Kindle News: Kindle Touch E-Reader update v5.3.7 is available to replace v5.3.2.1. Added info on Kindle for iOS update v3.9: -NOT- recommended currently. Some info on a coming Kindle Fire software update. UPDATE2

Kindle Touch Software Upgrade to v5.3.7. has been made available.

These are improvements they recently gave the Kindle Paperwhite model.  Excellent to see continued support for the older models.

  At the software update page, US  (UK page here), they explain:

  "This update automatically downloads and installs on your Kindle Touch when connected wirelessly; however, you can also manually download the software and transfer the update to your device via USB cable.

  The software update includes general improvements and the following feature enhancements:"

' Improvements when buying from a book sample
While reading a sample of a book, you can view the price of the full book and purchase from the reading toolbar with one tap.

View full definition when looking up a word
When you look up a word in the dictionary, you can now view the full definition in the definition window.

Search enhancements
You can easily search for a highlighted word or phrase in your book, your items, or in the Kindle Store.  Highlight the word or phrase, tap More, and then tap Search. '

  If you have a version prior to 5.3.2 and you don't want to wait for the update to arrive on your Kindle Touch and prefer to do it manually yourself, Amazon links you to the appropriate earlier update that must be downloaded and installed before doing the 5.3.2.1 update.

How to 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 here,  UK here ) leads you through what to do, depending on which Firmware Version is showing for your KTouch.

Again, Amazon will be delivering this update over Wi-Fi.  Customers who prefer to receive the update immediately can instead manually download the software and transfer the update to the device via USB cable.
  The software-update page for Kindle Touch:   US     UK


Kindle for iOS update - *NOT* recommended for download at this time.
Linked forum message thread shows *too many* problems, causing slowdowns and freezes.
  Thanks to contributor Tom Semple again for the alerts a couple of days ago on the new Kindle for iOS update v3.9 availability and some positive info on the dictionary feature and reflowing of book content.

  This one is most noted in press reports for the new ability -- while using this app for iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch -- to search for free Kindle book samples and access a link in the downloaded sample for the Amazon product page for that book while still in the app, without having to get out to Safari -- not officially mentioned).  You can email yourself that link.

  In connection with that idea, MyKindlestuff's Jesslynn alerts us to the US Department of Justice's recommendation to Judge Denise Cote that Apple allow direct links within e-reader apps to the app-vendors' stores.

  Believe it or not, I don't necessarily agree Apple should be forced to allow this, but I also feel that they should not take 100% (!) of the app-maker's commission either, as had been their policy of taking 30% of an E-book's selling-price (not vendor's profit amount) for in-app store-links under Apple's Agency model (no longer in play for ebooks though, for a couple of years, after Apple lost the lawsuit), which would be the entire Amazon or Barnes and Noble commission on an e-book.

  Update2 - See my additional thoughts on this in-app fee, in response to a question from a commenter on this blog article.

Tom also mentions the not-listed feature of "some level of KF8 reflowable support" in v3.9, and he discovered that it was also there in the Kindle for iOS v3.8.1 app, crediting Nate Hoffelder in his TheDigitalReader article on the new v3.9 update.

Here are the official features as announced in the Amazon Kindle forum by Kevin G, the Community Manager there.

' What's New in Version 3.9?
* Kindle Free Sample Search - From the existing Library Search, customers can now search Amazon's catalog of millions of Kindle books and download free samples from within the app. New books are easier than ever to find.
* Bring Your Own Dictionary - Customers can now use previously purchased Dictionaries, such as medical, legal, or other translation references to define words in any of their other eBooks. Dictionaries downloaded to the device automatically appear in the selection list. [ ab here: This is GREAT! ]
* Accessibility Quick Reference - Accessibility gestures for blind and visually impaired customers are included for quick reference and can be found under the FAQ section in settings. The guide has been translated for all supported languages.
* Instant Cover Loader - Book cover art displays quicker and more fluidly.
* Bug Fixes/Stability Improvements

If you need assistance with this update, head over to the Kindle Help Community. '

Do take a look at that announcement message thread, as it has a LOT of customer feedback on this update along with help given there.
  However, there are too many bugs affecting this one.  I'd avoid downloading this one if possible.  Messages in that forum thread advise on how you may be able to turn OFF 'automatic updates.'
  ;There'll almost certainly be a follow-up software update soon to address these apparent memory problems.  It may affect, more, users with many books in their Library, but it's hard to tell right now.  There are indications not enough memory is released after the first Search even if it works.  The number of results and the fact that the software acknowledges each individual letter input before a word or phrase is completed are other possible factors.


Kindle Fire software update that's due soon
With reference to the follow-up article with workarounds for an over-the-air software update version [x]4.5 sent to a few customers but not placed on the servers for manual installation, the glitches reported with Flash video when using web browsers like Dolphin browser have been fixed, as shown by an unofficial interim update [x]4.6 which has been, in effect, sent to those who got the wirelessly-sent update (limited distribution to a few) but reported glitches, and there's general rejoicing involved.

