reader posts

Filed under: Palm, iPhone, Mobile, Android

Ibis eBook reader aims to get around iPhone app store

by Jay Hathaway Nov 2nd 2009

By now, iPhone users who haven't jailbroken their devices have learned that they can't get an app unless it goes through Apple's approval process and reaches the iTunes App Store. A new eBook reader called Ibis, planned for iPhone, Android and Palm's WebOS, plans to get around Apple's restrictions. How? Simple: it's a web app. You can access the reader from your browser, and your books are stored offline using HTML5.

It doesn't seem like there's much Apple can do about that, unless they want to start blocking web apps on their device. Unlikely. So, you can enjoy your DRM-free books in ePub format to your heart's content, and even buy new ones from Ibis' bookstore. You'll be able to sync books and bookmarks across devices via the cloud, too. Ibis isn't launching for "several months," but it could be a real winner if it looks as good as it sounds.

[via Daring Fireball]

Tags: android, books, ebook, epub, ibis, iphone, mobile, reader, webos

Filed under: Productivity

Brief RSS add-on makes Firefox's Live Bookmarks usable

by Jay Hathaway Oct 11th 2009

Live Bookmarks in Firefox are a great idea in theory, but in practice they're a clumsy solution for in-browser feed reading. Brief is an add-on that breathes some life into Live Bookmarks with a nice-looking, usable front end. Setting up Brief is a quick and painless process: just install the add-on and point it to a folder full of RSS feeds. A toolbar button and a status bar button (with your unread items count) will automatically appear, and clicking either one pops open the reader.

Brief's not a bad little reader, either. The layout is attractive, and having a reader inside Firefox means you can quickly click through to the full versions of articles. If you're a CSS whiz, you can even customize the Brief's appearance. I recommend turning on the option to open Brief in a new tab. Otherwise, it can quickly become annoying when it loads in your active tab and takes you away from a page you still wanted to look at.

[via InstantFundas]

Tags: add-on, brief, extension, feeds, firefox, reader, rss

GReactions brings comments to Google Reader

by Jay Hathaway Aug 22nd 2009

Google Reader is great for keeping up with your favorite news feeds, but when it comes to reading blog comments, it doesn't really deliver. GReactions is a Firefox extension that fills the gap. It collects comments from the blog post itself, FriendFeed, Twitter, Digg, Hacker News, Reddit and more. You can access all of this by clicking a link that GReactions adds to the end of each post in Reader.

Don't confuse GReactions with comments on shared Google Reader items. It doesn't allow you to comment, it just pulls in comments from other sources. I'm not sure how reliable GReactions is, though, because it mostly displayed Twitter mentions for the posts I checked out. It could be that Twitter is just quicker to index than some of the other sources, though, and not every post gets added to Dugg or Reddited. Your mileage may vary with GReactions, but it definitely deals well with high-traffic, comment-heavy blogs.

[via Webware]

Tags: addons, comments, extension, firefox, google-reader, greactions, reader

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, Web services, Google

NewsGator kills its web-based feed reader, supports Google Reader instead

by Jay Hathaway Jul 30th 2009

NewsGator's web-based feed reader has always gotten a lot of mileage as the only supportive way to sync with the popular FeedDemon desktop reader and NetNewsWire desktop and iPhone apps. But it almost seems redundant to support your own web-based RSS product when Google Reader is so popular, and offers a comparable user experience. That's what NewsGator seems to think, anyway. The company just announced new versions of its apps, with support for Google Reader Syncing, and a plan to kill off the web version of NewsGator at the end of August.

It's sad to see NewsGator go, especially if you hate using Google Reader. On the other hand, it seems pretty obvious that Google Reader's userbase is huge, and this move gives NetNewsWire and FeedDemon a chance to pick up some of those users for themselves. Personally, I never used Google Reader because I couldn't sync NetNewsWire with it, and, and if I'm not alone, Google might get a few new users out of the deal, too.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: feeddemon, google-reader, netnewswire, newsgator, reader, rss

Filed under: Hardware, News, Mobile

Amazon plans to expand Kindle to new formats and devices

by Jay Hathaway Jun 20th 2009

When Amazon created an iPhone app based on its popular e-reader device, the Kindle, it became clear that $10 books were as big or bigger than $400 readers in Amazon's business model. By allowing reading on other devices, Amazon has been able to make sales to customers who would never have bought a Kindle, and that's worked so well on the iPhone that other devices and book formats are now on the agenda.

According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the company looks at the ebook business and the gadget business as separate. Expanding to new devices isn't going to keep gadget-hungry consumers from buying a Kindle if they were planning to do it anyway, and plenty of customers who would never buy a Kindle might still buy a few books for their own devices. As for file formats, the Kindle already reads PDFs, but Bezos said other formats could be supported in the future. This may be one of the results we're seeing from Amazon's acquistion of Stanza, which supported formats that the Kindle doesn't yet.

