Father’s Day is right on our doorstep and for many, that means a mad scramble to find gifts for Dad. Finding gifts for the old man can be difficult, because after a couple years, he’s probably got more neckties and grill covers than he’ll ever need in an entire lifetime. If your father happens to be a Kindle owner though, you might be in luck. We’ve taken a look at four accessories that could be game-changers for that erstwhile Kindle owner in your life.

M-Edge Guardian Case
Price: $79.99
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Pros:

• Takes your Kindle underwater
• Only case of its kind
• Heavy-duty construction

Cons

• On the expensive side
• Heavier than most cases
• No access to power button

The newest case from the folks at m-Edge does something that no other Kindle case on the market can boast – it both floats on water and keeps your Kindle bone dry even after being submerged completely in water. I know what you’re thinking: as cool as it would be to be able to bring your Kindle with you on that inflatable raft in the middle of your pool, is it really worth potentially sacrificing your $259 piece of consumer electronics just for the novelty?

That’s where I come in. I’ve spent about a week with the m-Edge Guardian, giving it the full run-around in my community pool. As nervous as I was about submerging the Kindle the first time, I’m not entirely sure how I ever lived without it just a week later. It sports heavy-duty construction that keeps out water up to a depth of a meter, and contains special air reservoirs that allow it to float. Reading in the pool is pretty much as relaxing as things get, and since the Kindle is basically the king of reading devices, it’s a match made in heaven for the aquatic-oriented Dad.

It might not look like it, but you can actually navigate using all the normal buttons. There is softer plastic over those parts of the case. The only button you can’t access is the power button, so you’ll have to make sure not to get too relaxed out by the pool and let the thing go idle, because you’ll have to crack it open to turn it on again. My only other real complaints with the case are that it’s heavy and on the expensive side. Realistically though, both of those sins are forgivable, since you need top-quality construction if you’re going to go submersing electronics in water. If you’ve got a father in your life who loves to read and loves to swim, this is the perfect novelty.

OCTOVO Solis Reading Light
Price: $29.99
Rating: 5/5 stars

Pros

• Compact size makes for easy traveling
• Effortless, button-less design
• Naturally tilted at an angle to reduce glare

Cons

• Doesn’t match the Kindle motif
• On the expensive side for a light

One of the necessary concessions that Amazon had to make in creating the Kindle’s e-Ink screen was in the area of backlighting. In order to give that full paper-like experience without having to worry about eye fatigue and battery life, the Kindle is often at the mercy of the ambient light you have around you. I’ve tried a number of Kindle book lights in my day, but the long-term problem I’ve had with many of them is that they add needlessly to the bulk when carrying around the Kindle.

Octovo has devised a rather brilliant solution to that with their Solis book light. Rather than attach the light to the case itself, the Solis clips on to the top of the Kindle (at an angle that prevents glare no less – they really though this through!), and you can turn it on simply by swinging the sleek aluminum arm out. The light is an LED, which means it’s fairly efficient in terms of battery life, gobbling up one AA battery in about 25 hours. It’s more expensive than most Kindle-centric reading lights, but it’s also probably the best I’ve tried so far.

OCTOVO Weave Leather Cover
Price: $74.99
Rating: 4/5 stars

Pros

• Features Amazon’s Kindle hinge system
• Really trendy-looking woven leather design
• Has that wonderful leather smell

Cons

• Way more expensive than comparable cases

When buying a third party Kindle cover, one of the unfortunate side effects is that most of them don’t make use of Amazon’s hinge mechanism. While all the covers I’ve trade to date have done a good job substituting for this with straps that hold the Kindle in by its corners, sometimes it feels like something’s missing with that hinge mechanism of the original case not being used.

The OCTOVO Weave Leather Cover is the first third-party case I’ve tried that actually utilizes Amazon’s hinge system. Like the official case from Amazon, it securely locks in your Kindle using the proprietary locking mechanism on the left side of your Kindle. It also appears to have the same microfiber interior that prevents scratching. Where it differs from the official cover is the outside. The woven leather exterior completely blows the official Kindle cover away in terms of a classy finish, as it well should for double the price of the official cover.

m-Edge Latitude Jacket
Price: $34.99
Rating: 4/5 stars

Pros

• Light-weight design
• Trendy camouflage pattern
• Zippers for full enclosure and protection

Cons

• Microfiber interior seems to attract dirt

The m-Edge latitude jacket is pretty straight forward as far as Kindle cases go. It is light-weight, sports a zipper for complete protection, comes in trendy camo colors, and even features an exterior zipper pocket so you can bring your charger cable along with you. While the Latitude is a solid case for your dollar, that’s not why I wanted to mention it.

The camo Latitude jacket is the flagship product to help promote the E-Books for Troops non-profit. This organization has undertaken the noble task of raising money to purchase eReaders for the servicemen and women risking their lives overseas. Whatever your feelings on the wars in which the military is engaged today, it’s hard to imagine a better way to contribute to their continued comfort and sanity than near-unlimited access to books, newspapers, and magazines via eReaders. Compared to hauling books around, a Kindle takes up almost no space.

M-Edge has promised to donate a Latitude Jacket and e-Luminator2 booklight for every Kindle purchased by E-Books for the Troops, but it’s up to us as eReader fanatics to donate the money that will put these eReaders in their hands. So maybe after purchasing dad’s Father’s Day gift, consider donating some money to E-Books for the Troops in his name. It’s a great cause.

Amazon recently announced that they will be releasing a version 2.5 software update for the Kindle and Kindle DX at the end of May. This update adds a few interesting enhancements to your eReader:

Twitter and Facebook Posts – This feature gives you the ability to share passages you’re reading on Facebook and Twitter from your Kindle.

Popular Highlights – See what other Kindle users think are the best passages from the books you’re reading.

Collections – Organization for your books and documents.

Larger and Sharper – The addition of two new larger fonts and overall sharpening on all fonts.

Password Protection – Add password protection to your Kindle while it’s not in use to keep others from getting access to your books.

PDF Pan and Zoom – Zoom and pan around PDFs to view smaller print or detailed graphics.

It’s hard to ignore that Amazon is trying their best to provide more interaction with the content on your Kindle and make it more online-friendly. Give them credit for trying to keep up with the competition.

The Barnes & Noble Nook ereader gets some cool features added with their latest 1.3 software update. In addition to a reported performance increase and faster page turns, Barnes & Noble is now offering a Read In Store feature which allows users to read complete ebooks while inside a Barnes & Noble store.

The new update also let’s you challenge your Nook to a Chess match with 3 levels of difficulty, and Sudoku with four levels of difficulty.

There’s been also a considerable update to the web interface. Updated Wi-Fi aids in easier login to Wi-Fi hotspots. You can also browse the web with the built-in Web Browser (beta). The Nook’s color touchscreen can be used to navigate; use the virtual keyboard to type in the URLs you want to visit.

The home screen now includes these new features, as well as direct access to Audio. The Barnes & Noble Nook is based on the Android operating system, which has been exploding in the smartphone market and will undoubtedly make a big splash in the Tablet PC market as well.

Check out the Barnes & Noble Nook Support page for upgrade instructions.

It’s hard to browse the Internet, pick up a magazine, or watch the evening news without seeing some mention of the invasion of tablet PCs recently. With news of a Google tablet, offerings from Microsoft and Hewlett Packard (HP slate), and hints from Toshiba, consumers will have no shortage of options for tablets.

As competition rises, tablets are promising to do more and more. You can browse the web, watch movies, read books, play games; all on this small, thin touchscreen device and you can do it from anywhere you can imagine. For eBook and eReader enthusiasts, our eReaders will have many of the same capabilities that our laptop and desktop computers have.

But are tablets offering too much? Are we getting too distracted by the ability to do more things? One thing I kinda liked about the Amazon Kindle was that I didn’t have fast and easy access to games or the Internet. So, when I was on the Kindle reader, I did just that: read. I’ve never been great at reading on a computer because I had the option to do other things.

