Feedbooks.com: Beta released

[kelchm]

This is brilliant!

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by flamaest

Lovin' the feedbooks site!

Some feedbooks interface comments:

Sometimes when I select the "Sony Reader" type of PDF download, my browser will launch Acrobat instead of asking me where to store the PDF file. This happens about once every 15 downloads.

After I login, is there a way to select that I have a Sony Reader as my default device, so I don't have to select the PDF type when subscribing to an RSS feed?

After I add an RSS feed to my main newspaper page [not my newspaper], the interface doesn't seem to easily allow me to unsubscribe to a particular RSS feed unless I can get to it again from the top-10, and then select unsubscribe.

I think it would be helpful to allow the doanloding of an entire newspaper as individual RSS feed PDFs. It seem like your server is being heavily taxed when asking for an entire newspaper, the request fails most of the time, when the newspaper is big.



Thanks,
F.

Most of the newspaper part of the website could really be considered in an alpha state. We're rewriting currently the way RSS are generated and most of the work on the UI is not done yet. We'll update the website this week with some new features for the public domain part of the website, and then we'll shift our focus on something else: the UI for uploading/editing books and the newspaper part of the website.

Problem with a big newspaper is that we have to download the feeds and images from many different sources. If these sources are too slow, you'll get a timeout indeed. We might change the way we generate those PDFs: instead of doing this live, we'll generate them something like once every hour. This way it'll be an instant download for the user, but the information won't be as fresh.

Hadrien where are you located? which copyright law do you follow?

We follow the Life+50 law. And this is not necessarily linked to where you're located. On the page of every book and inside the e-book themselves we have a message about the copyright status of the book.

[flamaest]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

we'll generate them something like once every hour. This way it'll be an instant download for the user, but the information won't be as fresh.

Yes, this a great idea!

Maybe we can squeak in the ability to re-order newspaper rss feeds in alphabetical order..

Fabian.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by flamaest

Yes, this a great idea!

Maybe we can squeak in the ability to re-order newspaper rss feeds in alphabetical order..

Fabian.

That's an easy one. You'll notice that for public domain books, most of the time you can re-order using alphabetical order, downloads, year etc...

Try sorting these books for example: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/21

[Hadrien]

Here's 3 screenshots of our app for the iLiad.

You'll be able to directly download books/newspapers/rss/sudokus on your iLiad using this app. The new recommendation system that we'll release pretty soon is also available on it (download books, add some to your favorites and an algorithm will recommend new books).

[flamaest]

This is Awsome..

Will the "feeds" listing come pull from the feedbooks.com page? how is the "Slashdot, techcrunch...." RSS feeds list created..?

When can I use this wonderful app and can I use it, even partially, for my Sony reader?

Thanks,
F.

[flamaest]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Here's 3 screenshots of our app for the iLiad.

You'll be able to directly download books/newspapers/rss/sudokus on your iLiad using this app. The new recommendation system that we'll release pretty soon is also available on it (download books, add some to your favorites and an algorithm will recommend new books).

In the feeds screen shot, will you inlcude a "select all" button to sync all my feeds at once..?

I have 50 feeds, that's alot of clicking..

F.

[flamaest]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

That's an easy one. You'll notice that for public domain books, most of the time you can re-order using alphabetical order, downloads, year etc...

Try sorting these books for example: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/21

yes, and I would love to be able to do this for my newapaper in the "edit Newspaper" page..

F.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by flamaest

This is Awsome..

Will the "feeds" listing come pull from the feedbooks.com page? how is the "Slashdot, techcrunch...." RSS feeds list created..?

When can I use this wonderful app and can I use it, even partially, for my Sony reader?

Thanks,
F.

This app is for the iLiad and will run directly on the iLiad itself. Just walk in a cafe, connect your iLiad to a free WiFi access and voila, you can download any books from Feedbooks.

In the Feeds tabs, you'll see your subscriptions that you selected directly on the website. This way you can also read your favorite RSS feeds without connecting your iLiad to a PC.

We're working on a different app for windows that should work with all UMS device (iLiad/Cybook) and that might use libprs500 for the Sony Reader. It'll run in your taskbar and automatically download your subscriptions. You'll just have to press "sync" once your reader is connected to transfer these downloads.

It's quite a lot of work for us, but our API is open: any developper can create an application based on Feedbooks and those two that we're working on will be open-source if anyone wished to modify them. Take a look at our blog for a few details on how you can extract the subscriptions using XML, we'll do an extensive descriptions on how everything work as soon as the iLiad app is ready.

[flamaest]

Great info, I can't wait!!!

F.

[tribble]

Very nice feature. Great work.

[JSWolf]

Any chance of adding in settings for the Boston Globe?

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Any chance of adding in settings for the Boston Globe?

Settings for the Boston Globe ? We're not doing the extracting content part of the job with Feedbooks. Give Dapper a try, I'm sure you could get the full content of the Boston Globe with it.

Or even better: send an e-mail to the Boston Globe, explaining why RSS feeds with full articles are needed. If they worry about ads, well they can include the ads in the RSS feeds too !

[flamaest]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

First version of our sync program should be out pretty soon now. It'll work in a really simple way: login/password, select your device and everything else is done directly on the website with the subscribe feature...

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...9&d=1179697383

I am loving feedbooks.com, its a great Idea and I want to use it everyday!

If we read the dozens of comments around the net about these E-Ink devices, there is one particular thread that MANY people would start using these devices if they could dock their readers and DL all their newspapers in the morning.. [Of course, the Sony Connect software falls short here]

My question is, what's the estimated time line for getting this sync tool out [or having the "large" newspaper caching feature ready]?

This would really be a major time-saver.. right now I have to click through 50 RSS feedbooks.com download links to get my RSS updates to my reader [because very large "newspapers" are failing to DL due to size].. yeah, I love my RSS...

PS: Has feedbooks.com considered adding "RasterFarian" type features into your website. Kind of like OCR websites, where I can upload my personal PDFs and have them spit back out ready-formatted for my Sony Reader?

Thanks,
F.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by flamaest

I am loving feedbooks.com, its a great Idea and I want to use it everyday!

If we read the dozens of comments around the net about these E-Ink devices, there is one particular thread that MANY people would start using these devices if they could dock their readers and DL all their newspapers in the morning.. [Of course, the Sony Connect software falls short here]

My question is, what's the estimated time line for getting this sync tool out [or having the "large" newspaper caching feature ready]?

This would really be a major time-saver.. right now I have to click through 50 RSS feedbooks.com download links to get my RSS updates to my reader [because very large "newspapers" are failing to DL due to size].. yeah, I love my RSS...


Thanks,
F.

I love my RSS too... Well for an app... I already have a simple app that download RSS feeds everyday, although it doesn't sync yet to the PRS-500. We've had quite a few troubles reverse engineering the USB protocol to make this work (and it doesn't, it works with small file but not with large ones). Eventhough it's not finished (well it is for UMS device), this could be already easier for you: you won't have to click on a single link this way. I'll post this on this topic as soon as an installer for it is ready.