The Kindle’s screen is sharp and clear, and text has high contrast and is very easy to read. Battery life is excellent. Ordering books from Amazon.com is a breeze with 3G wireless or Wi-Fi; new books appear on the Kindle within a couple of seconds. Users can also subscribe to periodicals and blogs, including the GigaOM Kindle edition.

And it’s possible to obtain materials from other sources, including many public libraries and websites; just download them to your computer and copy the files to the Kindle, which appears as a hard drive to your operating system when it’s connected via USB.

The Kindle now supports several formats (although not ePub, yet) and I’ve had good luck converting non-protected e-books from formats that the Kindle doesn’t support using Calibre.

The new Kindle is lighter than the old model, and is very comfortable to handle. I’ve even found it comfortable to read on my back in bed, especially with the addition of the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover, which works very well.

So can the Kindle replace, say, an iPad, an iPod touch, or an Android device in a work environment? In a word, no.

The new Kindle has a web browser (marked “Experimental”), but it’s rudimentary at best, and is difficult to navigate, since the Kindle lacks a touch screen. And the Kindle doesn’t offer apps — not even a calendar, address book or email client.

If you’re a voracious reader like me, the new Kindle is definitely a great addition to your gadget bag. The version with 3G retails for $189; the Wi-Fi only version is $139. It’s sold out as of this writing, but Amazon is accepting orders to ship around September 20.

But don’t expect to use it for anything more than reading. I think you’ll find yourself continuing to use your favorite iOS or Android device during the workday.

Do you use en e-book reader in your job?

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Are You Empowering Your Mobile Workforce?

We’re often encouraged to try great new ways to generate continuous revenue streams. Often they’re presented off-hand, as quick fixes to business- or reputation-building quandaries. And it’s true that all these products can be sound ways to expand your exposure and, possibly, income.

But before you jump, think beyond the bucks. The fact that someone else made money with a particular product or approach doesn’t necessarily mean you will, too. Take a long, hard, objective look at the big-picture implications of the potential project before you get bogged down in the doing, and disappointed by its results.

The Me-too Mire

Whatever sources you read, there’s always someone, somewhere, advising us to look at product or service creation as a way to generate independent, continual income streams. And wherever you look, there’s someone taking that advice.

There’s a plethora of gems — and junk — out there. How will your product compete? How will you differentiate it? What will make it matter to users?

The real question here is not about the kind of ongoing revenue stream you’ll create, but who you’ll sell it to, and how you’ll reach them. This is, of course, especially important if you really do want to generate income from your product, rather than just completing it for the love of the task.

If your eyes are on the dollars, rather than a target audience, your offering is likely to become just another one in a large field of competitors that don’t deliver anything that’s genuinely new. To avoid producing a me-too offering, you have to look beyond what’s trendy to find real opportunities.

Understanding Your Talents

I can’t code, so I’d never try to write a piece of software. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can write a coherent, hundred-page ebook if the longest thing you penned in the last month was a post-it note. Don’t imagine you can manage a product customer base of hundreds if you’re not a “people person”. And don’t think you can keep up a regular blogging schedule if you can’t seem to keep in touch with your favorite past clients.

Start with what you know, and what you can do well. Work out what your talents, skills and interests are first; then you’ll be able to distinguish the good ideas from the bad, and make the good opportunities lucrative. You’ll also find developing — and maintaining — your product or service a whole lot easier if it lies within your area of expertise and passion.

Quality Counts

Why don’t I start a photo-journal? In my field, it would certainly be a unique way to try to promote my skills. But the answer’s simple: I’m appalling at photography. Even decent family snaps are beyond me; any photo blog I started would contain a mass of hideous mis-fires, overexposed, red-eyed nightmares, and visual garbage.

Similarly, if you’re not a developer, don’t try to build a technical product. If you’re not confident on camera, don’t start a video blog. Even if the biggest names in the business tell you to do it, and everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon, take your time to decide if this really is for you. Do your research. Objectively assess your options. Consider the alternatives available to you — alternatives that may better suit your skills and talents.

Remember: the offering you supply to the world will ultimately reflect on you. And since you’ll likely promote it online, a bad product will haunt you for a long time to come. Quality counts. Don’t release products and services you can’t stand behind — honestly, legitimately — 100 percent. Don’t release untested output in a rush. And don’t slap something together in an effort to “ride the wave”. Create your own wave instead.

What’s Your Project?

