IPod + Wikipedia

I saw this article : http://swannman.wordpress.com/2006/10/01/howto-read-wikipedia-on-an-ipod/

and thought.... As simple as this is... I think I know a way of making it simpler!

The WikiPod name is very clever. I am calling this solution WikiPodia.

WikiPodia is a stand-alone application that uploads the wikipedia article of your choice to you iPod in the form of a note.

You will need:

1) Any iPod

2) iTunes

3) A mac with OSX and the 'Automator' application.

I garantee you can make this Application in less than 2 minutes.

Step 1: Open Automator

Open Automator and Create a new workflow (This should happen automatically).

Step 2: Add 'Open Specified URL' Action

Select the 'Safari' section and select 'Get Specified URLs'.

Drag it to the actions pane.

Under the 'Options' reveal pane, select 'Show Action When Run'.

Step 3: Add 'Get Text From Webpage' Action.

This action will get ALL the text from any webpage.

Under the 'Safari' section, drag the 'Get text from webpage' action below the 'Get Specified URLs' action.

Step 4: Add the 'New IPod Note' Action

This action creates an iPod Note (menu/extras/notes) with the input text from the last action. Since we are passing in the text from the wikipedia article you chose, that is what the note will consist of.

Under the 'iTunes' section, drag the 'create new iPod note' action below the two other actions you have already added


Under the 'Options' panel, select 'Show Action when run' and check save. DO NOT CHECK 'use current date as name' CHECKBOX!!!


The WikiPodia Action is now complete!

Step 5: Save It, Use It

Now that the actual action is done, there is one more step...

If you were to run this workflow now, with the iPod mounted, it would work...

But wouldn't it be nice to have a stand alone app that did this?

Under the File menu, select Save As.

Select a destination and use the pullldown menu to select 'Application' instead of 'Workflow'.


Save and Quit.


Open your app. (Or run the workflow)

A window will pop up asking for a URL. Although it was designed to work with wikipedia articles, it will work with any webpage.

Input the url.

Click 'Continue'.



Then a window will show asking what to name the note. Choose an appropriate name.

If you have more than one iPod mounted, another window will pop up, asking which one to put the note on.


You are done.

Navigate to the 'Notes' folder of your iPod (Extras, Notes).

If the page you selected was too long, it will break the page into seperate note pages.

Choose a note with a name you chose and read.

As you might notice, it adds ALL the text, so some seemingly out of context bits might be added here and there. %90 of the text 'Especially from Wikipedia articles) will be easy to read.


Congradulations,

Have Fun.