Wow! It's been an interesting year for the eBook Reader market. The announcements of many new devices coming to market including Barnes & Noble's Nook eBook Reader (which the first pre-orders should start shipping today) & the upcoming Plastic Logic Que has kept the news abuzz. Amazon hasn't been sitting in the lazy chair either with the introduction of the larger Kindle DX and International Kindle 2 models.
There is no denying that all the news is creating interest and the demand for eBook readers is high this year. Just today, Amazon released a Press Release stating that November 2009 has been the best month yet for sales of Kindles. In fact the Kindle 2 has been their #1 best seller since it was released.
Even more encouraging, the Nook eBook Reader pre-order demand has surpassed B&N's expectations. Strong sales has forced them to delay the in-store releases till mid December and if you order one online today the estimated shipping date is over a month (Jan. 4th).
This may be the hottest selling electronic gadget this year. So don't be left out in the cold without your eBook Reader. Happy Cyber Monday!
I was finally able to manually download my kindle 2.3 software update yesterday and am happy to say the upgrade went smoothly. Amazon was kind enough to give us easy to follow instructions on how to do this.
After playing around with my Kindle 2, I did notice some different things that I noticed were there before. I didn't read the updated 4th edition of the User's Guide so these observations may or may not be documented.
Screensaver Updates
I noticed two new screens in the screensaver. The first one was the new Kindle Logo of the person reading under the tree. The second one is the addition of the late author, Ralph Ellison. I am almost positive that he was not in the screensaver prior to this update.
Text Key
Kindle 2 Text Menu Options
One "big news" feature is that you can use use your Kindle 2 in Landscape mode (similar to the DX). The manual rotation control allow you to rotate the screen in four positions is accessed under the Text [Aa] button. Although, I can't reason for the life of me understand why anyone would want to use the kindle upside down.
The less obvious change is this other new option "Words per Line". At first glance I thought it was line spacing feature (which does exist but only through shortcuts) but I quickly realized that all this feature does is push in the page margins to squeeze the paragraphs, thus putting less words per line. I really didn't find this feature of much use but obviously someone thought it was a good idea.
PDF Support
PDF Listings in Kindle
I really love the fact that Amazon listened to its customers and now includes direct PDF support in the Kindle 2. A lot of my reading material is in the form of PDFs so this will definitely make my life easier. A couple of items to note when using PDFs on the Kindle 2.
There is a nifty little PDF icon that displays next to the document name designating it as a PDF file. The only way to view PDF files prior to this update on your Kindle 2 was emailing them to your special kindle email account for conversion which would keep the PDF extension included in the file name.
Some PDFs may include advanced objects that are not supported in the Kindle Viewer. I noticed a small warning at the bottom of my screen stating that certain objects in my PDF were not supported and would not display. This wasn't a huge problem for me since the document still looked correct with the exception of these items which showed up blank.
Password Protected PDFs are not supported with this version of the Kindle Software. I don't have many documents that are password protected but it would be nice if they did support it. This would be especially useful for people who carry sensitive documents with them and still want to protect the information in case the Kindle is lost or stolen.
Viewing the PDF document on the Kindle 2's 6 inch screen can be challenging if the original text in the document was smaller. You still have the ability to view the PDF in landscape mode but it will take 3 [Next Page] clicks to get view all of the content and get to the next page. Now I know why the Kindle DX is better equipped to view PDF documents.
Amazon has just announced on there website a major Feature Release for the Kindle 2 and DX to Software Firmware Update ver. 2.3. This update affects Kindle 2 (both International and Domestic) and the Kindle DX. The major highlights of this update for the Kindle 2 includes:
Built-in Native support for PDF files. No need to convert them. Send PDF documents directly to your Kindle (via your @Kindle address) or drag and drop PDF files from your computer to your Kindle (when connected via USB).
Longer battery life for Kindle - Only for the Global wireless units
Manual screen rotation for document viewing. Handy for Pictures, PDF files and web pages.
Kindle DX feature updates include:
Better cropping of PDF files
Screensaver mode extended delay from 5 minutes to 20 minutes so you can view your page longer.
There are links on the Amazon site to download the software updates manually but as of right now I am not having any luck with the Kindle 2 Domestic Software Link. Hopefully they fix this soon or otherwise I will need to wait unless the update comes wirelessly.
Today's product review is the flexible hands-free reading light known as the HUGlight from MyLight.com. This HUGlight is an innovative design by using flexible arms with two types of LED lights at the end of each arm. You have independent control of the 5-way light source and direction on each flexible arm. The 5-way light controls are:
On | Broad Beam Light | Focus Beam Light | Both Lights | OFF
The HUGlight is designed to "HUG" comfortably around your neck while reading...which it does live up to its name. The HUGlight comes in several colors and the batteries are included. The HUGlight is much more versatile than just a reading light. Watch the following video for my review.
Disclosure: This was not a paid review and the opinions are strictly my own. I did receive the item free of cost for the product review.
Today's product review is the flexible hands-free reading light known as the HUGlight from 
