TIPS FOR TODAY
Before I note a few things I saw on the Kindle forums yesterday, here are a few more Kindle 3 (UK K3) tips.
Whenever you see ghosting or faint remnants from a previous page
Press the Alt-key and the ‘G’ key to do an Alt-G combo to refresh screen.
As with the Shift key for capital letters, you can do this in fast-sequence style instead, with one hand.
This does a redistribution of black and white and can also leave your screen a bit lighter at times, for awhile.
For faster Google website features
GMail: use http://bit.ly/g_mail
This will keep the view to the mail listing while “Menu” is available at top left.
It avoids tedious cursoring to the sides when having more material on the screen.
Google Reader: use http://bit.ly/g-reader
Easy up-down reading of RSS feeds (from newspapers and blogs)
Additions of feeds need to be done first on the computer with this one.
As with the GMail link and its “Menu”, you’ll see “Feeds” at top left
and can cursor up to it to click it for Feed options.
Typing Web Urls at the Home Screen
You can type web URLs at the Home screen by LEAVING OUT the “http://” and moving the 5-way button to the right and then clicking on “go to” which takes you right to the website.
Note that you’ll have to use the Symbol Key for “/” – an unfortunate loss from Kindle 2.
WEB feature reminder
A 6″ e-reader screen, when presenting you with screens that look somewhat like the original website ones, will display text that is really too small to read comfortably.
1. You can use the Aa Text-key to rotate the screen display to Landscape mode, and this has more room for larger fonts, which the Kindle will automatically show in Landscape mode, making the screen text more readable.
2. You can go to mobile(phone) versions of the websites instead, which tend to show you less but with much more readable text. Example: m.cnn.com
Notice how fast that loads, and how much easier it is to cursor through w/ the 5-way.
3. When you do choose an article to read from the many website options on a home page and it’s not easy to read, press the Menu button and choose “Article Mode” — this is a terrific feature. It works mainly with non-mobile sites.
When you’re through reading the article in that mode, press Menu button again and this time choose “Web Mode” (which is the normal mode).
(This works VERY well with Google Reader, by the way.)
FROM THE FORUMS
1. Amazon Customer Service replied. to a message thread on strangely unavailable books by Stephen King.
‘ Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)
There is currently a technical issue causing some books to be unavailable in the Kindle Store. We are aware of the problem and are actively working to correct it. We will have the books available for sale again as soon as possible.Best Regards,
Amazon Kindle Customer Service ‘
2. Somewhat costly but useful idea for vision impaired children
By Dusty,
“The main reason I bought the DX [instead of the K2 earlier this year was the availablilty of larger-sized fonts. I teach blind and visually-impaired children, and some of them are able to read books now on my Kindle without using a regular book with a CCTV. I have really encouraged my students’ parents to invest in Kindles for them!”
My own caveat is that the DX’s are somewhat fragile for that use.
3. To Reports of slower page turns when reading in sunlight
By heidiann
“To put things in perspective: according to a recent lawsuit, the iPad completely shuts down after 10 min in the sun. My MacBook air slows to a snail pace in midday heat. Modern electronics do have an issue with overheating, and slightly slow page turns is one of the milder consequences.”
On the other hand, several reported reading in sunlight for hours without slower page turns.
As a side note, I’ll add that the Kindle customer support advisories on optimal battery use warn heavily against leaving a Kindle in a closed hot car in high heat to protect the battery. (Someone had mentioned this had not slowed the Kindle.)
4. When Text to Speech is used and the spacebar is pressed
The spacebar pauses the text. A nice feature. But it also freezes the keys, and people think their Kindles are freezing up.
By me
“That’s a strange freeze. But it’s happened to me when I forget that I pressed the space bar to pause the speech while I leave the room. Maybe sometimes that is done accidentally, but it freezes the keys on the machine when you do that and the only possible action (besides stopping the program or pressing the Home button) is to press the space bar again, which restarts the text-to-speech feature.”
5. Actual freezes
A. If you can press the Menu key, select Settings and then press the Menu key again and then select “Restart. That does a softer reset and closes what it can.
ShirleyKat adds:
“If you have use of the keys, it’s better to press Home before doing a restart. That should save your page number. Leaving wireless on during restart might also keep the collections. Has anyone tried that? If you lose them, most have gotten them back by de-registering and then re-registering.”
The last option:
B. If you can’t press the Menu key, or wake it up,
Don’t panic.
Move the power slider to the right and hold it there for about 20 seconds.
Then go away. After awhile it’ll restart and put things back in order.
The Home Screen files will show ‘0’ for awhile but soon all will be fine.
6. Is the contrast really better?
This is just a forum message thread that some might find interesting.
7. UK customers give their verdicts on the Kindle 3
The Amazon UK store just opened its Kindlestore recently. I enjoyed this message thread and learned a few new words too. Time to make use of the new 2nd Kindle dictionary we have now, which is the Oxford Dictionary of English (not to be confused with the OED, but which costs $58 on Amazon in hardcover.
Welcome also to the new UK The allKindle Forum.
Via Andrys Basten’s A Kindle World blog
