes:

' "The new app for Windows and Mac now includes File Sync, which lets users easily store and access files in the Amazon Cloud from a folder on their computer," an Amazon spokesperson told Ars in an e-mail. "Files in this folder are automatically stored in Cloud Drive and can be accessed from a computer or the Web.

  When you install the app on a second computer all of your synced files are available there as well. The updated app makes it simple for users to put files in Cloud Drive and to access them from any of their computers, ensuring that they always have access to the latest version of their files from home and on the road."

... The desktop application supports all Windows versions from XP to 8 and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8. '

Unfortunately, unlike Dropbox and Google Drive, it doesn't provide syncing to Android, iOS or other mobile platforms and apparently Amazon has "nothing specific to share" when asked about their future plans on that.


Kindle's Kindel
redOrbit's Enid Burns reports that Microsoft's former GM for their Windows Phone, Charlie Kindel, coyly updated his LinkedIn profile to post his new position at Amazon as "Director, Something Secret," per Mashable.  Burns wrote that Kindel added that he's working on "something wonderful" at Amazon.

  In her round up, Burns adds that GeekWire quotes Kindel's added description: "I’m building a new team going after a totally new area for Amazon.  I’m hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, program managers, and product managers...”

  Burns points out:

' As mentioned in his LinkedIn profile, Kindel’s hire list suggests the secret project is related to a mobile product but also mentions cloud computing.  It is undetermined whether this could be a smartphone with cloud capabilities or a cloud-based service for smartphone users. '

That's the roundup for today.
(The photo used is of Google Earth on my Kindle Fire HD.)

---

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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April's Monthly 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less - Editors' Choices + Free non-classics by publication date + discounted-book alerts. Antarctica photos.

APRIL 2013's 100 Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less


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

  April pricing for this group of 100 Kindle books ranges from $0.99 to $3.99, as usual for this monthly deal, and are "hand-selected" by Amazon's Editors each month.

What you'll see on that special monthly-deals page (UK version is here) are new for April 2013.

(US Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-2to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-2to4uk)


FREE KINDLE BOOKS (Non-classics) for April (and March)
I've updated the "Temporarily-free books -- Non-classics" search results to show free contemporary Kindle books for APRIL, sorted by publication-date, as of today, April 1, 2013.  There are only a few shown on the first day of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month.  As ever, on the first day 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 (March).


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


DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks II - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  There 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 March 30 posting that includes some books that are still on sale Apr. 1.
    These tend to be very short-term discounts.

  The forum topic link is to a specific day to start, in this case, 3/30, as mentioned, but you can look at previous days or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, as Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.  While most of the better deals seem around $1.99-$4.99, but there are many larger-publishing house deals included 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.  I see the still-popular Twilight books were heavily discounted for one day (on the 30th) and are still lower than the usual price but higher than they were on the 30th, and I've started the browse-link at a point after that.

  Again, prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 30% on covers for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on covers for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets


CURRENT AND ONGOING SPECIAL DEALS
  1. Spring Outlet Event deals
  2. Goldbox and Lightning deals
    This Goldbox-page now also includes Best Deals
      and AmazonLocal Deals


Included on that page also, is a holdover sale on Canon cameras which I highlighted in a blog article March 11 and I'll include that here, for those who missed it, since those camera deals are extended now to April 27.
Here's the page for the Canon Powershot sale, while the "Best Deals" including other Canon cameras are seen here.  

  I was able to appreciate these creatures almost up close, with a newish pocket camera with a built-in 20X zoom (Canon SX260) that has excellent image stabilization and really good image quality for a camera that size and in that price range, and the zoom-in/out flexibility makes it my most-used everyday carry-camera now.  Recently $260 or more, it's $214 for the sale.

  While it's not ideal (slower lens) for fast-moving children indoors, some have said, I've had good luck with it indoors, with moving jazz musicians, and in a short videoclip in that lighting.  The videoclip uses the zoom-in feature.

  For those new to the camera, I recommend using the "Live" mode which is mostly automatic but lets you, with a press on the back control-wheel center button, adjust, live, the brightness/darkness of the final image and matches that to the LCD display image you see.  That also also lets you adjust color strength and a cool/warm tint to your preference on any shot.  Outside of that, I tend to like to use the Canon's spot-meter feature, but "Live" is good for a lot, and it has a night-time hand-held function that works really well.

  Photography is a favorite hobby for me, and my Canon SX260 sets are at PBase -- If you want to view the larger-sized versions of the shots (1024 pixels wide instead of PBase's 800 pixels wide), click on "Original" under any single normal-sized photo to get the larger versions during the viewing session.


  Even better: my cousin got this camera, a couple of weeks before going to ANTARCTICA, because of the easy zooming (she also brought her trusty Canon S95 but wound up using this one almost the entire time).
  Her photo-sets, which some of us asked her to make public, as she does these just for family:
  Antarctica I,   Antarctica II, and Antarctica III.  I was wow'd by what she saw and captured for us from that cruise.
 
