Updates for KindleFire's Scrabble and Solitare apps, 976 more free books, unusual history special on Kindle Daily Deal today

SCRABBLE FOR KINDLE FIRE UPDATED TO ADD SINGLE-PLAYER MODE

  There have been 280 customer reviews of Scrabble for Kindle Fire and a full 80 of them are rated only 1-star because Electronic Arts did not provide a single-player mode at first.  What were they thinking?

  As of December 19, the single-player mode was added, and the latest reviews reflect this  (Link: amzn.to/kfscrabble ) and are very positive.  Since I used to be a Scrabble addict, this is bad news for me.  The updated Scrabble app is downloadable at no added charge, of course, for those who purchased it earlier.  (Link: amzn.to/kfscrabble-dl )  The price is $0.99.


Solitare v1.1.4 for Kindle Fire, by MobilityWare, has been updated for customizable designs and bug fixes, and is $0.00

  Currently, Android apps are still U.S. only.



Unusual Kindle Daily Deal today - Three history books by Stephen Ambrose
As the Amazon editors say,
  "Today only, three top-rated American history books from the inimitable historian Stephen E. Ambrose are just $1.99 each."  All were $9.99 Friday, have a discount of $8 each today (Saturday), and are then priced today at $1.99 each 80% off
 Here are the details and links to each of the 3 books.  Two of them have hundreds of reviews and are ranked at 4.5 stars, and the third one has 65 reviews averaging 4.3.



The flood of free Kindle books continues
Friday morning, brought 356 more newly released temporarily-free books after Thursday's 294 books, and members of the forum in which Joyce and, sometimes AnnieB, announce these alerts, are trying to help filter them by posting the titles (and links) for the ones that most interested each of them from all those listed.
And now, Saturday morning, we have another 326 books! and already the forum members have listed some that stood out for them.


Discounted/Price-Dropped alerts on Kindle books
The latest, since I last linked to this message thread are from Dec 29 until today.

Happy 2012 to All!


Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Free Kindle books from Konrath and Crouch, 23 each, for one more day. Other free books and promos. Update: Millions of Kindle Fires + Millions of Kindle ereaders purchased, two Indy authors #1 and #4

Happily satiated with so many free Kindle books

Danish Polar Bear Cub Siku lies in bliss after just being fed, and it reminded me (okay, I just needed an excuse to post that picture!) of Kindlers after downloading so many free books each day lately (although I've seen that some are actually exhausted by the sheer number of them and the choices to be made).
  (For the others interested, here's the story and video for Siku. Kindle edition subscribers can't do video but can use the following link at a computer: bit.ly/blissed-out-siku )
  One more: an even better Siku videoclip (1-1/2 min.) (Link: bit.ly/siku-2 )

I actually ran across a Daily Mail comment that makes Siku almost on-topic :-)


Back to the many free Kindle books available lately
And now, J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch offer a few more.
Two days ago, at 9:35 AM, December 27, the bestselling author J.A. Konrath announced:

' I've sold 7000 ebooks in the last 36 hours, making over $14,000.

For the next three days, I'm making 23 of my titles free on Amazon Kindle. '

He added that "Blake Crouch is doing the same" and then linked us to their general pages of books.

  Since there is only ONE DAY REMAINING (I tweeted this but then was not here most of the time to blog it) I'm giving two links that will lead straight to the free 23 books for each, heading lists of their books, sorted low-to-high price.  The "next three days" would end Thursday night (tonight) or at 9:35am Friday morning.  I'd go for midnight tonight to be sure you get them while they're free.

  J.A. Konrath's 23+ free  Kindle books [ Update 12/31/11 - That sale is now over.]

  Blake Crouch's 23+ free Kindle books [ Update 12/31/11 - That sale is now over.]


UPDATE - Am adding that Amazon just announced that "Amazon customers purchased millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle e-readers" in what they describe as "...the Best Holiday Ever for Kindle"

  So you'll see the news sites quoting the numbers galore for a few days.

  They also mention a nice side effect: "Authors also continue to benefit from the success of Kindle — the #1 and #4 best-selling Kindle books released in 2011 were both published independently by their authors using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)."

  Darcie Chan, the author of ‘The Mill River Recluse,’ and Chris Culver, the author of ‘The Abbey,’ wrote "two of the best-selling Kindle books of the year."
  I remember noticing The Mill River Recluse, on August 25, when looking for a good, low-cost book to highlight for blog readers and the same for The Abbey, on August 30.  Sometimes, a high number of positive customer reviews, along with low-negative counts, will indicate very high interest.
  See the press release for quite a bit more detail.


Today's Kindle Daily Deal
This particular link will always get you the current deal, ending midnight each day. (mostly U.S.)
  Today's is Margaret Atwood's infamous and uplifting (just kidding) "The Handmaid's Tale" which was priced at $8.99 yesterday but, with a $7.50 discount today (Wed., 29th), is $1.49 83% off


In the meantime, what about the daily free Kindle books?
  Here's this morning's announcement, by the Kindle Forum's Joyce, of the latest release of (294) free Kindle books.  She of course is not listing each one when there are so many but is referring you to one of the sites she uses when collecting the titles and it's the one with a lot of information for each book although it then takes some time to go through them.
  When wanting to browse the latest titles faster although with less detail upfront (more will show in popups when hovering over one) try EReaderIQ.


Discount Alerts from the Kindle Forum
 Haven't had time to keep up with all the free books and discount alerts, but here's the latest page of the discounted and dropped-price alerts from the forum community, and you can work back if interested in earlier pages.


Don't forget Amazon's LtdTime Free Kindle Book Promos or Amazon's mostly 99c Kindle books page.


Ongoing popular discussions   (See Kindle Forums for more.)
  . Are you sorry you bought a Fire?   Newer
  . Kindle Fire for nonTech person?
  . Kindle Fire Keyboard.. Anyone else having issues?
  . Any happy Kindle Touch owners?
  . Kindle Fire video on airplane compared with iPad video, a tense thread :-)
  . Got my Fire!
  . Feel like almost crying - Kindle loss and personalizing Kindles - lighthearted
  . Unusual calls from Amazon because of forum posts
  . Personal docs now sendable to individual Kindles again
  . To Avoid Confusion, Please Use the Official Product Names in Forum" [entertaining]
  . Discussion of geographic restrictions on digital purchases
  . Discount-alert books discussed on separate message thread
  . What have been your favorite public domain books that are not so well known?
  . Best "Free" books you've read (many are no longer free, however).
  . Highly recommended Indie authors
  . Unique Uses of Kindles

Other current forum threads that might interest some
Public Library Lending questions at the forums, and Lendle's Kindle borrowing
  . How many e-books does your public library have?
  . Public librarians: what has been your Kindle/Overdrive experience?



