Book reader
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First Look: Kobo for iPad
Here's yet another iPad app that caught my eye via a video preview. KoboBooks takes advantage of iPad-style design to offer a simple, elegant eBook reader. I love how all of the attention to detail (from bookmarks and page views, to brightness, font, and background settings) really exemplifies how apps can work on the iPad. Check out those gorgeous pop-up menus! Long time TUAW friend Jim Dovey sent over this video for us to look at. It's unclear whether Apple is going to (or, really, should) give this app a green light. KoboBooks is in direct competition with its iBooks reader and their support for Project Gutenberg eBooks. Though, if Apple does reject it, that would be a shame. Kobo is beautiful to look at. It is designed with obvious love, and a clear simple feature set. This is another app that I'm looking forward to trying, assuming that it makes it to App Store.
Intel Reader handheld device converts text to spoken word
While we busy ourselves with arguments about how to replace the perfectly usable book gadget, Intel is dealing with the complications that keep far too many people from being able to read at all. Presenting its Reader as a necessity rather than luxury, Intel has shown off its vision for how visually impaired and dyslexic people can obtain access to the written word. Combining a text-scanning camera with a text-to-speech engine (powered by an Atom inside) is certainly no bad idea, but as the video beyond the break will show you, Intel's execution isn't exactly stellar. The arrhythmic, robotic reading from Alice In Wonderland left us shaken, but what floored us was the $1,499 asking price. Yes, it's a customized niche device, but we reckon we could build something similar for a third of the price. Full PR and video after the break.
iPhone apps we crave
Well, Merlin, you did ask. Having listed some imaginary iPhone apps he'd like to see, Merlin Mann asked the world: "What's the iPhone app you crave?" Hmm, let me see now - I've got a little list. Avant Go: A fantastic portable newsagent, in which you could download whole chunks of your favourite magazine and newspaper web sites for offline reading. I used to read dozens of articles in Avant Go on my train commutes in and out of London, back in the days when I commuted. It was an absolutely essential app and I'm very much looking forward to it - or something similar - arriving on iPhone. Yojimbo or Notational Velocity for iPhone: See yesterday's rant. If this, or something like this, isn't right round the corner, I shall eat my router. TextMate or Bean: This is dependent on Apple opening up Bluetooth to other devices in a future software update. If I could use a full-size external keyboard to quickly write text, I'd want a decent editor to write it in. What iPhone apps are you craving? Let us know in the comments.
Panasonic's Words Gear color e-book reader
Looks like Panasonic have taken a few steps closer to rejoining the ebook posse with the introduction of their 5.6-inch Words Gear reader. The touch-sensitive display brings a 1024x600 resolution and appears to be the same 5.6-inch full-color panel they were working on last year. The 105 × 18.5~28.4 × 152-mm / 325-gram Words Gear is capable of playing back a variety of SD-ePublish protected content off SD cards loaded with e-books, music, photographs, and video with a continuous e-book playback battery life of about 6 hours. No real details yet or pricing / ship date, but they'll certainly be limited to Japan whenever launched.Update: This just in from Engadget Japan: Words Gear has touch-sensitive navigation on the grip, not the display itself, and will cost ¥40,000 or about $340 when they hit the streets "later this year."
