How to send ebooks straight from Gutenberg to Kindle

Intro

Every librarian loves/hates Project Gutenberg. It's an incredible resource which has offers way more pros than cons. However, some warranted feedback on the site has to do with its cumbersome nature. Books have to be found, downloaded, and then sideloaded. It's much quicker and easier to just click on a magic Amazon button and have it magically whisper-synched to your device. I've found a way to do just that!

What you will need

• DROPBOX - You can get it here.
• IFTTT - The big workhorse
• GMAIL - You might be able to use another email provider on IFTTT's list (Yahoo?) but this is the one I used.
• KINDLE EMAIL - You can find it in your Amazon settings, it's going to be username@kindle.com. Also, make sure your Gmail is authorized to send attachments to your Kindle.

The basic concept

We are going to use Dropbox and IFTTT to automate the process of loading the .mobi file into your Kindle via email. The Gutenberg website has Dropbox functionality baked into it. Kindles allow you to email files from an authorized account. IFTTT will bring these two processes together.

NOTE: you will need to set up the following before going through these steps. Call them your pre-requisites, if you will.

• Make sure your Gmail is an authorized sender to your Kindle.
• Make sure your Dropbox and Gmail channels are activated in IFTTT.

Step by Step

1. Log into IFTTT and make a new recipe.
2. Start with Dropbox. Fire this recipe off with IF a new file is uploaded. Note that the folder is/will be: Apps/gutenberg.
3. THEN we will trigger GMAIL to send an email with the attachment. The attachment will be sent to your Kindle email address. The recipe is now created. and should look like this:



What the IFTTT Recipe should look like

4. Go to Gutenberg and find an ebook that you would like to read. You will have the option to save the .mobi (Kindle) to Dropbox / Drive / OneDrive. Choose Dropbox.
5. You will be taken to Dropbox, where Gutenberg will install as an app. This will create the Apps/gutenberg directory. Your ebook will be saved there.
6. IFTTT should take over and automatically email the file from Dropbox to your Kindle using your own email address.
7. Your Kindle should automatically download the file, making it instantly available for reading.

BONUS: Grab the Dropbox email (no-reply@dropboxcom) and add it to your Kindle approved senders list. Then, you can resend the ebook file to your Kindle by clicking on share. You could just do this and forget about IFTTT, but it won't be automated.

DOUBLE BONUS: I have made this recipe public so you can just go the lazy route and just take it from my IFTTT profile.

Conclusion

And that's it! You can freely browse the treasure trove of literature that is Project Gutenberg and know that any title on there can be auto-delivered to your Kindle. I would love to read your comments below. Suggestions for improvement or other recipes are appreciated.

Librarian Problem No. 562: Read the fine print

I have been a librarian for about two and a half months now, and I have solved several problems. From reference questions, to directional assistance to technical aid, I have done quite a lot under the motto, "All in a day's work." However, this one really had me going.

The Case of the Rogue Access Point

So I was asked if we could extend the library's WIFI for inventory purposes. The stacks are a dead zone and our fancy RFID Wand doesn't work too well back there. The only other solution involved moving Access Points (AP's) around and the whole plugging/unplugging thing scared everyone.

So I, the Electronics Librarian (touch me twice), gave my professional advice. I said, "We should be able to buy a couple cheap routers and set them up as AP's. We will place them strategically on the second floor to extend coverage." Piece of cake! I looked it up and everything! Just turn off DHCP and set the AP up with the same SSID/Password and you should be good. I sent the quote off to my Director and he approved the purchase of a couple lovely Linksys E1200s. Woohoo!

So I get these AP's sooner than expected. Awesome! I was busy at the moment and there was no rush, so I scheduled a day to work on them. The day comes and I unbox the first AP. Sweet! This looks just like the AP we have set up already, I'll just mimic the settings and everything will be hunky-dory.

It worked!
Alright!
Score!
Success!
I am a techno-wizard!