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Beam N Read reading and general light - 1 wk holiday-discount of 25%

BEAM N READ 3-Led light, made by ASF Lightware Solutions.

As regular readers will know, my personal favorite in reading lights (I've bought too many different types) has been the Beam N Read "LED 3 Hands Free Travel Reading Light; for Kindle, Power Outages & More" that I first wrote about in early October 2010.

  I'm including much of what I wrote at the time, as the company who makes the Beam N Read, noting my now long-term enthusiasm, is offering a 25% discount to readers of this blog for Dec. 26 - Jan. 1, 2012.  Sorry I didn't get to this earlier today.  Was caught up in getting some information together for owners of the new Kindles found under trees yesterday.

  As before, I'm including a couple of photos below to show light coverage on my Kindle 3 with the Amazon cover for the Kindle 3, with built-in light vs. using what, by last year, became my favorite light for the various Kindles I have.

This portable light is worn around the neck and has an adjustable strap.  The light is said to last about 120 hours, and I do use it nightly for weeks before needing to change batteries.

  It comes with 4 standard alkaline AA batteries and a clip-on red filter to minimize "night blindness" and soften the light if needed, they say (I've never needed that).  Because it's very lightweight and flexible with a patented flip-up design, reflector, and the adjustable strap, I usually have it on when I'm home.  Going downstairs at night or to a less well-lit room, or when I just can't see something well enough, I can just turn this on briefly, which is done by flipping up the hood/reflector.

For reading a book or an e-book reader, you can also reverse it if you prefer (as I do) to hold the book higher than on your lap, and then flip the reflector down instead, so that the light angles up.  But if someone is sitting across from you, that may not be very comfortable for that person, as the Led lamps would be directed at their eyes too.

 I do love that it's always available when I need extra light.  No, I'm not associated with the company that makes them.  I was just tired of clipping on a light and adjusting it, as much as I love the ease of the Mighty Bright Xtraflex 2 which has the little foam pad where the clip-on meets the top of the Kindle's bezel.  The Beam N Read is pretty good at keeping the light from reaching the other person for night reading in bed.  There are times that I would like a somewhat brighter light, and when I do (not when reading a Kindle), I've used:

  The 6-led version (not part of the holiday promo but I'll include the info for those curious about it)
  Their 6-led version is VERY bright and probably overkill for reading a Kindle 6" reader, though I've sometimes used it for situations where the light is just dim.  I tried one for other uses, and for my Kindle DX in Landscape mode.  The batteries for this last, they say, about 48 hours, only 40% of the lasting power of the 3-Led model.  This one doesn't come with batteries included though it has a magnifier for short-session, detailed craft work, but I found the texture quite hard to see through and it's not not a feature I'd use.

  I DO use both Beam N Read units for piano music though, depending on how well the room is lit.

  I had bought a head lamp for a trip I took in October 2011, since we needed to go into some unlit places (Egyptian tombs!), but I don't at all like wearing something around my head just to read so I wondered if there was anything like this.  Amazon doesn't make this easy to find, but I found it extremely useful for any e-reader.

Here are photos of the effect of two reading lights on my Kindles.

Lit by the Amazon cover with built-in light, the upper right hand corner of my Kindle 3 (UK: K3) ("Kindle Keyboard") is brighter than the lower-left area, of course, and the light isn't as bright as I like but it's useful if you're out and need a light for reading.  That special cover light needs no batteries, as it runs off the Kindle's own battery, and it shuts off automatically if the Kindle goes into sleep mode after about 10 minutes.

The second picture is of the same Kindle lit by the Beam N Read 3-Led light -- the lighting on my Kindle 3, in this case (no flash was used, as you can tell from a click of the image that leads to the EXIF camera data included with the larger image at PBase) is very even and brighter overall than from the one built into the Amazon cover, but one would seldom wear the Beam N Read when out, probably, though I've definitely done it :-).

Again, I hope this helps some who are looking for good lights to use with the Kindle.  I did the various photos, as choice of a light has been one of the most asked questions on the Kindle forums.

Here are reviews and user feedback cited on the company's website collected from several types of communities, including gadget and e-reader blog site staff.  At the Amazon product page, the light, though not promoted by Amazon as a Kindle light, has 23 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars.

I do use this light daily, as I don't have to worry anymore about which light fits which Kindle model and because I use it for other purposes as well, as mentioned.  Although I'm not affiliated with the company that makes and distributes Beam N Read, my enthusiasm's been noted by ASF Lightware Solutions (website: www.readinglight.com ) and I'm delighted they've offered Kindleworld readers the special 1 week holiday pricing of $14.95 for the Dec. 26-Jan. 1 period, as they just released in mid December a new model with a more elastic neck strap that's easier to adjust and can be worn higher.
  Remember that I like to reverse the way it's worn when I'm reading in sitting position as I prefer to hold the Kindle higher than some.

  Amazon customers can use the coupon code "KNDLWRLD" when ordering the 3-LED light model during the next week to get the 25% discount off the MSRP of $19.95.  While I receive many offers of products for review, I don't do actual reviews, writing only about products I've bought and really enjoy.  In this case, I've bought some for friends, and friends have bought them as well.  It's just an unusual, generally useful product.

Read More >

Amazon Forum Announcements: Kindle Fire Tips: Getting Started, Setting up Wi-Fi, Excellent Connect-Problem-Solving Guide

AMAZON FORUM ANNOUNCEMENT - Kindle Fire: Getting started

I just saw the first announcement shown below at the regular "Kindle Forum" and that refers us to the Q&A forum for questions about Kindle Fire and WiFi, taking us to the "Setting Up WiFi" announcement.

For those who don't have time to make it to the forums, Amazon Kindle Customer Service gave some general Kindle Fire Start-up tips on Christmas Eve at almost 8pm PST, and I'll quote those here adding active links (the forums don't use links for these announcements).   (Any bold-face emphases are mine)

Initial post: Dec. 24, 2011 7:47:31 PM PST
Last edited by the author 20 hours ago

' Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

Do you have a question about how to get started with your Kindle Fire? We have compiled some of the most common questions to help get you started!

If you have questions about the Kindle Fire and Wi-Fi, make sure to check out our "Kindle Fire Tips: Setting Up Wi-Fi" post here.

Q. How do I register my Kindle Fire?
A. To register online, visit Manage Your Kindle at www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.
You can also register your Kindle Fire directly from the device by following the steps found here: www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200729250#registering

Q. Having trouble registering from your Kindle Fire?
A. Here are some troubleshooting steps that may help:

a. Go to the "Your Account" page (found by clicking [that link at the top] of this page) and then Click "Change Account Settings" under Settings-account Settings. Make sure that your name is entered in the Name field.

b. Make sure you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. You should see the Wi-Fi icon in the top right of your Kindle Fire. You can also test your connection by browsing to a web page using the Silk web browser found under "Web".  Your Kindle Fire needs to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to complete the registration process.

c. If you cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network check out the troubleshooting steps found in our Kindle Fire Tips: Setting Up Wi-Fi post here

Still having problems registering? Please contact our Customer Support team by clicking Help at the top of the page and using the Contact Us button.

