It’s that time again, time for another “rambling” blog post where I have no set agenda before I start banging away on the keyboard….if you would like to write to me, my email address is Michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I type it out that way in a small effort to thwart the spam community).

Mother’s Day

Don’t forget Mother’s Day is this Sunday!  If you haven’t purchased a gift for your Mom, wife, grandmother, etc. yet, don’t despair!  You can always give her an Amazon gift card that can be used for anything in the Amazon store.  To get one today (they will email, priority delivery for Saturday, you name it for free), you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/giftcard into your web browser.

Kindle Daily Deal & Free App of the Day

I don’t post about the Kindle Daily Deal or the Free App of the Day each and every day.  Why?  That’s mainly because I’ve been traveling with my “day” job and can’t get the post out that day (I try to setup as many posts as I can in advance because of my schedule).  In the interim, you can check the offerings out each day yourself – just bookmark the links below.

Kindle Daily Deal: click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser.

Free App of the Day: click here or type in http://smarturl.it/appdeal into your web browser.

Guest Posts from Independent Authors

The guest blog posts featuring independent authors have been fairly popular with the blog’s readers, and I will be continuing that in the weeks to come as I enjoy reading about the authors who create the material I’ve been enjoying as much as you.  Look for more of these to come in the next few weeks (there will be another one this weekend), and if you’d like to read some of the past guest blog posts you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/interviews into your web browser – to provide a little incentive, there are a few free Kindle book offers contained in the posts.

If you hit this page on the blog’s website, you will see five blog post titles and a few lines from each post; just click on the title of the blog post to read the full article.  If you want to see more than the five on the page at http://smarturl.it/interviews, just scroll down towards the bottom and click the “Previous” icon located at the bottom left-hand side of the article list.

The Kindle 100

Now that we’re in the month of May, Amazon has updated their list of 100 highly-rated Kindle books that have been discounted to $3.99 or less – each of these has been hand-selected by the staff of Amazon.  You’ll see them classified in a variety of genres, and I’ve zeroed in on a couple in the mystery / thriller and science fiction genres.  To see what I am talking about, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/100books into your web browser.

Sports App

A week or so ago, I told you about the free sports apps available for your Kindle Fire or Android-enabled phone / tablet computer – actually, I promoted my favorite baseball team to the detriment of others – and I’ve had a lot of requests from people to send them the link again.

To see the lists of free apps detailing most of the professional sports teams – not just baseball but football, basketball, etc. – you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/sportapps into your web browser.

Pinterest and The Blog’s Social Media Pages

I’m not much for following “pins” of others on Pinterest, but many of you are and have asked for the link to the blog’s Pinterest page.  You can click here or type in http://pinterest.com/fkbooks into your web browser and start following away!

While I’m on the subject of social media pages, here are links to the blog’s Facebook and Twitter pages:

Facebook: click here or type in https://www.facebook.com/fkbooks into your web browser.

Twitter: click here or type in http://twitter.com/FKBT into your web browser.

That’s all I have for now – I hope you have a great weekend!

Michael

Well, this is a really short post for you…in honor of Mother’s Day, Amazon is discounting the price of a 7” Kindle Fire HD by $20 if you type in this special code: FIRE4MOM

Here is how you can get the $20 savings on a new Kindle Fire HD:

• Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/firehd into your web browser to get to the appropriate page on the Amazon website.
• DO NOT use the 1-click option or you won’t get the discount!  If you want to order one, click the “Add to Cart” icon as you need to go through the checkout procedure to apply the code.
• Select which version of the 7’ Kindle Fire HD you want by clicking it, then click the “Add to Cart” icon.
• Select whatever else you want in the session (power adapter, case, etc.), then click the “Proceed to Checkout” icon.
• Once you click the “Proceed to Checkout” icon you will need to input your shipping address.
• On the next screen, which is where you input your payment information, you will see a section titled “Gift Cards & Promotional Codes.”  This is where you need to type in the special code: FIRE4MOM
• Click the “Continue” icon to complete your order.

