philwilson.org

Hacker Monthly workflow

02 January, 2011

I got a Kindle for Christmas, and I subscribe to Hacker Monthly. HM is provided in PDF, epub and .mobi – the Kindle can read .mobi file natively, so when the latest HM arrived today I was keen to try it out.

A link to the latest download is delivered by email, so the normal workflow for viewing the PDF is like this:

  1. receive email
  2. click link to PDF
  3. file downloads and PDF reader opens

For the kindle it appears to be this:

  1. receive email
  2. click link to .mobi
  3. file downloads
  4. compose new email to my @free.kindle.com address
  5. attach downloaded .mobi file
  6. send
  7. wait for it to arrive on the kindle (a minute or so)

I could simply connect the Kindle to a computer and transfer the file over USB, but that kind of defeats the point doesn’t it?

I had been hoping to just be able to load my email in the browser on the Kindle and click the link from there, but unfortunately I use GMail which opens links in new tabs, which the Kindle browser doesn’t support (even in mobile GMail, which is what I’m actually using on the Kindle).

Are there better options that I’m missing?

See other posts tagged with general hacker monthly hacker news kindle and all posts made in January 2011.

Comments

Paulo Fisch
02 January, 2011 at 09:11

Can you copy the link to the attatchment on the Kindle with a click-hold or similar?

GMail does seem to use hyperlinks rather than JS high-jinks for attachments, so you should be able to cut/paste the attachment URL to download in the same window.

Phil
02 January, 2011 at 10:23

I did try that but couldn’t seem to get copy working. I will googlevestigate further.

Cheng Soon
02 January, 2011 at 10:50

Hey Phil,

I’m Cheng Soon, the Hacker Monthly guy. I could tweak our subscription management system so you could directly receive the MOBI as attachment on your kindle address. However, I will need somebody to test it before rolling it out to all customers (Kindle doesn’t ship to Malaysia). If you’re interested, could you drop me an email? cheng dot soon at hacker monthly

Phil
02 January, 2011 at 18:26

Hi Cheng Soon, yes that sounds great! I’ll drop you an email!

John O'Brien
05 June, 2011 at 12:09

Did this feature get implemented? I’d be keen to get auto delivery to my kindle address too…

sayanee
22 June, 2011 at 15:12

Hey guys! Yes, like John I would also love to have my monthly subscription auto delivered to my Kindle 🙂 And I would love to help out in the testing as well! Did this feature get implemented? Thanks!