Q. How can I purchase apps for my Kindle Fire?
A. You will need to have a 1-Click payment method set up with your Amazon account. You can learn more about how to setup a 1-Click payment method here:
www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200729570#start

Q. What can I do if my Kindle Fire will not turn on?  [Do read this.]
A. Charge your Kindle Fire for 30 minutes. If it is still unresponsive, unplug it from the power source and hold the power button for 20 seconds. After the Kindle Fire turns off, press the power button again to turn it back on.

Q. What is Amazon Prime?
A. Amazon Prime is an annual membership program that offers customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items and instant streaming of movies and TV shows for $79 a year with Prime instant videos. Eligible customers who purchase a Kindle Fire will be given a free month of Amazon Prime.
When you purchase a Kindle Fire as a gift, the gift recipient will receive a free month of Amazon Prime benefits once they activate the Kindle Fire, provided they are eligible for the offer. You can learn more about Amazon Prime and Kindle Fire at www.amazon.com/help/kindle/prime.

Q. How do I update the software on my Kindle Fire?
A. Kindle Fire will automatically update when a new software update is available and when the Kindle Fire is connected via Wi-Fi.
Visit the Kindle Software Updates page at www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates to see if a free software update is available.

Q. Why doesn't my computer recognize my Kindle Fire?  [Do read this.]
A. To use your Kindle Fire in USB mode, ensure that it is NOT in sleep mode when it is plugged in.

Not sure which Kindle is for you? Learn more about each new device and compare features on our website at www.amazon.com/kindlefamily

If these FAQs don't answer your question, please start a new discussion. '

---

Below, for the record, is the full Amazon Forum Announcement on "Setting up Wi-Fi."  This one will have only minimal prepared links and will use only what was given in the forum (where they don't have active links). Will boldface questions.

Initial post: Dec. 24, 2011 7:39:14 PM PST
Last edited by the author 7:41:28 PM PST

' Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

Do you have a question about how to connect your Kindle Fire to a Wi-Fi network? We have compiled some of the most common questions to help get you started!

Q: How do I connect my Kindle Fire to a Wi-Fi Network?
A: Follow the steps found here: www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200729310

Q: Having trouble connecting to your Wi-Fi network?
A: Here are some troubleshooting steps that can help:
1. Is your Wi-Fi turned on? Tap the cog in the upper right corner, select Wi-Fi and make sure Wireless Networking is set to ON.

2. Verify that your Kindle Fire software is up to date by going to www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates. You can check the version of your Kindle Fire software by tapping on the cog in the upper right hand corner, select More.., and then select Device. Your software version is listed under System Version. If your Kindle Fire is not up to date, follow the instructions found on the Kindle Software Updates page.

3. Are you getting one of these error messages?
a. "The password you entered is incorrect or invalid" - The password is the one associated with the Wi-Fi network, not your Amazon account password. If you don't know your Wi-Fi password, contact the person who set up your Wi-Fi network, your Internet service provider, or the manufacturer of your Wi-Fi router for help. Your Wi-Fi password may also be written on the bottom of your Wi-Fi router.
b. "Wi-Fi network connection failed" - The network you chose could not be found or did not respond. Contact your network's administrator for more assistance.
c. "Wi-Fi is not available right now" - Wi-Fi might be turned off on your Kindle Fire. Tap the cog in the upper right corner, select Wi-Fi and make sure Wireless Networking is set to ON.
d. "Local Network connection failed" - Try rebooting your router or contacting your network's administrator. Let them know that this error may be related to a failed DHCP request.
e."Internet connection failed" - Your Kindle Fire is connected, but unable to contact our servers. Try again in a few minutes or contact Amazon Customer Support for more assistance.

4. Do you see your desired network in the list of available networks?
Some networks may not be broadcasting (even though they are active). If you do not see the network, make sure the network is active by using another device that uses Wi-Fi. If it is and you have the network name, you can enter it manually by tapping the cog in the upper right corner, select More.., and then select Wireless Network. Scroll down the list to "Add a Network" and enter the network name manually. If you do not know the name of your network, or still cannot find it, you may need to contact your ISP or the network's administrator.

5. Can you connect to the web on another computer?
If you cannot connect at all, something might be wrong with your network - you may want to try rebooting your router or contacting the network's administrator. If you can connect with another computer, take the Kindle Fire to another local Hot Spot (libraries often have free Wi-Fi Hot Spots). If you can connect there, you may still need to refer to your network's administrator. However, if you cannot your Kindle Fire connect [sic] to any network, please contact us for more assistance.

6. Can you connect using the Silk Web browser?
If you can bring up a web page, you are online and should be able to use all the other functions of the Kindle Fire.

7. Do you need to have a static IP address?
Some networks may require this, while others may not. Check with your network's administrator for more assistance.

8. If none of these steps help, or you continue to have problems,
please select Help at the top of the page and use the Contact Us button to contact our Customer Support team.

In addition, you can watch a video at www.amazon.com/help/kindle/fire/wifi/video or consult our troubleshooting tips at www.amazon.com/help/kindle/fire/wifi for additional guidance on common issues.

For more information troubleshooting Wi-Fi issues see this post: http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx2RY4L7G1R2KE [*] '

  [*] That last one, by a S. Yelvington is an EXCELLENT document on troubleshooting WiFi connection problems.  If you're having connection problems, you should definitely follow this link to Yelvington's guide and print it out to make it easier to go through each step as appropriate.
  That's the Ultimate set of Internet connection tips, as far as I'm concerned   :-)



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Kindle and Kindle-Fire Helpers, Guides, app, podcast, and an off-topic short story - Updated w/ more books

SOME KINDLE AND KINDLE FIRE HELPERS

The 7 Dragons group has created probably the most popular tools and utilities for the Kindle Keyboard series (Kindle 2, Kindle 3, Kindle DX, and now Kindle 4 Basic-no Touch-no physical Keyboard):
  Notepad,   Calendar,   Calculator,  and   Converter

  At least some of these are being converted for Kindle Touch, and I'll be watching for those.

In the meantime, they have released a Kindle Fire app:
  Alarm Clock, Calendar, ToDo List - Productivity Helper.  A sort of "Productivity Swiss knife"...
  As with other apps for now, it's available only to U.S. customers.

  NOTE: This is for Kindle Fire only and NOT for other 7" tablets, despite Amazon's "Compatability" wording in the Buy box.  This set was tested and optimized ONLY for the quite wide-screen Kindle Fire, and A. Singh of 7 Dragons wrote the first comment to request that people not buy this if you have another 7" tablet.

