This generation of Kindle is arguably the best. With the raft of advertising, and new compact super slim design, the Kindle is having a second coming too. If you’re the lucky receiver of a Kindle this Christmas, then here’s five things you should know about your Kindle. It’s not just an e-reader, it’s much, much more…
1. It can take audiobooks, which means it can take MP3s too You aren't restricted to audiobooks when it comes to your Kindle. You can also load MP3s onto your device for listening on the go. These don't have to be sourced from Amazon either, they can be dragged and dropped straight from your music library. The sound from the built in speakers is remarkably good for a feature that's tacked on the side: we found it to be crisp and clear, with an amazing level of depth considering it's coming from such a compact device.
2. Kindle can read you a bedtime story If you're feeling especially tired, then you can make Kindle do the reading for you. Kindle text to speech feature has to have had permission from the publishers, or it won't work, so this isn't universal, but will work for most Kindle eBooks. To turn on text-to-speech, press the text button (the key marked "Aa"), then select the Text-to-speech option in the menu. By default, content is spoken with a male voice, but using the 5-way controller, you can select a female speaking voice.
3. You can browse the internet for free The Kindle's browser is described as being "experimental", and it means that both in the sense that a) it looks like an experimental work of art, and b) it's in early stages of development. Head over to the BBC home page on your Kindle and it looks like it's been reinterpreted by Picasso, with headlines all out of whack, and the page at a generally unreadable degree of wonkiness. However, the Kindle has no contract, so while you have to put up with your pages looking like they’ve been reinterpreted by a five year old with an Etch-a-sketch, it is free.
4. It is possible to stop the browser looking like a cubist masterpiece Kinstant is a portal that you can reach via the Kindle, that reinterprets web pages so that they are readable on the Kindle, meaning you can take full advantage of the free mobile data Amazon provides. It won't work with all sites, but does a good job of lots of key news hubs. Kinstant also gives you access to Google Maps and a calculator too. Through Maps you can add your location and destination and get directions.
5. It has a microphone There is a microphone in your Kindle, but we're not sure what it will be used for yet – at the moment it's disabled. Amazon says it’s just for “future use”. Could this be for voice controls, voice recording, or even dictation services, so you can make notes, and control your Kindle via voice, or could it be for something bigger?
What would you like to see the mic used for? Drop us a line in the comments!
Merry Christmas one and all! It’s the last day of the Electricpig Advent Calendar and we’ve one more prize to give away!
Today we’re asking for Christmas jokes. Plunder your crackers, ask your grannies! All you have to do is log in using your Facebook ID (that’s really important, without it we can’t reliably contact you, or check you’re based in the UK) and tell us one in the comments section will win! Once we have a winner, we’ll reveal the prize they’ve scooped.
Each day we’ve got a mystery prize up for grabs thanks to the generous people at PC World. It could be a speaker system, a digital photo frame, a keyboard and mouse set, an Advent Amico tablet, Advent laptop or computer, or even a newly-released Advent Vega tablet.
What’re you waiting for? Scroll down, log in using your Facebook account and get commenting!
We have a winner!
Congratulations Steven Burns! You’ve scooped the Christmas day (and final) prize in our Advent calendar. It’s an Advent Centurian Ci523 gaming PC! Thanks to all who took part, it’s been brilliant! We’re all off to stuff our faces with turkey, over-done veg and ill-advised chocolates. We suggest you do the same. Merry Christmas!
Check out more Advent products at www.pcworld.co.uk, and remember to come back tomorrow for another chance to win: we’ll offer up a fresh prize each day between 9am and 12 noon! Our usual terms and conditions apply.
Want the best Android apps to grab for your brand new Google phone? If you’ve just landed one as an Xmas pressie, read on and we’ll show you the must have apps to both show it off, and get you started.
We’ve divided up the best Android apps for the 25th into two categories: great games to start playing ASAP, but also the must have apps to set up and secure your phone form the get go.
Essential starter apps
Barcode Scanner To grab the best Android apps quickly, you’ll need this app. Search for it on the Android Market, install it, then use it on the black and white QR codes you see next to each app to open them on the Market too. Simples!
AppBrain The Android Market is rubbish. You can’t find anything on it. You can’t browse it on a desktop PC. Discover the best Android apps for your taste using this third party program instead, and its broad selection of filters and lists.
Spotify Spotify is the the very best Android app, period. You can stream music, almost anything, straight to your phone with it. And it’s totally legal. This version does require a Spotify Premium subscription (£9.99 per month) to work, but you got one of those for Christmas too right? You didn’t? Go flog your other presents and come back when you have. You can grab the latest version here.
Prey One of the very best Android apps, counter-intuitively, is one you should never have to use. Install it, and you can track down your handset, Find My iPhone style, for free. Go grab that peace of mind, then carry on as you were.
DoubleTwist DoubleTwist looks just look iTunes, but works with any USB phone. It’s also better than iTunes: there’s no Ping clogging it up, and comes with a great app available in the Android Market which allows for wireless media syncing between your Android phone and your computer. A-mazing.
Essential games
Angry Birds Seasons If you’ve not discovered Angry Birds yet, you’re in for a treat with this Christmas flavoured free version. So long as your Android phone has a multitouch screen, you’ll be able to indulge in avian pig slaying with a catapult pronto.
Pocket God A legendary iPhone game that’s now available on Android: lord it over your little islanders how you deem fit. Which invariably means lots of death. Think Black & White in your pocket and you’re not far off. Well worth the 63p admission.
Pocket Legends World of Warcraft on your phone. That’s the premise behind this MMORPG – or MMMORPG, as it should perhaps be called, given it’s now mobile. One of the best Android apps for sitting through the Christmas afternoon lull when everyone else is asleep.
Want more? Check out our all our Best Android apps guides over on the Top 5 page!
So you just unwrapped an Xbox Kinect this fine morning, got it hooked up, and started dancing around in front of the TV. Hope you’re having fun! We can point you in the direction of the best Kinect games for it, but Kinect is even more feature packed than you might realise. Read our guide to unlock its full potential this fine Christmas day.
1. You don’t need the gamepad at all - even for startup So right now, you’ll still have to tap your Xbox 360’s power on with a finger or toe to turn it on, but beyond that, you don’t need the clumpy gamepad for getting around the hub at all. So long as Kinect is plugged in, it’ll be able to see you as soon as the dashboard loads – you can see a mirror image of yourself in a window in the bottom right hand corner. All you need to do is wave a few times and presto, it’ll load straight into the Kinect hub without a single button push required.
2. You can watch movies without the remote Xbox Kinect isn’t just about motion control gaming: Microsoft says it’s about making you the controller, and that extends to watching movies and TV too. You can rifle through Zune movies and Sky Player for films and TV shows, wave them onto your screen, and then tell your Xbox to stop when you need to pause. That’s right – Kinect has voice control too. Neat, eh?
3. Wave through music Xbox Kinect also lets you control Last.fm without a gamepad, so you can whizz through playlists, songs and band info to find the tracks you want to listen to. It’s the perfect icebreaker at Christmas parties – unfortunately, we can’t confirm if you can summon up Shakin Stevens or not for a bit of topicality.
4. Video chat The Kinect has a smart camera, that much you knew. But did you also know it’ll let you have video chat with other Kinect owners, and PC users logging in through Windows Live Messenger? That’s a lot of mates you can chat to from the comfort of your sofa. Don’t worry about having to adjust the Xbox Kinect either, as it can actually track you and zoom accordingly.
5. It’s seriously hackable Far be it from us to suggest you void the warranty of your Xbox Kinect on the day you’ve got it, but for the budding engineers and computer scientists out there, it’s the ultimate plaything. It’s seriously hackable, and there are now drivers to hook it up to a PC and start dabbling with. This one’s adults only, but just look at what happens when you combine Kinect with a helicopter!
You’ve just cracked open your presents and found a glistening new iPod Touch. Now what? Stock up on some top quality games. That’s what. We’ve compiled a list of the very best to keep you occupied on this festive day and infinitely longer. The best iPod Touch games to download on Christmas Day, this way.
From puzzle games to shooters to beat-em-ups. We’ve rounded up the perfect mix of games iPod Touch games to download on Christmas Day. There’s something for everyone. Check out our must-have iPod Touch games list below.
Doom Classic £3.99 The legendary first-person shooter has finally arrived for iPod Touch (and iPhone). Doom may not have the gloss of more contemporary gunners but remains a timely reminder of a game that along with Duke Nukem, helped make the genre so popular. And it’s still good.