I even took it out to the stacks for verification. I connected with no problem. (In retrospect, I probably should have tested more intensively to ensure that the network stayed up. But, in my mind I was done.) This second one will be cake!

The second one would not work.

Oh, I could get it to work in my office. I could see it. My devices would connect to it. It would load web pages. But when I took it upstairs, I got no connectivity. I must have set this thing up 8 different times which felt like 60 times over. What could be wrong? I set this AP up exactly the same. I change the static IP to one in the range. Why won't you work?

I ended that week in frustration. I got one working, but not the other. Ugh! Now let's add some pressure. The Director walks into my office and asks for an ETA on the AP setup. I tell him it should be up by the end of the week. (After all, I am Electronics Librarian and should be able to do these things.) He asks why it would take so long, so we end up with Wednesday as a fair compromise. I have three days before I'm exposed as a fraud.

Monday is all about figuring out what the heck could possibly be the problem. I looked at my network map, I looked at information from Linksys, I looked at my horoscope;mdash&anything that might give me an answer! I was resetting, reconfiguring, testing in my office, running upstairs to test, then repeating the process. Sometimes it would work, once, then stop working. Sometimes it refused to work at all. Always, the AP was frustrating me, mocking me, letting me know how much better it was than me. How I wanted to kick it in the face, but it was busy kicking my butt. Why would it work in my office but not in the stacks? Why, oh why?

Then, two minutes before the end of the day, I found it; I found the last possible solution.

On the aforementioned network map, in the middle of 6 footnotes. MAC locking port security is enabled on the switch that the network ports connect to in the stacks. Only one MAC address is allowed access to the internet from those ports! If I log into the router and change this setting, could it resolve my problem?

Yes! The answer is yes! Oh, thank God, YES! I change the setting and my AP's are allowing all devices to access the internet from all over the library all day and through the rest of the week and into this current week. I finished my project ahead of schedule (technically) and inventory is progressing and everyone is happy.

And all librarians everywhere should know better than to skip over the fine print.

Announcement: Got a Job #librarylife

This is my announcement that I have taken the position of Electronic Systems Librarian at the Fort Myers Beach Public Library. I'll be taking care of the technology at this library and providing reference assistance among other duties as assigned. My family has been moved out to the area and I am ready to work in my profession. I have been here for a week already and everything is pretty awesome.

I'm excited to see where the next chapter in my journey leads me.

A short list of things I have done in the past week:

• Web Design
• Photo Editing
• Video Editing
• Book Return Cleaning
• Malware Removal
• Wireless Troubleshooting
• Hardware Repair
• Media Presentation Setup
• Social Media Management

The Future of Education

A few surprising statistics about technology and education!

by aleksandarsavic.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Book Review

** I am currently taking a Young Adult literature course and I will be reading and reviewing several materials using a new format. This review follows a template given to me by my professor.**

---

Publication Information

Name: Christopher Jimenez	Media Format: Book (eBook)
Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret	Genre: Fiction, Graphic novel, Children's literature, Mystery, Historical fiction
Author: Brian Selznick	Selection Source: 2008 Caldecott Winner
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.	Recommended Audience Age: 8-12
	Reading Recommendation: 3 out of 5
	Curriculum Connections: Literature, Leisure, Filmography, Technology, History

Review

Hugo Cabret is an orphan, a thief, a magician, a prodigy and alone. He is consumed by his late father's desire to repair a curious automaton that is poised with a pen. Hugo is convinced that the mechanical man is programmed to deliver a personal message to him, perhaps from his father.

Hugo embarks on an adventure with the George Méliès family as he struggles to maintain his anonymous lifestyle in a Paris train station. The narrative, and its characters, are clearly influenced by love of the cinema. As the story unfolds, we find that things are not always as they appear. 

This novel has achieved the following awards:

• 2008 Children's Choices Selection
• 2008 ALSC Notable Children's Recordings

Evaluation

This is another novel that features an orphaned child who desperately tries to avoid the orphanage. Hugo Cabret does all he can to remain undetected by adults who may inquire about his living situation. His salvation turns out to be his love of technology and ability to build. Through his devotion to his father's project, he is able to establish a relationship with the George Méliès family, who ends up vouching for him.

