How to leverage Kindle?

You can use Kindle for more than ebook reading. You can read Wikipedia pages, Quora question and answers, articles and webpages in Kindle.

1. Send to Kindle extension: Install amazon's Send to Kindle extension in chrome browser. While your browsing any page of the web, you can click on the send to kindle extension in the right corner of the browser to send that particular article/page to your Kindle. Whatever you sent using send to kindle extension will be saved in amazon cloud and it will be downloaded to your device when you connect to wifi.

Send to Kindle desktop application can be used to send files from computer to Kindle. You can just drag and drop the files to Kindle documents folder.

2. Push to Kindle Website: If you don't want to install extension or if you are using any other browser, you can use http://fivefilters.org/kindle-it/ website to send any webpage to your kindle. You have to enter the complete url of the website which you want to send to you Kindle.

Watch on video on how to use push to kindle.

Converting ebooks to Kindle format: I haven't able to find working converter for converting pdf to .mobi format. So I am converting PDF to epub then epub to mobi. To convert PDF to epub, upload your pdf file to http://www.pdfpocket.com/ then upload converted epub file to http://www.sendepubtokindle.com/.

Note: You will get your kindle email address in your kindle device and in your amazon website. Add your email address free list in amazon's "Manage content and devices".

Click here to buy Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Are Kindles really Worth it?

I read books everyday while commuting to work in Bengaluru city bus. Always curious eyes follow my device because Kindle penetration is very less in India, even though Kindle is released long ago. And this incident will get end in me giving small demo about Kindle to interested folks. I feel the reading experience is not only reason which is stopping paper book readers migration to Kindle. Majority of Indians like multi-purpose devices like Mobile, tablet. As Kindle is single-purpose device or dedicated book reading device, failed to drawn Indians attention.

And Indian market is very price sensitive. At the price of basic Kindle, decent local tablets are available in the market. Along with price, lack of local language ebooks and support to local language fonts is one of the important reason which is hindering Kindle success.

However, Kindle is having lot of advantages which makes above said shortcomings to look smaller.
1. Kindle ebooks are cheap: You can buy books directly from Kindle and book gets downloaded to your device instantly after the purchase so you don't have to wait for 2-3 days as in the case of paperback books. You don't have to pay for delivery charges or to worry about adding another book to cart just to escape to get free delivery. And you will never loose your books. Many times we loose books by lending it others who forget return. In Kindle, you will get back automatically after one month of lending. Always, ebooks are cheaper than paperback books.

There is a saying called "Don't judge the book by cover". You can test these assumption by downloading sample of ebook before purchasing. Downloading sample option available in the right corner of above screen shot.

In amazon newly started Kindle Unlimited, you can read many books in the cost of one book(i.e. Rs.199 per month in India). You can read upto ten books at a time.

2. Sole purpose of reading: Kindle don't have audio/video capability, so you will be forced to read books instead of wasting your previous time in watching videos or browsing Facebook. One more advantage of kindle is no distractions from reading because you don't get any notifications from Whatsapp, mobile messages or work emails in Kindle.

3. Pleasant Reading Experience: Definitely it is very difficult to shift from paperback books to ebooks. Everyone of us will be skeptic when we need to change our habits but It is worth it. Kindle's glare free touch screen and INK display make you feel like you are reading physical book. INK display is as pleasant as paperback books to your eyes. In Kindle, not only highlighting certain points or adding notes is easy but also accessing these highlights and notes also very easy. With options like changing font size for your suitable size makes you fall in love with kindle.

You will get meaning of difficult word just by pressing on the word for few seconds and these word get added to vocabulary builder. You can rewind these new words by using flash card option.

However, I can't say these things if you read books with images, colourful charts and formulas. Kindle still needs to evolve in these books categories.

Yeah, you will miss the smell of paperback books.

4. Long Lasting Battery Performance: One more thing which stands out Kindle from other electronic devices is Kindle's long lasting battery. In Kindle battery is measured in terms of weeks not in hours.Kindle battery last for minimum 15-20 days if you read around 1hour per day.