That’s it, and here’s to saving $20!

Michael

For those of you who have been waiting on an update to the Collections app for your Kindle Fire…

In a post two weeks ago, I told you about how Amazon had rolled out a software update to the Kindle Fire which caused an issue with the Collections app for your Kindle Fire: due to the software upgrade, new books (but not “old” books) you added to your Fire were not recognized on the initial scan and, as a result, you could not categorize new books on to your bookshelves.

I’ll point out while there are many things I like about Amazon, there are also things I find extremely irritating and this was one of them: Amazon didn’t give the app development community the heads-up this was coming, nor were they forthcoming with what changed.  Some of you contacted Amazon’s app customer service department (which seems to be an outsourced organization) who, despite me asking them not to, told some of you to uninstall and reinstall the app which caused yet more issues.

Sometimes, you just want to scream and say some bad words!

The good news is a revised version of the app has been submitted and is now “live” in the Amazon App store.  In addition to correcting the issue related to Amazon’s software upgrade, the revised edition has several upgrades / enhancements, including (this is not all-inclusive):

• The ability to categorize more than one book at a time into different categories.
• Checking for duplicates or when a book has been removed from your Fire automatically.
• Added the capability to categorize Kindle-format books (i.e., MOBI format) purchased or obtained for free from third-party websites.
• One-click access to this blog by tapping the “Kindle Books and Tips” icon at the bottom of the screen.

If you have your wireless on and the automatic updating of apps feature turned on, the Collections app should have updated already or, depending upon where you may be in the world, will update as soon as things replicate across Amazon’s servers and your Fire connects to the wireless connection.

The easy way to tell if your app has updated automatically can be performed with the following steps:

• Turn on your Kindle Fire.
• From the Home Screen, tap the “Apps” icon at the top of the screen.
• Launch the Collections app by tapping it.
• One it goes through the scan looking for new book titles, tap the “All Books” bookshelf: this is the top bookshelf on your app’s display.
• A listing of all of the books on your Fire (NOT the cloud) will next appear.
• If you see a square icon to the right of each title – that’s for you to bulk move or categorize your books to your own specific category (e.g., the “Mystery” or “Romance” category), you have the latest version of the Collections app installed on your Fire.

To get update the app manually, and assuming the app has replicated to the Amazon server closest to your Internet / wireless connection, here is how you do it (or for any other app that has an update available):

• Turn on your Kindle Fire.
• From the Home Screen, tap the “Apps” icon at the top of the screen.
• Tap the “Store” icon in the upper right-hand portion of your screen.
• Tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of your screen (it looks like a piece of paper to me, or a box with three horizontal lines).
• Tap the “App Updates” option on the new pop-up menu.
• Tap the “Update” icon to the right of the app you would like to update.
• If the previous version of the app is still on your Fire, you will receive a warning message it can’t update unless you remove the previous version. To install the new version, you must remove the old version.

If the updated app is not available when you are reading this, it is more likely than not still replicating across Amazon’s server network.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for listening and here’s to hoping if Amazon pushes out another Fire software update (and they will) they will communicate with the developer community!   And, if you’re one of the folks who left a negative review saying it worked great for months and just stopped working, I would appreciate a modification of your review once you install and use the updated app!

Regards,

Michael

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our updated Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

This is a post for those of you who have “Liked” the blog’s Facebook page, as I have received quite a few emails from members who tell me the posts aren’t showing up on their Facebook walls anymore…

If you haven’t stopped by the blog’s Facebook page, you can check it out if you click here or type in www.facebook.com/fkbooks into your web browser – why you’re there, why not give it a “Like” if you haven’t already? Who knows, there might be a future incentive for those to “Like” the page as there has been for those who signed up for email delivery (that’s a big hint!)?

One continuing complaint I’ve received over time is many people say even though they have “Liked” the Facebook page, not all of the blog’s or page’s posts were showing up on their timeline when it had in the past. That’s not due to anything I am doing, but something Facebook has initiated for this and other fan pages: they want me (and other managers of fan pages) to pay to have each post guaranteed to show up on people’s Facebook pages.

