Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Getting Kids to Read

They said that the more that you read, the more thing that you’ll know. Getting kids to read these days can be difficult with all the distractions around. But with some guidelines stated here, you will surely develop a good reading habit to your child that will make him stand out from the rest.

To start getting your child to read, introduce it as an activity filled with fun. You can formulate a game with the book as the number one material. Since kids love Hide ‘n Seek and Scavenger Hunt, you can play with them by asking them to find certain characters or words as they read a story and encircle them. Another idea is to ask them to look for words containing a particular alphabet. And when you travel, you can also ask your child to read about the place and ask him or her to tell you about it.

Kindle is also a good material to encourage your child to read. These days, even a two- year old child is fascinated with gadgets. I have a 3-year old niece who will never sit for a minute when you need her to, even while watching TV or eating. She’s always up and around, jumping and looking for things to explore. The only time that you can get her to sit for a long period of time is when you give her an iPad, a smartphone, or Kindle. With a gadget that she can play around with, you can rest assured that you can tie her hair neatly and have her sit quietly while you have something to attend to.

Kindle comes with a feature that will enable your child to highlight the words for your Scavenger Hunt games. Since kids like to have a sense of control over the things that surround them, you can ask her to select books from Amazon and allow her to build her own collection on Kindle. Aside from books, having Kindle will also allow her to subscribe to her favorite magazine with topics that she likes. Make it a point that the subscription is under her name, so that it becomes something that she looks forward to each day that will eventually lead to good reading habit.

Another feature of Kindle that will help you to get your child to read is its capability for light Internet browsing. When you are planning to watch movie, have your child read reviews to help you decide which movie to watch. Ask her about her opinion and make sure that she understands that it matters. After watching the movie, let her read about it on the Internet. Let her read about the characters that caught her attention which would help her understand the movie better.

With the help of Kindle, you can also ask her to help you with cooking. Let her select recipes that she like and have her read the instructions while you are cooking. You can also ask her to look at the nutrition labels of foods for you. Make it fun by asking her which of the foods contain fewer calories.

There are more ways to get your child to read. The idea is to make it fun and show her that you also enjoy reading.

Additional Resources:
Kindle Touch in Canada
Kindle Reader Reviews
Where Can I Purchase a Kindle
Buy Kindle in Canada

Buy Kindle in Canada

Since Kindle has been introduced in the US market back in November 2007, it was not until 2009 that that it was made available internationally.

To buy Kindle in Canada, you have to go to Amazon Kindle international store. You cannot purchase it directly from Amazon’s Canadian website. Although you can also find it there, once you click on it, you will be redirected to Amazon.com.

Kindle is also available from some physical stores. When I decided to purchase Kindle, I actually went out to check them from those stores since I wanted to get one in the soonest possible time. But I stepped back when I realized that the price was a bit higher. The Kindle that they were selling was also acquired from Amazon website and they were just charging customers for the privilege of ordering Kindle for them.

With that in mind, I dismissed the need to get hold of it that day. I thought that I will have to go through the whole process of ordering, shipping, and waiting until it finally make it to my door. To my surprise, I received my Kindle on my doorstep 2 days after I ordered it. I selected the standard delivery and I did not expect it to arrive that early. It was a good decision on my part.

The second surprise that I got was when I took it out of the box. It was all ready for me to use without installing anything and creating any account for my future purchases. You may find it funny, but I actually got that feeling that the device was made especially for me.

Kindle comes in different variants. In Canada, the only variants available are: The new Kindle, which is made for pure reading, the Kindle DX, which is the biggest Kindle with the widest screen, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Keyboard that comes with a keyboard.

Some of the variants I mentioned come with Wi-Fi connection only, and some of them come with 3G/Wi-Fi connectivity. I think that it is important to check each of the variant’s connectivity since there’s a price difference of US $ 50 for 3G connection. If you own a wireless router at home for your Internet connection, 3G becomes useless for you if you are not traveling a lot. I actually purchased Kindle Touch 3G. When I took it out of the box, I have observed that it automatically picked up my Wi-Fi signal instead of 3G. Since I don’t travel a lot and I usually order eBooks when I have time to read at home, I have never been connected on 3G. Well, that was 50 dollars that I should have spent on cover instead.

Talking about Kindle cover, mine came without it, but I must say that I have never encountered any problem with it.

Owning a Kindle is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I commend Amazon for a job well done. With a reasonable price, I didn’t expect it to provide solid comfort and convenience for the purpose that it was designed for – to provide the best reading experience.

Additional Resources:
Kindle Touch in Canada
Kindle Reader Reviews
Where Can I Purchase a Kindle
Kindle Reader

Kindle Reader

Traveling with Kindle Reader

I was on my way to Coleman to meet a friend at Popiel’s, and while waiting for my bus, I took my Kindle reader out of my pocket. It feels so light. I have more than 150 eBooks right in my Kindle which is always ready for me to read in case that I need them for reference. With a few ounces, I am able to carry my mini library anywhere I go. To me, it is the best feature that I am getting out of my Kindle, which is also my number one reason for acquiring it.

