Kindlegraph, Anyone?
I saw Moira Rogers tweet about Kindlegraphs tonight, and I Googled them. It’s a given if she/they tweeted it, it’s cool. I just didn’t know how cool until I pulled up the Kindlegraph website.
How you do it:
For the author–Click “authors sign up” at the bottom of the page. Then enter your books’s Amazon ASIN #
For the reader–Click on the “request Kindlegraph” button. Then register your Kindle and sit back and wait.
What it does:
For the author–It allows you to connect with readers. You’re emailed a notification whenever someone requests your autograph.
For the reader–It allows you to connect with authors by getting a personalized message from your favorite authors.
For more information, check out their website.
The Squidgy Kindle
If you’ve been in earshot of me the past few weeks, you’ve heard me talk about Shadowfae by Erica Hayes. Several of you picked up your Kindles to journey along with me into the Shadowfae world. I’m ever so grateful. Y’all know how I appreciate the company. 
Dawn was the first to pick up her Kindle, and she breezed right through Shadowfae. She also beat me through Shadowglass. So while I was reading earlier, through the first few twinges of Ice’s squidgy ownership, I thought…that is such a familiar feeling. Then it hit me. Picture Best Buy, the first shipment of Kindle3 readers, and wanting that lovely graphite thing so bad your fingers curl as you walk past the display. That delicious sort of desperation is similar to Ice’s initial reaction to the squidgy.
After chatting with Dawn, we agreed that Kindles do have squidgy tendencies. She even whipped up a blog post for me about her addiction.
Kindle Covers and Cases
I made a comment about the Amazon cover for Kindles on a forum, which resulted in several questions I thought I had answered in a previous blog post. Either I lost it (likely) or thought I wrote it and never did (likelier).
For my sanity, we’ll start fresh and pretend neither happened, k? Good. Here we go.
There are several designer cases made for the various versions of Kindle. Some make my fingers curl with want, but the elastic strap meant to hold my eReader secure…keeps me from coughing up$70 or more for a designer name when the cases suffer such a basic design flaw.
Granted, times are a changin’. There are other methods to secure your Kindle. In addition to elastic straps, there are a few more options. Such as a hard plastic shell secured to the case back, allowing your Kindle to snap into place and he held secure. This Speck case was popular for K2, and I liked it so much I sent one to Marisa. It has the hard plastic shell-snap, and a built-in stand.
I will admit, when I got my b’day surprise of the K3, I went a little nuts in the comparison shopping department. I have loved Kindle from day one, stolen Dad’s repeatedly, but this was my first mine, all mine, reader.
I wanted the very light and very thin K3 as secure as I could get it without the awkwardness of elastic or fabric cupped corners. Amazon, amazingly enough, created the perfect solution. For once, a manufacturer listened to their customers and took their requests to heart. (Granted it took three versions of Kindle before it happened…but that’s neither here nor there )
Kindle for the Web
Amazon has created a very cool new app I’ve been playing with this morning. “Kindle for the Web” allows you to embed the first chapter of your book into a blog post (or your website) exactly like you would a Youtube video.
There are a couple of nice features. Such as the Aa button that allows you to change the font size, line spacing, words per line, even the background color.
In addition to a “share” button, there is also the “Get Kindle Edition” button, which is a one-click link directly to your book’s Amazon page.
Give it a spin. Play with the settings. It’s one more reason to love Kindle.
Amazon’s Kindle Then and Now
I was back at my parent’s house today, tiling the fireplace, when I uncovered this little lovely. I’m too tired to do the feature comparison at the moment, but I wanted to share these photos of the Kindle 3.
Keep in mind, the Kindle 1 is Dad’s. He takes it everywhere. And yes, that means he brings it to work every night as well. He works in computers/maintenance, so his has seen its share of grease, grime, and gunk. It’s still trucking along and has had no issues from his hard use. Kindle 3 was a gift to Mom from Mom. You know how those are.
Also, the living room is off limits because of our various projects. So, today’s comparisons are brought to you by Mom’s ironing board.
Kindle 1 is on the left. Kindle 3 is on the right.
While Kindle 1 is tapered, Kindle 3 is uniformly thin and weighs less than nothing. <-Probably not a technical term.
As you can see, the screens are the same size. The Kindle 3 is ever-so-slightly shorter and narrower.
This is another shot to show the thickness. This shows the chunkier side of the Kindle 1.
(Ignore the tile in the background there.)
I’ve said it before, I love the Kindle. It’s not perfect, but nothing is.
I do think the new $139 pricetag makes it that much more appealing.
