On twitter when you repeat someone's tweet they call it a re-tweet. When blogging I guess you would call it a re-blog? Anyway, I was reading my favorite blog this morning, Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen and I was ecstatic to see that they are upgrading the firmware on the Kindle 2. The new firmware will allow you to manually rotate the Kindle 2 screen, (previously a DX-only feature) as well as provide users with native PDF support. The Native PDF support is a huge feature for me. I tend to read a lot of tech books but I did not want to fork out the $500 dollars for a DX. For example, I always have the ASP.NET MVC 1.0 book handy because it is a great reference guide. Initially, I went through the trouble of converting it to Kindle format and quickly discovered that is was completely unreadable on the Kindle. Here is an example...
| Converted PDF on firmware 2.0.3 |
Same PDF viewed with the Native PDF Viewer |
 |
 |
As if the native PDF support wasn't enough, they also have improved the battery life on the Kindle by intelligently toggling off the 3G radio when it is not being used. You can now read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to 2 weeks.
Additional Resources:
