Tag: Kindle Fire HDX

Fire Tablet Keyboard Now Includes Full-Color Emoji

A recent software update has brought full-color Emoji icons to the Fire tablet and Fire phone keyboards! Note that I haven’t tested this feature on all Fire tablets, so it may not be supported in first- and second-generation models. I’ll let the pictures tell the story (tap or click on images to view an enlarged version in a new tab or window). Begin by opening your Fire keyboard. Tap the lower left-hand key (red arrow below) to open the numbers and symbols keyboard. On the numbers and symbols keyboard, tap the smiley face key (red arrow below) to open the Emoji keyboard. By default, the Emoji keyboard opens on the ‘most recently used’ tab (red arrow below), where your most recently-used Emoji will be available for your convenience. Each of the other colored arrows below points to a category of Emoji, and as you can see, there are a LOT! The selected…

Infected Fire Tablet? Here’s A Possible Solution.

* * * the Gomadic Essential Charger Kit for the Amazon Kindle Fire / HD / HDX / DX / Touch / Keyboard (WiFi and 3G), currently (as of 12/31/14) on sale at 33% off and also eligible for Prime shipping. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Moneypak / FBI / Ransomware Virus On Your Fire? Fire tablets infected with this particular monster often bypass the usual startup routine and go right to the virus screen, which makes it impossible for the owner to even reset their Fire to factory defaults. Since that reset is just about the only hope you have of restoring your Fire to full functionality, it’s a problem. This week, I learned of a possible solution (from an Amazon Discussions poster who never explicitly granted me permission to…

Malware Update: FBI Moneypak / Ransomware Virus On Kindle Fire and How To Avoid It

* * * the Amazon’s 50% Off Sale On SD Memory Cards. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Yes, The FBI Moneypak / Ransomware Virus Is Starting To Show Up On Kindle Fire Tablets, But… …that doesn’t mean ALL Kindle Fire owners EVERYWHERE need to worry about it. Be alert, sure. But as I explained in my original DMM post about this particular virus, so long as you only get your apps and other content from Amazon, don’t hack or “root” your Kindle Fire, and don’t open any suspicious email attachments from within the email app on the Fire, you can relax because your chances of getting this beast are very, very slim and provided you haven’t “rooted” your Fire or sideloaded the app/file that brought Moneypak along with it, getting rid of…

Never Buy A Bad Kindle Book Again: Tips To Help You Avoid The Clunkers

* * * the BookGorilla Free & Bargain Kindle Book Email Alert, a totally free service that delivers a once-daily listing of bargain-priced and free Kindle books from the genres you specify direct to your email inbox. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Don’t you just HATE it when you finally fork over the money for a new Kindle book, only to find a few chapters in that not only is it NOT worth the price you paid for it, it’s not even worth your TIME? That doesn’t ever have to happen again. Four Tools To Improve Your Odds Of Getting A Great Kindle Book Here are three ways to find out before you buy whether or not you’re likely to enjoy a given book, plus one tip to help you deal…

Managing Your Kindle Content: Cloud vs. Device, Deleting and Storing Content

* * * the iOttie HLCRIO102 One Touch Windshield Dashboard Universal Car Mount Holder for Smart Phones and Media Players. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Lately I’ve noticed a lot of people come here from Google after searching on terms related to managing their Kindle / Fire content, so here’s a reprint of a piece that originally ran last year all about managing your Kindle and Fire content. Folks who own Kindles and Kindle Fires are asking questions like: “If I do a factory reset will I lose all my content, or my app progress?” “If I buy a new Kindle or Kindle Fire, can I transfer all the content I’ve already bought to the new device?” “Can I share my purchased content with other Kindles and Fires in my household?”…

Kindle Fire Tip: Use Collections For Apps

* * * the Microsoft Wireless 3500 Series Mouse, available in many different colors and patterns. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * When the long-awaited Collections function finally came to the Kindle Fire line of tablets, as part of the operating system of all second-generation (the line that was released toward the end of 2013) Kindle Fire HD and HDX models, ebook lovers were thrilled. But did you know you can also group your apps into collections? I own hundreds of apps, partly because I check out Amazon’s Free App of the Day every day and make it a habit to get any that look interesting or useful and are rated 4/5 stars or higher. The only problem is that weeks or months later I don’t remember each one’s title or even the type of app…

Technically Correct vs. Practical: Can Rechargeable Batteries Overheat Or Not?

Its battery shouldn’t overheat, but that doesn’t mean it can’t. From time to time I’ll get a comment or email from a tech-savvy person who’s read my post, Rechargeable Battery Problems: Overcharging, Leaving It Plugged In, and says I’m wrong about the possibility of rechargeable batteries becoming overcharged or overheated, because modern Lithium-ion rechargeables are designed with specific features to prevent this very problem. Every so often I’ll also get a note from an engineer or scholarly type saying one of my other posts isn’t technically correct for some esoteric reason or other. But I’m not here to provide technically correct details that would satisfy the most stringent engineer or scientist, I’m here to help consumers get the best and most economical use from their devices.

The Differences Between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Cell Connectivity

Bluetooth speakers, 4G tablets and external hard drives with Wi-Fi, oh my! Here’s how these three types of connectivity technologies differ. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi is the type of connection you need to wirelessly connect various devices to a wireless network. It could be your home network, the network at your workplace, or the biggest global network of them all: the internet. Yes, the internet is a network. It seems obvious when you realize that a network is just a collection of technology devices that are all set up to communicate with one another. So where at home, you use a network to send a document to a printer that’s located far from your computer, on the internet, computers and servers send web pages, files and messages to other computers and servers that are located as far away as the other side of the world. So if you’re considering buying some device, and…

Kindle Fire HDX Antivirus – Do You Need It?

I’ve previously written about the pointlessness of antivirus protection for the Kindle Fire line of tablets (see my post, Kindle Fire Antivirus: You Still Don’t Need It), but the new HDX line of Fires adds a new wrinkle since they all come with the option for 4G cell service connectivity. In my prior posts on this topic, I discussed how some hackers target cell phones specifically to add bogus charges to the phone owners’ bills. Many, if not most, cell phone owners won’t notice small charges scattered across an entire month, but they add up quickly. Some hackers go for broke right out of the gate and try to make a single, large bogus charge to the phone owner’s bill (usually masquerading as some kind of pay-by-the-minute service, like a party line or psychic reading service). They sometimes get away with it because these types of charges are made to the phone owner’s account immediately…