Kindle Helpdesk

Oh No! The Kindle is out of Stock

2008-12-01T02:11:00.000-08:00

Due to heavy customer demand, the Kindle is out of stock. If you still want one and are not worried about the timing, you can sign up to reserve one when they are back in stock.
This is quite unfortunate as I am sure there are quite a few people wanting these as holiday gifts. It says on the website that it will not be available until after Christmas. I hope this meas that when they are back in stock they will be the new Kindle 2.0.

Since they are out, now what do you do? Here are some alternatives:

Give an Amazon.com Gift Card and the recipient can wait for the new Kindle 2.0 to be available. Amazon offers three options: you can email them, print them at home, or send them via regular mail. This gives you a lot of option which is great if you are short on time.

Give the Sony PRS-505 instead. If someone wants an ebook reader, but is not interested in newspapers or blogs, the Sony PRS-505 is a nice alternative. Similar to the Kindle, but it does not have wireless access. A nice price too at around $250. There are lots of great places on the web to get books that are compatible with the Sony reader.

Twilight Collector's Edition Available

2008-11-25T05:04:00.000-08:00

Twilight Collector's Edition (The Twilight Saga)
The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector's edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike. Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

For those of you looking for Kindle versions of Twilight:

The Kindle Will No Longer Answer Questions: No More NowNow

2008-11-22T01:39:00.000-08:00

Well for those of you who have been using the Kindle to answer your homework questions or to just amuse yourself when you are bored, you are just going to have to get on your computer and do a Google search. I found today that NowNow will be officially shut down.

If you go here to Amazon's help page it says:

Kindle NowNow was a free experimental feature that is no longer available. As part of our Experimental efforts, we remove or add Experimental features based on customer interest and focus on features that Kindle customers are excited about.

I am not sure if Oprah's mentioning of NowNow led to the downfall. Jeff Bezos was asked by Oprah about a month ago about NowNow and he had to tell her that the Mechanical Turks answered the questions. I am sure a lot of people thought a crack team of "brainiacs" was sitting at Amazon answering the questions. Unfortunately, anyone that signed up could answer them from the web so there may have been a quality control issue. I have seen reports on the web of users receiving rude answers.

On the other hand it may not have been very cost effective to spend time and money answering stupid questions. Don't get me wrong, I think it could be great. Suppose I just got to my hotel after a long flight and wanted to find the closest Chinese restaurant. I ask my Kindle and a few minutes later I get up to three answers, awesome! I spoke with a person who was answering questions (a Turker) and many questions were not working that way. People were asking market research questions hoping to save money, asking for homework and book report answers, or just asking rude questions. Some people must have been just bored asking questions about lengths of body parts (you know the one I am talking about) or bathroom humor type questions.

Either way, I am going to miss NowNow.

Share Your Kindle Experience and Help Students at UC Berkeley

2008-11-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

Share Your Kindle Experience and Help Students at UC Berkeley

Some students at from UC Berkeley's School of Information who are specializing in mobile human computer interaction and the user experience are conducting a survey about the Kindle. This survey part of a larger study of the user experience of the Amazon Kindle in the context of professional research. They are interested in finding out how functional the Kindle is for the research professional and want to hear from you, the Kindle user.

If you consider yourself a professional researcher (e.g.academic faculty, corporate researcher, PhD student), you are invited to participate in the survey, which asks about your usage of the Kindle and the overall user experience. You can help by going to the survey here.

Stern Fans: Artie Lange's New Book Available

2008-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

Outrageous, raw, and painfully funny true stories straight from the life of the actor, comedian, and much-loved cast member of The Howard Stern Show—with a foreword by Howard Stern.

When Artie Lange joined the permanent cast of The Howard Stern Show in 2001, it was possibly the greatest thing ever to happen in the Stern universe, second only to the show’s move to the wild, uncensored frontier of satellite radio. Lange provided what Stern had yet to find all in the same place: a wit quick enough to keep pace with his own, a pathetic self-image to dwarf his own, a personal history both heartbreaking and hilarious, and an ingrained sense of self-sabotage that continually keeps things interesting.