5. 1000 Books Storage: India is second highest populated country in world so our homes getting smaller day by day. It is very difficult to save all the books and heart breaking to get rid of old books. In Kindle 4GB memory, you can save 1000 books. If you want to travel for 10-15 days, you just have to carry single device instead of bag full of books.

To buy Kindle, click here.

Book readers/lovers, have you heard of Kindle?

I commute to my office in bus which is only 7km away from my home. Including waiting time, journey takes around one hour. I don't have problem with that as my office have flexible timings and I have Kindle eBook reader. Whenever I open Kindle, there will be always minimum few pairs of eyes stare at this black device with surprise. Few people ask me "What is this". I always explain about device, based on observer interest level, I give demo on how to use the device also. Few people think, it is tablet. One particular guy asked me whether I am reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" in Kindle. Recently there was one article about reading these genre books in Kindle in one of the leading news paper in India. So here I am writing this article to explain why I purchased Kindle and why you should purchase Kindle?

 In June 2015, with colleague I went to Bhutan, the land of thunder dragon. It was ten days trip so as a avid book reader I planned to carry up to 5 books along with other luggage. But it’s against backpacking rule of traveller; as per rule you need to pack as light as possible. I wanted to read those books from long time so I was not able to drop any books. Then I started to explore other options. eBook readers are not new. Along with amazon’s kindle, other eBook readers like kobo ereader and Sony eBook reader available in market. Initially I was apprehensive about eBook readers as old-school guy I thought paper book reading experience is irreplaceable. I tasted my first eBook reading experience when I got three free eBooks for purchasing Moto G from flipkart.com. I have read Yuvraj Singh book “The Test of My Life” in my mobile. As I like Yuvi, I loved the book. Surprisingly I didn’t find any problem while reading eBooks.  Next I read Steve Job’s authorized biography in my mobile. I read that book almost everywhere even in lunch breaks. As nowadays mobile screen is as big as 5.5 inch, you can easily read books on mobile because even Kindle is only 6 inch device. Only problem with mobile is backlight display so eyes get strained very soon. Kindle has ink display so you can read for long intervals.

So I decided to buy “Kindle, 6" Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi”. So below I list out advantages of kindle and why you should buy one?

• Kindle books are cheaper than paper books.
• Kindle can store up to 1000 books so you can read whichever book you want.
• Even though Kindle is not intuitive like apple devices, operating is fairly simple. You can easily maintain notes and highlight important points. Most importantly you can access your notes and highlights easily. 
• Kindle is not only for books, you can read articles, blog post what not. By using send to kindle plugin, you can send interesting articles, blogs or Quora answer to your kindle. When you sync your kindle by connecting to Wi-Fi, new content will be loaded to your kindle. 
• You can read PDF also in kindle. It’s best to convert PDF into kindle format or mobi format for better reading experience. 
• With kindle unlimited subscription, you can read many books for Rs. 199/month. There are lots of good Indian authors books available in Kindle Unlimited like Amish Tripathi (Shiva Trilogy), Chetan Bhagat, Ravinder Singh etc. At a time you can load up to ten books to your kindle.
• Kindle battery life is really good. Daily I commute to office through bus. I read in my kindle on both ways for around 2hr/day. I charge my kindle maximum two times per month. 
• Kindle is having ink display so eyes will not get strained for long intervals
• You can read almost any books for free by downloading pirated copy but I strongly suggest don't read pirated books. Authors put lot of efforts to write a book. Reading pirated book is like stealing. 
• As the size of house shrinking, it's always difficult to store and maintain paper books.

Cons:

• Kindle is stand alone device, you can't install any apps.
• As of now, amazon is not supporting Indian language fonts. I tried some hacks but nothing worked out. I contacted amazon but no changes as of now.
• Only few Indian language eBooks are available for purchase.
• Some times shadow of previous page appears in present page.
• Browser is experimental as mentioned in specs. It has long way to go.
• Kindle is available in only white and black colour.
• No colour display.
• Kindle don't support interactive graphs like tableau or gif files.

if you are avid book reader, go ahead and buy kindle for Rs.4999. Feel free to comment if you have doubts.

Kindle, 6" Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi

Must Read Books for Indians

Based on my excessive books reading, here I listed out must read books for Indian Youth. I may missed out few good books which I haven't read. There is no ranking or order of book listing.