For the very large versions of these, click on the top-right corner arrow of any photo.

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

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon Japan

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Kindle News: Amazon gives some stats on its GameCircle social platform & Android tablet market share

Another Amazon offering with an added social layer

The normally tight-mouthed Amazon offered a few stats at the GDC conference in San Francisco, in connection with its GameCircle platform, launched last September alongisde the Kindle Fire 2nd Gen and HD models.

  This platform has a social layer for competition between players, which lets "players track how they're doing in games compared to friends," explains Polygon's Christopher Grant, who reports today on Amazon's sudden loquaciousness during a reception for developers and press in connection with its growing game business.

  Aaron Rubenson, director of Amazon's Appstore Initiative, wanted the group to know that, as Grant put it:

' GameCircle-enabled games have 80 percent more revenue per user (RPU) than non-GameCircle-enabled games.  Developers that have included GameCircle support in their games are a third more likely to convert free users to paid, and players are a third more likely to make in-app purchases, Rubenson said '

That's us! It's good news, though, that they'll be letting developers keep more of those payments after some real concerns about how the timing of promotions and "severity of discounts" were not proving beneficial to the creators of these apps.  Rubenson explains that they "changed these terms last year" and the new terms, Grant writes, "guarantee developers their usual 70 percent of the list price, regardless of what price Amazon drops it to..."

  The Free App of the Day doesn't work the same way though.  The guarantee isn't in effect but the developers "are compensated for making the game available."

  Amazon presented data from Localytics indicating, according to Grant's writeup, that Amazon has 56% of the U.S. Android tablet market and 33% of the worldwide tablet market.  That seems very high, but Apple is way ahead of other platforms, including Android, on this (having over 75% of that tablet market), so we are talking rapidly growing market share of a small subset so far, though not necessarily for long, the way Android is doing on smartphones.

  Several monitors of use and traffic on the web with respect to apps use have shown the Kindle Fire with a fast-growing share of the Android-based pack's share, often neck and neck with Samsung.

  On February 13, I posted the following about a January 2013 status report which I'll repeat here.

Is Kindle Fire going worldwide?
In more good news for Amazon, Localytics found that, as I Programmer reports, "Amazon's Kindle Fire accounts for a third of Android tablets on a global basis, even though it is available in only a handful of countries outside the United States."

  Of more interest to me, though, was the quote that I Programmer has from an Amazon rep:

' Localytics goes on to remind us that to date the Kindle Fire isn't even available in Canada, although at the recent launch event of the Kindle Paperwhite in Canada, Amazon’s VP in charge of the Kindle noted that they are working hard to launch the Fire lineup worldwide which should provide a boost for Android developers. '

The Localytics story has an interesting graph from January 2013 that I'll include here:

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FREE KINDLE BOOKS - NON-Classics Today + Under $1



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Kindle Fire News: Kindle Fire HD (7 and 8.9 inch) + Kindle Fire (2nd Gen) get large software updates 7.3.0, 8.3.0, and 10.3.0

Amazon announces software update for the Kindle Fire HD 7", 8.9" and Kindle Fire 2nd generation models

The notice was in a forum post, dated May 27, which I looked for after seeing a reference in a news article to a new feature we've been waiting for: the ability to read Kindle books that contain audio and/or video clips (formerly possible only with the iPad and other iOS devices).

There are a number of new features for each, including some that were introduced with the Kindle Paperwhite, (which Forbes described yesterday as "the consensus best e-reader on the market."

  I'll include the full forum post here (boldface for emphasis and bracketed notes are mine).
  Am also adding UK software pages:

' Initial post: Mar 27, 2013 2:18:39 PM PDT

Kevin G. - Community Manager says:
  Amazon Official

We have a new, free software update available for Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Kindle Fire HD 7" and Kindle Fire (2nd Generation). The software update will be delivered wirelessly and includes several new features and performance enhancements.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9":
* Change your device language - Set your default device language to one of eight languages, including English (U.S.), English (U.K.), German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese (Simplified).
* Track your reading progress with Time To Read - Kindle Fire HD 8.9" calculates your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish a chapter or book.
* Support for Kindle Editions with Audio/Video - You can now read books that contain audio and/or video clips.
* Print Replica Textbook Enhancements - Scroll through thumbnails at the bottom of the screen to preview pages and jump quickly between chapters, and mark important notes and highlights in your Notebook for easy reference.

Please see the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Software Update page for more information:
  [v8.3.0 here]   [UK software page].

    [XRay for textbooks isn't mentioned for the 8.9" model -- maybe an oversight.]

