# Tips, Tricks, and Hints for Dummies



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

As people may or may not be aware, Harvey and I co-authored *Kindle Touch for Dummies*, with technical review by Betsy (the Quilter).

While the new book was being announced at the press conference, the editor was emailing, asking if we were up for writing *Kindle Paperwhite for Dummies*. The deal has been finalized and we're getting going on this manuscript.

The PW does seem to have quite a few new features and cool tricks. I want to make sure I capture them in the book. So, if you find something new, different, interesting, or helpful--whether a feature, a little trick, a keyboard shortcut or whatever, please post here. I'll be compiling the hints and adding them to the book as appropriate. Thanks in advance for your help, KB friends. I look forward to your tips.

So far, I've seen these two that are useful:

1. Somebody suggested (I forget where) that if you go to parental settings and turn off the store, the "popular/suggested" books at the bottom will disappear.

2. I can't remember who it was who posted this, but someone said their PW was acting 'wonky' when they first turned it on, even though it came with a 1/2 charge on the battery. I remember, as some of you might, when the K3 (keyboard) came out, there were some refresh problems and other problems. I had one of those. Amazon CS said to charge it overnight the first time. The next morning with a full charge, the problems disappeared. Even 1/2 charge on a new Kindle that has never been fully charged can make it act funny. If you think yours is not behaving properly, charge it overnight or at least for several hours before deciding to send it back. Of course, I know that takes monumental patience when all we want to do is play with our new toys. But, it is best.

L


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

This is somewhat unrelated, but I can't resist sharing: On one of the video reviews I saw, the reviewer's home screen had _Ferrets for Dummies_ as as suggested book! I thought that was very funny. But I can see someone asking you why you have certain recommendations on your home screen, so I'm glad someone found that work-around. I saw another screenshot where someone had an erotica book listed (I think it was "best sellers") with a nearly-naked woman with just her hands covering the junction of her spread legs. That wouldn't be good for kids (and some adults would object)...


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## w5jck (Aug 30, 2010)

One way to unintentionally slow down a new Kindle is to transfer a lot of books to it from your Archive. It can take a long time for all those books to get indexed. While the Kindle is indexing there can be a slowdown as well as a fast battery drain as the indexing process eats up a lot of processor time. So if you transfer a lot of books (as in dozens) keep it plugged into the charger. If you transfer a lot more books in a short time (as in hundreds) you might cause a crash. just something to be aware of.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanks!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

make sure you remind people that airplane mode is now the WIFI off mode and how to get to it.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

telracs said:


> make sure you remind people that airplane mode is now the WIFI off mode and how to get to it.


Yes, that's definitely on the list. Thanks!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

you might give a basic "touch" tutorial for people coming from a non-touch kindle.

like, you have to swipe on the home screen, not tap like you can on other screens.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

telracs said:


> you might give a basic "touch" tutorial for people coming from a non-touch kindle.
> 
> like, you have to swipe on the home screen, not tap like you can on other screens.


Oh yes, that's in Touch for Dummies and will be updated to reflect changes on the Paperwhite.

We've got the content outline all set. What I need from folks are tips and hints that they discover (that might not be in the user's manual), like how to turn off the recommendations (see below).

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Here's a tip I just figured out:

You can set the "reading progress" in the bottom lower left screen to either location in book, time left in chapter, or time left in book. What you choose will show as the default. But if you tap on words on the lower left corner (no sure how else to say this) it will cycle through the choices. So, you don't have to go back to the drop down menu and change the default to see the other options.

If you click and bring up the task bar at the top of the screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see:

Time left in chapter in minutes; time left in book (hours and minutes); Location X of XX; Page Y of YY; and percentage of progress.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Moving from chapter to chapter:

I just opened The Art of Racing in the Rain to Chapter 1. The chapter number is underlined. I tapped on it and it brought up a list of chapters with the first few sentences of each chapter. I wonder if the chapters were named if it would bring up the chapter name instead? I'll need to find a book with named chapters to test that. 

I opened another book and the chapter numbers were not underlined. Tapping the number did not bring up the aforementioned list. So this must be something that is coded in the book design and something book designers will need to be aware of.

Edited to add: I just tested this feature on Boardwalk Empire which does have named, underlined chapter titles and yes, tapping on the chapter title brings up a list with the chapter number and name.


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

I'm behind reading posts and never can remember everything I read or where I read it.  A couple of days ago, people were complaining about having to "swipe" to get rid of the SO page when first starting up their PW.  It even says "Swipe to Unlock Kindle".  I've found that all I have to do is touch where it says "Swipe to Unlock" and it unlocks.  If this has already been covered, pardon.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanks, Vicki. Every tip is useful!


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## w5jck (Aug 30, 2010)

Leslie said:


> Moving from chapter to chapter:
> 
> I just opened The Art of Racing in the Rain to Chapter 1. The chapter number is underlined. I tapped on it and it brought up a list of chapters with the first few sentences of each chapter. I wonder if the chapters were named if it would bring up the chapter name instead? I'll need to find a book with named chapters to test that.
> 
> ...