That doesn’t mean each post you would see on your wall costs me money, as it doesn’t: Facebook will still allow a post to show up on a limited number of FB pages. However, Facebook’s advertising model is a pay for performance plan and the pricing for me, based upon the number of fans, would be about $750 per post to ensure it hit everyone’s wall.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford that on a periodic basis let alone a full-time basis!

How to Guarantee to See the Blog’s Posts on Facebook

I’ve been scratching my head for a solution so that the blog’s Facebook members can be sure to see the blog posts so you don’t miss a notification of the free book offers. Luckily, there are blog members who know a heck of a lot more about Facebook than I do – here is a solution that appears to work I received from blog member Christy P., which involves making the blog’s Facebook page one of your “Interests:”

• Go to your Facebook home page: once you are logged into Facebook, you may be on your Timeline, so click on the word “facebook” on the top left-hand side of your web browser to go to your Facebook home page.
• Look on the left-hand side of your Facebook home page towards the bottom on some / middle on others – you will see a section called “Interests.”
• Click on the word “Interests.”
• A new screen will open.
• On the top, middle-to-right-hand side of this new screen, click on the icon titled “+ Add Interests” which will open up yet a new window.
• On this new window, look on the top towards the middle-right, and click on the “+Create List” icon.
• Another new box / window will open titled “Create New List.” On the upper right-hand side of this new window, there is a search bar that says “Search for people or pages.” In this search bar, click on it and type in “free ebooks and tips.”
• Click on the “Free eBooks and Tips” icon when it appears in this new screen. Once you click the Free eBooks and Tips icon, a check mark will appear on the icon.
• Click the “Next” icon on the lower right-hand side.
• Name your list something you will remember. “Free Kindle Books” sounds good to me and what I named my list.
• Once you have typed in a name, click the “Done” icon.

If you followed those instructions, your new list has been established and is complete. When you want to see the blog’s posts to Facebook, just go to your Facebook home page and click on “Free Kindle Books or whatever you named your list to see the blog’s posts.

Email Option

If all of that was confusing or you couldn’t complete setting up your own list, that’s okay – you can always sign up for the email delivery option (that’s free, also)! To signup for email delivery, just click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser and follow these instructions:

• You will see a input line that says “Enter your email address:” right above an icon called “Subscribe.” Type in your email address on this line.
• Click the “Subscribe” icon.
• Go to your email program – you will receive a confirmation email.
• Reply to this email, and press “Send” on your email program. You must reply to this email in order to receive the blog’s posts to ensure I’m not spamming anyone.

That’s it! You should now receive future posts on the blog via email.

Hope that helps!

Michael

Kindle owners do lots of things with their Kindles – some this you may already know how to do, but there may be a lot of you who never thought to do it.  There is a discussion thread going on over at the Amazon site where members are posting some of the random things they do with their Kindles in addition to “just” reading books.  I will be profiling some of these over the next few weeks – after all, part of the title line of this blog is supposed to be about Kindle tips vs. just a feature on books!

Here’s one of the tips from the discussion board:

I use my Kindle mainly for pleasure reading, but I also use it for:

• Reading order lists for books in a series or by a particular author
• Camera, TV, Blu-Ray manuals (.pdf)
• List of fingernail polish colors owned (so I don’t buy one I already have at home)
• Prescription list with pharmacy #, renewal dates
• Trip photos (black and white)
• Listening to audiobooks (while getting ready for work and during daily commute)
• Listening to hour long wind chimes MP3 for lunchtime relaxing/meditation
• Internet search for business locations/times while out of home area
• Internet search for movie/restaurant locations and listings when away from home
• Dictionary/Wikipedia reference

I am seldom more than 15 feet away from my Kindle at any time these days!

Do you have a tip you would like to share with the group?  Send it to me via email (michael at fkbooksandtips dot com).

Thanks!

Michael

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Are you receiving the blog’s posts by email? You can if you click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser – just fill in your email address, smack the “Subscribe” button, and make sure you reply to the confirmation email!