Kindle Fire HD 7":
* Support for X-Ray for Textbooks - Explore the "bones" of your textbook, and access all the most important terms and concepts, with glossary definitions and links to relevant textbook pages.
* Simplified Chinese Support - In addition to the other languages offered, you can now change your device language to Simplified Chinese.
* Track your reading progress with Time To Read - Kindle Fire HD 7" calculates your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish a chapter or book.
* Support for Kindle Editions with Audio/Video - You can now read books that contain audio and/or video clips.
* Print Replica Textbook Enhancements - Scroll through thumbnails at the bottom of the screen to preview pages and jump quickly between chapters, and mark important notes and highlights in your Notebook for easy reference.

Head over to the Kindle Fire HD 7" Software Update page for more details:
  [v7.3.0 here].   [UK software page].

Kindle Fire 2nd Generation:
* Support for X-Ray for Textbooks - Explore the "bones" of your textbook, and access all the most important terms and concepts, with glossary definitions and links to relevant textbook pages.
* Simplified Chinese Support - In addition to the other languages offered, you can now change your device language to Simplified Chinese.
* Track your reading progress with Time To Read - Kindle Fire 2nd Generation calculates your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish a chapter or book.
* Support for Kindle Editions with Audio/Video - You can now read books that contain audio and/or video clips.
* Print Replica Textbook Enhancements - Scroll through thumbnails at the bottom of the screen to preview pages and jump quickly between chapters, and mark important notes and highlights in your Notebook for easy reference.

The Kindle Fire 2nd Generation Software Update page contains information on how to manually install the update if you'd prefer:
  [v10.3.0 here].   [UK software page].

If you need assistance with one of these updates, please visit the Kindle Help Forums. '

IF Choosing to Manually Download This Version

(instead of waiting for it to arrive via WiFi)
This update automatically downloads and installs for most Kindle Fire customers; however, you can initiate the software update from your Kindle or manually download the software update via USB (some use the excellent WiFi File Explorer PRO app rather than the USB cable hookup).

Again -- before you begin, confirm your current software version:

1. KF: Tap the top of the device -- KFHD: Swipe down from the top of the screen.
     Then tap More.
2. Tap Device, and then tap About.

The instructions for manually downloading -- if needed -- the update via USB are at the software update pages mentioned above.  Most will find it more convenient to have the update arrive via the automated download.

NOTE that when it does arrive, your Kindle Fire will reboot and sometimes it does that twice, so don't be alarmed when it happens while it's idle and you're nearby.


EARLIER posts on Kindle Fire HD

  . Getting non-Amazon apps on Kindle Fires (non-HD Kindle Fires have storage space limitations)
  . More comparisons on iPad mini and Kindle Fire HD
  . Basic Features Comparison Table for iPad mini, Google Nexus 7", Kindle Fire HD 7"
  . Comparison reviews of the Kindle Fire HD 7" and Google Nexus 7" tablets
  . Step-by-step guide for installing a working Adobe Flash player when needed.
  . Google Maps, Street View and other apps on my Kindle Fire, via enabling one device setting
  . Downloading and playing YouTube videos on Kindle Fire HD
  . Using the camera and Video, Panorama mode, Time Lapses
  . App for WiFi file transfers w/o cable.

---

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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Kindle News: Kindle Fire (First Generation) maintenance update v6.3.2. was ready March 8, 2013

KINDLE FIRE FIRST GEN SOFTWARE UPDATE v6.3.2 has been ready at the Amazon Kindle software page since Mar. 8, 2013

This is not a large update like the ones announced March 27 for the 2nd Generation Kindle Fires, and no notice was given for this.  Those without WiFi accessible or turned 'On' won't know it's been ready for awhile.

I just noticed it while writing about the major upgrades for the 2nd gen Kindle Fires this week.

If you haven't received it and you don't want to wait for the automatic download via WiFi
  You can download v6.3.2 at the software-update page (good instructions there).  The last version, v6.3.1, was released in May 2012.

Here's the extremely brief announcement Amazon placed on that software update page a few weeks ago.

'We have a new, free software update available for Kindle Fire 1st Generation that includes bug fixes and performance improvements.  The software update will be delivered automatically via wireless.

EARLIER posts on Kindle Fire v6.3.x
Kindle Fire v6.3 features
READING VIEW feature



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Kindle News: Goodreads acquisition, background + interviews. Cloud Reader for Web.

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF GOODREADS

When the news hit, The Kindle Chronicles podcast and blog by Len Edgerly posted an interesting story on it right away giving some of the background of Goodreads.


Otis Chandler's announcement for Goodreads and comments from their user base
Goodreads' own announcement and comments from their audience is of course a key read.

  Another essential read is ' "First do no harm:" My interview with Amazon and Goodreads on the future of Goodreads ' by Laura Hazard Owen for paidContent.

