I got an email from Kindle Weather Station this morning, a new service in beta that offers a full screen weather report (via the experimental browser) for your neighborhood. The good news is the weather is presented in a huge, easy-to-read layout that I find quite useful. The other news—maybe not “bad” but not necessarily [...]
ideas
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 [...]
Paper sculptures in Pottermore video are beautiful, make book hard to read
Don’t loan J.K. Rowling any first editions! The author of Harry Potter doesn’t just love ebooks now, she hates printed books. Why, look at the lengths she’ll go to deface one in her new video announcing her HP ebook venture: The hand-cut, stop-motion paper animations are gorgeous. You definitely can’t slice up an E Ink [...]
Literature Map from Gnod uses fancy robot math to suggest new authors to you
From what I can tell by the intro paragraph on the home page, Gnod is an experiment in creating a self-aware deathbot who will someday enslave us all. But until that day it’s a fun way to discover new authors you might enjoy. Gnod’s literature section, Gnooks, includes a free service it calls a Literature [...]
Create personalized Kindle, Nook and iPad cases at MyEdge
Although no official announcement has yet been made (that I’m aware of), M-Edge has opened its custom cover store. The service lets you create custom covers for your Kindle or Nook ($40) or iPad ($50) using your own images as well as supplied design elements. If you’re not the creative type, M-Edge is offering a [...]
Here’s another hand-made hardcover case for the Kindle
I know I just posted a link to 50 assorted ideas for covering your Kindle, but this one from someone named Ebony is worth the extra attention. His approach definitely requires patience and an eye for detail — you have carefully cut out each page individually, then glue them all together and smooth out the [...]
Three online notepads that work with the Kindle
Here’s a quick review of three free notepad services that work fairly well with the Kindle 3′s web browser. Why would you want a notepad service? I get to that below, after the quick reviews. Jottit.com Features: 9 Kindle Web Display: 6 Kindle Article Display: 9 Click image to view more screens. My favorite service, [...]
How Kindle’s new Public Notes could change the way we read ebooks
Someone else may have already noted this, but it took me four days to realize the game-changing potential of the upcoming Public Notes feature Amazon is bringing to the Kindle. If authors and celebrities take to it the way they’ve taken to Twitter, they could create entirely new marketing angles (bleh), as well as entirely [...]
Songs as books? An illustrated version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone”
Yesterday I wrote up a whole bunch of notes for what will most likely be another long post about some hypothetical near-future publishing idea. That’s not important (yet). What’s important is that in those notes I used Lady Gaga as an example of how musical artists could offer small written works as impulse-purchase content to [...]
Dehydrated books, or how to make money off of fan fiction and unauthorized sequels
Imagine that this evening I follow a friend’s link to a new Harry Potter book, one that essentially replaces “The Sorcerer’s Stone” in the canon with a Year 1 adventure that’s darker and closer in tone to the final few books, but that wasn’t written or authorized by J. K. Rowling. The link I follow [...]
Helpful advice for new Kindle owners
Here are some handy tips from actual Kindle owners to newcomers who just got one in the past few days. I cribbed most of these from this Amazon Discussion Forum thread, and although I’ve edited it down to the ones I personally vouch for, the whole thread is worth a look if you’re just getting [...]
Where to find elegant and quirky Kindle cases
One of the best sources for one-of-a-kind cases for your Kindle (or Nook, Kobo, etc.) is Etsy, the handmade items retailer. Etsy’s particularly great for padded sleeves, because you can choose from a hundred different fabric patterns instead of four manufacturer colors, or even request fabrics. However, you can also find some pretty sophisticated leather [...]
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