Saturday, June 4, 2011

How to get started with your Kindle (Yahoo! News) : Technet

How to get started with your Kindle (Yahoo! News) : Technet

How to get started with your Kindle (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:22 PM PDT

By Tecca tecca – Fri Jun 3, 9:22 pm ET

The Amazon Kindle is one of the most popular e-readers on the market. Marketing boasts of its usability both indoors and out, courtesy of the E Ink technology. Combined with a long battery charge life, the Kindle's the top choice for many reading enthusiasts on the go.

If you're new to the Kindle, getting up and running with your favorite reading material is easy.

Ready, set, go
Out of the box, the Kindle needs to be charged fully before its first use. It comes with two options for charging: a micro-USB cable for charging via your computer's USB port, and a 120-volt AC power adapter that attaches to your USB cord and plugs right into the wall. Charging to a full charge takes 4 to 6 hours via computer, less with an AC connection.

Some laptops and older computers may not provide enough power to the USB port to charge your Kindle. In that case, you'll need to plug it into a wall outlet using the AC adapter. Once your Kindle is fully charged, the LED light near the micro-USB port will change from yellow to green.

Registration, password, and payment
Your Kindle needs to be registered with Amazon before you can take full advantage of its features and make purchases from the Kindle Store. Registration is quick and easy. First, you'll need to make sure you're connected to Whispernet, Amazon's free service that connects either via wifi or 3G (depending which model Kindle you have). If you're connecting via wifi, you may need to enter the password for the local wifi access point you are using.

From the home screen, press the Menu button and verify Whispernet is turned on. Next, use the 5-way controller to scroll down the options list, and select the Settings option. Once inside the Settings page, select the Register option. You will need to enter your Amazon username and password to complete the registration process. If you don't currently have an account, sign up for one simply by visiting the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon's website. A separate password for the device itself can also be set from the Settings menu.

Make purchasing from the Kindle Store fast and easy by setting up a payment method with Amazon. The Kindle uses Amazon's 1-Click payment method, which requires a credit card, debit card, or Amazon gift card. You'll need to visit the Manage Addresses and 1-Click Settings page to do this. Simply enter your default shipping address, as well as your credit or debit card info. In order to apply a gift card to your Kindle account, visit your account page.

Shopping the Kindle store
Once your Amazon account is up and running, you can make purchases directly from your computer and they will be transferred to your Kindle automatically. You can also visit the Kindle Store on your Kindle to purchase new content.

From the home screen, push the menu button and select Shop in Kindle Store. From there, you'll be taken to the Kindle Storefront, where you'll be able to select from the tens of thousands of titles available. Search for specific titles or authors that interest you, or browse the available selections by genre. Just looking for the cream of the crop? Check out the Kindle's New York Times Bestsellers List or the Kindle Top Sellers. These are great places to start your Kindle shopping experience.

When you make a purchase from the Kindle Store (both on the web and from your device), it is stored in your Amazon library. Your purchases can be sent wirelessly to your device or downloaded to your computer and transferred via the micro-USB cable.

Try before you buy
In addition to ebooks, the Kindle Store offers a wide variety of newspapers and magazines available for download. You can set up a wishlist to bookmark items you are interested in revisiting for possible purchase later. Most items in the Kindle Store also offer an option to sample the content, so that you can download the first few pages of an ebook before deciding on a purchase. Subscription products, such as newspapers and magazines, offer a 14-day trial period.

The Kindle is an amazing device for those who love to read on the go, but you don't have to be a jet setter to appreciate what a device like the Kindle has to offer. It's lightweight, portable, and easy on the eyes. Welcome to the world of electronic reading in the 21st century! Still have questions about the Kindle? Check out our Kindle topic page for the latest tips, tricks, features, and news.

Post by Michael Arcand

More from Tecca:

How Top Redditors Compete for Karma [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable)

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 07:35 PM PDT

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Fri Jun 3, 10:35 pm ET

Reddit has long been on our radar as one of the more interesting and engaging content bookmarking and aggregating services on the web. In this chart, we take a look at how the top Redditors -- that is, Reddit users who submit content to the site and comment on content and threads -- stack up.

[More from Mashable: How Twitter Works as a Q&A App [INFOGRAPHIC]]

In case you haven't used the site, on Reddit, users have upvotes and downvotes to express their approval or disapproval of content and comments. When a user's content and comments accrue upvotes, his or her profile accrues karma.

Here are the top 20 Redditors as ranked by karma, including those whose karma comes primarily from submitting new links and those whose karma comes from making interesting or insightful comments on the site. They, like their power-Digging predecessors, far outrank the average user in terms of karma and, in all likelihood, their power to direct a certain amount of traffic around the Internet.

[More from Mashable: The Facebook Effect on Relationships [INFOGRAPHIC]]

And for Reddit users, here's the existing Reddit thread for your upvoting and commenting pleasure.