  It was just released and there are already a few very positive reviews with one reviewer wishing only for Google sync for calendars

  The Product Description includes details such as the inclusion of Backup and Restore functionality and built-in, detailed Help.   The alarm clock works even when you're in another app and includes a Musical Alarm that allows the setting of a song as your alarm.  The ToDo List handles priorities, and you can choose one of the provided backgrounds or use one of your own images.
  There's also a stopwatch and a live Antique Clock with a second hand.
Cost: $1.00

---

A Kindle book for those wondering how to work this Kindle Fire thing
Love Your Kindle Fire: The ILMK Guide to Amazon's Entertablet, by Bufo Calvin, 12 customer reviews, 4.6 stars, $2.99 (Link: amzn.to/love-your-kindle-fire )

Bufo Calvin is the author of 5 other Kindle books and is very popular in the Amazon Kindle forums for his clarity and good humor in answers to questions there, which he does on his own time.  He also has a best-selling Kindle-Edition blog, "I Love My Kindle."

  Calvin goes through each menu option, step by step, explaining what each does.  A lot of the book is in conversational Question and Answer format, in which he interviews himself with the types of questions he has seen most, from the Kindle forums and at his blog, but most important, with some very thorough answers.
  The writing style may be best suited to those new to the Android scene.
  The author has updated the book since it was first published and it now includes what he's found after a month with the Kindle Fire, his Android App recommendations, and some details about the recent v6.2.1 software update.

---

The Kindle Chronicles Podcast
The Kindle Chronicles is the very popular Friday Podcast by Len Edgerly for listeners who'd like to know "All About the Kindle."  It includes both audio and text sections on News, Tech Tips, a Weekly Interview, and Comments received from the Kindle community during the previous week.
  Quick, sharp, and enthusiastically curious about much more than things Kindle, Len is also a relaxed, engaging interviewer.  Catch his very interesting blog "Random Reflections."

  I did a report on his poetry book on Kindle and Bufo Calvin's earlier books in the July 2, 2009 blog article.
  He has a large Twitter following at http://twitter.com/LenEdgerly.  Len's Kindle Chronicles, begun July 2008, is practically a log or history of the Kindle and its impact on readers and the publication world in the short time since its release.

---

Stephen Windwalker's Complete Kindle Books series
The Complete 2012 User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle: Covers All Current Kindles including the Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, and Kindle, by Stephen Windwalker who has been explaining what can be done on Kindles since the beginning of Kindle time, and as you can tell from the title, he provides information on all the current Kindles.  A prolific writer, he has a large following on Facebook and for his Kindle Nation blog. $1.49

---

Mobi Manuals Guide (Mobile Reference)
Kindle Fire Survival Guide: Step-by-step User Guide for Kindle Fire: Getting Started, Downloading FREE eBooks, Buying Apps, Watching Movies, and Surfing the Web, by Toly K.

  This is quite a detailed book, at a decent price (I bought all three books), though it has a couple of errors noted, and some customer review statements and ratings are quite odd.

---

A "For Dummies" book
Kindle Fire for Dummies, by Nancy C. Muir.

  Expensive at $9.68 but it has 12 customer reviews and an average 4.4 stars.
  This one I haven't bought, but I felt it should be included.

---

And for something completely different, and free for maybe one more day (I'm not sure how long it's free.)
Our Dog Lucca: A funny, short, picture scrapbook, by Moe Zilla, probably better known as Jon Cog, the writer behind Beyond Black Friday (which was formerly known as the "Me and my Kindle" blog).  The book, recently released and his first, is a look at the life of his dog, written in rhyme for children, with photographs, and has shot up to #2 in the Kindle Store's genre Kindle subcategory of "Children's eBooks-) Animals-) Dogs and Nonfiction -) Children's Nonfiction -) Animals."
 It's a Kindle blog to put on your Visit list.  His tribute to a young Kindle blogger who died suddenly was not the usual Kindle blog read.



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Kindle Tips: Kindle Fire/Touch info for new users + B&N closes up Nook Tablet loophole. UPDATED Dec. 25 for added links.

RANDOM THINGS ABOUT AND FOR KINDLE FIRE

By now, everything's in place for Christmas and the calls to Buy this, Buy that will finally scale back, well, until the day after Christmas.

In the meantime, a few million people will suddenly find themselves with Kindles of one type or another.  So, I'll write a few reminders about the Kindle Fire, about which there has been some misunderstanding in recent news stories.
  There are some tips for Kindle Touch e-readers also.


New Best of Digital page
  Amazon just added a page they call "Best of Digital" -or "amazondigital Deals" (the odd capitalization is Amazon's) which is described as "The year's best MP3 music, games and apps for Android, movies and TV shows, Kindle Books, Audible audiobooks, software downloads, and video game downloads."


Prime Program features
  For the first month, free Prime membership is included with Kindle Fire, though many of us have had that for awhile because it is basically a program to get free shipping within 2 days for almost any purchases from Amazon with no minimum purchase amount, BUT they've now added other features such as over 10,000 free streaming videos and the ability to borrow a Kindle book each calendar month with no library waits and no due date.  The cost of that is $79/yr, or $6.58/mo.

  They recently added current PBS specials and unusual items from the BBC and lots of documentaries if families are into that.  While doing reading for the blog the other day, I had the Kindle Fire behind the keyboard, hooked to external speakers, to watch recent offerings of a current documentary on Steve Jobs by PBS and a special on North Korea (after hearing so much news about their leader's death, and the concern over how this will affect us).  Both were fascinating to me.  They also have seasons full of TV favorites but they'll not be current seasons.  These are viewable at essentially no added cost for Prime members.


That power button
  The NY Times has complained mightily, quickly followed by other news-sites quoting them, about missing features that anyone with a $500 tablet is used to and can't do without.  They've quoted a few with unhappy reactions in Kindle forums while ignoring the rather large majority very pleased with the KFire.

  A power button on the 'bottom' that can put the tablet to sleep (not 'off') if your stomach presses it is a big concern although top and bottom are interchangeable and you can turn what is up(side), down and the speakers (low-powered) are then pointing toward you.  I miss the hardware volume button too, but they've whittled features down to get to the $199 price point.
For $300 difference, what is it that some will find impossible -- that's the key and those unhappy really should get other devices and pay a bit more.


B&N's Nook Tablet and B&N policies
  There is also the Nook Tablet, at $250 plus another $20 for a good microSD card to expand storage space, so that is an additional $70 for what is more expandable hardware by a company that itself doesn't have much for the tablet to use as it doesn't offer its own streaming of music or video, and now it's been found that their latest update no longer allows their customers to use a web browser to work around the fact that B&N will not allow side-loading (via USB cable) of non-B&N apps.  They've closed off that avenue, or loophole.

