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Custom eNews Channels for MobiPocket Reader |
MobiPocket Reader is an excellent eBook reader for the BE-300 which includes a useful feature called eNews which collects news (or other information) from websites on a scheduled basis and stores it in a format viewable in the eBook reader.
People who have used AvantGo on Palm or PPC devices will recognize the usefulness of this feature (AvantGo unfortunately doesn't work on the BE).
The down-side of Mobi eNews is that the selection of eNews channels on their website is rather limited. Fortunately, it is possible (though tedious and time-consuming) to create custom eNews channels (This site has some tips for those who are interested). For those not inclined to create their own, I've posted some which I created that you may find useful.
For all the files below, select "unzip with folder information" in your unzip utility and it will create the necessary folders automatically (assuming you have installed MobiPocket WebCompanion in the default directory). Double-click the "*.enews" file in each new folder to get WebCompanion to add it to your list (or use File->Add Local Enews File in WebCompanion). And remember, never use "force update", use "update now" instead (if you use "force update" it trys to download the latest version on the eNews files from Mobi, and since these aren't on Mobi's website, they get deleted).
By the way, the standard version of MobiPocket Reader is still free (though the website does not make it obvious and some have been confused by this). The trial of the Pro version reverts to the standard version after 14-days. The Pro version adds some nice-to-have-but-not-necessary features like autoscroll and landscape mode, but these are not required to use eNews.
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Canadian eNews |
Canadian eNews channels on Mobi's site is limited to "The Globe and Mail" which doesn't work very well (for reasons I now understand after making my own eNews files). Here's a collection of Canadian enews files for Mobipocket that I created. It includes the following enews files (and optional, selectable subsections):
Canoe Cnews (World / Canada / Atlantic Canada / Ont-Que / Western Canada)
Decent basic news coverage with some regional stories from the Sun newspaper group.
CTV News (Top Stories / World /Canada / Business / Sports / Entertainment / Health / SciTech)
Glossy news coverage from the Bell-Globemedia convergence empire. The first story in each section is often repeated due to the way they structure their website.
Frank Magazine (news)
Brutally frank coverage (hence the name) of Canadian politics and media. Unfortunately, stories longer than a few paragraphs are cut off (have to force people to buy the print version somehow I guess).
Global News (World / National / Business / Sports / Entertainment / Technology / Health / Oddities / Agriculture)
(local news for: Halifax / Montreal / Ottawa / Toronto / Hamilton / Winnipeg / Saskatoon / Regina / Edmonton / Calgary / Vancouver / Victoria)
The best local coverage on the net. Unfortunately, it comes from CanWest-Southam (Canada's other media convergence empire).
CBC News (arts news)
CBC has some way of blocking automated scanning of their news site, I could only get the arts news to work, but that's the CBC's strong point anyway.
Yahoo Canada News (Top Stories-Reuters / Top Stories-CP / World-Reuters / World-CP / National / Business / Entertainment / Sports / Technology / Science / Oddly Enough / Health / Lottery / Automotive / Weather / Movies)
Decent news coverage from Reuters and CP. If you have "MyYahoo" set up, it will collect your customized weather forcasts.
 Download enews.zip (all Canadian files in one zip)
Before anyone asks, I tried to Macleans Magazine, but it would not work because of the way they use frames on their website. Sorry.
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German eNews |
Der Spiegle Online (German language news)
I did this one by request, apparently there are no German language enews channels on the Mobi site. I don't read German so I have no idea how good it is. Guten Tag.
Download spiegel.zip
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Entertainment News |
Ain't It Cool News
This site has "advance" reviews of various TV shows and movies (i.e. spoilers). The formatting is inconsistant (odd font sizes, etc) because the formatting on the website is the same (but at least you don't have to look at the ugly orange-brown background. ;-)
Download aintitcool.zip
Zap 2 It (TV / Movies / Sci-Fi)
Another entertainment news site, this one is a little more slick (but less candid in it's reviews).
Download zap2it.zip
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Other eNews |
Philpw99 also has some good MobiPocket eNews files on his site.
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