Nah.  It wasn't just a one time thing.  It happened again.  like they planned it.  Like loading the menu on the bottom and then loading it on the top when you finished would be more efficient or more logical.

Then I hovered over a word and tried to highlight and it brought up the Full Definition button and I realized that should never happen.  It's bad enough I'm essentially double clicking now to highlight, but to have those double clicks sent errantly into full definition is madness.  Full Definition (though it shouldn't be there at all) should be off to the side, with the double click always landing on highlight.  (but really they should just remove add a note, put it on the menu like boomark, it should go on the page, and restore the highlight button to the way it was on the last Kindle.  They should focus on making things better, not making them worse.)

Amazon Kindle Menus appear at the top or bottom of the screen at random. Why not just pick one? Menu selection should not be a choose your own adventure game.

So, I'm trying to work with you on this whole, make highlighting harder on the Kindle thing.  But this one.  This really blows my mind.  I don't know where you got your developers Kindle, but I swear, I don't think they test or think about anything.

I push the button.  It prompts me from the bottom to "start highlight, define, etc, annoying."  I push the button again.

I highlight my section.  I push the button again.

It prompts me from the TOP! if I want to end the highlight.

I was staring at the bottom like a fool, thinking that the dialog box would come back in the same place.

SERIOUSLY people.  You built an ereader. You've got to get the interface out of the way and let me read my book.  Madness.  It's bad enough that you're making me click the button 4 times to highlight, twice as many button clicks than my previous Kindle, but now you're loading the menus at the top and the bottom, allowing me the fun of guessing where the menu will be.  Reading a book and making a highlight should not be a choose your own adventure game.  It should be easier.

Top 5 Easy to fix software problems with the New Amazon Kindle (Kindle4)

1. Large Screen Menus - It's maddening that Amazon won't make a Kindle that my Grandma can use.  She can read the book just fine, but she can't choose other books from the menu and there's no way she could use the Kindle store to buy a book.  My Grandma reads large print books.  Why can't she read a Kindle with Large Print Menus?  In the Settings screen there should be a large print/accessable mode that would use simple large menus with the reading font set to a large font.  It makes no sense why Amazon won't do this.

2. Highlight button confusion - On the old Kindle, I could click to start hilight, select the area, click to end hilight.  It was great.  On the new Kindle, they've made it harder to hilight.  You click the button, it then asks you if you want to "Start Highlight" or "Full Definition" or want to "Create a Note".  Hold on a second here. I don't have a keyboard.  Why flash this create a note button in my face everytime I want to create a highlight?  Why not move Create a Note to the menu and just create a note on that page.  If the user clicks on an already created highlight, it could bring up the share box.  And the Full Definition option already comes up when you hover over a word and it defines it for you.  Sepereate the three functions and restore my highlight key.  Don't make me return to the old heavy kindle because you screwed up the software.

3. Popular Highlights, Public Notes, Annotations Backup came defaulted to OFF and the screen never popped up a message about what they are and how they work.  Maybe before you read a book, it should bring up a "Kindle tips box" that would help people get more information out of their kindles (although that could be annoying, but it could be turned off as well).  This really goes to the whole, is the Kindle a social reader or not question.  Currently it's not, especially if you have to go into the settings menu and turn it on.

4. Turn Wifi Off was just moved into Airplane mode, but I'm fine with that, with the exception of the fact that I used to run my old kindle with wifi off all the time to save the power.  Not sure if my new kindle has a problem with that, but I'll test it out.

5. Just get rid of the progress bar at the bottom of the screen.  I don't need to be reminded that I'm 71% of the way through constantly.  Especially when I'm reading Game of Thrones and they've combined all four books into one massive ebook and it's gonna take thousands of page presses to even get the thing to move from 1%.  It's better appearing when you push menu.  They don't have clocks in casinos and they shouldn't have digital progress meters on books.

Some of these are minor complaints, but the first two are pretty serious and I think pretty darn easy to fix.  I might check back in with more pictures and more complaints, but for now I'm going to go back to reading my book, which is what I was doing, before the Highlight key made me throw up my arms in rage and type out these blog posts.

I feel like dedicating my day to describing how I would fix the new kindle.  A device that I like very much, but again, who's software inteface is not refined enough.  I wish that I could be part of the kindle proccess.  I am unemployed, read alot, and live in Sacramento.  I have a B.A. in History, am very clever and solved technical problems for corporate lawyers specializing in complex litigation with large amounts of data for seven years.  I am interested in the Kindle's potential as a social reader.  I also believe there is a chance for Amazon to develop a discussion network around media, ie: if you watched everything through Amazon, why not review and rate and tell your friends you watched it through them.  I think there's a chance for an Amazon "High Fidelity" Facebook that would develop around people discussing media.  (ie: build it for books, then sneakily expand to videos and music and beat Spotify+Facebook at their own game).  Maybe after I finish complaining about the Kindle, I'll take some time to describe my positive vision of Amazon.  While I have been enjoying my time off, when it really comes down to working, I really want to work in technology and there really seems to be nowhere else but Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.  Perhaps if I describe my visions of them long enough, one of them will give me a chance to be a part of their future.

Poetic Review of the New Kindle

Kindle3 Keyboard, my best friend no more
the minute I held the new kindle
my old one was out the door
It might not have sound
there's no headphone cable to be found
for some reason they've forgotten
text to speech
deaf people they must think of least
and those who like their books occassionly read aloud
by a robotic voice from an electronic cloud
quickly forgotten
because not just it's size
but it's weight
I would advice
you weigh them both
one in each hand
and find while they both seem grand
one weighs a deck of cards
while the other seems rather light
more of a matchbook than a jack's delight
and that's where reading needs to be
on devices lighter than a feather
you see
for when you hold it
in your hand
for hours or more
and think it grand
that it's as heavy as a lead weight
I'll laugh at you and think it's great
my magic book weighs less than clouds
and from on high I'll shout aloud
this kindle's great and the one for me
at least until it runs out of batteries.