Posts Tagged ‘New Books’
Amazon Kindle How-To Series: Great Kindle 2 Keyboard Shortcuts
February 1st, 2010 No Comments Posted in Gadgets And Gizmos
Michael Piston asked:
The new Amazon Kindle 2’s features and navigation is easy to access with the MENU, and HOME buttons, along with the 5-way navigator. But there are keyboard shortcuts built into the Kindle that can make using your new e-book reader more enjoyable. There also are some special features only available using keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of the shortcuts you should keep in-mind when using your Kindle 2.
Refresh your display - the new Kindle’s screen is a big improvement over the Kindle 1. The new “digital ink” gives the screen a little better contrast and sharpness. It also moves from page to page more quickly. What you’ll find however is that sometimes you get a “ghosting” image on your screen. This can be annoying as you read. To refresh your screen hold down the ALT key then press the “G” key.
Use the Kindle’s built-in Spoken Word feature - you can press and hold down the ALT key then press the SYM key to turn the Spoken Word feature on or off. If you want to pause the Spoken Word feature press the ALT key and the space bar. Press the ALT key and the space bar again to resume playing Spoken Word.
Can’t wait to buy some new books for your Kindle 2? Press the ALT key and the HOME button to go immediately to the Kindle store.
If you find a key passage of a book that you want to send to someone you can take a screen shot using your Kindle. Press and hold the ALT and SHIFT (up arrow) keys and then the “G” key. The screen will flash when the screen capture is complete. Attach your Kindle 2 to your computer using the USB cable. You’ll find your screen shots there with a .gif file extension. You can copy the screen shots to your computer and attach them to e-mails or print them out.
Are you bored of reading and thinking of something else to do? Of course you could use your Kindle 2 to surf the web - or - you could play a game of Minesweeper. Press and hold down the ALT key and the SHIFT (up arrow) keys and then press the “M” key. The Minesweeper game will appear on your screen. Press the MENU button to change the game options.
If you’ve uploaded your own text files to your Kindle you may need to have the Kindle scan your documents so the new files show-up on your Home page. To do this hold-down the ALT key and then press the “Z” key.
How long have you been reading this book? To find-out press the Menu key and look at the top of your Kindle display. There you’ll see the time, the memory free on your Kindle 2, and details on your wireless network connection (right now mine says “3G”).
Need some detailed technical information on your Kindle 2? From the Home Page go to Menu > Settings and then type “411″. A screen will open showing your Settings and Device Information. Take a screen shot - hold down the “ALT” and “SHIFT” keys then press the “G” key - to save the information on the screen. Press the Home button again to close this window.
Congratulations! You’ve just learned how to get more use and enjoyment from your Kindle 2 e-book reader. To get keyboard shortcuts for your Kindle 1 visit the Guide to Kindle link at the bottom of this article.
The new Amazon Kindle 2’s features and navigation is easy to access with the MENU, and HOME buttons, along with the 5-way navigator. But there are keyboard shortcuts built into the Kindle that can make using your new e-book reader more enjoyable. There also are some special features only available using keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of the shortcuts you should keep in-mind when using your Kindle 2.
Refresh your display - the new Kindle’s screen is a big improvement over the Kindle 1. The new “digital ink” gives the screen a little better contrast and sharpness. It also moves from page to page more quickly. What you’ll find however is that sometimes you get a “ghosting” image on your screen. This can be annoying as you read. To refresh your screen hold down the ALT key then press the “G” key.
Use the Kindle’s built-in Spoken Word feature - you can press and hold down the ALT key then press the SYM key to turn the Spoken Word feature on or off. If you want to pause the Spoken Word feature press the ALT key and the space bar. Press the ALT key and the space bar again to resume playing Spoken Word.
Can’t wait to buy some new books for your Kindle 2? Press the ALT key and the HOME button to go immediately to the Kindle store.
If you find a key passage of a book that you want to send to someone you can take a screen shot using your Kindle. Press and hold the ALT and SHIFT (up arrow) keys and then the “G” key. The screen will flash when the screen capture is complete. Attach your Kindle 2 to your computer using the USB cable. You’ll find your screen shots there with a .gif file extension. You can copy the screen shots to your computer and attach them to e-mails or print them out.
Are you bored of reading and thinking of something else to do? Of course you could use your Kindle 2 to surf the web - or - you could play a game of Minesweeper. Press and hold down the ALT key and the SHIFT (up arrow) keys and then press the “M” key. The Minesweeper game will appear on your screen. Press the MENU button to change the game options.
If you’ve uploaded your own text files to your Kindle you may need to have the Kindle scan your documents so the new files show-up on your Home page. To do this hold-down the ALT key and then press the “Z” key.
How long have you been reading this book? To find-out press the Menu key and look at the top of your Kindle display. There you’ll see the time, the memory free on your Kindle 2, and details on your wireless network connection (right now mine says “3G”).
Need some detailed technical information on your Kindle 2? From the Home Page go to Menu > Settings and then type “411″. A screen will open showing your Settings and Device Information. Take a screen shot - hold down the “ALT” and “SHIFT” keys then press the “G” key - to save the information on the screen. Press the Home button again to close this window.
