FREE Download Current Newspapers & Magazines

[Charles Patrick]

Originally Posted by ddavtian

Charles, Forbes worked when I did not check "Most Popular Stories". With it, it always errors out and exits.

Any update on activation? :-)

The new version of News2PDF is available.

Forbes and Washington post are now correctly compiling to PDF

http://www.news2pdf.com/updates/

[Bookathon]

Registration is still broken, I registered two days ago and nothing happened, no code no nothing. I like it though, I have kindle so reading it is a mess, I use the sony settings for download and than put it through mobipocket to generate prc file and transfer it to kindle for reading.

Kindle is pain in the neck for pdf

[Charles Patrick]

Originally Posted by Bookathon

Registration is still broken, I registered two days ago and nothing happened, no code no nothing. I like it though, I have kindle so reading it is a mess, I use the sony settings for download and than put it through mobipocket to generate prc file and transfer it to kindle for reading.

Kindle is pain in the neck for pdf

Registration isn't broken. You should have received an e-mail a few minutes ago.

Why is the PDF version of News2PDF a mess on your Kindle?

Amazon's link below describes 2 ways to get the News2PDF file on your Kindle one costs 10-cents and the other is free...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...40600&#convert

P.S. We're considering a News2PDF option that would automatically e-mail the PDF to your Kindle e-mail address.

[ddavtian]

Charles, Business Week needs some work. Each article contains tens of links from the web page, there are many "junk" pages at the beginning of articles.

I did get an email from you, looking forward to activation and new features.

[Charles Patrick]

Originally Posted by ddavtian

Charles, Business Week needs some work. Each article contains tens of links from the web page, there are many "junk" pages at the beginning of articles.

I did get an email from you, looking forward to activation and new features.

Hi

We're aware of the several junk "LINKS" (NOT pages) that appear at the beginning of each Business Week article.

The several extraneous links a "minor inconvenience" and not a critical problem since you still get the full illustrations and Full-text Business Week articles and the links consume only a few rows on the screen.

Can you tell me more about the junk "Pages?" We can't recreate that problem.

For the next couple days, we're working on an auto-mail feature so that NewswPDF users can automatically mail the full text to their Kindles, IPhones, Smart Phones or computers.

Charles

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Charles Patrick

Why is the PDF version of News2PDF a mess on your Kindle?

Amazon's link below describes 2 ways to get the News2PDF file on your Kindle one costs 10-cents and the other is free...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...40600&#convert

P.S. We're considering a News2PDF option that would automatically e-mail the PDF to your Kindle e-mail address.

You do realize, I hope, that PDF will not work at all on the Kindle. The official support is to send a copy to Amazon for conversion. you expect people to do this every day?

Dale

[Charles Patrick]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You do realize, I hope, that PDF will not work at all on the Kindle. The official support is to send a copy to Amazon for conversion. you expect people to do this every day?

Dale

Dale,

We understand that the Kindle Requires the PDF to be converted to a PRC file - I can let you try a version of News2PDF where this is automatic via emai.

As I mentioned in my last post, we're currently testing a version of the News2PDF program that will automatically e-mail the PDF to your "10-cent" kindle e-mail address *OR* your "FREE" Kindle e-mail address (Kindle's "Free" conversion method requires that you e-mail the converted file to a non-kindle address then transfer the PRC to your Kindle by cable).

You would NOT have to do anything additionally. Just choose your publications and let the program e-mail the PDF to one of your two Kindle addresses for 10-cent or FREE processing.

Furthermore, the News2PDF "auto email" feature can be used to automatically e-mail the PDF files to IPHONES or SMARTPHONES for offline reading.

If you send me a message offlist, I can let you try out the test version of the News2PDF desktop with email (within 24 hours)

http://www.news2pdf.com/current-news...le-pdf-viewer/

Charles Patrick.

[DaleDe]

I do not personally own a Kindle so it wouldn't do me any good. I see you are attempting to make it more automatic which is a good thing however the experience most people have with this conversion process is that it is only marginal for PDF files. I guess if you test it everyday and it works then it could be a good thing. PDF doesn't always convert well for many different reasons. Some of them are outlined in the wiki on this web site.