A natural storyteller with a bottomless pit of material, Lange grew up in a close-knit, working-class Italian family in Union, New Jersey, a maniacal Yankees fan who pursued the two things his father said he was cut out for—sports and comedy. Tragically, Artie Lange Sr. never saw the truth in that prediction: He became a quadriplegic in an accident when Artie was eighteen and died soon after. But as with every trial in his life, from his drug addiction to his obesity to his fights with his mother, Artie mines the humor, pathos, and humanity in these events and turns them into comedy classics.

True fans of the Stern Show will find Artie gold in these pages: hilarious tales that couldn’t have happened to anyone else. There are stories from his days driving a Jersey cab, working as a longshoreman in Port Newark, and navigating the dark circuit of stand-up comedy. There are outrageous episodes from the frenzied heights of his coked-up days at MADtv, surprisingly moving stories from his childhood, and an account of his recent U.S.O. tour that is equally stirring and irreverent. But also in this volume are stories Artie’s never told before, including some that he deemed too revealing for radio. Wild, shocking, and drop-dead hilarious, Too Fat to Fish is Artie Lange giving everything he’s got to give. And like a true pro, the man never disappoints.

It is also available in hardcover here:

Author Kalpanik S. at Vegas Valley Book Festival

2008-11-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

Kindle author, Kalpanik S. will be speaking about his Kindle book Seattle Adventures, Seattle memoirs inspired by my stint at Amazon.com Saturday, November 8th at 1 o'clock, at the VegasValley Book Festival.

The reviews of this book on Amazon are all 4 and 5 stars saying it is a delightful book. It has also been described as interesting and fun.

The Vegas Valley Book Festival, scheduled for November 6-8, 2008, will celebrate its 7th season in a new location, the historic Fifth Street School in the heart of downtown Las Vegas. As a celebration of the written, spoken and illustrated word, the book festival is the largest annual literary event in Las Vegas. This year the festival extends to three days with 50 authors participating in a full schedule of readings, panel discussions, book signings, workshops, poetry and spoken word performances, exhibitions, children’s literature and special events. Most festival events are free and open to the public.

Other 2008 festival highlights include: First Friday: Spoken word and slam poetry events take center stage at First Friday in the Arts District on November 7, 6 to 10 p.m. A number of 18 b Arts District galleries will host special exhibitions of artworks based on language—all celebrating the illustrated word.

Local Author’s Expo: Saturday, November 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery area of the Fifth Street School will host a local author’s expo featuring more than 60 local writers. Authors can sign up for a free space now.

Comics Festival: The Las-Vegas Clark County Library District will co-present a comics expo on Saturday, November 8, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Clark County Library with speakers, workshops, films, book vendors and other special events.

Poetry in the Courtyard: The festival presents an afternoon of readings in the courtyard of the Fifth Street School, Saturday, November 8, at 1:45 p.m., hosted by the UNLV Creative Writing Department.

TARGET Children’s Book Festival: On Saturday, November 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the TARGET Children's Book Festival takes place in Centennial Plaza at the Fifth Street School with children’s authors, book giveaways, Story Time events, staged performances, a puppet show, educational booths, arts and crafts, costumed characters and other activities fostering literacy for kids.

For more information about the Vegas Valley Book Festival and the TARGET Children’s Festival visit www.artslasvegas.org/vvbf

Kalpanik also has a radio interview about the same Kindle Book (Seattle Adventures: Seattle memoirs . . . ) with WWJC AM Duluth MN on November 6th at 10 AM.

ABC interviews Kalpanik S about his book Artificial Imagination

Oprah Loves Kindle and Offers Discount - $50 Off

2008-10-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

As you may know, there has been a rumor floating around that Oprah Winfrey would announce the Kindle as her new favorite gadget. That is what she did on her show. In partnership with Amazon, she also announced a coupon code (for $50) you can type in when you buy the Kindle.

According to her website "This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. "It's absolutely my new favorite favorite thing in the world," she says. " Although the Amazon Kindle costs $359, Oprah looks at it as an environmentally friendly investment. "I know it's expensive in these times, but it's not frivolous because it will pay for itself," she says. "The books are much cheaper, and you're saving paper." All books are $9.99 or less.