Timeless Steel Rahul Dravid By ESPNCricinfo
The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy) by Amish Tripathi
The Secret Of The Nagas (Shiva Trilogy) by Amish Tripathi
The Oath of the Vayuputras (Shiva Trilogy) by Amish Tripathi
Simply Fly By Capt. Gopinath Deccan Airways Founder
I too had a Love Story By Ravinder Singh

Steve Jobs Biography

Steve Jobs, the man who wanted to make a dense in universe is ever lasting inspiration. At Present, Apple is most valuable company in the world. Even though Jobs confounded Apple with Wozniak, It's jobs who made Apple as most valuable company. As Steve always saying he successfully made dent in universe in his own way.

• Steve jobs is famous for perfection and simplicity.
• Steve always said people don't know what they want, until you show them something so he never interested in market research.
• Jobs combination with Jonathan Ive did wonders for Apple. 
• Jobs had vision for the products and he believed that software and hardware should integrated.
• He was master mind for creating many master piece like iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. 
• He revolutionized package of products and created unique product unboxing concept along with improving experience buying through Apple Stores . 
• He was always very good in selecting right people for getting job done except one time (John Sculley case). 
• Along with many master pieces he was master mind of another master piece i.e.Steve Jobs Biography. 
• He proved that he was excellent in selecting people by selecting Walter Isaacson for writing his biography.

Steve's biography is unique and different just like Apple Products. I had very bad opinion about biographies like biography meant to glorify person. Walter and Steve, made me to change my opinion. Steve's biography contains truth. No where, Steve got glorification from the author. It's Steve wish to tell truth about him so his kids know about him. Steve biography is very detailed one. Author interviewed many people who comes in Steve life and he wrote their views along with Steve Version.

Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011(Wednesday) because of cancer. Next week, Dennis Ritchie died on same Wednesday. Many people not even heard of Dennis Ritchie the man who invented C programming language and Unix operating system. Recently I came across a question in Quora, questioner asks why Steve job death got more media coverage and sympathy than Dennis.

We can't compare two legends, I feel there is lot of difference between Steve and Dennis. Dennis Ritchie is inventor where Steve jobs is Visionary. Dennis Ritchie developed command based UNIX OS. Steve turned innovation of Graphical User Interface to reality. When Woz developed Apple I, all he wanted was to showcase in Homebrew Computer Club. Steve is the one who saw future in Apple 1 and stuck deal with Byte Shop to deliver 50 pieces for $500 in 60 days. Even Apple_II is designed by Woz. Steve Jobs concentrated on packaging, presenting and marketing of the product.

Finally If you want to know more about Apple early days, Steve's days in India and Steve return to Apple along with creation of iPod, iPhone,iTunes, consider buying a book of Steve Job's Biography.

Click here to Buy Paper Book

Click here to Buy Ebook

Rahul Dravid: Timeless Steel

Are you proud fan of Rahul Dravid? Are you craziest fan of Rahul Dravid? How much you know about Rahul Dravid and his game? Have you missing articles about Rahul Dravid in News Paper? To know more about him as a person and cricketer, You should read Rahul Dravid:Timeless Steel

Rahul Dravid: Timeless Steel (Anthology)

 
I don't know why I started liking and loving Rahul Dravid when whole India crazy about Sachin. I was getting nervous whenever I was watching Rahul Dravid playing, especially in ODI cricket. 

Does Rahul Dravid followers like him for his character outside ground or for his performance and sacrifice in ground. Rahul did everything team need starting from playing as wicket keeper to accommodate extra batsman and scarifying his 3rd position to open batting when openers not available. 

Even though, Rahul got recognition as one of the best Test Batsman in world, He didn't got his due credit in ODI. Critics labelled Dravid as not fit for ODI and selectors dropped from ODI.But he proved everyone wrong by top scoring with 461 runs in the first cricket world cup(1999 WC) he played.

There are so many unknown things about Rahul, this book tries to throw light to that part. Rahul Dravid:Timeless Steel book contains articles by

• Players who played along with Dravid in various level like Suresh Raina, Sanjay Bangar, Akash Chopra, Ed smith
• Coaches in various level like Greg chappel, John Wright
• Reporters who reported Adelaide and Rawalpindi Test like Sharda Ugra, Samit bal, Rahul Bhattacharya
• Dravid wife, Vijeta Dravid

Each and every author explains Dravid's character, temperament and technique along with Dravid preparation for game. This book also contains detailed statistics of Rahul Dravid games.

Most importantly Rahul Dravid:Timeless Steel book contains some of important interviews of Rahul Dravid

• After his best innings in Adelaide in 2003
• After he getting Wisden cricketer award in 2003
• After setting up highest catch record in 2010
• After his retirement.

This interviews gives peek to Dravid personality from last 11 years. Surprisingly Rahul didn't changed much with success. He always maintained low profile. Proud to be Rahul Dravid follower who done everything for his team and country.

Nanna Thamma Shankara : Shankar Nag Biography review

Shankar Nag is fondly called as shankaranna by Kannada people, He is one of he most memorable person in the History of Karnataka. Even today, after his death of 25 years, people get goosebumps when they hear name "Shankar Nag". Auto driver and taxi driver who born after shankar died paste his photos and stickers in their vehicle. Arguably, Shankar Nag is most famous and loved person in Karnataka. 

After his death, Few biographies of Shankar nag released but "Nanna Thamma Shankara" is the only best book. Nanna Thamma Shankara book written by Ananth Nag, elder brother of Shankar Nag and most versatile actor of Indian cinema. A must read book for all Shankar Nag Fans. Ganesh Kasargodu also wrote a book about Shankar Nag but don't waste your time on reading that book.

Nanna Thamma Shankara

Shankar Nag is like Che Guevara because both of them still alive in people heart even though they left earth decades back. Both of them died in thirties but the work they did takes whole life time for us to complete. Both of them tried hard to do improve mankind with out expecting any personal gain.Che Guevara born and bought up in Argentina, fought for Cuba people and died while fighting for Bolivia people. Shankar Nag born in konkani family in coastal Karnataka and bought up in Mumbai. He had tried to improve the lives of Kannada people after he came back to Bangalore.

If Shankar Nag limited his activities to acting, he would've forgotten by now.Shankar Nag is visionary, He is the one who started studio "Sanket" in Karnataka with help of his friends to bring back Kannada Film Industry to Bangalore from Chennai. He had united stunt masters and helped them in forming Stunt Master association. He is the one who convinced Dr.Rajkumar to join gokak movement to provide momentum to the movement .He is the first Indian film director to shoot underwater scene.

In childhood, Shankar Nag was very good in academic so he wanted to go abroad to pursue masters degree. But his brother Ananth Nag was forced him to accept "Gandugali" role in "Ondanondu Kaladalli" movie directed by famous Girish Karnad. Shankar Nag got National award as best actor in his debut movie for the same Gandugali role.Later Shankar Nag became famous among his fans as "Karate King". He became house hold name through movies like SP Sangliyana,Auto Raja,Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige,CBI Shankar, Minchina oota and Geetha. He is very workaholic, He acted in around 14 movies in 1984 along with acting in drama. He acted in around 78 movies in 13 years of acting career. He was unfazed by success and love he received by people. He got National level fame for "Malgudi Days" Serial.

Nanna Thamma Shankara book reveals Shankar's all ideas in very detail because he involved his brother, writer of this book Ananth Nag in all his projects. Some of Shankaranna's Mind blowing Ideas
1. Bangalore Metro - He went abroad to study existing metro and submitted his plan to government of Karnataka
2. Children's park & Rope way near Nandhi Hills
3. Affordable homes for Middle class people - He wanted to build pivot project then he wanted to convince government to implement across Karnataka.
4. Country club for entertainment

You will feel sense of incompleteness after reading "Nanna Thamma Shankara" book. It took me long time to come out of the thought i.e. we missed a pearl.

Even though, Shankar Nag had lot of success in commercial movies, he had directed all kinds of movies like thriller, comedy and Suspense genre. To read more about Shankar Nag films and film making skills, read wonderful blog in Jamuara by clicking on the below link.
An Ode To Shankar Nag - The Man Of Many Seasons Who Could've Changed Kannada Cinema Forever!