My tip with purchase of case for Kindle Fire

There are lots of thirty party case for Amazon Kindle Fire to choose. I bought my own when there is a deal ($6.95 instead of $9.95) for this case which has a pretty good user review score, and for less than $7 it is a nice deal. After more than two weeks use, I found the design of the case has a very annoying thing: the cover around the IPS screen makes it hard to touch the "home" or any soft buttons very close to the edge of the screen. I am surprised that no single reviewer mentioned this, and actually it sometimes made me very frustrating. I would not recommend  Kindle Fire users buy a case with such a design (with the cover edge very close to the screen).  But I am not saying here that this case is not great considering its good user review and value. I am satisfied with everything else except for this complain. Hopefully this little tip will help you in picking up a better case for your Fire.

Another feature you'd better to consider is that the case should be able to protect your investmet (Fire) in case of an accident - drop down to the ground at the corners, so your future case should be able to have some protection at the corners.  No perfect case? Do your research.

$199+$5 Shipping Kindle DX-Refurbished @ Woot

 Woot has daily deal of  refurbished Amazon Kindle DX for $199 + $5 shipping, the new regular price is $379 @ Amazon. Kindle DX is a large screen e ink reader which is perfect for those who read a lot of PDF papers, documents, newspaper etc. Woot is a reliable online merchandise [Woot @ wiki]. 

Sorry Sold Out !

Apple to unveil two versions of next-generation iPad in January

According to one Taiwan DigitalTimes, Apple is to unveil two versions of next-generation iPad in January. Instead of the previously-rumored 7.85-inch, the upcoming iPad models will still feature 9.7-inch screens but come with QXGA resolution (1,536x2,048 pixels). 


The website also claims that "the iPad 2 will be competing directly with Amazon's kindle Fire in the price-sensitive market segment, while the new models will focus on the mid-range and high-end segments respectively", which means:

 v.s.       

Now the game is going to start...but how $499+tax  v.s. $199 ? I have no idea. Apple is going to cut the price? This will never happen. It might be more realistic if Apple offers a smaller screen one with cheaper price. Then Kindle Fire will be in trouble.

Dec. 29 hot deal--Staples $15 off $15 Code and $10 off $10+ code

Staples - $15 off $15 Code  25172  and $10 off $10+ code 99279.  Get a storage card for your Nook or IdeaPad A1.

What do "Kindle" and "Nook" mean?

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet

" Kindle " and " Nook " are the brands of e readers for Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively. Both manufacturers are book giants-one is the biggest online store while the other is the largest brick and stone one.


Kindle


By definition given by thefreedictionary, kindle has the following meanings:
- To build or fuel (a fire).
- To set fire to; ignite
- To cause to glow; light up
- To arouse (an emotion, for example).

Pretty good meanings, right?
It is probabily given by the branding agency Cronan according to this article: "How the Kindle Got Its Name".  In the same article, it says: "Kindle means to set alight or start to burn, to arouse or be aroused, to make or become bright."
Nook
However does not sme like having such nice meanings as Kindle: 
- a sheltered and secluded place 
- an interior angle formed by two meeting walls
The nook often refers to a comfortable and secluded place to read or have a conversation with someone inside a room, which might be a good explanation of the e reader brand name "Nook" .What I can think is that Nook sounds like "Look" which is easy to pronounce and memorize. Take a "Nook" (look) at a book. Now Nook is meaningful. 

Dec. 28 hot deal -- FREE 25 Language Phrasebook from Mobile Reference (Mobi Travel) [Kindle Edition]

FREE 25 Language Phrasebook from Mobile Reference (Mobi Travel) [Kindle Edition]

It is available both on E Ink kindles and Kindle Fire!!
FREE 25 Language Phrasebook: German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Croatian, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, and Thai. Navigate from Table of Contents or search for words or phrases. Learn how to say Hello, How are you, Please, Thank you and much more in 25 languages!

Daily deals on products related to E Readers-12.28

Starting from today, I will try to grab the hottest deals on products related to e readers: e readers, e books, apps, accessories etc. from popular deal websites and those giant e business players, and put them on my blog. This daily topic will be updated anytime when a really hot deal (no warm and so so deal) is catched.

Hot deal NOW  Lenovo IdeaPad A1 Tablet - 22282MU - Black IdeaPad A1 Tablet for $249 - $49.80 with code USPA2M1227 = $199.20 + tax free shipping. [Amazon]

Nook Color v.s. Nook Tablet v.s. Kindle Fire v.s. Lenovo IdeaPad A1

The comparison between these three gadgets can be seen at B & N (who made Nook, always keep this in mind) website.   The link to the comparison.
While this is from B&N and surely it is biased toward nook , it can be a good reference at least the specifications of Nook Tablet.

Nook (tablet) looks like a little nicer than Kindle (Fire). The newly released Nook Tablet is an upgrade of Nook Color with double memory (512MB==>1GB) and double storage (8G==>16GB), the processor is upgraded to dural core 1G from single core 800MHz , and the price is increased from $199 to $249.

