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Old 07-09-2009, 05:34 PM   #1
barkndog
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Creating content, pushing or fetching - beginner

I apologize in advance for my lack of Kindle knowledge, but we are trying to see if it will suite our needs. I personally don't have a Kindle (yet), but if this can work I will be provided one.

My CEO has a Kindle and loves it. He had an idea that we buy Kindles for our board of directors for their monthly meeting, push the board packet (typically several hundred pages) to them in advance of the meeting for their review, and use them during the meeting in place of the paper documents. Currently, we provide a link to an electronic copy (PDF or Word docs) of the board packet on a secure web server about a week in advance (most don't download it) and have hardcopy printed for them when they arrive. Going the Kindle route, if possible, would save a lot of paper.

So here are my questions:
Is it possible to provide content for the Kindle over our own website? And can we limit it to only our Kindles? (the documents are typically confidential - don't want to put them on a publishing site where people might stumble across them). The preferred way is that the documents are pushed automatically and wirelessly - like a subscription to a newspaper - but it would probably be ok to have them "fetch" the document if it's a simple task.

What are the best applications to convert Word documents to a format that Kindle likes?

Is anyone doing something like this? Seems like a great application for it, be it boardrooms or classrooms. In my situation though, these guys barely use PC's or PDA's - I have to make it as simple as possible for them.

Thanks for any info.
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Old 07-09-2009, 05:48 PM   #2
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I don't have a Kindle; someone who understands Whispernet will have to tell you whether you can download pre-set files. I do, however, work in litigation support, which involves a lot of confidential file sharing and meetings that involve lots of PDFs and other documents. I have some understanding of the hassles involved in getting everyone an e-copy and arranging a physical copy, and why you'd be looking for ways around that that don't involve "provide everyone a laptop for the meetings, and train them on Office and some kind of Acrobat markup program."

I find it unlikely that you'll be able to set confidential files with a password access or something like that, but I suppose that's possible. (In which case, anyone with the password would have access to the files. I don't know if Whispernet will deal with digital data rooms.)

Kindle's PDF support is pathetic. Kindles don't have it at all, and the DX has what's basically image-only support--no search, no annotations.

Word docs can be converted to txt files easily, but will lose all formatting; they can be converted to mobi/prc files with several types of freely available software, but will likely lose some formatting, and will not be editable in that format (although I believe the Kindle will allow annotations). Calibre is one, open-source and being developed so any problems you find are likely to be quickly fixed; Mobipocket.com offers their own software. (Calibre doesn't work with Word docs, but with RTFs, but Word will save its files as RTF with no notable format loss. Only desktop publishers care about the differences.)

There is no way to "push" documents to other people's Kindles, not even to make them available in their Kindle store areas. (Can't buy an ebook for someone else's Kindle, much less upload user docs for them.)

I think that corporate use of Kindles, or other ebook readers, is a ways off yet; the technology isn't that user-friendly for purposes other than downloading & reading published ebooks. The few that handle other functions well (like the iLiad) are very expensive.
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Old 07-09-2009, 06:58 PM   #3
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You could push documents to Kindles on the same account via Whispernet, or copy them to the Kindles via USB. You would have to register them all to the same account. You could then email them to the Kindle email address to use Whispernet. However, that costs $.15 per megabyte. Connecting via USB would be easier and cheaper.

However, you probably don't want to use the Kindle web browser, because it is very limited.

Also, unless you are going to use Kindle DX's, the documents are likely to be too large (physical page size) to easily view on a Kindle screen well. Also, it is not easy to flip back and forth between large chunks of pages.

You can use Mobipocket Creator to convert .doc to .mobi format, and keep some formatting, but tables, for example are not supported, except as embedded images, which have size limitations.

How can someone be qualified to be on a board of directors and be computer illiterate???
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Old 07-09-2009, 07:31 PM   #4
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You can just email documents to their kindles, provided the email address is registered on their Kindle accounts. In fact you can use calibre to do this with a single click, to all the email accounts. Note however, that sending a document to someone's email account will mean that Amazon has access to that document.
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Old 07-09-2009, 07:35 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
Note however, that sending a document to someone's email account will mean that Amazon has access to that document.
I suspect that Amazon technically has access to all content on Kindles that leave Whispernet open, and this may be a problem for exchange of confidential documents.
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Old 07-10-2009, 05:43 AM   #6
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Elfwreck - way to use a post to trash the Kindle ("pathetic")- and spread FUD. If you don't own one and don't care to do the proper research, please restrain your inaccurate advice. There is no such thing as a confidential electronic document.
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Old 07-10-2009, 07:13 AM   #7
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I hesitate to say anything that would discourage anyone from buying a bunch of Kindles, but I don't think it's the ideal device for this application.

Working on the assumption that a company board member is likely to own a laptop (is that a valid assumption, BarkNDog?), then I would think it's much easier to push the documents to the laptops - and easier for the recipient to read, search, etc. in the document.

All you need is a simple script that checks a URL for the presence of the doc; if it's available, the script would download it and open it in a web browser or PDF viewer. The script would have to be installed on each user's machine, but presumably we're talking about a small number of people. Once installed, the script could be set to run under Windows Scheduler, so that it does the check, say, once a day. The user wouldn't need to do take any special action: the document would just appear on their desktop so-many days before the board meeting.

