It’s all but human nature to yearn for more. So while Amazon set out to develop the Kindle as a replacement of paper books, a role in which the Kindles simply excel, people’s aspiration for the Kindles continue to swell. Perhaps they have read enough books and somewhere down the line, they wish their Kindles were more flexible. Or maybe the reason lies in the fact that they love their Kindles so much, they wish their Kindles to do everything for them so that they do not need to switch devices for reading books, listening to music, or watching videos.
However, while no such thing is yet available officially from Amazon, a developer at BBC, Mark Longstaff-Tyrrell, has in the meantime come up with an ingenious solution to the problem, if the inability to watch videos on a Kindle can be considered a problem.
So the whole idea is centered around BBC’s popular iPlayer video streaming service, some bits of software,and a closed captioning strategy. Combine all of these and the end result is what can be termed as the ‘iPlayer for Kindle’.
The entire things works in the following manner: The program would take a snapshot of the screen each time there is a line of dialogue spoken. In those scenes where there are no captions involved, the program would still capture frames over a regular interval of time. These series of scenes are then compiled followed by their conversion into an HTML file. Then the HTML file can be converted to an PDF file, which the Kindle can then play back.
It is a strictly stop-gap measure, since those scenes where there is no dialogue involved are likely to be kept out of the final product. Also, while it can never be considered as a replacement for real video playback, perhaps the best thing with the iPlayer for Kindle is it works and manages to show a video like visual.
So until Amazon comes up with its solution to watching video on the Kindle, the ‘iPlayer for Kindle’ can keep the show going until then.
via gigaom
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