Tablets don’t really offer anything new, aside from the user interface and experience. Instead of pressing a button or clicking a mouse, you’re actually touching the content. You end up feeling closer to the content and to the device itself. So much so that your computer and your smartphone might start to feel as neglected as your children.

Another thing to consider when looking at the new tablets is the type of screen. It wasn’t long ago when the E Ink technology used by the Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook was the hot new thing. While it lacks color and a backlight, it can be read easily in sunlight and it extends the battery life exponentially. Now vivid touchscreens are the trend, but if the main purpose is to use it as an ereader you lose the feel and appeal of a book-like screen. But, like most consumers, I have a hard time being wowed by a dull grayscale screen when compared to a bright, flashy touchscreen. Does this hint at the death of E Ink technology? Will Amazon bail on E Ink and go with a more modern color touchscreen for the Kindle 3?

Tablet PCs may soon take over the eReader market. Especially since the tablet manufacturers are able to keep the prices so close to the price of the available ereaders. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Kindle and Nook swing back against the iPad, the Google Tablet, and other “Ipad Killers”.

Amazon has had to face the music with the competition coming from Apple’s iPad. The Wallstreet Journal reports that Amazon has given in to the pressure from some book publishers to price their books outside of the $9.99 price point that Amazon has been fighting for. Now, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Macmillan will have more control over the pricing of their ebooks through the Kindle store.

Thanks to an “agency pricing model”, most new best sellers will be going for $12.99 and $14.99. There will still be some books available for $9.99 (and maybe even lower); but as we all know, the books we want to read will all be the pricier ones.

It seems to me that competition should be lowering prices, not raising them. One of the big benefits of forking out the cash for a Kindle was that you’d have access to cheaper reading material than buying a physical copy. I have made some impulse purchases on the Kindle just because I knew the cost was $10 or less. I’ve purchased books from new authors and new genres just because I considered it a bargain price. Sure, it’s only an extra 3 to 5 bucks, but now I will be more likely to double- or triple- think the purchase.

I’m sure this is a decision that Amazon has been strong-armed into by the greedy book-publishing powers that be; having Kindle ebooks priced lower than the competition would definitely be their preference, but by refusing to align with the agency pricing model they would be missing a lot of content that is available on the Nook, iPad, etc.

Over a year ago, KindleChat.com was launched as a site devoted to the beloved Amazon Kindle. Since its launch, there have been many advances in the world of electronic readers. Amazon released the Kindle DX, Kindle for PC, Mac, and Blackberry and upgraded their wireless service to provide global coverage. Barnes & Noble released a strong competitor into the eReader market called the Nook. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) brought us news of several new eReader devices: Hearst’s Skiff, Plastic Logic’s Que, and Samsung’s E6 and E101. The latest entrant to the eReader game is Apple’s iPad, which has already amassed thousands of pre-orders.

It’s no question that the success of Amazon’s Kindle has caught the attention of other manufacturers. But competition can work in favor of consumers; one year ago the Amazon Kindle was the choice if you wanted a solid eReader. The only problem was the high price. The B&N Nook prompted Amazon to shave $100 off their initial price tag, and now the advances that are promised by the iPad are certainly getting Amazon in gear to develop new features.

Where the consumers suffer is having to choose which eReader to buy. And if you start swapping brands then you’re faced with losing all of the content that you purchased for the previous eReader.

We have certainly enjoyed the success of KindleChat.com and would like to thank you, our readers, for your support of our site. We have chosen to expand our format to encompass all eReaders so we can provide the most helpful information for each device and not appear biased toward one particular product. We are pleased to announce eReaderChat.com as our new home! We ask that you update any bookmarks or links to point to our new web address. We apologize ahead of time for the inconvenience.

We again thank you for your support and understanding and we hope that you continue to enjoy reading our content as much as we enjoy writing it.

Yes, we all know how much you spent on your Kindle. And as such, we know you want to carry it in style.

There’s a plethora of Kindle Cases available, but what if you’re wanting to add your own personal touch?

If you’re a DIYer, now there’s a nice little video and tutorial on how to make your own Kindle case and reading stand over at ChicaAndJo.com.