Well, from my point of view, I would either get a Nook Tablet [B&N, Amazon] or Kindle Fire, compared to "Fire" which has the same price as the Nook Color (if you can get Color without paying tax, while sometimes you may find $120 or even lower deal of the Color) but Kindle Fire has dual core faster speed processor, it is slightly lighter and smaller than Nook Color.

Another nice comparison  "Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: Which 7-Incher Is Best For You?"
from a third-party can be found at Huffingtonpost.  I would trust this comparison review more than the B & N one.
Update! Apple is going to release its new generation IPAD soon... , will it be a 7 inch one? If yes, the three ones we talk about here will get into trouble.

Now you have three strong candidates when considering the 7" portable and affordable tablets: Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet [amazon] and IdeaPad A1 [amazon].  Which one is your best love? See this concise comparison.

Ref: Pic is taken from InfoGenra

Note: Nook tablet (Amazon, B&N)  is the latest version of Nook, which is the direct competitor of Amazon's Kindle Fire.

E book formats

There are numerous other e book formats other than the most recognized EPUB(supported by B&N Nook) and MOBI (Amazon Kindle).

The table below shows the comparison of the commonly used e book formats and their supported most popular E Readers.

E Readers	Plain text	PDF	ePub	HTML	Mobi- Pocket	DjVu
Amazon Kindle 1	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Amazon Kindle 2, DX	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Amazon Kindle 3	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Amazon Kindle Fire	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Android Devices	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apple iOS Devices	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Barnes & Noble Nook	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Barnes & Noble Nook Color	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Kobo eReader	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mac OS X	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sony Reader	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Windows Phone 7	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Notice that Kindle Fire supports both ePub and Mobi (Update! It seems that we still cannot directly read the ePub format file on Kindle, but see my post " How to read EPUB books on Kindle Fire" ) which is not the case for e ink kindles. Also no information available in this table regarding the new generation Kindle family, which might be similar to that of Kindle 3 (keyboard).
While readers should keep in mind that these formats can (almost if not) always be converted to each other by some e book software such as the most popular Calibre.

Ref:
Comparison of e-book formats. (2011, December 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:05, December 26, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_e-book_formats&oldid=467711671

Develop active content for e ink kindles

Do you know that you can actually develop active content for e ink kindles (we are not talking about kindle fire app development which is another story)? Did you have the free games " Mine Sweeper " , " BlackJack ", " EveryWord", and "Shuffled Row" installed on your e ink kindles? If no, I would suggest you get them. They are FREE and fun. These games are perfect examples of e ink kindle apps.
To develop such apps, we got to have Kindle Development Kit (KDK) first.

1. Request to become a developer.
2. Download the Kindle Development Kit
3. Develop, test and submit content. User revenue will be split 70% to the developer and 30% to Amazon net of delivery costs of $0.15/MB.

E Ink

E Ink-The abbreviation of electrophoretic ink. E-Ink tech is widely used in many popular ereaders such as Amazon kindle family and B & N Nook family. Your fist impression when you see a ereader screen with this tech should be "oh, just like real paper". 

    Exactly! E Ink screens look and read just like real paper. Since there is no backlight, you can read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room. Unlike LCD screens, E Ink screens have no glare.

    Several other advantages of e ink are:

• Easy on the eyes
• Less eye fatigue
• Read in any position 
• Sharp, clear text
• Low power consumption

While it is not perfect like everything else in the world, 

• You cannot read in the dark without light
• Currently no color display available ( but it will ...)
• A long time of response. It doesn’t allow to show dynamic content and to use for interactive applications. Running video game? Forget about it. Additionally scaling of documents on the screen is very slow. (hopefully it will also be possible...)
• Screen is very fragile, so be very careful when using it.

Its history dates back to 1997 when E Ink Corporation, was founded based on research started at the MIT Media Lab.  A more detailed history of e ink can be found on e ink official webpage in here. 

The future of e ink:

• Color display 
• Animation allowed

You can find more information from e ink official website.

Android CM

CM is the abbreviation of CyanogenMod, which is a customized, aftermarket firmware for gadgets (smart phones, pads etc). CM is based on the open-source (means every developer can play with the source code following Generla Public License, many open source codes are even better than the commercial ones, famous ones are like Linux, Android, ZIP, FireFox,Eclipse, PHP,MySQL, Apache,...so many excellent ones).  You can understand CM as a firmware which can be used as a tool to root your devices allowing gain access to Google Android App Market.
      Current released version (relatively stable ones) are CM7 Alpha 3/3.5. The official CM website is http://www.cyanogenmod.com and the developer team is very active in xda developer forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/ and CM is actually a team work by CM developers and developers on XDA-Developers.
      CM7 is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and currently they are working toward to the next version CM9 which should be based on Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich.