Featured Links - July 29, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about. This post is (mostly) politics-free.

A farm north of Oshawa

• I started using NotebookLM with Microsoft Word and I’m not going back. I could have used this in my last job. 
• The Painter of the Right. "Thomas Kinkade’s paintings show conservatives a world they have already won." Unfortunately, the documentary mentioned in the article doesn't appear to be available for streaming. 
• Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter. "Descent is a big part of gaming history, but not many people talk about it." 
• The death of the projection booth. "As movie theatres adapt new technology for screenings, the art of feeding film through a projector is fading to black."
• 12 Fresh Tomato Pasta Recipes We Can’t Stop Making. Our garden looks like it will produce a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, so I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes.
• I took my e-book library back from Amazon with this self-hosted app. "BookLore turns ebook chaos into a modern, streamlined library you control completely." I might try this. I'm finding the Kindle app on my iPad Mini almost unusable for managing my books because the Collections view won't show a collection's contents in a list format. 
• Social media is dead – here’s what comes next. "A new information ecosystem is on the rise, featuring closer connections, cosy media and worker-owned websites, writes Annalee Newitz."
• Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97. "A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful." Noted with sadness. 

Featured Links - March 24, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The of winter's snow (I hope)

• American Democracy is not in Decline, it's Dead. "We need to get beyond our own disbelief at how quickly the Trump regime has dismantled the vestiges of a liberal democratic order and implemented an authoritarian regime. We need to recognize reality for what it is. It is no longer appropriate to speak of the United States as a democracy under assault from within, or in decline. The United States is no longer a democracy."
• How Should We Think About the Economics of AI? A conversation between economists Erik Brynjolfsson and Paul Krugman. This is quite interesting. 
• What to know about the bird flu outbreak in wild birds and what it means for backyard bird feeders. "Take precautions around sick or dead wild birds, experts recommend. But you can keep your bird feeder up. Despite the spread in birds and other wild animals, scientists say the threat to the general population is currently low."
• Democrats Fighting Wrong Battle Because Trump Is a Symptom of a Huge Societal Problem. "Basically the Democratic Party needs to focus on how to make people's lives better. Some of that involves regulating technology--like banning the use of artificial intelligence in the college admissions process, banning the posting of fake jobs, prohibiting the use of AI to review cover letters and resumes, perhaps putting hard caps on the percentages of international students at American Universities, limiting the use of H1B Visas, and on encouraging people to disconnect."
• Stupidification. "It's getting worser." A light take on a serious problem.
• The Language of Surrender. "How Euphemism and Distortion Are Making Resistance to Authoritarianism Unspeakable."
• ‘All the birds returned’: How a Chinese project led the way in water and soil conservation. "The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming."
• You Can Remove DRM From Your Digital Books, but It's Probably Illegal. "There should be a legal way to back up the books and audiobooks you've purchased."
• 'The universe has thrown us a curveball': Largest-ever map of space reveals we might have gotten dark energy totally wrong. "Findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) suggest that dark energy could be evolving over time. If they're right, cosmology will need a new model."
• These identical house designs could soon appear all over Ontario. It's a small step in dragging the construction industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century. 

 

Featured Links - October 15, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The moon over Frenchman's Bay