Updated: At first, I thought that recent release of the Kindle Source Code might have something to do with developing for other platforms, but it was actually only done to comply with the Gnu Public License. Because the Kindle was built on some open-source GPL-licensed components, Amazon had to release the parts of the code that were modifications of those components. It unfortunately has nothing to do with enabling developers on other platforms to build apps that work with Kindle books.

Tags: amazon, books, ebooks, kindle, opensource, reader

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Web

Fever offers a hot new approach to reading feeds

by Jay Hathaway Jun 18th 2009

Fever is a new feed reader that calculates the "temperature" of your feeds by asking you to group them into essential and occasional categories, and looking at how they relate to one another to create a "hot" category. It's like your own personalized, automated Digg. It's the brainchild of Shaun Inman, one of the most respected designers around, and the UI looks great and seems intuitive.

Here's the catch, though: Fever's not a desktop app. It's a PHP/MySQL app that you host on your own server. This offers several advantages: you can access it from anywhere, you can filter ads by blacklisting advertising domains, it updates itself automatically, and you can use cron to make your feeds automatically refresh whenever you choose. Fever is powerful, but I'm sure some people are going to balk at installing it, despite the very nice video walkthrough on the site.

If you don't mind running Fever on your server, but you're the kind of person who really needs an icon in the dock, you can run Fever on the desktop using Fluid, which turns web apps into standalone browsers. Fever also has a very, very nicely-done iPhone-optimized design, so if you're checking your feeds from an iPhone, you're in for a treat (without having to download an iPhone app, even).

Tags: feeds, fever, php, reader, rss, shaun-inman

Filed under: Business, News, iPhone

Amazon buys out Stanza, may improve Kindle software

by Jay Hathaway Apr 28th 2009

Just a couple of months after launching its Kindle app for iPhone, Amazon.com has acquired LexCycle, the company behind a popular free eBook reader called Stanza. Besides removing some competition, Amazon now has the potential to use Stanza's features to improve its own software. For its part, LexCycle doesn't plan on changing Stanza just yet, and its content partnerships are still in place.

While Amazon pushed its proprietary Kindle book format, Stanza has supported open eBook formats like EPUB. Stanza has a library of over 100,000 titles, coming from Barnes and Noble's eBook store, O'Reilly and Project Gutenberg, among others. It's really not obvious what Amazon gets out of this deal if it decides to discontinue Stanza. Readers who were using it only for free books are unlikely to switch over to the paid-download scheme of Kindle unless it incorporates a lot of Stanza's most appealing features.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: amazon, ebook, iPhone, kindle, lexcycle, reader, stanza

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Office, Productivity, Freeware, Windows x64

Easily install popular programs after a reformat with Smart Installer Pack

by Lee Mathews Apr 24th 2009

At work, I usually either use a drive imaging program to load the operating system and applications onto a machine. If I'm reformatting a customer's machine, I use WPI (Windows Post Installer) to silently install programs. At home, however, I'm a little less cautious when I reformat and often forget to back up my program installers.

That's when something like the Smart Installer Pack might come in handy. It's a pre-packed set of popular applications that you'd likely want to install on your own system (or a friend's) after a fresh format.

It includes a host of apps like Firefox, Chrome, OpenOffice, Winamp, Skype, Daemon Tools, Picasa, Winamp, Thunderbird, Adobe Reader and Flash, WinRar, Rocket Dock, CCleaner, and more. Everything downloads in a single file, so you won't be cluttering up your drive with a bunch of separate installers.

SIP has two drawbacks. First, the installers are interactive, not silent, so you'll have to click through manually. Second, there are a few apps I'd normally install instead - like 7zip and Sumatra PDF. Shortcomings aside, this is still a handy way to get a system up and running quickly with a solid group of commonly-used programs.

Tags: ccleaner, chrome, firefox, flash, openoffice, picasa, reader, reformat, reinstall, SIP, skype, smart-installer-pack, thunderbird, winamp, winrar, wpi

Filed under: Text, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

Calibre looks like the essential app for eBook fans

by Jay Hathaway Mar 16th 2009

If you're starting to amass a large collection of eBooks, formatted for all kinds of different readers, Calibre might be just what you need to help organize them. It's a cross-platform app that can read and tag eBooks from Kindle 1 and 2, iPhone, and readers from Sony and Cybook. It can also convert text from all kinds of sources into eBook format, and function as its own server of sorts, so you can access your library online.

Calibre also looks great, with a display mode similar to the Cover Flow in iTunes -- can someone explain what's up with Cover Flow being so hot right now? -- and a more practical list mode that just shows cover images on the side. You can also edit or fill in information about your books from Calibre, to make sure your library is accurate and organized. Oh, and if you're a fan of the Stanza reader on the iPhone, Calibre's hosting feature makes your books accessible through that, too.

Tags: books, calibre, ebookreader, ebooks, kindle, reader

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Browsers

Greasemonkey script goes minimalist on Google Reader

by Lee Mathews Dec 9th 2008

Sure, it's only been a few days since Google rolled out the new look for Reader, but maybe you don't think the collapsible boxes go far enough.