Kindle owners do lots of things with their Kindles – some this you may already know how to do, but there may be a lot of you who never thought to do it.  There is a discussion thread going on over at the Amazon site where members are posting some of the random things they do with their Kindles in addition to “just” reading books.  I will be profiling some of these over the next few weeks – after all, part of the title line of this blog is supposed to be about Kindle tips vs. just a feature on free books!

Here’s one of the tips from the discussion board:

We went on a trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, and I downloaded all kinds of web info for points of interest, including directions. So, when we had a blank spot in our itinerary, I could pull up the info in the car, read it to my husband, decide if we were in vicinity and interested in the place and GO!

I also downloaded the Ranger talks about various observation points in the Canyon and played them while we stood at those points. DISCLAIMER:

• Those talks could have been listened to on cell phones, if you had service.
• My husband and son thought I was totally dorky at that point and wouldn’t stand near me while I played them….. I had to force them to listen by playing them in the car between stops!

Do you have a tip you would like to share with the group?  Send it to me via email (michael at fkbooksandtips dot com).

Thanks!

Michael

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Are you receiving the blog’s posts by email? You can if you click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser – just fill in your email address, smack the “Subscribe” button, and make sure you reply to the confirmation email!

Here’s a fairly quick post based on a couple of you emailing me today: Amazon has quietly reintroduced the Kindle Touch to the Amazon storefront.  As many of you know, I was not a fan of generation one of the Touch because it had a lot of issues with phantom page turns, etc., but I do like its successor, the Kindle Paperwhite.  I do not know if the issues I noted with a Kindle Touch have been corrected with this new release  (nor am I sure this is even a “new” version of the Touch.

What’s the difference between a Touch and a Paperwhite?  While the following is not an all-inclusinve list, here are the major differences I see as a user:

• Kindle Touch has an audio feature while the Kindle Paperwhite does not.
• The Kindle Paperwhite has a backlit screen, which means you don’t need an external light to read it say at night in your bed, while the Kindle Touch is a traditional e-Ink reader and you will need an external light to read in the dark.
• The Kindle Touch holds approximately 2x more books on it than a Kindle Paperwhite (approximately 3,000 vs. 1,500).
• The Kindle Touch with WiFi costs $99 and the Paperwhite with WiFi costs $119 (both of these are the Special Offers version).

To check out the Kindle Touch, you can click here or type in into your web browser.

Have a great rest of your week!

Michael

This may be my shortest blog post ever…

You might see the return of freebie Kindle book offers from the Amazon site to the blog soon…stay tuned!

Since I posted about free music from Amazon last fall, I’ve had a lot of emailed questions regarding it – primarily, what was that link again?  So, here is a little bit of a repeat (don’t worry, a new tip or book post will be here again soon).

There are also several thousand MP3 songs for free from the Amazon Kindle store: yes, you can play songs on your e-Ink Kindle as well as the Kindle Fire. Here’s a link you probably want to bookmark so you can check those out throughout the year:

http://smarturl.it/mp3

I have bookmarked the link in my computer’s web browser and check it out periodically. You may also need to re-sort the list periodically from “low to high” in the top right-hand corner of this Amazon web page as sometimes it just randomly shows titles.

If you’re a Kindle Fire owner, hopefully you know how to listen to music on your Kindle Fire.  If not, well, I will address that another day in a different post!

“Regular” e-Ink Kindle users shouldn’t feel left out, as most of these Kindles can play music, also (alas, the $79 Kindle does not as an example).

Your Kindle can also play mp3 songs: you can listen to it via the Kindle’s speakers or insert your favorite headphones / earbuds into the Kindle and listen away.

I’ve posted about how to listen to music on your Kindle, and it is one of the most popular “tips” I have on the blog. If you’re familiar with the process, you can stop reading now. However, if you are not or need a refresher on how to do it, read on!