It might be a feature of KF8. Or it might just be a hold over from the days when digital books used hard-coded TOCs with hyperlinks to facilitate quicker navigation. I was a technical writer for 25 years and this was a method we used religiously back in the days when HTML documentation was taking hold. The first eBooks designed for PalmOS and other systems also used this because they had no built in TOC systems. I personally still build into my eBooks a hard-coded TOC out of habit.

EDIT: Don't forget that a smart author/publisher will design a book so it can quickly and easily be converted for ePub or mobi/KF8. As such you occasionally get features in a book not really meant for your format. As an example, not all ePub readers have the TOC capabilities found in the newer Kindles.


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## w5jck (Aug 30, 2010)

Here is a good question that just got asked on another forum: How do you tell if the Paperwhite has finished indexing? This was my answer:

From Home screen press the search icon and search for anything. If it is still indexing it will tell you it has X books left to index. I think if you search within a book that has not been indexed it will say the book has not been indexed yet, but I don't think it says anything if that book already indexed but others haven't.

I know this sounds like a strange thing to document, but a lot of people get concerned when they transfer dozens of books at once and then notice their Kindle has slowed down to a crawl and/or the battery has quickly been discharged.


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

I just saw this screenshot tip @ The Kindle Chronicles (don't have a Paperwhite yet to try it out)

To make a screenshot with your Kindle Paperwhite, simply touch the upper-right corner and the lower-left corner of the screen at precisely the same time and hold until the screen flashes, which will happen almost immediately. Be sure to position your fingers at the very edges of the screen, in the corners, to make the screenshot. If you don't see the flash, try moving your fingers closer to the corners. You want to feel the black case that keeps the screen in place at the same time the pad of your finger is touching the screen itself.

Alternatively, you can touch the upper-left corner and the lower-right corner at the same time.

Either way, when you connect your Paperwhite to your computer with the USB cable and doubleclick on the Kindle icon, you will see at the root level, below the documents folder, a .png file labeled "screenshot_2012_10_06 etc" showing the date and time of the screenshot. Pretty neat!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> I just saw this screenshot tip @ The Kindle Chronicles (don't have a Paperwhite yet to try it out)
> 
> To make a screenshot with your Kindle Paperwhite, simply touch the upper-right corner and the lower-left corner of the screen at precisely the same time and hold until the screen flashes, which will happen almost immediately. Be sure to position your fingers at the very edges of the screen, in the corners, to make the screenshot. If you don't see the flash, try moving your fingers closer to the corners. You want to feel the black case that keeps the screen in place at the same time the pad of your finger is touching the screen itself.
> 
> ...


IT WORKS!

Readingril, you have just earned yourself a free copy of the book! Thanks so much for posting this! I had tried everything I could think of to create a screenshot without success. I was starting to worry about how on earth I was going to produce a manuscript about the Kindle that would not include screenshots. THANK YOU so much!!

L


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

I'll gladly take a copy, but thank Len Edgerly at the link I provided above.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> I'll gladly take a copy, but thank Len Edgerly at the link I provided above.


Len's a friend, I'll be sure to send him a thank you email.

L


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Leslie, just an FYI--  my baen books don't show as books, but as personal.  so if someone has their sort set to books, not all items, they won't show.  not sure if that's gonna be true of books from other sites.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Leslie said:


> But if you tap on words on the lower left corner (no sure how else to say this) it will cycle through the choices.


Oh, thank you. You have just explained why my default setting to location # changes once in a while. I was ready to consider it a potential defect.


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

Great tips! You all are wonderful. Please keep 'em coming!


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## geekmaster (Oct 7, 2012)

You can jailbreak and get root shell access to the Paperwhite, using instructions provided here:

"My Paperwhite is Jailbroken": http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192858

Instructions are also provided for gaining root shell access through SSH.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

Leslie said:


> Somebody suggested (I forget where) that if you go to parental settings and turn off the store, the "popular/suggested" books at the bottom will disappear.


Thanks so much for posting this! It makes the home screen so much nicer.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

On the home page, touch the lower right page number icon (ie 1/3) to get "Go To Page" or "Titles / Authors Starting With".


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## tnt (Aug 17, 2010)

I don't know if this was on the Kindle Touch or not, but you can change the font size on the PW with a two finger gesture.  I'm sure it has a name, but I can't remember it.  Anyhow, put two fingers on the screen and spread them... the font gets bigger.  Bring the fingers together and the font gets smaller.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

tnt said:


> I don't know if this was on the Kindle Touch or not, but you can change the font size on the PW with a two finger gesture. I'm sure it has a name, but I can't remember it. Anyhow, put two fingers on the screen and spread them... the font gets bigger. Bring the fingers together and the font gets smaller.


That was on the Touch, but thanks for the reminder.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Cardinal said:


> On the home page, touch the lower right page number icon (ie 1/3) to get "Go To Page" or "Titles / Authors Starting With".


Handy tip, thanks!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Setting the time:

On the WiFi only KPW, you have to set the time manually.

If the KPW has 3G, there is an option to have the time update automatically.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Pictures:

If you are looking at a book that has a picture, press and hold on the picture. A box will appear that gives you the choice to add a note, highlight, and share (if enabled). Click on the magnifying glass in the picture to have it enlarge to full screen. Depending on the orientation of the picture, it will automatically go into landscape mode if appropriate. Tap on the picture again to reduce it.