As a special offer for Oprah Show viewers, Amazon.com is giving $50 off the price of Kindle.

Enter the promotional code OPRAHWINFREY during the checkout process at Amazon.com to receive the discount. This offer is valid through November 1, 2008.Code for $50 off the price of Kindle: OPRAHWINFREY

Go to Amazon.com to learn more and order your Kindle today!

Plus, you will receive an additional 10 percent off the price of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (regularly $9.99 Kindle/$17.63 hardcover). No promotional code is necessary.

The books on Oprah's Kindle include The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama, Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones by Suzanne Somers, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Forever War by Dexter Filkins, and Crack the Fat-Loss Code by Wendy Chant.

Once you have your Kindle you can use NowNow to ask it questions. Here is Oprah on NowNow.

Kindle Formatting: Amazon Kindle FAQ

2008-10-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

I found a site today with information about a new Kindle help book. It is called The The Amazon Kindle FAQ (Kindle Edition)by Leslie H. Nicoll, Joshua Tallent, and Lancey Nicoll. It is a collection of questions with answers from the Kindle User Forum on Amazon. It seemed to have some nice reviews compared to a lot of the other user guides which tend to have comments that they are a waste of money.

Product Description
How do you turn your Kindle on? What's Whispernet? Can I buy a Kindle book for a friend? Can I use my Kindle on a cruise? All of these questions--more than 200 in all--are answered in The Amazon Kindle FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). According to one reviewer, "This book contains a ton of information, written in a pleasant and user friendly style." The questions started as a thread on the Amazon Kindle discussion forum. In this book they have been pulled together, answers expanded and clarified, and organized into twelve chapters. Navigation links to move from chapter to chapter quickly and easily have been included. All answers have been carefully researched and tested. Whether you are a new Kindle owner or an "old pro," this book is sure to contain more than a few nuggets of useful information designed to enhance your Kindle reading experience.

Chapter Listing: Chapter One: Kindle Basics, From A to Z; Chapter Two: Wondering About Whispernet?; Chapter Three: The Reading Experience with E-Ink; Chapter Four: On The Road Again... Traveling With Your Kindle; Chapter Five: When My Kindle Goes to Sleep... Screensavers; Chapter Six: It’s Alive! The Battery and Charging Your Kindle; Chapter Seven: Spreading the Love... Multiple Kindles; Chapter Eight: I Need a Really Good Book to Read: Acquiring Content and Converting Files; Chapter Nine: Making Kindle Life Easy: Hidden Features and Shortcuts; Chapter Ten: eBooks in General; Chapter Eleven: Troubleshooting, Getting Help, and the Kindle Community; and Chapter Twelve: Let’s Wrap It Up: Miscellaneous Questions and a Little Bit of Humor.

The authors are all experienced Kindle owners and enthusiastic users and are excited to shared their collective knowledge with others through this book. They are committed to providing updates and new information on a regular basis. Purchasers of the book will be able to download the updated version at no charge through their Amazon Media Library.

Here is the link to their blog:

