I spoke with Peter Meyers, author of the just-published Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual, on February 16th by Skype. Since finishing the 280-page tome, he has returned to work on Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience. This is the first half of the interview. You will find the conclusion in TKC 185.
Browsing Posts published by Len Edgerly
News – 1) Are there fewer Amazon Prime members than analysts thought? Anonymous sources tell Bloomberg that’s the case. 2) Laura Hazard Owens reports on Penguin’s decision to no longer offer additional copies of ebooks and audiobooks for purchase via Overdrive, the leading provider of digital content to libraries. Random House earlier raised its prices to OverDrive. A feisty librarian in California pushes back and posts a notice of publishers who don’t make their ebooks available to public libraries. 3) A New York Review of Books blog post argues that ebooks preserve the essence of the written word better than print books. I agree.
Tech Tip – Kindle Support confirms what I found out by my own experiment: You can use an earlier-version Kindle power cord to power up your Kindle Fire, and vice versa.
Interview (starts at 11:13) - I spoke with Peter Meyers, author of the just-published Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual, on February 16th by Skype. Since finishing the 280-page tome, he has returned to work on Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience. This is the second half of the interview. I will post the first half separately as a TKC Extra.
Content – A great new $1.99 word game, Throw in the Vowel, is available for Kindle 2, DX, Kindle Keyboard, and $79 Kindle. I’ve tried it, and it’s an elegant, challenging creation by the editor of the Me and My Kindle blog. On my Kindle Fire, I’ve enjoyed trying out a free app named Tonido, which enables you to open content on your Fire from your computer, and vice versa, using WiFi.
Other Links Mentioned – A behind-the-scenes video of the Audible headquarters. Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Audible and Kindle versions).
Next Week’s Guest: Dan Stone, author of “Amazon’s Hit Man: Larry Kirschbaum Was the Ultimate Book Industry Insider Until Amazon Called.”
The next TKC Google Plus Video Hangout: Wednesday, February 22 at 3 p.m. EDT.
Mike and Julie Brown
I recorded this episode during our last two days at Maho Bay Camps on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, after 10 days off the Internet. I’m back in Denver now, catching up with the news, and will resume regular episodes next week from Cambridge, Mass., for TKC 185.
Kindles were much in evidence in paradise. I had a chance to speak with Mike and Julie Brown of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who are conducting an intriguing comparison of e-readers. Mike has a Nook Simple Touch, and Julie’s e-reader is a Kindle Keyboard WiFi. Their interview begins at 24:06. The next day, I spoke with Chris and Julie DONNA Bredlow of Moorhead, Minnesota, who were staying at the nearby Cinnamon Bay campground. Their interview begins at 34:41. Books mentioned by Chris and Julie: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football by John U. Bacon.
Donna and Chris Bredlow
Here are links to other books and topics mentioned in this week’s show:
Kindle Formatting by Joshua Tallent and How to Format Perfect Kindle Books by Steven Lewis.
Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. “The Male Mystique of Henry Miller” by Jeanette Winterson, which is her review of Renegade: Henry Miller and The Making of ”Tropic of Cancer.” Click here for the audio of Sam Tanenhaus’s interview with Winterson on the Book Review podcast.
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. The Mission Song by John LeCarre. The New York Review of Books. eFiction Magazine. This Is Herman Cain! by Herman Cain. Getting Things Done by David Allen. Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke by Alexander Maclaren.
Next Week’s Guest will be Peter Meyers, author of Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual, available for Kindle preorder at Amazon for $9.99, with delivery set for February 15.
The Next Google Plus TKC video hangout will be Wednesday, February 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. If you’d like to receive an invitation, please email me at PodChronicles AT Gmail dot com.
Our cabin-tent at Maho Bay Camps
News – 1) Amazon’s Russ Grandinetti tells a publishers’ audience at Digital Book World that early data indicate the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is boosting customer purchases of books by authors whose work is available in the library. Laura Hazard Owen has the story. 2) NBC is proud as a peacock over its new e-book venture, NBC Publishing. I hope one day I’ll be able to read an enhanced e-book by this veteran NBC reporter. 3) Brad Stone’s profile of Larry Kirshbaum, vice president and publisher of Amazon Publishing, is a must-read explanation of just how much revolution the Kindle hath wrought.