A major influence in this novel is the cinema. The magic on the silver screen is evident in the characters, the language, (audiobook) the production of background sounds and (the monograph) the illustrations. This book presents a well-rounded experience for the reader.

Grad App

I'm applying to graduate from the School of Library and Information Science. Yes. I have to mail in a paper application. No. There is no electronic submission. I don't know why.

Why I Dumped Dynamic Views

If it's so dynamic, why leave it?

Here's the deal. I really liked the dynamic views when I converted. I liked the slick styling and the awesome reconfiguration options that could go from Mosaic to Timeslide to whatever my readers wanted to see.

I liked the way I had configured color to make it clean and readable, with a noted exception for the fact that it was easy to click out of an article by mistake. Otherwise, I thought it was cool.

Why leave Dynamic Views behind? My decision, like most of my techno-decisions, was all about the gadgets.

Look and feel

I was happy with the look and feel of Dynamic Views for a while. But I missed having absolute control over my design. And if my web page is a reflection of my sensibilities, then I had better have absolute control over it.

Twitter gadgets

I want to connect with people on Twitter and other social mediums. How lame is it that I couldn't put a simple link to my Twitter page on the side of my own blog? I was used to displaying #litnerd and #btsermon tweets, but I couldn't do it with the Dynamic Views layout. The only option available to my through that template was Google Plus.

Very lame.

Comments with Disqus

Allow me to be honest, people don't really care to connect with me on Twitter. I have never had an individual talk to me about my blog, or other blog, or other blog through Social Media. However, Disqus was a revelation when I used it to replace the Blogger comment system before switching to Dynamic Views. (For those interested, other comment replacement options include Live Fyre and Intense Debate.)

While I could live without a Twitter badge on my blog, I have come to the conclusion that I need more control over my blog in order to implement Disqus again. I did not want to wait around any longer for Dynamic Views to finally improve their comment system. I hope that by doing so, I can rekindle the comment magic that my blogs had enjoyed about a year ago.

Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But it doesn't hurt to try!

Have you tried Blogger's Dynamic Views? Do you like it? Why or why not?

Moving Along, Nothing to See Here

English: This icon, known as the "feed icon" or the "RSS icon", (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Google Reader is going away

Where did I leave that panic button? I know it's around here somewhere...

I love to read. I love to read about current events and niche topics that hardly anyone really cares about. I use RSS feeds to deliver my content right to me. It is a librarian's dream to have information delivered to both my computer and my mobile device which makes information consumption and retrieval a smooth a ride as ever.

But alas, it was not meant to be. Google has announced that Reader (proper noun) is just not hacking it, so they've placed all the readers (common noun) on notice to find a new news (see what I did there?) delivery service by July 1.

Cue the Common Top 5 Post

This announcement has been a boon for techno-bloggers who suddenly have visions of writing THE post that helps people find their new RSS reader (while boosting their own subscription statistics). Guess what, look no further, because I have written that post a day late and a dollar short.

I searched high and low and decided that these RSS reader services are the best ones for you, fair reader, to investigate. Be sure to take these out for a test drive to see how they fit in to your personal preferences.

The Magazine Style

Most of those other (read: lesser) "Top Reader Replacement" posts promote these guys as THE GO-TO options when transitioning out of Google Reader. They all have mobile platforms that make the reading experience as mobile as it is beautiful. Without further ado, The Magazine Style Readers:

Image via CrunchBase

1) Feedly: This bad boy is number one on my list and number one overall. This is the only RSS reader alternative whose placement in this link is also a ranking. I have been somewhat transitioning to Feedly anyway. I like the social features that are baked right into it. Your standard Twitter, Facebook, G+ and email are all there, but it also includes Buffer, Evernote, Delicious and others. This spares me the need to use IFTTT to jury-rig a "seamless" share to other services based on a trigger. (What other blog dares to use jury-rig and seamless in the same sentence?)

In addition, there are browser plugins and a handy transition guide that promises to make the July 1 transition a painless process.

Pulse (Photo credit: Johan Larsson)

2) Pulse: I began using Pulse Reader when I owned a Motorola Cliq (author shudders with sudden sensations of sinister semesters with that cursed phone and inability to update to Android 2.0). So maybe my opinions are tainted from the lack of a quality device. If that's the case, then go out and use Pulse now!

I actually do not mind Pulse all that much as an RSS reader replacement. It certainly has a beautiful interface which can be customized to a certain extent. I mainly miss a list format (Pulse seems to only allow the magazine look) and the social options provided by others. Clearly, you can't really go wrong this this application.

Flipboard (Photo credit: netzkobold)

3) Flipboard: Another favorite in the visually stimulating category is Flipboard. This is a gorgeous reader for the mobile platform that presents news in an aesthetically pleasing manner. It can pull information from feeds and social networks (so can Pulse) and organize them in a sensible way.

The only downside is the lack of a web application for desktop use. Perhaps things will change with a ported view given the trajectory of the modern OS, but that is a major downside of this option if you consider yourself a power user. (I fancy myself a power in everything, even if it turns out to be only a fantasy.)

The Ugly Style

Please tell me you haven't forgotten The Ugly One...

Some people don't care about those fancy-schmaltzy user interfaces that come with these new-fangled interweb RSS readers, let me just have a basic view where I can jump from item to item with no problem. After all, Google Reader worked just fine under that principle. The few people who used it seem to like it. So there!

4) The Old Reader: This application claims to be just that, an old version of Google Reader! What better place to transition to than a downgraded version of what you love? All kidding aside, this little RSS Reader is a nice application for those who just want to read articles--images or video not so much. It is clean and straightforward.

As mentioned earlier, images were rendered strangely (everything was shoved to the right side, no wrapping  whatsoever) and videos didn't even appear (which may be a clue for bloggers to remember to always include a link to videos in addition to embedding them). The Old Reader also seems to be gaining in popularity, because they were unable to process my Google Reader feeds due to overload. I tested the application on my personal blogs: GARB & WTHT. Overall, if you want a nice reader that doesn't bother with images and stuff, this is probably the one you'll be happiest with.

5) NewsBlur: Newsblur is laid out very much like Outlook, complete with a folder structure and reading panes. This RSS reader also owns a mobile app, so you can take it on the road. Personally, I feel like I am staring at my work inbox when I look at this UI, so I'm not too hot for it. But I understand how some people would love the simplicity and versatility of this layout (so much for my power user status).

The worst critique of NewsBlur--from what I've read-- is that they limit the number of subscriptions available to users. If this is true, then shame on them. Can't you see we're used to getting whatever we want in whatever portions we want?

6) Twitter Lists: I am not going to link to Twitter. You should know this one by now. And yes, people are actually suggesting that Twitter can be used to aggregate content because anyone who publishes stuff on the web should have a twitter feed by now and should be posting links to their articles straight to their feeds.

This option is decidedly more cumbersome, but still a great idea with some great benefits. For one thing, you can receive a text notification that your favorite writer has published a new post. Once you have opened the link in your browser, you can also share it with whatever application you'd like. It is mobile, a web application and can be customized using client software.

No, Twitter was not developed specifically as a feed reader. But it can serve admirably as a patch for the RSS service.

Related articles

• Google Reader Is Being Shut Down - Here Are Some Alternatives
• The Best Google Reader Alternatives
• 10 Google Reader alternatives
• Google Reader is dead: Here are five alternatives
• State of RSS Readers
• R.I.P. Google Reader: 2005-2013

Preparing Instructional Media

I know my avid readers are clamoring for my latest experiences in the world of Graduate Studies in Library and Information Science. So here's a bone.