Angry Birds Seasons £0.59 Angry Birds Seasons brings a touch of festive cheer to the mobile franchise with plenty of snow-filled winter themed levels in this latest edition of the popular bird-flinging franchise.
Cut the Rope £0.59 An utterly addictive and clever game that has you attempting to feed an adorable critter by freeing candy from a rope. One of the best games on the App Store.
Rock Band Reloaded £2.99 The latest edition of Rock Band for iPod Touch features over 25 free songs to vitally strum along to, complete with vocal recognition to let you sing along to them.
Doodle Jump £0.59 Doodle Jump is no way near as deep as some of the top class App Store titles but it doesn’t need to be. It’s addicting gameplay is enough to get you hooked.
Monopoly £1.19 Not finding your estranged relatives entertaining enough this Christmas Day? Fire up Monopoly for iPod Touch. It works just like the real board game in digitised form.
Street Fighter IV £5.99 Street Fighter IV on iPod Touch is no rushed port. It’s about as close as you’ll get to a proper console Street Fighter experience on a touchscreen. You only need to see it in action to agree. With 14 characters to choose from all your Street Fighter favourites are there.
Slice It! £0.59 This cerebral slicer has players cutting shapes into a variety of sizes in a fun but challenging iPod Touch puzzler. The pick up and play title features more than enough levels to keep you busy this Christmas.
Scrabble £1.19 The king of the word games has been available for a while now, but it’s still a great game to gather around or play with another player via Local Network Play in this charming recreation of a classic.
Fruit Ninja £0.59 About as simple as games come, but no less addicting for it. You simply slice incoming bombardments of fruit that come at you, but multitouch controls make Fruit Ninja so much more fun than it sounds.
Just taken the cellophane off your shiny new Apple iPhone 4? You’re about to be in more luck. As an extra treat just for you, we’ve rounded up some of the best apps to download on this special day.
We’ve chosen ten of the best (of the many more available on the App Store) that we think are ideal downloads to enjoy on this festive day, and some essentials you’ll need in future. Take a look:
Hipstamatic £1.19 Hipstamatic gives your iPhone photos a touch of the vintage with its range of effects to send your photos to school. Old school. Go on, try it with some festive Christmas day photos.
Sonos Controller £Free If you’ve also been lucky to have been given a Sonos music streamer for Christmas, hooray! Download the Sonos Controller app right now. If not, go out to the boxing day sales and get one. Sonos Controller lets you control your music collection wirelessly from your iPhone (and iPod Touch and iPad). If you’ve got a Napster or Spotify account it’ll let you sync it with your account too so you could potentially have every music track in the world at your fingertips ready to control wirelessly.
Spotify £Free If you’ve not yet got a Spotify Premium account, now would be the perfect time to do so. You get the usual access to millions of tracks and all that good stuff, but with the Spotify app you’ll also be able to listen to all your playlists offline, been when you’ve got no mobile connection – handy for listening to your tunes on the Tube.
Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals £4.99 Attention celebrity chefs. This is how you do an app. Jamies’s 20 Minute Meals will come in handy should the Christmas lunch go to pot. It has 60 recipes with easy to follow steps, handy photography to guide you along the way and 21 exclusive videos.
Sky Sports News £Free The Christmas period isn’t just for eating unhealthy quantities of cut-price canapés. It’s also one of the busiest months of the football calendar. Catch up on all the latest news on the next days Boxing Day fixtures using the Sky Sports News app. It features the very latest news, not just on football but other sports such as Cricket, Tennis, boxing and more, with exclusive videos and a news ticker to keep you fully up to date.
Shazam £Free In the rare instance that you find yourself at the in-laws and actually like the sound of the music playing, Shazam will let you know the name and song of the band or artist and album without you having to ask, and get drawn into a boring conversation in the process. It’ll come in handy in future too.
Angry Birds Seasons £0.59 Angry Birds is one of the most popular mobile games of the last year. Now a new version, Angry Birds Seasons has coincidentally arrived just in time for Christmas. Download it and see what all the fuss is about.
Facebook £Free If you end up bored on Christmas day, chances are you’ll be spending much of it on Facebook. You can also download the world’s most popular social networking site to your iPhone.
iFitness £1.19 It’s nearly time for a brand new year. There’s no better time to kick start that training regime you’ve been putting off. Looking for some help and advice to get you started and give you the motivation you need? iFitness will go some way to at least getting you to don your gym kit. It’s filled with over 300 exercise routines and 175 video instructions for each, grabbing rave reviews in the process.
