Amazon introduces a redesigned Kindle family
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I got a "tiktok ring" that I use to read in bed, and it's fantastic
The only problem is if your device is connected to wifi and has updated to new firmware.
This is opt-in, so authors self-publishing make the choice when uploading their books.
I don’t see a download option. There used to be one, but they killed it two years ago or so.
And Amazon can still remove the book from your library anytime they want.
And if a book is on the no DRM list you can find a "download" link in the drop down menu for the book.
But I have not found a way to determine if a book has this option before buying it. So I'm not longer buying anything on Amazon.
By Richard Stallman
I have many fond memories of sharing games as a kid with my friends. Of renting them from Blockbuster. But nowadays it with everything digital…that’s all gone..
They already deleted my books once so it stays since then in plane mode, and I recovered everything with Calibre.
Kobo had its store on the home page, and while it was unobstrusive, the Pocketbook has nothing at all. Worth a look, if you are interested.
The touch interface is great for typing, but for turning pages I find myself either accidentally pressing on the screen or it not recognising the touch at all. Touching in the wrong spot can also result in it clicking links or similar.
The idea they might be bringing out a case that has the buttond seems great, except it's only for the signature editions.
Not happy about that one.
That said, it is so buggy (constant freezes, occasional white screen of death) and so slow.
Instead, I read my Kindle books on my S24 Ultra. Why?
One reason is the classic photographer's question: "What is the best camera?" The one you have with you.
The other is that I really like scrolling instead of page-turning. I can hold the phone in one hand and use my thumb to scroll up and down just like any webpage or document. This lets me keep my context instead of losing it at every page turn. If I forget the train of thought, I can scroll back a few lines and pick it right up.
There are two steps to enable this.
First, open any book and tap in the middle. Select the "Aa" icon at the top. Go to the Layout tab and turn on Continuous Scrolling.
Now you will have a problem. The selfie camera's circular hole cuts into the scrolling area. To my eyes, it is disorienting and annoying to have everything else scroll but that camera cutout sits there.
To fix this, go to Settings / Display / Camera cutout. Scroll down to Kindle and change its setting from "Auto" to "Hide Camera cutout". This takes away a few pixels at the top of the screen, but you have plenty of display space available. And no disorienting black circle as you scroll.
You may still prefer a physical Kindle device, but with these two settings, the S24 Ultra is now my favorite Kindle.
> One reason is the classic photographer's question: "What is the best camera?" The one you have with you.
I have a Kobo Libra and while it’s bigger than the basic kindle I had (which I could put in my back pocket), it’s still fairly portable. The nicest thing is that I only need to press the power button to get back to what I was reading. Compare to unlocking the phone, open the app, locate the book and then opening it. Without being distracted.
What about physical buttons on the device edges? That could be really innovative
Apart from that it's great, books won't get any better with an upgraded ereader.
The abandonment of Oasis, coupled with their DRM goofs, led me to a Boox Go, with Koreader, and Ive never been happier
The problem is UI lag. Reading a book once opened is fine. Everything up to the point of starting to read is lag lag lag.
It was laggy when brand new. When I asked people about it, they said it was normal. To its credit, it’s no laggier today five years later than it was when new.
I understand the e-ink tech does not refresh quickly. But I'm more referring to things like when I click on something (like just opening my Library screen), it takes a long time for it happen.
I’ve had a Kobo for many years, with calibre sideloading and managing my DRM-free library of ePUBs fully owned by me, and never looked back.
Disparaging normies by describing them as "People [who] are either too lazy or love being sheep" is rather judgmental.
I'm not sure about where you are but in Holland everyone was downloading movies and TV shows in the early 2000s. When Netflix came to Europe that changed though I do expect it to go back to that now that the content has been spread over tens of platforms with every rising prices and annoying ads.
2. I am in the U.S.
3. >everyone was downloading movies and TV shows in the early 2000s.
Not normies; everyone in this case = HN-user types/techies, a very small portion of the general population.
I would visit people who were totally not technical and they'd have a PC in their livinroom with FTD on it (which was the typical Dutch piracy tool at that time). Popcorntime was there for the even less technical people. It was as easy as click and play, really. They didn't really know what they were doing but everyone has some smartass nephew who can set stuff like that up.
I find it very hard to understand that people who had no issue using windows 95 or XP and installing something like FTD can now not find anything.
I have to agree that it's harder to find Anna's archive than I thought, when I type "Download books for free" in duckduckgo it doesn't come up with Anna's Archive (or Z-Library or library genesis for that matter), if I type the names it does come up though.
That's why they have many consumers.
Given that most my ebooks are in ePub format, when it dies, the Kindle will be replaced by Kobo or whatever else that fits those requirements.
Paying for buttons on an external cover, really?!?
https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/53804-most-americans-didnt...
This literally isn't true :)
But more relevant is that if ~20% of adults are reading 10+ books a year, then there's absolutely still a market for eReaders. (Whether or not kindles deserve that market I'll leave for others to argue :)
I've long wondered what the percentage of HN users/readers who are women is but it's impossible to know. For every self-described female here, most remain under the radar.
Also it only fits the Signature Editions and will only be available in March (in the UK, at least).
I'm still mourning the Oasis :(
I wonder if there's a connection?
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ube-is-the-2024-fla...
I sync books through Dropbox. Seamless as can be. (And no DRM or "leasing" nonsense)
It beats the pants off kindle
Pocketbooks just run Android and you can install what you want without any issue.
Also pocketbook are a Swiss company so that also helps if you're trying to buy European which I do.
I like the warmth setting of more current paperwhites.
Not to say that the leather industry doesn't still contribute money to the meat industry, just that this change reads more as greenwashing than an upgrade.
Most consumer leather has a pigmented acrylic or polyurethane topcoat and then dyes and fat liquors. Chrome-tanned leather leaves chromium behind when it breaks down, potentially into the toxic hexavalent form. "Biodegradable" has no time limit attached, so it doesn't really say much about the "green-ness" of animal leather. Tanning itself is done to slow down biodegrading.
All of this is orthogonal to the fact that I, personally, as a consumer, do not want to purchase a product made from animals, which is why I'm glad they're not making them out of animals anymore.