Fans of an even more minimalist interface can grab the Greasemonkey script created by Userscripts contributor DemianGod. It does away with all clutter left behind by your minimized all items and shared items blocks, as well as the add subscription button, and Google's header links.

What's left behind is a clean, uncomplicated view of your subscriptions and a massive search bar across the top.

You'll need the Greasemonkey addon for Firefox, of course. Though I haven't tested it, you may be able to get this one to work in Chrome as well by using GreaseMetal.

Install the script, activate it, refresh your Reader tab, and enjoy the new look.

Tags: google-reader, greasemonkey, reader, userscripts

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Productivity

Tofu makes on-screen reading actually bearable

by Jay Hathaway Jun 24th 2008

If you're like us, you have to read long blocks of text on a monitor all the time, and it's kind of a pain for your eyes. E-books and long PDF articles would be great if they could somehow get diced into neat, readable columns. Hey, it works for newspapers. Well, Tofu brings that pleasant reading experience to the Mac.

In a nutshell, Tofu cuts up what you're reading -- whether it's a PDF, a doc, or a chunk of text you've selected -- into columns. This is a good, because monitors are wider than the human eye is really comfortable with, and columns fit the text into your optimal scanning area for easy reading. Tofu's full screen mode and adjustable text size and colors are crucial, too. This app is good enough that we'll think twice before printing out something we can just read in Tofu.

Tags: documents, os x, OsX, PDF, reader, text, Tofu

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Apple, Google, iPhone, Beta

Google joins Bloglines with iPhone version of Reader

by Michael Schleifstein May 13th 2008

Monday Google unveiled yet another beta site. Google Reader is now formatted for the iPhone. iPhone users tired of pinching and stretching and tapping text only links in the normal version of Reader or dealing with the plain Classic mobile version of Reader can head over to http://www.google.com/reader/i/ to check out the new beta site.

With the iPhone-enabled web-app, Google joins Ask.com in the web-based RSS reader marketplace. Ask.com's Bloglines has had an iPhone version available to users since July 19, 2007. iBloglines was created with less than a 1000 lines of code on a lark by an internal developer who bought an iPhone and wanted better access to the site.

Tags: apple, ask.com, bloglines, comparison, google, google reader, GoogleReader, iPhone, netnewswire, reader, review, rss

Filed under: Internet, Blogging

Troubleshooting RSS addiction: a blogger finds freedom in a world without feeds

by Danny Mendez Apr 23rd 2008

It's part of our culture to want to get more done in less time, so it's unsurprising RSS readers are so popular nowadays. But what happens when efficiency and productivity start to replace general happiness? Well, that's what happened to a long time web publisher/surfer known as Halsted (AKA Cygnoir), who recently became fed up with her RSS addiction.

"I dread opening my RSS reader these days," she posted the day before giving up on RSS. "Right now there are 876 unread items glaring at me, from a total of 269 feeds." As of this writing, the brave soul has managed to get through about a week without relying on a reader -- you laugh, but some of us are truly addicted!

RSS and other technologies are often praised for their ability to save time, effort, etc, but it seems many forget their limits when they get into the habit of turning free time into work time -- all the time. This gets us wondering: How many feeds is one too many, and -- for all the RSS addicts out there -- how often do you check your feeds?

[via Valleywag]

Tags: blog, blogging, feed, reader, rss

Filed under: Business, Design, Internet, Office, Adobe

Adobe gets rid of FedEx link

by Chris Gilmer Aug 2nd 2007

Adobe had teamed up with Kinkos FedEx to print documents over the internet, unfortunately this move upset smaller printing companies.

The FedEx printing option had begun in Acrobat 8.1 and Reader 8.1 in June. However, complaints from rival businesses has forced Adobe to rethink their partnership with Kinko's and initiate a plan to take the feature out by an October release.

FedEx Kinko's will continue to distribute a version of the Adobe Reader with the special printing feature on its website.

Tags: acrobat, adobe, fedex, kinkos, printing, reader

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Web services, Apple

iPhone-only RSS reader coming to .Mac

by David Chartier Jun 28th 2007

It seems that Apple is taking the first sip from the web 2.0-only-iPhone-apps kool-aid while simultaneously injecting their stagnating .Mac service with a little pep by introducing what looks like an RSS reader just for the iPhone. Going to reader.mac.com should present the dialog you see capped in this post, which means that the app is likely tied to Apple's suite of .Mac services, but is surprisingly not even available to users on, how shall we say, more 'traditional' computers.

This is an interesting move, especially since Jobs is on record saying that .Mac needs a bit of a kick in the pants. Fortunately, with the iPhone-optimized rate plans Apple and AT&T announced earlier this week, users won't have to worry about pulling down too much data while surfing RSS all day (though we should note that iPhone customers can use an iPhone on any voice plan they already have with AT&T). We'll take a look at this app as soon as we can get our hands on an iPhone.

[via Daring Fireball]

Tags: .mac, apple, dotmac, iphone, reader, rss

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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