My Kindle Fire Page 6

  You can find out if a book can be loaned to others by reviewing the Product Details for the book on Amazon's site. If the book can be loaned, it will display ″Lending: Enabled.

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  4. Enter your friend or family member’s information and a personal message.

  5. Click Send Now.

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  What Happens Next?

  When you lend a book, the recipient of the book receives an email with a link to accept the request. He or she needs an Amazon account, but a Kindle device is not necessary to borrow a Kindle book.

  You are not able to read a book while it is loaned out to someone. You can see the status of the loan on the Manage Your Kindle page at www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.

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  Sideloading Books

  There are many sources of eBooks, many of which are free. (An Internet search for “free Kindle books” turns up plenty of sources.) After you download a Kindle-compatible eBook, you can transfer it to your Kindle using the USB cable. Manually transferring books from your computer to your Kindle is called sideloading. Sideloaded books are available in the Docs library on your Kindle.

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  An Easier Way to Sideload Books

  A better way to sideload books and manage your Kindle content is to use Calibre. Calibre can even convert eBooks in non-Kindle formats to a Kindle-compatible format automatically, and these converted books will show up in the Books screen instead of the Docs screen. See Chapter 5, “Managing Content with Calibre,” for details.

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  1. Plug your Kindle Fire into your computer using a micro-USB cable.

  2. Open (double-click) the Kindle drive on your computer.

  3. Select a book on your computer that you want to copy to your Kindle Fire and drag and drop it to either the Documents folder or the Books folder on your Kindle.

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  Reconnecting USB

  If you tap Disconnect while your Kindle Fire is connected to your computer, you are no longer able to see the Kindle’s folders on your computer. You can easily reconnect your Kindle by either unplugging the USB cable and plugging it back in or by tapping the Notification area of the Kindle and tapping the USB Is Connected notification.

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  Reading Books

  The Kindle has always been a great device for reading. Instead of carrying around a bag of books, you can put all the books you would want to read on your Kindle. You can easily look up definitions with the integrated dictionary. You can search the Web when you want to read more about something you encounter in a book. You can even increase the size of a book’s text to make it easier to read.

  All of these great features are available on your Kindle Fire, and because it’s a tablet computer, your Kindle Fire makes using these features easier than any other Kindle.

  Browsing Your Library

  You can view books on your device and in the cloud using the Books library.

  1. From the Home screen, tap Books to access your Books library.

  2. Tap Device to see content that has been downloaded to your Kindle Fire or Cloud to see content that is in your online library.

  3. Tap By Author, By Recent, or By Title to change the order in which your books are sorted.

  Downloading a Book to Your Device

  Before you can read a book, you must first download it to your device.

  1. From the Books library, tap Cloud to see the books in your online library.

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  Cloud and Device

  When you are in Cloud view, you see books that are also on your device. That’s because even after you download a book to your device, it is still in the cloud so that you can download it to other Kindles or devices.

  Books in the cloud that haven’t been downloaded to your device have a downward-pointing arrow in the lower-right corner.

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  2. Scroll to the book you want to download to your device.

  3. Tap the book to download it to your device. You can also tap and hold the book and then tap Download.

  Removing a Book from Your Device

  You can remove downloaded books from your Kindle Fire in order to free up some memory on the device.

  1. From the Books library, tap Device to see the books on your device.

  2. Scroll to the book that you want to remove from your device.

  3. Tap and hold the book.

  4. Tap Remove from Device.

  Reading a Book

  The Kindle Fire is a great device for reading, and because it has a backlit screen, you can easily read in bed at night and in other low-light conditions without a reading light.

  1. From the Books library, tap a book on your device to open it for reading.

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  My Book Doesn’t Open on Page One

  Kindle books open at the beginning of the book, but the beginning isn’t necessarily page one. The publisher of a book can choose any page as the beginning of a book. Books frequently open at a point after the foreword, dedication, and other such sections.

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  Books Aren’t Only in the Library

  You can also open a book for reading from the Carousel or the Favorites shelf.

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  2. Tap the right side of a page or swipe from right to left to move forward one page.

  3. Tap the left side of a page or swipe from left to right to move back one page.

  4. Tap the center of the page and swipe the Location slider to move to a specific location within the book.

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  Navigating a Book

  You can tap the Menu icon for options to navigate to the cover, the table of content, or the beginning of a book. You can also enter a specific location number to quickly move to that location.

  Because the Kindle Fire re-pages content based on the text size you use, it doesn’t currently list actual page numbers. Amazon might add that feature in a future version of the Kindle Fire operating system.

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  >>>Go Further: E Ink Versus LCD

  The Kindle comes in two flavors; the E Ink Kindles and the Kindle Fire. E Ink screens look very much like a printed page. They are easy to read, and because they don’t rely on a backlight, you can read an E Ink display in bright sunlight just as you can a printed page. However, if you’re like me and you want to read in bed, you’ll need a light to read an E Ink display. Just like an actual book, an E Ink display doesn’t provide its own illumination.

  An LCD display can be read in darkness without a supplemental light source. However, many people feel that reading an LCD screen is irritating to the eyes. In my opinion, reading for several hours on an LCD screen can be fatiguing, but because the Kindle Fire’s screen is not as large as a computer monitor or a large tablet, it’s less tiring for me to read on it.

  Perhaps the biggest drawback to an LCD screen is that it can’t be read comfortably in bright sunlight. Even the best LCD screens are washed out in bright daylight, and your Kindle Fire suffers from that same drawback. Don’t expect to spend much time reading your Kindle Fire while relaxing on the beach.