[Charles Patrick]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I do not personally own a Kindle so it wouldn't do me any good. I see you are attempting to make it more automatic which is a good thing however the experience most people have with this conversion process is that it is only marginal for PDF files. I guess if you test it everyday and it works then it could be a good thing. PDF doesn't always convert well for many different reasons. Some of them are outlined in the wiki on this web site.

Actually, PDF doesn't convert well for *SPECIFIC* reasons - The biggest reason other PDF conversions are marginal on Kindles is because the original PDF was sized and laid out for a printed (8.5x11) page - not for a 6" diagonal Kindle e-ink screen. This isn't true for our PDF files, which is why they convert well.

So, News2PDF PDF files for the Kindle are *designed* for the Kindle screen with correct page sizing and large fonts. These differences make News2PDF files covert amazingly well on the Kindle.

News2PDF specific sizing (and fonts) are also the reason the News2PDF PDF files are incredibly readable on your PALM or Windows Mobile device.

I've been a lurker here for more than 2 years, since I got my first Sony Reader , but thanks for mentioning the Wiki.

One of our specialties for the past 20 years has been document processing on mainframes and personal computers, so we have a lot of experience with PDF, MDF (Jetform), RTF, and dozens of other text and document formats. We also have worked extensively with barcodes and OCR since 1990.

[Bookathon]

I did receive email from news2pdf, without any registration code?. Text based pdf on kindle render just fine if you choose sony optimized pdf settings.

Getting generated pdf on kindle is a chore indeed

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You do realize, I hope, that PDF will not work at all on the Kindle. The official support is to send a copy to Amazon for conversion. you expect people to do this every day?

That's why you supply them with your Kindle email address. It will be auto converted and sent to your Kindle.

BOb

[Elfwreck]

News2PDF Thoughts:

On installation--EULA standard, no more or less annoying than any other. (Less annoying, I guess; it doesn't claim any proprietary rights over the content being pushed through its software, and it does say you can give away or even sell the original software, as long as there's no profit involved--but you can charge price of media. So far, so good.)

Click OK on EULA.

Am taken to a page of HYPE.

"TRY NOW! NEW! FREE!
Amazing Newspaper & Magazine-to-PDF program!
Wouldn’t it be great if you could quickly make FULL-TEXT, portable PDF files from current full-text articles from..."

I do not need nor want the hype in the middle of the installation process. I ALREADY agreed that PDFs of webnews would be a Cool and Nifty Thing; that's why I pressed the "install" button. Giving me a sales pitch *AFTER* I have clicked, "yes, I agree to these terms, plz install now" is *pointless.* And annoying

RULE 1 FOR WEBMARKETERS: Be no more annoying than is necessary to promote your product. You have a million competitors for people's attention, and one wrong phrase at the wrong time, and you're in the recycle bin and they're back to watching some guy putting kittens on balloons on YouTube.

-----
Setup beginning. May take a few minutes based on your computer hardware, software etc.

This is *laughable* compared to the hype of the "30-second download." Anyone who can download this in 30 seconds can install it in another 30.
------

Start program.
Popup window:
"Some feeds have been temporarily discontinued while we correct scripts.
Scripts should return by 1pm Eastern Time."

First thought: When I start a new program, the first thing I want to see is NOT an error message. You should tell your downloaders if they're supposed to be your unpaid beta testers.

Second thought: 1pm Eastern ON WHAT DATE? It's 8:30 Eastern Sat Dec 20 right now.
------

Basic News Services:
Austin American Statesman (14 subcategories)
BBC (26 subcats)
Business Week (26 subcats*)
Detroit Free Press (2 subcats)
Forbes (17 subcats)
International Herald Tribune (21 subcats)
NY Times (40 subcats)
Newsweek (28 subcats)
Reader's Digest (1 subcat)
Salon (15 subcats)
SF Chronicle (18 subcats)
SJ Mercury News (1 subcat)
USA Today (1 subcat)
Washington Post (2 subcats)

*Business Week has two subcats with blank names.

Reasonable selection; I've got no problem finding half a dozen bits I actively like, and I consider myself anti-news. But the ability to read George F. Will without wading through Newsweek's ad-laden site is a wonderful concept, and putting him in the same documents with Mark Morford appeals to my twisted sense of balance.

I pick out some pieces. Everything related to science and technology and education, and some editorials I know I like. I google a few names that sound familiar but I can't remember if that means I like them (but they're too much trouble to hunt down to read) or I hate them (but they're mentioned occasionally on LJ).

Click "Make PDF."
Realize I didn't go to Options first.
Waiting for program to get done making letter-sized PDF so I can then make a Sony Reader-sized PDF.

Should be a "set options" button on the main interface.

Looks like they show up in alpha-order by news service, not adaptable by reader. (Not bad, but not great, either.)

Articles loading. OMFG that's a lot of articles; how do the people who like *real* news tolerate it? (Wait--under options, I could've probably set a time limit. For next version, set time limit.)

Can't resize window to see the full titles & sources of all the articles it's creating. Some articles say [Skipped]; I wonder what that means. I'll find out later. Some articles showing up twice? That'll be annoying. Does it search for keyword and put it in as many categories as apply, without checking if that article's already included?

Okay, done. Took a few minutes, and couldn't browse while it was downloading. (I suppose I could set it to download & go get breakfast.) Seems like my timeout worries were unfounded--since it's grabbing each website for only a few seconds, there's no freezing issues. It'll lock my computer & internet while it's working, but it *will* work okay. I'm used to that, and so is anyone else who's still on dialup.

I now have FIVE PDFs in my News2PDF folder, not one. I have some interest in a news aggregator. Less interest in a news aggregator that I have to finish the aggregation on myself.

Without images, despite the fact that "images on" is selected by default. And the option for "Letter size" is NOT letter size; it's Letter WIDTH and A4 LENGTH. Congratulations; you've created a page size that no printer on the planet will deal with. (Oh, and it's the *same* page size as "Tablet." Fire whichever UI geek isn't capable of running a forty-second Google search for standard page size dimensions.)

No control of margins. No margin on left. (Whose bright idea was it to not put a margin on the printable sized pages? And who decided 16 pt made a fine default font size?) No choice of fonts. No control of output location, so I'll apparently have to merge them & move them to the Reader manually.

Re-try: Sony Reader size, 1 day instead of 3, Font size 12.
(Note: Sony Reader is not 90x120mm.) Decide that's too large; go for font size 10.

Autolt error: program crash. (Didn't see more than that before it shut down.) Didn't save settings, so I have to re-click on everything.

------
Autolt Error
Line -1:
Error: The requested action with this object has failed.
------

My guess: You can't re-create a file with the same name, so you can't re-run the program twice in one day without deleting (or moving) the previous articles. Open program again. Get annoying popup for a third time.*

Test: Delete prev-created Sony Reader sized files. Re-create PDFs.
Yep, that's it. It won't allow you to re-create files with the same names--which means if you have two different sets of settings (you & spouse), you'll have to move/rename one set before the other can be made.

Sony Reader sized files: 3.54 x 4.72", rather than the recommended 3.47 x 4.86". And no metadata: No titles or authors, so they'll be listed in the Reader's index as YYYYMMDD-Newssource-Sony-Reader-90x120mm. (Reader's Digest named as 20081220-Reader-s-Digest-Sony-Reader-90x120mm. Hypen instead of the apostrophe. For programs working with large, changing databases, I understand replacing odd punctuation with hyphens. For programs working with a list of under two dozen, I expect someone to have bothered to make specific settings for each name for the end user's convenience.)

I'm sure the program is wonderful. It grabs content I'd love to read, and leaves out the annoying ads and having to click around. But the UI is simple enough to lack important features (like a choice of save locations), glitchy in both minor and crucial ways (page sizes off; can't make a news and separate sports/entertainment PDF from the NYT on the same day), and it doesn't combine them into one file *nor* put them in an obvious place to get them onto the Reader.

*Popup warning: And how will my copy of the program know when those feeds have been reconnected? Or will the popup remain until I update the program? Ah. Found out. If I try to run the program without connecting to the internet, it won't. I can't even set the options for page sizes without connecting. Program is non-functional without internet connection. Can't make settings; can't view PDFs. Exceedingly dialup unfriendly.

Popup on close, asking for suggestions of favored publications. Unless they're adding RSS Feeds by individual choice (i.e. unless I can download my LiveJournal friendslist through this thing), I'm not going to bother. News services are of limited interest to me--while I'm sure there are publications I'd be interested in, I'm not interested in spending many hours to figure out what they are.

Manually transfer files to memory card on Sony Reader. Open files. Margins look good there (the default tiny bit of pixels is the right amount for me); font size 10 is good--hitting M makes it *smaller*, L makes it bigger for dim light settings; would be easy to start with larger font if I wanted it that way. Some blank pages in PDF, where empty space at the ends of articles was included.

Irrelevant Funny: The end of the Newsweek George F. Will article says
url: http://www.newsweek.com/id/176299
(c) 2009
Can you copyright into the future?

End thoughts:
Technophiles won't like the lack of customized settings:
--Limited (and wrong) page sizes
--Limited font sizes (I like reading at 10--but can comfortably read at 8, and some people prefer that.)
--No font control
--No filenaming control
--No file location control
--No alternate filetype output (yes, the service is News-to-PDF. But there's no reason not to make available News-to-HTML, which ebook geeks could reformat into their filetype of choice; non-geeks could ignore it.)

Technophobes won't like the lack information & expected features:
--No images
--No margins for print-size pages
--No metadata to show up on the reader
--Running it twice in the same day crashes the program
--Files not saved in easy "move to reader device" location (i.e. not saved in "My Ebooks" or whatever default location is preferred.)

Misc Nuisances:
--Separate file per news service rather than compilation (or option thereof); awful if all a person wants from several services is 1 article each.
--No internet=no program; can't adjust settings while offline.

[Charles Patrick]

Wow, Elfwreck.

Thanks! we really appreciate the effort you put into that!

You noticed that much of the content and many of the features of News2PDF are dynamic. This means that the number of Newspapers and magazines (and their subcategories) may (magically, automatically) increase or decrease from day to day - just like the offerings at your local newsstand. The list of publications you showed in your post were available on *that* day, but more publications are being added every few days, as users ask for them.

Of what you wrote, we believe the following to be critical:

1) The "crash on second run" Line error - This problem has been fixed in a version that will be released Monday afternoon.

2) Page and Margin sizing - We likely made the wrong decision when not allowing the user to modify these. The user will be allowed to change the page and margin settings in an upcoming version.

3) Dial-up Friendly - You are correct that News2PDF should at least allow the user to access the menu when there is no Internet connection (even if no articles can be retrieved). We’ll fix that.

4) File target -. I agree we should allow the user to select a file target destination. My personal preference is to write the PDF files directly to an SD card that I can then just pop into my Sony Reader or Palm Treo phone without having to manually move the files.

Images – We include the precise images in the PDF that the publishers provide. The best evidence of this is to look at the Readers Digest PDF files. In the “print”versions that we capture, many publishers don’t include the same images the they do on the versions of the articles that are spread out over several web pages.

>> it doesn't... put them in an obvious place to get them onto the Reader.

In the current version, click “View PDF” to easily and quickly open a dialog that contains the files. They’re currently written to C:\Program Files\News2PDF\PDF\ , but we’ll make this easier.

>> First thought: When I start a new program, the first thing I want to see is NOT an error message.

This is not an error, it’s a dialog telling you that some publishers may have changed some page formatting so corresponding changes to News2PDF scripts are forthcoming. We’ll likely move this “notice” to the download status area, instead of showing it as a pop-up, so it’ll be easier to ignore, if you choose to.

>>>Some articles say [Skipped]; I wonder what that means.

Your guess was right: News2PDF skips duplicate articles. In future versions we will display the word “[duplicate]” instead of “[skipped].”

>>>My guess: You can't re-create a file with the same name,

This is not correct. News2PDF should re-create a file with the same name, unless the file is unwritable because it’s open in another window. For example, if you have the PDF file open in Adobe Reader, or some other program, then News2PDF can’t create a new version while the file is open elsewhere. Close the PDF file in the other application and a new one will be written.