Congratulations! You’ve just learned how to get more use and enjoyment from your Kindle 2 e-book reader. To get keyboard shortcuts for your Kindle 1 visit the Guide to Kindle link at the bottom of this article.
Amazon Kindle eBook Reader May Need Redesigning To Catch On
September 30th, 2009 No Comments Posted in Gadgets And Gizmos
Chris Crowe asked:
The Amazon Kindle, Amazon’s foray into hand held e-book reading devices, was released in November. The reader splashed onto the scene with a cover photo on Newsweek and Amazon hoped the Kindle would do for digital-reading-on-the-go what the ipod did for digital music. That is, make it a viable concept and business, replete with enthusiastic users.
However, there’s not a whole lot of evangelizing going on around the Kindle.
Some people appreciate the palm-sized smallness of the Kindle, while others deride its small keyboard and awkwardly designed casing. The opinions are mixed and there are plenty of them.
Once you have the Kindle, you can visit Amazon’s e-book store, where you can purchase brand new books for $9.99, which is a discount from what new hardcovers generally cost. Even though in this proposition you don’t end up owning a tangible tree-made book, you get to enjoy the reading of it. But that brings up a principal issue for e-book readers.
Do people want to read books the same way they read blogs and news stories, via a computer screen? A lot of the issues that people have had with the Kindle–that’s it’s ugly, that the black and white screen isn’t up to par, that the keyboard and scroll wheel aren’t that well designed, and that it’s too expensive–may stem from the fact that reading books on the Kindle e-book reader is not the same as reading a paper-bound book. The experience is not the same.
You get the information, but part of the joy is stripped from the experience. Another issue is that we expect a lot out of our hand held devices these days. The iphone has set a new standard–and that’s a phone.
An e-book reader should have a high degree of interactivity with other Kindle owners that are friends. It should look as advanced and appealing as an iphone. It should be able to do most of what a high-tech cell phone can do in addition to the e-book reading functionality. It seems like it does too little if you can’t use it to access maps, the yellow pages, and search engines. For $399, it should do some of these things. At the very least, you should be able to do Internet searches.
Computers have become so intertwined in our work and personal lives, that it seems logical that an e-book reader would be the next step. And maybe it is. But it shouldn’t just be an e-book reader. It should be an e-book reader and a cell phone. I think the Kindle’s designers misread the psychology of an e-book reader.
It’s not bibliophiles who will be using this thing. It’s the geek who wants his hand-held device to do more for him than he expects, and that he can wow his friends who don’t have one.
Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the Amazon Kindle is sold out. Or at least that’s what it says on Amazon.
The Kindle makes sense on paper. But that’s the problem.
The Amazon Kindle, Amazon’s foray into hand held e-book reading devices, was released in November. The reader splashed onto the scene with a cover photo on Newsweek and Amazon hoped the Kindle would do for digital-reading-on-the-go what the ipod did for digital music. That is, make it a viable concept and business, replete with enthusiastic users.
However, there’s not a whole lot of evangelizing going on around the Kindle.
Some people appreciate the palm-sized smallness of the Kindle, while others deride its small keyboard and awkwardly designed casing. The opinions are mixed and there are plenty of them.
Once you have the Kindle, you can visit Amazon’s e-book store, where you can purchase brand new books for $9.99, which is a discount from what new hardcovers generally cost. Even though in this proposition you don’t end up owning a tangible tree-made book, you get to enjoy the reading of it. But that brings up a principal issue for e-book readers.
Do people want to read books the same way they read blogs and news stories, via a computer screen? A lot of the issues that people have had with the Kindle–that’s it’s ugly, that the black and white screen isn’t up to par, that the keyboard and scroll wheel aren’t that well designed, and that it’s too expensive–may stem from the fact that reading books on the Kindle e-book reader is not the same as reading a paper-bound book. The experience is not the same.
You get the information, but part of the joy is stripped from the experience. Another issue is that we expect a lot out of our hand held devices these days. The iphone has set a new standard–and that’s a phone.
An e-book reader should have a high degree of interactivity with other Kindle owners that are friends. It should look as advanced and appealing as an iphone. It should be able to do most of what a high-tech cell phone can do in addition to the e-book reading functionality. It seems like it does too little if you can’t use it to access maps, the yellow pages, and search engines. For $399, it should do some of these things. At the very least, you should be able to do Internet searches.
Computers have become so intertwined in our work and personal lives, that it seems logical that an e-book reader would be the next step. And maybe it is. But it shouldn’t just be an e-book reader. It should be an e-book reader and a cell phone. I think the Kindle’s designers misread the psychology of an e-book reader.
It’s not bibliophiles who will be using this thing. It’s the geek who wants his hand-held device to do more for him than he expects, and that he can wow his friends who don’t have one.
Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the Amazon Kindle is sold out. Or at least that’s what it says on Amazon.
The Kindle makes sense on paper. But that’s the problem.
