The Kindle Chronicles

News - Via Mike Elgan and HotelChatter.com , we learn that the famed Algonquin Hotel in New York City is loaning Kindles to guests.  Jan Zlendich of The Kindle Reader blog notes that 46 of the 50 titles on Bookmarks Magazine's list of the 50 best books of 2008 are available for the Kindle.Tech Tip - Amazon Mobile on the iPhone/iPod Touch is pretty neat, but you can't use it yet to order a Kindle book.  For the adventurous - how to update your customized photo screensavers on the Kindle. (Thanks to MobileRead forum member Phuocle for the steps.)Interview - Will DeLamater, creater of the EduKindle blog, has evidence that the Kindle is making inroads in schools.  Plus interesting educational developments for the Kindle in Utah and at the Harvard Medical School.Quote - The beginning of The Dip by Seth Godin.  How to be a successful quitter.Comments - Karen, Linda Hopkins, and Dan.Upcoming interviews: Steve Shaw, creator of the Kindlelicious blog; Joshua Tallent of Kindle Formatting, and Capt. Crispin J. Burke, who is Kindling while on assignment in Iraq.

News: The Kindle is sold out just in time for Christmas.  Will the one I ordered today turn out to be a Kindle 2.0? Should Amazon say so? Also, a secret New York Times memo reports more than 10,000 Kindle NYT subscriptions (thanks to Abhi for the tip), and Kindle NowNow is GoneGone.  Tech Tip: Try pdfdownload.org for a one-click way to move web content to your Kindle.  The results won't always look as good as this, though.Interview: Linda Hopkins, an engaged and engaging listener of the podcast from southern California. Her first Kindle read was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She subscribes to the following blogs: Amazon Daily (free), Reuters Health (99 cents a month) and Reuters Top Stories ($1.99). Quote: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.Comments: Karen Hagglund and Dan.

News - In a TechFlash Q&A, Ian Freed says no to video on the Kindle. Tech Tip -Igor Skochinsky's motherload of Kindle tech stuff.Interview - Sriram K. Peruvemba, Vice President of Marketing at E Ink Corporation, interviewed at the company's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.  The audio podcast contains excerpts of our conversation, and this video has the full interview. Quote - "Senior Moment" by Dana Milbank of The Washington Post.Comments - Audio from Peggy, text from Julie Booth.

News: Thanks to listener Linda Hopkins, we learn from Amazon that Kindle samples are NOT designed to timeout.Tech Tip: How to put [20,000] 2,000 classics on your Kindle using MobileReference (thanks to Nick for suggesting this one) - 1.    Connect your Kindle to your computer with USB cable.2.    In your computer’s web browser, go to MobileReference3.    In the main area of the web site, not the column on the left, scroll down to the section titled “Fiction Books.” 4.    In the last subcategory of that section, titled “Collection:”, click on “Classic Books Collection. Over 2,000 complete works. Only $19.99.”5.    For use on the Kindle, it doesn’t seem to matter which platform you choose; I’ve just tested the “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, and that worked fine.  So in the row for “Desktop/Notebook/Tablet PC” platform, go over one column to the “Trial Version” column and click “Download Now.”6.    You will be asked to enter your email address, so do that and then click on the green “Download Application” button.7.    On the next screen, click on the live link which says “Click here to download: Best-Selling Classic Books Collection. Over 2000 complete works. FREE biographies and works in trial”8.    From here, what you see will depend on whether you are using a PC or Mac, but the essentials are the same as with any other download from the Internet that you do on your computer.  For the Mac, I see a dialog box saying, “You have chosen to open classicstrial103.zip” which is a zipped file containing numerous separate items.  I click on “OK” to open it with Stuffit Expander.  However your computer works, your goal is to be able to find a folder on your hard drive titled “ClassicsTrial”.  Mine shows up in a Downloads folder.9.    Open a window that shows you the “ClassicsTrial” folder you just downloaded, and then open that folder so you can see all the items in it, beginning with “AlexandreDumasDEMO.prc” and ending with “WilliamShakespeareDEMO.prc.”10.    Open another window that shows the Kindle icon, which you should see because your Kindle is attached to the computer by the USB cable.11.    Doubleclick the Kindle icon, so you can see five folders, including the one labeled “Documents.” 12.    Drag the “ClassicsTrial” folder into the “Documents” folder of your Kindle.   I just tried this on my MacBook Air, and it worked fine – I assume the same process will work on a PC, but if you run into trouble you might try selecting all the individual books in the “ClassicsTrial” folder and dragging them in one big bunch into the “Documents” folder. 13.    Once you have the “ClassicsTrial” contents in the Documents folder of your Kindle, safely eject the Kindle icon and then unplug the USB cable.14.    Checking on your Home screen, you’ll now see about three added pages of demo versions of classic books.  15.    I’m pretty sure that once you sample some of the demo books, you’ll want to spend the $19.99 to purchase the actual collection.  I’m going to do that now but make sure they go to my SD card, to keep my main Kindle.16.    The purchase process via Handango is routine, and you don’t have to wait for a registration code.  The folder is called “ClassicsFull” . It’s about 115 megabytes in size, so even with my speedy Comcast connection (31 megabits per second when I was doing the download last weekend) – it took a while for it all to load to my computer, and then another few minutes for it to load from the computer to the Kindle.17.    I’ve got a 1 GigaByte SD card in my Kindle. After adding 2,000 classics I’ve got  838 MB left, or room for another 16,000 classics on a storage device that cost me less than $20.18.    One thing I don’t like is that all these new titles appear in my Home pages on the Kindle, even though I put them on the SD card.  At least they are gathered by author, so you click on an author to see all the titles he or she wrote. 19.    All in all this is a great resource, and I want to thank Nick for suggesting that I follow the process for this week’s Tech Tip.Interview: Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of MIT's Technology Review, a rising star in the Kindle Store.Quote: "The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov.Comments: Bob Boyken, Jim Brooks, Gail Scott, Julie Booth and Will D.

