Just in case you didn’t know, Kindlerama is available on the Amazon Kindle Store under the blogs section. It’s the easiest way to access Kindlerama on your Kindle, and fresh content is pushed out as soon as I post it.

If you haven’t tried it out, remember that every newspaper, magazine and blog comes with a free 14-day trial period, so you can give it a trial run and save your 99 cents if you decide it’s easier to just read it online.

I haven’t promoted the subscription version much on the blog because I don’t want to be a salesman for my own stuff here. However, Amazon temporarily deactivated it for about 4 hours last week and in the process booted all of my Kindle subscribers, so I’m starting from square one. That means if you used to read this on the Kindle, it’s still available, despite whatever Amazon told you last week about it no longer being for sale. (I’ve been asking for some insight into what happened, but I’m not getting very far.)

Hey, if you do subscribe and decide you like it, feel free to leave a review. I could use some friendly praise on the page!

Thanks,
Chris

If you want the update to happen automatically, you need to make sure your Kindle is prepared to accept it. Here’s a checklist of things to do:

• Make sure Whispernet is turned on:
  1. From the home screen, click the Menu button.
  2. Then in the pop-up menu scroll down and select Settings.
  3. Once you’re on the “Settings & Device Information” screen, press the Menu button again.
  4. In the pop-up window, the very first option will say “Turn Wireless Off” or “Turn Wireless On.” If it’s off, turn it on! Done!
• If you have installed a screensaver or font hack, uninstall it.
  1. How to remove the screensaver hack.
  2. How to remove the font hack.
• Make sure your Kindle stays on for the next several days. It can go to sleep and continue downloading the update, but you shouldn’t turn it off or let it run out of power.

According to a customer who posted on the Amazon Kindle forums on Thursday, an Amazon customer service rep said that it can take 2 to 4 days to download the update. The update is being sent in pieces, and if it’s interrupted it will resume the download the next time the Kindle is on and Whispernet is working.

You might see some odd behavior during the downloads–sluggish button reactions at times, or a spinning activity circle even though you’re not syncing or buying a book–but for the most part the whole process will be invisible.

“2.5 Update – More Information About How We Get It” [Amazon Kindle Community Forums]

I wrote earlier about the needless concern over Amazon’s new “Popular Highlights” service, which anonymously collects highlights from customers’ Kindle ebooks and combines them into one giant pool for everyone to browse. I still say that in the world of online privacy, this is harmless; if you’re really concerned about a website keeping data on you, you shouldn’t be using an Amazon Kindle in the first place. (I’m not being a smart-aleck; seriously, you shouldn’t.)

But if you disagree with me, take heart; there’s an easy way to turn off participation in the program, and in fact to turn off Amazon’s automatic backup of your notes, bookmarks, and highlights completely. You can do it directly from your Kindle:

• On your Kindle, press the Menu button.
• In the pop-up menu, scroll down and select Settings.
• You’ll see your “Settings & Device Information” screen with your Registration info, Device Name, etc. Click the Menu button again.
• In the pop-up menu, scroll down to “Disable Annotations Backup” and click it.
• Now your bookmarks, notes, and highlights won’t be stored on Amazon’s servers.

Amazon says this option to turn off the service will be included in future versions of Kindle App software, but for now you can only turn it off via your Kindle device.

(Photo: Håvar og Solveig)

For instance, Microsoft’s LIT ebook format was a popular choice several years ago, but none of today’s major ebook devices natively support those files. Here are some tips for getting at those ebooks, including the newspaper’s suggestions as well as some of my own.

Note: if the LIT ebook is locked up with DRM, you may have to authorize your Windows PC first to open them.

If you’re using Windows

There are two basic paths you can take. The first is to give up on reading those LIT files on your device. Instead, install Microsoft Reader and just read them on your Windows PC.

Obviously that’s not an ideal solution. Your other option is to try to convert them into something your Kindle can read. The Washington Post suggests Convert LIT, a free app that should do the job. However, it can be a little difficult to use if you’re not comfortable with the command line interface (here’s a brief tutorial). Another option is to download ABC Amber LIT Converter, another free application that should be able to turn your LIT file into something more compatible.

(Hint: if it’s a basic text and you want to read it immediately, convert it to TXT; otherwise try the HTML conversion and then use Calibre to convert that into a Kindle-friendly format like MOBI.)

