Readability January 31, 2010, 08:14:46 am Yahoo Message Number: 109630Hello, I've been reading with interest discussions on the iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader, etc. I don't have any of those, although I would like to have one for the portability but don't need that now. In the meantime, I have found this great service called Readability which allows you to reformat text on your computer for easy reading. I first learned about it from the NY Times technology editor, David Pogue, and I consider him reliable. Readability allows you to optimize text for many reading experiences, including ebooks and newspapers. What's great about it is that if you are reading internet articles it removes all the ads and other distractions and makes the text much larger (you have an option on how large), more legible, and also lets you change the margins (wider or more narrow) for your best reading experience. I can now sit across the room instead of a foot away from my screen and easily read the text. Great for tired, old eyes like mine, and it really reduces eye strain caused by being too close. It isn't perfect and it certainly has some disadvantages - you can't take it to bed with you or on a field trip, and you need an internet connection - but I think for what it does, it is wonderful - and free, too.If you want to check it out go to: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/I use it on my Mac but it should also work on a PC. Note, I have no affiliation with Readability - I'm just a happy camper, and wanted to pass on an additional way to enhance the reading experience for those times you are stuck at your computer.If you want to read David Pogue's post on this, go to http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/cleaning-up-the-clutter-online/Regards,Doyle Cook 2005 MB Nokesville, VA Full-timing in place
LD Readability Reply #1 – January 31, 2010, 08:40:01 am Yahoo Message Number: 109632http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311Kindle for PC is now free, (Mac is coming Andy). Thousands of free books to try it out.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Readability Reply #2 – January 31, 2010, 08:53:22 am Yahoo Message Number: 109633This is the best! Thank you, Doyle. I added the bookmarklet multiple times to my browser with different combinations of style, size, and margins, renaming each in short code to grab the right one quickly. The links within the articles are still clickable - and I can concentrate on photos. Besides eliminating the distractions, it's quicker to click once than to drag to resize the window and command + repeatedly to make the print large enough on our iMac, and that is quick in itself. Technology has spoiled us.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Readability Reply #3 – January 31, 2010, 10:11:25 am Yahoo Message Number: 109634This is great, Doyle. Thanks so much for posting. This alone is a huge eye-saver. No more blinking obnoxious screen distractions! Now... about those off-screen ones....David
Re: Readability Reply #4 – January 31, 2010, 10:34:49 am Yahoo Message Number: 109637Magnifico! I love this! Thanks Doyle.
Re: LD Readability Reply #5 – January 31, 2010, 02:30:50 pm Yahoo Message Number: 109640"Kindle for PC is now free..." As is Kindle for iPhone/iPod Touch. :-) I use it occasionally, but prefer Eucalyptus, which gives me access to 30,000 free books.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: LD Readability Reply #6 – February 01, 2010, 01:43:23 am Yahoo Message Number: 109663"Kindle for PC is now free..." " I use it occasionally, but prefer Eucalyptus, which gives me access to 30,000 free books."I was surprised at how many books for Kindle are available for free at Amazon.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: LD Readability Reply #7 – February 01, 2010, 08:53:11 am Yahoo Message Number: 109667George, I hope I found the correct site - but it says 20,000 books are available and you apparently have to pay about the cost of a new book.Am I at the right site? Also, on your Kindle comment, will a book formatted for Kindle display OK on a laptop screen?Thanks, Doug Thomas
Re: LD Readability Reply #8 – February 01, 2010, 09:19:12 am Yahoo Message Number: 109668440000 books available, and many free. I'll send a link when I get back to base, but if you search Amazon for Kindle books and sort by price you get a lot. (mostly classics) There should also be a list of freebies
Re: LD Readability Reply #9 – February 01, 2010, 09:54:21 am Yahoo Message Number: 109669QuoteI hope I found the correct site - but it says 20,000 books are available and you apparently have to pay about the cost of a new book. We have not paid more than $9.99 for a brand new hot-off-the-press book, and have paid as little as $.49 for a book (this is for the Sony). We've also downloaded many, many free books, both from the Sony site (which works through Borders Books) and from various other free ebook websites: http://www.baen.com/library/ http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/freebooks.htm http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://manybooks.net// http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_PageGoogle "free ebooks" and you'll come up with a lot more sites.Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com
Re: LD Readability Reply #10 – February 01, 2010, 10:29:16 am Yahoo Message Number: 109670Do these work on a Kindle? I am leaning towards the Kindle but would not like to be limited to only Amazon ebooks. I have downloaded and used the Kindle for PC and some free or almost free ebooks from Amazon. The PC version is nice but not what I will use. I need the Kindle or Sony so I can take it with me. I spend enough time in front of the computer and don't want to spend my 'reading time' there as well.Denise in Foggy northern SLO, California
Re: LD Readability Reply #11 – February 01, 2010, 10:51:43 am Yahoo Message Number: 109671QuoteDo these work on a Kindle? I'm not familiar with the Kindle, but they should...I'm sure the Kindle, like the Sony, accepts different formats. And many of these sites offer downloads in different formats, too, including in the Kindle and the Sony proprietary formats.Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com
Re: LD Readability Reply #12 – February 01, 2010, 11:14:25 am Yahoo Message Number: 109673I have the Kindle and love it. As far as I know you have to get your downloads from Amazon (quick and free), but they have loads of free books. Different free ones all the time. They also have the most up to date books. I used to take loads of books with me in the LD, but now I download into my Kindle before I go and that's all I take. I don't know anything about the Sony Reader, except when I bought mine the Kindle was recommended for what I wanted.Good luck,Linda Leach Prescott, AZ__ From: Denise Morrison To: lifewithalazydazerv@yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, February 1, 2010 9:28:53 AM Subject: Re: [LD] Re: LD ReadabilityDo these work on a Kindle? I am leaning towards the Kindle but would not like to be limited to only Amazon ebooks. I have downloaded and used the Kindle for PC and some free or almost free ebooks from Amazon. The PC version is nice but not what I will use. I need the Kindle or Sony so I can take it with me. I spend enough time in front of the computer and don't want to spend my 'reading time' there as well.Denise in Foggy northern SLO, California
Re: LD Readability Reply #13 – February 01, 2010, 11:28:28 am Yahoo Message Number: 109674QuoteI have the Kindle and love it. As far as I know you have to get your downloads from Amazon I'm pretty sure that's not true. Several of the sites to which I gave a link to in a previous post have books you can download in Kindle's proprietary format. And I'm also pretty sure that the Kindle, like the Sony, can accept other formats (not the proprietary formats of the other ereaders, but stuff like .pdf, .doc, .rtf, etc.).Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com
Re: LD Readability Reply #14 – February 01, 2010, 03:07:13 pm Yahoo Message Number: 109677No, you don't have to order just from Amazon. You just have to be sure that when you find a book on another site you can get the book in the mobipocket (mobi)format. An example is Baen books where I get a lot of my science fiction for my Kindle- both free and paid. PDF also works but with some readability problems as per the earlier discussion.Stephany Smith
Re: LD Readability Reply #15 – February 01, 2010, 03:15:05 pm Yahoo Message Number: 109678Do you still have the URL for the readability web site? I was looking at it yesterday at home, but accidentally deleted it.David and Verna 2004 26.5 MB (Spokane)__
Re: LD Readability Reply #16 – February 01, 2010, 03:47:35 pm Yahoo Message Number: 109679David Renggli wrote:Do you still have the�URL for the readability web site? --- http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
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