In addition to having your Kindle read to your with the test-to-speech option enabled, you can also listen to music. I don’t know about streaming music over the Internet – I haven’t personally tried it but who knows, it could happen if you had a real good connection – but I am talking about your favorite music in MP3 format. At this time, pending a future software upgrade, the Kindle only supports MP3’s for playback.

Here are some of the basics for the non-Kindle Fire owners:

Music Location:

You will need to transfer your MP3 files over to your Kindle using the USB cord via your computer. If you haven’t changed the directory structure of your Kindle, you will see three folders: Audible, Documents, and Music. You want to put your MP3 files in the “Music” folder (I know some of you are saying “duh” right now, but some of you are not!).

If you want to organize your music by artist, for example making a folder for “Van Halen” and another for “George Strait,” you can make those folders. However, the Kindle does not allow (pending a software upgrade) you to navigate via the folders as you are selecting songs.

Playback:

From the Home screen, select Menu, then Experimental, then Play MP3. If you want to listen to the music while you are reading, just click the “Home” key and navigate to your book and start reading.

If you want to stop the music, just press the “ALT” and spacebar keys at the same time; the same is true if you want to start playing music again. If you’re tired of the song you’re listening to, just press the “F” key to move to the next song.

Speakers:

While you can listen to your music with the built-in speakers, they sound good to me for what I am using it for – mild background music while I read. However, if you like to have your music a little louder than other people prefer, or maybe traveling on a plane and don’t want to disturb the person 1.7 inches to your immediate left you can plug in headphones (click here or type in http://smarturl.it/kindlebuds into your web browser for some options from the Kindle store). Headphones can be plugged into the audio jack located just to the side of your “on/off” switch on the top of your Kindle.

And who needs an iPod these days when you have your Kindle?

Hope that helps!

Michael

I have received several questions asking “what is the Amazon Prime program” or “how do I borrow a book from Amazon for free?”  The following is to give you a little background on the Amazon Prime program, which you need to have attached to your Amazon account in order to borrow books for free from Amazon.

For some people, one of the drawbacks to Amazon’s lending program (where you can borrow one Kindle book for free each month from Amazon) is you have to be a member of Amazon’s Prime program in order to be able to borrow a book from Amazon.  You might be a member of Amazon’s Prime program and not realize it, or you may not know you can enjoy the benefits of the Prime program for free for a month…read on:

For those of you unfamiliar with Amazon’s Prime Membership program, the major benefits include:

• You receive free two-day shipping, or just $3.99 for next day shipping, on all purchases fulfilled by Amazon.  This includes more than just books and CD’s, but the really heavy items such as power tools and appliances.
• You can borrow one Kindle book from the Amazon Kindle store for free each month from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
• You can have unlimited streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime instant videos.

I’ve been a member of Amazon Prime for several years, and it has more than paid for itself not only with the number of things I purchase from Amazon, but I have paid just $3.99 for overnight shipping of things that weigh over 100 pounds!

There is, of course, a cost to being a member of Amazon Prime: as of this writing, membership costs $79 per year.  If you order frequently from Amazon like I do, the Prime membership pays for itself quickly.  With the thousands of movies and TV shows available for unlimited free streaming, the cost of the Prime membership pays for itself even more quickly when you consider how much it costs to rent or purchase movie and TV episodes from Amazon or even the costs of maintaining a Netflix membership or driving back and forth to rental locations like Blockbuster or Redbox.

If you watch a lot of movies or order frequently from Amazon, I highly recommend you try out the Prime membership for free so you can save some money in the long run – and for you Kindle Fire owners you want to watch movies and TV shows on your Kindle Fire, and free sounds pretty good to me vs. buying episodes!

To check out the one-month free trial of Amazon Prime and to have access to the free movies and TV shows available for your Kindle Fire, just click here or type in http://smarturl.it/primetrial into your web browser.

Hope that helps!

Michael

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Are you receiving the blog’s posts by email? You can if you click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser – just fill in your email address, smack the “Subscribe” button, and make sure you reply to the confirmation email!