I’m all for people stepping outside comfort zones, taking on challenges and innovating. But producing a me-too product in a format that doesn’t inspire you to sell to a poorly defined audience for the sake of an often-elusive independent revenue stream is none of those things.

Extend yourself doing something you love. Challenge yourself in ways that help you achieve your dreams. Innovate something you can be proud of not just because you did it, but because it is good and meets a need.

Have you developed products and services of your own? What advice can you give to others who are thinking of doing a similar thing?

Image by stock.xchng user jsnflo.

PDF Viewers

The free Adobe Reader has been the de facto standard for viewing PDF files ever since it was introduced in 1993, but it has become bloated and vulnerable to malware attacks over the years. There are some free alternatives for viewing PDF files that are more streamlined and faster.

• Foxit PDF Reader is a lightweight PDF viewer for that is popular. (Windows)
• CoolPDF Reader is freeware that claims to be the smallest PDF reader available, at only 650kb. It can also convert PDF files to many different formats such as TXT, GIF, JPG and more. (Windows)
• PDF-XChange Viewer reads and edits PDF files for free. (Windows)
• Skim is an open-source PDF reader. (Mac)

Tools for Creating, Editing & Converting PDF Files

The good news is that just about every popular office application — including Microsoft Office 2007/2010, OpenOffice, Google Docs — now include built-in ways to save documents as PDF files. This means that many people no longer needs that expensive Adobe Acrobat license if all they need to do is create basic PDF files from documents. That said, there are also some useful standalone free tools for creating and editing PDF files:

• CutePDF Writer is my favorite free tool for creating PDF files outside of using the built-in PDF features of tools like Office and Google Docs. It installs a PDF printer that you send documents to in order to create them as PDF files. (Windows)
• PDF Creator creates PDF files for free, as well as converting them to other usable formats. (Windows)
• PrimoPDF is another free PDF writer for personal and commercial use. (Windows)
• HelloPDF converts PDF files to Microsoft Word document format, for free. (Windows)
• PDFill PDF Editor is the most robust free solution in this bunch, so don’t let its rather unimpressive website give you the wrong impression. It is chock full of features normally only found in premium PDF editors, such as the ability to merge files, convert files to multiple image formats, e-book options and more. (Windows)
• Skim, the open-source PDF reader I listed above, also includes some editing tools. (Mac)

e-Book Creation Tools

If you want to distribute your PDFs as e-books, you can use one of the free eBook publishing platforms.

• Stanza has a powerful e-book publishing solution for Windows and Mac.
• Calibre provides a publishing platform for Windows, Mac and even Linux.

Online PDF Tools

There are some free online tools that do the same things as the desktop tools listed above. Some let you edit PDF files, some convert them and others merge them. Here are some of the most popular solutions.

• PDFescape lets you create PDF files online; you don’t even need to register without even registering. However, if you do register (for free) then you can do other things such as save the PDF files online in your own secure account. There’s also a free PDF reader. You can create PDF files with up to 50 pages and up to 2 MB in size for free. Commercial use is acceptable, and there is no watermarked logo on any of the PDF pages. You can also password protect your PDF files.
• PDF to Word Convert PDF files to Word format with Nitro PDF’s online tool. The only catch is that it might take a little while to get the converted file.
• Nitro PDFHammer allows you to edit PDF files online and convert them to other formats.
• PDF2Word Online is another tool for converting PDF files to Word documents.
• Free OCR is a useful online service for extracting the text from PDF and image files. The one caveat is that it will only scan one-page PDF files or the first page of a multi-page PDF for free (although, of course, you could convert multiple page PDF files to images first, before uploading them to Free OCR).

Let us know your favorite free PDF tools in the comments.

Photo credit: cohdra

Adobe PDF is the most well-known e-book format; it’s been around since 1993. Adobe provides a free PDF reader with Adobe Reader and offers a commercial product called Adobe Acrobat for creating PDF files. Other programs also provide the ability to create documents in PDF format such as Microsoft Office 2007, OpenOffice and many freeware tools.

The Amazon Kindle series of e-readers has its own .azw format (a variation of MobiPocket format). Amazon has released free Kindle readers for the PC, Mac, iPhone & BlackBerry, which will allow you to read Kindle books without a Kindle. Here’s the Kindle library of e-books, which also includes some free books.

Barnes & Noble Nook hit the streets in November 2009 and is a serious challenger to Amazon’s Kindle. The Nook is based on Android, and supports EPUB, PDF and PDB formats. Just like Amazon does with its free Kindle reader, Barnes & Noble also provides a free eReader for multiple platforms (PC, Mac, iPhone and BlackBerry). You can also find a bevvy of free e-books on the online library.