Kindle Formatting: Amazon Kindle FAQ

Download The Reincarnationist for Free

2008-10-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

Amazon is offering a free download of The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Best known as an author of erotic thrillers, Rose (Lip Service) delves into religious myth and past-life discovery in her well-paced ninth novel. In present-day Rome, a terrorist bomb explosion triggers flashbacks of pre-Christian Italy in photographer Josh Ryder. Josh experiences the memories as Julius, a pagan priest defending the sacrosanct monuments of his gods and the life of his vestal virgin lover against the emperor-mandated onslaught of Christianity in A.D. 391. Six months later, Josh has teamed with the Phoenix Foundation, an institute specializing in past-life memories in children, to explore a newly excavated tomb that may contain pagan memory stones that incite past-life regressions and will, by proving the existence of reincarnation, challenge the church. The stakes rise after it becomes clear that dangerous outside forces also want the stones. In a series of memory lurches, the narratives of Josh and Julius slowly wind together to reveal a Da Vinci Code–esque tale of intrigue that's more believably plotted and better meets its ambitions than Dan Brown's ubiquitous book. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
After a bomb explosion nearly kills photojournalist Josh Ryder, he begins experiencing flashbacks—or, perhaps, memories—of events that seem to have happened to him 1,600 years earlier, in another life. Convinced these episodes aren't figments of his imagination, he enlists the aid of the Phoenix Foundation, a group that specializes in past-life research. Later, when he becomes involved in the unearthing of an ancient tomb—and experiences a connection with its long-buried resident—Josh realizes he has a chance to right a wrong that happened a millennium and a half ago, not to mention an opportunity to solve a series of modern-day murders. This is one of those books that succeeds in spite of itself: even though the writing is merely competent, the story itself is so appealing that you can't stop reading. Josh Ryder is a difficult character to pull off (among other things, he's a man in love with a woman who lived 1,600 years ago), and at times he comes off a little loopy. But for the most part he, like the novel itself, is surprisingly well grounded in the real world. Pitt, David

The Best of Newsweek's Up-Close Coverage on Kindle

2008-10-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

Newsweek has put together a four book compilation of articles on the presidential and vice presidential candidates. This extensive collection of articles, profiles and analysis from the magazine's coverage of the candidates.

Mr. Cool: The Best of Newsweek's Up-Close Coverage of Barack Obama

Cool, cerebral and virtually unknown, Barack Obama would have seemed an unlikely nominee for president just a few years ago. Since his electrifying speech at the Democratic convention in 2004, Newsweek has closely followed the unprecedented rise of a "skinny kid with a funny sounding name." In this extensive collection of articles, profiles and interviews from the magazine's coverage of the candidate, discover the real Barack Obama.

Mr. Hot: The Best of Newsweek's Up-Close Coverage of John McCain
From POW to presidential candidate, John McCain has had a long, distinguished and sometimes stormy career. Along the way, Newsweek has closely followed his political fortunes. In this extensive collection of profiles, articles and interviews from the magazine's coverage of the candidate, meet the man behind "The Maverick."

The Insider: The Best of Newsweek's Up-Close Coverage of Joe Biden
Joe Biden is Everyman as insider. An outspoken (and spoken, and spoken) Senator for more than three decades, he is a skilled Washington operator who has remained true to his working class roots. Over the years, Newsweek has tracked Biden's career, from his role presiding over contentious Supreme Court nomination hearings to his latest attempt to move from the Capitol to the White House. In this extensive collection of articles, profiles and analysis from the magazine's coverage of the candidate, follow the rise and fall and rise of Joe Biden.

The Outsider: The Best of Newsweek's Up-Close Coverage of Sarah Palin
Has any politician risen to national prominence as quickly and dramatically as Sarah Palin? The mayor of a tiny town just a few years ago, the folksy but fierce Alaska governor reignited John McCain's campaign and sparked a nationwide debate about the merits of political experience vs. life experience. Newsweek began following Palin's unusual career long before McCain turned to her. In this extensive collection of articles, profiles and analysis from the magazine's coverage of the candidate, meet the Sarah Palin you won't see on Saturday Night Live.

Free Linda Winfree Book

2008-10-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Truth and Consequences (Kindle Edition)

When deceit and desire collide, the results can be deadly-Book One of the Hearts of the South series.For undercover FBI agent Jason Harding, coming face to face with the grown-up version of his adolescent dreams is a nightmare. Kathleen Palmer sees him as a despicably corrupt small-town law officer and a murder suspect. Trapped in a web of his own making, he must see his mission through to the end and bring down the crooked cops who-ve run Haynes County for decades. To do so, he must betray the only family he-s ever known and fight his growing love for Kathleen, a relationship that could get one, or both of them, killed.Determined to uncover the truth, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Kathleen struggles with her attraction to the one person who-s awakened her since she buried her heart and emotions in her son-s tiny grave. Listening to her heart could destroy all she has left in life-her career and reputation. When the truth about Jason-s identity surfaces, they both face unimaginable consequences: Jason may lose his life and Kathleen the man she loves. Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, violence

Tips for Keeping Your Kindle in the Cover

2008-10-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

A lot of Kindle users have complained because they have had trouble keeping the Kindle in its cover and some have just decided not to use it anymore. Here are some tips to help keep the protective cover on.