One essential point made in the interviews:

' ...[Amazon's] Grandinetti says Goodreads will be an independent subsidiary of Amazon, like Zappos or IMDB. The site will remain based in San Francisco. Chandler remains CEO, reporting to Grandinetti.  Chandler said that Goodreads’ entire team is staying on (and that the company is hiring). To the question of a redesign, he said there is “nothing specific to mention in relation to the acquisition.”'

With regard to a merging of Amazon reader reviews and Goodreads' reviews, Russ Grandinetti [RG] says he thinks there aren't any "specific plans to do that at this time" and that "Our mentality here is to first do no harm, and make sure that if we’re going to do integrations, users genuinely find it to be a big benefit.”

I've liked that I'm never particularly aware that Amazon has done anything to stifle IMDB, Zappos, or DPreview (cameras) insofar as feeling that editorial control or operating styles have been affected in any bad way with these sites that I've enjoyed for some time.

While Chandler [OC] felt that links to other retailers like Barnes & Noble and Indiebound might be retained "if users really want those links," I think that's highly unlikely!, even for books Amazon doesn't have, as they would probably not want a wholly-owned subsidiary to drive traffic to the another store like B&N, which sells the same mainstream books.

A benefit for Goodreads customers, OC said, was the ability to bring a book "into Goodreads and enabling people to just start reading right there from the Kindle Cloud Reader.  We’ve never had a good book preview feature.”

RG said that the international aspect for both Goodreaders and Amazon are "an area of opportunity for both of us to work on."

OC mentioned that, re the public API or applications interface, that "we're not going to shut [the Kobo feed] off."

There's a lot more from the interviews of course, at paidContent's site, so go there to read the rest of it and the comments.

If after reading at the sites linked above, you want to read more reactions to this merging, see this set of news results.


Earlier articles explaining Cloud Reader
. Kindle Cloud Reader arrives
. Reactions to Kindle Cloud Reader

---

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

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon Japan

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Kindle News: Kindle Touch back in U.S. lineup + Amazon adds XRAY today to top TV show - how it works. UPDATE

Kindle Touch (w/ audio and Text-to-Speech) returns to lineup in U.S., and Amazon expands XRay feature to its top TV shows

  Eagle-eyed blog contributor Tom Semple discovered that the e-Ink Kindle Touch WiFi eReader has quietly been returned, unseen, to the Kindle Family lineup (it isn't shown in the usual Kindle models header).

  For some months, the International model product page had shown a sign-up box for notices if that model became available again, but now that International or Global model wording has been replaced with "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

  In the meantime, the U.S. model, with Special Offers activated (they can be turned off for a small fee) is once again available.  While it is the earlier model without built-in lighting, as the Paperwhite has, the Kindle Touch WiFi has audio (audio books, text-to-speech feature, basic mp3 playing) and double the storage space, the latter of importance to those who want to keep books with a lot of graphics on the device.  This should hold up to 3,000 novel-sized Kindle books (but holding that many slows down the Kindle and isn't really advised) while the Paperwhite holds up to 1,000.

  An audio feature was a requirement in earlier talk of contracts for schools and libraries, and maybe that's another reason for its return.

  The Kindle Touch U.S. is Prime-shipping eligible, and one-day shipping is available at checkout.  The current pricing shown is $99.00, with Special Offers, the only way it comes, new.  Again, that lock-screen display of Special Offers can be de-activated, if wanted, by unsubscribing from these via the manageyourkindle page.  The Paperwhite cost for doing that is about $15, and it's probably similar for the Kindle Touch.

  The Kindle Touch just received a software maintenance update and, in January, it was given a user interface similar to the Paperwhite's, with a choice of cover-images for the home page or the old text-listing (faster and with more books shown on a page).

UPDATE - 3G version of Kindle Touch
Nate Hoffelder of TheDigitalReader located the page for the 3G model, which is available only as a REFURBISHED unit when available, at this time but is described as "Certified Refurbished" and with 3G that is available globally (which means free 3G cellular network access to the Kindle store and to Wikipedia 24/7 internationally).



Amazon expands XRAY feature to its TV Shows video area
Powered by IMDB (owned by Amazon), Kindle Fire HD Tablet users "can discover the names of the actors appearing on the screen and what they’ve been in."

Amazon's press release adds:

' Available today for the most popular TV shows on Amazon, X-Ray will quickly expand to even more shows...  X-Ray for TV is also available as part of the free Amazon Instant Video app on Wii U. '
  ...
  ...Kindle Fire HD...combines an exceptional viewing experience with the unbelievable power of the over 100 million pieces of data in IMDb’s catalog.”
  ...
  ...IMDb Founder and CEO. “Can’t remember where you’ve seen the actor playing Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey?  No problem.  Simply tap on the screen and you’ll see a full filmography, where you’ll realize that Hugh Bonneville was also in Notting Hill.  Our vision is to make X-Ray available on every movie and TV show -- we’re excited to make another big step forward today, and we are working hard to add X-Ray to more TV shows and movies in the future.”