Sony has several models of e-readers available. It has its own eBookStore where you can download e-books and free readers for the PC and Mac. You can use this player to read free books you can download from the eBookStore, as well as from Google’s book library, which contains over one million public domain books available.  Sony Readers support the following formats: BBeB Book (LRF/LRX), PDF, TXT, RTF and ePub.

Microsoft Reader introduced the LIT format in 2000. I can’t believe it’s been a decade since Microsoft unleashed what it hoped was going to be the PDF killer. Sadly, that revolution never transpired, but Microsoft Reader is alive and kicking and free for creating and reading e-books on laptops, desktops, tablets and Windows Mobile devices.

Apple announced support for the free open e-book standard EPUB (Electronic Publication) in its iPad when it introduced the iBooks e-reader app in January. Obviously, it’s much too early to tell how good this app will turn out to be. However, based on all of the pre-orders for the device, one can safely guess that this new format will become popular very quickly. Apple’s iBookStore will have content from publishers Penguin Books, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Hachette Book Group USA.

Which e-reader do you use, and why?

Photo by Flickr user Jurvetson, licensed under CC-BY-2.0

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Irrational Exuberance Over E-Books?

Since I’ve already got a couple of laptops, an iPod touch, and an old Palm Treo 755p smartphone, I decided to try reading books using these first before spending money on yet another gadget.

• The free eReader software for the Treo 755p seems to work fine, but for someone with middle-aged nearsightedness, the 755p’s screen is just too small.
• On a laptop, the Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre programs are also good. Even with a big screen and an ergonomic setup, though, I’m not excited about reading on a computer. I stare at a computer screen all day as it is. I want to get out of an office environment after hours. I can’t see myself using a laptop in bed.
• For the iPhone/iPod touch, the free Stanza software is very impressive. It displays well, has all the features one could want. But reading a novel on the iPod’s screeen won’t work very well, as I found that my battery started to go dead in about an hour.

So, I thought, maybe a dedicated e-book reader does make sense. I took a look at a few. The following observations are certainly not comprehensive. But they list a few of the reasons why I liked, and didn’t like, the ones I tried.

• Barnes & Noble Nook. I spent about an hour at my local B&N store looking at the Nook. It has lots of nice features, but even with the latest firmware update, it’s very slow. I’m a pretty fast reader, so waiting a few seconds each time I want to turn a page would drive me crazy. It’s also heavy; not something that I could hold in one hand.
• Sony Readers. After looking at the Nook, I went down the street to Borders and checked out the Sony Reader Touch Edition and the Sony Reader Pocket Edition. The Pocket is small and light, and lots of people enjoy it, but for us left-handers, it’s impossible to use with one hand, since the controls are laid out for righties. Surprisingly, the larger Touch has a more ambidextrous interface, but its touch screen is fuzzier, less bright, and prone to glare and fingerprints.
• Amazon Kindle. Since the Kindle is sold only online, there’s no place to check one out before ordering. Darrell likes it, though, and I looked at one belonging to a friend. It’s not as heavy as the Nook, but like the Nook, it still feels too heavy for one-handed reading. It also uses a proprietary format for its books, which my local public library does not offer.
• Bookeen Opus. My local Fry’s computer store was selling this lesser-known e-book reader on sale for $149, which was $60 to $100 or more cheaper than any of the other readers I looked at. (Unfortunately, that special price is no longer available.) The Opus is small, light, and has a simple interface. It doesn’t have wireless connectivity, it doesn’t play music, and it doesn’t have many of the bells and whistles that some of the other readers have. But as I said, I already have lots of other gadgets, so I don’t really need these features.

The Opus came closest to what I want, so I did decide to buy it. But the usefulness of the Opus — like that of all of its e-reader cousins — is totally hobbled by books that come with digital rights management. Illustrator Brad Colbow has  a great, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, observation on why DRM doesn’t work — just substitute e-books for audio books.

A lot of the tech bloggers, of course, are salivating about the upcoming Apple iPad. Darrell has some great observations on what will be needed to make it relevant for web workers. So far, I’m not seeing anything that makes me want to spend that kind of money. And there are several other e-readers arriving, too.

On the whole, I was disappointed by the whole e-reader experience. I can see how an e-reader would be useful if you mostly want to read free e-books, like the ones Celine suggests. But until the prices of the hardware come down, the technical issues are resolved, and the obnoxious DRM is dealt with, I’ll probably still read most of my books in print, obtained from the library or one of the independent bookstores.

