Update v2.6 for Kindle for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad - Real page numbers etc

The Kindle for iPhone (also for iPod Touch and iPad) app has been updated with version 2.6 with the following new features:

Real page numbers for thousands of books in the Kindle Store.  Now you can make proper citations in the classroom or follow along with people reading print books in a book club.View your percentage completed while reading [new for iPhone/iPod Touch].Home screen now shows your progress through books in list view.Look up words on Google and Wikipedia without leaving the app.Instant word lookup on included dictionary with 250,000 entries and definitions

You can see full details and download the new update by clicking the top image at the Kindle for iPhone/iPod Touch app page.  You'll get the same info at the Kindle for iPad app page except that it doesn't include "View your percentage completed while reading" as a new feature for the iPad (it may have been included before).

Thanks to Golf11 (Randall) again for the alert Sunday.

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

View the original article here

Q&A from today: How to find past appearances of a character in a book - Update

 FROM THE KINDLE FORUMS, A QUESTION TODAY

Saw the following question on an Amazon Kindle forum today and thought it might be good to post the Q&A here as well.  There are also good answers to new customers' questions on a number of common puzzlements in that thread.

Q: I have a kindle but I was wondering if there was a quicker way to go to the beginning of a book you are reading to review names from the previous pages.  I have been using the back button but it takes a long time to find what you want to know.  With a book you can just turn the pages.  This happens frequently when you may not get back to what you are reading for days...

A:  [There were several good answers at the forum.  The one below was mine (slightly modified for the blog), but you might enjoy reading the other ones on that page too, and you can click on the forum link to see them.]

Update - The answer is for a Kindle 3 as there were several million new owners of these in the last few months.  The steps for Kindle-2 and DX are on an earlier, separate page.  End of Update

  Here are the steps:

1. RIGHT on the page you're reading -
Start typing the the name of the character
whose previous appearances you
want to see again.
The searchbox will come up with your
typed name in it.
You then cursor down one step and then
cursor right one step to get "find"
as an option.
Click on that and wait for the usually
several results,
each surrounded by context and with
a link to the page that holds it.

2. If it's a complex name to type, then
Start a highlight on it instead.
Click on the 5-way button at the
beginning of the name, word or phrase
to start a highlight, and then
go to the right with the 5-way button until
you get the last letter of the name,
but -don't- click the 5-way button as
you might for an actual highlight.

  Instead, press the spacebar to end it, and
that'll put the name into the
search box for you, and you can
go down one step and
go to the right one step
to get the 'find' option.

  As CLS10, Bufo Calvin and others show, there are many different ways...

Getting back to the beginning of a book
As for how to get back to the beginning of a book, one can just -- as was pointed out in the forum thread -- press the Menu button and the default option will be "Go to..."

  Click on that and you'll get the "Go to" box where you can cursor down one step and then cursor left to choose either "beginning" or even "cover."

  Any tips you may have are always welcome in the Comments area.

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

View the original article here

The Amazon Trade-in Program - 3 stores - Update

 THE AMAZON TRADE-IN PROGRAM
This includes Movies & TV, Paper Books and Textbooks, Video Games

In general, the program enables customers to send in items to a third-party merchant in exchange for an Amazon.com Gift Card.

Amazon's Trade-in Program enables you to send in items to a third party merchant in exchange for an Amazon.com Gift Card and includes DVDs, Blu-ray discs, or HDDVDs; eligible used books and college textbooks matching editions wanted and which are in good condition; and video games in good working condition.

USED BOOKS (Paper)
Plus a side note on the book highlighted in Amazon's current ad for that

I personally didn't realize Amazon has a trade-in program for used paper books.  The current Amazon used-book ad (see image at top left here) happens to show a more unusual book that I actually bought (there is no Kindle version): Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940.

  This was during the years when The Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect.

  There are side-notes explaining references made in most of the poems (translated to English), interesting historical photographs, and some memories from some who made it through and later became citizens.

  For the few who might be interested in what that era and place was like for those getting off the boats and onto the West Coast's equivalent of Ellis Island, I made a recent photo gallery (Intro here)

of a day spent visiting Angel Island's newly restored Immigration Station detention barracks, where the Chinese immigrants were, by design, held much longer (weeks or months or even two years, instead of 2 days) until they could answer questions satisfactorily or be sent home, and it was found that many of the men carved poems of dispair on the walls, which were often painted over.

  Some of the carvings (discovered one night in an inspection by Park Ranger Alexander Weiss touring the barracks with a flashlight) are now on display, with many of them reproduced and translated in this book along with history of the time, place, and of some of the people involved.  The intro to my photo-set, linked above, leads to the full photo gallery, for those interested in the exhibition of life in the barracks.

  The detention areas were restored only a couple of years ago as a historical exhibition of the immigration station, which was on, ironically, a quite beautiful island.  At least one current docent in his 80s entered the U.S. as a child during that time when relatives of many of us arrived at the Station with their parents.

The rated "Most Helpful" customer review of the book gives a good synopsis, while the first poem he cites reminds me of how many of us use our Kindles today.

