Kindle Fire HDX 8.9

On the heels of Apple's new, lighter iPad, Amazon has come out with a full-size tablet that weighs even less yet sports a sharper display and a lower price tag. Although Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 hasn't received as much attention as the iPad Air, it is emerging as the strongest challenger yet to Apple's device.

The new Kindle shares many of the features found in a smaller version that came out Oct. 18.

A row of tabs at the top of the screen gives you quick access to Amazon services such as e-books, music, video and shopping. Recently used apps and content appear in the middle so you can return to them quickly. The bottom row has icons for frequently used apps such as email and the camera.

Need help? Just hit the "Mayday" button. You'll be connected within seconds to a live customer-service representative, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You see the representatives in a video box, but they can only hear you and see what's on your screen. They can also help guide you by placing orange markers on your screen or taking control of your device completely.

I found all the reps to be patient as they walked me through attempts to locate a missing book, play a podcast and download items from the Dropbox storage service. In one case, the representative called my cellphone as promised an hour later to follow up. We never found a solution on Dropbox, though - but more on that later.

The best part of the new Kindle is its price. Amazon.com Inc. begins shipping it Thursday, starting at $379. That's cheaper than the new $399 iPad Mini, which has a display that measures 7.9 inches diagonally. The full-size Kindle Fire HDX has an 8.9-inch screen, just short of the iPad Air's 9.7 inches. Even cheaper is the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX, which costs $229.

If you can afford a $499 tablet and aren't a heavy user of Amazon services, you might still consider the iPad Air.

Yes, the Kindle is lighter, at about 0.83 pound, or 17 percent less than the Air. But I couldn't really tell the difference holding the two side by side.

And yes, the Kindle has a sharper screen, with a resolution of 339 pixels per inch compared with the iPad's 264 pixels per inch. But I couldn't really tell the difference watching the Pixar cartoon "Monsters University" side by side.

Where the Air shines is in the build. I find the Air more pleasant to hold because of its curved edges. The Kindle has a soft, rubber-like back, but it doesn't make up for the boxy edges. The Kindle promises more battery life - at 12 hours, compared with 10 hours for the Air. But I found the two devices drained battery at roughly the same rate when watching Hulu streaming video.

In addition, the Air has access to a wide variety of apps available through Apple's app store. The Kindle uses a modified version of Android and can run a variety of Android apps - but not all of them. In fact, the new Kindle doesn't run all the Android apps that are supposed to work with Kindles, including the app for Dropbox. Many of these apps need to be updated every time a new Kindle device comes out, whereas they simply work when new Android devices are out, just as iPad apps work on new iPads.

If you are drawn by the Kindle's price and don't mind the limited selection, though, the Kindle is a wonderful option. That's especially so if you're a frequent Amazon customer. The Kindle is tied to your Amazon account, making it easy to buy everything from audiobooks to vacuum cleaners with a click or two. You also get Amazon's recommendations for more things to buy, based on physical and digital purchases you've made on Amazon in the past.

With a $79-a-year Amazon Prime membership, you also get quick access to thousands of free movies and television episodes and the ability to borrow one e-book a month from a select list. You can download the free Prime video to watch wherever you are. On older Kindle Fires and other devices, you're limited to streaming, which requires a constant Internet connection.

Another exclusive Kindle feature is called X-Ray. When you're reading a book, you get information about characters and places from Wikipedia and other sources. When you're listening to music, you see lyrics for selected songs. When you're watching a movie or TV show, you get information on actors, character summaries and trivia. While watching "Monsters University," I particularly liked the callout to a pizza truck that appears in most Pixar movies. A little note pops up in the lower left corner.

I'll forgive the fact that it actually shows up during the wrong scene. I didn't get any supplemental material at all with the iPad.

Another thing I didn't get with the iPad is live help. I had trouble playing "Monsters University" on the iPad initially because I hadn't finished downloading it yet. I had to figure out on my own that I had to switch to a different app to do that. Both the iPad and the Kindle let you start watching as the download continues.

