Is This What We Want from Kindle?

Here is a post on what "developers, designers, and readers need from the Kindle platform (or any ebook platform." It's interesting.

Here is what readers should want, according to the author:

People should be able to have all of their book notes and quotes synced to their note-taking apps, like Evernote, Simplenote, or even as a directory of text files for the Dropbox-based note apps. Developers of writing and note-taking apps should be able to add kindle notes syncing with no more effort or paperwork (as in no paperwork to speak of) than it would take them to add Simplenote syncing, for example.

I tend to agree.

Defying Logic?

This post by Michael Leddy seems closely related to my post on thoughlessness.

It clearly shows that the thoughtlessness of the typical consumer is matched by the wishful thinking of one of the biggest book sellers.

No further comment!

Bill Gates' Notes

See How Bill Gates Takes Notes.

Thanks to Mark Bernstein.

No further comment!

Kindle Notes, Again

I wrote more than a year ago about the Kindle Clipping File. In particular, one reader has suggested I say something about the service clippingssconverter.com which allows you to transform the clippings file to Excel, Word and PDF, download them, or publish them to Evernote.

This is not the only solution, if txt files are a problem for you. Professor's Notes offers a Word macro that takes the text and makes it "a very nice readable document."[1] The site also has some tips on what to do with Kindle files on the iPhone or the Android.

There also seems to be a java application that parses the big clippings file into smaller files according to the books read yy.[2} Other utilities exist, like an application to transform it into a cvs file.

For the Mac, there is an application, called Notescraper which is in Beta, however. It exports to Evernote and OmniOutliner.



1. See also this.

2. Use at your own risk, I have not tried it.

Scribe 1.1

Scribe now supports opening and saving OPML files.

It also supports now "legal style" outlines (1, 1.1, 1.1.1), bullets and audio recording.

The first feature is, from my point of view, the most important.

What is somewhat weird is that you cannot open OPML files from the file menu of Scribe. If you click on an OPML file, you can select Scribe as the application to open it, and even make it the default application for opening OPML. It would be good, if such files could be opened from within Scribe, however.

On Thoughtlessness

I just read a post of almost breath-taking thoughtlessness. It's entitled "Why I Don’t Buy Books From Bookstores." It starts out like this: "I want to make this crystal clear: I love bookstores. I love going to them and checking out the bookshelves and the magazine racks, and finding some good things to read." And it ends: "As someone who has embraced e-readers, I rarely find myself purchasing from brick-and-mortar bookstores anymore. While I do enjoy a physical book from time to time, I love my Kindle and can get books cheaper and instantly 99% of the time. Even if you don’t have an e-reader, having the ability to price-check and even order books from a smart phone makes it really hard to justify spending the extra 15-30% just to get the book that moment."

Well, buddy, with friends (or customers?) like you, bookstores do not need enemies. They will go broke and you will not "be going to them and checking out the bookshelves." But I guess that would not be sufficient justification for spending a little more, if you are a freeloader.

It's not that I don't have a Kindle and an iPad, but books still do have an important place in my life, and I do hope they will have a similar place in the lives of my grandchildren.

Nietzsche's Notebooks

Nietzsche's Notebooks are available in facsimile online here.

I am not sure whether I will spend much time perusing them. This page is interesting, if only it tells us something about Nietsche's view of women. "Geschlechtsbefriedigung" or sexual "satisfaction" is crossed out. Das "Mütterliche" or the "moterly [element]" seems to predominate.

"133. The demand to be loved is the greatest presumption." It would be interesting to investigate which role the notebooks played in his writing. (I am sure there must be a ton of literature on this already.)

Later that day: Apparently, the first page is not in Nietzsche's own handwriting. Here is a page that is: