14 DAY TRIAL // Seeing how the Nook is no longer plagued by short supply and that it won't be long until the real competition starts on the e-reader market, it was expected of Amazon to somewhat raise the stakes, if it hopes to keep the Kindle at the forefront of the e-book movement. For this reason, the company is preparing to launch a new software update that will add a range of new features meant to both protect the Kindle, as well as enhance the e-reading and web experience.
Since most e-book file types are already supported on the device, and the overall functionality has no issues, Amazon decided to add a number of extra options. When it comes to the action of e-book reading itself, owners will have the option to organize books in collections, zooming/panning into PDFs and displaying the contents in a couple of new, larger font sizes. The real assets of the new update, however, are those regarding security and the possibility to share content.
One option that the update will add is that of setting up a password meant to protect the Kindle when it is not in use. More importantly, however, consumers will be able to access Twitter and Facebook directly from the e-book reader, allowing them to share book passages with friends or other community members. Finally, there will be a community highlights feature, which will show which passages of one's books are most popular with the Kindle community.
All of these capabilities will be enabled when the Kindle Software Update Version 2.5 is installed. Unfortunately, this software is still in development and its beta stage is only, currently, available to a small number of Kindle users, for testing purposes. The final version should be completed in a few weeks and will be available for download in late May.