DIY
The Atavist: publish to any format you like
It’s not released to the public yet, but longform epublisher The Atavist is putting the final touches on a free version of its conversion tool, which will enable authors to publish to a variety of platforms at once without being tied to any one company’s overly restrictive fine print. (Yes, that’s a jab at iBooks [...]
How to put custom screensaver images on a Kindle 4 (nontouch)
The new Kindle 4—the one without touchscreen capability—doesn’t run the Kindle 3 screensaver hack, so even if you pay Amazon the extra $30 to disable the ads you’re stuck with some generic default images. If this is driving you crazy, take heart. A Kindle 4 owner named kubbur has graciously begun documenting how he’s managed [...]
Set public domain content free from locked PDF files
Lately I’ve been digging around online to find old genre short stories written in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In many cases it’s clear that the works have passed into the public domain, at least here in the U.S., but in other cases there’s a questionable copyright claim, as when a modern publisher slaps [...]
How to convert the entire Skyrim canon into a single ebook
If you’ve ever spent any time in the game Skyrim—or its predecessors Oblivion or Morrowind—you’ve probably noticed how insanely detailed the legends, histories, and religious traditions can be, and not just for a game but for any sort of fantasy entertainment. What makes this detailed world-building even more striking, from a game level, is that [...]
Man rigs special Kindle controls for sister with cerebral palsy
I was going to write up a short post* about this, but I’m running out of time today and Nate at The Digital Reader just posted about it, too, so I’ll point you there instead. (His is also the only other post I can find that bothered to link to the actual source material.) It’s [...]
How to make a Kindle case from an old book
I hadn’t intended to cut up the used book I bought online. But it turned out to be exactly the right size to house my Kindle, and it wasn’t in great shape to begin with, and my whole philosophy about digital publishing is that the physical container is not eternal and shouldn’t be treated with [...]
Apple’s OS X Lion can create EPUB files!
If you’re using or plan to upgrade to the latest Apple operating system, Lion, you’ll discover a nifty ebook trick baked into the Automator program: it can create EPUB files! The website Mac OS X Automation reported it first, so far as I know. From that site: Mac OS X Lion includes an Automator action, [...]
ReadBeam makes it easy to read newspapers and blogs on your ereader
If you don’t want to use Calibre, or can’t be bothered to figure out how to use it to subscribe to news feeds and send them to your ereader, you might want to give ReadBeam a try. The service offers around two dozen popular blogs and online newspapers. You’ll have to sign up with a [...]
Change the font on your Kindle without hacking it
I finally updated my installation of Calibre the other day and started playing around with the plugin manager under Preferences, and I found out that the Kindle Collections Manager plugin has a secret power: it can let you add a new font to your Kindle without requiring any sort of hack or jailbreak. If you [...]
Readability adds “send to Kindle” support
Readability, the free service that makes web pages easier on the eyes with a simple click, has introduced a new “send to Kindle” feature. This is essentially what Kindlebility has been offering for a few months, but now it’s baked right into the original service. You’ll have to install a free add-on to Firefox, and [...]
Build your own multi-article EPUB with GrabMyBooks Firefox add-on
Do you forage the web for articles that you’d rather read on your ereader device? Here’s a cool tool that lets you collect them into a single downloadable EPUB file.