Kindle Tips

Mike Elgan has done a wonderful thing! He’s composed a page as a start page for kindle users.

If you use your Kindle for internet or email, (how-to below), Bookmark this page on your kindle: www.elgan.com/k .

it’s tremendously useful. He’s linked directly to Google’s Mobile Gmail, Google Reader (RSS reader), and Google calendar — and also to two of his useful Kindle articles in Computerworld (a portion of which I’ve quoted below) and his kindle blog.

To get to the web from your Kindle:

From the Home screen, use the Select wheel to choose Menu at the bottom, then select Experimental. (don’t worry, it won’t break; this just means it crashes sometimes)

Choose Basic Web, and you’ve got an empty screen, just like your web browser on your computer! Press the Select wheel to bring up the Enter URL box.

To bookmark a page, first go to the page you want – again, elgan.com/k – and let the page load. Once the little progress bar in the bottom left corner says it’s 100% loaded, scroll down again to the Menu bar and click it, and choose “add bookmark.”

….

To use Gmail, as instructed by Mike Elgan:

Type m.gmail.com (or go there from [Elgan's] Kindle page), then press the Select wheel on the Submit option to enter.

Now you’re on the mobile version of Gmail. Selecting, opening and reading e-mail is self-explanatory. However, sending e-mail requires some explanation. Here are some tips on how to do it.

• Press one of the Next Page bars until you see the Compose Mail option. Use the Select wheel to choose that grouping of links, then choose Compose Mail from the menu.
• Select the To: box with the Select wheel, then choose INPUT FIELD. Enter your recipient’s e-mail address and choose Done. Add a subject, then the body of your message in the same way.
• Click on the row of buttons under the main message box, then choose Send.