This means it's likely due soon on the servers.  It is said to work also with the Time to Read bugginess some were experiencing.  Kudos to Amazon Kindle Team for working with the customers this way.

---

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 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

Read More

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

Read More

Kindle News: Huge Kindle Touch update v5.3.2 - Updated info

Kindle Touch Software Upgrade to v5.3.2 - a large update with user-interface features first seen in Kindle Paperwhite

This unanticipated and reassuring update (for an earlier Kindle model) was announced by the Amazon Kindle Forum's Community Manager, Kevin G., close to noon Tuesday.  Thanks to regular contributor Tom Semple again for the alert.  See notes re what users have found about this following the announcement details below [updated].

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 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 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's New -- 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 lists them 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 have discovered about the upgrade
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 itself 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, this extensive update is quite a boon for Kindle Touch owners.

Updated info 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.

---

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

Read More

Kindle News: Kindle Touch security update v5.1.2 - more info on it

Kindle Touch Software Upgrade to v5.1.2 - a security update

Commenter Todd yesterday reminded us about the new Kindle Touch software upgrade.  It was announced by the Amazon Kindle Forum's Community Manager, Kevin G., on Monday afternoon, although Mobile Forum members mentioned on 7/16 that it was available.

From the Amazon US update page
"If your Kindle Touch has software version 5.1.0 or 5.1.1 installed, there is an update available that addresses a known bug.  We recommend that you install 5.1.2 to bring your Kindle Touch software up-to-date.
  You must first have version 5.1.0 or 5.1.1 installed to install version 5.1.2.

Which Version do I Have?

 
1. From Home, tap Menu and then tap Settings.
 
2. On the Settings screen, tap Menu and then select Device Info. Your software version is listed under Firmware Version.

"

The Kindle Touch Software update page for both v5.1.0 and v5.1.2 (U.S.) then leads you through what to do, depending on which Firmware Version is showing for your KTouch.
  UK Kindle owners: UK-only page

After you've confirmed that you already have 5.1.0 or 5.1.1 installed, then download the v5.1.2 at that page.
  UK Kindle owners:(UK-only page)


The reason for the upgrade - Amazon wasn't specific, but Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader wrote on July 16 about a German Security firm's posting of "a proof of concept hack which exploits a security hole in the web browser on the Kindle Touch" which had been identified in late May in a Mobileread forums thread.  It was a serious security hole but was so complicated that few would use it.

---

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

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

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

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More

Kindle News: Kindle Touch with front light - Is it coming soon? State Dept requires it. What else do they require?

Ace commenter Felix Torres finds the answer to the subject question in the State Dept contract with Amazon for the up to $16.5 million educational project agreement.

In the blog entry yesterday for the Kindle contract story, I included a link to the State Department document justifying the no-bid contract.  I'd not read it though and then forgot about it.

The vigilant Felix Torres, in his comment today to Teleread.Com's story on this, addresses the mistaken idea by many writers that the contract was just for x number of Kindle Touch devices x 50 Kindle books for each.

He explains that you could just read the government specs and rationale to find what it does require:

' ...they need an *integrated* system for “push”-deployment of DoS in-house documents as well as licensed 3rd party commercial content, worldwide, via WiFi *and* 3G for in-the-field use.
Now, oh wise Amazon haters: who else can deliver those features today, at *all*?

Push deliver + 3G? “Hello? Bueller?” '

He adds that it's an election year and
  "Of course the thing was vetted to within an inch of the Contracting Officer’s life!  They have a need and they found an answer, they jumped through all legal hoops and signed the deal.  End of story.  Almost..."

Then he casually tosses in the key portion for those wondering if the Kindle Touch with built-in light is just another rumor.

' Oh, and by the way: lost in all the grumbling and Proxmiring is the real news: Amazon is going to ship Kindles with *front lights* to the State Department.

AKA, Kindle 6.

Not a rumor, not a hoax; it’s right there in the contract.'

Those contract requirements
The contract requirements section is #3 and it shows clearly what the Kindle Touch can do, as needed for this project, and the type of very complex, integrated services and support Amazon must be able to provide and, as Felix says, who else can?

One thing I just noticed is that "3G wireless costs must be not separately priced."

Re Service and Support:
Besides quite involved central management internationally, "the Contractor must be able to provide a dedicated 24/7 help desk to support inquires [sic]."

It's interesting to see that a 2-year warranty must be included with replacements for any device failures, [adding even] accidental danage, with free shipping both ways for damaged and replacement device.

Amazon must upgrade and phase in updated versions of the e-Reader product "at least every two years so that the technology stays up to date for users."

And here's the requirement that Felix noted and that will probably be of most interest -- under e-Reader Device subsection, the requirements itemized include this:

  The device must include a front light feature.

My bolded emphasis of course.

Bear in mind that even the most praising of reviews of the Nook Glowlight mention the lighter display contrast when the front-light technology used is included in an e-Ink device.  Some are bothered by it, some aren't, and there's no question that many will really like having a front light, no matter how uneven or somewhat lighter the text if one can read it in dimmer light without an external light.

I got the DX Graphite and Kindle 3 and then the Touch for the quality of that screen contrast after becoming frustrated with the lighter Kindle 2 contrast.  Am pretty sure I'd not want to give that up, since it's my biggest pleasure when switching to e-Ink reading.  But others will not care about darker font readability if the difference is not noticeable unless the devices are held side by side.

So, there it is. It's a reality. Thanks to Felix for the alert !

---

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

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

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

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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Unsung Kindle Touch Software Update v5.1.0 improvements

As reported yesterday, the Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi e-Ink model is now shipping internationally, to over 175 countries.

This blog article will highlight some software enhancements not listed in the official announcement earlier.  At the bottom, I'll repeat the official list of enhancements.

Current Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi Models:
  US:  For U.S. residents;   UK:  For UK customers
  OTHER:  For Other International Shipping

THE OTHER ENHANCEMENTS
Most of the unmentioned enhancements or Finds were made by avid explorer and commenter Tom Semple, whose full individual comments on all this can be found at the original software announcement article of April 11-14.  I'll try to put the additional items in listed order but it's best to read his explanations of what he's found.  There are also features found by members of the Mobileread Forum.  And I've added a couple of items I noticed as well, although as of TODAY, 4/21, Amazon still had not updated me, so I downloaded the update today, as I now have some time to experiment, and tried a few things out.

• We can now highlight ACROSS pages (something the older Kindles did and which had been much requested for the Touch)
• As mentioned by a few others, the screen background SEEMS lighter, and in the dark room in which I'm sitting right now, it looks more whitish than grayish though mine has always been pretty light relative to the older models.
    As a result the Regular font is strikingly clear and I don't have to choose Sans Serif (although I like it) to get consistently stand-out clarity in the fonts.
• Now we can 'filter' the display of the home screen or Archived Items folder to show only one category (Books, Periodicals, Docs, Audible, or Active Content [apps]) or ALL categories.  We had this with older Kindles so it's good to see that again.  Tom, and most of us, would like a filter for Samples, but I put those into a Collection named 'Samples' as a work around.
• The highlighting feature brings back to users of former Kindles the ability to search the highlighted word at Wikipedia (and via free 3G if you have the 3G version of the Kindle Touch and you're in a no-WiFi area) and furthermore something else we hoped for -- the ability to "Report Content Error."
    It also allows you to share passages at Facebook and Twitter, as the Keyboard models do.
• Search seems to work more reliably and faster now, and the reason 'Go' has to be clicked is that SUBstrings can be searched successfully now (not true in the past).  I wouldn't want it to start searching until I felt I was through typing the search-string I want.  In the past we had to navigate to the right, several steps, to choose searching of a book, or All Items on the device, at Wikipedia, etc.
• I agree with Tom that browser scrolling is smoother and scrolls a larger portion.
• Menu option responses seem quite a bit faster for me now.
• Re "Archived Items" folder: In reply to one statement, I can still get to it via Title-sorting.  The Menu access is an alternate method and has been there before.  The Search feature at top does help, in addition to "1 of __" at the top right letting you tap that to choose go to a Page number or "Titles starting with" -- which has been a nice, almost hidden feature on its own.
• Tom also discovered they added "NCX navigation" features (though I thought I used "Next Chapter" swiping before the update.  The KTouch recognizes By-Chapter movement, via swiping up for the 'next' chapter (if the publisher activated this feature) and down for the 'previous' chapter, but Tom also explains that NCX-activated Kindle books now show "a (hierarchical) list of the navpoint labels corresponding to beginning of chapters/sections, showing current location in the book (label in bold) and associated page numbers (with books that have real page nmbers)."   As a result, "...showing the current position helps establish context.   When page numbers are present, it also gives you information about how long each section is."  This has helped extinguish Tom's "ePub envy" :-), he said.
• Harry, in the UK, wrote at Mobileread Forums,
  "The 'biggie' for me personally is that my US-bought KT can now access the Amazon UK Kindle Store [he's in the UK], which it previously couldn't.  Definitely a worthwhile upgrade."
• veezh at Mobile Read also mentioned that he was happy to see that when he switched the device language to UK English, the 24-hour clock was activated.
• cscat at Mobile REad likes the fact that
  1. you can get to next page even when zoomed into a PDF, by panning to the right
  2. and when you press the Shift key twice, the capital letters stay (this is normally true but maybe not for Ktouch earlier).
• Tom Semple mentions at that forum that the tap zones for single-character footnote links seem larger now and are therefore very easy to activate, even at the smallest text sizes.
• Tom also points out that "appropriately formatted footnotes" (the publisher does the formatting) include a "RETURN" link that will take you back to the original reference, which is more convenient than using the invisible "Back" button that you have to activate with a tap to even see.  Only one tap is needed then.
• tanteoma loves the landscape mode and being able to jump to different chapters with the simple "go to" function.
• thomass points out that we can now long-press and archive personal documents such as instapaper deliveries, as this wasn't possible before the update.  Semi-commercial mass-deliveries of personal doc news-collections are a tender subject though.
• mewmartigan found that the new homescreen display shows the ENTIRE title rather than ellipses for an omitted segment.  That's a relief for a series, especially.

ALSO re the Landscape feature we've wanted added to this panel-zoned touch device, rvdparis at Mobileread Forums said,
 "And the landscape function worked magic on a badly scanned OCR book I have in PDF format, I kept tapping to turn the page, and it automatically jumped down the page (in 3 parts, for me) and turned to the next page. The print is now MUCH easier to read. Love it."

Even better maybe, thomass at Mobileread posted a gorgeous sampling of screenshots he got with KF8 samples from a link given there.  This is encouraging for the reading of technical books on the small Kindle.

UNWANTED "feature" though and a caveat -- When I updated, I again lost an attached dictionary, and the Kindle couldn't find the two copies of New Oxford American Dictionary that are on it and kept telling me that it would look at Archived Items for one.
   No go, so I moved a current dictionary (unnoticed-by-the-Kindle) into Archived Items folder and then it suddenly saw a lot of dictionary candidates and I was able to attach the New Oxford American again, although it selected WordNet for rme at first and that was just one I happened to download at one time.

Tom did also point out that the Glowlight Nook "still has no landscape, no web browser, no wireless library borrowing, no personal document service."
   Not including some new features noted above, a Features Comparison, written before the v5.1.0 Kindle Touch update, detailed the Nook Touch advantages and also quite a lack of some very useful features.  It all depends on what's important to the buyer.


FOR REFERENCE - the Officially announced changes (vs the unmentioned ones above) From the Amazon update page New features in this update include:

• Language Support: Customize your Kindle Touch with the language you prefer: English (US and UK), German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Brazilian Portuguese.
• Landscape Mode: Switch between portrait and landscape orientation in books and PDFs to read maps, graphs, and tables more easily.
• Instant Translations: Tap any word or highlight a section to instantly translate into other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and more. Translations by Bing Translator.
• Kindle Format 8: Formatting and layout improvements make Kindle books look even better.
• Wi-Fi Enhancements: Connect your Kindle Touch to Wi-Fi with WPS and select WPA2 Enterprise networks.
• Read-to-Me With Text-to-Speech: Have your Kindle Touch read English-language content out loud to you, now including summaries of newspaper and magazine articles when available from the publisher.
• More Sharing Options: Tell others what you're reading on Facebook or Twitter from anywhere within a book — just tap to share a link along with your comments.
• Onscreen Keyboard Suggestions: Search and shop faster with automatic word suggestions as you type.

---

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

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

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

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books  
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones   
  Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.  

*Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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Kindle News: PCWorld - Why isn't the Kindle Fire global yet? Today's free Kindle books

First, today's sets of temporarily-free Kindle books selected and listed by Kindle forum members. April 1 books (no joke)
  As of this morning, it's already almost 300 newly free books.
  And then there's the ongoing Kindle Daily Deal ('White Witch')

The Kindle Fire and global (non)availability
PCWorld's Jeff Bertolucci asks what many outside the U.S. have been asking: "If Amazon's tablet is so popular, why is it only available in the United States?"

They point out that the Kindle Touch 3G  E-Ink reader will be available on April 27 in 175 countries and territories, but nothing at all has been said about the Kindle Fire.

One thing many of us have thought of is a point made by Bertolucci -- Amazon's streaming video and audio and apps too have not been available outside the U.S. as there are complex geo-based digital rights involved and you'd wonder what the advantage would be for those in other countries.  He points out that it would be a Kindle Fire without Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and Amazon Prime, or whatever international equivalents of those apps.

Amazon did invest heavily in the last 1.5 years in a popular video streaming outfit overseas seen as "the Netflix of Europe -- LoveFilm - See the earlier article on that.

IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell told PCWorld via email :

' My guess is that they don't have foreign-language video and music content deals lined up, and those are much more important for the Fire [than for the E-ink Kindle Touch].. There could be issues about localising apps as well.'

All that does make sense. "Localising" means adapting software for a specific region or language.

Bertolucci adds:

' Another possibility is that Amazon's cloud storage facilities aren't ready to handle millions of new global customers who want to store their digital content, including books, movies, music, and apps, on Amazon's servers. '

A recent Kindle forum thread is a discussion by a few Kindle owners who have managed to download (or upload to Amazon servers) 16,000 to 20,000 Kindle books each, due to the abundance of free books offered.

  Their Kindles' Archived Items folders will of course have problems handling listing 16-20,000 titles, so they don't use the WiFi as much, but it appears that the Amazon ManageYourKindle page on the web is also affected by the data for that many Kindle books needing to be accessed for tabular listings of 20K books when they log on to try to find things in their Amazon libraries.

