Saturday, November 20, 2010

iPad Tutorial: How to read your old (non-ePub) ebooks using iBooks

How to read your old (non-ePub) ebooks using iBooks, iPad Tutorial

The app "calibre" (Mac only?) is pretty amazing.  It will even fetch news from all kinds of web sites, format them in iPub, and transfer it automatically to iBooks in your iPad! Very nicely formatted too, readable and with chapters and links.
If your favorite web site is missing from the list, somebody on the mobileread forum can probably mix you up a "recipe" for it! I had it done for The Online Photographer amongst others. Highly useful.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Dell Streak download issues

Now my Dell Streak will not download at all from the Market (app store). It's incredibly frustrating. And not at all uncommon, a Google search gives nearly 22,000 results!


I've rebooted of course, no joy. And so far I've not found any help.

It's a pity, for otherwise this five-inch device is not a bad pocket-sized ereader.

Update:
Hurrah! I found the solution here. (It's not "options" though, it's "settings", in the menu from the home page.)
But I have to say that it's a really poor show that an update to the Market app will block downloading...

I even found an app (Hard Copy) which will let me read my Instapaper articles on the Dell, kewl. (Although it seems to have no options for changing text size, quite a disadvantage which I'm inquiring about.)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Galaxy Tab review (updated)

Galaxy Tab review.


"The grippier casing comes into its own when you’re using the Galaxy Tab for ebook reading, and indeed Verizon preinstall Amazon’s Kindle app which works well on the 7-inch display. At 1024 x 600 across a smaller panel than the iPad’s 1024 x 768 resolution, the Samsung actually has a higher pixel density; that adds up to crisper text. The Tab is also light enough to comfortably hold one-handed above your head, such as when lying in bed, whereas the metal and glass iPad soon gets tiring."

And, ooh, the web browser apparently has text re-flow (text fits to the window) when you zoom in! Apple, may we pleeease have this in safari?!

Like the Dell Streak (and probably all Android devices), the Galaxy Tab has not just a Home button, but also a Menu button, and a Back and a Search buttons. Search button I can live without, but the Back button is very practical to get back to the last app, and I think especially that Jobs super-minimalism is again a little overdone in not having a Menu button on the iPad, for it is really good to have. On the iPad, you often have to search around on the screen to find where in the interface the app producer has decided to stick a menu for preferences and so on. Granted, it might also have been made simpler with a standard for where the menus are, but I think a simple menu button would work great.

It seems the GT will work with a bluetooth keyboard. That's good news for writers who like a very compact word processor on the go. A fold-able keyboard (under 200 grams) and an iPhone works well, I have used it, but that screen is a bit on the small side. An iPad instead is great but adds quite a bit of weight. I think a machine like this GT is a very nice compromise.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Kindle app for Android

Through Kindle Chronicles I just found out that the newest version of the Kindle app for Android has a search feature where you just speak the term you want. Pretty cool, I like how fast this technology is growing in usefulness. (Maybe I'll get the galaxy tab anyway despite the shameless price.)