If this is driving you crazy, take heart. A Kindle 4 owner named kubbur has graciously begun documenting how he’s managed to hack his device to display new screensaver images. If you’re somewhat technically savvy, you might be able to follow his lead.

First, here’s his tutorial on how to put your Kindle 4 into diagnostic mode:

how to get into developer mode on kindle 4 non-touch version

Once you’ve done that, you can follow his second tutorial to gain root access and modify your Kindle 4 to display custom screensaver images:

How to set custom screensaver on kindle 4 nontouch

If you run into problems or want to discuss this approach, try the Kindle 4 hacking thread over at MobileRead, where kubbur has also been active.

If everything works out as planned, hooray for you. Here are some places to find more screensaver images:

• DeviantART KindlePics collection
• reddit’s kindlescreensavers page

The Reddit page has some links to the default screensaver images as well, if you want to add them back into your custom mix.

Finally, before you begin, here’s a big warning:

A BIG WARNING!

You’re on your own with this. If you break your Kindle 4, you’ll have to find a way to fix it yourself—I can’t help you. If you didn’t read this post and immediately think, “Pshaw, I know more about what’s going on here than this writer,” then you probably shouldn’t attempt this. It requires fancy things like SSH and Putty and a very high amount of Magicka.

(Photos: Army Medicine, kubbur)

Whether such cases are due to idiocy or deliberate copyfraud, they hurt the consumer. It’s prohibitively expensive for the average private citizen to have to engage the Library of Congress as well as hire a copyright attorney (which, no kidding, is what the Copyright Office recommends) just to confirm that he has the right to do what he wants with something published in 1925. Even then, if the work was first published outside the U.S. then it may be nearly impossible to determine its true copyright status.

Which leads me to the problem of locked PDF versions of century-old works. I’m now in the possession of half a dozen PDFs of old short stories that various websites offer for free, and yet those files have been password protected to prevent me from printing, copying, or otherwise gaining direct access to the text. In the most extreme cases, the person who created the PDF file has, for reasons known only to him and the functionally retarded demon who guides him, added his own copyright claim to it. Seriously, people should just be hit with sticks sometimes.

Remove that PDF’s sham DRM with MuPDF!

(That may be the worst subheading ever written.)

Fortunately, Robert Brewer at Excited Curiosity explains that you can use a free open source PDF toolkit called MuPDF to unlock password protected PDF files. There are MuPDF viewers for Windows and Linux at MuPDF.com, but For OS X you have to use the command line (i.e., the Terminal app found under Applications>Utilities). Everything that follows is for OS X users.

First download the OS X binary from mupdf.com, unarchive it, and put the resulting folder wherever you like. Then in Terminal, use the “cd” command to navigate to that folder, and then run the “pdfclean” command on a locked file and in seconds, you’ll have a new unlocked version. Here’s an example of how to run the command if you have the MuPDF folder in your home directory and the locked PDF file on your Desktop:

./pdfclean ../Desktop/lockedfile.pdf ../Desktop/newnameforfile.pdf

If you’re not used to Terminal, here’s a quick introduction that will teach you the basics. Pretty much all you need to know to use MuPDF is how to type the full paths of the MuPDF folder and of the locked PDF file, and the command “cd” to change directories. (The command “ls” to list the contents of your current directory is also helpful.) You can also check out this comment on Brewer’s blog for more help.

Using OS X? Here’s a contextual menu shortcut for MuPDF

I was excited about finding this free solution to the bogus DRM problem, but I wanted an easier way to use it in the future without having to launch Terminal each time. I created a simple workflow service in Automator that I can access via the contextual menu when I click on a file. Now when I download a PDF and find that it’s locked, I simply right-click the document and select “UnlockPDF” from my Services menu, and a clean version appears next to the original.

Here’s the code I used to create the service. Note that I wrote this using Automator 2.2.1; when I shared a similar tip last year for KindleGen, I discovered that some readers couldn’t replicate my instructions because they were using older versions.

on basename(thePath)
	if thePath ends with "/" then
		set nameIndex to -2
	else
		set nameIndex to -1
	end if
	set ASTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "/"
	set thePath to text item nameIndex of thePath
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ASTID
	return thePath
end basename

on getdir(theFileName)
	set theReversedFileName to (reverse of (characters of theFileName)) as string
	set theOffset to offset of "/" in theReversedFileName
	set thePrefix to (reverse of (characters (theOffset + 1) thru -1 of theReversedFileName)) as string
	set theSuffix to (reverse of (characters 1 thru (theOffset - 1) of theReversedFileName)) as string
	return thePrefix
end getdir

on run {input, parameters}
	set myFile to quoted form of POSIX path of input
	set newFile to basename(POSIX path of input)
	set newPath to getdir(POSIX path of input)
	set finalPath to (newPath & "/u-" & newFile)
	try
		do shell script "../../Applications/mupdf-0.7-darwin-i386/pdfclean" & " " & myFile & " " & finalPath
	end try
	return input
end run

