International Kindle may not be available until October 19th, but it has generated quite a buzz around the world. Amazon has not only reduced its Kindle prices but has given the gift of Kindle to people who travel internationally or reside outside the U.S. The introduction of the new gadget has brought up a lot of questions among current Kindle owners. Many want to know how to upgrade their Kindle to Kindle international, while others are interested in knowing the possible release date of Kindle DX international. Here are a few Kindle International FAQs you need to know the answer to (don’t forget to send in or comment your question at the end of this post):

• Is my country covered by Amazon Whispernet? Amazon is using AT&T’s global wireless network to provide you access to the Internet around the world. Not all countries are covered. But you can always check Whispernet’s global coverage map to find out whether your country is covered.
• Can I hack my Kindle 2.0 and turn it into a Kindle international? there is no easy way to get this done at this point. The new Kindles use a different hardware, so you are better off picking a new one at this point.
• Can I read books in my native language on Kindle? unfortunately, that is not possible at this point unless you are talking about English. Amazon is planning to offer more support in the future.
• Can I share content between my Kindle 2.0 international and Kindle 2 U.S.? you can. However, you can only share your e-books on 6 Kindle readers. You can’t share periodicals and newspapers among your Kindles.
• I just ordered a Kindle. Can I upgrade it to Kindle International? yes and no. Amazon doesn’t have an official policy on this, but as long as you bought your Kindle within the past 30 days, you should be able to convince Amazon’s customer service to let you make the change. But don’t expect Amazon to magically turn your Kindle 2 (U.S.) to Kindle 2 international. You will have to return your old device. If you have owned your Kindle 2 U.S. for a while, you can always sell it for a bit less on eBay.
• I paid $299 for my Kindle just a few days ago. How do I take advantage of the latest Kindle price drop? Amazon doesn’t have any obligation to refund you the difference no matter when you bought your device. But you can always return your old Kindle and get a new one with the lower price. That’s why the company’s customer service may be ready to save you and itself some headache by giving you a partial refund. It never hurts to ask.
• I want a Kindle DX international. What do I do? if you can wait till early 2010, then you should be good to go. Kindle DX international is coming. It’s a matter of when at this point.
• Are they any additional fees associated with Kindle 2.0 international? yes. Take a look:
  • Kindle International Books: $1.99 per book from Amazon’s store or your archived books.
  • Kindle International Subscriptions: newspaper, magazine, and blog subscription content via Whispernet will cost you a weekly fee of $4.99.
  • Current Issue Service: Download issues of newspapers and magazines from the Kindle store via Whispernet for $1.99 per issue.
  • Personal Document Service: $.99 per megabyte
• Do I need a special adapter to charge my Kindle in a foreign country? if you are charging it with your USB cable, you should be good to go. Otherwise, look out.
• What constitutes a U.S. based customer (as far as fees are concerned)? a U.S. customer is one that has linked her Kindle with her U.S. address.
• Are there any wireless fees associated with using Amazon Kindle? no. But Amazon does reserve the right to give you warning or terminate your contract if you hack your Kindle.
• Can I pay for my Kindle in 3 or 4 installments? you can’t at this point. Amazon may offer the option in the future (with its store card). But that is not an option at this point.
• How long should I wait to get my Kindle? the sooner you order it, the better. The wait is not expected to be long this time around, but you never know.

There you have it: Answers to a few questions that people are asking about the Kindle international edition. Please share your questions if they are not answered above. You can also check Amazon Kindle’s frequently asked questions page for more information.

It’s finally here. We complained and Amazon has listened. Now, you can make your blog available on Kindle using Kindle Publishing. If you own a blog, you can now make it available to other Kindle owners and make some cash in the process. In order to do that, you’ll need to set up an account on Kindle Publishing and provide Amazon with your financial information so it can pay you when someone signs up for your blog.

Adding a blog to Kindle platform is not that hard to do. All you have to do is provide Amazon with your blog’s RSS feed URL as well as your blog’s name and tag line.

I do encourage you to provide a good screen shot and banner for your blog so you can attract more visitors. You also want to make sure you list your blog under the proper categories.

