Jailbreak it, or even gut it and turn its screen into a low-power portable display with a Modos e-ink controller. //

Alternatively, WinterBreak appeared at the start of the year and supports jailbreaking even recent models of Kindle on the latest firmware.

Once the device is jailbroken, you can install your own reading or browsing software such as KOReader, allowing the Kindle to be used to read files in other formats. We did like one Hacker News commenter's single-word summary of why to do it, though: "Folders."