BACK TO THE AMAZON TRADING PROGRAM
For more information, see the Help pages listed on Trade-in Program home page and visit the following Trade-In stores for:

  . Movies & TV
. Textbooks and
. Video Games.

Here's the Trade-in Program FAQ

STUDENTS AND TEXTBOOKS
I'm not sure many students and parents are aware of this program.  Amazon recently sent out an email on this that included: "Students, no matter where you bought your textbooks you can get up to 60% back when you sell them at Amazon.com's Book & Textbook Buyback Store."

IF ONLY
If only Amazon and the publishers would add a trade-in program for Kindle books...
(Coming to my mind from a Beatles John Lennon song right now:
You can say, I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one...)

(Thanks to Stuart for the correction.)

On-topic note about the Kindle
In the meantime, you might enjoy the latest online newspaper column of the "No Kindle for me!" type.  Laura Moyer rightly worries about the effect of the Kindle on brick and morter bookstores.

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

View the original article here

New Kindle for PC Update w/ Real Page Numbers & Touch for Win7 Tablets

The Kindle for PC page has again been updated (see features of original, basic Kindle for PC) with the following new features:

Download the new version to enjoy these new features.
Real Page Numbers
See real page numbers for thousands of books in the Kindle Store. Now you can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class.Popular Highlights
See what our community of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books.  If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book.Touch for Windows 7 Tablets
Enjoy a touch-friendly interface on Windows 7 tablet computers.As with all of our services, we plan to continue improving Kindle for PC.  Below are some features we are thinking about bringing to Kindle for PC in the near future:
Library Management
A new way to manage and organize your content

Here's an image of how they implemented the Page numbers display that are included with Locations display for the computer version of Kindle. 

The PREVIOUS big update in November added these features:

* Use the built-in dictionary to seamlessly look up the definitions of
English words without interrupting your reading.
* Read in the standard one-column mode or take advantage of a larger screen
with a multi-column view, which will automatically adjust
according to your screen size. [ Very slick. ]
* Choose whether you'd like to browse your library in a tile view or in a list view.

Examples of normal one-column book page mode and the multi-column view:  
By the way, in the November changes that allow us to view by covers or by a detailed text listing, we have new sorting options:

  1. TEXT listing: Sort by TYPE (New or Sample, at the top or bottom)
2. TEXT & COVER: Sort by LENGTH of book.

UPDATE, later same day
Les Bell posted in the Amazon forum the following:

' ... the problem seems to have been resolved - I just downloaded the latest version of K4PC [1.4.1 (31629)] and it seems to be displaying math & Greek characters correctly - albeit the book (Modeling and Reasoning with Bayesian Networks...) is displaying in a sans serif font, rather than the serif font I believe it was in previously. '

As before, the Kindle team says they'd like to hear from Kindle for PC users.
"You can send them to the Kindle team at kindleforpc-feedback@amazon.com or via the feedback form available in the application - we'd love to hear what you think"

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

View the original article here

Kindle Update Adds Real Page Numbers and More

It appears that Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN) has been doing some customer polling, or at least watching their forums, and came up with a few new features for an upcoming Kindle software update as a result.  While this has not rolled out to the public as an official release just yet, they are offering an Early Preview of the update for manual download through the website at this page.  I’ve got to admit, this addresses a few long standing concerns.

Foremost among user complaints about the Kindle has often been the progress indicator.  Hard to share a passage you like with friends and family when you can’t just suggest that they turn to a specific page in their own copy, right?  Well, now Amazon is adding in corresponding page numbering between print and digital copies of their library, beginning with the top 100 most popular books that offer both formats and moving on from there.

You know how you can annotate and highlight things in your favorite Kindle books?  Well, now you’ll be able to share those markups with anybody who’s interested.  It opens up new avenues of communication for friends, families, reading clubs, authors, and pretty much anybody who spends time seriously thinking about their reading.  Note that this is an optional feature that is not turned on by default, so there is no danger of sharing inadvertently as far as I can tell (if that’s a concern for you).

Many people have realized the flaw of the user rating system on Amazon and many other sites.  Often users will only make the effort to comment if the book was particularly bad or amazingly good.  Even then, if you can’t get to it right away while it’s fresh in your mind, what’s the point?  Now, when you finish your book you will be given a chance to rate the book, share a note on the book (via the Facebook and such),and get some recommendations on things to read both based on the author you just read and from a selection of more general personalized recommendations.  It’s fairly unobtrusive and shouldn’t negatively affect your reading experience, while at the same time having the chance to improve the reliability of the rating system on the Kindle store.

Magazines and Newspapers are becoming a bigger and bigger thing in the eReader world.  The new layout makes them that much easier to browse.  There’s not much more to say about it than that it makes more sense this way and seems to speed up browsing magazines for the Kindle considerably.

Lots of fun new stuff to play with in this Kindle software update.  Nothing game changing, necessarily, just a bunch of stuff that users have been asking for.  It’s nice to see that Amazon’s still interested in getting the Kindle updates going out even when there aren’t any major problems needing to be addressed in the software.  I’m going to play around with it a bit more and post some impressions in the near future if I get a chance.  Let me know how it’s working for you.

View the original article here