[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built a tool to help you read Hacker News...
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Show HN: I built a tool to help you read Hacker News on Kindle
Hi HN, I'm Daniel Nguyen. In June, I quit my job to start indie
hacking full-time. The idea of KTool first came to my mind when I
was reading "Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how
should I prepare?"[0] I've been wearing glasses since I was 5. My
right eye is basically blind. Doctors said there is no chance to
cure it. I was genuinely scared. Like holy shit, if my left eye
stops working, my life is done. Since then I've been very conscious
about time spent on computer screens. That's when I started using
Kindle-related products: to offload as many reading materials as
possible to the Kindle. I was a happy customer of Push to Kindle.
Great product! Then I ran into multiple limitations which led me
to build KTool: a tool to send anything online to Kindle. Blog
posts, Twitter threads, Hacker News discussions, RSS,
newsletters... you name it. But I'm not here to pitch my vision
for KTool. I built a specific tool to help you send HN discussions
to your Kindle. And in the spirit of Show HN, it doesn't require an
account. If you don't own a Kindle, there is the option to download
the EPUB. Let me know what you think. Any feedback will be much
appreciated. If you're a Kindle owner and you read a lot of online
content, give KTool a try. [0]:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22918980
Author : longnguyen
Score : 290 points
Date : 2022-08-29 13:31 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (ktool.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (ktool.io)
| mft_ wrote:
| Hi Daniel
|
| First, I love what you've done here, and why - congratulations on
| making it this far!
|
| A few suggestions:
|
| 1) An independent web route is important, but you could lower the
| friction even further with browser plugins. Like you, for general
| articles I use push-to-kindle[0] which only needs two clicks - no
| copy/paste, etc.
|
| 2) Have you also thought about including a copy of the original
| article - so that in a single download, there's the article
| followed by the HN discussion, all accessible from the document's
| index?
|
| 3) I could see this developing further as a productivity tool via
| subscription - maybe I set up an account with you and then
| receive a digest of the day's top-10 (or 20, whatever) articles
| and discussions. Or a weekly digest? Might be a powerful way to
| divert people away from the regular distraction of HN, but still
| allow consumption.
|
| Good luck :)
|
| [0] https://www.fivefilters.org/push-to-kindle/
| longnguyen wrote:
| Thanks for your valuable feedback.
|
| 1. I've actually developed that[0]. Using the browser extension
| is even more powerful as it could send content behind paywalls
| to Kindle -- something not possible for the web UI.
|
| The reason I didn't mention it is it requires an account,
| probably not a good thing for a Show HN.
|
| 2. Yes. I'm not sure if that's a useful feature, but
| personally, I don't like it. I want the original article to be
| a separate ebook so highlights & notes go into the correct
| entry. But that's an interesting feature for sure. Probably
| will make it a user preference.
|
| 3. Yes! That's 100% on my road map. And not just for HN. I got
| beta support for newsletters now but it doesn't work with a
| digest-type newsletter.
|
| Thank you again!
|
| [0]: https://ktool.io/install
| heap_perms wrote:
| I would definitely be interested in _receiving the day 's
| top-10 (or 20, whatever) articles and discussions_.
| mft_ wrote:
| > 1. I've actually developed that[0]. Using the browser
| extension is even more powerful as it could send content
| behind paywalls to Kindle -- something not possible for the
| web UI.
|
| Ah, I see it now when I load your full site, rather than the
| HN-specific page. Great to know!
| Bakary wrote:
| Thanks for making this. This type of software makes e-ink much
| more usable.
|
| I also suggest trying Android e-ink readers from companies such
| as Hisense or Onyx Boox as they've come a long way in the last
| few years. (Not affiliated with them, just a bit obsessive on the
| topic)
|
| With the upcoming generation of color e-ink and large companies
| starting to notice (Apple, Huawei) it's only going to get better
| and better moving forward.
| criddell wrote:
| Onyx has had problems complying with the GPL in the past. Have
| they fixed that?
| Bakary wrote:
| I'd be surprised if they ever will. For my part, I just use
| afwall and other related services and accept the risk.
| Bluecobra wrote:
| I'm in a similar situation as as you in that I wear glasses and
| have busted right eye due to eye muscle surgery in the early
| 1980s. I can "see" out of it but reading text is impossible
| unless it's like a foot tall. The thought of avoiding screens
| never occurred to me. Wouldn't any medium be it a screen, paper
| book, or Kindle cause eye strain on your left eye? I've seen many
| optometrists/ophthalmologists over the years and nobody
| recommended to avoid screens. One doctor advised me to avoid
| using contacts since eyeglasses always give you eye protection
| for the left eye and that was it.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Oh, I didn't know that using contacts is not advisable. Thank
| you. Between doing a LASIK and using contacts, I was leaning
| toward the latter. But now probably will just wear glasses.