L


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Cardinal said:


> On the home page, touch the lower right page number icon (ie 1/3) to get "Go To Page" or "Titles / Authors Starting With".


5-star tip -- I was going through archives...excuse me, the CLOUD  .... yesterday and couldn't figure out a way to do this; sometimes I want to just get to a particular part of the alphabet rather than searching a specific book. Thanks!

And Leslie, I know you're sort of upgrading your Touch book for the Paperwhite, but a lot of us aren't coming from the Touch so these tips posted here that are the same as in the Touch -- like tnt's about the 'zoom' feature for changing the font -- are essentially brand new and welcome!  I hope the thread isn't intended to be limited to just changes between Touch and Paperwhite...and that your book won't be, either. That would change its usefulness somewhat, I think, if you assume familiarity with the Touch.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

w5jck said:


> Here is a good question that just got asked on another forum: How do you tell if the Paperwhite has finished indexing? This was my answer:
> 
> From Home screen press the search icon and search for anything. If it is still indexing it will tell you it has X books left to index. I think if you search within a book that has not been indexed it will say the book has not been indexed yet, but I don't think it says anything if that book already indexed but others haven't.
> 
> I know this sounds like a strange thing to document, but a lot of people get concerned when they transfer dozens of books at once and then notice their Kindle has slowed down to a crawl and/or the battery has quickly been discharged.





w5jck said:


> One way to unintentionally slow down a new Kindle is to transfer a lot of books to it from your Archive. It can take a long time for all those books to get indexed. While the Kindle is indexing there can be a slowdown as well as a fast battery drain as the indexing process eats up a lot of processor time. So if you transfer a lot of books (as in dozens) keep it plugged into the charger. If you transfer a lot more books in a short time (as in hundreds) you might cause a crash. just something to be aware of.


Do games have to index? I don't have my PW yet, but I just sent my 38 games (well I guess its 26 games because 12 od them were greyed out for transfer to the PW - I guess that's Amazon's way of telling you they are not compatible). Will they tie up the unit while they index, or are games exempt from this process?

Steve


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Steph H said:


> 5-star tip -- I was going through archives...excuse me, the CLOUD  .... yesterday and couldn't figure out a way to do this; sometimes I want to just get to a particular part of the alphabet rather than searching a specific book. Thanks!
> 
> And Leslie, I know you're sort of upgrading your Touch book for the Paperwhite, but a lot of us aren't coming from the Touch so these tips posted here that are the same as in the Touch -- like tnt's about the 'zoom' feature for changing the font -- are essentially brand new and welcome!  I hope the thread isn't intended to be limited to just changes between Touch and Paperwhite...and that your book won't be, either. That would change its usefulness somewhat, I think, if you assume familiarity with the Touch.


Hey Steph, thanks for this...

The book definitely needs to be a standalone and useful to someone who has never touched a Kindle in his/her life (remember, this is a Dummies title. LOL) so we don't assume familiarity with anything. We can re-purpose some information but every line will be carefully reviewed, edited, and updated. Stuff that doesn't apply anymore will be taken out (ie, audio, text-to-speech), stuff that's totally brand new will be added (info on the light) and everything else will be revised to be as current as possible.

While I appreciate the jailbreak links further downthread, that might be a little bit beyond the scope of the book (and probably has implications for the warranty on the device) so I probably won't be including that.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> Do games have to index? I don't have my PW yet, but I just sent my 38 games (well I guess its 26 games because 12 od them were greyed out for transfer to the PW - I guess that's Amazon's way of telling you they are not compatible). Will they tie up the unit while they index, or are games exempt from this process?
> 
> Steve


I just did a search on "Every Word" and the game "Every Word" came up on the list (along with a number of other books which probably have the words "every word" in them). So it would seem that games are indexed but I am thinking that only their titles are indexed--that's my search is suggesting to me. Others with other ideas, please chime in!

L


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I just did a search on "Every Word" and the game "Every Word" came up on the list (along with a number of other books which probably have the words "every word" in them). So it would seem that games are indexed but I am thinking that only their titles are indexed--that's my search is suggesting to me. Others with other ideas, please chime in!
> 
> L


I just did a search on my kk for Boardwalk, as in Boardwalk and Park Place in Monopoly. Nothing showed up so I suspect that you are right. The active content machine code is not scanned, only the ASCI text.

Steve


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> I just did a search on my kk for Boardwalk, as in Boardwalk and Park Place in Monopoly. Nothing showed up so I suspect that you are right. The active content machine code is not scanned, only the ASCI text.
> 
> Steve


Good to know. Thank you!


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## w5jck (Aug 30, 2010)

Here is an observation, not a tip. Someone may have already mentioned this, but I haven't seen it if they did. I've been so busy playing with my new PW I hadn't noticed a nice upgrade. On the Touch when you open a book it always opens with a black title strip at the top of the page. This goes away once you turn the page. I always found that annoying. They did away with that title block/strip in the PW!


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> The book definitely needs to be a standalone and useful to someone who has never touched a Kindle in his/her life (remember, this is a Dummies title. LOL) so we don't assume familiarity with anything.


