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Borders headed for bankruptcy filing, according to WSJ
Borders Group, Inc. is finishing up preparations for a bankruptcy filing, according to "people familiar with the matter." The company's financial troubles have been no secret as of late, and those same people familiar with such matters say that the filing could come as early as next Monday, which will be followed by the closure of roughly 200 of its brick and mortar stores, and plenty of job losses. Borders has struggled with its digital presence, including its lack of e-reader (the Kobo partnership came pretty late in the game and isn't really on the same level as Barnes and Noble's Nook or Amazon's Kindle), and its failure to snag a significant market share of online sales. The people familiar with the matter caution that the filing could be delayed by a few days, however, so we'll have to sit on the edges of our seats until sometime next week, probably. Hit the source for more financial details.
New Kobo eReader gets wireless connection, faster processor, pretty colors
When we reviewed the $150 Kobo e-reader this summer we liked the value it offered, but didn't particularly appreciate the poor performance nor the missing wireless connectivity. Now it's back, a new version offering fixes to those two issues (the system works!) and selling for $10 cheaper to boot. The new Kobo Wireless eReader adds WiFi into the mix, enabling on-device book downloads whenever you're in range of a suitably accommodating hotspot. There's also a new processor to speed things up, but at this point we don't know by how much. That question will be answered on November 1 when the thing starts shipping in your choice of three colors (black, silver, and lovely lavender), but as it's currently up for pre-order now at Borders you'd better hurry and make with the clicking if you want yours by the holidays. %Gallery-103600%
Velocity Micro Cruz Reader hits stores, Cruz Tablet hitting in October along with more in January
Like everyone else, Velocity Micro's about to cannonball into the tablet pool with the hope of making a big splash. Its first product, the $199 Cruz Reader is already boxed up and arriving on store shelves this week. The seven-inch tablet / e-reader runs Android 2.0 and comes preloaded with Borders' e-book application. We got a chance to check out the device this morning, and while we're impressed with the solid build and rubbery back, it's fairly heavy at a pound and the glossy screen results in less-than-excellent viewing angles. Still, it shows a lot more promise than the Pandigital Novel and Augen GenTouch 78 -- we'll never like resistive screens on this sort of device, but we were able to turn pages by tapping as well as scroll relatively well by dragging a nail down the screen. There's no access to the Android Market, but Velocity has its own Cruz Market and preloads some apps like Twidroid. But the tablet buck doesn't stop there for Velocity Micro. The Cruz Tablet that we've been hearing about since April will hit a "major electronics retailer" in October for $299. The Tablet we saw today wasn't working, but we nabbed some shots of the hardware below. This one will have a capacitive screen; however, the company isn't planning on rolling it out with Android 2.0 -- it feels the 600MHz processor isn't quite powerful enough to handle that Froyo and Flash goodness. Not to worry: its future eight- and 10-inch capacitive tablets, which will be announced at CES, are going to be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU and run Android 3.0. Told you it's aiming for a big splash! Hit the break for a short hands-on video of the Cruz Reader and stay tuned for a full review of that one soon. %Gallery-102016%
Kobo e-reader review
When the Kobo e-reader first appeared, its very affordable price point of $149 made it an attractive proposition. It's been a few months, however, and the market is ever-more crowded, with both dedicated e-readers as well as multi-taskers (such as the iPad) moving into the space big time, and there are also plenty of similarly priced options, including the WiFi version of the Nook. In fact, almost anything qualifies as an e-reader these days -- but there's still room for a thin, light dedicated device that reads books in an enjoyable way for an affordable price... or at least that's the story that Kobo is trying to tell. We've spent the last few weeks reading with the Kobo, with the main goal being to find out if the simple device has enough features to contend with the host of options (and price points) available to consumers today. Read on for our thoughts.
Borders' Kobo eReader available for pre-order, ships June 17th
Looking for a no-frills alternative to the Kindle or Nook? For $150, you'll probably find it in the Kobo eReader -- now available for purchase at Borders, and shipping June 17th. We went hands-on with Kobo in March and rather enjoyed the barebones aesthetic; though an early review cited long load times, we thought the 6-inch E Ink slate got the basics just about right. That's just us, though -- if you get it for Father's Day as Borders clearly suggests, we're not sure your picky old man will agree.
Apple iPAD outed in Borders bookstore survey?
Now, we don't really know what to think about this one, considering how many rumors are swirling about upcoming Apple devices at the moment, but make of it what you will. An online survey currently being conducted by Borders bookstore lists the "Apple iPAD (large screen reading device)" in one of its questions about e-readers. There along with the Amazon Kindle, the Kindle DX, the Sony Reader and the Plastic Logic Reader is the option to check "I plan to buy an Apple IPAD this year." It's safe to say that there are two options here: either Borders has access to some privileged Apple tablet / Kindle killer info that we, the wondering masses, do not (and yet is still making blunders like "Blackberry" and "Apple iTouch") -- or they're just assuming that there must be some truth to all the fuss. And hey, who could blame them? Like we said, we're not going to put too much stock in it, but go ahead and hit the read link to take the survey for yourself -- but be forewarned: you're going to have to dish on your opinion of Dan Brown before you get to the good stuff. [Via MacLife, thanks AC]
Borders Books testing game sales in London
Those worried that these new-fangled video games are taking vital attention away from the written word likely won't be too happy with the news that Borders Books is reportedly testing game sales in its Oxford Street London store. A handful of PC titles sit alongside the store's selection of CDs and DVDs as part of a pilot program that Borders UK and Ireland Commercial Director David Kohn thinks could expand to be a core part of the store's business."When it comes to Borders, we believe that computer games could deliver a level of sales equal or greater than our current DVD business," he said. "This could amount to as much as ten per cent of total Borders sales."Kohn seemed particularly interested in adding Wii and DS titles to the stores' selection in order to "complement our market-leading children's line-up." Great idea ... just be careful which Wii games you put in the children's section. Flesh-eating zombies don't necessarily complement Hop on Pop.