This infographic comes to us via The Daily Dot and Public School.

Click image to see full-size version.

[sources: The Daily Dot and GoToPublicSchool.com]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

US 'deeply concerned' at Syria's Internet cut: Clinton (AFP)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 10:26 AM PDT

– Sat Jun 4, 1:26 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States expressed concern Saturday at the Internet shutdown in Syria, warning the embattled regime that attempting to silence protesters "cannot prevent the transition currently taking place."

"We are deeply concerned by reports that Internet service has been shut down across much of Syria, as have some mobile communication networks," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement as deadly anti-government protests rage across the Middle Eastern nation.

"We condemn any effort to suppress the Syrian people's exercise of their rights to free expression, assembly, and association," she added.

Witnesses said Internet lines were cut in Damascus and the coastal city of Latakia on Friday, while a US-based Internet monitoring firm said about two-thirds of the country's networks had been cut off from access to the Web.

Clinton noted that President Bashar al-Assad's government "has a history of restricting the Internet in an attempt to prevent the Syrian people from accessing and sharing information.

"The Syrian government must understand that attempting to silence its population cannot prevent the transition currently taking place. We believe that even in the face of significant obstacles, the Syrian people will -- and should -- find a way to make their voices heard," the top US diplomat said.

She noted how the White House just two weeks ago released its International Strategy for Cyberspace, in which it said states should not arbitrarily deprive or disrupt individuals' access to the Internet.

"We condemn such shutdowns in the strongest terms," Clinton said.

Syria has been in the midst of violent upheaval since mid-March, with the outbreak of a revolt against Assad's autocratic rule.

More than 100,000 mourners turned out on Saturday for the funerals of protesters killed by Syrian security forces in Hama, a rights group said.

The victims were among 53 people killed during anti-regime protests on Friday across Syria, all but five of them in Hama, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Tank Hero developers on bringing their popular Android game to iOS devices (Appolicious)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT

How Zipcar turned the ignition on its Android app (Appolicious)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Alec Baldwin goes on Twitter spree, claims ‘Romney has the best chance’ (Daily Caller)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 07:43 AM PDT

Report: iOS 5 to include “Automatic Download” feature (Appolicious)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 10:51 AM PDT

How Starbucks manages its mobile marketing blend (Appolicious)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT

NASA Photos + Nine Inch Nails = Spacey Mashup Music Video (Mashable)

Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:27 PM PDT

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Fri Jun 3, 9:27 pm ET

From Digital Kitchen Seattle creative Chris Abbas comes this sweet mashup video featuring music from Nine Inch Nails and pictures from NASA's Cassini mission.

[More from Mashable: Rumor Roundup: All About Apple's iCloud Streaming Service]

The Cassini Solstice/Equinox Mission is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI robotic spacecraft mission studying Saturn and its natural satellites. The Cassini space probe was launched in the fall of 1997 and will continue to explore Saturn and its environs until 2017.

The stills and footage used in this video were gathered by the Cassini Imaging Science System. The music track is 2 Ghosts I from the Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts I – IV.

[More from Mashable: Apple Signs Deal With Universal for iCloud Music Service [REPORT]]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Kno textbook app released for iPad (Digital Trends)

Posted: 04 Jun 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Andrew Couts Andrew Couts – Sat Jun 4, 2:45 pm ET

Kno-app-iPadCollege students, rejoice! Access to massively discounted textbooks just got a little easier with Friday's late-night release of the Kno textbook app for the iPad. The Kno app offers customers "the world's largest selection of over 70,000 titles at 30-50% off the list price." As we all know, 30 to 50 percent off a text book can buy a lot of Ramen.

The app also comes loaded with a full textbook and PDF reader; a course manager, which allows users to organize their textbooks by class and term; one-touch text highlighting; annotation capabilities; and the ability to "ask questions, post comments or share your location with study buddies," according to its Apple App Store listing. (TechCrunch says this feature, aptly named "WTF" or "Words to Friends," doesn't really work well in its current form.)

Since the app was only released mere hours ago, it only has 18 reviews (at the time of this writing) on the App Store. Of those, 11 gave the app five stars. But one reviewer said that, while the app was good, it was a bit too “laggyâ€

Back in 2010, Kno announced plans to release its own line of tablets, including a gigantic two-screen version — each screen measured 14.1-inches with a 1,400×900 resolution — that received much attention. But this February, Know reportedly decided to scrap its hardware business to focus solely on software development.

The Kno tablets may not be entirely dead, however. In April, rumors surfaced that chip-maker Intel and Advance Capital, which owns publishing powerhouse Conde Nast, planned to take over design and production of the tablets. The two companies reportedly invested $30 million towards the endeavor.

For now, though, students will simply have to pick up an iPad or iPad 2 to enjoy the savings discounts afforded by the Kno app, which, of course, is free.

Download Kno for iPad here: iTunes.

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