Make sure the tab on the cover is fitting over the slot in the back of the Kindle. This will help secure the cover. If is is not fitting correctly you could try to carefully adjust the tab so it sticks out more. You may not want to do this since it is easy to break the tab off of the cover.

Another option is to use a small piece of velcro to attach the Kindle to the cover. Here is a link that someone posted with instructions of how they did this on Flicker. This is also a little scary since there is some cutting involved here. I probably would not try this one unless you can afford a new cover if you mess it up.

You could also get a new case. The M-edge Executive Case is affordable at $29.99 and I don't have to worry about my Kindle falling out.

Please add your comments. We would like to know did you buy a new cover or did you modify the one you have.

Sneek A Peek At Kindle 2.0

2008-10-04T02:23:00.001-07:00

The Boy Genius Report recently posted some "top secret" pics of the new Kindle 2.0. According to Boy Genius, " The unit didn’t go down too much in size which is unfortunate, but then again, you want something pretty large so it’s comfortable to read on. The unit is a little wider and a little longer, but it should help those that thought the first unit was a little too awkwardly-shaped. What’s even better is that with the new unit, while holding it, you won’t accidentally flip the page like the old one. Hit the jump for the rest!

As far as buttons go, on the right side, the bottoms from top to bottom are: Home, Next Page, Menu, a joystick, and Undo. On the left side, there’s Previous, Page, and Next Page. We’re told the buttons are significantly smaller to avoid accidental page turning. The joystick takes the place of the scroll wheel and it “takes a little getting used to.” As far as the redesigned keyboard… it “has a good layout, but lettering on the keys could be darker.” Continuing our tour around the unit, next to the sliding sleep button, there’s the headphone jack, and on the right side edge you’ve got the volume up/down buttons. What’s interesting (and you can see this in the photos) is that the backside of the unit is mostly metal with the speakers at the bottom pf the back. One more plus? They’ve finally ditched their own charger. The Kindle 2 is able to be charged with a miniUSB cable."

You can read the story here at Boy Genius Report.

Origins of the Credit Crunch

2008-09-28T03:09:00.001-07:00

A little off topic, but this article predicted the current credit situatiion in 1999. An article that describes in response to Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.“The proposed deregulation will increase the degree of monopolization in finance and worsen the position of consumers in relation to creditors. Even more significant is its impact on the overall stability of US and world capitalism. The bill ties the banking system and the insurance industry even more directly to the volatile US stock market, virtually guaranteeing that any significant plunge on Wall Street will have an immediate and catastrophic impact throughout the US financial system.The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which the deregulation bill would repeal, was not adopted to protect consumers, although one of its most celebrated provisions was the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees bank deposits of up to $100,000. The law was enacted during the first 100 days of the Roosevelt administration to rescue a banking system which had collapsed, wiping out the life savings of millions of working people, and threatening to bring the profit system to a complete standstill.As a recent history of that era notes: "The more than five thousand bank failures between the Crash and the New Deal's rescue operation in March 1933 wiped out some $7 billion in depositors' money. Accelerating foreclosures on defaulted home mortgages—150,000 homeowners lost their property in 1930, 200,000 in 1931, 250,000 in 1932—stripped millions of people of both shelter and life savings at a single stroke and menaced the balance sheets of thousands of surviving banks" (David Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 162-63).The separation of banking and the stock exchange was ordered in response to revelations of the gross corruption and manipulation of the market by giant banking houses, above all the House of Morgan, which organized huge corporate mergers for its own profit and awarded preferential access to share issues to favored politicians and businessmen. Such insider trading played a major role in the speculative boom which preceded the 1929 crash.Over the past 20 years the restrictions imposed by Glass-Steagall have been gradually relaxed under pressure from the banks, which sought more profitable outlets for their capital, especially in the booming stock market, and which complained that foreign competitors suffered no such limitations to their financial operations. In 1990 the Federal Reserve Board first permitted a bank (J.P. Morgan) to sell stock through a subsidiary, although stock market operations were limited to 10 percent of the company's total revenue. In 1996 this ceiling was lifted to 25 percent. Now it will be abolished.The Wall Street Journal celebrated the agreement to end such restrictions with an editorial declaring that the banks had been unfairly scapegoated for the Great Depression. The headline of one Journal article detailing the impact of the proposed law declared, "Finally, 1929 Begins to Fade."This comment underscores the greatest irony in the banking deregulation bill. Legislation first adopted to save American capitalism from the consequences of the 1929 Wall Street Crash is being abolished just at the point where the conditions are emerging for an even greater speculative financial collapse. The enormous volatility in the stock exchange in recent months has been accompanied by repeated warnings that stocks are grossly overvalued, with some computer and Internet stocks selling at prices 100 times earnings or even greater.And there is a much more recent experience than 1929 to serve as a cautionary tale. A financial deregulation bill was passed in the early 1980s under the Reagan administration, lifting many restrictions on the activities of savings and loan associations, which had previously been limited primarily to the home-loan market. The result was an orgy of speculation, profiteering and outright plundering of assets, culminating in collapse and the biggest financial bailout in US history, costing the federal government more than $500 billion. The repetition of such events in the much larger banking and securities markets would be beyond the scope of any federal bailout.”