• Jim’s Toolbox — So many nifty tools in one collection. A simple utility that provides a front-end to many Windows' settings and features in one place Easier and faster to use than digging through the Windows 11 interface. 
• Mossad’s pager operation: Inside Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah (gift link). "New details emerge of Israel’s elaborate plan to sabotage Hezbollah  communications devices to kill or maim thousands of its operatives."
• Conceptual models of space colonization. From SFF author Charlie Stross: "And what I'm nibbling on is, to paraphrase Oliver Cromwell, the big question of what if all our models or paradigms for how to structure a colony effort are wrong?"
• The Wilderness Hidden in the Heart of Toronto (gift link). "A sprawling network of ravines threaded through Canada’s largest city offers urban explorers an oasis of birdsong, burbling creeks and whispering trees." The ravine system really is a natural wonder and extends out of Toronto; see the Rouge River system to the east which is a national urban park.
• One of the busiest emergency departments in Ontario also has some of the shortest wait times. "On a tour this week, Peter Voros, Humber River’s vice-president of clinical programs, showed off how the command centre and its staff keep patients flowing. One of the big-screen TVs displayed how long patients had been sitting in the ER’s “O-zone,” where patients wait if they are expected to be examined and sent home. Experienced nurses known as clinical expediters monitor the screens and intervene if a patient waits longer than the targeted time for their health complaint."
• Missing immune cells may explain why COVID-19 vaccine protection quickly wanes. "New insights on what stimulates long-lived antibody production could spur better vaccines."
• Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here’s how they get made. "It’s partly AI, partly a get-rich-quick scheme, and entirely bad for confused consumers."
• COVID-19 raises the stakes for heart attacks, strokes, and even death long after infection, new study finds. "The study, involving nearly a quarter-million adults, found that those with any type of COVID-19 infection in 2020 had twice the risk of suffering a major cardiac event—a heart attack, stroke, or even death—in the three years after a diagnosis than those who weren’t infected. People whose infections were severe enough to warrant hospitalization faced nearly a four times greater risk of a major cardiac event or death than the uninfected group."
• 'It went horribly wrong': DNA analysis sheds light on lost Arctic expedition's grisly end. "By comparing DNA from the bones with a sample from a living relative, the new research revealed the skeletal remains belonged to James Fitzjames, captain of the HMS Erebus. The Royal Navy vessel and its sister ship, the HMS Terror, had been under the command of Sir John Franklin, who led the voyage to explore unnavigated areas of the Northwest Passage. The treacherous shortcut across the top of North America meanders through the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago."
• The politically incorrect guide to saving NASA’s floundering Artemis Program. "To get somewhere, Artemis must avoid going nowhere."

Featured Links - July 8, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Summer clouds

• Here’s why SpaceX’s competitors are crying foul over Starship launch plans. "Competitors have tried and failed to keep SpaceX from establishing launch sites before." It's not all jealousy and sour grapes; the Cape is getting crowded and Starhip/Superheavy will have a significant environmental and logistical impact.
• How to Stop Fascism. "Five Lessons of the Nazi Takeover." Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
• Vatican excommunicates Archbishop Viganò for refusing to recognize Pope Francis. "In a rare trial, the Vatican acted against Carlo Maria Viganò, a former ambassador to the U.S. and one of Pope Francis’s most vociferous internal critics."
• Magnifier App on Google Pixel Makes Fine Print, Faraway Objects Easier to See. "Here's how to get and use the app." This is one of the most useful apps I have on my phone. 
• Amazon Kindle e-readers cannot access Overdrive Books anymore. Amazon seems to be having a lot of problems with it's Kindle ecosystem. I now do most of my reading on Google Play Books, mainly because it gives me better control over font sizes than the Kindle app. 
• John Mayer and Mickey Hart of Dead & Company Talk About Their Big, Strange Sphere Trip—and the Future of the Band. 'Mayer goes long on the creative process behind the Sphere show, the influence of Star Tours and Titanic, Egyptian bats, “utilitarian nausea,” the 2001/"Monster Mash" spectrum, and what it's like to play in the world's most science-fictional venue: “I mean, it's a duet, right? There's the band and then there's the Sphere, and we are duetting every night.”'
• How Influencers and Algorithms Are Creating Bespoke Realities for Everyone. "Disinformation researcher Renée DiResta's new book lays out how people’s realities are shaped not by facts and evidence, but by black boxes, niche celebrities, and online communities."
• Microsoft’s climbdown over its creepy Recall feature shows its AI strategy is far from intelligent. "The tech company’s new Windows machines can take constant screenshots of users’ every action – quelle surprise, it’s a privacy minefield."
• Missing Bats: How an obsession with strikeouts upended the balance of baseball. Because it's baseball season. 

Kindle Fire HD 8 First Impressions - Updated

I use several devices (Pixel 4a, Samsung Galaxy Tab A, Kindle Paperwhite). for reading. Even with strong reading glasses, I can't comfortably read newspapers, magazines, or most books in their paper editions. My preference is for dark mode (white text on a black background) as I find a white screen hard to view for any length of time. 