  So Bertolucci probably has a good point there.

He also mentions that while the price of the Kindle Fire is seen as a good one here, global customers would probably pay much more, citing the Kindle Touch 3G pricing of £169 in the UK, $268 US equivalent.



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  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 Touch and its X-Ray Feature. Kiplinger on Best Color E-Readers

KINDLE TOUCH AND ITS X-RAY FEATURE
[Revised: Eliminated the one-day Oscar apps header]

I've been spending more time with the Kindle Touch (photo from physorg.com) because I finally went back to reading the Steve Jobs book by Isaacson, and there are SO MANY characters whose function and place I don't remember the 2nd or 3rd time I run across them, that I've been using the X-Ray feature more and really enjoying it for a book like this.  I took screenshots but will add them later as am rushed right now.

But, essentially, for a guy like Andy Hertzfeld, say, who was a member of the Macintosh team in the 80s, I can:
  . click on the top center of the page to get the Menu and options and
      choose "X-Ray" at the bottom-right
      to see a list of all names mentioned on that page and then
  . click on his name to get a Wikipedia summary on him
      (with a link to the full article) and,
        below that, a scrolling list of each mention of Hertzfeld
        in that book, in page/location order,
        with surrounding words for context and a link to each of those pages.

  I saw that although he was doing intense work for Jobs in late 1979 to March 1984 and remained close to him after leaving, the Wiki summary tells what he's done since then, and the last part reads:

  "Hertzfeld joined Google in 2005, and in 2011 was the key designer of the Circles user interface in Google+."

  Google Plus and its Circles are something new in the last year, and many of us find ourselves using them this last year, so he is still very much in the zone.

  I do like the X-Ray feature for non-fiction especially.


KIPLINGER'S MONEY POWER ON "The best color e-readers"
Kiplinger's Money Power's Jeff Bertolucci chooses the Kindle Fire, mentioning the "vibrant color display" -- and, about the 7" form factor, says --

' And smaller can be better.  The paperback-like Fire weighs nearly 7 ounces less than the iPad and is easier to hold with one hand.  The weight difference may not seem like a lot, but it matters when you're watching a two-hour flick or spending the afternoon reading a novel.

Recent software upgrades have corrected many early shortcomings.  Given the Fire's software and content, it gets our nod as the best of the current crop of color e-readers. '

He finds the Nook Tablet's screen is the best of the roundup and the unit has better specs but that the Kindle Fire has the better overall package, and he feels that the Kobo Vox isn't "as easy to navigate" and that the touch screen is "a bit balky."



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  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 Touch gets a Sodoku puzzle book debuting Touch/Write technology

SUDOKU'S UNBOUND #3 PUZZLE FOR KINDLE AVAILABLE WITH TOUCH/WRITE TECHNOLOGY

That's write! right! This is the first puzzle, available exclusively on Kindle Touch, that allows entry of numbers on an e-Ink device by writing with your finger.

As you can see in the second image above:

' You can write small or large numbers, whichever you find easier.
  If you write small numbers (about the size of a puzzle cell), the number will go into the cell that you write in.  If you write large numbers, the number will go into the cell that you start writing in. '

As GeekWire's Todd Bishop put it, it's the debut of handwriting recognition in Puzzazz's newest puzzle book, Sudoku Unbound Volume 3, which is selling for $2.99, the same price as the other Puzzazz puzzles in the "Sodoku Unbound" series.

Unlike some handwriting-recognition in the past, such as that used in the Palm Pilot in 1996 when most gave up trying to get the Palm grafitti to work, Puzzazz's technology is smarter and more flexible.

  The user doesn't have to learn a special way of writing, as it recognizes many styles of writing numbers and letters, due to Puzzazz' using a large base of handwriting samples while developing the capability.

Will Amazon want to make it a basic feature of the Kindle Touch?  No one is saying.

Bishop was able to try TouchWrite and says "it worked reliably... the technology recognizes the number written invisibly on the screen, then places the digital version in the corresponding cell on the page of the puzzle book."

  Bishop also points out that the Kindle Touch is Amazon's top selling e-Ink reader at $99 for the ad-supported version (which doesn't have the 3G-cell phone network access feature).



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  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 Tips: An easier way to make web reading more readable on Kindle Fire

REVISED:  READING FULL WEB PAGES WITH UNREADABLE TINY FONT ON A 7" SCREEN

This is revised from the earlier blog articles on making tiny fonts more readable when doing the web on Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch.

KINDLE TOUCH
The Kindle Touch no longer responds the same way to the Android feature or trick.
 With the KTouch, you now simply Double click a page to get the current text to fill the width of the screen but only at a certain font level which is not large enough for my normal needs, though I can read it.
  You CAN, though, then use two fingers to Pinch-Zoom the text-size to a desired size, but tnen you'll need to scroll around a bit.