I figured that was probably the intent, but there was *just* enough 'different from Touch' comments that I wanted to make sure.  (And though potentially awkward to handle, it's not necessarily a bad thing to make some of those comments in the book, too, if you wanted, because there probably are plenty of folks that are coming from the Touch.)

Thanks, I look forward to you getting it done and published!


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Setting the time:
> 
> On the WiFi only KPW, you have to set the time manually.
> 
> ...


Can you make not military time?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Mine doesn't show 24 hour time. . . .definitely a.m. or p.m. . . . . .


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Mine doesn't show 24 hour time. . . .definitely a.m. or p.m. . . . . .


 I have te WiFi only and it came set at 17:58. I changed it tonight to 10:15 and I'll see if it reverts to military time. I don't have an option to use am or pm.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Kathy said:


> I have te WiFi only and it came set at 17:58. I changed it tonight to 10:15 and I'll see if it reverts to military time. I don't have an option to use am or pm.


Hmm. I just opened my KPW (wifi only), went to home and tapped the menu. Tapped 'device options' and then 'device time'. It has 7:52 AM and I can tap up or down arrows to change the hours, minutes and toggle AM/PM.

I do have the language set for US English. . .I wonder if I set to a different language/country if that would have an effect. . . .


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i reset my pw to uk english and time display changed to military.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

telracs said:


> i reset my pw to uk english and time display changed to military.


Well. . . I'm guessing it changed it to UK standard -- 15:00 rather than 3:00 PM or 1500 (which is true 'military' time). 

But that certainly explains Kathy's issue. . . .


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Well. . . I'm guessing it changed it to UK standard -- 15:00 rather than 3:00 PM or 1500 (which is true 'military' time).
> 
> But that certainly explains Kathy's issue. . . .


yes, dear, 24 clock as opposed to 12 hour clock.

my original post was typed on my DX and i hate trying to type numbers on it.

also, changing to UK changed airplane to aeroplane mode....


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

For smudge annoyed people who want a bezel to be black with no fingerprints or wiping. I don't know if this would qualify as a trick but certainly as a tip. For the people who are complaining about the heavy smudging (i notice the first hour of reading, i kept wiping the bezel down which cuts into time enjoying reading), i found a nice workaround. As a guy who hates skins, DecalGirls black matte is absolutely incredible and unlike most other skins, no bubbles, stickiness or difficulties putting it on. I put the black matte around the bezel from my touch and it looks absolutely amazing. now its black all around, no smudging (dare i say it matches the black back even better now), all the benefits of the back and no annoying kindle label on the bezel (only for some), its just reading. If i can figure out how to post a pic on this i will. no one would even know there is a skin on it just how a good skin should be.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

northofdivision said:


> For smudge annoyed people who want a bezel to be black with no fingerprints or wiping. I don't know if this would qualify as a trick but certainly as a tip. For the people who are complaining about the heavy smudging (i notice the first hour of reading, i kept wiping the bezel down which cuts into time enjoying reading), i found a nice workaround. As a guy who hates skins, DecalGirls black matte is absolutely incredible and unlike most other skins, no bubbles, stickiness or difficulties putting it on. I put the black matte around the bezel from my touch and it looks absolutely amazing. now its black all around, no smudging (dare i say it matches the black back even better now), all the benefits of the back and no annoying kindle label on the bezel (only for some), its just reading. If i can figure out how to post a pic on this i will. no one would even know there is a skin on it just how a good skin should be.


I went to Decal Girl and saw nothing labeled "black matte". She has "black woodgrain". Is that it, or am just not seeing the right one? Thanks.

Steve


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

you can just write to them and they'll make it for you (what i did for my kindle 4 non touch. I should, i used the touch skin cause i just wanted to see what it looked like (slightly different skin because of the button on the touch). I'm receiving my new PW replacement (got a heavily pink tinted one) on wed so if its good i'm going to get a black matte made. (the only skins that are fully compatible are the kindle 4 non touch and the new black 69 dollar kindles)...just looked at the black woodgrain. have them do a black matte. much nicer.


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

Don't think anyone has mentioned this yet - I started with PW SO and decided to opt out of special offers.  WITH special offers and the Amazon cover, you open the cover, Kindle turns on to special offer, and you swipe to open to your books.  WITHOUT special offers, using the Amazon cover, you open the cover and the Kindle automatically opens to your books!  No more swiping!


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Hmm. I just opened my KPW (wifi only), went to home and tapped the menu. Tapped 'device options' and then 'device time'. It has 7:52 AM and I can tap up or down arrows to change the hours, minutes and toggle AM/PM.
> 
> I do have the language set for US English. . .I wonder if I set to a different language/country if that would have an effect. . . .


It was set to English United Kingdom. I changed the language and restarted my Kindle. Once it restarted I was able to go back to changing the time and I now have am or pm choices. Thanks, it was driving me crazy.


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## Lizzarddance (Oct 28, 2008)

When can we expect the book? My Kindle is scheduled to be delivered at the end of the month. I'd love to have it around then.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Lizzarddance said:


> When can we expect the book? My Kindle is scheduled to be delivered at the end of the month. I'd love to have it around then.


I suspect it will be for sale in late November/early December. They said they wanted it to be ready in time for the holidays.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Here's a new trick I just discovered.

