New Kindle format: KF8

[caleb72]

Now with KF8 you are able to add Kindle bombs to your files. The next enhancement will be snow crash. Woohoo!

[CWatkinsNash]

Y'all are making me giggle. A former colleague used to call my emails "Weapons of Mass Verbosity". Some of my posts here would qualify as well.

Originally Posted by caleb72

Now with KF8 you are able to add Kindle bombs to your files. The next enhancement will be snow crash. Woohoo!

Thanks for reminding me to move Stephenson up on my TBR list.

On topic, I have no worries about this, mainly because I'm of the belief that, as others have stated, no Kindles will be rendered obsolete by this move. Sounds to me like customers will simply be served the format that works on the device/app the file is sent to. Just a guess, but it makes sense considering how the Kindle system works.

[Kevin8or]

*Shrugs*. If Amazon is going to tweak its e-book format every few years, then I'll probably start buying my books in .epub form. (The conversion from .epub to .mobi is quite satisfactory.)

I've never thought of my Kindle as the repository for my e-books. It has whatever I'm interested in reading at the moment, but my library is in Calibre. I'll just build an .epub library, and Amazon won't get my dollars.

I use a Kindle, yet I feel very independent of the format war.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I have no worries about this, mainly because I'm of the belief that, as others have stated, no Kindles will be rendered obsolete by this move. Sounds to me like customers will simply be served the format that works on the device/app the file is sent to. Just a guess, but it makes sense considering how the Kindle system works.

^^This.

However, if our friends at Alf's can't 'fix' the problem, I will buy my books elsewhere and just convert. I have a Kindle and husband has a Nook. Can't see buying a book twice so we both can read them.

[physics]

Although I think that it's VERY unlikely, I do wish that the dx will be able to use the new format (assuming, as I've read elsewhere, that it improves the handling of math equations). I purchased my dx primarily for reading physics books and journal papers, but the first hasn't turned out so well. Amazon appears to have done some sort of OCR on equations in most physics books, which butchers them beyond recognition. This, of course, makes the book worthless. (Sometimes SOME of the equations are embedded as images- but never all of them.)

Because of this, I haven't purchased any books for my dx, which I'm sure isn't what Amazon wanted. I've downloaded free samples of about 2 dozen physics books, none of which were usable. I complained about them, about a dozen or so were actually pulled from Amazon. If the equations were correct, so that the books would be usable, I would actually purchase them, which would be a win for Amazon. But, since the dx is effectively abandoned, I'm not holding my breath.

(And, in case anyone is wondering, I don't really want to "upgrade" to a 6-inch Kindle, because I use my Kindle for reading research papers, which are pdfs. My poor eyes just can't handle the pdf on the 6 inch screen.)

[jimad]

Looking at Amazon's support site I find the following "latest software updates available:"

KT 4.0.1
KK 3.3
DX 2.5
K2 2.5
K1 1.2

So, its not clear to me that Amazon is even committed to updating KK to KF8

[JSWolf]

KT has a different firmware because it has to support an on-screen keyboard and other UI differences. So that's not surprising the firmware is a different version.

There's no way to know if the K3/KK is supported or not until it happens or not.

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by jimad

Looking at Amazon's support site I find the following "latest software updates available:"

KT 4.0.1
KK 3.3
DX 2.5
K2 2.5
K1 1.2

So, its not clear to me that Amazon is even committed to updating KK to KF8

Originally Posted by JSWolf

KT has a different firmware because it has to support an on-screen keyboard and other UI differences. So that's not surprising the firmware is a different version.

There's no way to know if the K3/KK is supported or not until it happens or not.

Quite.

It's very common for different products in a lineup to run different software versions, even if they offer very similar functionality.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm cool with that. I tend to read books that are simply full of words anyway. Almost any format out there (with the exception of PDF), manages to throw those words on a six-inch screen efficiently enough for my reading purposes.

Absolutely. Glad I still have a K2 registered. I have a feeling all the new books I buy will be for the K2.

[Torwan]

Yesterday I asked amazon Germany Kindle-support regarding KF8 and Kindle3 Keyboard and they don't know themselves yet. Apparently the information what exactly the "latest generation" of Kindle incorporates hasn't been distributed within amazon (yet) or it is currently only available in the US.

Therefore we'll have to remain patient.

[Sil_liS]

PCMAG (emphasis mine):

E-books on the Kindle Fire will be powered by Kindle Format 8 (KF8), which will replace the existing Mobi format and add more than 150 news capabilities, like HTML5 and CSS3 support, as well as embedded fonts, drop caps and CSS selectors such as line spacing, alignment, justification, margin, color, style, and border.

Amazon said KF8 will eventually be rolled out to its Kindle apps and latest generation Kindle e-ink devices, including the Kindle Touch and most recent $79 non-touch version.

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

PCMAG (emphasis mine):

That article hasn't got any more information than we have to make that claim. It's actually their emphasis rather than anything factual.