Tech Tip – More on highlighting across pages on the Kindle Touch, and Dave Sparks’s tip on how to turn off auto-renew for those three-month free trial subscriptions you might have signed up for when the Fire came out in November. Also, a pretty good external battery for the Fire by PowerGen that costs $39.99 and weighs just 4 3/8 ounces. And Clearly from Evernote, a great way to read articles online.
Interview (Starts at 15:20) – On January 19th I reached Eric Loss by Skype in Concon, Chile, where he had detoured to fix a problem with the mast of his boat after 70 days at sea. He is now set to resume his solo circumnavigation of the globe. The eclectic reading library on his Kindle and a backup Kindle includes scifi from Baen Books, Les Miserables, Moby Dick, The Essential P.G. Wodehouse, Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series, and Alone by Admiral Richard E. Byrd.
UPDATE: Eric’s mother, Katie Loss, e-mailed me this report early Friday morning:
Eric got off this Thurs. morning at about 11:30 a.m. with a tighter, snugger ship having successfully cleared the Chilean Navy’s walk-through and approval process. They have asked him for daily position updates as long as he is in Chilean waters.
Content – How to sign up for e-mailed alerting you to the Kindle Daily Deal, where I got great prices on The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen Ambrose. For the Fire, I’m getting ready for our stay on St. John, USVI, by watching Miss Marple solve a murder in Caribbean Mystery, a two-part rental from the BBC.
Mentioned in Comments – Video demo of an impressive page-flipping scheme for tablets developed by KAIST Institute of Information Technology Convergence.
Next Week’s Show will be an all-comments edition that I pre-loaded this week in preparation for an unplugged 10-day stay on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I hope to interview some Kindle-toting guests on the beach for a special TKC episode to be uploaded on Friday, February 10. My interview for TKC 185 on February 17th will be with Peter Meyers, author of Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual. You can pre-order the Kindle version of Peter’s book now for delivery on February 15.
The Next TKC Google Plus Video Hangout is tentatively set for Wednesday, February 15th at 2 pm EASTERN time. Look for details in the show notes for TKC 184.
News – 1) OverDrive reports tremendous growth in borrowing of e-books at public libraries and schools during 2011. 2) Apple makes a bold move into the e-textbooks market. John Gruber and others ponder the fine print of the End User License Agreement, which contains language restricting what you can do with an iBook that you create using Apple’s free iBook Author tool. 3) Amazon releases firmware updates for the Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch. 4) Via Business Insider, a surprising new survey breaks down what we’re using our Kindle Fires for.
Tech Tips – From Jim Cheshire’s excellent new book, My Kindle Fire, we’ll learn a handy way to save steps when punctuating with the virtual keyboard of the Fire. (Click here for my interview with Jim in September, 2008, for TKC 10.)
Interview (Starts at 18:00) – Catherine MacDonald, founder of BookLending.com, spoke with me from Nova Scotia on January 16th about the impressive growth her site has experienced in its first year of operation. Click here for my interview with her a year ago, from the island nation of Malta.
Content – In Topazon’s latest list of the top-ranked products on all of Amazon, there is only one book, The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant. Via Pastor Mark Pierce of Church Requel, I learned of an impressive Kindle Fire App by YouVersion that offers lots of ways to encounter The Bible. Click here for a sample of Pastor Mark’s sermon notes, using YouVersion, and here for his podcast.
The Next G+ Video TKC Hangout: Wednesday, January 25, at 1 p.m. Mountain Time.
Next Week’s Guest: Eric Loss, making a stop for repairs in Chile during his solo circumnavigation of the world.
News – 1) Amazon announces a brisk beginning for KDP Select at the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, with impressive numbers reported for December. Jon Cog covers the story at Beyond Black Friday, as does Jeremy Greenfield at Digital Book World. If you’re still wavering on signing up for Amazon Prime membership, Jason Calacanis will probably tip you over the edge. 2) Amazon releases tools for Kindle Format 8 (KF8). CNET has the story, and the EBook Ninjas have the details in their latest podcast episode, Number 63. 3) Amazon’s Kindle Content VP, Russ Grandinetti, address the topic of ebook pricing a year ago at Digital Book World expo. Click here for the full presentation, and look for the video player in the right column partway down the screen.