Quick instructions:

1. Launch Automator and create a new Service workflow.
2. At the top of the composition area, change “Service receives selected [dropdown]” to either “files or folders”, “folders”, or “PDF files”. Change the other dropdown to “Finder”.
3. In the Library pane on the left, click the Utilities directory, then find the “Run Applescript” action and drag it into the composition area.
4. Select all the default code in the “Run Applescript” box and delete it.
5. Paste the above code in. Be sure to edit the path to the MuPDF folder so that it’s correct for your situation.
6. Click the hammer icon to compile the code.
7. Save the service under whatever name you like. I chose “UnlockPDF” to make it easy to find months from now when I’ve forgotten all about how I did this.

Because I’m a pretty bad scripter, I’m sure this isn’t the most elegant way to do this. If you can improve on it—particularly if you can fix it so that it can batch process an entire folder of PDF files—please let me know and I’ll update the script.

(Frozen book illustration credits: Ice Block, Risager; Old Book, HoskingIndustries)

This is probably a good time to remind you of a competitor, Kinstant, that offers a similar service. Kinstant’s page—also displayed via the browser—offers links as well as weather. The weather portion is nowhere near as fancy as what Kindle Weather Station offers, but on the other hand you can add your own custom links and access dozens of commonly used websites. Based simply on sheer value offered, I’d currently recommend Kinstant over Kindle Weather Station.

And finally, Kindle Weather Station also offers a free way to access the service from your Kindle’s home screen. Instead of opening up the browser and selecting a bookmark, you can download the sample of a special ebook from Amazon that will let you jump straight over to the Kindle Weather Station service in the browser. While this counts as a solution, you should know that it’s ridiculously easy to create a “Quick Links” document that you can customize as much as you want, and that can include as many bookmarks as you like instead of just one.

As some of you are aware, every November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. If you’re a NaNoWriMo DoRk–and I can use that term because I’ve been one myself in the past–then you know that it’s incredibly difficult to squirt out the minimum required number of words every day for 30 days straight. (I never made it past day 3.) Most likely, the last thing you need at this delicate point in your quest is to be interrupted by a bunch of writing advice. What you need is caffeine, snack items, and another big helping of willful idiocy self-abuse.

But these titles probably won’t be free much longer, so try to sneak over to Amazon and grab them before they go away. Then, come December, you can peruse them at your leisure over a snifter of brandy while you relax by your hearth; I’m pretty sure no writer worth his salt would sit by a regular fireplace.

[via eReaderIQ.com]

Update: Forget all of this! Stanza delivered a surprise update to the Apple app store on November 10th, 2011, that restored functionality on iOS 5. But only update if you need to: this latest version breaks the app if you’re running an older iOS like 4.3 (thanks to Paula for pointing that out in the comments below.)

Lexcycle’s Stanza, the once mighty ebook reader app for iOS devices, doesn’t work on Apple’s latest mobile operating system iOS 5, and as development and maintenance on the app appears to have stopped, it likely never will.

Eulogy

Stanza was my first and most favorite ebook app for the iPhone, and later the iPad. When it was first launched, it had better features than any competing third party app, and over time it consistently beat the big players like Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble on things like openness and customization. I loved Stanza for subway rides—I used a giant font size in landscape view and was able to flick through screens like index cards, which made it easy to keep my place while being jostled and interrupted constantly.

For a while, Stanza was my catch-all app for ebook files, and it let me standardize my library around the EPUB format despite Amazon’s anti-user push for azw/mobi and tpz. Whether it was a title I’d downloaded from an author’s website, or a classic I’d grabbed off of Project Gutenberg, Stanza could handle it. I stopped caring that Amazon and Barnes & Noble were taking baby steps with their branded apps, because the scrappy alternative was far better. Worst case scenario, I could always remove the DRM on books from those retailers and shift them over to Stanza.

But best of all was how Stanza worked with my Calibre ebook library. I exported my entire Calibre library using OPDS and uploaded it to a private server, then connected to it from Stanza over the Internet. I was able to browse my library—and instantly download titles to my app—from anywhere I could get a wireless connection.

I always knew that Stanza would eventually go away after Amazon acquired it back in 2009. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised the retailer kept Stanza available for as long as it did, although I suspect Amazon’s motive was purely strategic: it prevented Apple, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo from acquiring what was for a while the iOS platform’s most famous and popular ebook app, while at the same time it gave Amazon a way to indirectly offer an EPUB reader without having to sully the Kindle brand.

