Kindle News and Reviews » Tips & Tricks

Tips & Tricks #19: Turning Off Screen Rotation

Mike — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:00:46 +0000

The Kindle DX will automatically rotate the screen when you rotate your DX, so that up is always up, and you can always read what’s on your screen. (For more about how to use landscape mode, check out our previous post.)

What if you don’t want the screen to rotate? There’s an easy way to shut it off.

Click the Text button on your DX. It’s the button that has two capital letter As on it, one larger than the other, directly to the right of the space bar. Your Text Options window will open, and will look like this:

Text Options Screen

The “Screen Rotation” will be set to “auto” by default, which means that your screen will rotate when your DX does. The four options to the right of it are to “lock” in your preference until the next time your DX is powered off. The options are represented by images of the DX – the little dots represent the DX’s keyboard. Use the five-way navigation button to highlight and click your choice.

If you want to turn auto-rotate back on without turning your Kindle off and back on, go through the same process and choose auto from the options menu.

Tips & Tricks #18: Using Twitter From Your Kindle

CJ — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:21:31 +0000

Twitter, for those of you that don’t know, is an innovative social networking tool that has seen enormous growth in the past several months. It’s been called micro-blogging and has been likened to Facebook status updates. Essentially, users write “Tweets” of less than 140 characters. It’s a hit with celebrities, popular bloggers and early adopters.

Good news for those early adopters that also own a Kindle: you can Tweet from your Kindle’s web browser.
First, ensure your wireless is turned on. Then navigate to the Basic Web Browser. Enter the web address for the mobile Twitter site (http://m.twitter.com) and log into your account using the Kindle’s built-in keyboard.

Once logged in, you can update your status (aka: send a Tweet) and view your friends’ most recent statuses. Like most mobile sites, it’s limited, but you can do enough to get by.

p.s. You can follow Kindle News and Reviews on Twitter at twitter.com/kindlenewsCJ.

Tips & Tricks #17: A Shortcut to the Kindle Store on Amazon.com

CJ — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:52:08 +0000

If you’re like me, you quickly tired of using traditional navigation to reach the Kindle Store. You either had to click on Books, then Kindle Books, then Kindle Store to get to the main page, or click on the picture of the Kindle on the homepage and then click on Kindle Store in the upper left-hand corner.

Recently, Amazon added a Kindle category in the left-hand menu which contains a Kindle Store link. However, I found an even easier way to get there without having to click on anything. When you open a browser window to go to Amazon, type in Amazon.com/kindlestore. It redirects to the correct page and it’s easy to remember.

Tips & Tricks #16: Using the Amazon iPhone App to Find Books for your Kindle

CJ — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:53:14 +0000

I recently bought an iPhone and have been spending lots of time exploring the app store. One of the best apps I’ve found so far is the Amazon app with their fabulous Amazon Remembers functionality.

Using the built-in camera in your iPhone, you take a picture of an item – in a store, on the pages of a magazine, wherever – and Amazon tries to find it in their system. If they find it, they send you a link (to buy it on Amazon, of course). They also put your items front and center on your Amazon home page (as seen at left with my items Personal Trainer: Math for the DS and Repo! The Genetic Opera on DVD).

What does all this mean for the Kindle? Previously I’ve written about using your Kindle’s Save For Later list strategically by adding to it while browsing Barnes & Noble or the Books section of the Sunday paper. In the same manner, you can use the Amazon iPhone app to record the books you’d like to buy.

Simply use the Amazon Remembers function to take pictures of the book covers. Amazon will alert you when it finds the books in the system. You can follow the link and see if there’s a Kindle version available to add to your Save for Later list or to send a sample to yourself.

Have any other Kindle and iPhone users found ways to make each device more useful to the other?

Tips & Tricks #15: Shortcut to Adding a Bookmark

CJ — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:45:24 +0000

While the Kindle automatically saves your place in your reading material, sometimes you might want to bookmark a page for other reasons – if two people are reading the same book, for example. I’ve talked about bookmarks before, but this shortcut is the easiest way to add a bookmark.

