Thanks to its free, always-on Internet, the Kindle can be used for more than just e-books (as xkcd so aptly pointed out). The Kindle World Blog has a great example of this, with a post that includes detailed instructions for using a Kindle to produce Google Maps driving directions—very useful when you’re in the car and realize you’re not entirely sure how to get where you’re going.
Needless to say, this sort of thing has the potential to be very distracting. If you do use those instructions, you should be sure to keep your eyes on the road and only check the Kindle when you’re stopped. (If you’re the sort of person who gets lost a lot, you’d probably be better off with an in-car GPS.)
Thanks, Chris.
Last night, a friend and I were lost in San Francisco, unable to find the street for the concert locale, after a few rounds, and I finally remembered the posting I’d made about google driving directions and actually used it 😉 You’ll be glad to know I was just a passenger, so no prob.
The text-based directions loaded quickly and did save the day. It’s amazing to me that most columnists don’t mention this kind of free access (globally) as it’s a boon for those of us w/o paid cellphone web-data plans.
I’ll probably add the screen shots as they are more accurate than the graphic I used from google images.
And let’s not forget about the Google Maps App which makes looking at Google Maps on the Kindle much easier!: http://ereadplus.com/map.php