Amazon Kindle Fire: E-book reader and more

Amazon recently surprised everyone by announcing the Kindle Fire, a full-fledged tablet that runs Android OS on a dual core processor and implements cloud storage. It also focuses on your basic multimedia needs- web browsing, checking e-mail, watching videos, listening to music, playing games and of course, reading e-books.

The Kindle Fire will come with a price tag of only USD $199. That's less than half of what most tablets cost these days. Granted, it will have limited capabilities, but really, the Kindle Fire has pretty much everything you need in a tablet.

Update:
For a detailed information about the Kindle Fire, you can visit the official Kindle Fire website.

Martview, an attractive PDF reader that lets you share publications

Martview is basically a PDF reader that you have put steroids in the eye, thinking nothing more than touch screens. The appearance is what draws the most attention, with a modern design and useful. The program runs full screen and the menu bar is hidden at the top. We have several ways to view the documents, but the most striking is what allows us to turn the pages as if they were pages of a book, but we can resort to more usual methods, with a vertical or horizontal. In addition, it has the usual functions of zoom or display an index of pages through thumbnails.

Supports two formats: PDF and MART, the reader himself. However, we can convert images (JPEG, GIF and PNG), ZIP, RAR and PDF format them with the internal converter MART. Recommend it to PDF because that program performance is better. For testing, I tried to convert a pair of compressed files but there was no way, though I had better luck with images only, where I worked without problems.

Martview offers a service that allows you to download content uploaded by other users or increase our own using a small integrated manager. And of course, have the ability to share what they are reading at that time through Twitter and Facebook. For every click you make someone share the link, you will be given 5 points. When you reach a certain number of points you can unlock certain categories of publications that initially you can not access.

Among the "buts" that you can put the program is it lacks a function to mark pages and will only be able to read PDF, apart from the proprietary format. Also missing is an option to turn the interface and use it in portrait mode, something that would be wrong. In addition, it consumes considerable resources and recommended for use with other programs closed, so we can not be very useful if we have it to look up information as we work.

No doubt, a very attractive option in the panorama of desktop readers, but more suitable for prolonged reading or files that contain many images. I find it very convenient for when you feel only to read but not for everyday use constant consultation. His appearance is very pleasant and the experience of reading with this program seemed more pleasant than with other readers lighter. MartView is free and works on any Windows from 2000 to Windows 7. No further specification is available on its website, but if you have installed Java 1.6, you can not install the program. This lack of specifications is also a bug, so I recommend you be careful where you install, does not work or you do not do it halfway.

You can get the program in its own official website.

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Tips on buying the E-book Reader

Here’s a list of things to consider when selecting a new eBook reader.

Screen type

Remember when an eReader display pretty much meant E Ink? Well, the arrival of the Apple iPad as a viable eReading device has since changed that.

When picking an eReader, ask yourself if you don’t mind reading books on an LCD screen or prefer the more paperlike look of something like E Ink. Each has advantages and disadvantages. E Ink tends to reduce eye strain and greatly improve battery life. An LCD screen can display color and typically comes with touchscreen capabilities as well. Then you have hybrid readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Spring Design Alex, which feature both an electronic paper display and LCD touchscreen at the same time.

For electronic paper displays, make sure you compare screens because some have better contrast than others. Sony’s PRS-300 Reader Pocket, for example, has great white levels and tack-sharp text whereas its siblings the Reader Touch and Reader Pocket have grayer screens.

Size and weight

Size matters. Especially on just how portable you want your eReader to be.

Fortunately, there are all sorts of options out there when it comes to size. Sony’s Reader Pocket, for one, actually fits in my jeans pocket, but its 5-inch screen is still big enough for comfortable reading. It’s also pretty light and is easy to take with you on the go. In the middle of the pack, you have devices such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Spring Design Alex, and Sony Reader Touch and Reader Pocket. Then you’ve got the huge devices, such as the Kindle DX and Apple iPad, which sport screens that are about 10 inches in size. Unless you’re a kangaroo, you ain’t fitting those in your pocket anytime soon. But they’re pretty good if you value a screen with larger real estate.

Interface

Controls for eReading devices are typically based on either buttons, touchscreens or a combination of both. Button-based controls require less power and are more accurate but can be more cumbersome to use. Touchscreens are more intuitive but can be laggy, smudge-prone, and typically suck more juice from your battery.

Button-based devices include Amazon’s Kindle 1, 2, 3 and DX models, plus Sony’s Reader Pocket and the Kobo eReader. The Nook and iPad are almost exclusively touch-based. Sony’s Reader Touch and Daily, and Spring Design’s Alex use both touch- and button-based controls.