Looks like a fun little project. A custom Kindle case would make a great gift, or if you get good enough you could start selling them on eBay for profit!

Amazon has applied for patents for On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising, apparently in an attempt to display ads that are relevant to your book’s content. As you can see from the diagram, Amazon’s proposal favors somewhat the layout that is present on many websites we use everyday.

Now, don’t roll your eyes right away. Here’s an excerpt from the patent:

Including advertising and/or related content with on-demand printed content may prove advantageous to a consumer. For example, a lower price may be offered to a consumer regarding a request for on-demand printed content if the consumer is willing to accept advertising in the printed content.

According to this, a discounted version of your book may be available if you’re willing to read around a few related and well-placed ads.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’ve trained my mind and eyes to avert the majority of adverts that are presented to me on my favorite websites. On the other, I’m concerned that these ads might take me out of the story that I happen to be reading at the time.

Is this the equivalent of inserting audio ads into your favorite CDs? Would you want to be listening to Dark Side Of The Moon only to be interrupted by an audio ad for Prozac? Would you feel the same way if you were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and then a Fandango ad appears showing you the upcoming showtimes for the latest Harry Potter movie?

From Slashdot.org.

A recent article from Wired magazine discusses Why E-Books Look So Ugly. It’s a nice read and makes some good points about how typography, illustrations, and cover art are being lost in the shuffle and reduced to black and gray pixels.

The article touched on the Kindle and pointed out some interesting figures:

With the popularity of the Kindle and other e-book readers, electronic book sales in the United States have doubled every quarter. Though still a very small percentage of the overall book industry, sales of e-books touched $15.5 million in the first quarter of the year, up from $3.2 million the same quarter a year ago.

One of the more prominent points being echoed through the article dealt with the font and typeface:

“Different typefaces are like like having different actors in play or different voices in an audio book,” Simonson says. “The variations in typeface influence the personality of the book. Sticking to one font is much like having the same actor play all the different parts.”

I can understand the argument to an extent, but still, to me, convenience outweighs the variety of fonts and the other elements that make up the “whole package”. But that’s just the direction the world is moving. We’re willing to sacrifice a few of the perks in order to get the true content faster, easier, and cheaper.

Two years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever prefer downloading music versus buying a physical CD. However, I can’t tell you the last time I made the trek to the store to buy a CD instead of just hopping onto iTunes and having it downloaded in less than 5 minutes. And judging by the number of CD stores going out of business, I’m not the only one.

Likewise, gone are the days of me hunting around online for a Borders coupon to print out and heading to the store to fetch a new hardback release when I can have it downloaded from the comfort of my own home, and at a cheaper price than I could get with the coupon. If the typeface happens to be a little different, that’s fine with me. Once I’m immersed in the story, those “whole package” frills seem to take a backseat anyways.

What about you? Does having just one typeface limit the amount of enjoyment you get out of your Kindle?

As mentioned on Monday, Amazon just released a new, larger Kindle titled the Kindle DX. The DX features a 9.7″ screen that is two and a half times the size of the regular Kindle. The DX is optimized for reading PDFs, newspapers, and magazines. Otherwise it behaves exactly like the regular Kindle.

This is an interesting venture for Amazon. As Melissa’s Kindle DX First Impressions article at PC World points out, the DX is an, “…expensive proposition that will make consumers think hard about buying one. But it is also a highly targeted device that can benefit from this broadening of its scope.”

Here are a few other details about the DX.

• Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
• Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents
• Beautiful Large Display: 9.7″ diagonal e-ink screen reads like real paper; boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images
• Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages
• Built-In PDF Reader: Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go
• Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle DX, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
• Books In Under 60 Seconds: You get free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging
• Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable
• Big Selection, Low Prices: Over 275,000 books; New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are only $9.99, unless marked otherwise
• More Than Books: U.S. and international newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus popular blogs, all auto-delivered wirelessly

Pre-order a Kindle DX

The Kindle DX is scheduled to be released this summer. To reserve your place in line (orders are filled by first-come, first-served), click here to pre-order a Kindle DX today.