You can now read your Amazon Kindle books on any browser, mobile or PC and offline to boot thanks to cloud reader from Amazon. Simply visit https://read.amazon.com/ from any browser and you should be presented with this screen:
Cloud Reader by Amazon
On the iPad, once you log in you will be asked to increase the database size. Say “increase”.
You will then be presented with your kindle library.
Your cloud reader library as seen on the iPad
Select a book to start reading. It will open up in a vertical screen like this:
Cloud reader in portrait mode
Or a horizontal one like this. You do of course have the option to restrict which way the book displays by forcing an orientation lock on the iPad.
Cloud reader in landscape mode
Next you will want to create a bookmark for your iPad’s home screen. Do that by selecting the arrow icon next to the address bar in safari and select “Add to Home Screen”. You can rename the bookmark if you wish. When you are ready, simply press “Add”.
How to add cloud reader to your iPad home screen
Here is a screen shot of the kindle cloud reader bookmark icon on the iPad:
What the cloud reader icon looks like on the iPad
The kindle cloud reader gives you the same presentation options you have in native apps such as background colour, text size and brightness.
Cloud reader with a white background
Given that the iPad already has a native kindle app, I’m not sure who will use the cloud reader. What it does do though, is demonstrate that with HTML5 not all applications require a native app. This will be a big draw to developers who will then only need to develop for one application – the web browser. I expect to see more applications go web only in the future.
Dexter is with child. They say the day you become a father changes you and your perception of life. Well can Dexter, the serial killer Jeff Lindsay created, go from homicidal maniac to suburban dad just because he now has his very own daughter?
In ‘Dexter is Delicious’, the character of Dexter takes a strange turn. No longer is Dex out killing bad guys, instead he is playing host to his long lost brother, Brian and wondering why he has suddenly re-entered his life.
This book plays on Dexter’s detective trait and he teams up with his sister to solve the mysterious disappearance of a young woman. Their investigation leads them into the dark world of vampires and cannibals and pits him against one of the most powerful families in Miami. During the investigation Dexter has to ask himself, how do you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?
After Dexter gets married – yes he married Rita – things are supposed to be different. He has a house, a wife and two kids who he actually likes. But something is wrong, well maybe not wrong, but something is troubling him.
Is it possible for a leopard to change their spots? No it’s not and by the same token, Dexter will always be a killer and someone who strives to right the wrongs that society has not been able to rectify.
In Dexter by Design, Dexter encounters a series of mysterious art pieces which turn out to be heinous murders and as usual he needs to save the day, after all with these nutters on the loose, Dexter is not free to satisfy his own needs.
I enjoyed this book and in it Dexter gets to save his new bride from a horrific death, and in doing so she becomes a killer in her own right. What could that mean?
In Dexter in the Dark, Jeff Lindsay teases out what makes Dexter tick – the dark passenger.
From the first two books, we know a little about the dark passenger, but what happens when your dark passenger stops talking to you, goes into hiding and all you can sense is fear? This is what happens to Dexter and he must figure out why?
Oh and Rita’s kids are just like Dexter and he decides that they should learn Harry’s code, but can he really help raise two children in his own image?
I found this book to be slightly disappointing, yet useful for putting the rest of the books into context.
In this the second in the Dexter series, Jeff Lindsay develops the character of Dexter and shows us how a serial killer can juggle dating a mother of two while allowing himself to satisfy the dark urges that control him.
Dexter has a new enemy, Sergeant Doakes of the Miami Dade PD who knows what Dexter is but cannot prove it. However, rather than focus on that Jeff Lindsay decides to throw in yet another serial killer who is rather good at amputating limbs. Enter Kyle Chutsky who works for a “higher up authority” and takes over the investigation.
I enjoyed this book and it weaves Dexter’s life nicely between ‘reality’ of Rita and a normal life and the ‘ridiculous’ which is Dexter at night doing what he does best. What Lindsay is able to do here, which is particularly good, is develop Doakes’ character beyond the sinister cop and into someone who is a real threat to Dexter.
By the end of this book you will be developing a sense of who the characters in the series are and what makes them tick.
