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Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight hands-on
What's American's number one problem in the bedroom? Honestly, whatever you first guessed is probably the right answer. For the sake of this conversation, however, let's just assume that it's light, as Barnes & Noble suggests. People are keeping their partners awake at all hours by leaving the light on as they finish the final gripping pages of that Stieg Larsson novel. There's got to be a better way! Something like, say, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight (make sure to put little sparkly illustrations over the last word when you read it aloud, by the way). As you'd imagine, it can see in the dark. -- or, rather, you can see it in the dark, so you won't have to get kicked out of bed for reading The Hunger Games anymore. The clunkily named Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is up for pre-order now at $139 a pop. Plunk down your information today, and it should be on its way to you in early May -- just in time for Mother's Day and with a bit of time to spare for 'ole pops. So, how does the reader stack up to its predecessor? Click on through to the other side to find out.
Kobo eReader Touch Edition review
When it first announced the launch of its eReader Touch Edition late last month, Kobo referred to itself again and again as the "David" in a reader market full of "Goliaths." It's not difficult to see why -- the company's chief competition in the space is Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony, all giants in their respective fields. In spite of overwhelming odds, however, Kobo has managed to stay afloat, and even competitive. True to form, however, Barnes & Noble launched its own device a mere day after Kobo, which for most intents and purposes, looks an awful lot like the eReader Touch Edition. In fact, the devices were seemingly so alike that we created a head to head, in order to see for ourselves precisely what set them apart. The new Nook also managed to beat Kobo's device to market, offering a more than worthy competitor to Amazon's latest. The question with the launch of the Kobo then, is not only whether the David can compete in a market so dominated by the Kindle, but if the eReader Touch Edition has enough to set it apart from the superficially identical Nook. %Gallery-126284%
E Ink develops flashing displays for cloth and Tyvek, experiments with color FMV (video)
Yesterday, we found out that E Ink Holdings won't be releasing a new electronic paper display until 2012 and now, we know why. Turns out, the Pearl manufacturer has been busy refining its screen tech acumen, and extending it to a variety of different surfaces. The Digital Reader recently caught up with Sriram Peruvemba, E Ink's VP of global sales and marketing, who confirmed that his company has developed a SIRF display that can be printed on cloth, effectively turning any t-shirt into a flashing, black-and-white billboard. E Ink's engineers have taken a similar approach to Tyvek cloth, creating a display that could make your vanilla postal envelopes a little more dynamic. And, as you might expect, the company has been experimenting with an e-ink screen capable of supporting colorful, full-motion video -- though it looks like E Ink still needs to smooth out some of the grainy kinks in that one. All three demo videos are available for your viewing pleasure, after the break. [Thanks, Nate]
KDDI's biblio Leaf SP02 priced, due out Christmas Day in Japan (update)
E-readers are flooding the market these days, and KDDI has delivered its most recent offering just in time for the holiday season. Since the biblio Leaf SP02's specs were first released, battery life seems to have grown to 13,000 pages, with presumably a few extra thrown in courtesy of its solar array. The device utilizes KDDI's LISMO Book Store and its 20,000 titles to obtain content, and if that isn't enough reading material for you, the company claims that five times as many titles will be available by 2012. All this can be had on Christmas day -- if you're lucky enough to hail from the land of the rising sun, that is. Update: Details on the e-reader, much like the device itself, seem to have gotten lost in translation. As a few readers have pointed out -- and our own Engadget Japanese editor Ittousai confirms -- the SP02 has an "open" price of around ¥15,000 (about $180 in US currency), with 3G prices ranging from ¥525 per month for data on a two-year contract, or ¥1,575 without ($6.28 vs. $19, respectively).
Entourage Pocket Edge reveals itself on the Home Shopping Network
We're still trying to understand why Entourage has chosen the Home Shopping Network of all places to reveal its new Pocket Edge, but at least we now know that the previously spied dualscreen tablet / e-reader lives! Although the 1.35-pound device has been shrunken down with smaller displays -- a 6-inch "Wacom Penabled" e-ink panel and 7-inch LCD -- it actually doesn't appear like much else has been changed from the original. Unfortunately, that means our biggest complaints about the device are very much present -- it's got a resistive touchscreen and appears to run an older version of Android. If it's any consolation, the trackball on the right edge has been replaced with an optical touchpad and there are now red and black color options. Spec-wise, it still boasts 4GB of storage, a 2 megapixel camera (hopefully there's software now that takes advantage of it), 802.11 b/g, a USB port, and micro-SD slot. It is, however, more affordable -- though it's originally priced at $499, HSN has a sale running that puts it at $399. Of course, no word on if a 3G version will be arriving at Verizon as we've previously heard, but we're sure this thing will get its official unveil sometime soon. Until then feel free to keep yourself preoccupied with the gallery below and at the source link -- just don't get lost in the cookware section. %Gallery-106304%
Prime View International set to expand E Ink production; LG licenses daylight-viewable LCD tech
The suddenly-booming e-book market means things are starting to heat up for Taiwan-based Prime View International -- the company has formally completed its acquisition of E Ink and plans to increase display production up to fourfold next year, and it's licensing daylight-viewable LCD tech to LG for somewhere in the neighborhood of $30m. Whether that means we'll be seeing new devices based on E Ink and next-gen LCD screens or just more sales of existing devices remains to be seen, but we're obviously hoping for new gear -- good thing CES is right around the corner.
