Several of the updates seem to be geared towards younger readers (Really? Twitter sharing of passages from a book? As if that social network isn't filled with enough trivia). Nor am I much interested in what passages in a book others marked as interesting (although it looks to be a readily exploited feature if used by students to skip reading an entire book when preparing a report), while other features are those that original Kindle owners have been asking for all along (and which could have been developed for that hardware platform without much difficulty, especially tagging). Passwords have long been needed and locking your Kindle is something many business users have wanted (as have a few people who don't want others to see what they are reading), but parents have been asking for parental locks on their Kindles even louder and it doesn't appear those are included. I know I'd love to be able to mark books (using my Manage My Kindle page) as to which Kindle is allowed to access a book - that would make it easier for families with multiple Kindles, where the romance and sports readers don't want to see each others titles, for the most part. I'll definitely use the PDF enhancements on my DX, I suspect, and perhaps the Collections feature there will be useful (even though I only keep a small subset of my books there).
Here's a list of the coming enhancements:
- Collections: Organize your books and documents into one or more collections.
- PDF Pan and Zoom: Zoom into PDFs and pan around to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics.
- Password Protection: Password protect your Kindle when you're not using it.
- More Fonts & Improved Clarity: Enjoy two new larger font sizes and sharper fonts for an even more comfortable reading experience.
- Facebook & Twitter Posts: Share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from your Kindle.
- Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you're reading.
Click HERE for additional details and for updates on the release schedule.