New Kindle Paperwhite Will Come Out in Spring 2014

According to TechCrunch, it claims to have seen a prototype of the next-generation Kindle Paperwhite which is more in line with Amazon’s Kindle HDX tablets line. The new Paperwhite is reportedly codenamed “Ice Wine” and will be published next spring. But a spokesperson of Amazon only replied that “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.” when NBC News reached out to confirm the news. Now a few hardware improvements of the new Paperwhite are summarized on the basis of what the Tech site reported.

1. Higher Resolution Display

“Ice Wine” will go from a 212 ppi screen to 300 ppi and become a more serious competitor for the Kobo Aura HD which has 265 ppi.

2. Ambient Light Sensor

That the light sensor is believed to be on board is an impressive-sounding automatic brightness. It can adjust the brightness of the screen, taking into account ambient conditions.

3. Glass Screen

A matte glass, instead of good ol’ plastic, will be applied to “Ice Wine”. The switch to glass has no effect on weight. “Ice Wine” is said to be lighter than its predecessor.

4. More Angular Design

The display is flush with the front panel rather than recessed, side buttons are squeezable with haptic feedback, and the overall look will more closely resemble the Kindle HDX tablets.

5. Custom-Built Font

To further improve the reading experience, the new custom-built font is said to be specially designed, on top of hyphenation to get rid of awkward right hand margins, also making reading easier on the eyes.

There’s no major software upgrade planning for this edition and Amazon has yet to set prices for “Ice Wine”, TechCrunch reported.

Genre Fiction is the Future of eBooks

Along with the network popularization, increasingly maturated digital rights management technology and display technology, eBook industry continued to develop and grow. That early adopters of the digital format are genre fans who affect the digital market and make some forward-looking publishers to move to a digital-first publishing mode.

Genre fiction which focusses on the reader’s interest belongs to public reading, in contrast with professional reading. For people who want to read a lot of books, quickly and frequently, the digital format is the optimal format. They can read several books per month and enjoy fully the delight of a digital reading lifestyle. And now a certain consumer has migrated online, and the ease of buying these books has grown that consumer base substantially.

In eBooks, publishers concentrated on genre fictions like sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and romance, even though they are at the inferiority position compared with traditional literature. Not long ago, Random House and HarperCollins created the first digital-only imprints which are sci-fi/fantasy line Hydra, mystery line Alibi, “new adult”-targeted Flirt and romance-centric Loveswept, and the digital mystery imprint Witness was also founded in April this year. Suffice to say, it’s an optimal model that the genre of books are sold in the eBook market. The sales of genre fiction lived up to what publishers’ expectation and continued to grow.

High-quality UX is one of the important factors in promoting digital marketing. Before printed books come on the market, all kinds of consumer feedback can be offered to publishers online. Publishers change the cover, the title and print volume to adapt to reader response. It’s establishing a good co-operative relationship between eBooks, genre fans and publishers. I thought that genre fiction will continue to play a leading role in the eBooks business for a long time.

How to Convert Entire Website to eBook?

It’s a more complicated issue how to gather great posts you read on the websites. Some people like to convert posts into PDF format and then put them into DEVONthink, some use Read Later and others do it with Evernote Web Clipper. All in all, It’s extremely unsafe that articles are put on the Internet like this, as a result, they’re probably deleted and even the entire website will be gone. So you should keep valuable articles for a long time with an effective method.

How to convert entire website to eBook? For mainstream users, the most straightforward way to produce eBook online is to use Readlists. Readlists is a service that Arc90 lab automatically aggregate web pages in the reading list into an eBook with the Readbility API, support for downloading directly and sending eBook to Kindle, iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices for reading. It’s as simple as copy-paste that Readlists requires no technical knowledge.

The process of creating an eBook:

Step 1, click this link and register. http://readlists.com

Step 2, add related URLs individually, then create a reading list of related topics.

Step 3, select an export format and they will automatically be placed at the end of the corresponding eBook.

NOTE: If you download ePub eBook to the local folder, Adobe Digital Editions is an essential tool for your reading.

Congratulations! Now you have successfully made your own eBook. You can enjoy it happily and easily share it with your family and friends.

Top 10 Popular TV Series Books in 2013

When we enjoyed a wide variety of best TV series, we usually ignored their novels. Behind top ratings of a television drama, there must exist a fiction of very high quality. A good novel can give the TV drama an inadvertent creative boost. That watching TV shows bring fans of the series limited visual shock, but reading novels give us endless imagination. Reading is a shining adventure, flying the world, no borders, just horizon and freedom, in our own imaginary paradise. How amazing the experience is! Have you watched some hit TV dramas in 2013? But how much do you know about these novels behind dramas? Below are the top 10 popular TV series books which are collected by the editor. Don’t forget to look at the creative source when you applaud and cheer for a TV series, perhaps it brings you a greater surprise.

English TV Series Books

Downton Abbey

Author: Julian Fellowes
Synopsis: The series, set in the Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Such events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Interwar period and the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; and the Teapot Dome scandal in the fourth series.
Want to Read

Sherlock

Author: Guy Adams
Synopsis: Starring currrent Hollywood hot-boys Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively, it's an extremely engaging take on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic. Sherlock takes a lot of the same stories and villains, but modernizes them. For example, Jim Moriarty, one of Sherlock’s most popular enemies from the books, is a huge part of the series.
Want to Read

The White Queen

Author: Philippa Gregory
Synopsis: Three different, yet equally relentless women who will scheme, manipulate, and seduce their way onto the English throne. The White Queen is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition, who secretly marries the newly crowned Edward IV. Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for her family’s dominance, but despite her best efforts, her two sons become pawns in a famous unsolved mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the lost princes in the Tower of London. In this dazzling account of the deadly Wars of the Roses, brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England.
Want to Read

Miranda

Author: Miranda Hart
Synopsis: Comedian Miranda Hart laments on the horrors of growing up and offers her younger self some essential advice on grappling with life's unexpected perils and blunders.
Want to Read

American TV Series Books

The Vampire Diaries

Author: L. J. Smith
Synopsis: The series takes place in Mystic Falls, Virginia, a fictional small town haunted by supernatural beings. The series narrative follows the protagonist Elena Gilbert as she falls in love with vampire Stefan Salvatore and is drawn into the supernatural world as a result. As the series progresses, Elena finds herself drawn to Stefan's brother Damon Salvatore resulting in a love triangle. As the narrative develops in the course of the series, the focal point shifts on the mysterious past of the town involving Elena's malevolent doppelgänger Katerina Petrova and the family of Original Vampires, all of which have an evil agenda of their own.
Want to Read

True Blood (called: The Southern Vampire Mysteries) 

Author: Charlaine Harris
Synopsis: Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is no typical Southern belle. She can read minds. And she’s got a thing for vampires. Which, in a town like Bon Temps, Louisiana, means she’ll have to watch her back—and neck... And with HBO launching an all-new show, True Blood, based on the Southern Vampire novels, the demand for Charlaine Harris and Sookie Stackhouse will be bigger than ever. Watch a QuickTime trailer for the HBO original series True Blood, based on the book.
Want to Read

Once upon a time

Author: Simon Pulse
Synopsis: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, writers of Lost, have created a modern take on fairy tales with a female lead character, Emma Swan, who has moved to Maine. The show revolves around the adaptation of fairytale characters such as Snow White and Prince Charming who have been brought into the real world with no knowledge of their true identities, due to the Evil Queen.
Want to Read

Homeland

Author: Andrew Kaplan
Synopsis: Beirut, 2006. CIA operations officer Carrie Mathison barely escapes an ambush while attempting a clandestine meeting with a new contact, code-name Nightingale. Suspicious that security has been compromised, she challenges the station chief in a heated confrontation that gets her booted back to Langley.
Expert in recognizing and anticipating behavioral patterns—a skill enhanced by her bipolar disorder she keeps secret to protect her career—Carrie is increasingly certain that a terrorist plot has been set in motion. She risks a shocking act of insubordination that helps her uncover secret evidence connecting Nightingale with Abu Nazir, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Determined to stop the terrorist mastermind, she embarks on an obsessive quest that will nearly destroy her.
Want to Read

The Carrie Diaries

Author: Candace Bushnell
Synopsis: The Carrie Diaries is the coming-of-age story of one of the most iconic characters of our generation. Before Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small-town girl who knew she wanted more. She's ready for real life to start, but first she must navigate her senior year of high school. Up until now, Carrie and her friends have been inseparable. Then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture, and a friend's betrayal makes her question everything. With an unforgettable cast of characters, The Carrie Diaries is the story of how a regular girl learns to think for herself and evolves into a sharp, insightful writer. Through adventures both audacious and poignant, we'll see what brings Carrie to her beloved New York City, where her new life begins.
Want to Read

2 Broke Girls

Author: Mead Products
Synopsis: The CBS hit comedy continues to be a favorite with critics and fans. 2 Broke Girl$ won the 2012 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy.
Want to Read

5 Reasons an E-Ink Kindle is Better than Kindle Fire HDX Tablet for Reading

I am pretty a hardcore eBook fan. 15 years ago, I begin to read .chm books on my desktop; 5 years later, I bought a MP3 player which supported .txt file; another 5 years later, I read digital books on my cellphone. Then iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, iPad, and Kindle.

The more I read on my Kindle Paperwhite, the more I feel reading on it is far more comfortable than any tablet computer, certainly including Kindle Fire HDX. Following are the main 5 reasons why I think so, and they are all based on my personal experience. PS: I am talking about just eBooks, digital textbooks and magazines are not discussed here.

1. Eyes-Friendly

The high brightness from tablet screen easily causes eye-strain, but the worse problem is the glare. In sunlight, you are definitely impossible to read on an iPad or Kindle Fire HDX. When it's dark the reflection of the lights will also makes reading an annoying stuff. While the eye-strain and glare problems are all not existing on Kindle Paperwhite or even a $69 Kindle.

