artiss.blog

Category: Life

Random thoughts on life

  • 21 free Amazon Kindle software

    My mum already has one and I know my wife won’t mind one either. The Amazon Kindle is a rather remarkable device – it’s superb for reading books at a really good price.

    I love the idea of eInk and I think those people who think iPads are just as good have obviously not used one for any measure of time. When it comes to reading an eBook nothing beats eInk, and the Kindle is the best eInk reader.

    Anyway, enough of the sell. Downloading commercial books is the easy bit.

    What if you have want to do something different – say, put your own document onto it? How about getting free books onto it? Well, here’s my collection of the best free software around…

    briss

    An open source project, to create some cross-platform software that will quickly and easily crop PDFs. Why would you want to do that? Say, it’s a Word document converted to PDF – chances are it’s surrounded by a thick white border. Use briss to remove this before putting on the Kindle and it’s 100% easier to read!

    K2pdfopt

    If all that seems far too manual, there’s K2pdfopt which converts a PDF to images, optimises it for the Kindle and then puts it back to a PDF again.

    PDF Split and Merge

    This is one of those pieces of software that does exactly what it says it does – use it to modify PDFs by editing out sections or merging some together. Again it’s open source.

    kindlebility

    Not software this time but a “bookmarklet” – add their provided link to your favourites and the next time you’re reading an article and wish to read it on your Kindle, click the bookmark and it will send it to your Kindle via your Kindle email.

    Hamster eBook Converter

    A piece of software that will converts any eBook format to work on your Kindle.

    calibr

    After all that, how about something which does everything? Manage, organise and convert eBooks? calibre does just that.

    eLibrary

    An open source project still in its early stages, eLibrary will catalogue and organise your eBooks. It may be early days but the software looks very promising!

    Duokan

    Duokan is something different – a replacement OS for your Kindle. But it sits aside the existing Kindle OS rather than replacing it. It has a number of features that makes PDF viewing better and is particularly recommended for comic reading.

    The original is in Chinese but an English language version has been released. You can read more about it here including further links.

    Mobipocket eBook Creator

    And when you get bored of what’s available, why not create your own eBook? Mobipocket produce free home and publisher eBook creator.

    PrimoPDF

    If you create your eBook in PDF format then you’ll have maximum exposure as it can be just as easily read on PCs and Macs. PrimoPDF is one of the leading free PDF creators.

    Clippings Converter

    Kindle users will know that there’s a way to clip portions of the book they are reading for future reference. These clippings get saved in “myclippings.txt” in the documents folder of the Kindle. Clippings Converter is a simple tool that converts these chunks of saved text into Word, Excel or PDF files for better organisation and other use.

    Kindle Reader

    A standalone piece of PC software, provided by Amazon, Kindle Reader allows you to read your eBooks away from Kindle device. Unlike the Cloud Reader, you can use this to read books offline.

    Wordcycler

    If you use Instapaper to save web pages for reading later then you may find Wordcycler of use. Sitting in your system tray it will automatically send Instapaper items to your Kindle when it’s connected via USB.

    Auto Kindle eBook Converter

    A simple piece of software, Auto Kindle eBook Converter converts PDF, Lit, and HTML files to a Kindle-friendly .MOBI format.

    SENDtoREADER

    Another useful JavaScript bookmarklet SENDtoREADER will send any web page that you’re viewing to your Kindle via WIFI.

    Kindle It

    In a similar vein to SENDtoREADER, Kindle It will also send web pages to your Kindle but this time it’s a Firefox and Chrome browser extension.

    Greader2Kindle

    Greader2Mindle converts your unread Google Reader items to .MOBI and then emails them to your Kindle via WIFI.

    PDFMasher

    PDFMasher assists in converting a multi-page PDF into a single flow document.

    PaperCrop

    PaperCrop converts PDF documents, such as articles and academic papers, into a PDF (or image sequence) so that it can be read on a small screen.

    KDK Emulator

    Still in progress, KDK Emulator is a Kindle emulator for the PC.

    Alissa’s MobiHandler

    A small program, MobiHandler adds the ability for Windows Explorer to handle .azw/.mobi/.prc files better; cover images are shown as thumbnails, and you can see the book titles and authors on the list of files. You can also see the Properties of the books.

    And finally…

    When you buy PDF eBooks from certain online retailers (for example, WH Smith) they are advertised as “PDF” – but they aren’t really. You get a download of an ACSM file, which you have to open through Adobe Digital Editions to download your eBook. Once it’s downloaded, it’s locked into Digital Editions, and there is no compatibility with the Kindle.

