Kindle Skills

Originally posted April 23, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal

GMail on the Kindle
Yes, you can. And if you don't already have a gmail address, you need to rectify that as soon as possible. Gmail (from google) is a Free email service. Signing up is extremely easy. Google gives you almost 8 Gig (yes, I said gig) of storage space for your email so you can archive to your heart's content and never worry about losing a thing if your computer ever goes up in smoke. Your email is only a few clicks away from any computer connected to the Internet, including your Kindle.

I must say the Internet access, even with 3g is still a little clunky on the Kindle, but I fully expect it to improve a lot with future software updates and future Kindle models. Right now though, it will certainly do basic browsing and the Kindle certainly shines when you need a quick Google search. You can at least peek at your gmail...and even answer an email (if you are patient). If you haven't signed up for Gmail yet, by all means, do it from your main computer. The Kindle was not designed for this, at least not yet.

To get to Gmail on your kindle, type gmail.com from the Home screen. Toggle the 5-way switch to the right until the words go to are highlighted. Press in on the 5-way switch to make it happen. When you get to the gmail sight, you will see a login screen with a place to type a user id (the first part of your gmail address - without the @gmail.com) and a place to type your password. Use the 5-way to toggle to each box, then press in to make the box active so you can type in the information. The 5-way switch will double as an Enter key when you need it to behave like one.

Kindle Skills

Originally posted April 19, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal

Quick Web Searching

• From the Home screen, type what you are looking for. Be as concise as possible.
• Toggle the 5-way switch to the right until you see Google highlighted.
• Press in on the 5 way to make it happen.
• Use the 5-way switch to go down or up until what you want is underlined. Press in to make it happen.

Quick Web Access

• From the Home screen, type in the web address you want to go to. There is no need to type http:// ... the browser is smart enough to take care of that for you.
• Toggle the 5-way switch to the right until you see go to highlighted.
• Press in on the 5-way to make it happen
• At any time while on a web page, click the Menu button to see other options, like Bookmarks, Bookmark This Page, History, Settings or to change from Basic to Advanced mode.
• Press the Home button at any time to return to your normal home page with your books listed.

No need to press the Menu button from the Home screen and go to the Experimental area to access the Basic Web functions. You will already be where you need to be.

To clear the browser cache

• When you are on a web page, press the Menu button.
• Toggle the 5-way down until the word Settings is underlined.
• Press in on the 5-way to get to the Settings area
• Toggle to what you want to do. In this case Clear Cache.
• Press in on the 5-way switch to make it happen.