On any page, simply press ALT and B at the same time. You’ll see the little corner of the page change to look like it’s folded down.

To remove the bookmark, you can press ALT and B again, or use the select wheel to click on the folded down corner and it will unfold.

Tips & Tricks #15: Changing the Justification on Your Kindle

CJ — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:33:37 +0000

If you’re not happy with a full-justification screen (where the words spread out to fill the width of the page) and would prefer left-justification, it’s easy for you to change it. In any piece of reading material, click the text button (the one with a big A and a little A on it. A menu will appear (which also allows you to change the font size) in which you can change to left-justification by using the scroll wheel.

You can always change it back if you change your mind, or decide to share your Kindle with a friend.

UPDATE (3/9/09): It appears that this option has been removed for Kindle 2. If I find a solution or a shortcut to get around this, I will update the post.

Tips & Tricks #14: Shortcut to Search Google

CJ — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:33:37 +0000

Last week we covered a shortcut to search Wikipedia from your Kindle. This week, we have a shortcut to search Google. While Wikipedia is wonderfully informative, sometimes you just need the Big G.

Press Search on your Kindle keyboard. Type @web followed by your keyword. Your Kindle will search Google and return the results as if you had opened up the web browser, navigated to Google, and then entered your search terms. Of course, you need to make sure your wireless switch is turned on first.

Tips & Tricks #13: Shortcut to Search Wikipedia

CJ — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:45:01 +0000

Do you find yourself searching Wikipedia frequently from your Kindle? There’s a quicker way to do it than manually going to the Experimental Browser and then navigating to the Wikipedia bookmark.

First check to make sure your wireless switch is turned on. Then press the Search key on the Kindle’s keyboard. Enter in “@wiki” using the keyboard, followed by your search term. Use the select wheel to press Go and the Kindle will open the Experimental Browser and navigate to the correct Wikipedia page for your search term.

Tips & Tricks #12: Using Cell Towers to Map Your Location on Your Kindle

CJ — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:51:27 +0000

The Kindle is useful for all sorts of tools other than reading. This might be one of the coolest, however. You can use the cell towers that power your Kindle’s wireless internet to locate your position.

Go to the web browser (for more on how to do that, click here) and hit Alt and 1. The Kindle will open up Google Maps and will use the cell towers to triangulate your approximate position.

Even more helpful, you can press Alt + 2 to find nearby gas stations, Alt + 3 for nearby restaurants, and Alt + 5 to search for a keyword nearby.

Sources: LaptopMag.com; Teaching With Technology

Tips & Tricks #11: Using Remember the Milk on Your Kindle

CJ — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:18:10 +0000

Remember The Milk is a useful web-based productivity tool that allows you to create to do lists. The real benefit of Remember The Milk (or RTM, as it’s lovingly referred to by users) is being able to access it just about anywhere – on the website, in your email inbox (it has a flawless integration with Gmail), on your phone, on your instant messenger, in your calendar, etc. You can also access it from your Kindle.

Using the Experimental Web Browser (for instructions on that, click here), click on Enter URL using the scroll wheel. Enter in the URL for the mobile version of RTM: http://m.rememberthemilk.com and click Submit.

It will ask for your username and password for Remember The Milk (you’ll need to set this up on their website from your computer first). Navigate the scroll wheel to the area next to Username and click to bring up the data entry box. Input your username and click Done; then repeat to enter your password. The “Remember Me” box is checked by default. You can change this if you would like by navigating the scroll wheel next to the box and clicking it. Then move the scroll wheel next to Login and click.

From here you can add tasks, view task lists, search your tags, and more. All of your changes will automatically sync with your online RTM account.

Have you found any other productivity tricks for the Kindle? If you’d like to share them with my readers, email them to me at cj@kindlenewsandreviews.com.

UPDATE (3/25/09): For the Kindle 2, the instructions only change slightly. Navigate to the Experimental Web Browser as before, but press Menu to bring up the Enter URL option. Enter the URL as before and the rest is all the same.