Today we’re looking at the Kindle 2 weave book cover from Octovo. This book-style case features a hinge mounting system, with an elastic corner strap, in an attractive woven pattern of Italian leather. It’s available in black/brown or in green/wine color combinations. It’s available now through Amazon or this Octo page.

The hinge system is good quality; my review cover fits well and the upper retainer has a strong, smooth spring action. The interior is lined with black microfibre. Out of the box, the cover lies flat naturally.

The cover includes an elastic corner strap to secure the lower right edge of the Kindle to the back of the case. This strap holds the Kindle flat aginst the back cover, preventing stress on the Kindle’s body at the points where the hinge clips connect to the Kindle.

The cover’s slim profile, and its high-quality stitching, is shown in the 360-degree views of the cover below.

Read more »

The past few days I’ve been using the new Octovo Kindle Light. Thanks to Octovo for giving us this advance look; the light will be available around the end of March 2010, through Amazon and through the Octovo site.

The light is constructed from high-end aluminum which gives it lightness, strength, and a sleek finish.

The underside has a plastic clip attached to it. This clip is sized to fit snugly over the top of the Kindle 2 (or Kindle DX). The lower side of the clip in the photo has a cushiony rubbery pad that grips the light securely to the Kinde.

The light is only 0.85 ounces (24 grams). (The AA battery adds another 0.85 ounces to it.) The total 1.7 ounces is light enough that it does not add noticeably to the weight of the reader.

The LED turns on automatically when the light’s arm swivels outward.

Here’s a shot in a darkened room, showing the pattern of light thrown by the LED. Octovo tells me that the LED is designed to bring forward the contrast of the text on the screen. The LED throws a soft tone; I found it reasonably diffuse so that it allows for ease of reading, even in dark conditions.

Read more »

We love packages here at KindleBoards headquarters, and this has beeen a good week for that. Thanks to Octovo for sending us a selection of their covers, sleeves, and their unique booklight.

Stay tuned for our photo reviews!

Comments

While I was in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Len Edgerly, host of the weekly Kindle Chronicles podcast. His interview with me went live today, you can listen to it at this link: TKC episode #78.

Len and I discussed the KindleBoards site and our community of Kindle owners.  We shared our reactions on the displays of eReaders at CES, and speculated on future directions for the industry in general, and Kindle in particular.

This is the second time KindleBoards has been featured on the Kindle Chronicles; you may recall Len’s conversation with Leslie from last year. Len’s podcast is published each Friday and is a treasure trove of Kindle tips, news, and analysis – it’s available from iTunes Store and Zune Marketplace.

Comments

Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, I finally got to meet the folks from M-Edge. M-Edge, as you know, is the fine maker of eBook covers, cases, sleeves, and stands, and has a great line-up of Kindle products.

M-Edge gave us our first look at its new Guardian case – a waterproof, floatable case. The Guardian case is really well-designed. The Kindle sits on a cradle of cross-braces, leaving air pockets beneath the Kindle – which accounts for the case’s ability to float even when loaded with the Kindle.

Four latches are used to securely close the hinged case. The latches are made of heavy-duty plastic and seem more than adequate in terms of sturdiness. In fact, the whole case has the feel that it’s made to take abuse.

The ingenious part of the Guardian is the flexible covering over the keyboard and controls. This is a “transparent polycarbonate” according to the M-Edge product engineer that I spoke with today. It lets you actually use your Kindle’s controls while it’s protected in the case. You can access all buttons and keys, except for the on/off switch. The 5-way controller is also usable in the case, although maneuvering it through the covering takes a little practice.

The cushioning, rugged plastic, and waterproof seals make this a heavy case compared to the other covers and sleeves in the M-Edge product line. That heft is worthwhile if you’re looking for peace of mind with your Kindle at the beach, the pool, the spa, or the bathtub. Hats off to M-Edge for applying creative and thoughtful design into this innovative eReader products.

Release date for the Guardian case for Kindle is set for spring 2010; pricing has not yet been announced. For more pictures and impressions, read here.

Comments

We’ve had lots of great giveaways and contests during the year here at KindleBoards and we wanted to end 2009 with just one more….here’s your chance to share your opinion and maybe win a prize in the process!