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  Looking Up Definitions

  Your Kindle Fire comes with The New Oxford American Dictionary so that you can look up definitions of words while you’re reading.

  1. Tap and hold the word you want to look up in the dictionary. A definition of the word displays.

  2. Tap the definition pop-up to dismiss it.

  3. Tap Full Definition to open the dictionary and see a more detailed definition.

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  Returning from a Full Definition

  To return to your book after viewing a full definition, tap the center of the screen and then tap the Back icon.

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  Definitions Are Not Just in Books

  Definitions are available from books, magazines, newspapers, and in your personal documents.

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  Changing Font Styles

  You can change the size of fonts, line spacing, page margins, and colors when reading Kindle content.

  1. Tap the center of a page while you’re reading.

  2. Tap the Text icon.

  3. Tap a font size option to make the text larger or smaller.

  4. Tap a Line Spacing option to change the space between lines.

  5. Tap a Margins option to change the page margin.

  6. Tap a Color Mode to change the color of pages and text.

  Changing the Typeface

  By default, the Kindle Fire displays type using the Georgia typeface. You can choose from a selection of typefaces if Georgia isn’t to your liking.

  1. Tap the center of a page while you’re reading.

  2. Tap the Text icon.

  3. Tap Typeface.

  4. Scroll to the desired typeface.

  5. Tap the typeface.

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  Font Styles and Typeface Are Not Just in Books

  You can change font styles and typeface settings in books, newspapers, personal documents, and in magazines. You can change the text size in Silk (the Kindle Fire’s web browser) as well, and I’ll show you how in Chapter 10, “Browsing the Web with Silk.”

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  Using Notes

  Just like writing in the margins of a physical book, notes are a convenient way of annotating a book. Notes are available in books and in personal documents that are in Mobi format. (Kindle files in Mobi format have either a .mobi or a .prc file extension.)

  Adding a Note

  You can add a note to any book, whether you own the book or not. Notes that you add to a book are synchronized across all of your Kindle devices and Kindle apps.

  1. In an open book, tap and hold to begin selecting a passage to which you’d like to attach a note.

  2. If necessary, tap and drag on the left and right of a selection to select more or fewer words.

  3. Tap Note.

  4. Enter the text for your note using the Kindle keyboard.

  5. Tap Save to save the note.

  6. To cancel a note, tap away from the Note pop-up.

  Viewing an Individual Note

  Notes appear as highlighted text with a blue note icon. You can view an individual note by tapping it.

  1. Tap the blue note icon that marks your note.

  2. After reviewing your note, tap Close.

  Viewing All Notes

  You can view a list of all of your notes, highlights, and bookmarks.

  1. Tap the center of a page to access the Options bar.

  2. Tap the Menu icon.

  3. Scroll up and down to see all of your notes and marks.

  4. Tap a note or mark to go to that location in the book.

  Editing a Note

  You can easily edit notes and any edits you make are synchronized across all of your Kindle devices.

  1. Tap on the middle of a page in the book that contains the note you want to edit.

  2. Tap the Menu icon.

  3. Tap and hold the note you want to edit.

  4. Tap Edit.

  5. Enter the new text for your note.

  6. Tap Save to commit your changes to the note. You’ll be returned to reading the page where the note is located.

  Deleting a Note

  When you delete a note, it deletes it across all of your Kindle devices.

  1. Tap the middle of a page in the book that contains the note you want to delete.

  2. Tap the Menu icon.

  3. Tap and hold the note that you want to delete.

  4. Tap Delete.

  Working with Highlights

  Highlights are a convenient way to mark passages that are important or that you want to review later on. Highlights are available in books and in personal documents that are in Mobi format. You cannot highlight periodicals.

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  Notes Are Also Highlights

  When you add a note to a passage, a highlight is added as well.

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  Adding a Highlight

  Just like highlights in a physical book, a highlighted passage in a Kindle Fire book appears as yellow highlighted words.

  1. Tap and hold to begin selecting a passage you’d like to highlight.

  2. If necessary, tap and drag on the left and right of a selection to select more or fewer words.

  3. Tap Highlight.

  Deleting a Highlight

  Unlike highlights in a physical book, you can delete a highlight in a Kindle book.

  1. Tap on the middle of a page in the book that contains the highlight you want to delete.

  2. Tap the Menu icon.

  3. Locate the highlight you’d like to delete.

  4. Tap and hold the highlight and tap Delete.

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  No Confirmation for Deleting Highlights

  When you delete a highlight, you aren’t asked whether you really want to delete it. If you think about it, this isn’t really a big deal because you can just highlight a passage again if you accidentally delete it.

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  Working with Bookmarks

  When you’re reading a physical book, a bookmark allows you to mark your place so that you can easily return to it. The Kindle Fire marks your place automatically, but you still may want to add bookmarks on important pages so that you can easily locate them later. Think of these bookmarks as a dogeared page. In fact, you can bookmark as many pages as you wish in a book.

  Bookmarks are available in books and in personal documents that are in Mobi format.

  Adding a Bookmark

  Adding a bookmark is easy. Bookmarks that you add are synchronized across all of your Kindle devices and applications.

  1. Move to the page where you’d like to add your bookmark.

  2. Tap the middle of the page to bring up the Options bar and bookmark icon.

  3. Tap the bookmark icon to add a bookmark.

  Removing a Bookmark

  When you remove a bookmark, it removes it from all Kindle devices and applications.

  1. Move to the page that is bookmarked.

  2. Tap the blue bookmark icon to remove the bookmark.