  X-Ray for TV is available starting today on the most popular TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, many of which are also available as part of Prime Instant Video: Justified, Downton Abbey, The West Wing, Sons of Anarchy, Falling Skies, American Horror Story, Grey's Anatomy, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Lost, Glee, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. '

They've really expanded Instant Video (at no add'l cost with Prime-shipping program, which is $79/year or $6.58/mo. in effect).  A few are "day-after-air" TV (I think this is includes some PBS news documentaries).

  Other tablets just don't offer anything similar to the XRay feature when watching movies and TV.  For me, it's a real boon, much as I may complain at times about things they've not included.

How
Here's an earlier blog article on how XRay works when viewing Amazon videos and the Kindle Fire HD.



  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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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Kindle News: Kindle Touch update v5.3.2.1 has suddenly appeared. Updated info 3/28 on fix.

Kindle Touch Software Upgrade to v5.3.2.1 - an apparent maintenance update that nevertheless appeared on my Kindle Touch with a very long "letter" from Amazon describing all the changes that actually came not this week but on January 8, 2013.

Originally posted March 27, this March 28 blog-info-update includes, a user report today on a couple of glitches that were fixed, and Tom Semple's report earlier, at the bottom of this article, of another problem that was resolved by the software update.

The bug-fix report today, March 28, from a blog commenter:

' I installed update 5.3.2 several weeks ago manually.  My Kindle Touch was stuck trying to finish indexing, causing battery life to suffer greatly.  In addition several games and apps would not open, giving an error message.  After a week or so trying to figure out this behavior (I figured that it was due to the update), I contacted Amazon about the problems. I was told that update 5.3.2.1 was available and should solve the problems I was having. It did! '

  The changes in the earlier huge update January 8 included user-interface features first seen in the Kindle Paperwhite, and it received a lot of comments on the blog article (worth reading) for that as well as in the Kindle community.

  Am glad to see that a swipe up or down in a book still allows a move to the next or previous chapter, for books that have chapter markings, a feature I wish they'd put on the Paperwhite.

  I've enjoyed those new features but usually use the Paperwhite now because of the built-in light which is as enjoyable in daylight as it is in low light situations, but I keep the Kindle Touch for the text-to-speech feature.  Last night I saw a news article that reported this update as if the new interface features had just arrived with this 4th digit upgrade.  That's understandable since the long Amazon letter came with it, as if the update introduced all the new features described that were received over two months ago.
  That's odd, but maybe that was meant for a few who somehow had never received the original v5.3.2 update.

FOR THOSE RECEIVING v5.3.2 AT ALL FOR THE FIRST TIME, here's a repeat of the features
  From the Amazon US update and Amazon UK update pages -
  (bracketed info is by me.)

"The update will be delivered wirelessly and includes an updated user interface and new features.  This update automatically downloads and installs for Kindle touch customers; however, you can also manually download the software an udpate your device via USB cable."

' This software update includes the following new features:

  . A new user interface
  . Whispersync for Voice   [ US only]
  . Enhanced Parental Controls
  . Book Covers
  . Time-to-Read
  . Recommended Content   [ This can be turned off. ]
  . Enhanced book samples
  . Navigate graphic novels, and comics '

If your Kindle Touch has software version 5.1.0, 5.1.1 or 5.1.2, or 5.3.2 installed, you'll either get this wirelessly or you can download it manually as mentioned.

If you have a version prior to 5.1.0, Amazon links you to the earlier 5.1.0 update that must be downloaded and installed before doing the 5.3.2.1 update.

Determine your software version

 
1. From Home, tap Menu and then tap Settings.
 
2. On the Settings screen, tap Menu (the Amazon update page omits a step here) and THEN select Device Info. Your software version is listed under Firmware Version.

"

The Kindle Touch Software update page ( US,  UK ) leads you through what to do, depending on which Firmware Version is showing for your KTouch.


What Was New Jan 8, 2013 -- and what you need to know
Amazon has a page explaining the new features ( US   UK ), including the fact that "Archived Items" is gone, and "Cloud" replaces it, listing all the items or, in this case, Kindle books or newsstand titles you've purchased (including the $0.00 ones) and which can be (re)downloaded to your Kindle at any time.

  It includes fuller descriptions of the new features and also explains that you can turn off "Recommended Content" if you don't want to see it (which entails going to Settings, Device Options and then Personalize your Kindle).

  Other descriptions detail:
  . how to view your book covers or, instead, just a listing
  . how to track your reading progress with Time to read
  . enhanced sample-to-book feature
  . navigation of graphic novels, comics, and children's books


The Kindle Community forums post listed them at athe time, and I'll include that here for easier access in one place (italics and bold-facing added by me):

' * Updated User Interface: We have an updated and streamlined interface for your Kindle.  Archived Items has been renamed to Cloud and appears in the top left of your screen under the toolbar.  All your archived items can be found there.