  And, as most know, they've limited non-B&N files on the internal storage, to 1 gigabyte.  But since their launch emphasized that the Kindle Fire is "not open" the way the Nook Tablet is, I'll talk about that a bit.
  B&N's first odd claim was that they had Netflix and Hulu Plus and that Amazon wouldn't allow that, due to wanting to bind customers to only Amazon content.

  That turned out to be strangely uninformed, since Netflix and other companies were announced as having the Kindle Fire Sept. 28 and working on it.  And, as KFire owners know, Netflix and Hulu Plus were both available for the KFire upon delivery.  As you'll see, most actual KFire users find the video streaming, and the quality of it (if your Internet host is giving you good download speeds and your router is good), a big plus.


Sideloading of non-Amazon store apps
  Amazon, interviewed at the launch, said that side-loading of non-Amazon apps IS allowed, and with the latest update it still is.  Bear in mind that some of these may not be entirely compatible with Amazon's heavy customization of the Android operating system.

  Amazon also shows, with the latest update (v6.2.1) as any Android device will, how much is set aside specifically for app files.  In this case, 1 gig.  I've added many apps, almost daily, and have used up 1/3 of my space for that (including mapping programs), but I don't keep on the device what I know I won't use.

  Server storage of your purchases or even your own non-Amazon files
  If I got an app from Amazon's app store, Amazon still keeps it for me on the servers at no charge and I can re-download it at any time, for use when wanted.
  Many are hoarding the daily free Android apps and when they're not using them, these should be deleted from the device until wanted, as they'll be available to the customer at any time via Amazon's servers which keep records of the 'purchase' even when $0.00.

  These are not charged storage use against the free 5 gigs that all customers globally get for storage of non-copyrighted data from anywhere else.  That's in addition to another free 5 gigs of Kindle-device storage/backup for personal documents (non-Amazon purchased material) that you decide you want backed up on the server and sync'd.
  B&N-purchased material is stored by B&N but they don't provide storage for non-B&N files.

  "Sideloading" non-Amazon apps is explained at the earlier article on how to sideload non-Amazon apps.

  I'll have more info on the more reliable sites to get good non-Amazon apps, in a future blog article.


Android Marketplace, which isn't readily available on either Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
  Neither company allows access to the full, non-curated Android Marketplace.  And those of us who do use the Android Market via our other devices need to be careful about what we get there as malware/virus-infected files are proliferating in the Marketplace because they are not checked, at this point, by Google before being made available to the public. See:
  . Dec 23 article by ZDNet "More Trojanized games enter Google's Android Market app store."
  . Techworld's more-detailed article
  . A list of pulled malware in December, that was targeting Europeans.

  In the meantime, LinuxInsider has a story on Dec 20 titled, "Can Amazon Save Android from Malware Hell?"  They point out:

' Simply put, Amazon tests apps to death before letting them into its app store.  Every app submitted undergoes tests for various aspects of its performance.  There are linking tests, stability and functionality tests, tests on content issues and tests on security issues.

  Each aspect is tested in several ways.  For example, stability and functionality tests look to see whether an app opens within 15 seconds; whether it is compliant with the major carriers' networks; whether it freezes, has forced closings or exhibits other forms of instability; and how it reacts to phone calls, text messages, and alarms.

  Content issue tests look for missing content, unreadable text and incorrect graphics.   They also ensure the app complies with Amazon's content guidelines on offensive content, copyright infringement, illegal activities and other issues.

Security tests include making sure the app doesn't store passwords without the user's content, doesn't collect data and send it to unknown servers, and doesn't harm existing content on the device. '

They add that Apple puts apps through a tortuous approval process also, but adds that

'However, malicious content has slipped through because "the application reviews focus is on the end user experience, not end user security," Sutton pointed out.

Taking a more proactive stance on security, as Amazon has, would help secure Android apps better.

"Providing a known secure source for apps will greatly enhance the overall value of the app store, especially in the Android space where competing app stores exist -- an approach that Amazon appears to be adopting," Sutton concluded. '

Having said that, Amazon is known to be too controlling about what applications can be released, when it comes to whether users might like a particular app and can delay developer efforts by many months, including the time it takes to approve improved apps with features that users have requested, causing the creators to seem non-responsive to customers.


RE tiny fonts on WEBpages
Be sure to read the blog article here on how to enlarge web-page fonts and reflow the text for much more comfortable reading.


WiFi connection concerns
This is already too long, so I'll close this with some info on WiFi connection problems I've done some reading on, and I'll be back within the next day or two with some good new books and software for the Kindle Fire and e-Ink Kindle e-readers, in time for those with newly unwrapped Kindles.

  Common solution to some WiFi problems (from the forums)

' DiabetesDoc says:
Just got my KF, and it recognizes my wireless network, and a bunch of others. But when I try to access my wireless network (using the same cryptic series of letters & numbers as usual), it says "Unable to Connect to Wi-Fi Network" and despite tapping on "Keep Trying", it gets the same screen.  I've tried from 3 feet, 10 feet, and 30 feet from the wifi base, all with same results. What should I try next?

Addendum, 11/16/2011: My KF is now working fine. I turned off computer, modem, router, then back on (a trick mentioned to me by CS [Customer Support] and the KF came up w/o problem.

  [ and the next one from another message thread ]
Dec 17, 2011 6:23:13 PM PST
Old **Bah Humbug** Rocker says:

I had the WiFi issue 2 days ago and resetting my router did the trick. '

  NOTE: WiFi problems were seen by the thousands with the first iPad and then with the first NookColor.  It's often a combo of many factors, with a new device suddenly not connecting easily as the other devices had.

  A recommended router
 In my case, my Kindles had worked fine with the WiFi router but my NookColor would not connect most of the time and when it did it would drop out all the time.   I decided to try a new router and bought a Netgear N300 (mid-$-range type) and I've not had a problem since.

  There are better, more capable routers out there, but this was a relatively inexpensive one that works well for me, and I've not tried others because I've not had reason to look for one.
  For instance, there are dual-band routers that will isolate the two currently popular speeds so that slower ones won't slow down the newer type devices.


Important tips for navigating both Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire models
  . Tips for using Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire
  . Notes & tips on Kindle Touch
  . Browse the list of borrowable Prime Kindle books that new Kindle-device owners can download (only one per calendar month) without waiting and without due dates.  This is part of Prime, and new Kindle device customers get one month of Prime free.
  . Kindle Fire cases and a sleeve I like for the Kindle Touch + a GREAT mini speaker for the KFire.