The Kindle Paperwhite does have a dark mode but it isn't very good, because the E-ink screen doesn't have enough contrast. I've been thinking about getting a small tablet (one smaller than the Samsung), so when I saw the Kindle Fire HD 8 tablet was on sale, I decided to get one. 

The tablet is solidly built although a bit heavy compared to my Kindle. I've read complaints about performance but it is adequately fast for general use, certainly faster than my now 5-year-old Samsung tablet. Amazon uses its own version of Android and has its own app store, which is much more limited than Google's. It is possible to add the Google Play Store to the tablet; more on that later. 

There are several Amazon-installed apps that you can't remove, but it's easy enough to move them into folders and tuck them away at the bottom of the home screen. I intend to use the tablet as an ereader and won't be installing email or social media apps like Facebook on it. So on my home screen right now, I have the Kindle app and Libby for reading magazines and books from the library. 

The Kindle app works but has some limitations that I find annoying. The major issue for me is that the choices of font and font sizes are limited. For font size, the choices aren't granular enough and I would like a size in between the sizes offered. You also can't add your own fonts to the app (I prefer Atkinson Hyperlegible), something that I verified with Amazon support. You can use Calibre to embed the font into a book and transfer it to the tablet as a document. 

The Libby app works quite well and I will probably be using it more than I did on the larger Samsung tablet. 

I ordered Amazon's own case for the tablet, but have decided to return it and get something else. Their case is very slippery, and I am really afraid I will drop it, especially if I read in bed. (Update: The Moko case is better than the Amazon case: the strap makes it much more secure to hold and the stand is better, at least for keeping it in landscape mode). 

I did get the Google Play Store onto the tablet by following these instructions and installed several apps. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem with Chrome; it won't let me log into my Google account, claiming the account is already on the tablet but won't let me log in. More investigation is needed, although given the intended uses of the tablet, it's not a big deal.

I likely would have gotten more flexibility out of a Samsung tablet or an iPad, but given the cost of the tablet ($100 CDN), I don't have many regrets. 

Update: After almost six months, I've noticed that my Google account now syncs with Chrome on the tablet. Either an OS or Chrome update fixed the problem as I didn't do anything else to change it. This makes the tablet much more usable. 

Featured Links - November 20, 2023

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Foraging geese

• Here’s the Proof There’s No Government Alien Conspiracy Around Roswell. "Roswell, New Mexico, remains synonymous with the “discovery” of alien life on Earth—and a US government coverup. But history shows the reality may be far less out of this world—and still fascinating." This pretty much debunks the Roswell incident as far as I'm concerned.
• Starship & Superheavy Become The Biggest Rocket In Space.... Before Exploding. (YouTube link) Excellent analysis of videos showing the failure of both the booster and Starship. 
• How to use the secret software installer on your Windows PC. "Your PC has a big secret: The ultimate upgrade for installing and updating Windows applications." This is a good tip for Windows power users.
• Developers can’t seem to stop exposing credentials in publicly accessible code. "Many transgressions come from "very large companies that have robust security teams." It can happen in documentation projects too. I worked on a project once where a few of the screen shots included the IP addresses of internal servers and it didn't get caught until after the manuals were printed. We had to put stickers over the graphics.
• Welcome to eReaderIQ. Get email alerts when Kindle ebooks you are interested in go on sale.
• Physicists Simulated a Black Hole in The Lab. Then It Started to Glow. "A black hole analog could tell us a thing or two about an elusive radiation theoretically emitted by the real thing."
• "I'm so tired of these psychos": Moms for Liberty is now a toxic brand. "Last month, Salon reported on one town's fight over a right wing school takeover — Tuesday, the resistance won big."
• With the world on fire, a cowardly, timid news media is a threat to U.S. democracy. "News organizations are using cowardly words to describe killing abroad and fascism at home — downplaying the danger to democracy."

Reading on the Fire HD 8 Tablet

A couple of months ago, I bought an Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet to use as an ereader. I had intended to use it for occasional web browsing, mostly to read news sites, but I've found that Amazon's proprietary version of Android limits its use for me. So I'm using it mostly as a replacement for my Kindle Paperwhite. I do use the Paperwhite when reading outdoors because neither my phone or tablet are great for reading in bright sunlight.