|
| I find computer screens cause more eye strain than Kindle.
|
| Yeah, I don't think we can avoid screens completely. I just
| wanted to offload some of the reading to the Kindle. So I could
| read outside more.
| dangus wrote:
| Definitely don't do LASIK. Look into the rates of
| complications and side effects. There's a good argument that
| it's really not a procedure that should have ever been
| approved.
|
| I don't think the advice to avoid contacts as a baseline
| recommendation is the takeaway of the comment you replied to,
| that advice pertained to that person's specific medical
| situation.
|
| Also, personally, I don't believe it's the _type_ of screen
| that 's problematic for long-term eyesight. What my
| optometrist told me is that we weren't really evolved to be
| looking at things close up for long periods of time.
|
| I don't think e-ink versus backlit screen is the issue -
| certainly, our eyes take in a lot more ambient light from
| not-screens during the day compared to the weak little LED
| light on our screen.
|
| The real issue is spending 8+ hours a day focused on close up
| objects. Take frequent breaks where you are looking in the
| distance, go on walks, etc.
|
| Remember to listen to your doctor over random people on the
| Internet, including me.
| lolinder wrote:
| > Definitely don't do LASIK. Look into the rates of
| complications and side effects. There's a good argument
| that it's really not a procedure that should have ever been
| approved.
|
| Can you provide more details on this? A cursory search
| doesn't turn up anything especially alarming. The only
| source I could find that _was_ alarming is this[0], which I
| don 't really trust because it reads a bit like anti-vax
| literature ("see what they're hiding", etc.) and is very
| old (all sources they cite are from 2009 or earlier). My
| understanding has been that the procedure has improved
| dramatically in that time in both cost and safety.
|
| [0] https://lasikcomplications.com/
| AngryData wrote:
| From last I read PKR was a better choice if you have the
| time for it to heal because it removes far less material
| and doesn't form a flap which is a physical weak point
| that hard physical activity or a poke in the eye can
| dislodge.
|
| But with PKR you also have wait like up to a month before
| vision is clear again, versus lasik giving mostly clear
| vision within like a day or so. So with PKR long term it
| is less physically vulnerable but it puts your vision out
| of commission for a week or two atleast.
| dangus wrote:
| Perhaps I'm not as well-informed on this subject as I
| thought, because I had done some research months/years
| ago but I'm not really finding solid information
| reporting on the dangers as was the case with you.
|
| One of the big ones I had found was risk of chronic dry
| eyes being really high, but that seems to be with PRK
| surgery and not LASIK. Rates of long-term dry eyes after
| 12 months for LASIK appears to be 0.8% according to the
| papers I found, which you could argue is pretty low.
|
| I wouldn't discount the idea that modern practices and
| equipment works a lot better. A lot of the horror stories
| I do find are older, like you mentioned.
| mynameisnull wrote:
| rantingdemon wrote:
| I may be missing something - but how exactly do I Use it?
| cgrealy wrote:
| Just to play devils advocate, I 100% do not want this.
|
| I understand your reasons for making this and I fully support
| them, but the day Amazon make the Kindle into something other a
| way to read books is the day I drop the kindle for another
| reader.
|
| The whole point of a Kindle for me is that I can use it to read
| and not be distracted by notifications or wondering what's on HN
| or whatever.
| 8675309t wrote:
| Website says cancel with click of a button...can't find the
| button...
|
| Can't find an email to try to get a refund.
|
| found in email.
| novantadue wrote:
| Not related, but I came up with a workaround to add scrolling for
| Kindle on Desktop. Kindle doesn't support scrolling on their
| desktop app -- they only allow page-by-page reading for some
| wacky reason. Workaround is to install "Windows Subsystem for
| Android", then read it on the kindle app inside the subsystem.
| password4321 wrote:
| > _my vision for KTool_
|
| I see what you did there.
|
| Didn't Amazon tighten up how custom content is delivered to
| Kindles fairly recently, requiring 2FA? So you need to connect
| the Kindle to load the content?
| lolinder wrote:
| I don't think so. Not too long ago I was able to send an EPUB
| to my Kindle by sending it to a kindle email address from an
| "approved" sender.
|
| Here's the help article describing that process:
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId...
| longnguyen wrote:
| Haha, the pun wasn't intended.
|
| So far I haven't run into the 2FA issue yet. I made sure the
| email configuration was correct (all those SPF, DKIM, DMARC
| kinds of stuff) and the KTool email was added to their Approved
| email address list.
