Knowing how to code is becoming an increasingly important skill for many different fields of expertise. Software is everywhere: in our cars, telephones, books and even refrigerators. While learning to code is not a magic bullet to land the perfect job, it can nevertheless be an great asset in many different situations. Especially for people…
Hacks & Tutorials
How To Create Custom Bit.ly Links
Shortlinks have been with us for a number of years now. Whether it’s bit.ly, tinyurl, or another service, URL shortening has risen in popularity together with Twitter, where every character counts and the only good link is a short link. But besides shortening, another reason for using short links is to beautify long and ugly URLs….
Hacks & Tutorials
Create Your Own Flashcards For Kindle
Flashcards are a time-tested tool of memorizing almost anything, from new vocabulary and technical terms to copious amounts of trivia facts. And nowadays we don’t even need to waste paper for creating them. There are many apps that allow you to create your own flashcards. If you own the new Kindle Paperwhite, there’s even an…
Hacks & Tutorials
Introduction to Regular Expressions For Indie Publishers (Open Office)
One of the perks of being an indie publisher is that you can do everything your way, from manuscript formatting to cover design and marketing approach. But it’s also one of the downsides of being an indie publisher. Perhaps you can afford to hire an intern, but chances are that you’ll have to keep your…
Hacks & Tutorials
How To Quickly Change Dictionaries on The New Kindle Paperwhite
UPDATE: Aparrently, the latest Paperwhite firmware (after 5.3.9) doesn’t offer this function anymore. UPDATE: I have a Kindle Paperwhite 2 here, running firware 5.6.1.0.2 and it seems the feature is back! Find out how you can use the new Kindle Paperwhite to quickly change between custom dictionaries. I’ve already talked a lot about Kindles and dictionaries on…
Hacks & Tutorials
How To Create Doodle Videos For Language Teaching
Did you know that Doodle Videos can be a great way to teach languages? We don’t learn a language only by reading, or only by listening. Learning a language is a multi-sensory process. Looking at a text or listening alone is not enough. We need to listen, speak, read, write and observe in order to acquire…
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How To Add a German-English Dictionary To Kindle on Your iPad or iPhone (iOS)
One of the great benefits of using ebooks for language learning is the ability to use custom dictionaries. Instead of having to search for each unknown word in a dictionary you can get instant translations while reading your book. If you own a Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Touch and have installed a dictionary (see here…
Hacks & Tutorials
3 Writing Tools You Aren’t Using Yet
If there’s anything I’ve learned over the course of the last 15 years of writing, then it’s probably the fact that writing is a craft like any other. Listening to one’s “muse” and getting inspired is all great, but ultimately, if you don’t control the writing, it controls you! And even beyond the mere mechanics…
Hacks & Tutorials
The Easy Way To Sell Digital Downloads From Your Website
Have you ever considered selling digital products such as books, tutorials, videos, etc. from your own website? After all, blogging is hard work. Why just rely on advertising fees to support your writing when you can sell your own digital downloads? When I first tried this two years ago, I had a PDF version a…
Hacks & Tutorials
How To Create Ebooks With Open Source Software: #4 The Cover
[PART #1] – [PART #2] – [PART #3] Welcome to the fourth part in our short series about creating ebooks with open source tools. (If you missed the last one, click here). Today I’d like to talk a bit about cover design. To many people design is a matter of taste, but it’s much more than that….