If you’re on a Mac

For newer Macs, if you can dual-boot into a Windows environment and use the above solutions, I recommend that.

If you’re sticking purely with OS X, there’s an OS X version of Convert LIT that should work for OS 10.3.5 and higher, although I haven’t tested it.

Otherwise, I suggest you try the online conversion service:

If you want to use a web service

Try Zamzar.com. I’ve had mixed results with the service in the past–sometimes it works fine, sometimes I never receive the file from them at all and have to start over after waiting a day or so. However, the service does promise to convert LIT files directly to MOBI format, which will display on your Kindle.

(Photo: pacomexico)

Of course, if you’re on your PC you most likely can use your web browser to look up words. But the blog A Kindle World has another suggestion: install WordWeb, a free dictionary that runs in the background and provides definitions for 150,000 words instantly without requiring a web browser.

Once installed, you can set up a hot-key shortcut to pull it up from within Kindle for PC, and there you go–a fake built-in dictionary for the application!

“A Kindle World blog” [Kindleworld]

User ratings are all over the five-star spectrum: a lot of readers wanted a “how-to” list and not a “why this happens” explanation. Still, it’s free so there’s no risk in trying it out–and the best part is it won’t add any clutter to your home!

Living Organized by Sandra Felton [Amazon Kindle Store]

Notes: These instructions are for the Kindle 1. Amazon hid the necessary folder for this on the Kindle 2. If you have a Kindle 2, this is the only option I know of.

For Kindle 1 owners, this process is completely reversible–however, as long as you have custom screens on your Kindle, the default screen images won’t appear. You can follow these instructions to revert back to the default screens.

Remember, DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. This works for me and for others, but I make no guarantees, obviously.

• Short version
• Long (detailed) version

1. Create a new directory on the top level of your Kindle and name it pictures, and within that directory create another directory name anything you want (e.g., “pictures/My Pictures”)
2. Add images to that directory, then unmount the Kindle.
3. Go to Home Screen and press ALT+Z to create a new book out of “My Pictures.” Note that it will appear at the END of your list of books, for some reason.
4. Open book, then press F to go into full-screen mode.
5. For each image you want to turn into a screensaver, press ALT+SHIFT+0 (zero).
6. You can delete the “My Pictures” book and directory when finished–it won’t affect the screensaver images.

Part 1: Putting new images in your Kindle’s memory

1. Connect your Kindle to your computer via the included USB cable.
2. On your computer, navigate to your Kindle (it should appear as a USB-mounted drive on your desktop in OS X, and it should appear as a mounted drive in your “My Computer” window on Windows XP).
3. Double-click on the Kindle drive listing (or icon) to open it.
4. Now that you’re in the top level directory of Kindle, create a new folder and name it “pictures” (without the quotation marks).
5. Go into that folder by double clicking on it.
6. Now that you’re in “pictures,” create a new folder named “My Pictures” (again, no quotation marks).
7. This folder is where you’ll add all the screensaver images you want to appear on your Kindle. Just copy them directly into the “My Pictures” folder.
8. Now that you’re done with surgery, you can close up the patient–unmount or eject your Kindle from your computer, then disconnect it from the USB cable when it’s safe to do so.

Part 2: Telling the Kindle to use the new images for screensavers

1. On the Kindle, press the Home button to return to the main menu.
2. Press ALT+Z — this will force the Kindle to scan the “pictures” folder you added and create a new “book” out of the “My Pictures” folder you added. The book will be named “My Pictures.” Note that it will appear at the END of your list of books, for some reason.
3. Open the book. The first image in your “My Pictures” folder will appear as the first “page” of the book.
4. Press F on the keyboard–this will make the image full screen.  (Make sure “Search” isn’t turned on–if it is, hit the Search button to turn it off and then press F.)
5. Take a look–do you like the image? Want it for a screen saver? Press ALT+SHIFT+0 (the number zero)–after  few seconds, the Kindle will alert you that it has made a screensaver out of the image.
6. Turn the page to see the next image in your folder and repeat.

Note: When you’re done adding images to the screensaver collection, you can go into “Manage my Content” on your Kindle and remove the “My Pictures” book if you like. It won’t affect the screensaver images. (It also won’t actually delete the “My Pictures” folder, so if you want it back you can repeat Step 2 in Part 2 above.)

Note 2: Did you get to step 5 and nothing is happening? Make sure you’re pressing the real Shift key!