"A significant amount of skill with a soldering iron and some custom firmware has revealed.... Kindle" (news.com)

From his blog: "I wasn't able to solder cable to the connector without shorting (the pins are 0.5mm apart!), so in the end I removed most of the pins, soldered short wires to the removed pins and inserted those I needed back into the connector."

You most certainly can solder wires to a connector with 0.5mm pitch without shorting anything. It takes a magnifying glass, a good soldering iron, and a very steady hand. Interesting article, though!