There are four apps that I've used for reading.

Amazon's Kindle app

Given that this is an Amazon tablet, you might think that the Kindle app would be the best for reading books. That turned not to be the case for me, primarily due to an annoying feature (or possible a bug) in the app. There are 12 or 13 possible font sizes but there's a significant jump in size between the 6th and 7th. The 6th is too small and the 7th too large. I can read the smaller size if I use my reading glasses, but that's not always convenient and the larger font size drastically slows my reading speed. 

The app has other limitations. It won't expand or collapse subheadings in the table of contents if the book has them, margins are too wide, it doesn't offer control over justification in many books, and I can't add custom fonts. Some of these limitations can be worked around by formatting the book in Calibre, but then the app treats them as documents instead of as books, so it won't sync between the tablet and my phone.

The app is also cluttered and generally not as pleasant to use as the Kindle Paperwhite.

Google Play Books

I now use Google Play Books as my default for reading books. It addresses most of the limitations of the Kindle app mentioned above. I do have to format the book in Calibre if I want to use my preferred font (Atkinson Hyperlegible), but unlike the Kindle app, Play Books will sync between the tablet and my phone. 

The font selections available in Play Books are more limited than those in the Kindle app and it doesn't have the excellent fonts (like Amazon Ember) that Amazon designed for online reading. I haven't found a way of adding the Atkinson Hyperlegible font to Android's font list, either on my phone or on the tablet, which means I still need to format the book in Calibre to use that font. 

Kobo Books

I've purchased quite a few books from the Kobo bookstore. I run them through Calibre and then read them on the Kindle or in Play Books because the Kobo app is very basic and doesn't offer the many of the options available on Kobo's ereaders.

Libby

Libby, produced by Overdrive, is an app that you can use to download magazines and ebooks from your local library. I use it mostly for magazines, although I have read a couple of ebooks with it. (The three-week loan period isn't long enough for me to get through most books). 

I used to use an app called RB Digital for reading magazines, but that was shuttered after it was bought by Overdrive and the magazine collection folded into Libby. That was unfortunate, because Libby's selection interface is cluttered and harder to use than that of RB Digital. Fortunately, the app offers a usable text mode, which means that I can use it on the Fire 8 HD. (The 8" size is too small for comfortable reading when using the full-page view). I would like to have a larger font selection and a higher brightness level in text mode or more control over text contrast.

Conclusion

The Fire HD 8 is hobbled by Amazon's proprietary version of Android, which means that it's not great for general use as a tablet. However, it works well enough as an ereader now that I've found workarounds for some of the limitations of the various apps. I do regret not spending more money and getting an 8" Samsung tablet. 

Featured Links - May 15, 2023

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

A classic car in a modern colour

• Ben Franklin Would Have Loved Bluesky. "Facebook an0 Twitter seem less relevant by the day. They may be replaced by new 'federated' platforms."

• The ‘Brain Fog’ of Long COVID Is a Serious Medical Issue That Needs More Attention. "Brain fog is such a nebulous term in long COVID that it delegitimizes efforts to get disability accommodations and medical leave. 
• Good Omens Parody by the Hillywood Show. Actually an official production and it reveals the release date for season 2 of Good Omens. And it contains Neil Gaiman.
• Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID). Resources for managing Long COVID from the Ontario College of Family Physicians.
• I lived in the PATH for two weeks in 2012. It was weird then, but it’s weirder now. Here’s why. "Toronto’s expansive underground retail network was prime downtown real estate before the pandemic. Has hybrid work humbled it for good?" "I miss wandering the PATH on my lunch hours. It was crowded, vibrant, and colourful. Now, not so much."
• A Fundamental Change to the Earth’s Water Cycle is Underway. "Expect more heatwaves and flash droughts."
• You need an e-reader, and here’s why. "E-books are good for you, incredibly convenient, and best consumed on a device built for the purpose—such as a Kobo."