The gimmick: A Top Ten List of what you have read in 2009

Movie critics do it, book reviewers do it, I expect that KindleBoards readers can do it in spades….come up with your Top Ten List of Books for the Year.

Guidelines:

1. List your top ten books that you have read for the year. Ten — not nine, not eleven. TEN.
2. Books must be listed in rank order. Number one is the best then move on down the list.
3. While the book can have been written and published in any year, you must have read it in 2009.
4. You must have read the book on your Kindle. All those fabulous paper books you read? They have to go on a different list.
5. Entries must be listed: Title by author (ie, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote). You do not need to include links to the book.
6. Entries must be posted from December 1, 2009 until midnight December 21, 2009 (EST).
7. You may modify your entry after it is posted (if you remember a book you enjoyed but forgot, eg). No more modifying after December 21.

Note – for new (or newish) Kindle owners, who might not have read 10 books on their Kindles yet….yes, you can enter and you can list books you read in paper prior to receiving your Kindle. BUT….the book must exist in a Kindle edition. My rationale is that if you owned the Kindle earlier, you would have read the book in a Kindle version.

I hope that is clear and makes our newer Kindle owners feel like they can dive in an join the fun. Let me know if you have questions!

Winners will be randomly selected from all who post and announced in the thread. Prizes:

December 22: $25 Amazon gift certificate
December 23: $50 Amazon gift certificate
December 24: $75 Amazon gift certificate

This contest is open to all registered KindleBoards members and all the usual disclaimers apply. Enter here!

Leslie
Global Mod and Maven for the End of Year Holiday Giveaway

Have you received your Kindle’s firmware update to version 2.3 yet? The update has been rolled out wirelessly for the second-generation Kindle and Kindle DX.

The main new feature is the ability for the second-gen Kindle to read PDF files natively, just like the larger DX reader. You can still convert PDF files to Amazon’s .aws format if you wish – and in some cases that’s the better way to go. Native PDFs are not zoomable on Kindle, so can be hard to read when smaller fonts and detailed diagrams are used.

The second-gen Kindle can now be flipped sideways to read documents with the player held horizontally. You activate the flip using menu controls – unlike the DX which flips automatically thanks to its internal accelerometer.

Another feature that has Kindle owners buzzing is greatly-improved battery life. Amazon indicates that the update dramatically improves battery performance. That translates to about a week of reading, with wireless turned on, from a single charge.

Our forum thread on the update is rich with tips on getting the update and reactions to the improvements.

To receive the update, you’ll have to turn wireless on (you knew that) and it may take some time for the update to find you. If you don’t have it by now, you may need to leave wireless on overnight.

There is also a procedure for manually installing the update, explained in the thread.

If you’ve installed the screensaver or font hacks, you’ll have to uninstall those hacks in order to receive the update. KindleBoards member NogDog has provided the hacks and some instructions on this webpage.

For any other questions you may have related to the 2.3 update, I’d recommend browsing through our update thread.

Comments

Editor’s note: today we welcome guest blogger Edward Patterson, who has started a worthy service in honor of our troops.

Operation eBook Drop has astounded me. If anyone would have told me that after three months nearly 290 authors would be participating offering a huge library to the troops, I’d have said — go away!

Here’s the genesis for the program, which was never conceived as such. While in the Amazon discussion groups, I was following the posts of a soldier who was stationed in Iraq. He was helping another customer through the steps to download eBooks through a router to their Kindle. On impulse, I offered this soldier (Joe Terry) a copy of my thirteen published works, if he wanted them. He did and, through our correspondence, I learned just how important reading is to the troops. I should have known this, because I’m an Army veteran (1966-67) — the lonely hours away from home and overseas are real. Wow, I could have killed for a Kindle then.

