Apple had an education event in late January in New York that allowed any company to dip their foot in the textbook industry. This was through the release of iBooks 2, a more textbook focused iBooks app than the previous version, for the iPad. In addition, Apple released iTunes U for iPhone, allowing individuals to enjoy the college course videos and podcasts they know and love from iTunes, on their iOS devices. Last but not least, Apple made it possible for every individual to have a chance to get into the publishing field with iBooks Author for Mac. Today, we will crack open the application to see what it offers us.
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Amazon Cloud Reader: An Improved Reading Experience For The iPad
By | January 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Just in case catching up with your reading wasn’t easy enough on the Kindle apps for iOS and Mac, Amazon has made it even easier. Previously, iOS apps turned the iPhone and iPad into Kindles, and allowed the same reading experience on a Mac. Now they have taken the experience one step further.
It’s not like it was ever a bother to launch the apps to read the same material you have on your Kindle. It was never even a second thought until Amazon launched a new Cloud Reader web app that somehow makes the old app outdated. In addition, they launched a new Kindle Store web app to make shopping for ebooks even easier.
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How to Convert Your PDF Files to ePub/Mobi Format
By | December 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment
If you own an ebook reader, the popular Kindle Fire or NOOK Color, I am sure that you won’t want to read your PDF files on it. PDF is a great file format for printing and sharing documents that don’t require edits, but for ebook reading, it is definitely not the preferred format. Amazon Kindle uses the .mobi format while some other ebook reader uses the .epub format.
Over the past few years, I have amassed a great collection of ebooks, albeit in pdf format. I have recently got myself a tablet and found that reading pdf ebooks on the device is a tiring task. While some of the ebooks are formatted properly, others come with 2/3 columns layout and moving from one section to another is rather distracting. Converting these pdf ebooks to epub/mobi format becomes an necessary task.
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Enjoy Fine Literature On Your iPad With McSweeney’s App
By | October 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment
The wonderful thing about iPads is that they can do (almost) everything. Not only can they simulate having a real computer, they can also simulate an e-reader. Along with having general apps to do this such as the Kindle app or iBooks, there is also McSweeney’s, an reading app that has the feel of sitting in a smokey coffee shop, that is if you could find one where smoking is still allowed.
This app is by the same folks that run the McSweeney’s literary journal. The website explains it started in 1997 with the purpose of publishing only the literary works that were rejected by other magazines, but soon it became so known for this type of literature, that pieces were being written specifically for McSweeney’s. With a commitment to “finding new voice,” McSweeney’s has developed a following.
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How to Access and Purchase eBooks From Kindle App Outside Of USA
By | August 25, 2011 | 4 Comments
Be it the Kindle device or the Kindle app for your PC, iPhone, iPad or Android, there is no doubt that Amazon has provided a quick and good platform for most of us to buy, download and read ebooks. The problem is, if you are located outside of United States, you will find that you won’t be able to download the Kindle app, or to purchase some (if not, all) of the ebooks from the Kindle store. I have recently got a ASUS transformer tablet and I am not able to purchase any ebook from the built-in Kindle app. Here’s what I did to unlock the app.
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Tips and Tricks For Your Shiny New Kindle
By | September 16, 2010 |
I am the proud owner of a brand new Amazon Kindle Wi-Fi (a.k.a. Kindle 3). This sleek graphite device is great when I want to read at home or on the move. The size and weight are just perfect and even after holding it for a few hours I can barely feel it resting on my palm.
Since buying the device last week, I have the chance to play around with the device and I have compiled a short list of tips and tricks that every Kindle user needs to know. These tips generally apply to the latest generation Kindle, however most of them work with the older versions as well.
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How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 3
By | July 27, 2009 |
In this final part of our series on laying out a book with OpenOffice.org, you will learn how to position illustrations in your book, how to use paragraph styles, and how to export in different formats. What you will take away from this is one method that has worked for me and many other people. At the end of this post, I will provide links for further study on the subject.
Illustrations
To insert an image in OpenOffice Writer, simply click “Insert->Picture->From File“. Then, select the image that you want, and click OK.
By default, the text will wrap around your picture. If you do not want this or want a different type of wrapping, right click on the picture and choose the appropriate wrap method from the wrap menu.
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How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 2
By | July 20, 2009 |
In the first part of this series, I explained how to prepare an OpenOffice.org document for book layout. In this second part, I am going to highlight some key points raised by some of our readers and also how to properly align page numbers and format paragraphs.
There are a couple of things you should consider before proceeding:
1. If you are submitting your book to a publisher, they normally do not expect you to format the book or do any typesetting. That is their job. They just want the raw manuscript. In some cases, they may even insist that you use a particular generic font and not change default margins. Make sure you read their submission guidelines.
2. One of our readers mentioned that he usually formats his books after he finishes writing. This is undoubtedly the best method in most cases. What we created in Part 1 was a basic template that you can use without any further formatting needed before you start writing. Furthermore, if you are working for the publisher or are the publisher, the author might be someone else. In that case, you will take his or her text and prepare it.
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