We roll wireless software updates out in batches to groups of users to make sure everything goes smoothly. If your Kindle has not yet received the most recent software update, rest assured that you’ll receive it wirelessly in the next few weeks.

Not knowing this, I sat around trying to figure out why the heck PDFs were not showing up on my Kindle.

At one point, I did go into settings to find that “Update My Kindle” option to be greyed out. So I assumed it was up to spec, and starting messing around elsewhere.

Turns out, the magic pdf happiness starts with 2.3. And I only had 2.2.

It wasn’t 100% clear, and so this is why I post this here. Go to the update page on your computer, download the update file on your computer, place it on the root folder, and then click on “Update My Kindle”.

It would make sense for the 10.4 MB update to be available without the help of a computer by clicking “Update My Kindle” whenever an update was available, but I wonder if this is disabled because of needing to pay for the 3G bandwidth. It’s a bit annoying, but it’s not like there are point releases happening all that frequently.

Now back to saving trees, one “book” at a time.

This isn’t like those other “hacks” that people keep talking about getting your own eBooks on the Kindle, but to download from the Kindle Store; free, copyrighted material.

Disclaimer: This is all for educational purposes only. I’m NOT responsible for what you do with your Kindle with this knowledge. And I can only hope that Amazon figures this out faster than the rest of the Kindle freaks like me. If you know someone who can fix this bug inside Amazon, please let them know.

The hack

Steps are as follows:

• Buy the book
• Lie and say you’ve accidentally purchased the book
• Turn off the wireless just after the book has been downloaded

I don’t know, but you probably should wait on the screen that has the accidental purchase link until the book has finished downloading… I didn’t really think about this, but my download is fast enough on the awesome 3G network anyway. (Go Kindle GO!)

A couple of seconds after I turned on the wireless, the books did disappear. To get around this, simply make a copy of the file on your computer.

As a sidenote, while I was messing around with moving .azw and .mbp files the book that was downloaded seems to be about twice as big as the sample… I wonder why this is the case. I can only think that there’s some compression going on.

I had to see if there was some kind of remote killswitch on the DRM, and turns out… there isn’t. After the original downloaded copy was erased by Amazon, Amazon was satisfied it seems. I turned on my wireless again and as I expected, I was able to use my Kindle on wireless while reading my “free” book.

Dear Amazon,

Fix it. I don’t even know who to talk to, but I’ll try to forward the link to this post to some people I see on Twitter.

I can think of numerous examples of this. I remember when I got the 1st generation iPod nano, and I dropped it not one day from when I opened the packaging. There was no cover/case at the time, and so I used the plastic packaging that came with it.

More recently, just before the Kindle, it was the MacBook Pro. I had a Brenthaven Metro bag (which, to this day, I love and cherish… the sucker is built like a womb for the earlier MacBook Pros), and when I switched up to the late 2008 unibody one, it wouldn’t fit. Actually, nothing would fit it snugly at the Apple Store, except for the not-so pretty 15″ Incase sleeve/bag.

Now, with the first Kindle, I hear there was a cover included, which sucked: the Kindle would fall out of the cover constantly (and I bet the fact that you couldn’t pick up the Kindle without turning the page didn’t help with it either). Here, it’s an additional $29.99. Is it worth it?

In a Nutshell

Yeah, It’s absolutely essential. That screen has absolutely no protection whatsoever. With the iPhone, you have whatever magical substance between the LCD and the world around it (which is why I was okay with not having a case for it… until I dropped it, but there’s a story there… moving on). With this cover, I feel much secure in knowing that the top and bottom of the Kindle is safe and sound.

So here comes the pics. In the same way as the Kindle was packaged, you have to tear open the box using the neat tab marked “Once upon a time…”

For the Kindle 2 redesign, they made sure to incorporate notches to the unit itself, so that it would work perfectly with the cover.

I loved the instruction insert. Very clear. You first insert the Kindle into the lower curved hook, rotate it to be parallel to the cover, then use the top latch (which retracts to its original position) locks the Kindle in place.

The trouble I had was with the lack of any attachment on the right side of the Kindle. The hooks in the binding of the cover are strong, but fairly thin. This picture above shows how far the back cover will open up, if left hanging. I fear for the notches on the Kindle 2 might get ruined if held like this for a while. Of course, this hopefully never happens, as you will always be holding the whole case firmly… but it’s not a big deal.

Minus this single downside, everything else is amazing. The leather cover and the soft inside feels wonderful. The fact that the front cover can be folded behind the back cover like a magazine is great. The added thickness and traction actually makes the whole Kindle reading experience a bit better (although, I do like to take it out of the cover now and then, and feel how amazingly light it actually is). The cover also makes it very easy to just close up the “book” and go.

If I’ve somehow convinced you to buy the cover, here’s the link: Amazon Kindle 2 Leather Cover

I still have a couple more Kindle reviews left in me: one general one about the Kindle itself, and at least another about how Kindle is going to change my reading habits. Stay tuned for those.