If you highlight a word, the dictionary definition will pop up. But you will also have options for "highlight" and "more." If you select "more," one of the choices is to translate the word into a variety of languages, including Chinese, Hindi, and Norwegian. Did you know the word for lightning is Blitz in German and lyn in Norwegian? LOL

L


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Leslie said:


> Here's a new trick I just discovered.
> 
> If you highlight a word, the dictionary definition will pop up. But you will also have options for "highlight" and "more." If you select "more," one of the choices is to translate the word into a variety of languages, including Chinese, Hindi, and Norwegian. Did you know the word for lightning is Blitz in German and lyn in Norwegian? LOL
> 
> L


yes, i knew lightning was blitz in german...
Two points.
1) your wi-fi or 3G must be on for translation to work.
2) you can highlight passages for translation as well as single words.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

telracs said:


> yes, i knew lightning was blitz in german...
> Two points.
> 1) your wi-fi or 3G must be on for translation to work.
> 2) you can highlight passages for translation as well as single words.


I love when I discover German words that we sort of use in English and I never realized were German. Achtung! and Wunderbar are two of my favorites. Now I can add Blitz to the list.

Thanks for the other two tips. I knew about the wifi, didn't know about the passages.

L


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## Cloysterpete (Aug 21, 2010)

Kathy said:


> It was set to English United Kingdom. I changed the language and restarted my Kindle. Once it restarted I was able to go back to changing the time and I now have am or pm choices. Thanks, it was driving me crazy.


Why are the Kindles set to English UK and not English US?, weird and stupid.

I'm English but I'll be using American English if that's the only way to get the AM/PM, I hate seeing things like 17:00, why would I need to know its the 17th hour of the day?, much better if it just shows the actual time 5:00.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

When I got my Kindle Paperwhite, I had to choose the language when I first started it up.  I wasn't looking very carefully and at first picked "English (UK)" as my language--I can't remember if it was the first choice?  Both English (UK) and English (American) were shown at the same time.  I suspect, in most cases, people setting up their Kindles picked the wrong English, as I did at first.

Most of the time, I don't care what time my Kindle thinks it is; I have other devices for that.  Although I always did want a timer that I could set on the device to make me stop reading.    But I have those on other devices, too...

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> When I got my Kindle Paperwhite, I had to choose the language when I first started it up. I wasn't looking very carefully and at first picked "English (UK)" as my language--I can't remember if it was the first choice? Both English (UK) and English (American) were shown at the same time. I suspect, in most cases, people setting up their Kindles picked the wrong English, as I did at first.
> 
> Most of the time, I don't care what time my Kindle thinks it is; I have other devices for that. Although I always did want a timer that I could set on the device to make me stop reading.  But I have those on other devices, too...
> 
> Betsy


Agreed. . . . I almost picked UK English on purpose. . . . . I wouldn't have cared about how the time is displayed: I almost never look at it. Though, I gather, it does need to be accurate to the world so that sorting by 'most recent' works.

It might also be -- and this has only just occurred to me -- that part of how the syncing works is not just the furthest page but what time it was when you got there. That could explain why people occasionally have issues with the whyspersync.

The translation could be very useful if you have a book where the characters like to use foreign phrases -- I can usually figure 'em out, but sometimes they'll be whole paragraphs and my pidgen French or Spanish fails me.


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> When I got my Kindle Paperwhite, I had to choose the language when I first started it up. I wasn't looking very carefully and at first picked "English (UK)" as my language--I can't remember if it was the first choice? Both English (UK) and English (American) were shown at the same time. I suspect, in most cases, people setting up their Kindles picked the wrong English, as I did at first.
> 
> Most of the time, I don't care what time my Kindle thinks it is; I have other devices for that. Although I always did want a timer that I could set on the device to make me stop reading.  But I have those on other devices, too...
> 
> Betsy


I'm sure I picked the wrong one. I look at the time when reading at night. I get so caught up in the book when reading in bed that I forget the time. The clock is on my husband's side of the bed so when I think I have been reading to long I'll just check the time on the Kindle. I really like the feature on the location number that tells me how much time left reading for the end of the chapter or book. It helps me decide if I'm going to read a few minutes more or just close it down.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Kathy said:


> I really like the feature on the location number that tells me how much time left reading for the end of the chapter or book. It helps me decide if I'm going to read a few minutes more or just close it down.


I like that too!

And, in the interest of adding something at least semi-useful to this thread . . . . that feature is NOT available on periodicals. At least, it's not on my Washington Post. Which kind of makes sense as most people don't read a newspaper 'cover to cover' as they say.

--------------------------
One undocumented thing about the PW in a periodical: When in an article, there's a notation at the lower right with an article's headline. If you tap in that corner anytime, you will jump to that article -- the next one in the section. Actually, it appears you can actually tap anywhere along the bottom to go to the next article. I would prefer if a tap on the left took you back to the previous article as that left arrow rocker does on the K4.

To navigate to specific articles or sections, when you tap the top area the menu shows a window or a list view option. The list view is a lot like previous kindles: You'll see a list on the left of sections and a list on the right of articles in the section. Tap to select and swipte to go to the next (or previous) page. You do need to actually swipe, because if you tap you'll likely just be selecting an article to open.