Actually, it's a web-portfolio of my projects and reflections for LIS 6303: Preparing Instructional Media. It is my final project and should be completed by the end of this week. It has all the interesting things we learned to use in a pedagogical manner like blogging, podcasting, screencasting, presentation software, social bookmarking (which includes Pinterest) and Wikis.

So there, you can't tell me I don't show you something exciting every now and then.

Why I Hate Summer

Semester C is a Bad Word

I'm not sure how this is possible

It's been quite the semester

I took the classes Organization of Information I (LIS 6711) & Information Management Systems (LIS 5937) during summer C. I found that I was able to keep up (& stay interested in) the pace for about 5 weeks (the length of Summer A) before I got complacent. The last half of the semester was a drag. And that's not good when you have a research paper & a presentation due in that half of the semester. I probably would have felt more accomplished with Summer A/B classes, but that's not an option so I need to move on from that & not get bitter.

It wasn't hard...

...I was just a tad bored. I learned stuff, plenty of stuff. But mostly it put things I already knew into a library context. I knew about Metadata, I just needed to get procedural things strait--which is critical. I already knew the value of MIS in today's society, & most of the elements thereof, but I still needed to get a systematic overview of it.

Looking ahead

Now I get the privilege of looking forward to a new semester & all the bills & new syllabi & life-planning that goes along with it. Woohoo!

Never Underestimate MS Word

The Challenge

I finally passed a Word & Excel test for a "Librarian" position that I applied for at Baptist Hospital. I failed both tests on Monday & studied my booty off all week to pass it today. (I ended up only getting one question wrong on each test.)

I was not surprised that I failed Excel. I never use Excel. Excel intimidates me. Given that, I was encouraged that if I'd gotten one more question right, I would have passed the exam. What surprised me was Word.

I performed miserably on the Intermediate Word skills test. Given that I spent 4(+) years in a University & hold a degree in English (which = many research/argumentative papers), never received a grade lower than an A in High School English & spent 3 years working in the IT department of the same University, I was baffled that I did that poorly on the MS Word portion of the exam. I wasn't even close to passing.

I guess my takeaway from this experience is to never underestimate any undertaking. It's always good to review & continue learning because there is always somewhere you can improve.

A Side Note

On a side note, there was someone else in the room which made things a bit awkward. She was in the same position that I was on Monday, a failure. Hopefully she studies & passes soon!

New Semester - First Summer

I am embarking on my first Summer C ever. I have avoided classes offered during this semester like the plague during my educational career. Yet, I find myself forced into this predicament by the fact that I do not want to post-pone my graduation. 

The classes I am taking are as follows:

• LIS 5937 Information Management Systems
• LIS 6711 Organization of Knowledge 1

My eyes will be scouring the following textbooks (freshly ordered from Amazon). No these are not listed in APA format. This is a blog for crying out loud!

• Cataloging and Classification: An Introduction (Chan, Lois Mai)
• The Organization of Information  (Taylor, Arlene G.)
• Fundamentals of Information Systems (Stair, Ralph)

New semester, I shall conquer thee.

Pathfinder Project = Finished

I just submitted the most practical & informative assignment I have been tasked with in my Graduate career up to this point. I created a pathfinder on the topic of my choosing. In the process, I learned how to use the HTML 4.01 markup language to create a webpage. I also learned how to use FTP to upload the assignment to my web page. It's pretty sweet.

A pathfinder is a resource that librarians put together in order to help patrons get familiar with a topic. It's a tool for Bibliographic Instruction. That's a big term for "teaching people how to get the information they need on a given subject."

My subject was "Origins & Distinctives of the Plymouth Brethren." I found a bunch of informative sources and organized them in the pathfinder with a few short annotations to aid in the research process. The pathfinder is really only supposed to get people started on their research.

You can find the finished product here: http://bit.ly/HD9j3d

Library Technology

This is an interesting poll that asks the question: Which new technology(ies) do you think will have the most impact on libraries in the next 2-5 years?

http://polldaddy.com/poll/5996592/