Operation eBook Drop started on the cuff and replicates that initial gift. I created an Amazon thread to ask if any other deployed troops had Kindles and wanted my books. There were a few nibbles. I then surveyed Indie authors that hung out on Kindleboards.com. The survey results were positive, but soon I had twenty authors asking to donate their books — then thirty — then . . . well, the word went out across the Internet. Within a week, I had an email from Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords.com. Smashwords is a premier on-line eBook distributor, converting Indie books into various eBook formats. Smashwords is also global. Mark Coker decided that Smashwords would back the project, opening up their author network to come aboard. This facilitated eBook delivery, because a link to the page on Smashwords and a 100%-Off Discount code. The long of the short of it, after a month we had over 60 authors participating and the troops were lining up also.

Operation eBook Drop is still off the cuff, and that’s the key to its success. There’s no central site, communication blog or layers of organization. It simply replicates my interaction with Joe Terry. I maintain a list of troops and authors. When a new author opts in, I email them the troop list and they’re responsible for sending the links and code(s), their own welcome email and, in turn, receive feedback directly from the troops. The troops get what they love most — access to a reading library in a shower of emails. I didn’t want to hog the good feelings, so each author has communication responsibility. They blog, post, network, and even go into print.

The program is only twelve weeks old and we have 290 participating authors, 7 publishing site in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and over 70 Troop points of light, including families preparing Kindles for their sons and daughters. We’ve adopted a submarine, the eBook Marine Special Forces program, troops in Iraq, Korea, Afghanistan, Japan, Kuwait, Djibouti, Gitmo and at sea (including the Nimitz). I’m astounded by the success, but why should I be? Independent authors brim with generosity. They know struggle and make their own decisions when it comes to their books and who gets them. They’re in control. Personally, I’m stand in awe of them and urge readers to support them by buying their books. It’s my estimate that the Indie authors of Operation eBook Drop have made available 20,160 copies of eBooks to the troops on the program (and that’s a low estimate as some of the authors have multiple titles and offer them all). The troops choose what they want to read and use the coupons as they see fit, downloading eBooks and porting them to their eReading device.

As for the troops — what can I say? Their sacrifice for our freedom is a better gift than any book I could write. However, because of that freedom, I can author my books as they assure my freedom of speech and the air I breathe. It’s a small donation to fill in their hours away from home and, perhaps in those hours I can provoke a smile or a tear or an escape. Small price to pay for heroism. I salute these brave men and women and hope that no one ever forgets their contribution and sacrifice.

Here are some links for further information on Operation eBook Drop:

For information on joining (authors, deployed troops or their families): http://blog.smashwords.com/2009/09/smashwords-supports-operation-ebook.html

For information on Operation eBook Drop authors: http://tinyurl.com/ygk8u5o

For the Operation eBook Drop Kindleboards forum: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,13352.0.html

And come join the Operation eBook Drop Fan club at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-EBook-Drop/172002003420

Edward C. Patterson

I’m on my way to the right coast, and from seat 3A I’m enjoying Sarah Vowell’s fresh take on our country’s early Puritan settlers. In The Wordy Shipmates, she paints an insightful, and sometimes irreverant, portrait of John Winthrop and his fellow expatriots as they journey from Southampton, England to Massachusetts Bay.

I’m in first-class – a rarity for me these days – and enjoying the pampering. My travel is a lark compared to that of the 700 hardy religious dissenters aboard the Arbella, sailing across the Atlantic to plant their families and their beliefs in the wilderness of New England.

The first-class cabin of this Bombardier regional jet has only twelve seats. And of those twelve, I’m spotting no less than three Kindles around me. (That’s including mine.)

While I think that’s a record “in-the-wild” sighting for me, I’m definitely seeing more and more Kindles these days.

Our Anniversary Contest is now complete, and I thank everyone who entered. We had over 200 mini-book reviews posted by our members, who again live up to their reputation as voracious readers and thoughtful reviewers.

Five of you won $50 Amazon gift certificates, and we’ve now drawn our grand prize winner. Major high-fives to B-Kay, who wins a brand new Kindle 2. Hooray!

B-Kay has had a first-generation Kindle for about a year, so will now be faced with the pleasant task of deciding what to do with multiple Kindles (a surprisingly common dilemma in our boards).

You can see all winners, and read the book reviews, here.

Stay tuned for more giveaways from KindleBoards. And if you’re not already a member, come on and join us! (It’s free, of course!)