The Window is new -- or maybe it's this way on the Touch -- but you basically see 4 sections with the first bit of the first article in each section. Swipe to the right (or left) to go forward (or back) to see other sections. Tap the article to start at the beginning of the section, or tap the section title to go to the section 'front page'. Again swiping will take you to additional articles in the section -- you'll generally see the headline and then the opening paragraph or so of the article. The whole thing looks much more like an actual physical newspaper.

-------------------------------------------------------
Quick font re-sizing. . . . .this works in books or periodicals.

If you put two fingers on the screen and move them away from each other, you'll get a brief window with the font sizes and if you do nothing else the size will go up one. If you place the fingers and move them together, the same thing happens but the size goes down one. If after the font size window appears you tap a choice, the font will change to that size.

I found this out accidentally by using the heal of my hand to brush a dust fleck off the screen and the font size window appeared!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

anyone else notice that books that do not have linked chapters give an incorrect "time left in chapter"?  it gives the time left in book as both chapter and book.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

telracs said:


> anyone else notice that books that do not have linked chapters give an incorrect "time left in chapter"? it gives the time left in book as both chapter and book.


Well, that makes sense. If there's no indication of where the chapter is it's kind of hard to calculate how long till you get there.  I've finished at least a half dozen books on mine so far, though, and haven't run into that as an issue with anything yet.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

> The translation could be very useful if you have a book where the characters like to use foreign phrases -- I can usually figure 'em out, but sometimes they'll be whole paragraphs and my pidgen French or Spanish fails me.


Caveat Emptor! The translation choices don't include Latin! They really need to add this - it's surprising how many times it comes up in books. (Just sent Amazon feedback about this.)

I've been using this feature to translate from another language into English. I never thought about doing the reverse. Something else to play with!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

gdae23 said:


> Caveat Emptor! The translation choices don't include Latin! They really need to add this - it's surprising how many times it comes up in books. (Just sent Amazon feedback about this.)


Good point! I expect they thought about current active languages but, yeah, a lot of fiction, especially of the literary sort, has characters who use Latin not infrequently.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

> Good point! I expect they thought about current active languages but, yeah, a lot of fiction, especially of the literary sort, has characters who use Latin not infrequently.


Exactly. I mentioned non-fiction in my feedback too - thinking of science books and the like. I think your reasoning is correct, re the current active languages, but hopefully they'll add it anyway. I probably need to translate from Latin a lot more often then from, say, Norwegian. (Not that I wouldn't mind learning Norwegian if I had time!)


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I would prefer if a tap on the left took you back to the previous article as that left arrow rocker does on the K4.


Try an upward swipe to go back... I found that out by accident.

I read a Calibre-created Baltimore Sun that is much easier to read on the PW than on my KK because of the touch screen.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> Try an upward swipe to go back... I found that out by accident.


Great hint! Thanks!


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

I've also found with periodicals I prefer to long press from the index and select the Sections & Articles view (old view) rather than opening with the grid view with a short press. Swiping up and down the sections is fun.... Weeeeeeeeeee! 

via me, my Droid, & Tapatalk


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> I've also found with periodicals I prefer to long press from the index and select the Sections & Articles view (old view) rather than opening with the grid view with a short press. Swiping up and down the sections is fun.... Weeeeeeeeeee!
> 
> via me, my Droid, & Tapatalk


Another great hint. Thank you!

Are there any special tips or tricks for reading a magazine?

L


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

Leslie said:


> Another great hint. Thank you!
> 
> Are there any special tips or tricks for reading a magazine?
> 
> L


Am thinking a magazine possibly works similar to a newspaper the way it gets indexed, just not
compiled with as many articles per section? Not sure though as I've never read a magazine on my Kindle.
via me, my Droid, & Tapatalk


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> Am thinking a magazine possibly works similar to a newspaper the way it gets indexed, just not
> compiled with as many articles per section? Not sure though as I've never read a magazine on my Kindle.
> via me, my Droid, & Tapatalk


I just downloaded a free copy of Reader's Digest and am playing with it. It seems to be similar to a newspaper in terms of moving around.

L


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Great hint! Thanks!


Up goes forward, down goes back in periodicals...I just tested it. 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HD via tapatalk


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Don't know if it's been mentioned - there have been a couple of times when I tried to get something off the screen by running several fingers together up or down. The font screen comes up and the font goes up or down a size depending on which way I swiped. Swiping with a single finger doesn't do this (I tried that a lot hoping the chapter to chapter feature was still there), at least on my PW it takes a swipe with the width of several fingers.

P.S. I posted this first and read posts made since my last visit after - of course. The above must be related to the finger-pinch thing posted for font change earlier, but I don't see how exactly.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I read this over on the accessories thread: someone put a magnet in the pocket on her Oberon cover which made it work like the Amazon cover by turning the Kindle on when she opened it. I just touched a magnet to the corner of my PW and sure enough, it turned on.

Does anyone know exactly how this works? I'd like to try to explain it in the book--briefly, of course.

Thanks,

L


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

From another forum:

If you find that your "time remaining" has gone wonky (predicting either too long or short a time), you can reset it by opening up the book you're reading, then searching for ;ReadingTimeReset . It's case sensitive.

