Got the book! “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change,” by Al Gore. Splurged on the hardback. I can’t help myself. I need to know this stuff right away. I need to highlight it! “The Future” is not the kind of book I want to read on a Kindle. Nor is the book I’m finishing now, “A People’s History of the United States,” by Howard Zinn. Besides, my Kindle Fire has died. RIP. Next time, I’ll buy the iPad. — John
Setting the record straight, maybe it’s my own fault my highlighting was lost. (See the immediate previous Kindle post.) Digging through the online “User Guide,” I discovered the following:
Using Highlights, Bookmarks, and Notes
“Annotations (bookmarks, highlights, and notes) that you make in Kindle books are stored in your Kindle Library on Amazon.com. Your Kindle must be connected wirelessly for your annotations to be saved.”
The above is from the Kindle Fire “User Guide,” under the section “Books: Reading On Kindle Fire.”
I believe it explains why I lost the highlighting I did as I was reading last night. Thinking that I was clever, I turned off the Wi-Fi last night to save battery life. The book is on my Kindle device, so I can read it without being connected to Wi-Fi. (Morale of this story: “Don’t think! It can only get you in trouble.”)
I was planning to write an updated report on how much I’m enjoying my Kindle Fire. There was a learning curve when I first opened the box, but once I figured out a few basic functions, the Kindle became a breeze and a pleasure to use.
I’ve enjoyed browsing the Kindle store, and found a number of books I’ve been wanting to read. One is “Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy,” by MSNBC’s Christopher Hayes. (This “Twilight” isn’t about vampires.)
“Twilight of the Elites” is a great book, examining our collective loss of trust in virtually all the major institutions — the pillars — of society. In particular, Hayes analyzes how and why the “elites” who rule by virtue of “meritocracy” have failed us.
I’ve been reading the book for the past few evenings, highlighting many informative sentences using the Kindle highlighting function. This morning, I opened the book on the Kindle and found that all my painstaking highlighting is gone. The highlighting has disappeared!
UPDATE, NOV. 16, 2012: Happy to report that I’ve received two emails from Amazon in response to my phone calls. Bottom line:
“In order to resolve this issue please de register and re register your Kindle Fire HD to the same Amazon.com account. In order to De register and Re register please follow the steps:
Swipe your finger down from the top of the Home screen and tap More . . .”
I followed the directions and re-registered my Kindle, which wasn’t hard. Presto, my material was again visible on the carousel. Using the information I’ve learned in the last two days, I made sure everything was downloaded from the “cloud” to the “device.”
I also browsed through the apps store and downloaded several interesting apps. Most of them were free, and I paid 99 cents for one. The Kindle can do a lot of stuff, and I’m slowly learning how. — John
END UPDATE
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WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?
I titled my first product review (of a digital camera) “Power In A Box.” The first and most important information I want to know when purchasing a new high-tech device is: WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?
Regarding the camera,the answer was: “Everything you need, and it’s a powerful product.”
Regarding the Kindle Fire, the answer is: “Not so much.”
In the photo above, you can see the fancy box for the Kindle Fire HD 7″ and EVERYTHING THAT COMES IN THE BOX. It’s exactly as stated in the small print on the back of the box:
“USB charging cable included. Ask for the Kindle PowerFast accelerated charging accessory for even faster charging times.”
This latest consumer technology is pretty much ready to go, right out of the box. Or so I thought.
I followed the directions on the black card you see in the photo above, which constitutes the entire written documentation and instructions included in the box.
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 