Tech Tips – If it still bugs you that the Kindle Fire does not have a physical volume controller, you might want to download a clever free app named Volume Control 1.1 that will add a discreet controller to your screen, always available to adjust your Fire’s volume. James Schorr recommends SquareTrade for Kindle extended warranties.
Interview (Starts at 16:38) – John Tayman, author of The Colony and founder and CEO of Byliner.com, spoke with me by Skype and phone from San Francisco on January 11. He explained how he chose the length of Byliner Originals, great nonfiction and fiction stories published for Kindle and other ebook platforms. Among the topics discussed: And the War Came by Jamie Malanowski, Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer, Rules for Virgins by Amy Tan, and Apple Quick Reads.
Content – Nancy Pearl, the author of Book Lust: Recommended Books for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, partners with Amazon to create a new series, Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Rediscoveries. The first of six planned books in the series is A Gay and Melancholy Sound by Merle Miller, available for preorder. Northwest Book Lovers are unamused. On my Kindle Fire, I’m enjoying Monopoly and Downton Abbey, but my music listening has migrated back to my computer’s better speakers.
Next Week’s Guest: Catherine MacDonald, founder of BookLending.com .
Next Week’s Google Plus Video TKC Hangout: Wednesday, January 18, at 3 p.m. Mountain Time.
News – 1) Via a clumsy email, Amazon bobbles a pilot launch for a new Kindle publication named Kindle Compass, irritating Amazon forum commenters and generating some unfavorable press coverage in All Things Digital and elsewhere. 2) Is Google readying a Kindle Fire Killer? DigiTimes has a widely noted report, citing the usual sources from upstream in the supply chain in Asia. If true, I wonder if a Google Tablet will make as much of a mark as this Google-inspired product did.
Tech Tip – How would you describe the right way to touch the screen of a Kindle Touch to a new user, over the phone? Using my BookGem Kindle holder, I made a discovery. Also, a tip for adjusting the Default Zoom setting on your Kindle Fire’s browser, for better viewing of web sites. And, why I might just need a solar-powered Kindle case for $79.99 that I saw profiled in Forbes.
Interview (starts at 12:50) – I spoke with Dr. Eric McLuhan on Wednesday, January 4th, reaching him at his home office near Kingston, Ontario. The author of The Human Equation: The Constant in Human Development from Pre-Literacy to Post-Literacy and other books, some co-authored with his father, the late Marshall McLuhan, Eric spoke of his own explorations of media and what his father might have made of the Kindle.
Content – After an enjoyable period of Kindle Fire frenzy, I have rediscovered the slow delights of reading a novel by Henry James on my Kindle Touch. It’s The Awkward Age, available for free at the Kindle Store with an intriguing and lengthy forward by the author. As for the Fire, I’ve discovered that it sits nicely on the cross trainer across the street during my 45-minute aerobic workouts, the better to admire the fierce beauty of Baltimore’s mean streets as rendered in Season One of The Wire. In music, check out Jon Cog’s fun appreciation of an Amazon mp3 sampler. In apps, when I use the Fire in bed, the screen is too bright even at the lowest brightness setting. Solution: Screen Filter, a third-party app not available in the Amazon Android Appstore – click here for discussion of it in the Amazon forums, as well as tips for installation.
Next Google Plus Video TKC Hangout: Wednesday, January 11 at 3 p.m. Mountain Time. Please e-mail me your G+ profile page URL, if you’d like to be added to the TKC Circle for invites. For help on how to do this, you can e-mail me at PodChronicles AT Gmail DOT com.
News – Amazon announces a record holiday season for the Kindle, and touts the Kindle Direct Publishing success of Darcie Chan. 2) M-Edge Accessories charges Amazon with “unlawful corporate bullying” in a lawsuit filed this week. Nate Hoffelder sees a veiled response to the lawsuit in Amazon’s year-end press release.
Tech Tip – Stephen S recommends SanDisk Memory Zone, a free app available at Amazon’s Appstore for Android, as a way to see which files are taking up the most space on your Kindle Fire. Other handy free apps Stephen mentions are Quick System Info Pro, Gemini App Manager, File Expert, ES File Explorer, and AndroXPlorer. Tom Semple offers a smart tip for preventing unintentional navigation or user-interface activity if your Kindle Touch’s power button gets turned on by mistake in a pocket or a purse. Hint: It’s about a password.
