We’re thrilled to hear this, of course — although I wouldn’t take a bet that Amazon won’t be adding page numbers for personal documents.

A proper post about the poor or missing programming features in the Kindle 3 will be coming soon; please feel free to comment or email us if you have a pet peeve that you’d like to add to the list!

if you don’t want to call Kindle support, is to go to the Kindle Support Help page and type “Update Kindle” into the Search Help bar.  Click on Kindle Software Updates, then scroll down to “Applying Kindle Software Updates Manually” and then click on the “Kindle US Wireless” link.  It will download an exe file to your computer. Make sure the Kindle is plugged into the computer via the USB cable and follow the rest of the directions to manually update.

Voila.  All fixed.

Documents aren’t showing up at all. sometimes, they’ve arrived on the device but Amazon’s conversion process spewed such a long file name that the Kindle operating system can’t read it; when we hooked them up to a computer and look at the files, we’ve been able to see them, and if we manually rename them, they will appear on the Kindle.

Sometimes they aren’t showing up even if the file name is fixed; when this happened today, we disconnected the Kindle and NONE of the files showed up. Happily, this was fixed by plugging the Kindle into the charger for a few minutes… but those were more nervewracking minutes that we didn’t need.

Let me know if you’re having problems, please?

Perhaps Amazon should let the credit card companies know about this?

(thanks, @Sarahw!)

Fast Company reports that Amazon will also be making a Mac application as well.

Their photo editor Sarah found a Kindle in a cab on the way home from the airport.  Unfortunately, there was no entry in the “edit personal info” tab for them to contact John and return his Kindle!

Here’s a lesson:  put a note in the Personal Info setting with your name and phone number,  on the chance that a generous soul finds it and wants to return it!

I’d also suggest adding a label to the Kindle, either to the machine, the case, or both, with your phone number!  (Personally, mine mentions a reward if found.   I know I’d be distraught if I lost it, so anything that might entice a would-be returner to give it back could help!)

(via blogkindle)

Sony Electronics announced Tuesday evening that it was lowering prices for new and best-selling books in its e-book store, to $9.99 from $11.99….Sony is also introducing two new electronic reading devices: the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition. They will sell for $199 and $299 respectively and will go on sale at theend of August.

How does this change the possibilities for the Kindle?    Since the Kindle is still selling for the reduced price of $299 – equivalent to the Sony Reader Touch edition, I suppose you  can choose for yourself which is more useful:  a touch screen – which reportedly cuts the readability of the e-Ink screen – or the wireless capabilities for the Kindle, including the ability to email documents to yourself, as well as Amazon’s online store.

What do you think?

The FT also says:

Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about being included in the computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and a forthcoming device from Plastic Logic, recently allied with Barnes & Noble.

“It would be a colour, flat-panel TV to the old-fashioned, black and white TV of the Kindle,” one publishing executive said.

Information Week has some interesting analysis on the proposition.

Apple’s success with the iPod, which redefined the market for portable music players, and the iPhone, which did the same for the smartphone category, has shown that the company is capable of bringing game-changing technology to market. But the tablet as described in media reports is not considered a slam dunk by some analysts.

The first issue is the price tag….For the device to be successful, it would have to be an affordable alternative to a netbook, the popular mini-laptops that typically sell for less than $500, and low-end full-size laptops. Wi-Fi would probably prove more popular for connecting to the Web than a wireless connection from a carrier.

What do you think?  Will a large, flat-screen multipurpose tablet beat the Kindle in ease of use or readability?

“Having previously insisted that they could not afford to lower the price, spokesman Drew Herdener now says, “Whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we pass the savings along to our customers.”"

Pub Lunch via Bloomberg

My wife and kept our manuscript-laden Kindles safely packed away, while I dug into a good old-fashioned paper copy of David Grann’s THE LOST CITY OF Z and a galley of the new Jonathan Tropper novel THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU.  (I’m a new fan).   She read & loved the very creepy Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, in paperback.