    John O’Nolan has had exactly this problem and has worked out how to resolve it using a piece of software known as ePUBee.

  • Todays BBC/Sky F1 news

    In a quick break from the tech for a moment, I just wanted to comment on today’s news about the UK TV rights to the Formula One.

    For those unaware, the BBC and Sky Sports will broadcast Formula 1 in the UK between 2012 and 2018. All of this has happened before the BBC’s contract expires after the 2013 season.

    From next year Sky Sports will show every race, qualifying session and practice live and BBC Sport will broadcast half the races live, as well as the qualifying and practice sessions from those races.

    Now, I’m not a sporty person and I don’t watch it either, but I don’t mind watching F1 and there’s something particularly nice and watching a live race in its entirety on a Sunday. To hear that I’ll now only be able to enjoy half is annoying. I’m not a Sky subscriber and, if I was, I certainly wouldn’t be able to justify a monthly extra subscription to the Sports channel just for the sake of every other F1 race.

    I think it was summed up nicely by this joke from SniffPetrol…

    Make the next GP feel like it’s on Sky by throwing £30 away and then turning your TV off every 10 minutes.

    And, more seriously, they also took the opportunity to produce some interesting statistics, for all those who are saying that the BBC had to do this to save money…

    Alleged cost of F1 rights per year: £45m. Alleged cost of moving BBC depts (including Sport) to Salford: £900m

    Approximate cost of F1 rights per year: £45m. Approximate cost of BBC3 per year: £115m. Re-runs of Two Pints Of Lager all round!

  • Picasa increases storage – but only to Google+ users

    Hidden away in the Google help screens is something that gives Google+ users an extra reason to be happy!

    The amount of free storage for Picasa Web Albums is 1GB. However, this doesn’t include certain photo sizes. For non-Google+ users this is anything up to 800 x 800 pixels. For Google+ users this is a much better 2048 x 2048.

    For videos there are no changes for Google+ users – any videos less than 15 minutes long don’t count towards your limit.

    If you get to your 1GB limit then anything you upload will automatically be resized to fit within the limitations of the free storage.

  • I think I've worked out why car insurance is so expensive

    Image courtesy of ZoofyTheJi

    Car insurance is pretty expensive. And getting more so year-on-year.

    I’ve just renewed mine and although I’ve gone another without any claims or indeed anything happening that could affect my insurance, it’s gone up. In an ideal world you’d expect the opposite.

    So, let’s just see how I got that insurance.

    I went via Quidco, as I could get cashback from MoneySupermarket.com. MoneySupermarket.com put me onto Hastings Essentials. Hastings Essentials are a broker and, on the paperwork they’ve provided, state that my insurance is with “Advantage Ins”. If that’s the Advantage Insurance I think it is, they’re described as “an independent marketing organization that delivers products and services from insurance companies to its member firms in the Independent Brokerage Distribution Channel.” In other words, another broker. At some point at the end I suspect is an insurer. Somewhere.

    So, here’s the chain…

    • Cashback website – Quidco
    • Cashback comparison site – MoneySupermarket.com
    • Broker – Hastings Essentials
    • Broker – Advantage Insurance
    • Insurer (we assume)

    With each takings they own cut, is it any wonder how much we’re paying? Sadly, I don’t save any by going any more directly – the Hastings Essentials quote is no different if I go to their website or via MoneySupermarket, so I may as well make use of the £20 cashback I’d get from Quidco.

    Of course, there are some who shun cashback and comparison sites – Aviva and Directline for example. However (and try and work this one out) their quotes were astronomical compared to what I got elsewhere.

     

     

  • Powermat – great idea, shame about the range

    Powermat is a company, and range of products, that allow you to charge your electrical gadgets via conductive charging – that’s the same technology that most electric toothbrushes use, where charge is sent to the device without having to physical plug it in.

    Instead you buy a “mat” which does the charging and each device has a special case or replacement battery compartment which accepts the charge.

    It’s a US company but UK versions of their products are available. Indeed, their prices are quite competitive right now with massive price drops on many of their products.

    But.. and there’s a but… their range is rubbish. If you don’t own an Apple or Blackberry you’re likely to be out of luck. They also support the Nintendo DS and DSi and 2 Android phones. The Apple iPod Touch is supported but not the latest generation and in the case of the Android phones, both are US models and don’t appear to be supported in the UK at all.

    I contacted them via Twitter to ask if they had plans for a receiver for the incredibly popular Samsung Galaxy S 2… they didn’t.

    So, it begs the question – “what’s the point?”. Well, unless you have a phone named after a fruit.