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May 28, 2009 / Filed under: Amazon, Kindle, Web, Features

Amazon has recently introduced a feature that lets Kindle users access their book notes and highlighted passages through the web.

This is a really nice perk of electronic book reading - the ability to make notes and highlight passages of text, and immediately access them through a web browser, so you can share, or copy/paste the text somewhere else, etc.

However, there may still be some confusion over this concept.

First off, I received the email notifying me of this feature:

From the looks of the subject text, without opening the email, I assumed it was talking about an overview of Kindle features. The subject is, "Kindle Highlights and Notes." The wording is poor because although it means physical notes and highlighting, it could also be perceived as: "Here are some highlights and notes about the Kindle product." This is how it first struck me when I read it.

In any event, that's a topic for another day - Amazon's poor branding and advertising of the Kindle. Amazon's strong suit is definitely not advertisements and promotions.

Besides the misleading email subject, it's also not clear if this new feature applies to users of the Kindle iPhone app. I, for one, bookmark a lot of pages when reading through my iPhone, so I'd love a way to immediately access those bookmarked pages through a web browser. (Note: the Kindle iPhone app does not currently allow for notes and highlighting; just bookmarking specific sections.)

I've browsed my Kindle store through Amazon.com, and tried to find a spot that "syncs" my bookmarked pages to my account, but I have had no luck yet.