Interview (starts at 11:50) – My wife Darlene gives her first impressions of the Kindle Touch and explains why she hates the Fire.
Content – Books: Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes; Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas Speeches, 1952-2010 (click here for Forbes story); a free preview of Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience by Peter Meyers; and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander and the rest of his Aubrey-Maturin series (via Katie Loss who hopes to zoom Kindle copies of the books to her son, Eric Loss, during his circumnavigation of the globe). Video: Arrested Development and The Wire. Music: Amazon’s 100-song playlist sampling “Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed” led me to purchase Delicate Steve’s Wondervision album for $5. Apps: Solitaire and Bejeweled 2.
Next Week’s Guest: Dr. Eric McLuhan, son of the late renowned media theorist Marshall McLuhan and an internationally known lecturer and author on communications and media in his own right.
Next Google Plus TKC Hangout: Wednesday, January 4 at 3 p.m. Mountain Time. If you are not yet in my TKC hangout circle, please email me at PodChronicles at Gmail Dot Com with the URL of your G+ profile page.
Mark Isero, left, and Antonio Beasley
News – 1) Amazon updates the Kindle Fire software to version 6.2.1 . Consumer Reports and David Pogue are impressed. As is Stephen Windwalker. 2) Kindle for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch receive an update.
Tech Tip – Why I had to reset my Fire to factory default, how to download a Project Gutenberg book in Kindle format to the Fire, and why the E Ink Kindles are more convenient for Project Gutenberg downloads.
Interview (Starts at 16:08) – Mark Isero, an AP English teacher at Leadership High School in San Francisco, is using five Kindles in his classrooms. He and Anthony Beasley, a senior at the school, talked to me by Skype on Monday, December 19th, about how the Kindle experiment is going.
Content- BOOKS: A Kindlesphere blockbuster arrived this week and is available for 99 cents through Christmas. It’s The Complete 2012 User’s Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle: Covers All Current Kindles Including the Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, and Kindle by Bruce Grubbs and Stephen Windwalker, creator of Kindle Nation Daily. Also, Our Dog, Lucca by Moe Zilla (free). VIDEO: NSFW and probably offensive to most listeners, comedian Louis C.K. is breaking new ground with his $5 direct sale of the video for a show he produced. In 12 days he’s earned $1 million from the project, and he’s putting the money to innovative use. If you liked the late George Carlin, you may enjoy Louis C.K., who gave this tribute to Carlin. MUSIC: How to use Amazon’s MP3 Uploader to copy your iTunes music to the Amazon Cloud and Kindle Fire. APPS: Wattpad is an innovative and successful content site offering unlimited stories. ES File Explorer and AndroXplorer are free apps for managing your Kindle Fire files. This just in (and received too late for the audio): 7 Dragons has launched a solid 99-cent app available for the Fire. It’s named Alarm Clock, Calendar, ToDo List – Productivity Helper. Another app worth noting: a free app connecting you with Kindle Nation Daily. PODCASTS: The Unofficial Kindle Fire Podcast is worth checking out!
The Next Google Plus TKC Hangout will be Wednesday December 28th at 3 p.m. Mountain Time, since we’ll be back in Denver.
TKC 183 Your Comments
Here are some links to topics discussed:
The TWIT FrameRate podcast, episode 59.
Marware Folio cover for the Kindle Fire.
M-Edge Incline cover for Kindle Fire.
ScreenDim app.
GetJar for apps.
I plan to prepare next week’s show from St. John, with an overview of 10 days off the Internet but still enjoying the delights of reading on the beach and elsewhere with our Kindles. I will be on the lookout for fellow Kindlers in Paradise for possible beachside interviews.
For a dollar, you can read my account of a similar Internet/media fast that I did five years ago at the same low-impact resort on St. John. It’s titled Cold Turkey in Paradise: 12 Days Off the Internet at Maho Bay, available at the Kindle Store. Some of the links to videos are not live anymore, unfortunately. Click here to see the video collage I made of our 2007 visit to Maho Bay.