The new full-size Kindle is a great deal at $379. It might even make a nice gift for your tech-challenged friends and relatives, as they can call Mayday rather than you. The Kindle isn't as good as the iPad Air, but it's an excellent choice for its price.

How to make your passwords more secure

An Australian man is suing Twitter for defamation after he was wrongly named as the author of a hate blog, a report said Friday.

If the Heartbleed security threat teaches us anything, it's that passwords don't offer total protection.

Browsers are supposed to keep passwords and other sensitive data safe, but a technical flaw in a widely used padlock security technology allows hackers to grab the information anyway. Even without this latest discovery, there have been countless disclosures of hackers breaking in to grab usernames and passwords, plus credit card numbers and more.

That's why many security experts recommend a second layer of authentication: typically in the form of a numeric code sent as a text message. If you're logging in to a website from your laptop, for example, you enter your password first. Then you type in the code you receive via text to verify that it's really you and not a hacker.

I've been using what's known as two-factor authentication or two-step verification on most of my accounts for more than a year, after seeing too many mysterious attempts to reset my Facebook password by someone who isn't me. The main exception was Gmail, but I enabled that recently after the discovery of Heartbleed. I was afraid the second authentication would be a pain to use, but things are going more smoothly than I expected after the initial setup.

The idea behind these double-layer passwords is to make it harder to use a password that's compromised or guessed. You're asked for a second piece of information that only you are supposed to know.

To balance security and convenience, you can typically bypass this check the next time you use the same Web browser or device. It won't help if someone steals your laptop, but it'll prevent others from using your password on their machines. If you're logging in at a library or other public computer, remember to reject the option to bypass that check next time.

The second piece of authentication could be your fingerprint or retina scan, though such biometric IDs are rarely used for consumer services. Financial services typically ask for a security question, such as the name of your childhood pet, the first time you use a particular Web browser or device. That's better than nothing, though answers can sometimes be guessed or looked up. Some banks offer verification codes by text messaging, too.

I like that approach and use it for a variety of email and social networking services. To me, email accounts are the most sensitive because email can be used to reset passwords elsewhere. That includes my banks and shopping sites.

The two-step requirement is fairly simple to turn on. With Google, for instance, it's under the Security tab in your account settings. On Facebook, look for Login Approvals under Security in the settings. With Apple IDs, visit appleid.apple.com rather than the account settings on iTunes.

After you enable it, you'll typically have to sign in to your account again on various Web browsers and devices. After entering your username and password, a code will get set to your phone. You'll have to enter that to finish signing in. This has occasionally meant getting off my couch to grab my phone from the charger, but that's a small price for security.

What if you're somewhere without cellular access and can't receive texts?

Most services have backup mechanisms. Google, Facebook and Microsoft have apps that will let you receive verification codes even when you're offline. Google and Facebook also let you generate 10 backup codes that you can download or print to keep in your wallet. Each can be used only once.

You can also turn off the two-step requirement temporarily if you'll be traveling without cellular access, though I don't recommend it. The reason I turned it on last year was because I was leaving the country and wouldn't be able to deal with further mysterious reset attempts.

Occasionally, you'll run into an app that won't accept the text code. Apple's Mail app on iPhones, iPads and Mac computers is one. Microsoft's Outlook software is another. If that happens, you'll have to go to your service's settings to generate a temporary password for that particular app. It's a pain, but I've rarely needed to do this.

There are several other challenges to making this work smoothly. For example, if you have a shared Twitter account, such as for your company or organization, two-step verification isn't very practical unless you also share your phone. There's a 12-character, hard-to-guess backup code you can use instead. But it's no security if you jot it down next to your main password.

The biggest problem, though, is losing your phone. Some services will let you provide a backup number, including a friend's cellphone or a landline phone. With Google, the code can be sent as a voice message instead of a text. Others offer a complex recovery code, which you'll have to jot down and keep in a safe place.

I know two-layer security is inconvenient. The first password is difficult enough to deal with. But think of the inconvenience involved should someone break into your account and shut you out. Consider the use of verification texts to be insurance.