It will get 0 hits, but after you hit the back button, it will show "learning reading speed" again. 

Steve


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

stevene9 said:


> From another forum:
> 
> If you find that your "time remaining" has gone wonky (predicting either too long or short a time), you can reset it by opening up the book you're reading, then searching for ;ReadingTimeReset . It's case sensitive.
> 
> ...


Wow great info Steve! Ty


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I did not have a Kindle Touch, so it is possible everyone knows these things but me, but I've found two things I like:

1.  By pressing and holding in the extreme upper right-hand corner, you can place a bookmark.  Or remove a bookmark that is already there.

2.  By highlighting an area, then choosing "more", you can easily report the precise location of typos to Amazon.  Whether they will follow up meaningfully is another matter, though they say I'll get some feedback in my profile.  I've tried to report problems before, including books that were riddled with typos, and been deluged with follow-up questions wanting details beyond the location of the typo in the book that I gave up on reporting.  If Amazon is responsive, this will be much better.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The bookmark tip I knew but the other one is new and helpful. Thanks, Claw.

And Steve, thanks for the tip about learning reading speed.

L


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## BenJ (Sep 19, 2012)

Two things:

1) When you first get your paperwhite and register it, when you go to the cloud to load your books, wait for the covers to show up or when you download the book to the kindle, they will have generic covers.

2) After downloading your books from cload to kindle. Once you open them once and close them again, there will be little black dots beneath the covers of the books showing your reading progress of the book.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Okay, I need some help.

I just used the Go To menu which brought up a table of contents. It has a scroll bar at the right, presumably to allow me to move ahead in the table of contents (ie, it is more than one page long). Trouble is, I can't get it to move. Anyone have a secret hint how to make this work?

L


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

My scroll bars are mostly on the right hand side of the page. Did you try swiping up, to go down? (Not the most intuitive, IMO.)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Go To scroll bar is on the right -- and not all books will have one. . .it depends on how long the TOC is.  You swipe up or down to scroll through.

Counterintuitively, you swipe up on the list to move the list up -- which give the appearance of moving the scroll bar down.  And Swipe down on the list to move the list down -- which gives the appearance of moving the scroll bar up.  

If you want to be at the very top of the choices swipe down: if you want to go to the bottom choices, swipe up.

It kind of makes more sense when you are actually in the menu and moving your finger.

The length of the black bar in the scroll bar will give you a sort of an idea of how long, over all, the ToC is.

You usually will have to go all the way to the top if you want to go to the Cover. . . . .


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

readingril said:


> My scroll bars are mostly on the right hand side of the page. Did you try swiping up, to go down? (Not the most intuitive, IMO.)


Duh, yes, it's on the right. I just fixed my message.

I tried swiping. It seems to work about 1 out of 5 times if I use a stylus, never with my finger. I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanks, Ann. Now I get it. I was trying to swipe on the scroll bar itself. 

L


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Thanks, Ann. Now I get it. I was trying to swipe on the scroll bar itself.
> 
> L


I did the same thing at first and nothing happened. So then I just swiped in the middle -- which was actually the list itself.  But, see, THIS is why you're writing the book!


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Bump to the top for some really good PW tips! Thanks everyone.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanks, Hamerfan. I am actually working on the final edits today and tomorrow. I thought everything was finished on Wednesday--I spent 11 hours on the book (9 am to 7 pm) and by the end my brain was mush. I came home to discover that the new OS was released which has required changes in the manuscript. Sigh... However, at least it came out before the book was published. 

Still, more work for me but in the end it will be worth it. The book is looking very good and I am pleased with it.

L


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## gwenny (Sep 6, 2010)

I thought I read this trick somewhere in this thread, but skimming through it, I didn't see it...so I'll post it anyway   For those of you who think the time left in chapter/book is off:

You can reset the timer by tapping the search icon when in a book, then searching for:

;ReadingTimeReset

Note that it's case sensitive, with that semicolon in front. Then when you go back to your book you'll see that the time to read is being recalculated.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanks, gwenny. That tip was in this thread and is in the book.

Now I need some help. Supposedly with the OS upgrade, you can set a page refresh in comic books and manga that is independent of the page refresh for all other books, but I can't find this setting. Has anyone figured this out? Thanks in advance for your answer.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Also, what is it that doesn't work if the clock is not set? Sorting on the home page? Something else? Blanking on this right now...

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

We have a cover:



It says on Amazon that the release date is February 3rd but I am hoping it is sooner since I went through a super-human effort to get this written and the final edit way ahead of schedule. I've written the publisher to ask about this. I'll keep everyone posted!

L


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It would be much MUCH better if it was out by Christmas. . . . .maybe they could at least release the Kindle edition by then?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie, 

Good job on getting all the editing done!

Now that the collection of tips & tricks is over, it's probably time to start a thread in the Book Bazaar to use to keep people up to date.    And you can have something in your sig.