News: Case of the disappearing Kindle Store sample, from Joe Wikert's Kindleville blog. Tech Tip: From David Emberson's Kindle Cookbook, a clever keyboard shortcut that zooms you through books 1/20th at a time.Interview: My wife's opinion of her Kindle improves during her first month of use, despite her biggest fear coming true.  NOTE: If you know some great sources for contemporary mystery writers for the Kindle, please let me know, so I can pass them along to Darlene.Quote: from a book about Afghanistan being read this week by the President-Elect, Ghost Wars by Steve Coll.Comments: Do you read YOUR Kindle during takeoff and landing?  And, good news on book sales from David Emberson.Please feel free to leave me a voice comment by calling 206-666-2713 or a text comment at PodChronicles@gmail.com or as a comment here on the show notes page.

News: The Motley Fool asserts that Oprah has saved Amazon.Tech Tip: What are those white boxes to the right of some items on the home screen?Interview: Dave Emberson, author of The Kindle Cookbook: How to Do Everything the Manual Doesn't Tell You.Quote: Technology Review's editor Jason Pontin has some advice for the next president.Comments: Stephen Windwalker, Kesler Woodward, and Linda Hopkins.You can leave a voice comment by calling 206-666-2713 or by emailing me an .mp3 audio file at PodChronicles@gmail.com .  You can leave text comments at that email address or here on the show notes page. I'd love to hear from you!Music for my podcast is “Ra-Monk” by Eval Manigat on the “Variations in Time: A Jazz Perspective” CD by Public Transit Recording, courtesy of IODA Promonet.

Kindle News: Oprah gets behind the Kindle in a big way, including a $50-off coupon good till November 1st. Also, Amazon reports that 10 percent of its total book titles sold are in Kindle format. Tech Tip: From The Kindle Cookbook by David Emberson, how to put the MobileRead guide on your Kindle for free book downloads.  (Other good Kindle guides mentioned: Decoding the Kindle by Jim Cheshire and Complete User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle by Stephen Windwalker.Interview: Evan Schnittman, vice president of business development at Oxford University Press, speculates on why November 19, 2008 may be another big day in the history of the Kindle.Kindle Quote: Don Juan by Lord Byron, in French.Comment: Linda Hopkins finds the most expensive book available at the Kindle Store.  Be careful before you click on "purchase".....I'd love to hear your comments. You can leave a voice message at 206-666-2713 or email me at PodChronicles@gmail.com .

Interview: Abhi, creator of the Amazon Kindle, Books and Amazon News Blog and the Kindle Social Network for Book Lovers, talks to me from London and details how you can win a free Kindle if you join and participate in his social network before the end of October. Kindle Quote: The Nigger of Narcissus by Joseph Conrad.Kindle Comment: A promising overture from someone at Amazon...

Kindle News: Faked Photos or a real look at the Kindle 2?Tech Tip: A recent newbie (me) walks you around the Kindle Korner Yahoo group.Interview: Laurel Hicks, a moderator of Kindle Korner. On her Kindle: War and Peace by Tolstoy, Works of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov from MobileReference and the blogs Opinionated and An Unamplified Voice, an opera blog. Kindle Quote: Mmm-good: Campbell Soup fares pretty well in the financial debacle.  An article in Investor's Business Daily.Comments: Linda Hopkins, Jimmy Buffet video, and a good correction from Greg.

Kindle News: Forbes gets it wrong on the iPhone v. the Kindle.Tech Tip: How to find out there's no Whispernet in Missoula, Montana. Click here for Sprint coverage map.Interview: My wife, Darlene, opens her Kindle and starts using it.Quote: The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield.Comments: Bob Boyken, Sang-Won Kim, Heather Hollick, and Linda.