How Online Reading Habits Have Changed Over 2010

Macmanus, NYTimes: "One of the more subtle trends of 2010 has been the way that our reading habits have changed, due to a convergence of other Web trends: mobile apps, real-time Web (mostly Twitter), and social networking as a way to track news (mostly Facebook). In the previous era of the Web, the so-called Web 2.0, RSS Readers and start pages were all the rage. Over 2010, though, more people used tools like Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Flipboard, LazyWeb, Feedly and TweetDeck, to track news. Nowadays I'm more likely to find stories to read via a vertical aggregator (the media-focused Mediagazer is my current favorite) and save them to Instapaper for later reading via my iPhone or iPad. I still use Google Reader, but in all honesty I now use it more to scan than to read. ... "

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Hands-On with Kindle 2.5 Tweeting

In the end, I think people who opt for a Kindle or Kindle-esque (Nook, etc.) eReader device will be those who are simply interested in straight-on linear text, with no need for social networking to be a part of their reading experience. The others will do their reading on tablets.

Why? Well, Kindle Tweeting under 2.5 sounds like it is more than a bit cumbersome. And the same sort of hardware limits will be present for the Nook, Sony Readers, etc.

From Lance Ulanoff, PCMag.com:

I love reading books and my New Yorker on the Amazon Kindle. But let's be clear: the e-reader is a long way from a computer or even a smartphone. As Amazon adds more features, the limitations of the device become increasingly clear.

Navigating beyond simple page turns often involves a combination of button presses and toggles. Even then you may have to hunt for things under the sometimes inscrutable interface. Finding the social sharing features, for example, wasn't immediate obvious. (They're under the settings.) Set-up requires you go through the Kindle's still experimental and very limited web browser, with the Whispernet connection on.

Once there, I used the Kindle joystick to navigate to and select the Twitter account box. I signed into Twitter and connected the account to my Kindle account. Twitter verified my login and I was able to leave the hoary browser and return to my regular Kindle reading interface.

A bare minimum of guidance

Once again, there was nothing on my Kindle page to indicate anything has changed. I had to move my cursor around on the e-ink screen for a message to appear at the base of my text telling me what to do if I wanted to create a note. Kindle's skeletal instructions in the settings told me I could share notes and highlights. I had to move my cursor around on the e-ink page to see a message that told me I had entered the beginning of the social sharing process. It said I could simply start typing on the Kindle's keyboard – something I've almost never done – or click the joystick to start highlighting text.

I decided to highlight text. As soon as I did, another message appeared at the base of my text, telling me I needed to hold the "Alt" and "Return" keys to "tweet/share". The next screen offered me a typing window and a character count (like any good Twitter app should). I only had 100 characters of my 140 allotment left because, as the screen informed me, the Tweet would carry a link to my highlighted text. Though QWERTY, the Kindle's keyboard isn't built for extensive typing. It took me far longer than it should have to compose a simple tweet. Still, I got through it and I assume I may get better at Kindle typing over time.

Once I finished and selected "Share" there was no indication that I had successfully tweeted out my message. On the e-ink screen, however, my highlighted text kept a thin underline and had a small, numbered footnote. When I highlighted it, my tweet appeared at the base of the page.
On my PC I found my tweet in Twitter, complete with a link to the excerpted text on a special Amazon.com Kindle Beta page. This was pretty impressive, and I soon realized that I could share passages of any length from any book or magazine I was reading. The Amazon page automatically features the book name and cover image, so there's no need to worry if you haven't shared the actual book title.

While I tweeted my passage to all my followers, I would also love to see the ability to tweet to, say, an individual over a Twitter direct message or to send the passage via email. While there's also a Facebook sharing option, there isn't any way yet to share text via e-mail.

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Kindle 2.5 Firmware Update Now Available in US

The new release (2.5.3) has been available to international users for a couple of days already, and now American Kindle owners get theirs. The update is automatic via the wireless connection. Just leave your Kindle wireless turned on and the update will flow. (Don't have 3G? Go to the Amazon Kindle update page for a manual download.) 2.5.3 gives you "collections" to help you organize your books and docs ... and tools to use Facebook and Twitter posts to share your notes and highlights with others. More perks: zoom in and pan across PDFs, see what others living and reading in the Kindle ecosystem think are the best passages of the book you've currently your eyes in, enjoy a wider array of font sizes (all improved in clarity), and get the security of password protection. Check Geek.com. But note: the 2.5 update is not compatible with the original Kindle.

Kindle Upgrade

Seems the 2.5 Kindle Firmware upgrade includes the ability to Tweet book passages on Facebook. "Other new features of Kindle 2.5 include password protection as well as the ability to categorize a book library into collections. Amazon also claims improved clarity and readability with two new font sizes. Staying with the social networking bandwagon theme, they've also provided functionality that highlights the e-book passages considered to be the most interesting by the Kindle community."