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Is the stuff on the screen of the PW in the cover shot something fanciful that was photoshopped in, or is that actually a screen somewhere on the PW? 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

That's one of the non SO sleep pictures. . . . . it's a bunch of fountain pen nibs all lined up pointed at one spot.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Is the stuff on the screen of the PW in the cover shot something fanciful that was photoshopped in, or is that actually a screen somewhere on the PW?
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


Yes, it is one of the non-special offer screens. Susan took that picture--it's the 3G PW which I am currently using (we traded).

L


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## Rie142 (Oct 28, 2009)

Leslie said:


> We have a cover:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I sure hope it comes out sooner. I want one. I got a PW for my mom for Christmas. At 87 she needs reminders on how to do things when she doesn't do them all the time. Shoot I need reminders and I am only 57. LOL


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

According to the publisher, the date is likely to move up but she doesn't know the exact date yet. As soon as I have the info, I'll post it here.

L


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> That's one of the non SO sleep pictures. . . . . it's a bunch of fountain pen nibs all lined up pointed at one spot.


Oh yeah, I had forgotten. Back in the old days of my Kindle 2, we had pictures. The Dead Authors that upset so many people. Ahh, the good old days. I had forgotten them!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Oh yeah, I had forgotten. Back in the old days of my Kindle 2, we had pictures. The Dead Authors that upset so many people. Ahh, the good old days. I had forgotten them!


Ah yes, Agatha Christie, John Steinbeck, Oscar Wilde...

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

And it's here! Hot off the press! I received my author copies (all five of them) today.










It's available from Amazon although they don't have a link (or version) as an ebook yet. I'll try to get more info.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Sadness...

I got my Tech Editor copy last week.  Only when I opened it up, it was "This is Philosophy.  An Introduction."  by Steven D. Hales.  A lovely book.  But one I had nothing to do with.


Supposedly the correct one is being sent...

Betsy


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Betsy I hope yours arrives soon but I have to say, *This is Philosophy* gives me a chuckle.

I am very happy with this book. We put in a lot of hard work and it shows. I think it is great.

L


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Congrates Leslie! Good to see what you look like.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Toby said:


> Congrates Leslie! Good to see what you look like.


Thanks, Toby! I am not a mystery anymore...LOL.

L


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

I went to Barnes & Noble today looking for your book (and now I know I'm too early), but alas, for some reason B&N does not carry *ANY* Kindle related books. Imagine that.


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Woo-Hoo! Congrats to Leslie and Harvey. I hope it does very well.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Congrats!


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

I know someone asked this about accessing the Wish List from the dropdown menu.  Evidently the list can be scrolled.  I can't figure out how to do that.  If I swipe my finger down the side of the menu it just picks one of the choices.

How do I get to my wish List?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> I know someone asked this about accessing the Wish List from the dropdown menu. Evidently the list can be scrolled. I can't figure out how to do that. If I swipe my finger down the side of the menu it just picks one of the choices.
> 
> How do I get to my wish List?


I thought you might have to click the shopping cart and go to the store on your Kindle, but I still can't find the wish list. Not sure it is accessible from the PW.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, you can access it from the PW.  I didn't think you could but we figured it out.  Give me a sec while I grab my PW.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, from the PW's home screen...

Menu > Shop Kindle Store > Menu.

You'll see Storefront, Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Kindle Singles, Kindle Serials, NY Times Best Sellers, Blogs, Recommended for You.  Swipe up from the bottom.

View Wish List should be the on the next page of the list.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

For swiping as Betsy describes, just use your finger in the middle of the list. . .don't try to use the 'scroll bar' that appears to along the right side.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks, ladies, it works great!!

How come we've lost the ability to go to Kindle Daily Post?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

spotsmom said:


> Thanks, ladies, it works great!!
> 
> How come we've lost the ability to go to Kindle Daily Post?


What's that? *Off to look*

Betsy


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Used to be on the Storefront page.  Wonderful discussion of Kindle things, interviews with authors...  I still can get it on my Kindle keyboard.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hm.  It's still there on my K4.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

As near as I can tell from some research, it simply isn't available through the PW's storefront. Who knows?

You can get it here:
http://www.kindlepost.com/

And it has an rss feed; you can probably find a RSS feeder that will send it to your Kindle...

EDIT: I've added it to my www.kindlefeeder.com account (which I'd forgotten I had). It's pretty straightforward to set up a free account there. Follow the instructions on the site. You'll need your PW's email address. You can get that by going to Menu > Settings > Device Options > Peronalize your Kindle. See the "Send-to-Kindle E-mail block; the address will be in the last line.

You'll need to add @kindlefeeder.com to your list of approved email addresses. Go to Manage Your Kindle and then Personal Document Settings to add the email address.

You'll also need the RSS feed URL for the dailypost, it's 
http://www.kindlepost.com/atom.xml

I'll let you know tomorrow how this works for me.

Betsy


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks, Betsy.  Will be interested to hear how it worked (or didn't).  That Daily Post used to be more than interviews and was a lot more interesting!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

spotsmom said:


> Thanks, Betsy. Will be interested to hear how it worked (or didn't). That Daily Post used to be more than interviews and was a lot more interesting!


Well, the Daily Post that is at the link below is the same info that is in the Kindle Daily Post on my K4 storefront...

Betsy


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Oh, it's the same for sure.  It's just that I believe the format changed awhile back to more of an interview format with authors.


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