* Book Covers on the Home screen: View the covers of your books by selecting Cover View in the menu from the Home screen.

* Time to Read: Kindle Touch calculates your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish your chapter or book.

* Recommended Content: We've made it easy to discover new titles with recommended content.  The Kindle Store uses the same personalized customer experience you're used to across Amazon.com, matching our best recommendations to your personal reading habits.

* Enhanced Sample-to-Book Experience: When you buy a book after reading a sample, we will now automatically start the book at your last reading location in the sample and remove the sample from your Kindle.

* Parental Controls: With the latest software update, parents can restrict access to the Experimental Web Browser, Kindle Store, and Cloud.  While the Kindle Store and Cloud are locked with Parental Controls, you can continue to buy books from a computer and send them to your Kindle wirelessly.

* Whispersync for Voice: Now you can switch back and forth between reading and listening without losing your place.  Whispersync for Voice will synchronize what you read on any Kindle platform device with Audible playback on Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Fire, or on Audible apps for iPhone and Android.

* Author Profiles: We've added biographical information and the ability to browse other books by the same author from within your book.  When reading, tap the Menu button and select About the Author.

* Children's Books and Comics: Children's books come to life with Kindle Text Pop-Up, enabling you to easily read text over images.  Comic books can now be read with Kindle Panel View, which allows you to read a comic book panel by panel.

We will be delivering this update over Wi-Fi in the coming weeks.  Customers who prefer to receive the update immediately can manually download and install the software update from [the] kindlesoftwareupdates/touch page ( US   UK )

If you have questions or need help with this update, please head over to the Kindle Help Forum [no announcement in UK forum at the moment]. '

What users discovered about the upgrade in January
1. Kindle books can't be searched before a re-indexing of keywords is done.  This re-indexing will happen automatically and will take quite a bit of time in the background (you can read a Kindle book in the meantime) and will use the battery pretty heavily before it's done.

  *~*Pineapple*~*, a Kindle Forum Pro, writes

' To check for indexing, search on the Home page (Device) for an uncommon or nonsense word like zxcvb and at the bottom of the list will be the number of unindexed books.

To start them indexing:

1. Turn on wireless
2. Restart (Home > Menu > Settings > Menu > Restart)
3. Wait '

Depending on how many books are on your Kindle, it could take hours or a day, but you can use the Kindle while it's slowly re-indexing the books in the background.

Note that the software update file is a big one and it takes longer than usual.  Leave it alone when you see it happening and let it complete.  It may take up to 15 minutes.  I like to plug in my Kindle when manually doing an update, but it's not necessary.  However, it's a good idea to plug it in for the re-indexing that will have to be done and can be quite a battery drainer.

At any rate, the original extensive v5.3.2 update was quite a boon for Kindle Touch owners, and they've apparently added maintenance fixes in this v5.3.2.1 update.

Updated info mentioned on 1/11/12
Users have reported problems with font face selections, and Amazon customer reps have told them they are working on a further update that will fix that.

Added March 27, 2013
My guess is that this update may include fixes for those font face selection problems.  And maybe Tom Semple will find that the problems with downloading of graphic novels have been solved.

Added March 28, 2013
It turns out that Tom Semple's problems with downloading of graphic novels were solved with this.

---

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. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Free Kindle books - a few unusual ones today - most free for just a day or so. Updated to re-include March free-book listing links.

Just some free books that caught my eye today

As ever, these are usually very brief promos, with pricing good for just 1 to 5 days, sometimes a few hours.  Check the pricing before clicking on the purchase button.

Free Software and Online Utilities for Writers

Published Dec. 2012, the description reads:
"There is a surprising amount of free software, and online utilities, available for authors and publishers. Here we have collected a handy guide so the busy author or publisher does not have to chase all over the internet tracking it all down. The resources listed here can easily save the reader many hundreds of dollars."

Very short book - 78KB file size
10 customer reviews, with 4.5 stars avg rating


The Self Publishing Toolkit: How to Publish & Sell Kindle ebooks on Amazon

"...personal publishing guide; taking you from publication through promotion...specifically designed with fiction writers in mind—so if you’d rather write than promote, this is the book for you.

You get step by step instructions for:
Creating a Personal Promo Kit (This is a major time saver.)
Formatting Your Book for Publication
The Entire Publication Process (with tips to make it easier)
Building your website (Even if you are non-technical to the extreme.)
Setting up your Blog
Running a successful KDP Select Promotion (Checklists included!)"

"There is also a bonus Resource Guide containing every single link, recommended resource and tool from the entire book. No more hunting through pages of text to find the tool that you need. Everything is right at your fingertips, organized by topic so it's easy to find..."

23 customer reviews, 4.6 stars avg rating



How To Make A Website Or Blog Using WordPress : A Beginner's Guide On How To Create A Website

Published March 20, there are no customer reviews yet.