Free Kindle Books guide
This blog's guide to finding free books for your Kindle from Amazon and elsewhere, plus prepared searches filtered by non-public-domain books (and vice versa) and sorted on published date, or bestselling, or highly rated.  It includes a way to find the lower-cost books also.


Articles or forum threads on the Kindle Fire
  . Kindle Fire Owners Love Their Tablet, Flaws and All.
  . Kindle Fire first impressions: Wow!
  . Taking Amazon's Kindle Fire on vacation
  . Kindle Fire's Volkswagon Moment
  . 12 things that kinda suck about the Kindle Fire
  . Is Fire's touchscreen responsive?
    I enjoyed one post that merely said, re the lighter touch that should be used,
    "B.Hart says:
"I have to keep reminding my husband it is a touch screen, not a thump screen. The lighter touch seems to work better."
  . A motorcyclists forum discussion about the Kindle Fire



VIDEO Demos that are especially illuminating
  (Kindle-Edition subscribers need to go to http://kindleworld.blogspot.com to click on video links - see entry for December 24.)
  . Video of MobileTechReview's thorough hands-on review/demo of the Kindle Fire
  . Video by reviewer djramsey shows how responsive the Kindle Fire can be with a lighter touch (and that was before the software upgrade).



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Today's Update (12/21) to Free Kindle Books Guide, for free public-domain-only books + UK free books

MORE FREE-BOOK LINKS

U.S.
I updated the Free Kindle Books Guide yesterday and today to now include prepared search links for CLASSICS OR PUBLIC-DOMAIN ONLY - separating them from the 33,000 free books, with only about 3,000 being non-classics and non-public-domain.

As with the others, the free public-domain books include sorting by Bestselling, High-to-Low Ratings, and Publication Date.
  The latter sort-choice, to find the latest ones released, can be interesting, as it includes later books or documents that are offered to the public by government or informational organizations.

    As of today, 12/20/2011, there are over 29,000 Classics and Public Domain offerings.  Currently showing at the top of this list are some definitely esoteric titles released a day ago.

  . The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan by Daniel Garrison Brinton, Dec 20, 2011
  . The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild & Vicious Horses by P. R. Kincaid and John J. Stutzman, Dec. 20, 2011
  . Artistic Anatomy of Animals by Édouard Cuy, Dec. 20, 2011
  . Bakhchisaraiskii fontan. English by Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin and Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, Dec. 20, 2011
  . Boy Scouts: Tenderfoot Squad or, Camping at Raccoon Lodge by Alan Douglas, Dec 20, 2011
  . By Desert Ways to Baghdad by Louisa Jebb, Dec 20, 2011
  . The Chevalier d'Auriac by S. (Sidney) Levett-Yeats, Dec. 20, 2011
  . The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10) Stories from the Classics by Eva March Tappan, Dec. 20, 2011

I also updated information on Feedbooks.com


U.K.
I've adjusted the Free non-classics, non-public-domain links to the new system:

  Recently published free books and bestsellers


Hoping a few will find some of these worth exploring.


Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Kindle Fire SOFTWARE UPDATE, VERSION 6.2.1 is here-- Two ways to get it.

KINDLEFIRE SOFTWARE UPDATE VERSION 6.2.1 IS READY

Kindle Fire Software Update, V6.2.1 is available online, and downloadable at the link, in case the update isn't already on your Kindle Fire and you decide you want it right away.

The announcement was made by Amazon on a Kindle Forum thread.  Mine is still at v6.2 and the 'Update your Kindle" button for "System Version" setting is grayed out.  So I'll be updating instead of waiting, though the latter will be easier for most.  I don't think they'll take their time on sending this to the devices.

  IN FACT, while typing this, I noticed my Kindle Fire updating in that my screen was 'on' when it should be off, so I checked the Menu settings and saw that it had already updated my Kindle Fire to v6.2.1, so, yes, they are apparently 'on' this one.  Since I am usually among the last to get any over-the-air update, I recommend that most wait for it to happen unless they need to have it now and haven't been updated yet.  See further below on that.

  The forum announcement in whole (bold face emphases mine):

Initial post: Dec 20, 2011 7:25:14 PM PST

The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

We have a new, free over-the-air software update available for Kindle Fire. This update enhances fluidity and performance, improves touch navigation responsiveness, gives you the option to choose which items display on the carousel, and adds the ability to add a password lock on Wi-Fi access. The update will be automatically delivered to your Kindle Fire.

For more information about the software update go to www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates.

As mentioned, here's the actual software update page for the Kindle Fire update v6.2.1 rather than have you choose from several possible ones on the page they cite.  They are sending these out pretty quickly, I think, as in doing the forum I encountered an unusual slowdown in Amazon server request time which just about never happens on the forums.

On the forum thread, some people had slower downloads to start, in getting the new software, while others had normal download times -- probably because they're busy sending these out probably a few million devices.

  With respect to Carousel changes, Q points out that "Unfortunately, to clean books off your carousel is still one book at a time. But it does go fairly fast."


Amazon's directions on the software update page:

' If you are not sure what software version you're running, tap the Quick Settings icon, tap "More," then tap "Device."  If your System Version is "Current version: 6.2.1," you are running the latest software.  If your System Version is "Current version: 6.0, 6.1, or 6.2" follow the instructions [at that page] to take advantage of all of the features available for Kindle Fire.
. . .
To update your Kindle, ensure
  . you are connected to a Wi-Fi network and that
  . your battery is fully charged.

  Tap the Quick Settings icon in the upper right corner of your device,
  then tap "Sync."

The software update will automatically download in the background and will be applied once download is complete and the device is asleep. '

The above describes a semi-automated update.

However, if you don't have a WiFi connection at the time and want to do this, you can do a MANUAL update at the software update page for Kindle Fire, where Amazon has step-by-step directions, for doing this with a USB cable to transfer the update to your Kindle Fire.

This time, Amazon did provide some notes on what is being updated.

  If you have reactions to these changes or find any other ones, and have time, please let us know what you find.   Thanks.



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >

Free Kindle Books page: Low-Cost also. Revised. VERSION 4a - Dec. 19-21, 2011 Update

Update - 12/15/11 - Amazon has changed the coding of the display of Kindle books -- types and sorting methods -- so I am changing the various links.

UPDATES for Dec. 20-21 include adding links for Classics + Public Domain ONLY, as they include latest governmental and organizational information books and documents, and some of the latter are intriguing.  Also updated Feedbooks info.

UPDATE Dec. 19, 2011 to change all links and add some
First notification Dec. 15 was not complete and it's ready now (US books).  Please Let me know of any errors in the links. 

The Interim post said: Here are the latest correct links for current free non-classics, for the last two months, and then by various sorts for all free non-classics.

Nov 2011,  Dec 2011 (re-done)
   Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
   Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

   Adding, for interim alert, Highly rated, under $1

And, of course, here's the Kindle Daily Deal, which changes shortly after midnight each day.