I suppose, if you want to live in denial, you can imagine there’s a slim chance Stanza will wake up from its comatose state one day and start working again. But it’s time to move on. From the day Amazon purchased Stanza, we knew in our hearts that it wouldn’t last forever.

We, the survivors

If you’re a Stanza user on an iOS device, what’s next for you? Here are some quick tips:

Getting your files back from a broken Stanza

The simplest strategy is to not upgrade to iOS 5 if you can help it, although by doing so you’ll miss out on some really nice features that Apple has introduced, like system-wide text expander shortcuts, an elegant (but extremely limited) to-do app, and the ability to update and sync your device over Wi-Fi.

If you updated your device already, and you have ebook files in your Stanza app that you really want to salvage before moving on, you can try using the Stanza Book Restore tool that Lexcycle created. It’s a Java app that will scan your most recent iTunes backup, find the Stanza files that were saved there, and extract them as files with human-readable names.

Finding a decent alternative

Based on the suggestions in this Get Satisfaction thread on Stanza’s iOS 5 issues and this Mobileread wiki page on ebook software, I tried a few other apps to see if I could find one that would work with my private OPDS library and provide some decent functionality. Here are my observations.

Best premium bet: MegaReader ($1.99 at time of post)

Pros:
• handles OPDS catalogs nicely
• good basic customization options
• some great built in catalogs, so if you just want to find a good book to read fast (from a public domain collection, naturally), you can do that within seconds of launching this app

Cons:
• doesn’t handle some basic font styles like bold or italic
• no way to take notes or look up words
• limited layout options (what is has are nice, but there aren’t many)

Based on the suggestions users are making on the app’s user forums, there are some other missing features that could limit its usefulness to some users: there’s no way to drag and drop files into it using iTunes, and it can’t handle really large (1000+ titles) libraries.

I’ve been using it for a few days, and I’ve found that for basic reading and public domain book discovery, I’m pretty happy with it. However, if I’m doing a closer reading of a book—which often includes taking notes, highlighting passages, making lots of bookmarks, and looking up unfamiliar words—I much prefer to use iBooks or the Kindle app.

Best free bet: iBooks

Pros:
• free
• simple but elegant UI
• handles PDF files as well

Cons:
• not many customization features
• no access to catalogs–only the terrible iBooks Store, which you should avoid at all cost unless you like having your ebooks locked to iOS devices and nothing else (not Mac desktops)
• I’ve had trouble with the app running sluggishly if I add a lot of notes and highlights to a text.

To get EPUB files from other online catalogs into iBooks, you’ll have to access them from Mobile Safari, then choose iBooks when you download the file. Alternately, you can drag-and-drop non-DRMed files into the Books section of iTunes and sync that way. Fine, it’s not a great solution, but it’s free.

Not recommended (except perhaps for public library checkouts):

Bluefire is more or less useless to me. Its choice of catalogs is paltry and locked down, meaning you can’t add your own, and its key functionality—the ability to read titles locked to your Adobe Digital Editions account—is duplicated in other apps. You can annotate your books, but you can’t export any notes, which makes the feature rather pointless.

Overdrive is only good for accessing library ebooks and audiobooks, and it doesn’t offer basics like layout options, the ability to annotate, or a dictionary. If you use the Kindle app, and your library has the title in the Kindle format, you’ll find it’s a much better option—Amazon will back up your notes so you can access them later, and you can take advantage of the Kindle platform’s bookmark syncing.

(Image credits: casket, wickenden; frame, John Loo)

This morning I gave it a shot with my local library. I’ve never particularly liked the whole OverDrive experience with EPUB library books, so I was curious to see whether this would change anything. To be fair to OverDrive, it’s not that hard to download and authorize an EPUB title—but when you’re used to using the Kindle for everything, having to switch to Adobe Digital Editions is an annoyance.

I had a perfect candidate book, something that’s been on my reading list for a while now. It was first published in 1964, and then fell out of print and became ridiculously expensive in the used book marketplace. It was republished this year to take advantage of media exposure around an upcoming movie, but I’ve been unwilling to pay “new book” price for an old book that had already been abandoned once by its publisher.

Fortunately, my library had the title, and as you can see from the screen captures below the process was remarkably easy. The book is now on my Kindle! Now I just have to find time to read it.

1. I make sure there's a Kindle edition of the ebook.

2. I complete the checkout.

3. After checkout, I'm directed back to my Amazon Kindle account

4. The book shows up as a Kindle Library Loan, with the standard options to send to any of my registered destinations.

5. I can download or send the ebook as I like, the same as with other Kindle titles.

And I know this isn’t a new concept, but it’s the first time I tried it, so it was new to me.