2. Pure Reading

How many times your reading joy is interrupted by a retweet notification? Yes I like my Gmail, Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and other apps, they all bring me a lot of fun, but I just don't want them to disperse my focus on reading.

3. Weight

Generally speaking holding an iPad or Kindle Fire HDX with one hand to read over 30 minutes you will feel arm strain. A Kindle Paperwhite is only 7.3 oz in weight, while Kindle Fire HDX weights 10.7 oz at least.

4. Battery

Battery life is the Achilles' heels of all the tablet computer. With a full battery charging, my Kindle Paperwhite stands at least 3 weeks with WiFi connecting while iPad only stands 3-4 days.

5. Price

Everyone cares about the price. If my Kindle breaks in next minutes I will just order another one from Amazon. 

How to Get iWork Suits for Free on Old Mac (Purchased Before Oct. 1)

I guess many of you have already known that Apple has set iWork suit free with the release of new generation of Mac computers and iPad Air. Any people who purchased the new generation of Apple devices can get the Pages, Numbers and Keynote for free once they visit AppStore.

And the iWork can also be installed without a dime for those people who purchased Mac computers or iOS devices after Octover 1, 2013. I guess that would be a huge pity for a person just bought an iMac on Sep. 30.

But now, all the Mac computer users can get the iWork suit for free no matter you bought the Mac in 2011 or after Oct.1 2013. There is only one premise: You must upgrade your OS X to 10.9 Mavericks. And the trick is based on a bug in Mavericks, but don't worry, you won't be punished by using this bug, as Apple said: "Enjoy it."

OK, let's rock.

1. Download this zip file, unzip it you will see the iWork and iLife app, in fact they are just sort of “empty shells”. Now copy these "fake apps" into your Application folder.

2. Make sure your system language is English, if not, change it to English.

3. Restart computer.

4. Click the Apple icon in the top bar and choose "Software Update...", you will see the iWork and iLife suits can be updated.

5. Click "UPDATE" and input your Apple ID, then you can get all these great apps for free. And I guess all these apps will also recorded as your purchased app.

6. Enjoy it.

Convert Manga to Kindle with KindleComicConverter

Manga attracts millions of reader all over the world, and I believe there are many of them having the need of reading manga or comics on Kindle.

It is known that on Kindle Fire there is a built-in app "Comics", users can directly purchase and read manga or comics via this app which is pretty convenient. But things are different on an E-Ink Kindle. Therefore, to read manga or comics on Kindle, we need some tricks.

The tool does the magic is "KindleComicConverter", it is a tool that can be used to convert manga to format that allow reading it on devices with e-ink screen, like Kindle. But can't guarantee good results on other e-readers because I only have Kindle Paperwhite as my eBook reader.

You can download the tool in this site http://kcc.vulturis.eu/ for free, not it supports Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) and Mac OS X. It enables you to transform PNG, JPG, GIF, CBZ, CBR or PDF files in to EPUB or MOBI format, below is the sample .mobi file which converted from a manga.

I am reading it via Kindle for PC

The entire project is also displayed on Github, for people who has coding skills can customize the codes and make it even more powerful.

En2Kindle - Push Evernote and Pocket Contents to Kindle

In last blog post I introduced you an online service to push Feedly contents to Kindle, and it could save pushed contents to Evernote and Pocket.

Today I am going to cover another web service the En2Kindle, it helps you push contents from Evernote and Pocket to Kindle.

To use the service you just need 3 steps:

1. Link Evernote or Pocket account to En2Kindle;
2. Input Kindle email address;
3. Customize the contents pushing options;

And the most important, add kindle@en2kindle.com to your Kindle personal document's white list, or all the pushed contents will be blocked by Amazon.

FYI: En2Kindle pushes the contents every 30 minutes. And don't always connect your Kindle to WiFi, it would runs out your battery.

Where to find the EPUB file in iBooks for Mac under OS X 10.9 Mavericks

After upgrading to Mac OS X 10.9, many eBook lovers are excited about the iBooks for Mac app. But this app makes many people disappointed as they cannot even find the EPUB files in the local drive.

After hours of research, I finally find the hidden path where the iBooks EPUB files are saved. The path is "/Users/~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks".

Some users may find that the "Library" folder cannot be found, in this situation you need  to make the hidden "Library" folder visible.

To make the Library folder visible, please open the "Terminal" on Mac, then input "chflags nohidden /Users/~(your user name)/Library".

Marsattacks's tip to show the Library folder in an easier way: Just select user in finder sidebar, click 'command j' to show options, and select 'show library'.  - Thanks, Mars

And that is not the end of the job. By entering the deep iBooks folder, you will find the books are not saved in .EPUB extension, but a folder with the name ended with .EPUB.

Don't worry, those folders ended with .EPUB are actually your EPUB books, to get a complete .EPUB file, just zip the folder and make the extension name as ".epub", then you can get an complete .EPUB file from iBooks for Mac app in Mac OS X 10.8 Mavericks.