Adds "Creating ebooks from your RSS feeds" post

content-org/blog.org

@@ -2,6 +2,77 @@
 #+hugo_section: blog
 #+options: author:nil
 
+* Creating ebooks from your RSS feeds
+:PROPERTIES:
+:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds
+:EXPORT_DATE: 2024-08-01
+:END:
+
+Starting last year, I've been trying to move back to the Open Web,
+relying less and less on closed gardens and opaque technologies, and
+focusing my efforts and my online presence in open standards and small
+communities. This blog is a byproduct of that move, and me consuming
+news and information in general through RSS is another one.
+
+I've always enjoyed RSS. It's simple, easy to use, and back in the day
+it was *everywhere*. Every blog would have one if not multiple RSS
+feeds, every service worth their salt would generate RSS feeds for its
+content (think youtube, reddit, github...), innovation happened on top
+of the format (say podcasting) and one would end up with both a RSS
+reader full of articles to go through every day, and multiple
+automations processing updates through the format.
+
+Things have changed a bit, services now don't pay that much attention
+to RSS, most of them want you to use their apps to track and sell your
+information, and the fact that a huge chunk of internet revenue is
+driven by ads has forced a subset of the most obvious users of the
+format (like newspapers or even some blogs) to close their feeds,
+either by making them private or by giving you the headline of the
+article and a link to see the full content (plus ads, loads of them,
+maybe even a paywall) on their site.
+
+RSS is still extremely popular amongst blogs and Open Web sites tho,
+so when I started this move one of the first things I installed was
+[[https://miniflux.app/][Miniflux]], a fast, simple and robust RSS reader. It works great and
+allows me to read both from my computer and my mobile devices, but
+having an ebook I wanted to try and centralise my reading directly on
+that device.
+
+Turns out that there is a quick and easy way of creating ebooks from
+your RSS feeds using [[https://calibre-ebook.com/][Calibre]]. You just need to export your feeds from
+your reader as an OPML file, and import them into the tool as new
+sources.
+
+[[../static/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/fetch-news.png]]
+
+If you have already imported your feeds, you can skip this next step,
+but the first time you follow this process or when your feeds change
+because you added or removed some, you need ot import the OPML file
+into Calibre.
+
+[[../static/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/import-OPML.png]]
+
+You can then configure how many articles and how far back the tool
+will go when fetching the data from your feeds. By default, the
+generated ebooks will contain up to 100 articles per feed, and the
+last seven days of content from those feeds. For me the default values
+are fine, but you can tweak them if you prefer to have a customized
+"daily newspaper" out of your feeds, for example, instead of a weekly
+one.
+
+[[../static/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/configure-import.png]]
+
+After the OPML import finishes, you'll find several new recipes inside
+the custom category, one per group on your feed export. To generate an
+ebook for one of them, simply select it and click the "Download now"
+button.
+
+[[../static/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/schedule-import.png]]
+
+When the job is completed, you should see a new book in the tool that
+you can then convert to the format you want to use, transfer to your
+device, and enjoy in gorgeous and crispy e-ink, 100% distraction free.
+
 * Embracing imperfection
 :PROPERTIES:
 :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: embracing-imperfection

content/blog/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds.md

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+---
+title: "Creating ebooks from your RSS feeds"
+date: 2024-08-01
+draft: false
+---
+
+Starting last year, I've been trying to move back to the Open Web,
+relying less and less on closed gardens and opaque technologies, and
+focusing my efforts and my online presence in open standards and small
+communities. This blog is a byproduct of that move, and me consuming
+news and information in general through RSS is another one.
+
+I've always enjoyed RSS. It's simple, easy to use, and back in the day
+it was **everywhere**. Every blog would have one if not multiple RSS
+feeds, every service worth their salt would generate RSS feeds for its
+content (think youtube, reddit, github...), innovation happened on top
+of the format (say podcasting) and one would end up with both a RSS
+reader full of articles to go through every day, and multiple
+automations processing updates through the format.
+
+Things have changed a bit, services now don't pay that much attention
+to RSS, most of them want you to use their apps to track and sell your
+information, and the fact that a huge chunk of internet revenue is
+driven by ads has forced a subset of the most obvious users of the
+format (like newspapers or even some blogs) to close their feeds,
+either by making them private or by giving you the headline of the
+article and a link to see the full content (plus ads, loads of them,
+maybe even a paywall) on their site.
+
+RSS is still extremely popular amongst blogs and Open Web sites tho,
+so when I started this move one of the first things I installed was
+[Miniflux](https://miniflux.app/), a fast, simple and robust RSS reader. It works great and
+allows me to read both from my computer and my mobile devices, but
+having an ebook I wanted to try and centralise my reading directly on
+that device.
+
+Turns out that there is a quick and easy way of creating ebooks from
+your RSS feeds using [Calibre](https://calibre-ebook.com/). You just need to export your feeds from
+your reader as an OPML file, and import them into the tool as new
+sources.
+
+{{< figure src="/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/fetch-news.png" >}}
+
+If you have already imported your feeds, you can skip this next step,
+but the first time you follow this process or when your feeds change
+because you added or removed some, you need ot import the OPML file
+into Calibre.
+
+{{< figure src="/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/import-OPML.png" >}}
+
+You can then configure how many articles and how far back the tool
+will go when fetching the data from your feeds. By default, the
+generated ebooks will contain up to 100 articles per feed, and the
+last seven days of content from those feeds. For me the default values
+are fine, but you can tweak them if you prefer to have a customized
+"daily newspaper" out of your feeds, for example, instead of a weekly
+one.
+
+{{< figure src="/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/configure-import.png" >}}
+
+After the OPML import finishes, you'll find several new recipes inside
+the custom category, one per group on your feed export. To generate an
+ebook for one of them, simply select it and click the "Download now"
+button.
+
+{{< figure src="/imgs/creating-ebooks-from-your-rss-feeds/schedule-import.png" >}}
+
+When the job is completed, you should see a new book in the tool that
+you can then convert to the format you want to use, transfer to your
+device, and enjoy in gorgeous and crispy e-ink, 100% distraction free.
+