read more | digg story

Alec Baldwin Book Available on Kindle

2008-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

I saw Alec Baldwin was on the view the other day to discuss his new book, A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce.

“I have been through some of the worst of contentious divorce litigation,” Alec Baldwin declares in A Promise to Ourselves. Using a very personal approach, he offers practical guidance to help others avoid the anguish he has endured.

An Academy and Tony Award nominee and a 2007 recipient of Golden Globe, SAG, and Television Critics Association Awards for best actor in a comedy, Alec Baldwin is one of the best-known, most successful actors in the world. His relationship with Kim Basinger, the Academy Award–winning actress, lasted nearly a decade. They have a daughter named Ireland, and for a time, theirs seemed to be the model of a successful Hollywood marriage. But in 2000 they separated and in 2002 divorced. Their split---specifically the custody battle surrounding Ireland---would be the subject of media attention for years to come.

In his own life and others’, Baldwin has seen the heavy toll that divorce can take---psychologically, emotionally, and financially. He has been extensively involved in divorce litigation, and he has witnessed the way that noncustodial parents, especially fathers, are often forced to abandon hopes of equitable rights when it comes to their children. He makes a powerful case for reexamining and changing the way divorce and child custody is decided in this country and levels a scathing attack at what he calls the “family law industry.”

When it comes to his experiences with judges, court-appointed therapists, and lawyers, Baldwin pulls no punches. He casts a light on his own divorce and the way the current family law system affected him, his ex-wife, and his daughter, as well as many other families. This is an important, informative, and deeply felt book on a contentious subject that offers hope of finding a better way.

iPhone 3G Portable Genius

2008-09-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

You love your iPhone 3G and you’ve found out that it’s mighty simple to use out-of-the-box, but you might not know that some of its most useful and powerful features are hidden away in obscure parts of the system. You’ve found out that your iPhone 3G doesn't get in your way when you're trying to be productive or creative, but sometimes it will do something (or force you to do something) that just makes you want to scratch your head in wonderment. You’ve found out that your iPhone 3G's robust design makes it a reliable device day after day, but even the best-built machines can have problems.

When you come upon the iPhone 3G's dark side, you might consider making an appointment with your local Apple Store's Genius Bar, and more often than not the on-duty genius will give you good advice on how to overcome the iPhone 3G's limitations, work around its annoyances, and fix its failures. The Genius Bar is a great thing, but it isn't exactly a convenient thing. You can't just drop by to get help; you have to make an appointment; you have to drag yourself down to the store, perhaps wait for your genius, get the problem looked at, and then make your way back home; and in some cases you may need to leave your iPhone 3G for a while (No!) to get the problem checked out and hopefully resolved.