Kindle to Support EPUB, Sort Of

Amazon has announced that you will soon be able to send EPUB files directly to your Kindle, using the Send to Kindle email address that each Kindle has, or later in the year through the Send to Kindle app. The files will be automatically converted to the current AZW3 format. 

They will drop support for the old MOBI format though files that you have will still continue to work (and I assume you can still sideload them directly from a computer). 

I'll be interested to see how well this works. Currently, I run EPUB files through the Calibre app so I can force justification to flush left (aka ragged right) as fully justified files look horrible at the font size I normally read at. I don't know if the new conversion from EPUB will support changing the default justification. If you know, please leave a comment. I would also like to see the ability to use the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, which my .mobi files don't seem to like, although I can get that working on AZW3 files by using Calibre.

At some point in the next year, I may buy a Kobo reader so I can download library books directly to my device and for the better typographic support offered by Kobo. (I can read library books on my phone or tablet, but would prefer to use an ereader as it's easier on the eyes). 

 

Featured Links - April 19, 2022

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

• The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books. "Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do." I have recently reserved a couple of ebooks from the library and found that yes, I can read a book on my phone or tablet. Although I prefer reading on my Kindle, the Libby app doesn't work with Kindles in Canada.
• Why William Gibson Is a Literary Genius. 'Forty years after his breakout story, “Johnny Mnemonic,” the father of cyberpunk remains one of the best writers around.'
• Feds Face Tough Water Choices in Parched West. "The government is trying to decide whether or not to cut water deliveries to Lake Mead to keep Lake Powell's levels up."
• NASA to roll back its mega rocket after failing to complete countdown test. "NASA has options for what to do next, but all will involve schedule delays." The delay could stretch into the fall.
• Study ties solar variability to onset of decadal La Niña events. "Scientists use 22-year solar clock to find an elusive correlation."
• ‘It’s Super Spectacular.’ See How the Tonga Volcano Unleashed a Once-in-a-Century Shockwave. "A new simulation gives a detailed look at a shockwave that circled the planet for days."
• NFTs Are Here to Ruin D&D. "Gripnr wants to put Dungeons & Dragons on the blockchain. Players say real money will ruin the fun."
• 10 Amazon Kindle tips and tricks guaranteed to make you a pro user. I've had a Kindle for more than a decade and there were a few tips in this article I didn't know about.

Featured Links - October 12, 2021

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

• Kobo's New E Ink Tablet Is a Cheaper, Smaller reMarkable Alternative. The Kobo Sage adds stylus support to an 8-inch E Ink tablet with a glowing screen.
• 5+ Google Docs Apps and Add-Ons to Boost Your Productivity and Efficiency. Several of these look useful and I will probably try them out.
• A Nixon Deepfake, a 'Moon Disaster' Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk. "A new video re-creates a history that never happened, showing the power of AI-generated media." 
• It’s Easier for Global Acts to Play in Russia Than in the U.S. Right Now. "Covid-19 has made U.S. visa issues even more of a headache for musicians."
• 11 Google Drive Features Everyone Should Know About. "Are you using the best features of Google Drive yet?"
• Asteroid 2021 SG came from the sun’s direction. That made it almost impossible to spot until just before it passed by the Earth. This is a problem. 

Featured Links - September 7, 2021

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The west shore of Frenchman's Bay

• How to Turn Your Favorite Web Apps Into Desktop Apps. "Want to access Twitter and Google Chat in a single click? Here’s how to think outside the browser."
• Understanding the E-Reader Global Supply Chain. This may explain why we haven't seen a new Kindle from Amazon in a while.
• ‘Catastrophic’ supervolcano eruption much more likely than previously thought, scientists warn. "Event could affect global climate to the point of ‘tipping the earth into a volcanic winter’, resulting in ‘famine and population disruption’."
• The Global Supply Chain Crisis, as Told by One Stuck Box of Fertilizer. "This is the tale of one humble shipment and its arduous journey across the world. While some of the barriers keeping it from its final destination may be specific to this particular case, the journey is emblematic of the inertia that has gripped global trade during the pandemic."
• To Get To Space, You Must Go Through the Panama Canal. "But before the Webb telescope can take its place in the firmament and the future, it must face hazards more familiar a century ago than in the present, namely a lengthy sea voyage from Long Beach, California to its launch site at Kourou in French Guiana — with the risk of piracy thrown in for good measure."
• Why William Gibson Is a Literary Genius. "Forty years after his breakout story, “Johnny Mnemonic,” the father of cyberpunk remains one of the best writers around."
• The Red Warning Light On Richard Branson's Spaceflight. This was a serious anomaly and the FAA has grounded Virgin Galactic.