As I’ve mentioned in my blog many times, I spend some time – maybe too much time, at times (pun intended), trolling through the Amazon Kindle discussion boards.  I can’t think of all of the tips I send out to you on my own!  The Kindle discussion boards are a good tool, and I encourage you to check it out some time (there is that “time” word again) whenever you can spare some time.

Okay, I’ll stop playing around…

While I believe one of the advantages of the Kindle platform is the ability of independent and self-published authors to level the playing field against the big publishing houses – become published in the first place, gain new audiences, adapt quickly to change among others – it can also have some disadvantages.  I certainly have found lots of independent, self-published authors I have enjoyed; there are some things that really shouldn’t be published at all.

While I have that opinion with some of the things from offerings of the “name brand” authors and publishers, most of that opinion is because the genre is not for me.  That’s true with everyone, and not what I’m talking about in this post.

I’m talking about what should be the simple things: proper formatting, correct spelling, the right context of the word (there vs. their, its vs. it’s).  A little proofing should be expected!  I don’t know about you, but when I am reading something, I usually get very absorbed in it and can lose all track of time.  If there are misspelled words – whether it is in a book I’m reading for pleasure or a document I am reviewing at work – I immediately lose my concentration.  Completely.  It’s even worse if there are syntax or word context errors.

Why does that happen – doesn’t Amazon proof material before it is published in the Kindle format?  The short answer is no.

A couple of errors can be forgiven.  A lot of errors drive me up the wall, and I want my money back.  While Amazon has a very generous Kindle return policy, I am typically unable to take advantage of it as I usually buy several books and they gather electronic dust in my eBook to be read list – in most cases, the return policy has expired. 

By the way, bloggers like me should be exempt from everything I am picking on in this post!

It’s not that I am against the independent author – I’m not – I would like to think they would like to know of the errors, too.  After all, if you get upset and hate something you probably won’t buy follow-on offerings from them or write bad reviews and others won’t buy their offerings.  I also like to think if they knew there was an issue (and they should check the formatting on a Kindle prior to publishing), they will immediately correct it; Amazon’s self-publishing platform allows on-the-fly changes, with revised editions being able to literally replicate through the Kindle storefront in less than 12 hours (try that with paper copies).

Let me give you an example: I read an independent book not too long ago and really enjoyed the plot, characters, etc. but the author started distracting me with all of the spelling and errors in the formatting.  I reflected it in my online review of the book (you can check out my Amazon reviews by clicking here, I’m way behind and trying to catch up).  I’ve also purchased eBooks from Amazon that were so bad I just stopped and deleted the book – in that case, I wish I had a way to report the bad formatting to Amazon so the book could be taken down from the marketplace and others wouldn’t be burned, too.

I couldn’t do that before, but I can now, courtesy of a post from Kindle discussion board user “PF” who reported there is a way to report it.  I never saw this feature before because it was buried so far down into the Amazon book page, folks like you and me more likely than not never see it.  How did PF see it?  He didn’t, because he is visually impaired; his speech software read the eBook page to him and he heard the option at the bottom of the page.

By now, many of you are hoping I will have this post reach its dramatic conclusion – I will – and tell you how to report bad formatting of a Kindle edition.  Here is how you do it.

• Go to the book’s Kindle page.  Let’s pick on The Roots of Obama’s Rage – click here to go to that page if you are using a web browser to read this post.
• Scroll down about 90% of the way down, right near the bottom of the page.  You will see a boxed-in area called “Feedback” with five options.  With these options, you can click to:
  • Contact customer service
  • Report poor quality or formatting in the book
  • Report the content as inappropriate
  • Report the book if you believe it violates a copyright
  • Click on the last option if there is any “other” feedback you would like to provide.

Hope that helps, and thanks to PF!

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week subscription!  Click here for the Amazon page for Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips.

This is a short and quick message…a lot can happen when you wait a few months: today, Amazon decreased the cost of the 8.9” Kindle Fire HD by $100 (this is the larger screen Kindle Fire), and also made it available to customers in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan (but, strangely, not Canada). For the many folks who have emailed me from Europe, for example, wondering when you could get yours now is your chance.