What you really need is a version of the Genius Bar that's easier to access, more convenient, and doesn't require tons of time or leaving your iPhone 3G in the hands of a stranger. What you really need is a "portable" genius that enables you to be more productive and solve problems wherever you and your iPhone 3G happen to be.

Welcome, therefore, to iPhone 3G Portable Genius. This book is like a mini Genius Bar all wrapped up in an easy to use, easy to access, and eminently portable format. In this book you learn how to get more out of your iPhone 3G by learning how to access all the really powerful and timesaving features that aren't obvious at a casual glance. In this book you learn how to avoid your iPhone 3G's more annoying character traits and, in those cases where such behavior can't be avoided, you learn how to work around it. In this book you learn how to prevent iPhone 3G problems from occurring, and just in case your preventative measures are for naught, you learn how to fix many common problems yourself.

This book is for iPhone 3G users who know the basics but want to take their iPhone 3G education to a higher level. It's a book for people who want to be more productive, more efficient, more creative, and more self-sufficient (at least as far as the iPhone 3G goes, anyway). It's a book for people who use their iPhone 3G every day, but would like to incorporate it into more of their day to day activities. It's a book we had a blast writing, so we think it's a book you'll enjoy reading.

Waiting for Kindle 2.0

2008-09-15T04:32:00.001-07:00

Rumors emerged earlier this week about Kindle 2.0 after financial analyst Tim Bueneman, with McAdams Wright Ragen, discussed what he believed was the strong likelihood Amazon's next generation e-book reader would target the textbook market.

"Don't believe everything you read -- there's a lot of rumor and
speculation out there about Kindle," Bergman said yesterday. He denied Amazon was courting college students with Kindle 2.0.

Other Kindle watchers had hope Kindle 2.0 would be released this year and would sport a thinner frame, include an improved screen, be more stylish, and that Kindle 1.0 annoyances would be fixed.

"One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of Kindle this year," said Bergman. He refused to further speculate on the new Kindle or if it will be aimed at a particular audience.

The reports earlier this week suggested that the new Kindle will be oriented at the $5.5 billion textbook market, where five leading textbook publishers already distribute about 5,000 titles, (about one-third of top-selling textbooks), in digital format.

It's a bit disappointing that Amazon chose not to disclose its future plans for the next generation of Kindle but then again, one could easily notice the resemblance between Amazon's and Apple's marketing strategies, especially when it comes to secrecy about new devices. Meanwhile, we just have to wait until next year and see what Kindle 2.0 is going to bring."

True Blood on Kindle

2008-09-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

The new HBO series True Blood is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries Series by Charlaine Harris.

Part 1 is titled Dead Until Dark.

Having an affair with a vampire has one main benefit for Sookie. Her predilection for reading minds doesn't seem to work with him. But as is common with vampires, violence follows in his wake, and she becomes afraid that she might be more than just a spectator. Christine Marshall takes on a drawl that hints of Louisiana as she narrates for Sookie and the other female characters. She is joined by William Dufris, who assumes the role of the vampire, as well as the other male characters. Marshall and Dufris work well together, maintaining a steady rhythm in the narrative passages and dialogue. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Other Books by Charlaine Harris:

New on Kindle

2008-08-31T03:13:00.000-07:00

Out Stealing Horses by Per Pettersen: Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on borrowed horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day--an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys.

Devil Bones: Kathy Reichs--international number one bestselling author, forensic anthropologist, and producer of the Fox television hit "Bones"-- returns to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Temperance Brennan encounters a deadly mix of voodoo, Santeria, and devil worship in her quest to identify two young victims.

Human by Michael Gazzaniga: One of the world's leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives.

Epilogue: Anne Roiphe was not quite seventy years old when her husband of nearly forty years unexpectedly passed away. But it was not until her daughters placed a personal ad in a literary journal that Roiphe began to consider the previously unimagined possibility of a new man. Moving between heartbreaking memories of her marriage and the pressing needs of a new day-to-day routine, Epilogue takes us on her journey into the unknown world of life after love.

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2008-08-25T07:57:00.001-07:00

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