Kobo Announces Tablet-Sized Ereader with Pen

Although I have used Kindle ereaders since getting my first Kindle about a decade ago, I've been keeping an eye on other brands, especially Kobo, who have been much more innovative than Amazon. Now they've stolen a big jump on Amazon, by introducing the Kobo Elipsa, a 10.3" reader with pen support. 

They're not the first to market a large-format e-ink device, but they're the first major player in the reader field to do so. The Elipsa comes with a pen and you can use it to take notes or annotate documents, including ebooks and PDFs. It'll be available June 24th with a stylus and sleep cover for $499.99 Canadian. (US pricing should be about $399). 

I've been wanting a bigger ereader for quite a while. Because of my vision problems, I read pretty much exclusively on my Kindle or Samsung tablet. Using a large font size (14 or 18 points) means that I don't get a lot of text on a screen, so having a 10" screen would make reading books much easier.

Incidentally, I'm quite aware that I'm not the target market for this. Kobo seems to be aiming it at professionals who need to edit or annotate documents. (They should target technical writers!) I'd have killed to have it when I was working at the TSX, but I don't have much use for the editing features now that I'm retired. 

It will be interesting to see if this drives Amazon to finally make a major upgrade to their Kindle line, which has been getting a bit long in the tooth over the last few years. 

I will definitely be visiting a Chapters store later this summer to have a look at it. 

Amazon Tracks All Your Taps On Your Kindle

I was surprised to find out that Amazon tracks all of your taps on a Kindle. This was discovered by reporter Adrianne Jeffries and reported on Twitter.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised; there must be a mechanism for Amazon to be able sync your reading position between devices. The Verge discusses this in more detail.

It turns out that Amazon has a few answers to that, some more convincing than others. The main feature Amazon claims it needs the data for is the Kindle’s “Whispersync” functionality that allows for a reader to sync their exact place in a book between different devices, along with notes, highlights, and bookmarks. By tracking when you turn pages and which books you’re reading, Amazon says it can properly track where you are in a book and keep that data in sync. Amazon also says it uses the specific data here to power its “Reading Insights” features for tracking reading goals and celebrating milestones (sort of like fitness tracking, but for reading).

A more compelling answer is that Amazon uses insights from the data it collects to improve the Kindle software as a whole. “For example, we noticed that readers were tapping pages backwards and forwards in frequent succession, likely trying to flip back and forth between pages and reference different parts of a book. To address this, we have built several navigation features, including Page Flip and the ability for customers to continuously scroll through their book when reading.”

If this creeps you out, you can request that Amazon delete your personal data and then turn off Whispersync in your Kindle's settings, but you will lose the ability to keep your books or documents in sync between devices. 

How to Send a Website to Your Kindle to Read Later

I don't like reading long articles on my computer. It's much more convenient and easier on my eyes to read on my Kindle. Fortunately there are several ways to do this.

I use two methods for doing this.

First is the official Amazon Send to Kindle extension. It's great for sending individual pages directly to your Kindle or phone (assuming you have the Amazon Kindle app installed).

The other way is Pocket, a very useful read later service. If you use Firefox, you'll find it directly incorporated into the browser; for Chrome you will have to use an extension. To get your articles from Pocket to the Kindle, you need to use a third-party tool called P2K that sends the articles in batches. You can configure how many articles you want to send and when to send them.

The Make Use Of article lists other tools that you can use, which I haven't tested as the two above fit my needs.

Kobo Libra H2O Review

Readers outside of Canada may not realize that the Amazon Kindle has a serious competitor, namely Kobo. They've just introduced a new ereader, the Kobo Libra H2O aimed squarely at Amazon's premium Oasis ereader.