>> Can't make a news and separate sports/entertainment PDF from the NYT on the same day),
>> Separate file per news service rather than compilation (or option thereof); awful if all a person wants from several services is 1 article each.

You are correct. News2PDF wasn’t intended as an aggregator of content from differing publications. We’re always looking for analogies that will allow the greatest number of users to understand News2PDF right away: “News2PDF is like grabbing a newspaper or magazine with only full-text sections you’ve selected – Electronically Delivered as an industry standard PDF file.” Our primary goal is to give users (mostly text based) current news and newsmagazine content that they can transfer to readers or smartphones to read offline without an Internet connection.

We initially design an application with all the bells and whistles and options, then we pare it down to the bare minimum to try to make it as simple as possible. We want it to be valuable and easy for the greatest number of users (technophobes). We’re completely receptive to adding back in features that most users want – as long as we don’t sacrifice simplicity when we restore them. So, I’m eager to here any comments from anyone here who may have an interest. We know every program doesn't suit every user, but we'd love to hear from anyone who thinks that we're close to what they need, if only we made a few slight changes...

Elfwreck, you’ve given the most constructive criticism we’ve received in weeks. Thank you.

I hope you don't mind me quoting your "good bits" as a short version, for others who might consider using News2PDF for it’s good points:

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

News2PDF Thoughts:
“Reasonable selection; I've got no problem finding half a dozen bits I actively like, and I consider myself anti-news. But the ability to read George F. Will without wading through Newsweek's ad-laden site is a wonderful concept, and putting him in the same documents with Mark Morford appeals to my twisted sense of balance.” (The selection is dynamic. Ask for your favorite publication)

“Articles loading. OMFG that's a lot of articles; how do the people who like *real* news tolerate it? (Wait--under options, I could've probably set a time limit.” (correct, set limit by publish date)

“...since it's grabbing each website for only a few seconds, there's no freezing issues. It'll lock my computer & internet while it's working, but it *will* work okay. I'm used to that, and so is anyone else who's still on dialup.”

“Manually transfer files to memory card on Sony Reader. Open files. Margins look good there (the default tiny bit of pixels is the right amount for me); font size 10 is good--hitting M makes it *smaller*, L makes it bigger for dim light settings; would be easy to start with larger font if I wanted it that way.”

“I'm sure the program is wonderful. It grabs content I'd love to read, and leaves out the annoying ads and having to click around. But the UI is simple enough to lack important features (like a choice of save locations)” (to be corrected)

[Elfwreck]

Followup thoughts:

Quoting is okay. (Not that you legally need permission, but it helps to have it.) I'm very glad you took my post in the spirit it was offered--"here's what I liked; here's what didn't work for me; hope some of that changes so I can enjoy the product." Quoting the good parts without fixing the troubles will get your product mocked to the extent I have influence in the blogosphere--which is admittedly not much, but probably balances out whatever benefit you'd get from quoting. (Which is not intended as a threat, but as a way of protecting what little rep I have with my friends.)

Upon opening, there's a popup that says something like "News from News2PDF.com"--which is blank.
-- Popups on open and close? Nuisance. Two mouseclicks I don't want. The second one should certainly not be included in any paid service; reminders that you're looking for feedback should be left to people who haven't already given it to you in the form of dollars.
-- Blank popups as space holders for "sometimes we'll have content here?" Nuisance that makes users think some of the programming is broken.

Error popup on trying to select more than 3 days of articles. More nuisance. Shouldn't have to click on it & remember where the cutoff is; those should be greyed out & unselectable for free users; the "help" button should indicate them. (If there's a "registered" and "paid" version & they're different, that needs to be indicated somewhere.)

Help button--also unavailable offline=bad. (Since the whole program is unavailable offline right now, it doesn't matter. However, basic "what those settings mean" and "what features you can't use right now" info should be available offline. (And if you want it to be *really* nifty, make the whole thing run portable, so that people can install the program on a flash drive & use it in a library or school computer, instead of needing to run on their home computer.)

