EduKindle

Right after I posted Calendar for Kindle as a free download a few weeks ago, I got a bunch of feedback about how folks would really like it to work. Calendar was intended as a quick reference, but many of you are like me and find it helpful to be able to keep notes and reminders on the Kindle using the keypad (one of the BIG advantages that the Kindle has over other ereaders). In fact, I have found myself using Notepad more and more, sitting at Starbucks or at my daughter’s indoor lacrosse practice, not fumbling for a pen and the back of a store receipt to take a note on. I really like being able to view all my notes at once by selecting “My Notes and Marks” while I have Notepad open.

So, long story short, based on your feedback, I created Planner 2009 for Kindle and you can get it on the Downloads page (see tab above). Here you can keep your date reminders in an orderly way, but still navigate around the year pretty quickly with the linked months on the start page and the “back button.” (I was glad to hear Leslie Nicoll mention this underused navigation resource her Kindle Chronicles interview a week or so ago!) I also included a “Year at a Glance” page and some instructions for use.

Go ahead and grab the Planner for free and let me know what you think!

The popularity of Notepad for Kindle got me thinking about another utility that I’d like on my Kindle, a calendar utility.

With Notepad getting decent reviews, I thought, why not?. Mary Krieg wrote a comment, saying “I now have the Personal Notepad on my Kindle. It is fantastic! You truly designed a program that is both simple to use and yet so practical. Thank you!” And then Steve Shaw, who runs the Kindlelicious blog, wrote: “What a great idea! Thanks for posting this.” Kinda heady praise for a piker like me.

Len Edgerly called Notepad “the first Kindle Utility” in the “Tech Tip” portion of his weekly podcast at The Kindle Chronicles. Hmm, I thought, pretty cool.

A little further thought and Calendar for Kindle was born. This one took a little longer to create–multiple pages with a Table of Contents, a list of major dates for the year, and a “personal calendar” page, based on the format I created with Notepad–so I put Calendar up for sale at Amazon for $1.99 (my take: seventy cents per). Then I also realized that a user could keep their personal dates from year to year by saving the .mbp file locally before installing the new calendar for the following year. Cool beans.

So I offer it to friends at EduKindle for free on the Downloads page. Please leave a comment if you have an idea to add or a feature to request. Enjoy!