Amazon has finally realized that Kindle owners have very different tastes, and they are not just looking to read super blogs. As long as you have decent content on your blog, there is no reason you can’t make a few bucks using Kindle Publishing platform. And at worst, you let your loyal readers another way to enjoy your blog on the go. It’s a win win situation.

P.S. it took me 5 minutes to add K.indled using the steps above. Here is how it looks:

I have been meaning to write a series on how you can publish your own content on Amazon Kindle. In truth, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to publish your own content on Kindle. Many folks are already doing it, and you can find a lot of junk content available for Kindle already. So if you have a decent e-book or valuable content to share, you just can’t afford to not publish it on Kindle.

Amazon Kindle platform may be in its infancy, but early-movers are going to get a big leg up those of us who want to wait a little longer. There is no question that there is value in learning the ins and outs of Digital Text Platform. For starters, it teaches you how to easily publish your own book on Amazon. You also learn how to format your books properly to make your content more presentable on Kindle. But here is the biggest advantage of them all. The sooner you get started with the platform, the faster you can get your book published, and once you are there, you don’t want to stop writing.

Digital Text platform is not that hard to get a handle of. Once you log on to your Amazon account, you are going to see the following menu:

As you can probably, guess, My Shelf is where you will be adding your content to. You will have the chance to set your own price, submit an image for your book, and even preview it all. My Account is about your personal information. Here you can enter your bank information as well as your social security number. You will need to complete this page to get paid by Amazon!

My Reports helps you keep track of your monthly sales and progress. Here you get a chance to run MTD and previous months report. You should keep running these reports to make sure your book is on the right track. If you are not making any sales and you believe you have great content, you may want to take your promotions to the next level.

As you can see, publishing a book on Kindle is not rocket science. If you have written a book, you have already done the tough part. As you will find out in the next parts of this series, putting your content in Kindle store is the easy part.

Stay tuned!

The good guys at FSCK are known for their Kindle hacks. Their latest experiment involves going around Whispernet to use a laptop’s Internet connection to access the Kindle store. The process involves enabling USB networking and using the debug mode to get the job done. I was at first hesitant about going through with the process (and the warning at the top of this article did not help either). But overall, the process was easy to follow, and getting around Whispernet was fun in more ways than one.

As long as this feature is kept intact on your Kindle (Amazon may remove it), you’ve got a chance to access the Kindle store where Whispernet is not available. People have complained in the past about Sprint not providing coverage in their area. With this hack, you can get around the issue fast. But don’t get cute and just follow the instructions. You wouldn’t want to brick your Kindle, now would you?

Well. If you didn’t even know that Kindle has a MineSweep game, then… You do now! Kindle comes with a bunch of hidden features that for some reason were not disclosed by Amazon. To get access to Mine Sweeper, hold your left alt + the button right above it + “M”. Make sure you do this when you are in your home area. So here are the instructions:

Key I: Move Up, Key J: Move left, Key K: Move Down, Key L: Move Right.

You can also use alt to go from columns to rows and so forth. To mark you can use the Key “M,” duh? Finally, to uncover mines, use space.

It’s very entertaining for what it is. I personally don’t get two excited about these games but believe me. When you are waiting for an appointment, interview, or whatever, this could help ease you through the process.

So should you turn your Kindle off when you are done reading or will putting to sleep enough? That’s the main question I have heard from a few Kindlers. I think it really depends on what you do with your Kindle. I used to be heavy Kindle user, and usually put my Kindle in sleep mode when I was done reading. Obviously, you want to turn the wireless connection off to enjoy more battery life, but if you use Kindle a lot, I don’t a whole lot of point in turning it off and on all the time.

Now if you only use your Kindle once a day or maybe every other day, then you may want to turn it off. Believe me, some Kindle owners use their Kindles less frequently than others. I used to be a hardcore Kindle user, but a lot of books that I read are not on Kindle yet, and I couldn’t find any PDF versions of them (we are talking about technical computer books here). So for me, it makes sense to turn it off in order to get more battery life for Kindle.