The fact that the images aren't included in the "print" versions of the articles is *irrelevant*--your users are not looking at Newsweek's "print version of articles," and may never have gone to those pages. It needs to mention why downloading these doesn't get an article with what they see when they go to the website.

Re: Reader's Digest image--I had selected Reader's Digest. On checking, it has images. They are 1/4" wide thumbnail shots of some sort; I certainy can't read them. Whatever you're parsing them with, they do more harm than good--they look like a glitch in the code resized them down to "unreadable." (What are they, 50 pixel thumbnails at 200dpi? Looks okay on a website and atrocious in print.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7793715.stm (one of the articles I got) has a picture on the news page. None on the "Print" page. So I can understand why there's no pictures--but this is definitely non-intuitive; you need to explain that you only include pictures if the news publications make those available for download. (Or something. Full explanations is probably too much tech, but people are going to keep asking why the version on their computer doesn't match the one they can Google for.)

You're right about duplicates same day; I must've had one of the articles open when I tried to re-run it last night. HOWEVER... If I can miss that, so can someone else; I'm used to having a dozen programs open and while I expect the occasional "oops; can't do that--you have it open!", I don't expect the whole program to crash because of it.

Also, there's still the problem that I can't make one set of files for me, focused on sci/tech/education, and another set for my husband, focused on world news/politics, if they come from the same publications. (Okay, I can. But I can also merge the PDFs into one, re-arrange the bookmarks to how I like them, and add the missing metadata, all quickly enough to not think of that as a nuisance--I mind doing that less than I mind the popup on close. My PDF skills are not expected of the average reader.)

It auto-saves changes into whatever .ini file is open at the time, which means if I experiment with new settings, I lose my old ones. Bad. If you need to save out .ini files manually (you don't expect your users to know what an RSS feed is, but you want them to manage .ini files?), they should not save changes without asking you.

If you fix the auto-saving of ini files (and maybe even if you don't), you might find a way to put the ini name into the filename--possibly instead of the page size. (I appreciate page size in filename. But it's been mentioned that I'm a PDF geek. For most users, listing the page *label* is plenty; listing the mm measurements--esp. for American users--is just extra text they never see because Windows cuts off the visible filename after about 20 characters.)

If the Kindle & Sony have the same page size, make them a single listing. Every checkbox on the menu should do something different.

If page margins aren't going to be user-adjustable, the "printable" page sizes (letter, A4" need margins that most printers can deal with--generally at least 1/2", possibly 3/4" for easy punching to put into a binder. If you're adding user-adjustable settings, three or for standard settings plus one marked "custom" (with dropdowns for slightly more standard options, plus custom settings) would probably be best.

Saveout location--I prefer it to save somewhere easy to find (so "a folder that opens when I click on a button" is reasonable) so I can tinker with the PDFs. However, I'm fluent with file management; many of your users may have NO IDEA AT ALL how to deal with an open window. If they're used to using Sony's e-library program (or for some, Calibre), they have to navigate windows, but there's no drag-and-drop option. I have no idea what Kindle users deal with, but I expect it's even more troublesome.

This problem has been fixed in a version that will be released Monday afternoon.

The user will be allowed to change the page and margin settings in an upcoming version.

should at least allow the user to access the menu when there is no Internet connection .... We’ll fix that.

We’ll likely move this “notice” to the download status area

I will NOT be downloading four (or more) new versions (at 10 minutes each), as they appear, and installing them, and looking for new bugs caused by the fixes. The "updates" page could possibly include a change log/bug fix listing underneath the "download now" option. (You are aware that by calling it version 0.1, it looks to programmers like this isn't even the beta release? In most cases, the public never sees versions 0.1 through 0.9; 1.0 is the first release to non-employees.)

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I will NOT be downloading four (or more) new versions (at 10 minutes each), as they appear, and installing them, and looking for new bugs caused by the fixes.

You've provided many good and thorough comments on this developing software. But, at some point you need to stop complaining about dl times and get a broadband connection. Seriously, it's the 21st century now, and dialup just doesn't cut it anymore if you want to actively download media online. Heck, even my 73-year-old mom has broadband.