 At least, with the Kindle Touch, though, if you are reading a web article (as with a lead individual feature on a product page or news story) you can choose Menu and select Article Mode and get a very readable screen as a result.  (You then select Web Mode to get back into regular web reading mode.)

  But, as an example, for the Customer Reviews that follow an Amazon product page description:  Since the Menu-->Article Mode feature pertains only to a lead article and not to the reviews that follow (and never to a full page), there is no 'Article Mode' for secondary text that gives you the nicely-programmed larger-sized text.   Again, you CAN pinch-zoom any text to a desired size (which is considerably better than what we had before).

  I can no longer, though, get a desired text size that would be adjusted to the screen width, with the Kindle Touch, via pinch-zooming to a largish font-size and then clicking.  Now, it's mainly a toggle that we can get  between tiny and medium-small -- or, we can then use the gradual pinch-zooming to a larger size:

    Again -- Double-click to see the full page with tiny text and Double-click again to see a specific column fit to the width of the screen -- but only in a smaller font size, after which you can pinch-zoom to a larger size and scroll around as needed.   It just no longer lets you fit a column to the width at a larger font-size you've chosen, which is inconvenient, but at least we can make adjustments. (Sorry for the redundancy, but I just want to be as clear as possible.)


KINDLE FIRE -- A really smooth way to get a larger text-size of our choice adjusted to width of the screen when doing the web

  I'd written earlier, in detail, on dealing with web pages or with PDFs in which you can see the full pages, which are usually unreadable in that format with screen widths that are considerably smaller than our computer screens.

  I'd found that many news-site reviewers don't know about a valuable Android feature that is crucial to enjoyment of web pages on small devices (this applies very well to Android smartphones too of course), and those just using a device like the Kindle Fire won't tend to know about them either.

While joining in discussions on Amazon Kindle Forums community where so many Kindle owners hang out to help other owners and get tips in return, I saw the following question and replied to it more briefly than I have in blog articles -- it's likely that a shorter answer can be more helpful, at least at first.

Important
  Kindle Fire Web SETTINGS - Here are the best settings for having this feature work well.
  When you're on the web-browser for the first time (this does not have to be done each time), lightly press the bottom MENU, which looks like a grid or an air-conditioner, with horizontal lines.  Then press Settings.

  At the second option, set Text size to "Normal"
  On the third option, set Default zoom to "Close'
  On the fourth option, set Auto-fit pages to "Format web pages to fit the screen"

' Posted on Jan 1, 2012 10:00:01 AM PST
RE says:

[Q]: I like my Kindle, but can't figure out how to surf the web and be
able to read things.  Yahoo com is so small a magnifying glass is
needed to see it.  I know this is off subject, but can someone tell
me how they do it?

[A} [I've edited my reply to to match how the Kindle Fire works in this situation today.]

Arts&HistoryFan/Kindleworld says:
RE,
You can use an Android feature to pinch-zoom the text to a larger size -- the paragraph of a column you're reading may or may not extend beyond the screen borders.

  Then, SINGLE-tap the screen (do that around the center of the screen), and it will keep this larger text size while adjusting the text to the width of the screen and wrapping it appropriately.

  That Single-tap actually acts to identify that column of text and to center and fit it to the width of the screen and at the same time SET the font at that size.

  If you Double-tap it at this point, it will adjust a bit more  if needed to set the width and margins even better while keeping that larger font size.

  You may, at first, have two columns up on the screen, but the Single-tap will indicate that this is the column of interest. The Double-tap afterward solidifies it and makes a further fine adjustment if needed.

  This works well for forum reading, when you have two or three columns and you want to read just the body of text posted by members of the forum, at a size comfortable for you on the Kindle Fire.

My favorite mode of casual portable web-reading as a result
  This also works well with things like Amazon Customer Reviews and news columns.  It's now my favorite portable way to read web text, because it's smaller than a 10" screen (I have a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab tablet) and is easier to hold, with a screen width that is more like the width of a book I'd be reading, whether hard- or softcover.

  This means I can read web text in whatever size text is best for my eyes at the moment, in a smaller form factor that still presents largish text as needed.   This is called "re-flowing" the text and when it's done for a nicely large font-size, it is very nifty.


Give it a try and let me know if it makes a difference or if you have trouble with it, and in the latter case, let me know what kind of web page is being read, with the link, and I'll take a look.
  One area in which it doesn't work is Amazon product pages' Product Descriptions -- they seem to format those NOT to wrap for some reason.


SOMEtimes, if you Double-tap instead of Single-tap the first time after upsizing the text, the double-tap leads to the tiny version again, but if you double-tap once more, then it goes back up to a medium-sized text that adjusts to the screen-wrap. The initial Single-tap works better.

Reminder: With both these units, but especially the Kindle Fire, a barely perceptible, very light press or tap will be more likely to activate touchscreen responses.



