Joy’s friend Frieda is going to France but leaving her Kindle behind for safekeeping. Joy said to her: “Why not use your phone as a Kindle?” Here’s how to do that:
Start by downloading the Kindle app to your phone. (Google how to do that and all will be made clear.) If you’re using an Android phone, it’s easy; every book you’ve bought will show up on your phone and new purchases can be made from the app as well. It’s trickier if you have an iPhone. Apple doesn’t let you make purchases from within the Kindle app because they want you to use their own app: iBooks.
You can get around this by going to Amazon.com and getting a Kindle book. There are lots of free Kindle books at Amazon, just search on “free books.” Once you’ve selected your book, you’ll have the option to send it to your Kindle, your computer, your phone or some other gadget. Your next problem will be trying to read the book on the tiny smartphone screen.
For Frieda, some complications arose. She received her Kindle as a gift from a relative who registered it under her account. Until she de-registered it, nothing synced with her phone. She found this out from Amazon itself. Click on the “call me now” button in Amazon’s help section. They have great tech support; they called back within seconds.
Our Savvy Readers
Readers wrote immediately to tell us we’d missed something in our Windows 10 announcement. We said it’s free but after a year you have to pay for it. Turns out it’s free, period. But if you wait longer than a year to download and install it, it will cost you $ 120.
By the way, Microsoft has said you will no longer need any anti-virus software because Windows will be fully protected against all viruses, and presumably any other hack attacks. If you believe that, Bob wants you to know that he has a large bridge in New York that he’d like to sell you. (No operating system ever produced has been invulnerable to virus attacks.)
Nevertheless, Joy, our master tester, likes Windows 10, saying it has the best of Windows 7 and avoids the worst of Windows 8. (Bob is sticking with Windows 7. He grudgingly upgraded from XP after his old computer got balky.)
If you want Windows 10, beware of scams. There are sites that lure visitors with the promise of a free copy. It’s already free, but be sure you get it from Microsoft.com. The exact address is Microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. Click on “download tool now.” If you aren’t sure whether you have a 32-bit system or 64-bit, you can find that by searching on “system info” from the help area of your computer. Just hit the “F1″ key to bring up a help menu. If you still can’t decide, it’s almost certain that you have a 64-bit system; we haven’t seen 32-bit systems in many years.
Awash in Ink
We’ve been fit to be tied by printers forcing us to change ink cartridges when ink levels are low but not out. A new model Epson inkjet printer is getting rave reviews for its “two-year ink supply.”
The Epson Ecotank Printer, the ET2550, has a tank of ink you refill yourself every two years or so. This means fewer empty cartridges going into landfills and big savings on ink, unless you’re already buying from third party suppliers, which are much cheaper. The downside is the $ 400, and up, price tag. But compared to buying separate Epson ink cartridges for years, you come out way ahead. Four bottles in colors at $ 13 each should last at least two years, for around 8,500 pages. Top up when needed by pouring more in.
The Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports and numerous Internet columnists went nuts over this new product announcement, but in fact this feature has been available for more than a decade and not just for Epson inkjets but Hewlett Packard and Canon printers as well.
You have to buy a small kit to add to your printer, but the add-on is easy to do. Prices run from $ 40 to about $ 120 and in situations like this, where we don’t know who to turn to, we usually select a middle price. Even at top prices it’s cheaper than buying a new $ 400 printer. Search on the phrase “continuous ink supply systems” and a whole world of endless ink will open for you. (Don’t forget to clean up.)
Out of Ink
But what if your printer tells you you’re out of ink and you don’t have a continuous refill tank?” And on top of that, the office store is closed and you have to print some pages now!
No problem. Chances are you can almost certainly print that page by going to your printer’s control panel, selecting options, and directing it to print in “draft mode.” Draft mode isn’t as dark and won’t look as pretty but it uses very little ink. Use draft more whenever the look of the page isn’t important.
But what if that still doesn’t work? Well, switch colors. In short, go back to the printer control page and options and choose to print in blue, or green or red. It may look a little odd but you’ll be able to read it. In practice, we’ve found that printing in blue is just as clear as black. So what if the office supply store is closed?
App Happy Wellness
Some insurance companies pay you for getting fit. Ours doesn’t, but the free app “Wellcoin” earns you discounts for healthy behavior.
Cheaters are apparently welcome. When Joy was filling out their questionnaire, she put down “Twinkies” as her healthy snack choice and right away she earned five points. In fact, it gave her “health points” no matter what she put down. (Joy hasn’t had a Twinkie since she was 12. Bob has had only one bite in his life — can’t stand ‘em.) She got triple the points if she took a picture of something healthy and clicked “verify.” The Wellcoin community weighed in immediately to judge her handful of unsalted almonds.
Tap “Marketplace” to see discounts of 20 percent and more on all kinds of stuff. Note that nothing in this marketplace is free; the points are only for discounts. Some things, like Zipcar rides, require a hefty 3,000 points or more. Oh well, it’s somebody’s idea of a business model.
SundayMonday Business on 08/17/2015
Supermarket sweep … Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has overseen Kindle's success. Photograph: Rex Rystedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image 