Description: "This is an e-book for beginners.  It basically outlines what is[sic] takes and the instructions on how to make a blog or website by using the WORDPRESS platform.  Pictures and links to videos also included."



The 25 Weirdest Animals in the World! Amazing facts, photos and video links to the strangest creatures on the planet. (Amazing Animals Series)

A short book, only 64 pages but with images, so it's the file size of a normal sized novel.
"Not just for kids" - per one customer review.

54 customer reviews, 4.6 stars avg rating


CORRECTION
For the entire month of March, I had inadvertently not updated the March free Kindle book lists in the Reference right-column of the website blog, although the March listings link was included in the March 1 blog entry

For convenience, here is the listing of free Kindle books for March at the moment.



  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


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 Tip: The Free 24/7 3G Access to Wikipedia on all 3G e-Ink Kindles (not generally known), plus Article Mode for that

After reading a couple of Internet news articles this weekend that stated that the 3G E-Ink Kindles of the last two years are restricted, in their 3G cellular network access, to the Amazon store (and having talked to many who don't know that the 3G e-Ink Kindles ALL have free 3G encyclopedia access 24/7 through Wikipedia globally), I thought it was a good time for a reminder.
  In fact, it's probably the first most will have heard of it.

 This includes the first two e-Ink Kindles, Kindle 1 and 2, which had and have only 3G access, and which both have ultra slow access to web look-ups in general (these are both still being used by Kindle stalwarts, since they can read their Kindle books on it, and many see no reason to buy later models) and the Kindle Keyboard ("Kindle 3"), Kindle Touch and Kindle Paperwhite (UK model here) models that have 3G.
  Clicking on the images take you to their respective U.S. Amazon pages.

  In fact, the very first article posted by this blog on March 19, 2009, was a photo comparison of the Kindle 1 vs Kindle 2 accessing the web in their black & white fashion and showing the differences in texture of output in graphics.  At this point, it's a bit of history on models still being used.

  The differences seen between those early models, 2 years apart (2007 and 2009) reflect the number of "shades of gray" used in each.  And that led to the article March 30 that year "Are the Kindle 2's 16 shades of gray a big deal?," which is an interesting look at the differences, and the source was an excellent linked tutorial on what happens when 4, 8, or 16 shades of gray are used.
  Well, a bit of nostalgia.  A lot has happened in 4 years.

  But, MAIN POINT - ALL of the 3G models pictured and still used, including the new 3G Paperwhite, allow FREE 3G access to Wikipedia, 24/7, meaning that if you happen to be on a bus, at the beach, or at the dentist's office and reading, and are curious about an event or fact, you can just look it up on those e-Ink 3G Kindles.  They allow you to SEARCH (while reading a book), or access directly, that Internet encyclopedia at no added cost.  (I'm pretty sure it's only the English version that's accessed even in the rest of the world).   This is in over 100+ countries/areas of the world.

  If you're not reading a book and just want to go look something up at Wikipedia using what's still called the e-Ink Kindle's "experimental web browser" you can just select Menu/Bookmarks -- which takes you to the mobile version of Encyclopedia, which delivers the content at a very decent speed on the 3G models of Kindle Touch and Paperwhite and is not that slow on the 3G Kindle 3 Keyboard.

I consider this a terrific feature, for those who don't have data plans on smartphones, and of course the battery lasts longer if you use the e-Ink eReaders for that, with their larger screens.


ARTICLE MODE - Don't forget that you can use this menu feature on single web page articles.  If you're reading a specific Wikipedia article and you find the fonts too small (usually the case with web articles on a 6" screen), tap at the TOP row of the display to get the Menu.  Press Menu and choose "Article Mode" and the article will be a lot easier to read.
  Hope people find this helpful.

---

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

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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle News: New, easy SEND TO KINDLE Button for getting website articles sent directly to your Kindle(s) or Kindle-reading apps - UPDATES 3/19-3/21

Amazon announced today (Tues. Mar. 20) a new, easier to use, Send to Kindle Button feature

This one works ONLY when websites put the button on their websites.  They gave no specific Google blogspot.com/blogger.com instructions, but I'm trying it on this site, with the button placed just below the article on any single-article page.

  I'm using Chrome browser but have now tested this button (for this site) with Mozilla Firefox browser too.

UPDATED Wednesday morning through the day and Thursday evening, after some testing of the feature to see if it works for a Google "blogger.com" or "blogspot.com" site like this one.  The gadget site commenters were asking the site reporters why the Kindle button was not on their sites :-)

  UPSHOT:
  With Google's Chrome browser, it works 1/3 of the time for this blog.
  With Firefox, it worked 99% of the time (and lightning fast)
  With Internet Explorer, it hasn't worked for me at all with this type of site,
    even when allowing all 'cookies' and using lower privacy (not a good idea).

NOTE: It works fine on the large organization Washington Post and TIME news sites, where people are more likely to want to use it and they have their own server setups and control.