| futhey wrote:
| Been using this for a few months, really solid replacement for
| Amazon's own send-to-kindle, with a lot of potential.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Thanks for your continued support!
| johnthescott wrote:
| welcome to the monkey house, dan.
|
| combining HN and kindle is intriguing. my most serious work
| occurs laying in bed reading, before falling asleep. i will
| surely follow your work.
| smoldesu wrote:
| This is neat! I used to do this with modded firmware and an RSS
| feed of the HN frontpage, it's quite a wonderful experience.
| gigatexal wrote:
| I love this. This is the killer feature that would get me to buy
| a kindle. If the affiliate program were still as lucrative as it
| was I'd use your link to do just that. what a cool thing you've
| built!
| Shorel wrote:
| You can get a Kobo instead, it has native Pocket integration.
| replwoacause wrote:
| Very well done, I can't wait to give it a try!
| fudged71 wrote:
| Any chance to be able to use this on reMarkable? It has epub
| support
| [deleted]
| longnguyen wrote:
| It's on my road map. I got requested support for reMarkable &
| Kobo but I wanted to build a _really_ good tool for the Kindle
| first. Stay tuned. Thanks
| fancy_pantser wrote:
| If you add Kobo support and ship the Android app, you've got
| a premium member for life in me!
|
| Currently, I use KoboCloud to sync cloud drive (Box, Google
| Drive, et al.) folders to my readers, one folder for each
| family member. I use browser extensions to create epubs for
| websites on the fly and save them to the cloud drives, but
| can't find a great-looking solution for mobile (Android in
| particular). Many sites I visit like HN comment sections just
| don't reformat well and it looks like you have a wonderful
| solution implemented for that aspect.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Glad to hear that. I will keep that in mind. Thank you.
| filato wrote:
| I plan to add integration with dropbox and g.drive to my
| (similar) tool - Sendtoreader during September. Once that's
| done, reMarkble will get everything needed to receive web
| content, including RSS feeds subscriptions (full-text format)
| fudged71 wrote:
| That would be great. I've had formatting issues with Web-to-
| epub browser extensions so have been usin "Print Friendly"
| for web-to-pdf on desktop, and Shortcuts print-to-pdf on iOS.
| akomtu wrote:
| Something like a weekly digest of most popular HN posts in the
| epub/pdf format would be great.
| colincooke wrote:
| I love the idea, and would consider paying for this after a nice
| trial period. I love my kindle and it has radically changed how
| much I read, I used to read maybe 2-3 books a year, now it's more
| like 2-3 books a month. I find the E-ink screen and "low
| techness" of it the most appealing. I'm really looking forward to
| using this for things other than books.
| tcmart14 wrote:
| I was skeptical of screen readers until the Kindle e-ink. Have
| some OLED or LCD screen that you find on the standard tablets
| like some of the original Barnes and Nobles Nooks was just not
| appealing or comfortable. e-ink screens have definitely been a
| value on on my personal appeal on them, especially the Kindle's
| backlit ones.
| SnooSux wrote:
| > In June, I quit my job to start indie hacking full-time.
|
| What has that been like?
| xena wrote:
| Do you have a way for me to demo the RSS support? I'd love to
| have a calm technology flow for reading articles on my kindle and
| I think ktool may just be what I'm looking for.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Currently, KTool doesn't support RSS yet. I will work on RSS
| next. I do have beta support for newsletter though, if you
| wanted to read Stratechery or Substack newsletters.
| nik5 wrote:
| I read lot of blogs, made something similar [0] a while ago.
| Write now installing it is painful, if you don't have calibre or
| node js installed. Re-writing it all in nodejs, so that
| installation is easier. Calibre is not needed now, as amazon
| started converting epubs to azw3.
|
| [0] https://github.com/nikhil1raghav/kindle-send
| cgb223 wrote:
| As a professional platform builder, I'm always amazed at how good
| of a piece of hardware Amazon has made, with how limited it's
| platform experience is
|
| Kindles can only (easily) do what Amazon wants it to do --full
| stop.
|
| It's like the iPhone before the App Store.
|
| I bet Amazon would make a massive amount of money if they opened
| up their ecosystem to let others develop on top of it
| criddell wrote:
| I bet it wouldn't move the needle. Their books/Kindle ratio
| might even drop. Although I know my Kindle is really a
| computer, I don't want it to act like one. I want a dedicated
| and narrowly focused ereader.
|
| If I were head of that division at Amazon, I'd remove
| bluetooth, APIify the bookstore (so you can buy books from
| other retailers), remove GoodReads integration, and direct the
| hardware people to focus on battery life and the software
| people to focus on layout and typography. I'd also add a
| physical switch to enable/disable the touchscreen. All Kindles
| would have physical page turn buttons like the Oasis does.
