Chapter 5. Internet and Email on the Kindle

With the Kindle’s Whispernet feature you can use the Kindle for much more than just a reading device. You can browse the Internet on your Kindle and even check your email and send messages to friends and family.

Browsing the Web on the Kindle

When I show my Kindle to people, the one feature usually most surprising (and impressive) is that the Kindle is Internet-enabled. The capability of the Kindle to automatically transfer content from the Kindle Store directly to your Kindle is a great feature, but the Kindle’s connectivity also provides many other unique capabilities that significantly enhance its value.

Following are just a few of the many things you can do on the Web with your Kindle:

• Read your favorite blogs free instead of paying for a subscription from Amazon.

• Catch up on the latest news from MSNBC, BBC, Yahoo!, and more.

• Check for movies and show times in your area.

• Quench your thirst for knowledge on Wikipedia.

• Send and receive emails from friends and family.

• Check flight status, airport delays, and so on.

• Get the latest sports scores.

• Look up locations and phone numbers for businesses in your area.

• Check the latest weather.

• Access traffic information.

• Find recipes.

• Browse and bid on eBay auctions.

• Participate in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

• Get stock quotes.

• Manage your Netflix movie queue.

Many of these tasks can be performed using the preloaded bookmarks available on the Kindle. Before looking at links and information on the remaining tasks, first examine the basics of using the Web browser included with your Kindle.

Web Browser Basics

Like Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari, you can use the Kindle’s web browser to browse websites on the Internet, but it does have some limitations. For example, you can’t install plugins such as Adobe’s Flash Player on the Kindle’s web browser. Because of these limitations, you might encounter some problems with some websites, such as menus not appearing, formatting problems, and so on. You need to experiment to determine whether your favorite sites are suitable for browsing with the Kindle.

To access the web browser, from the Home screen menu, select Experimental. When you see the Experimental screen, select Web Browser.

When you first launch the web browser, you see a list of bookmarks that come preloaded in the Kindle. These links take you to websites that work well for Kindle’s screen. Each subsequent time you launch the web browser, you are taken to the last web page that you visited.

Navigating the Web on Your Kindle

If you’ve ever browsed a website on a mobile phone, you are familiar with the layout of most websites when browsing them on the Kindle. Images are kept to a minimum, and links sometimes display in a list for easy selection, as shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1. Viewing Amazon.com on a Kindle.

You can zoom in on pages while using the web browser by pressing the AA button and selecting a zoom level or by pressing Menu and selecting Zoom In. Some pages enable you to zoom in on a section of the page by moving the 5-way to select the portion of the page and pressing the 5-way to zoom in.

If the page you view does not fit on your Kindle’s screen, you can use the 5-way to navigate down or to the right to view additional content. You can also use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons to move quickly to more content on the page.

The 5-way is also used to move the pointer on the page so that you can select links and other content on the page.

Some pages may not display well on your Kindle. If you find that text is too small or the page is too cluttered to use effectively on the Kindle, you may find that switching to Article Mode provides for a better experience. Article Mode automatically reformats a page so that it is optimized for viewing on the Kindle’s screen.

To access Article Mode, while in the web browser, press Menu and select Article Mode. Article Mode remains enabled while you are on the current page, but when you navigate to another page, the web browser reverts to Web Mode.

Web Browser Settings

To access Web Browser settings, while in the Web browser, click the Menu button and click Browser Settings. The Settings screen contains several settings enabling you to configure the Web browser.

• Clear History: lears the browser history. You can view the history by selecting History from the menu while in the web browser.

• Clear Cookies: Clears any cookies that have been stored for your browser.

• Disable JavaScript: Enables or disables JavaScript support in the web browser.

• Disable Images: If you’d prefer to browse websites without waiting for images to download, you can disable images.

Using the Kindle on the Web

As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, you can use the Kindle to access incredibly useful information on the Internet. A computer with Internet access is a much better choice for using the Web, but Internet access on a computer isn’t always available. In such instances, the Kindle can be an amazingly convenient Internet device.

As you investigate some of the many things you can do with Kindle’s built-in Internet access, you soon see why Whispernet access truly makes the Kindle a revolutionary device.

Reading Blogs on the Kindle

You already know you can use the Kindle to subscribe to blogs. Having blog content delivered automatically to your Kindle is a powerful feature. If you read a blog that frequently updates content during the day, having a Kindle subscription to that blog is probably well worth the small monthly fee. If you prefer to read your blogs for free, you also can do that on the Kindle by using a service such as Google Reader that is designed to aggregate blogs into a single, user-friendly web interface designed for small screens.

Before you can use Google Reader, you need a Google account. You can create a Google account for free by clicking the Sign-In link at the top of any Google page.

After you log in with your account information, you can add blogs and other websites to your subscriptions by clicking the Add Subscription link on the menu on the left side of the page. If you don’t already have a blog in mind, you can click the Discover link to browse blogs and find something that interests you. If you need help using Google Reader, click the Help link in the upper right.

After you add some blogs in Google Reader, open the Web browser on the Kindle and browse to m.google.com/reader.

Reading News on the Kindle

Catching up with the latest news on the Kindle is easy. Many news sites offer sites optimized for smaller screens, and these sites work very well on the Kindle.

When you first launch the Kindle’s Web browser, you see a list of the bookmarks that come preloaded in the Kindle. You see links to The New York Times, BBC news, and more. All these sites are optimized for smaller screens and use limited graphics, so they’re perfect for reading on a Kindle. Keep in mind, however, that these sites often link to other sites that aren’t Kindle-friendly.

