Computer Problems and\or Advice 2008 to 2011

[Gerry Webster]

The GPO is being fattened up for sale! My granddad would be turning in his grave!

Well there's not much left to sell, apart from the NHS that is.

[Tony Willis]

I notice the price of posting letters in the UK is going up and being deregulated, in spite of record and obscene profits. The GPO is being fattened up for sale! My granddad would be turning in his grave!

Not being very technical I find this section quite helpful but this stumps me,particularly the last sentence. Is it a computer problem or advice?

[maggiepie]

Susan, I looked at a kindle today and the black background flash every page I found very distracting. The battery was very low so am wondering if that actually made it worse.
The text looked very good though.

[Susan]

Helen, I don't think the low battery should make any difference.  It does flash as it changes but while I noticed it at first, it doesn't bother me now.

Richard, I only have the black and white one.  I don't download much with pictures and wonder whether you would be better to wait for a colour model or buy an iPad.  I have a small Netbook so the Kindle for me is for convenience and mainly for fiction.  I still cannot do without real books!

I do have a number of Lonely Planets downloaded onto the Kindle and found them excellent.  You can turn on wireless and get onto a website that may be mentioned.  I have just looked at one that is in full colour and on the Kindle it is easily readable and is shaded as you would expect, but clear.  You can make the print and the maps bigger if you need by clicking on a button which increases the size of both. So much easier than carrying 3 large tomes around Europe.  Hope this is of some help and don't forget that all the eReaders have their own particular formats so not sure how you download Acrobat or SRGC back bulletins onto any of them.

Susan 

[Casalima]

Helen, I actually had to go and turn a page on my kindle to check that the black background flash exists - I really don't notice it any more! A low battery makes no difference. I am very happy with mine!
There are programs available that can change formats - I have one called calibre - but there are probably others too.

[Richard Green]

Thanks Susan, I think I shall wait until next year and look at a colour model, or maybe choose an iPad.  I currently read Bulletins and other books on a medium sized laptop, turning it sideways and holding it like a book. One page then fits the screen exactly in portrait format.  The large size and colour compensate for using the awkward and heavy laptop.

Casalima: a friend has mentioned the different file formats, and that it is possible to convert one to another.  Thank you for confirming this.

[Anthony Darby]

One problem I found with the kindle was a lack of background lighting - no good in the dark. I have solved this by buying a leather cover with built in light, but it seems an obvious omission.

[maggiepie]

Casalima, thanks for the information, have downloaded calibre and am ready to go.
Just have to get the Nook Touch now., the Nook is supposed to flash 80% less than other eReaders. ( at least that is what they claim)


Anthony, the reason it isn't backlit is that it uses E Ink so the text looks like a real book. You need good light to read a book.
The LCD tablets are backlit but are much harder on the eyes for reading over long periods.

[Casalima]

I have a cover with the built-in light - which is good when falling asleep while reading at night because it turns itself off after just a few minutes Now if only I knew how to persuade one of my cats not to chew it ...

[Gerry Webster]

I have just been told that VAT is charged on Ebooks (in the UK) though still not on real books. Is this true?

[Martin Baxendale]

I have just been told that VAT is charged on Ebooks (in the UK) though still not on real books. Is this true?

Yes. Sneaky buggers. A book should be a book, whether it's on paper or digital.

[Maggi Young]

VAT is payable on digitally downloaded products and as such will be charged on ebooks at the standard rate, 20%.

As far  as Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are concerned the defibnition of a book is a printed obeject , bound between covers of a thicker nature.... or some such definiton very closely approximating to that description. It may be that a case can be/will be made in the future to expempt e-books from the VAT duty, but for now the "old" definiton of a book being a lumpy paper oject between two bits of thicker card is the one HMRC is working on.

[Martin Baxendale]

You'd hope that they could move a bit faster in updating their definitions to keep up with new technology. The reason always given for not putting VAT on books is that the politicians don't want to do anything that might in any way discourage reading (or at least don't want to be seen doing so). It'd be a tad ingenuous of the politicians and the revenue to say that they can't recognise a book when they see one just because it it's not printed on paper. I suspect something deliberate is going on, a thin end of the wedge introduction of VAT in a new "print" media in the hope that people won't notice. Cynical? Me? 

[Martin Baxendale]

I further suspect that, rather than level the playing field down by changing the definition of a book to include ebooks that the playing field will eventually be levelled UP, using VAT on ebooks to finally justify the introduction of VAT (or a tax on reading, to put it another way) on paper books too, the argument being that it's only fair, blah, blah, blah.

[Gerry Webster]

Martin - Cynical? You? No, just realistic.