Rock Band Reloaded £2.99 The latest version of Rock Band comes with over 25 free songs from artists such as Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys and more. New to Rock Band Reloaded is the addition of vocal recognition letting you warble for points.
What a year 2010 has been for the Apple iPad. In re-entering the tablet market Apple has also birthed one of the best handheld games consoles around. Whatever you think about the iPad there’s no denying the amount of top quality games available for it. Got one for Christmas? Then read on for our pick of the best iPad games of 2010. Which of these gaming must-haves do you own?
Rage HD £1.19 Rage HD is a first person on-rails shooter. But don’t let that last detail put you off. It might hold your hand throughout, but Rage HD is a fine example of what can be achieved on the iPad. It’s arguably the best looking iPad game. Made by the team behind Doom and Quake, Rage HD has you taking part in a macabre quiz forcing you to dispatch hungry mutants with an array of weaponry. Expect awesome visuals, slick gameplay and triple-A presentation. A bargain at just £1.19.
Cut The Rope HD £1.19 One of the most popular games on the iPad. And rightly so. The aim is to feed an adorable creature by candy from the dangling ropes above using finger swiping motions. Each level is a fun and tricky challenge owing to the clever yet addictive physics-based gameplay. A must-have. You can even try it out for free.
Monopoly for iPad £5.99 The biggest compliment we can pay Monopoly for iPad is that it feels just like the board game, except you’ve no need to bother counting out the dosh to fellow players. iPad specific features include a Teacher Mode telling beginners how to play and a move log that tracks everything that happens on the board.
Fruit Ninja HD £2.99 A perfect example of how a mobile touchscreen gam can be given a new lease of life on the iPad. Fruit Nina HD has all the addictive fruit finger slicing gameplay of the iPhone version, but on iPad arrives the addition of multiplier letting two players go head to head simultaneously.
Flight Control HD £2.99 Flight Control HD has been around in a similar form for a while now in the shape of Harbour Master for the iPhone, so strictly speaking Flight Control HD isn’t anything entirely new for the iPad, but its premise remains utterly addictive, and even more challenging than its unassuming yet bright visuals let you in for.
Angry Birds HD £2.99 Does this game really need any introduction? Of all iPad games Angry Birds has been the most publicity hogging yet. Angry Birds HD brings the bird-flinging phone favourite to the tablet as players look to batter a series of enemy pigs into submission by catapulting some seriously surly birds at them. Very addictive.
Plants Vs. Zombies HD £5.99 It’s not exactly an iPad exclusive, but on iPad, Plants Vs. Zombies takes on another dimension, with much more an expansive screen to play its 50 Adventure Mode levels. At £5.99 it’s pricier than the average App Store game, but that doesn’t stop it being brilliant.
Pinball HD £0.59 Looking for a pinball game for your iPad? Pinball HD is the best one currently available. It features three pinball tables, multiplayer and a gorgeous 3D engine. Its price alone makes it one of the first iPad games you need to download.
Ragdoll Blaster 2 HD £2.99 If you’re unfamiliar with Ragdoll Blaster 2, we can tell you it’s like a more mature version of Angry Birds. Except here the aim is to catapult a ragdoll (which looks a lot like Sackboy) around levels and obstacles with the aim of hitting a target. Some will say it’s better than Angry Birds. It’s hard to disagree.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD £5.99 The fact that Rockstar Games has released a Grand Theft Auto title on the iPad is a sign of how seriously the tablet is seem as its own handheld games console. Chinatown Wars was one of the first big name games on the iPad delivering a full GTA experience to the App store. Why should you get it? It’s GTA!
Want the best Android apps to grab for your brand new Google phone? If you’ve just landed one as an Xmas pressie, read on and we’ll show you the must have apps to both show it off, and get you started.
AppBrain
Spotify
Prey
DoubleTwist
Angry Birds Seasons
Pocket God
Pocket Legends
Sonos Controller
Shazam
Angry Birds Seasons
Facebook
iFitness
Rock Band Reloaded
I have been using this app Listen Audiobook Player Apk : and downloaded and playing it regularly.
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