In addition to the sites listed in preloaded bookmarks, you can also access other news sites. Following are a few useful sites:

• Google News (m.google.com/news)

• CNN (m.cnn.com)

• ABC News (m.abcnews.com)

• CBS News (wap.cbsnews.com)

• USA Today (m.usatoday.com)

• The Washington Post (mobile.washingtonpost.com)

• The Wall Street Journal (mobile2.wsj.com)

• Engadget Mobile (m.engadgetmobile.com)

If you have a favorite news site that’s not on this list, you might still view the site on your Kindle. Look on the site for links to a mobile version, a version formatted for cell phones, or a version formatted for PDAs. Any of these should work well on the Kindle’s screen.

One thing you might notice about the list of news sites is that it includes The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, both of which are available as subscriptions on the Kindle Store.

Even though you can access this content at no charge via the web browser, you might find Amazon’s subscription model to be more convenient.

Checking Movies and Show Times

By browsing to the Fandango website at mobile.fandango.com, you can view currently playing movies in your area and even buy tickets.

Checking Flight Status and Airport Information

Most Kindle owners agree the Kindle is a great device to take on an airplane trip, but what many don’t know is the Kindle can be tremendously useful on the way to the airport. The FlightStats Mobile page (mobile.flightstats.com) provides up-to-the-minute gate information and flight status information. It also provides information about airport delays and security wait times, and can help you locate phone numbers for booking hotels and shuttles.

Accessing Traffic Information

If you live in a major metropolitan area, you’re likely no stranger to traffic jams. You can actually use your Kindle to keep abreast of traffic snarls in your area.

The Traffic.com website offers a mobile version at mobi.traffic.com/traffic. When there, simply enter your ZIP code or select your city, and you can view traffic hotspots quickly and easily. You can even register for an account on your computer and enter information about the roads you drive. Then, when you visit the mobile site on your Kindle, you get more personalized traffic information with just a few clicks.

Find Recipes

Your Kindle can provide you with a detailed shopping list and recipe for just about any dish. Not only that, but it can be incredibly convenient. For example, you’re in the grocery store, and you see a special on chicken breasts that you just can’t pass up. By browsing to the All Recipes mobile site on your Kindle (mobile.allrecipes.com), you can simply enter “chicken” and get a comprehensive list of chicken recipes. All recipes are rated by All Recipes users, so you can be sure it’s a tasty dish. All Recipes is one of the bookmarks that comes preloaded on your Kindle.

Browse and Bid on eBay Auctions

eBay has a mobile website (m.ebay.com) that makes it possible to browse eBay auctions and place bids directly from your Kindle. In my experience, the formatting on the eBay mobile site isn’t as good as it could be, but none of the problems I encountered affected the use of the site. They were all purely cosmetic problems.

Manage Your Netflix Movie Queue

If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you can easily browse for movies, view your queue, and manage your queue directly from your Kindle. Simply browse to the Netflix mobile site (www.netflix.com/mobile) and log in with your Netflix user ID and password.

Social Networking on the Kindle

The biggest trend on the Internet today is social networking. Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and others are becoming the most common way to keep in touch with friends and family.

Many social networking websites have mobile versions that can be used with the Kindle. Following are some that work well on the Kindle:

• Facebook (m.facebook.com)

• Twitter (m.twitter.com)

• MySpace (m.myspace.com)

• Bebo (m.bebo.com)

• LinkedIn (m.linkedin.com)

All these sites work in a similar way. You create a profile that describes certain things about you, and then you can connect with other people with similar interests, geographic locations, and so on.

Email on the Kindle

Most web-based email services offer an interface that works well on mobile browsers. You can use these services to send and receive email from your Kindle, but don’t expect that you get the same ease of use that you enjoy from your computer. After all, the Kindle’s keyboard is not ideal for typing large amounts of text, and the Kindle web browser isn’t user-friendly when trying to navigate complex websites. However, having the capability to access your email in a pinch without having to spend the big bucks that cell phone companies charge for a data plan is a tremendous benefit.

If you don’t have an email account with one of the web-based services that offer email, you can create one for free and then configure your regular email so that it gets forwarded to your new web-based email. If you’re not sure how to forward your email, check with your email provider. Most email providers offer a forwarding service free of charge.

Google Gmail

To access Google Gmail on the Kindle, browse to m.gmail.com. After you enter your login information, you are taken to your Gmail inbox where you can read mail, reply to mail, create mail messages, and so on.

In Kindle circles, Gmail is often proclaimed as the only web-based email service compatible with the Kindle. Although that’s not actually true, many people prefer Gmail simply because Google often improves the service with new features.

Windows Live Mail (Hotmail)

If you have a Windows Live ID and would like to check your Hotmail email on the Kindle, you can access the Hotmail mobile website at mobile.live.com. After logging in, click Go to Inbox to view your Hotmail inbox.

Yahoo! Mail

To access your Yahoo! Mail on the Kindle, browse to mobile.yahoo.com/mail. Select the Login link, and then enter your Yahoo! ID and your password to access your mailbox.

As you’ve seen in this chapter, the Whispernet access on the Kindle opens up a practically infinite number of possibilities. These examples only scratch the surface. Due to the increase in smart phones and other Internet-enabled cell phone devices, mobile websites are becoming more popular in the mainstream. Kindle users can benefit from all these sites, and in some cases, the larger Kindle screen means a better overall experience.