| FinalBriefing wrote:
| I think I agree. I'm glad my Kobo doesn't have a Twitter app.
|
| Kobo's Pocket integration is nice, so I can read through
| articles I've saved on my computer/phone without distraction.
| There's also an Overdrive store so I can browser and borrow
| books from my local library without jumping through hoops.
|
| Would it be nice to support alternatives to Overdrive and
| Pocket? Sure, but once you open the doors to any third-party
| apps, it's hard to keep the focus on books.
| protonbob wrote:
| In fact, they used to allow people to create apps for the
| Kindle, but they took away that ability later.
| donio wrote:
| They have done just that with their Android based non-eink
| Kindle Fire line. They run their own app store and it's not
| great. Imagine having all the junk of the Play market but with
| most of the good stuff missing. The only reason I use mine is
| because it's possible to install the F-Droid and Play apks so
| you can use it more or less like a regular Android tablet.
|
| I use my regular e-ink kindle 100% offline, I never turn off
| airplane mode. I only load content via USB using the Calibre
| CLI. I don't want my Kindle to do cool stuff. I used to think I
| did, I rooted my early Kindles and tried to do as much on them
| as possible. But then I realized that it's only a distraction
| from the one thing the Kindle is actually good at: reading long
| static text documents.
| catchmeifyoucan wrote:
| I like this! I was wondering if this also sends the articles from
| HN, not just the comments. It'd be game changing to wake up and
| read the news on my Remarkable.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Thanks. Yes, but you need to sign up for an account to send
| articles though.
| nabaraz wrote:
| I use Amazon's official extension to send webpages to Kindle all
| the time. [1]
|
| My feedback: I can't justify paying $4/month to be able to send
| few packaged webpages to my kindle, If this was a one time
| payment of ~$20, I'd be interested.
|
| [1]. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/send-to-kindle-
| for...
| longnguyen wrote:
| Thanks for your feedback and I'm glad that the official
| extension works well for you. All I can say is you probably are
| not my target customers.
|
| Most of the time, the official extension doesn't work for me.
| And I'm not alone. You can check their recent reviews[0]. A lot
| of 1 star.
|
| I'm aware that there are other alternatives such as Push to
| Kindle, P2K, Instapaper, newslettertokindle etc. They provide
| much better conversion quality than the official extension, and
| better deliverability. I'm confident that KTool is on par with
| them, maybe better in some use cases (such as Twitter threads,
| HN, sending pdfs...). And their paid plans range from $2.99/mo
| to $10/mo.
|
| What I'm doing at KTool is to support all those content in a
| single subscription.
|
| I hate subscriptions, but until we found a better model, I
| can't sell it as one time payment. My expense is recurring (CPU
| for parsing & image processing, email + bandwidth to send
| articles to Kindle, Apple developer program, core parser
| maintenance as sites structure changes...)
|
| But I will definitely do more experiment with pricing though.
|
| Again, thanks for your valuable feedback. Much appreciated
|
| https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/send-to-kindle-for...
| dchuk wrote:
| I have to say, your setup process for your chrome extension is
| very slick. I look forward to giving this thing a shot, I use
| Pocket to save articles but it's kind of just a junk drawer for
| me, and I'd prefer to force myself to read from my Kindle anyway
| vs my iPad so I don't get distracted easily.
| Abishek_Muthian wrote:
| Hi Daniel,
|
| Congratulations on the launch!
|
| I received an email from HN user telling me about this post
| because a while back I was running 'HN to Kindle' service[0] and
| since Amazon enabled 2FA for bulk emails even for approved email
| ids I lost motivation to run it further and instead made the core
| application open-source[1].
|
| Since you're sending HN item individually, I'm not sure whether
| you'll face the 2FA block but do monitor whether your users are
| getting your emails delivered by connecting with them.
|
| Your website's presentation is way better than mine, Perhaps
| because you've put JS to good use. Feel free to use my code to
| implement other features like classification according to chosen
| topics if you'd like it.
|
| [0]
| https://web.archive.org/web/20220216140431/https://hntokindl...
|
| [1] https://github.com/abishekmuthian/hntoebook
| maninthere wrote:
| Amazing work! Great to see such a tool getting the recognition it
| strongly deserve. Love it already!
| jeffbee wrote:
| The blurred-out notice makes it seem like some form of scam. I
| would rework the site to present the entire process to potential
| sign-ups on first glance.
| longnguyen wrote:
| I never thought of it. Thank you!
| azinman2 wrote:
| When I saw this I was hoping for something that was more about
| the articles themselves as well as the main page. Would love to
| have an e-reader experience in the morning versus use my phone.
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(page generated 2022-08-29 23:00 UTC)