Amazon Top 100   (Also, UK-only)  along with Amazon's own Limited Time Free Promos.


ALL REVISED LINKS FOR FREE KINDLE BOOKS PAGE ARE BELOW
  The various links below are now revised to work with the new coding, Monday the 19th  In the meantime, the information on free book sources remains accurate. The UK links at the end still need revising though.

---

This long-standing blog entry, Free Kindle Books (begun in 2009), was revised April 10, 2011 to remove most of the chronological changes made over the last two years as it became too confusing to read.

  It was also updated again soon after that for the many changes to the free and low-cost Kindle books area at Amazon.  Besides the 33,000+  free, complete books (only the ones in English),  there are links to find Kindle books that are $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99, as a lot of authors are publishing in that price-range and they're not easy to find.  Some are books by indie authors and others  are popular books for which the price has been dropped by Big6 publishers after a couple of years or when they want to introduce new readers to authors who have

  UPDATE-2:  NOTE that as of Nov. 2011, Amazon Prime customers can borrow one book per month from a selection of 5,000+  (Link: amzn.to/kprimebooks) which includes over 100+ New York Times Bestsellers, with no due-dates and no waiting lists.

  And as of September 21, 2011, Amazon Kindle customers can borrow Kindle books from 11,000+ public libraries in the U.S.
 [ End of Update-2, added Nov. 10, 2011.]


Find Free Kindle books plus Lower-Cost Kindle Books
Click here first for most recently published NON-classics under $1 or try that list sorted by bestselling.  There are more new temporarily-free books or discount-promos on most days, but also prices do change back, so check them regularly.

  UPDATE-1:  NOTE that the Amazon book promos tend to be temporary and when the price goes back up, Amazon updates the product page $-amounts faster than they update the pricing amounts for the database used for the Amazon searches.  You'll note that they're in flux often, so ignore the few that are higher than $0.99 the search-value.

To limit your search to Only the FREE non-classics, check directly below:

This resource contains prepared links that you can click on, at any time, to find, for example, the most recently published free non-classics,  or  you can choose to see these according to bestselling or highest rated ones as they appear, on a daily basis or more.

  These are usually temporarily free, on a short promotional basis, and a click will show you the latest ones, although Amazon displays free books on various listings and they don't all show up any one list

  On your computer's web-browser, you can of course bookmark this page to get here more easily.  The short URL is http://bit.ly/kfreelow3.

Chapter, Excerpts and Previews
   Since most Kindle owners seem interested in complete books, I'll try later to again avoid search results for books which offer only certain chapters, excerpts and which are, essentially, previews.   You can see the previews, in any event when you go to the Amazon Kindle book pages, as they're not hard to find.
  I'll test these more before giving links to Kindle book lists that show no Chapters or Previews or Excerpts, with the downside that titles of full books which include one of these words won't be on these lists.
  But later on this particular set

Free Kindle-Compatible books at Non-Amazon  websites
  This guide to Free and Low-cost Books page also includes links to most of the other (non-Amazon) Web site that have a strong offering of free Kindle-compatible books, many of which are directly downloadable to your Kindle at no added cost.  Let me know about good (legal) ones I haven't included.

Important advantages to downloading Kindle versions of free books
Bear in mind that when you download free Kindle books from Amazon, they can be
  1.  Sync'd with your other Kindle-compatible devices and
  2.  Included in your private-password protected Annotations webpage on Amazon servers,
         which can be accessed at kindle.amazon.com

Kindle Edition blog-subscribers
Subscribers to the Kindle blog-edition have found that when following blog-links to a book or other Amazon product, the Kindle Edition is not always enabled to make clickable orders through the Kindle-version of the Kindle Store.

.  So I recommend a drop-in to the webpage when you feel like checking the latest published free nonclassics and best-selling free nonclassics -- as these can change in a couple of hours and there are about 6 pages of them at any given time.

Another Amazon Change - "Relevance," which I've called "LateListed."
It shows up now only in certain circumstances and sometimes is called 'default' so I'm ignoring it at this point.
"By Relevance" ('default') or Late-listed ebooks tended to include books that were published some years ago but which were recently added to the temporarily-free non-classic Kindle book listings.   "By Publication Date"-lists would show these books, published some years ago, lower down in the listings when sorting by more-recently published, at the top.  I'll watch what they're doing it with it these days and see if I can make sense of it.

  With the links below you can  quickly see only the small selection of currently-free contemporary Kindle books sorted also by Publication Date, Bestsellers (linked just above) or by the Average Customer-Rating, as that's made easier with the prepared links on this page.

  Each Kindle Edition blog has the last 25 blog articles, searchable on the Kindle so that you can find items of interest more easily within the 25 articles while offline.  I think many will find it useful despite my penchant for giving source-links for data.  I try to include enough info from the news sources so that Kindle Edition blog-subscribers for A Kindle World don't have to click links to get the main points.

  Again, a few newer books are promotional and free for only a while.  Sometimes for only a couple of days.

  So it's a good idea to bookmark this page, in addition to other resources you use, to check out, when you're able, what might be new to you, with the ready-links to categories of available free or very low cost books.

SUMMING UP:
MAIN FREE KINDLE BOOK SEARCH LINKS
1.  INCLUDING CLASSICS & PUBLIC DOMAIN (12/19/11)
    Amazon's now almost 33,000+ free books (complete and in English), sorted by:
      Bestselling or by Highest Rated   or by Publication Date
    These include both the classics and non-classic books.


   UPDATE 12/20-21 to include Public Domain (Classics included) titles ONLY
2.  CLASSICS & PUBLIC DOMAIN ONLY
    The Public Domain ones include later books or documents that are offered to the public by government or informational organizations.
    As of today, 12/20/2011, there are over 29,000 Classics and Public Domain offerings.  These are sorted by:
      Bestselling or by Highest Rated   or by Publication Date
    The last, publication-date, sort is best for latest free government or organizational information releases on quite esoteric subjects. [End of Update]


3.  NON-CLASSICS ONLY (mainly)
 Amazon's CURRENTLY FREE Non-Classics sorted by Bestselling, or by Highest Rated, or by Publication Date.

    UK links added:
    Recently published free books and bestsellers


  The free Non-classic Kindle books list changes almost daily, sometimes hourly.

This should help with finding Amazon's Kindle Digital-Text Platform (DTP)-published authors' new self-published books and other-publisher Kindle books that are discounted):

        (NOTE:  SOME higher prices will appear in each set because their prices changed but they are
           still tagged somewhere as the lower price.)

