Category Archives: Tools

E-reading application showdown, part 1: Annotations

About two weeks ago, in a fit of pique, I posted some gripes about my current e-reading application of choice, which is Kobo for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I was pressed for time, so I didn’t provide any context, such as why Kobo’s is my favorite e-reading app, which apps I’ve chosen it over, and whether [...]

Also posted in Accessibility, books, Design, e-books, Software, technology, typography | 2 Comments

Because I am mean and like to rain on parades…

All day I’ve been seeing tweets from @kobo and friends about their having the No. 1 e-reading app in the iTunes store—e.g., I’m so happy for them. No, really. For several months now, Kobo’s iOS app has been, mainly because of the stats and the activity tracker, my e-reading application of choice. That said, it’s [...]

Also posted in advice, e-books, Rants, Software, technology | 1 Comment

What happens when an e-book gets corrected?

So, here’s the partial answer to a question I’ve been wondering about: Subject: Kindle Title [title] (ASIN:[ASIN]) has an available update Greetings from Amazon.com. We’re writing about your past Kindle purchase of [title] by [author]. The version you received contained some errors that have been corrected. An updated version of [title] (ASIN:[ASIN]) is now available. [...]

Also posted in books, business, e-books, Editing, Software, technology | 7 Comments

The option that wasn’t

One of the things I like—a unique feature, as far as I’ve seen—about Kobo’s e-reader software for iPhone OS is that it gives you a choice between vertical scrolling and traditional pagination. Because, really, what do pages mean on a digital reader where the text can reflow according to user preferences? Great. So, I selected [...]

Also posted in Accessibility, books, Design, e-books, Software | 9 Comments

That part of the future which is here today

As you may have gathered, if you’ve been following along, the reason I no longer post much around here is that I’m in grad school, in a program that doesn’t have anything to do with books. Not usually, anyway. It’s a two-year master’s deal, and I have to come up with a thesis sometime in [...]

Also posted in books, e-books, education, Reading, technology | 24 Comments

California, here I come!

Now I know what I’ll be doing next time I’m in SF: Tim James of Taurus Bookbindery has opened the American Bookbinders Museum. The Chronicle reports. In the museum sits an 800-pound Imperial arming press from 1832 that James bought and had shipped from France three years ago. Asked how expensive that was, he answers [...]

Also posted in bookbinding, books, education, production, technology | 2 Comments

When, not if

Today over tea I was holding forth about backup methods, which reminded me that I’ve long meant to post something about how I’ve been handling it. To wit: right now, I’ve got a two-part system—constant partial backup online via SugarSync and less frequent but complete offline backup using Time Machine and an external hard drive. [...]

Also posted in advice, hardware, technology | 4 Comments

Indexigning

Via e-mail, Lars R. asks, “Would you consider doing a write-up on your blog on the production of indices and how indexing relates to the design process as a whole?” Some topics I’m interested in include – The usefulness of InDesign’s indexing feature (as opposed to third party programmes if they exist, or simply manually [...]

Also posted in books, Design, indexing, production, Typesetting | 3 Comments

The future of publishing is here today!

The oddest thing about the newly announced winner of Bookseller magazine’s annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is not its title, The 2009–2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, but rather that its author, Professor Philip M Parker of the French business school Insead, has produced more than 200,000 [...]

Also posted in books, Design, hardware, humor, production, technology | 2 Comments

Attn.: InDesign Salvage Operations Team

Justin asks, do you have any tips for recovering “damaged” files? when i try to open a layout i was just working on, it prompts me to fix the file from recovered data, then notifies me that the file may be damaged; it starts to recover, but then the program quits altogether. [. . .] [...]

Also posted in advice, Lazyweb | 1 Comment