After pressing a few buttons, I started reading A Touch of Deceit by Gary Ponzo which I downloaded a few minutes ago. It didn’t take long. The download process took less than 60 seconds after selecting the book from Amazon website. I didn’t even have to look for Wi-Fi connection since it is getting its signal from cellphone networks. With Wi-Fi and 3G enabled, downloading eBook is done anywhere and anytime without paying for anything on my part, but the cost of the eBook.

My bus came and I pressed a button to turn it off. I slipped my Kindle back to my pocket and after I took a sit inside the bus, I pulled it out again. The moment after I switched it on, I was back from where I left off.

Kindle reader has an amazing feature called Whispersync. It lets you download an eBook once, and have copies of it on all your devices. The Whispersync synchronizes your books, bookmarks, annotations, and highlights on your Kindle, iPad, laptop, smartphone, and desktop. You are able to pick up the last thing that you read from one device to another. This feature is a great help for me since there are books that I use for my own research. To have the research material synchronized on my desktop, I am able to create a document about it from my desktop without having to turn on my Kindle for my reference.

I started reading chapter 3 of A Touch of Deceit. It will take about 30 minutes before I reach Coleman and it’s a great relief that I have a device to entertain me during the ride.

Kindle reader doesn’t tire my eyes easily. It is also one of the major considerations why I purchased Kindle even if I already own an iPad and a laptop. It comes with e-Ink technology that removes glare from the screen, making it so gentle to the eyes that will allow you to read for hours without causing any strain on your eyes. The display looks so much like pages from a paperback that you can read even under direct sunlight.

I will be staying for a few days at Coleman but I never had to worry about bringing my Kindle charger. There’s really no need for that since Kindle’s battery lasts for 2 months if you are going to use it for an average of 30 minutes per day. Even if I read for 5 hours a day for 3 days, which I doubt, I can still use it without having to recharge its battery.

Traveling with Kindle is a great experience. If you are looking for a reading device that will give you a lot of convenience and comfort, I strongly suggest that you get a Kindle.

Additional Resources:
Kindle Reader
Kindle
Kindle Reader Reviews
Kindle Fire in Canada

Kindle Fire in Canada

Among all other Kindle variants, Kindle Fire is the only device that doesn’t feature e-Ink. It is that technology that made Kindle excel. It is that piece of feature that book readers came to love about Kindle that brought to its success. And finally, it is that e-Ink that makes it incomparable to iPad and comparing them is a big mistake.

But Kindle Fire is different. It is built using Android system. Therefore, there is reason enough to compare it with iPad.

I recently got hold of a Kindle Fire in Canada and let me share with you my 3 days of playing with it and compare it with iPad.

Price Factor

I don’t know about other people who said that Kindle Fire is a threat to iPad when it comes to market share. It is maybe because of the price factor. Kindle Fire is currently sold in the US for $199 while iPad 2 costs $399.

If you are getting a device that costs less, you cannot expect that you’ll get the same advantage and the same features that you would get from the more expensive one. There is a good reason why iPad costs higher. It is because they aim to provide you with a lot of convenience making your browsing a great experience.

With that in mind, you should expect that if you decide on purchasing Kindle Fire base on its price, you’ll get fewer features and less convenience.

But to say that Kindle Fire will not satisfy anyone is not right. If you can settle for the way that it is built, I find no reason why you should not be happy owning a Kindle Fire for a device that’s affordable enough.

Kindle Fire in Canada

If you go to Amazon website, Kindle Fire features the following:

1. Color touchscreen

2. A nice and easy interface

3. Fast dual core processor which makes it capable of streaming music while you are browsing or reading

4. Whispersync which synchronizes your reading activities, and video streaming across your devices

5. Favorite free apps and games

6. Music library

7. Instant streaming of TV shows and popular movies

8. All other features that you are getting from other variants of Kindle but the e-Ink.

Since Amazon is not releasing Kindle Fire in Canada, you will not be able to use all features above. If you happen to be in the US and decides on purchasing Kindle Fire from there, download all apps and games that you think you will need. They will all work in Canada. But if you are already in Canada, you cannot download anymore apps using your Canadian credit card. You got to have an American credit card to do it. It comes with pre-installed apps like Pulse, ESPN, Weather Channel, Facebook, and Quick Office though.

Kindle Fire in Canada will not also allow you to download the free apps which is pretty annoying for other people since it is something that you can do on other Android-based devices.

That being said, I strongly suggest to those who are thinking of getting Kindle Fire in Canada through any other means to wait until Amazon officially launch it to the International market to enjoy its full benefits.