    These are links for non-classics UNDER $1 (From $0.01 to $1)
    a. For Under $1.00     Non-Classics sorted by NEWEST publication date
    b. For Under $1.00     Non-Classics sorted by BESTSELLING books
    c. For Under $1.00     Non-Classics sorted by CUSTOMER RATINGS.

    and links for non-classics FROM $1 to $1.99 (mostly)
    a. From $1 to $1.99     Non-Classics sorted by NEWEST publication date
    b. From $1 to $1.99     Non-Classics sorted by BESTSELLING books
    c. From $1 to $1.99     Non-Classics sorted by CUSTOMER RATINGS

    and links for non-classics FROM $2 to $2.99 (mostly)
    a. From $2 to $2.99     Non-Classics sorted by NEWEST publication date
    b. From $2 to $2.99     Non-Classics sorted by BESTSELLING books
    c. From $2 to $2.99     Non-Classics sorted by CUSTOMER RATINGS

  You can change the Sort on the Amazon page, at the top-right.

4.  The Project Gutenberg e-books catalog (MOBI editions) for Kindles.  You can browse or search the catalog on your Kindle and click on one to have it downloaded to your Kindle from the site.
 There are no Amazon charges on a download from the Project Gutenberg site.

5.  A humongous Amazon Forum thread on a million or so books readable on the Kindle - How to get them (mostly free).

6.  How to convert, in 2-3 minutes, any of Google's half million free books.  They are available in ePub format.  But you can now download instead the PDF versions although the re-flowed text of ePub and Kindle-Mobi books may be easier to read than original layout PDFs.


OTHER SEARCHES
I need to add these days that some international Kindle users in Europe and some other countries are in high wireless-cost areas, so Amazon charges about $2 more in some countries for the otherwise free book.  They've removed the additional charge in a few countries though.

  FREE CLASSICS AND PUBLIC DOMAIN BOOKS AVAILABLE ELSEWHERE
  For these Amazon customers and any Kindle owners interested in finding mostly free, direct-to-Kindle e-books at other sites -- these sites can download direct to a Kindle, at no cost:

You can also download to your Kindle or computer, for later transfer to your Kindle, free "mobi" or "prc" format books from feedbooks.com, manybooks.net, fictionwise.com, and as I've often mentioned, any of 30,000 well-formatted books from the Project Gutenberg set.

  Recommended also are the 2.5 million+ free Internet Archive books and documents plus other offerings from the January 24, 2010 blog article.
  The Internet Archive folks are responsible for Open Library -- "Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published."

  Mobileread Forum books makes very well-proofed e-books.  This links to their listing of e-books, sorted by Amazon-readable 'PRC' format and by most recent first.  These tend to be very well formatted, with linked table-of-contents page when applicable, and mostly free.  Some of their ebooks are sold at Amazon and I think more of them will use the self-publishing feature of Amazon in the future.

  Baen.com.   Baen's Free Library offers science-fiction in ".prc" (MOBI) format, which is essentially the Kindle format without rights-protection.  While Baen's e-books might not be directly downloaded to the Kindle  (they offer you the choice to email their e-books to your Kindle instead) -- and if you get a book that way, it incurs costs of about 15c per megabyte of a file.  Books that are mainly text seldom are more than a megabyte so the cost would be 15c).

But you can choose to, instead, download Baen's e-books to the computer and transfer them via USB cable to the Kindle's "documents" folder (or use the USB cable to attach the Kindle to your computer and download direct to the Kindle's "documents" folder.  Here's their Guide to doing that.
  Baen.com also sells non-rights-protected commercial offerings (in addition to offering free classics) in that format.

NOTE: Again, Kindles with 3G Cellular wireless or using WiFi networks CAN download books direct-to-Kindle from several book stores (see above) using the Kindle web-browser. 

If wondering what the differences are between the '3G' and 'WiFi' capabilities, a short blog article here may help.

FURTHER UPDATE 12/20-21, 2011
Feedbooks Dedicated Kindle Guide
Commenter Tom Semple pointed out that Feedbooks.com discontinued the Kindle Guide but has instructions for downloading the Kindle-compatible editions as well as a link for downloading them direct to the Kindle. [End of Update]

Mobile Device-Optimized Pages
  For those who can and do use the wireless feature to look up information on the Net, there are links to the mobile-device-optimized versions of the webpages for feedbooks.com and manybooks.net.
  The Kindle can access these two sites more easily using these links::
    (1) feedbooks.com-mobile: http://www.feedbooks.com/?format=mobile and
    (2) manybooks.net: http://mnybks.net.

  Some of you might want to use the free, downloadable 'book' file I put together which is made up of mobile-device-friendly links to various popular websites and which explains some workarounds for problems that might be encountered using webpages such as the one for gmail.

AMAZON'S Free Book Collections webpage
As of March 2, 2010, Amazon added a new page with pointers to Free Book Collections on the Net, all of which are included here. This ongoing blog article includes other large, Kindle-compatible book sources as well and has pointers to and links for such things as how to get the Project Gutenberg books on your Kindle directly, without needing to use a computer vs the method described at Amazon's page.

  That new Amazon page also includes a link to its own Amazon Free Classics listing. There are over 15,500 free classics at Amazon.  Again, annotations made on these Classics can be kept on your private, password-protected webpage on the Amazon servers, and you can sync Amazon books between your Kindle-compatible devices, including smart phones, tablets, and with free apps for them and for your PC or Mac.

---

NOT FREE
 For those interested in an easier-to-remember shortcut to Amazon's current 100 Bestsellers (the majority seem to be free but there are regular-priced ones in the list as well), try http://bit.ly/kbsellers.

Here's a search some have requested on the forums -- non-classics under $10, for a time when the Big6 publishers (with Apple iBookstore as driving force) have successfully pushed Amazon to the "Agency" model and to prices too often from $13 to $15 for newer books.

  That lists contemporary Kindle books priced from $3.00 through $9.99, and sorts by bestselling books, with most popular books first, as Kindle owners on forums have wanted to be able to easily find e-books that are priced below $10.
  These start at $3 because $0 to $2.99 range is already covered above.
  When at the page results, you can sort by low-to-high or high-to low also, using the options in the top, right-hand corner.

  Also, a popular item for browsing has been the Bestsellers in Kindle books for 2009.   This was first noted in the blog entry for Amazon's Best of 2009.
  Later added Bestsellers in Kindle books for 2010.
  And here's Bestsellers in Kindle books for 2011 so far (Dec. 19 Update).


*NON*-KINDLE - These are paper books, but the 40% discounts should be noted.
  As of March 3, 2010, Amazon has created a new page that highlights what they consider "the best new books" to read every month.  These feature "editors' picks" and "reviews of the best new reads in fiction, nonfiction, and books for young readers, available at 40% off all month long."  The new page is titled Amazon's Best Books of the Month Store.
  Again, these are *NOT* Kindle books, but some books are not in Kindle format and some readers don't have Kindles, yet :-)

---

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More >