Kindle Touch 3G, US-only   Kindle Touch WiFi (US)   Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US    Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  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 Tips: for Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire

SOME TIPS PICKED UP FROM FORUMS, COMMENTERS HERE, AND SOME EXPERIMENTING

Re the Kindle Touch:
Be sure to see the first article on what you can do with some of the features on this unit, with basic tips on the changes and certain unexpected aspects encountered when using the Kindle Touch.

  Also se the later added More tips & info (12/23-24) on using Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch.  There is actually basic and very useful info in that one also.


Encountering a screen with nothing but book text and no button icons
One thing for new users to be aware of -- you'll often be greeted with a screen of book text only, and with no clue about what to do.  I've seen that this has confused some reviewers who didn't spend enough time with the user's guide.  But it IS anti-intuitive to have no small icon anywhere to let people click to get to even a basic item like a menu.   I really like the Kindle Touch, but this has to be noted.

  Anyway, we're often finding ourselves with a page of just the text of a book (no headers or footers as with physical books) and no clues there as to what to do to get to something besides the Next and Previous page (by tapping on the left or right sides of the screen).  Note that the right 'side' or 'edge' is extended to near the center of the KTouch, probably so that a person holding the Kindle with the left hand will be able to reach the right 'edge' that way.

  When wondering "What do I do now?" (which happens to me still), here's the
  #1 action when you're reading a Kindle book on this ultra light unit.

  If you're not on the Home screen but are reading a book:
  Lightly press the top center part of the screen or the area to the left of center, and many options will come up, including the MENU button that will appear near the top right.

    If, instead you tap the middle area of the page, that will usually be interpreted by the Kindle Touch as a request for the Next Page because of the extended 'right side' that I mentioned above.

  The two most important buttons (for me)
The two most important buttons besides the dedicated, physical HOME button that looks like an air conditioning unit at the bottom of the screen are the ones seen after lightly pressing the top center of a book-text-only screen:

  . MENU -- This offers additional, important options that you don't see in the screen header and footer options that display after you press Menu

  . BACK ARROW ICON at the top left.
That makes sure you can get back to your last action before you jumped to the current page. That *doesn't* mean the last page you were on.  It means the last thing you jumped from (as in a link).
  In the case of a book I'm reading, it took me back to the Home screen, as it was the link action that took me to the book.

  NOTE: In the Kindle Store, the Back (arrow) indicator can get you back to the page of search results when you've searched on a book and have finished reading about one of them.

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Summing up the basics
Main actions to remember:
  Home -- Top Center or Top Left Tap/Press -- Menu -- Back Arrow

  With those you'll have enough to 'safely' navigate around the Kindle Touch without getting the "What?!" experience (which I still get - because I'm exploring a new smart Android phone, the Kindle Fire, the Kindle Touch, and a larger tablet, all with somewhat different methods of navigation because the makers want theirs to be a unique experience.

  The possible upside?  Studies have shown that making ourselves learn new things, new methods, puzzling out odd situations -- any of that will help to protect us from dementia later on.  It's the equivalent of physical exercise, and the mind itself is physical.

It also helps when the makers remember it's better to avoid confusing the customer too much and to come up with consistent designs, where possible, in the interface.

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OTHER TIPS
Making the small text on WEB pages and in PDFs readable, for the most part

  PDFs and WEB pages
  (The WEB portion of this section applies to the Kindle Fire also, as does most of the PDF section except that the Kindle Fire CAN rotate to Landscape mode.

    PDF Screen Text
  Blog commenter Kristen B reminded us of something very important when trying to read two-column PDFs on a small 6" screen, which would have even smaller text.

There's an Android feature that allows for RE-FLOWING text when you enlarge or reduce the fonts, so that it adapts to the width of the space it's in.

  This works in different ways depending on the coding of the webpage, and I saw a video the other day in which a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone did re-wrap the text in a newspaper column, but the iPhone didn't, in that case.
  That ability to adjust the font and text-layout makes all the difference when trying to read tiny text on the web or in PDFs.  We've seen this as an everyday-thing when increasing or decreasing fonts in e-books.

  Kristen pointed out that when playing with a store demo of the Kindle Touch displaying a preloaded 2-column PDF file:

' I was able to "double tap" on 1 column of a 2-column PDF file (preloaded on the KT), and it zoomed to exactly fill the screen with that text.

  Then I could use the swipe or tap methods to advance through the document (properly... top left to bottom left, then top right, bottom right, next page) without any major hangups, though it did have trouble continuing to scroll past a table/figure in the document, but with just text it did great. '

  The earlier Kindles require doing a next-page, via the page buttons, to see the rest of one column and then page backward to see the top of the 2nd column, so this particular mode of handling two columns is considerably better.

  Also, in a PDF, you can also pinch-zoom to exactly where you want it, but as I've said before, it's a choppy, harder- to control function, and the double-tap method optimizes it for the longest line length. Also, some PDF makers create big margins and the Kindle software observes those, respecting the original layout too much.  I wish they'd handle that as they did the old, beloved Landscape mode on the Kindle2 and 3, trimming unnecessary large margins.  But, for now, there's no landscape mode with the Kindle Touch.  There IS Landscape mode for the Kindle Fire, which makes it much more readable.