Having said all that, if the boss is determined to do the job with Kindles, no doubt you could find some way of doing it. But that would be a case of choosing the job for the tool, when it should be the other way round.
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Old 07-10-2009, 08:12 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barkndog View Post
... push the board packet (typically several hundred pages) to them in advance of the meeting for their review, and use them during the meeting in place of the paper documents.
...
(the documents are typically confidential - don't want to put them on a publishing site where people might stumble across them).
Just like several of the previous posters remarked, you can send an email to their kindle. There is a few cents cost associated with sending a file to kindle. If you send a word document, it will be automagically reformatted for Kindle.
The question is, how much confidential the documents are. If they just talk about the monthly balance on the company bank account - something that competitor should not see, then this is a viable way. If they are confidential documents of the "For Your Eyes Only" "military contractor grade detailed recipe for the insulating foam for the Trident Missile" type then you should be aware that your email will go through many servers over which you have no control. Also Amazon can have a look into your Kindle when you switch on the Whispernet. Amazon can even delete document from your Kindle. They did delete some books by Ayn Rand from Kindles.

Ask your CEO if he would be comfortable sending a paper copy of materials in a plain envelope by a mail. If yes, there is no problem pushing the materials into Kindles using an email address associated with an account where the Kindle is registered. This is how I determine if the material in question can be sent in a plain un-encrypted e-mail

Last edited by kacir; 07-10-2009 at 08:35 AM.
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Old 07-10-2009, 09:26 AM   #9
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Thanks all for the replies - gives me some things to think about. To answer a few questions:
- The confidentiality is mostly operational - in other words items that are meant for the operations of the organization, but not something that would contain GLBA or security data. Operation items might be our security policy, but would not include our security procedure.
- Some of our (older) board members are not technically savvy, and prefer not to carry laptops, and these are the guys with the most clout. They are not necessarily "technically illiterate", they use their desktop for many things, but they don't have a need for a laptop. And besides, Kindle's are lighter, more convenient, and supposedly easier to use.
- The email option sounds promising. Combined with what I've read of calibre, it could work, although I'd probably have to "dumb down" the Word docs we produce to fit well in an rtf format. I've looked at the calibre web site - is there more documentation somewhere? Also, I'll check out Mobipocket creator over the next few days.

Again, thanks for all the responses - I am pleasantly surprised at the amount of support you offer a new forum member with what is an unusual issue.
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Old 07-10-2009, 01:56 PM   #10
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Word files work better than .rtf with Mobipocket Creator, in my experience. Or HTML (import into Word, save as HTML).

You will have to make sure that the Kindles have the email address you send from white-listed from the "Manage Your Kindle" page. Also, don't forget the expense (granted, it isn't big money) of .15 per megabyte to send directly to the Kindles.

I assume you will retain physical control of the Kindles?

Again, I doubt that the type of document typically used for company meetings are going to look good on a Kindle 2's small screen - a DX would be better, but they cost more. Especially if some of the board members are older, and want to increase the font size to a larger size, for readability.

I love my Kindle, but there are just some things it isn't ideal for.
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Old 07-10-2009, 01:58 PM   #11
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Sorry if I overstepped. I've heard many Kindle owners complain about the Kindle's PDF support, or lack thereof; my interpretation of "pathetic" was based on that, combined with my concept of the PRS-505's PDF support (which I think of as "acceptable" but not "good.") (I'm probably elitist or spoiled when it comes to PDFs; I've been working with Acrobat Pro since version 4.0.)

There are certainly plenty of electronic documents labeled "confidential," and a great many lawyers who get very upset at the idea of unauthorized people seeing them. (This is usually combined with a lack of awareness of how digital documents work, but that's a secondary issue.) And while they may bounce around emails in their companies, and their clients/vendors/etc, those have all (presumably) signed some kind of NDA about the info they receive; Amazon has certainly not agreed to keep confidential any info that passes through their servers.
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Old 07-10-2009, 02:09 PM   #12
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Look up Calibre 0.6.0 Beta on this site.
This is much more capable than 0.5.14 you can download when you go directly to the Calibre site.

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Old 07-10-2009, 03:24 PM   #13
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Look up Calibre 0.6.0 Beta on this site.
This is much more capable than 0.5.14 you can download when you go directly to the Calibre site.
But 0.6.0 is a work in progress and is still in beta and has a number of bugs. I don't think using it for criticle work documents is a good idea at present. Go with 0.5.14 for now.
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Old 07-10-2009, 08:23 PM   #14
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I think pretty much all your questions have been answered. However, you didn't say "which" kindle. The Kindle DX has a larger screen and can display an A4 PDF document very will without the need to reformat or dumb it down.

Why not give the guys a choice. Make it available for them online as a PDF and/or email to their Kindle DX?

BOb
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Old 07-13-2009, 07:31 AM   #15
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One further thought to add to the mix ....

Remember, all portable devices can be lost or stolen. As far as I know, there's no way to make a Kindle secure. If it falls into the wrong hands, you can't stop the bad guy from switching it on and reading the documents.

BarkNDog, I take your point about board members not wanting to carry laptops around, but at least a laptop -- and the documents on it -- can be password-protected against casual snoopers.
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