I’ve uploaded some photos to Flickr as well, in case you’d rather skip the video and just see detailed beauty shots of my terrible sewing skills.

Flickr set:

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, named Text to EPUB File, that is designed to make it very easy to convert selected text or text documents into EPUB books, ideal for transferring to iPads and iPhones. Additionally, the created EPUB books can include images, MPEG audio, or MPEG video files.

NOTE: If the source documents for the action are in Rich Text Format (RTF), any formatting they possess will be preserved, and display correctly in the EPUB document. Also, the action includes full Unicode support, so Asian and Arabic characters are preserved as well.

By default, there’s no way to access this Automator action from any apps because there aren’t any default Services written to take advantage of it. But the website above provides four Service scripts that you can use to give your copy of Lion super EPUB creation powers over groups of files, text selections, or content copied to the Clipboard.

The site also offers some tutorials on how to install the Services and how to use them, if you’re curious but not sure how to get started.

“Text to EPUB File” [Max OS X Automation]

So here, thanks to GalleyCat, are the steps you need to take if you want to do it now instead of waiting for contact from Kobo:

1. First you’ll need a Kobo account, if you don’t already have one.
Update: A Kobo employee in the comments below says this will be created for new users automatically, so skip ahead to step two.

2. Once you have an account, fill out this Partner Migration form, which amounts to providing your old Borders login info and your new/existing Kobo login info.

That’s it. Kobo will then connect the accounts and move your purchase history over to its database, and things should continue to work seamlessly on the surface of your Kobo device. Since Kobo provided the infrastructure for Borders customers in the first place, if anything your experience should be a little more streamlined from now on.

(Via GalleyCat)
(Photo: masochismtango)

To use it, get the most current version of Calibre, then go into Preferences, scroll down to the green puzzle piece icon, and enable the Collection Manager plugin. The plugin you want is called “Kindle Collections”.

The plugin’s main purpose is, you guessed it, to help you manage your collections on your Kindle (which are a real pain to edit directly on the device). But there’s an extra settings pane where you can do your font replacement magic.

The developer has detailed instructions on this MobileRead Forums thread, but here’s the quick overview.

First, you have to find a compatible font set. Here are the requirements:

1. It must be Truetype or OpenType format
2. It must have four files, one for each of these variants:
   • regular
   • bold
   • italic
   • bold italic
3. It must be renamed using this naming convention, where [name] is the font name and “ttf” is the extension (even if it’s an OpenType font):
   • [name]-Regular.ttf
   • [name]-Bold.ttf
   • [name]-Italic.ttf
   • [name]-BoldItalic.ttf

The plugin’s dev says Droid Serif is a good example of a compatible font set, if you’re not sure where to start. You can also check out the main Google Web Fonts page, and look for fonts that have a gold “4 variants” label.

Next, do all these things, preferably in the order given:

1. Press the Home button on your Kindle, then connect it to your PC.
2. Using your computer’s file browser, navigate to the Kindle volume and create a folder on the top level (next to “Documents” for example). Name it “fonts”.
3. Copy your four renamed font files into this folder.
4. Start Calibre and wait for your Kindle to show up, then select the “Kindle Collections” menu option.
5. In the submenu, select “Modify Kindle Settings…”
   
   
6. In the “Modify Settings” pane, check the “Allow using user font” checkbox and use the drop-down selector to the left of it to choose the font you just added.
   
   
7. Hit the “Save” button, then eject your Kindle from Calibre. On my computer, I then have to quit Calibre before I can unmount it from OS X, but that may just be a quirk on my end.
8. After a few seconds, your Kindle will reboot.
9. Open a book, then press the “aA” button to go into font settings. Select the new “alt” option to activate your new font.

Two things to be aware of:

If you can’t open the book, the font you’re trying to use isn’t compatible. Repeat the process above but either select a different new font or select one of the default fonts, then eject and let the Kindle reboot.

If you tire of your new font and go back to your original system font on the Kindle, your new “alt” font will get sad and go away. To get it back you’ll have to repeat the procedure above.

That’s it! Sadly–and most likely because I’m doing it wrong, but I got distracted by the font issue and never went back to try again–my first attempt at actually editing my collections failed. I could see them in Calibre, and I was able to add new titles to one, but after I ejected the Kindle and it restarted, everything remained the same. It could have easily been my fault, though, so I still recommend it.

If you need better and more detailed instructions, or you want to ask the developer for help or give feedback, check out his MobileRead Forums thread. It’s the most official source of info on this plugin, and it looks like he’s still active on it.