Hasta La Ideas

Summer has kicked into high gear here in the northern hemisphere and this is when I like to retreat from the heat with a proverbial good book — but certainly not a “book” as my great-grandparents would have described one. Today, there are apps and devices that let you curate your summer reading from varied online resources and onto hand-held devices. With a little bit of time, an Internet connection and some free software, you can create your own digital reading experience and bring it to the beach, the hotel or even your favorite quiet corner of home.

Below, I’ve described several services that allow you to save or bookmark online articles for later reading. Once captured with the various apps, the articles are presented beautifully and legibly, as if you’re reading a digital book or magazine. Advertisements are stripped out, as are distracting sidebar ads and colors. You’re left with a great-looking and largely distraction-free reading experience. Best of all, these services are free and work on a variety of platforms, from iPads to Android devices to Nooks and Kindles.

Pocket

Online: getpocket.com
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, some Android devices, Amazon Kindle Fire, various web browsers

The web service Read It Later was recently re-branded as Pocket. Once you’ve created a free account online, you can add a special bookmarklet to your web browser. Then, when you come across an article you’d like to read later, simply click the bookmarklet. A small window will appear confirming that the story has been saved to your Pocket account. You can further organize things with tags at that point. For example, “beach reading,” “research” or “kids.”

When you’re out with your mobile device, launch Pocket and you’ll find all of the articles you’ve saved. Some of Pocket’s useful features let you browse articles by tag, add a star to favorites and view videos and images you’ve saved in addition to articles.

Readability

Online: readability.com
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, some Android devices, Amazon Kindle, Nook Tablet, various web browsers

Readability works much like Pocket. Create a free account, install the bookmarklet in your browser and send articles to your mobile device. There are important differences, though. For starters, Readability’s bookmarklet is much more robust. You can opt to read an article right then if you like, and Readability with present it in a beautiful, distraction-free layout. You can also send it to your Kindle or Nook Tablet with a click. Once you’ve synced your devices, you can access your reading list when offline.

Instapaper

Online: instapaper.com
Cost: Free with optional subscription plan
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, some Android devices, Amazon Kindle and Fire, Nook Color and Nook Tablet, various web browsers

Instapaper is among the first of these distraction-free reading services. Today it’s available on a huge number of devices and supported by a passionate developer and legions of fans. The iPhone and iPad version has some unique features, like tilt scrolling. This lets you scroll through a long article simply by tipping your device back and forth. There’s no need to swipe with a finger.

You’ll also find lots of layout customization options, like font size, several color schemes, spacing and brightness. After a minute or so of fiddling, you can get Instapaper’s articles to look just how you’d like.

Flipboard

Online: flipboard.com
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android

Flipboard is unique in that you don’t add content to it. Instead, you tell Flipboard what to find for you. It will search the web for stories, photos and videos across several categories, including sports, technology, travel, photography, news, music, film and so much more. It will even pull content (articles your friends have linked to) from your Twitter and Facebook accounts, presenting all of it in a beautiful layout that’s reminiscent of a high-end design magazine. You can even add local news and your favorite RSS feeds. It’s such a great-looking app and has become my favorite way to browse Facebook.

There you have four services that will let you curate your summer reading, across several devices. Now start collecting, get reading, and enjoy these lovely, lazy days.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Tweet your favorite grammar mistake for a chance to win a modern parody of Strunk & White

Typically when sending a text, Tweet or Facebook post, correct grammar takes the backseat to witty punctuation or uber-abbreviation. We may be devolving into “chatspeak,” but as the foundation of any language, grammar remains an essential tool even in the digital age.

Bringing life to such a humdrum subject is no simple task. Enter Chris Baker and Jacob Hansen’s new book The Elements of F*cking Style. Fresh off of the Thomas Dunne Books and St. Martin’s Press, the “helpful parody” addresses everything from common questions like “What the hell is a pronoun?” to conundrums like “Does not using paragraphs or periods make my thesis read like it was written by a mental patient?”

Baker is offering a copy of the book to the first five CH readers who Tweet at him (@funkmastabaker) with their favorite grammar f*ck up by a friend or public figure. To see what makes it such an enticing offer, check out our brief interview with the grammar-savvy author below.

You typically run a website, is this your first printed publication?

“Elements” is our first foray into the printed world, but the genesis of the idea began with the website “The Fucking Word of the Day,” which was based off the insight that learning can be made fun if you swap out boring, stale examples for those that use sex, drugs and swearing.

Why produce a physical book?

Despite its austere reputation, we’ve always considered grammar to be among the most sensual of all academic subjects. As a result, we wanted to present our material by way of a physical medium. The iPad and Kindle are great, and we won’t bemoan any customers who choose to download the book instead of springing for the hard copy. Having said that, our goal really was to create a book that could be shoved into a back pocket on the way out of the house, and then put back onto the bookshelf in the evening. Plus, it’s great for swatting flies, which can be of great benefit in a dorm room or office cubicle.

So what can we look forward to next?

Next, there will be a book more closely related to vocabulary. I’m also working on a book on cinema, and a number of other web related projects.

“The Elements of F*cking Style: A Helpful Parody” is available online at Amazon for $10, and also at various independent bookstores.

The Eucalyptus is the newest iphone app that allows you to read a book. Its got the good page curl effect to turn pages.  It seems cool and all but i got to say im not a fan of these apps or the kindle. Im done for a good old fashion book. If only i could read.