One of the most active Kindle implementations that I know of in a school is taking place in Seneca IL under the supportive leadership of Kathy Parker and her “Kindle Crew.” Kathy’s unabashed enthusiasm for kids and reading has found another object in the Kindle. In addition to her enthusiasm, Kathy has been incredibly willing…
Kindle Usability
Three Kindle Improvements for Educators
by Will DeLamater
In a surprise update (a surprise to me, anyway), Amazon announced improvements to the firmware of the Kindle 2 yesterday. Thanks to Teleread, Len Edgerly, and the KnuckleHeadNetwork, I learned about the improvements in great detail. For an educator, this upgrade is a win. First, the K2 will now support PDF files directly, without conversion.…
Leaving a Digital Trail with Your Kindle
by Will DeLamater
As you can tell, I have been expanding my consciousness of the ereader world beyond the Kindle. I have a Sony Pocket Edition, an Aztak Pocket Pro, a Cybook Gen-3, and am sorely tempted to purchase a Nook, should one ever become available. But I was Kindle born and raised as an ebook reader, and…
Something I Can’t Do With My Kindle
by Will DeLamater
I recently purchased a Sony Pocket Edition Reader to see how the rest of the ereader world looks compared to my Kindle. The view from here is surprisingly good. The Pocket Edition is small, tight, handsome, and, it actually does some thing that my Kindle can’t do. Like check a book out from the library.…
Sony versus Kindle: First Impressions
by Will DeLamater
I’ve had my Sony Pocket Edition for a couple or weeks now and I have to say that I like it. It is a handsome unit, very tight and solid. It fits in the palm of your hand and, yes, in the pocket of your pants. I was drawn to this ereader because of the…
Kindlepedia – Over 1,000 Articles Served for Kindle
by Will DeLamater
Kindlepedia has been a remarkable success since we launched it at the beginning of June. Since then, hundreds of readers have requested articles in pristine Mobipocket format, perfect for reading on the Kindle, and, by the beginning of August, we topped 1,000 articles served. The list of created articles reads like a roadmap of the…
Maybe the Kindle Community Can Help Justin Get His Homework Back
by Will DeLamater
You might have heard the story. In the midst of the big “kerfluffle” over Amazon’s pulling back of the illegally distributed copies of 1984, student Justin Gawronski awoke one day to discover that all the notes he had taken on the book as he read it on his Kindle were rendered useless. Not gone, just…
The Kindle Discrimination Lawsuit at ASU
by Will DeLamater
When I saw the news about the lawsuit filed at Arizona State University concerning Kindle accessibility issues, I think I had a quick negative reaction to the upshot of the suit, that providing Kindles to sighted students creates a disadvantage for blind students. A journalism major at ASU, a plaintiff in the suit, sums up…
What Will Become of the Kindle DX?
by Will DeLamater
Now that I have been using my Kindle DX for a couple of weeks, I have some observations. First, all of the menu-driven controls that I criticized a little bit in assessing the changes from kindle 1 to Kindle 2 are not as problematic as I thought. Switching the wifi on and off is pretty…
Kindle DX Page Turning for Lefties
by Will DeLamater
Many have noted the “hair trigger” pivot function on the new Kindle DX that switches from portrait to landscape mode when you change the orientation of the device. It’s true. When you handle the device, the content on the screen jumps around like crazy, like a cup of coffee in a car off road. That’s how…