I use my 8.9” Fire all of the time, and actually prefer it over the iPad I have for work because the screen resolution is so much crisper and better, especially for videos. I got the one with the 4G cellular, and you can read the review I wrote for it if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/89firereview into your web browser.

I would imagine with this decreased pricing they will move a lot of these units and, if prior history holds true there may be some shortages a couple of days from now. To check out the deal and get one for yourself or a gift for someone, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/firehd89 into your web browser.

If you do get one, have fun!

Michael

Download the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog app for your Kindle Fire or Android-based smartphone or tablet – for free, of course – by clicking here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your computer’s web browser from the Amazon App Store or click here or type in http://bit.ly/fkbtgoogle into your computer’s web browser for the Google App Store.

Several people wanted to know how to delete a book from their Kindle Touch (the tempermental predecessor to a Kindle Paperwhite) vs. the option of “Move to Archived Items.”

Moving a book to the archived items on the Kindle Touch is similar to deleting it off a regular Kindle – they just don’t use the word “delete.”  No matter which word you use,

To delete a book from the Kindle Touch here is how I do it (although I am sure there are other ways):

• Go to the home page.
• Scroll until you find the book you want to remove.
• Tap and hold the title’s name until a new window pops up.
• Choose the “Move to Archived Items” option.

This will remove it from your Touch, and the book will remain available to download again to your Touch or any other Kindle registered to your account.

Hope that helps!

Michael

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Several people have asked me if they can read the free books on a Kindle app for their iPhone, iPad, and other iYounameit devices.  The answer is “yes, you can.”

Amazon has developed free Kindle reading apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Windows PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone  devices.  To check them out or to learn more – as well as to download the various reading apps for free just click here or type in http://smarturl.it/readingapps into your web browser.

Hope that helps!

Michael

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It’s time to answer email again – while I usually reply back to the person individually, if I receive the same question multiple times I will try to send it out to the blog readers: I figure if several of you have the same question, many more of you do, too.  If you would like to write to me with a question, comment, tip that helps you on the Kindle, praise, and even complaints, you can do so by sending an email to michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I write it that way in a small attempt to avoid the spam robots).

I received this question a couple of times this week via email: How do I delete a website bookmark from my Kindle 2?

I had to think about that one for a few minutes – it has been a while since I have used a Kindle generation 2.  I’ve deleted a website bookmark before on my e-Ink Kindle, but it has been a while: I do use the Kindle’s Internet browser periodically, but I don’t use it that often due to every other gadget I have is faster from a web browsing standpoint.

Here is how you delete a web bookmark from an e-Ink Kindle’s web browser (which also encompasses the Kindle 2), assuming you are starting from the Home screen, your wireless connection is on, and navigating to the Internet browser:

• Click the “Menu’ key.
• Click the “Experimental” option.  Click the “Web Browser’ menu option.
• You should next see a list of websites; let’s assume we want to delete the “Facebook” bookmark; scroll down to the “Facebook” bookmark but do not select it.
• To delete it, with the “Facebook” bookmark highlighted, move your cursor to the left, and you will next see the text underneath change to “delete bookmark.”  Select that option.
• The “Facebook” bookmark has disappeared.

Now, let’s take this a step further and assume you wanted to rename the “Facebook” bookmark to something else.  Let’s call it “Time Waster” or something similar.  Again, starting from the Home screen, your wireless connection is on, and navigating to the Internet browser:

• Click the “Menu’ key.
• Click the “Experimental” option.  Click the “Web Browser’ menu option.
• You should next see a list of websites; let’s assume we want to delete the “Facebook” bookmark; scroll down to the “Facebook” bookmark but do not select it.
• To rename it, with the “Facebook” bookmark highlighted, move your cursor to the right, and you will next see the text underneath change to “edit bookmark’ and a popup screen with “Edit name: Facebook’ option with the word “Facebook” highlighted.
• Type in the new bookmark name, Time Waster, then click ‘ok.’
• The “Facebook” bookmark has been renamed to Time Waster.

Hope that helps!

Michael

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