I got a Kindle2 last Tuesday. I've spent the week poking at it. So far, I've found a fair number of "small" interesting things (including getting it to negotiate a USB network connection with my laptop), but most of my free time has been absorbed by learning how to read .epub files and write Kindle-optimized .mobis.

I've put together a web service that lets me download any .epub as a .mobi from the Kindle's browser. I'm looking for a few folks to try out what I've put together and tell me if it's something you find useful. PM me if you're interested in being my guinea pig.

Best,
Jesse

My understanding is that you can convert DRM-free ePub to mobi just by opening the file in MobiPocket Reader. Does your conversion work the DRM'd ePub?

My understanding is that you can convert DRM-free ePub to mobi just by opening the file in MobiPocket Reader. Does your conversion work the DRM'd ePub?

Opening the file in MobiPocket reader would require you to be sitting at a desktop or laptop computer. What I'm working on is something that sits on a server and helps the Kindle to "directly" download ePubs.

And no. I'm not touching DRM removal with a 10 foot pole. This is just a hobby....and DMCA lawsuits are something I'd rather leave to others.

What I'm working on is something that sits on a server and helps the Kindle to "directly" download ePubs.


Calibre includes tools to convert ePub to mobipocket. It is a python script which you could certainly run on a server.

You would need to have mobi files on the server or have something that converts on the fly when the Kindle requests the file.

BOb

Opening the file in MobiPocket reader would require you to be sitting at a desktop or laptop computer. What I'm working on is something that sits on a server and helps the Kindle to "directly" download ePubs.

And no. I'm not touching DRM removal with a 10 foot pole. This is just a hobby....and DMCA lawsuits are something I'd rather leave to others.

Gottcha!

I got a Kindle2 last Tuesday. I've spent the week poking at it. So far, I've found a fair number of "small" interesting things (including getting it to negotiate a USB network connection with my laptop)...



I'd love to hear more. How do you do it?

Calibre includes tools to convert ePub to mobipocket. It is a python script which you could certainly run on a server.

You would need to have mobi files on the server or have something that converts on the fly when the Kindle requests the file.

BOb

Yep. I initially started with calibre's tools. On a couple of my first test items, I was fairly bummed out by calibre's output, though having played around, it's noticeably better over the past week.

Some of the stuff I'm planning isn't straight-up document conversion and I'm a Perl person, so it made sense to me to go with something in my native tongue.

There are three or four other sets of tools I looked at before deciding I'd spend my weekend building out something to teach myself how the document formats actually work.

At least part of this exercise was to learn a bit about the insides .mobi and .epub. As I've worked,I've been rototilling MobiPerl to modernize the codebase.

I'd love to hear more. How do you do it?

I'm hoping to blog it later this week. When I get it written up, I'll post a link here.

Wait, it doesn't actually act as a gateway does it? That would be crazy news.

Wait, it doesn't actually act as a gateway does it? That would be crazy news.

Nope. Other way round. My presumption is that it's just a QA feature.

Still cool. Could be useful if you were outside the sprint coverage aread but had a wifi connection or a wan connection from another carrier.

http://blog.fsck.com/2009/03/tethering-your-kindle.html

So, Amazon controls by proxies which internet sites we can visit? (In reading jesse tethering blog). That's interesting. Maybe that's why I can't get to my regular web based email account. Not a big deal, just set up an account with Gmail and just forwarding specific emails to that account. Not being a "techie" person, I just have to stumble around till something works. :)

So, Amazon controls by proxies which internet sites we can visit? (In reading jesse tethering blog). That's interesting. Maybe that's why I can't get to my regular web based email account. Not a big deal, just set up an account with Gmail and just forwarding specific emails to that account. Not being a "techie" person, I just have to stumble around till something works. :)

I'm going to assume they're proxying content to help make sure it's _fast_ and that nobody's abusing the no-monthly-cost 3G connection. I have no idea if they're doing transforms on HTML or content filtering.

Looks like CruchGear (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/04/kindle-2-tethering-its-not-what-you-think/) picked up on your blog.

Cool. CrunchGear is watching MobileRead.