Do you use an e-reader?

Cybook Opus image from Wikimedia Commons.

Related GigaOM pro content (sub req.): Irrational Exuberance Over E-Books?

Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learned. “The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing,” a new e-book from Ali Hale, offers a guide to sharpening your writing skills and improving your ability to get important information across in a blog post.

While Hale doesn’t dispute the importance of the need to practice blogging to build up skills, she works hard to demystify the art of blogging. She offers the background necessary to help writers of every level speed up the writing process, write effective posts and even improve the quality of the blog as a whole.

What sets “The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing” apart from other writing instruction manuals is that while it includes general writing tips, it also explores the specialized needs of blogging. For instance, where you might write a memo or an article and expect it to stand alone, a blog post is expected to relate to the rest of the content on the site. Blogs also tend to be written with an end result in mind. If you’re running your own blog, that goal can be something like keeping readers coming back, so that you can land advertisers. On a company blog, that might be convincing readers to purchase a new product. Individual posts have to support that overall goal.

Of course, Hale doesn’t skimp on explaining the mechanics of writing for a blog. She digs into details like tips for improving on the standard how-to post with images and resources, as well as an upfront explanation of why it can take significantly longer to write a how-to post. She also gets into how to effectively create each section of a post, devoting a chapter each to writing a post’s introduction, middle and conclusion.

The e-book is also full of links to further resources, from examples of how to implement Hale’s instructions to research that backs up her suggestions. She draws on successful bloggers of every stripe to create an educational book that should help.

“The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing” is available for $29. It’s 82 pages long, and comes with a set of templates for different types of posts, including a look at how a few particularly successful blogs construct their posts.

Have you read “The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing”?

Tech writers Gina Trapani and Adam Pash have created an online e-book, “The Complete Guide to Google Wave,” which does an excellent job of explaining what Google Wave is and how it can be used. The book provides step-by-step instructions on how to get invited to the service, what to do when you get there, and how to make the most of it.

For those of us who are used to skimming the highlights and jumping around in technical manuals, I strongly suggest that you read the book — at least the first couple of chapters — in full. It’s not that long, and will give you a working knowledge of the service. I suspect that web workers will find Wave to be a very useful collaboration tool once we get used to using it.

The book is written in a clear, straightforward style, and is sprinkled with helpful and sometimes humorous quotes like this one from Wave user Andy Baio: “I keep pushing the New Wave button, but it never plays Depeche Mode or The Cure.”

An electronic version of the book will be offered for sale beginning in November; it’s unclear whether the online version will continue to be available once the book comes out. So if you’re interested in Google Wave, this is an excellent time to learn more about it. But you may need some patience; the book’s web site has been very slow, as I suspect it’s getting more traffic than the authors expected.

Are you using Google Wave?

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While the prospect of working from home (or maybe by a swimming pool, or by a beach hut somewhere exotic) sounds very enticing, it can also bring its challenges. How do you stay motivated when you’re not surrounded by your colleagues? What do you do if a critical piece of hardware fails? What are the best applications to use to stay productive? How do you make sure that you maintain good work/life balance?

This 33-page e-book should help answer those questions. It contains advice on what tools you need to use; what traits successful web workers have; how to set up your home office; planning and budgeting; how to avoid loneliness; and much, much more. If you’re a new web worker, or are thinking about becoming one, it’s worth checking out — download it here.

Let us know what you think of “Web Work 101: How to Escape the Cubicle” in the comments.

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The first chapter in the book consists mainly of advice concerning forming an official job search strategy, and not going about the task haphazardly — tips that you’ve probably heard before. I found some of the other individual chapters more interesting, such as “11 Keys to Successful Job Search Networking,” which traces the path of a specific networking experience that began through two people finding each other on LinkedIn. The chapter “9 Ways to Bruise a Networking Relationship” also features good advice. All of the information is delivered in a conversational style, and there are many anecdotes cited.

While the large sections in “30 Ideas” on job search strategy and smart networking are useful, I was less impressed with the several chapters on the psychology of job search. Sure, career experts advise that you shouldn’t get down on yourself as you seek work, but the psychology chapters seem to drag on, with good points made only intermittently.

It’s very easy to flip around the e-book, especially as chapters are hyperlinked from the Table of Contents. You don’t have to necessarily read linearly, and you’ll get a good sense from the Table of Contents of what might be useful to read. It’s worth downloading.

Share your thoughts on “30 Ideas” in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
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