  For Kindle users, this means that for the big sites that do put on the SendtoKindle button and test it with several browsers, you'll be able to send web articles direct to your Kindle(s) of choice, no matter what browser you're using.
  Amazon has it working with Wordpress blogs.  I suspect cooperation there with Wordpress, while Google blogger.com staff and Amazon may not be working together on this.

  IMPORTANT - This type of feature NORMALLY works only on SINGLE-article pages and NOT on the main page of many articles, which is how it is for all the various SendtoKindle programs. The focus is on a single article you may be reading specifically.
  But I've now received help from a Kindle developer who gave me some code which makes this button work from the Main page as well! when it does work (See 'UPSHOT' above.)
  Mozilla Firefox browser is the star on this one - works lightning-fast 99% of the time even for this Googgle-blogger.com blog -- I've found only one (short) article it could not process.

  You can click on any article's title to get the single-article page if wanted (and to see associated Comments or to add any), but it won't be necessary anymore.

  There can be a long wait for the sent-article.  (You're asked, in the dialog box, if you want to send a copy to your Amazon archives/library, and I chose Yes, so I could test to see the article arrived on the server.)

  There were times when I thought the process hadn't worked but the articles then suddenly appeared on my Kindle Fire.  With the Google Chrome browser on a Windows PC, I was able to get 4 full articles out of 12 tries, while the other tries resulted in only a LINK to the article on the web! and it's likely a Google-blogger/blogspot.com setting, and a Kindle developer is now trying to solve the problem.

  All this is because bloggers have been invited to use the button and the blog's readers will wonder either why it's not on a site or why it may not work consistently on some Google-owned blogsites while there is a plug-in that works for Wordpress blogs.

  One drawback - Pictures come through if they reside on the same server as the blog text.  My images are hosted on my own server at andrys.com or at Google-web image areas.

  So, although other sendtokindle or sendtoreader programs (described in linked articles at the end of this post) will send the images, that's not always the case with this new feature.

  The large newspaper news sites will host pictures and text on their own servers, so won't see this problem, so I'm recommending you try the feature mainly on the sites that use their own servers for everything.

  The new SendtoKindle dialog box.
  The image here shows the top part of the dialog box you get, when clicking to get an article sent to your Kindle.  It'll ask the first time, whether you want the article via "WiFi (FREE)" or "Whispernet" [3G] for which charges may apply - this used to be $0.15 minimum for file size up to a novel-sized document.
  You can change the settings for target devices at the bottom of the dialog box.

  Oddity - My dialog box of Kindle devices to receive an article did not include my Paperwhite! but did include my Kindle Touch and older e-Ink models.   HOWEVER, the manageyourkindle page shows that the articles at my Cloud-archived personal-docs-library do show a Paperwhite delivery option, so that's just a problem with the Send-to-Kindle dialog box in this case.

Here's today's announcement (bolding emphasis is mine)...

' Initial post: Mar 19, 2013 4:01:51 PM PDT

Kevin G. - Community Manager says:
AMAZON OFFICIAL

Sending web content to Kindle is now easier than ever.

We are excited to announce the "Send to Kindle Button", a convenient new way to send content directly from a website to your Kindle.  Customers can check out the Send to Kindle Button today on The Washington Post, TIME, and the popular blog Boing Boing.

Have you ever encountered news, blogs, articles and other content on the web that you want to read but don't have time to do so immediately?  The Send to Kindle Button lets you easily send that content to your Kindle to read later, at your convenience.  Just send once and read everywhere on any of your Kindle devices or free Kindle reading apps for iPhone, iPad and Android phones or tablets.  No more hunting around for that website or blog that caught your eye - just open your Kindle and all the content you sent is right there.  The Send to Kindle Button is also great for those who want to collect content from the web to use in work projects, school assignments, or hobbies.

The Send to Kindle Button is part of a family of Send to Kindle applications that make it easy for customers to send personal documents and web content to read on their Kindle.  To find out more about other Send to Kindle applications for PC, Mac, Chrome, and Firefox, please visit http://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle.

If you happen to own a website and want to add the Send to Kindle Button, you can get it for free at http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/developers/button or at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/send-to-kindle/ for WordPress bloggers. '

They mention at the product page that Send to Kindle for Apple Safari is "coming soon."


Other methods
I just wrote, 8 days ago, on March 11, a blog article on "How to EMAIL Pictures to your Kindle Fire, and Webpages to your Kindle."

  That article lists several ways this has been done -- one has been the 3rd party SendtoReader option, which is able to send web articles from any browser, to your Kindle device (even from your Kindle device's browser), but while very convenient, the method is a bit more arcane than just pressing a button that's been customized by Amazon for individual browsers, as we have here.

  And I listed, in that article, Amazon's own several other methods listed on their more-general SendtoKindle product page.



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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

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