  Apparently landscape mode wasn't made available because of the segmenting of areas that is done for the portrait mode, but a customer service rep told one Kindle owner that they were working on it.

  WEB Page Text
Applying the method above to webpages with the usual tiny text on a 7" tablet

    Web forums usually have a column on the left identifying each message writer and a column for the post itself.

  Usually Android web browsers will auto-fit the width of the screen (they tend to default to that setting, which I like, so that I first see the original layout, but I can't read the text that way.

  Double tapping the screen can improve it, but the text may still be too small because the adjusting includes the left column that's of less interest usually.

    Important Web-Browser Setting: "Auto-fit pages"
    This web-settings box, if checked, formats web pages to fit the screen

    So, that box has to be checked for this to work.

Here's what to do:

1. Move the page with a finger or a stylus (the latter can be really helpful when typing) so that the message body is filling the screen -- even better, until it's expanded beyond the screen edges, too large for the screen area.

2. Double-tap the screen.
The software then keeps the font that chosen size but REFLOWS the text so that the message wraps and you can read it all in that larger font.

  SOMEtimes, the double-tap leads to the tiny version again, but if you double-tap once more, then it goes back up to the large font for text (which exceeded the boundaries you were at when you first double-tapped) but now adjusts the screen-wrap.  As mentioned, it's called "re-flowing" the text.

 It's a great feature.

Blog commenter Tom Semple adds several other good tips also. Some of his finds and suggestions:

Changes:
1. "In addition to TTS ability for PDF, they have quietly added support for 'Table of Contents' (PDF bookmarks), and also PDF links! This makes PDF more navigable. Hopefully landscape will show up in an update."

2. In text to speech mode, the process pops up a dialog box when the user taps anywhere on the screen.

    The popup has options for male/female voices and 3 speed options as before, but you can see them while the text-to-speech is running..

3. A favorite of mine that Tom discovered does work in Kindle Touch after all.   On previous Kindles, when books are sorted by title on the Home screen, you can use the bottom search bar to type one alpha character (only), then click down on the 5-way controller button to jump to the first title that starts with that letter.  (If you forget and type more than one letter, the Kindle starts a search of the entire Kindle for that and it takes forever.)

  That method doesn't work with the KTouch.  Tom found that, on the KTouch, you can tap the "Page x of y" indicator at the top right to bring up a dialog box that lets you enter up to two alpha characters, to jump to the first title starting with those letters.

  It also lets you enter a Home listing page number so you can access it directly.
  For one thing, when the Home screen is sorted by "Most Recent Order" the 'Periodicals: Back Issues" folder created by Amazon for our subscriptions is on the last page, and you can jump to that page by putting the last page number in this dialog box.  There's another method to access the folder, and I'll add that at the end of this post.

  The User's Guide mentions that you can put in diacritics by holding a letter down and choosing one, which helps when typing in west european languages (where Amazon is opening up new stores).

  Shortcut for Screenshots: "Hold down the Home button and single-tap on the screen, continue holding Home for a second or two.  The screenshot is placed in the 'root' or top directiory of the Kindle."

  Screen Refresh (for the mild ghosting that happens when there is no refreshing done for the first 5 of 6 pages in order to load the pages more quickly and without a black flash on each page as happens with e-Ink).  Also, the very densely dark virtual keyboard leaves a bit of ghosting for the next page, though many won't notice it.
    To eliminate it, tap on the top center area or the top left of the screen, which brings up the many options (top and bottom) described eons ago at the start of this blog article.
  That will refresh the page.  Tap again to get rid of the option lines.  A double-click seldom works though.

  PDF page numbers - Actual page numbers show up (if they exist) when you press that center top or left top area.

  Some do have embedded page labels, but they may not match the actual page images due to lack of care during the PDF generation process.

FINAL TIPS
Home Screen's Shortcuts
1. Lightly pressing the home screen's header, "My Items," pops up a box to take
you directly to "Periodicals: Back Issues" or "Archived Items" folders.

2. Pressing or tapping the current sorting order allows you to change it without going to the menu.

Chapter Begin/End indicators
Also, in the Comments area we've discussed the Chapter indicators not being displayed anymore.  It's up to publishers to provide these, and not many of them seem to but when they do, it's very useful.

  For the books that have them, we don't see them, and the only way to find out whether the book we're reading has these or not, is to swipe up (as if rolling the bottom of the page up) or swipe down.  If the book has them, then we can go from chapter to chapter that way.

And, finally:
With both these units, but especially the Kindle Fire, a barely perceptible, very light press (more so than a tap) will be more likely to activate touchscreen responses.

Thanks to the blog's contributors to the Comments area for the good info.

Next time I'll include some ideas from Joe Golton and Edward Boyhan.

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

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

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

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
  Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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