Google Docs adds new option to export text files as ePub

Yesterday, Google added functionality to Google Docs to export long text documents as ePub files, largely compatible with almost every electronic reader and book reading app imaginable (except on Amazon Kindles as they have their own book format .mobi).

Reading long PDFs or word files on tablets or smartphones brings me back to my college days, it was the most annoying thing to do on a screen which the text was not formatted for, constantly having to pan, zoom, pan, zoom, pan, zoom, just to read small text that spans three times the size of the screen.

This feature should make the consumption of some of these types of files much more enjoyable to readers of such content. Perhaps it will facilitate the actual conversion of ePub files from copied text.

The update is rolling out now and should be complete in a couple of days. To export as an ePub file, you can go to File > Download As > EPUB Publication (.epub).

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Samsung phones are harder to repair than ever before, iFixIt tears down the Galaxy S7

Ever since Samsung’s days of removable batteries and hyper-glaze plastic, Samsung’s Galaxy phones have gotten more and more difficult to repair. This time around, the Galaxy S7 scored a low 3/10 for user repairability.

Compared to Galaxies past, the Galaxy S6 had a score of 4/10, the S5 scored 5/10, and the hyper-glazed Galaxy S4 scored 8/10 as pretty easily repairable. These phones are becoming more and more complex and harder to repair now.

The good news is components are separated better and not stuck together to the midframe as was the case with the Galaxy S6. The bad news is, well, good luck getting into the device. The only way to gain access to the S7’s internals is by removing the rear glass panel, which is a feat all by itself.

Heat is needed to remove the adhesive that keeps the glass on the back. At this point, you’re five hundred times better off buying an insurance plan for your device in case the screen shatters or the components fail (looking at you, Galaxy S4).

Just make sure you all get cases for your new Galaxy phones!

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New York City to upgrade 2000+ high tech busses with Wi-Fi and charger ports

As a fairly new resident of New York, I have never seen such a vast and efficient public transportation system before. There are definitely better systems, but it’s a drastic change from Miami where the public transportation system is actually useable by a very small population of Dade County (unless you live in Downtown or South Beach).

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to bring 2024 brand new busses into the city, equipped with Wi-Fi on board, USB-chargers throughout, information screens displaying weather info and a digital stop ticker to show route information and the next stop information.

Currently, all stop information and route changes on busses are announced by the driver over an intercom. Depending on how the MTA driver feels, he or she will either pronounce the stops audibly and clearly, or they might just murmur into the mic, literally, pick up the mic and go “hur hur hur”. In these cases you’d have to look outside or use your smartphone’s GPS to gage what stop you need to get off at.

These stations are so antiquated, that if you walked into Penn Station, you would think you travelled back in time to the year 2004. The MTA infrastructure will finally get the modern update it desperately needs.

Many underground subway stations already have Wi-Fi and some stretches of track also have cellular signal in Midtown. Governor Cuomo said (which I can attest to) that some of the MTA stations and facilities are in such “decay” that in some cases is “embarrassing” for a city often called the ‘capital of the world’.

The MTA shuffles more than 9 million customers around the city every SINGLE day. What the MTA is aiming for is to modernize and improve the expectations and technology of its facilities as fast as it can by the year 2020. To meet the expectations of more and more millennials, Thomas Prendergast, Chairman of the MTA, says that this generation expects more and more at their disposal and that the MTA should provide it because it is needed.

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Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge Reviews: Samsung’s Slow March To Victory

Overall the Galaxy S7 family represents two of the best Samsung devices, but are serious challengers for being the best smartphone today. There are issues around performance, and many of the changes are merely iterative, without any new vision. Will that be enough? Let’s see what everyone is saying.

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