Bit of a drive-by rec.

[ein_myria]

Reading
troisroyaumes: On Piracy and copyright (kudos to starlady)
This linkspam round up reminded me of Der Spiegel's No Copyright Law: The Real Reason for Germany's Industrial Expansion? by Frank Thadeusz which was published sometime ago.

Technology
Just inherited my dad's iPad. He was largely using it for video and entertainment and the novelty seemed to wear off pretty quickly; I just reformatted the sucker and downloaded iBooks and Good Reader for ePub and PDF functionality. Looking forward to reading on it, as I hope to use it as a replacement for my now busted PDA. Although perhaps "replacement" might be misleading; I'm already groaning at the weight. For long-term reading you're going to have to lean it against something or have a stand where you can adjust the angle against the glare.

I'm hoping to use it for work (largely PDFs which I hate to print out) and reading fanfics, naturally.

The Complicated Bit
-I've already had to download direct links to the 4.2 iOS software update because of some updating issues *shakes fist at iTunes*. I'm hoping that there were security holes that were plugged because it's not really an 'update' as much as a 'wtf-date.' Screen orientation lock is now made much more complicated with the new update (I sympathize with people who need to use the same slider button for mute, but how hard is it to press the 'volume down' button several times?) and other than that I don't really see much difference except for a new 'games center' icon. If your iPad came with 3.xx you might want to stick to that.
-I've downloaded Calibre (free e-book management) and dropbox for the PC for e-book conversion and wireless syncing functionality but it looks like my first attempt at using Calibre to convert a PDF document into ePub is less than perfect. 1st rule learnt: PDF's may need to stay PDF's.
-PDFs made from online documents work well with the Good Reader; all of the reported functionality (highlighting, free-form scribbling, etc.) works...I just feel like I need a stylus because the finger isn't so precise. For scanned PDFs, there's slightly less functionality but it's still okay. The tiny texts sometimes makes me wish that there was a reflow functionality (like that advertised for the Sony e-reader in regards to PDFs) but navigating by touch screen makes reading still relatively simple. Advanced multi-lingual dictionary functionality for the next update, please.
-I also tested the functionality for AO3's ePub format. Not bad, but it just dawned on me how little epic length works are actually available on AO3. The good news is that it supports several download formats, ie mobi, epub, pdf, and html.
-Also, ePubs are probably not be the most accessible format for femslash (it's better for published ebooks perhaps). Most of the archives that actually offer femslash ebook selections tend to have much older formats; case in point, the academy of bards (rocketbook) and pda fiction (ereader, plain doc, isilo, mobi, msreader). Calibre should handle conversions easily, but it's an extra step.
-Managed to convert a few html stories to ePub. The Table of Contents hyperlinks that I set up in Microsoft Word for one file seems to work well when converted. However, a mammoth html file (a 200-chapter story) that included a title image (without a table of contents) seems to have flopped on several points, creating page turn issues and other errors that I assume are either iBooks-related (flipping to 'page 2' after the title image jumps to 'page 12', with no way to actually get to the beginning of the story; the same words and pages show up even if you have 'flipped' the pages' -- this is in the vicinity of page 1,552 on the smallest font available-- which is fixed only when you navigate away to another section, 'close' the book, and then attempt to navigate back) or derived from the Calibre conversion process somehow (corrupted letters, sometimes strange symbols that show up).

Verdict
-Touchscreen will never replace keyboards, or the mouse. I like the idea of taking the iPad places, but it's seriously heavy and bulky. I've heard that the Samsung Galaxy Tab might be a better option for portability; it does Flash, which the iPad does not, but the price tag alone is just...*sigh*. I do have to say that the big screen deals with PDFs pretty well--hopefully I'll start printing less PDFs, but the battery life (several hours at best) and the screen glare makes this device a less than ideal long-term portable reading solution.
-I've only tested iBooks for a free app; are there better free apps out there to read with? (GoodReader is a paid for app that came highly recommended from a friend.) How about for manga? :D

Recs
Fringe
Kudos to ampersandand for alerting me to the following recs. *fans self* You can find more recs from the same pr0n battle here.

One in a Thousand by medie (Astrid/OFC)
"Go out, go dancing, drink too much, laugh too loud, whatever you want, kiddo, just as long as it isn't work."

A warm lighted-hearted piece.

What selfishness, to be alone by blackeyedgirl (Olivia, solo)
Olivia tries to reclaim her own life, her own things, the only way she knows how.

*fans self* er...*tries to reclaim brain*

Harry Potter
Blindness and Stars by featherxquill (Rita Skeeter/Amelia Bones) (kudos to woldy)
"In the months following Voldemort’s first defeat, two women with similarly ambitious natures but very different ethics cross paths often enough that they decide to try walking together."

Very, very cool.

Warehouse 13
Illumination by minkhollow (HG/OFC) (kudos to ampersandand)
"1889: Frustrated by her efforts to publish under her own name and reeling from a dear friend's decision to finally marry, Helena Wells takes an opportunity to test a theory."

Interesting back story.

Currently listening to:
Those Dancing Days - Reaching Forward (Genre: Swedish Alt/Indie Rock/Pop)

2nd song from their new album that's coming out at the end of February, and these girls have progressed by leaps and bounds. Looking forward to getting it when it's out.