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Friday, April 16, 2010

Vectorworks Tutorials on Amazon Kindle

I finally got my hands on my very own Amazon Kindle. It has some wonderful features, and I am really enjoying it. Before I go too far, a big thank you to Roger W. for helping me to get the Kindle.

When you first buy a Kindle online, you buy it through your Amazon account. When you do this, amazon then links the Kindle to your account. So far, this doesn't sound very unusual, but when you get your Kindle and open it, it knows who the owner of the Kindle is, it comes pre-linked to your account. The great part of this is that it when you buy a kindle book on the Internet, iphone, blackberry, PC or mac, the book is wireless delivered to you Kindle. You do not have to ask for it, you do not have to approve it. It just arrives.

While I was waiting for my Kindle, I bought a few books on my Kindle for iphone application. When the kindle arrived, I had to charge the battery, but then when it was going, the books started to arrive, wirelessly, directly to the kindle. I think this is the part I really like.

The screen on the Kindle is very good for reading. It uses an E Ink screen. This type of screen is great in sunlight, room light and so on, but it is not backlit, so it needs a light source. So, for normal book reading, it's great. It's a shame that it is a grey-scale screen. All my nice color images that I fill up my manuals with are displayed in grey-scale and are not as readable as they a computer.

One of the things I really like is the ability to open a book or a manual on the kindle and read it for a while. then sync the kindle, and go to the computer. When you sync the computer and open the same book, you are on the same page you left on your kindle.

When you open a kindle book on your phone or computer, you see the images in color. You can get a Kindle app for the iphone, blackberry and ipad. So, the problem with the  greyscale kindle screen doesn't apply.

 I can't try my manuals on the ipad, but I have seen them on an iphone. The look good on the iphone, they must be amazing on the ipad.

A really important technique with a kindle book is the ability to add notes and comments. Often when I'm reading a good book on business, I have a thought on how I can use what I am learning. I'm terrible with books that I own, they have pencil comments all over the margins. With a kindle book, and it doesn't matter what device you are using, you can write notes and comments on it. When you sync, the notes are available on all devices. The Amazon web site says that annotation on the mac will be available soon, but I can certainly do this on the kindle and iphone.

You do not need a Kindle from Amazon to read kindle books. Amazon have made apps for several devices, so you can use your current computer, phone and tablet to read kindle books. This site has all the apps. Get yours today.

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