Good E-Reader has published a detailed review of the Libra H20, and it looks quite appealing. It features a high-resolution 7" screen, has page turn buttons, and is waterproof.

On the software front, Kobo offers integration with the library ebook download service, Overdrive, which is owned by their parent company, Rakuten, and Pocket for downloading articles from the internet directly to the ereader. Kobo has always offered more typographic controls than Amazon's Kindle and they've added a new feature that I find especially appealing, namely a large-print mode.

There is a large print mode in the beta features, along with an internet browser. Large print mode will change the entire UI and most of the text based features of the software experience and make the fonts larger. This is great for people who wear glasses, have vision disorders or just are getting a little bit older and the eyes aren’t what they used to be. 

That and the 7" screen might be enough for me to consider getting a Kobo Libra H2O.

It will be available starting September 15 in Canada and the US. The Canadian price is $199, which is $60 more than the Kindle Paperwhite, but $130 less than the Kindle Oasis.

Amazon updates cheapest Kindle

Amazon has updated the lowest-priced model of it's Kindle with a front light and Bluetooth support so you can use it to listen to audio books. In Canada, it's priced at $120 compared to $140 for the Kindle Paperwhite.

It's good that they've finally added a front light to the basic Kindle; that's something that every ereader should have. The screen resolution is lower than the Paperwhite and it has half of the memory and is not waterproof.

Given the small price differential between the two, I'd still go with the Paperwhite. It might be a harder choice in the US, where the price differential is $40.

Getting More From Your Kindle

I've been using an Amazon Kindle now for more than six years and I'm now on my fourth one (which should have been three except my first Kindle died a month after I got it and was replaced under warranty). I rarely read paper books any more, mostly due to being so nearsighted that it's difficult. Along the way, I thought that I've figured out most of the features of my Kindle, but I still keep finding new things to explore.

This article from MakeUseOf.com has nine tips for Kindle users. Out of the nine, there were three that I didn't know about:

• View the most highlighted passages in an ebook.
• Extend your Kindle's battery life. 
• Quickly your Kindle's brightness

The article links to another article that describes twelve sites that every Kindle user should know about. Again, there were several that I haven't seen and should find useful. 

• /r/Kindle: Subreddit for Kindle users
• KBoards: Online forum for Kindle users
• Kindle4RSS: Send RSS feeds to your Kindle

Just so you know, my current Kindle is the Paperwhite 4, which Amazon introduced last fall. I was using a Paperwhite 3, but after several years the charging connector got loose, to the point where I couldn't charge it. I published a short review of it last month.

Some Thoughts on the Kindle Paperwhite 4

A few months ago the charging port on my Kindle Paperwhite 3, which is about five years old, started to get loose, making it hard to charge it. In early November, just after Amazon announced the Kindle Paperwhite 4, it reached the point where I couldn't charge it at all, so I ordered one of the new Kindles. What follows are some thoughts on the Paperwhite 4 after using it for a month. It's not a full review; for that you can see this post on the eBook Reader blog.

First, this is very much an incremental upgrade over the Paperwhite 3. It's almost the same size, the screen is a bit brighter and more evenly lit, and it's a bit lighter. The screen is one piece of glass, flush with the bezels, which are smaller. It's waterproof and has Bluetooh so you can listen to Audible audiobooks (although sadly, there is no text to speech capability).

There is a new home screen format, which I don't like, and I have gone back to the old format. Books bought from Amazon have new typesetting controls, including variable boldness, and justification can be turned off (if the publisher supports that). The screen is now 300 dpi, but I haven't noticed any real difference from the older Kindle.

I have found the new reader to be a bit harder to hold, because the case I got (one of Amazon's) is more slippery than the old one. The narrower bezels mean that it's easier to turn the page by mistake. Other than that, there's not much difference from the Paperwhite 3.

If you're happy with your earlier Kindle, the Paperwhite 4 doesn't offer any compelling reasons to upgrade, nor does it offer anything much over the current Kobo ereaders. Amazon is spinning its wheels with this update. It's a perfectly adequate device, but it could have been more.