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Publishing exec 'steals' Google laptops in silly demonstration
We can't say that we'd recommend a CEO steal property from Google in order to prove a point, but the head honcho of Macmillan Publishers pushed his superego aside and did just that at a recent BookExpo America in NYC. It's no secret that a number of publishers have been up in arms about Google's approach to digitizing their works, but Richard Charkin went so far as to recruit a colleague and swipe a pair of laptops from a Google Books kiosk at the event. About an hour later, the booth attendants actually noticed the missing goods and presumably began to panic, and the haughty executive then had the nerve to return the machines to their rightful owners whilst dropping the "hope you enjoyed a taste of your own medicine" line. He justified the bizarre behavior by suggesting that "there wasn't a sign by the computers informing him not to steal them," apparently referencing Google's controversial tactics when scanning books. That'll show 'em, Mr. Charkin.[Via TechDirt]
STAReBOOK STK-101 reviewed
As the ebook market widens, it's only natural that competition will start heating up, and the STAReBOOK STK-101 is quite a good example of a small player making a big impact. The STK-101's main claim to fame is built-in MP3 playback, which with an included 512MB SD card and the ability to listen to music while you read, sounds pretty well executed. Fortunately, STAReBOOK didn't stop there, and have made quite the peppy and intuitive reader. CommanderROR, who reviewed the unit, found book loading and page turning to be much snappier than his iRex Iliad, and battery life looks to be quite good as well. Obviously, the 6-inches of E ink screen isn't quite as impressive as the 8-inch Iliad, but it should be fine for most reading tasks, especially considering the Sony Reader's 6-inch form factor. Page navigation bests that of both the Sony Reader and the Iliad, with easy to use bookmarks, and a simple method of inputting page numbers using the cursor. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback to the STAReBOOK might be the biggest deal breaker: the book only supports .stk books, and the included converter deals badly with styling and only includes one hard-to-read font. Luckily, JPG books work fine, so a PDF-to-JPG converter should be able to supply you with reading material well enough, but it's a far cry from the open format support of the Sony Reader and iRex Iliad.[Thanks, Branko C.]
Google planning on getting into ebooks in a big way
We've been having life-changing ebook experiences of one form or another promised to us for what seems like forever, but it really could be just around the corner this time, honest -- though the whole life-changing thing is still debatable at this point. It turns out Google is pressing forward with its Google Book Search service, and planning to roll out full-on ebook sales "sooner rather than later," with downloadable books available to computer screens and mobile devices. Of course, with Sony already in the game, and Amazon prepping downloads of its own, it's not like Google will be doing this all by its lonesome, but some innovative features like the proposed rental and single-chapter purchase schemes could garner interest in the Google offering, not to mention the whole "Google world domination" thing. It seems like the primary obstacle at this point for Google is the publishing associations that still haven't decided they're so hot for Google throwing up the contents of books online for open searchability, but we have a feeling they'll come around soon enough, or Google will just go ahead with the licensees it already has -- which with buddies like Penguin, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster already warm to the book searching, probably won't be insubstantial.[Via Digg]
Choose Your Own Adventure on iPod
If you're of a certain age (which I am), you may fondly remember a little series of books called Choose Your Own Adventure. Right around the time a little game company called Infocom was really cranking out the interactive computer games, which I spent countless hours playing on my Apple ][, CYOA books were a regular staple at my house. Yeah, we'd all skip ahead to make sure we weren't about to wind up as ant food, but the books did a lot to foster reading across the country, long before Harry Potter was a gleam in Rowling's eye.Anyway, Choose Your Own Adventure books are back! Sure, you can buy dead tree versions. But you can also buy iPod versions, which use the iPod's primitive hyperlinking in the Notes. And as astute reader Amy pointed out to us, there's a free sample iPod CYOA book, The Abominable Snowman, on their website. It's neat to see the old series faithfully reproduced, but even better knowing I can carry these around in my pocket (and read them to my kids).
Sharp intros RD-CX100 dictionary / e-book reader
It may not boast quite the versatility of its souped-up Linux-based "electronic dictionary," but if you're just looking for some basic e-book reading capabilities along with your multi-lingual dictionary, Sharp's new RD-CX100 looks like it may fit the bill. It'll handle both audio books and regular e-books, readable on its 4.3-inch screen, as well as MP3s, though the SD/MMC slot appears to be your only storage option. For some less storage-intensive listening pleasure, you can also take advantage of the unit's built-in FM receiver. If that's not enough to convince you to drop the necessary 310,000 Won (or about $330) for the device, then perhaps the brushed aluminum outer shell will be (check it out after the break).[Via Akihabara News]
LG debuts "ebook" concept laptop with OLED screen, liquid fuel
As much as we like to write about the play-by-play of gadgetry innovation, it's a sad truth that some devices, like laptops, really haven't changed much since their debut in the 1980s. LCDs, a mainstay of all laptops since that period, are one of the most delicate and expensive pieces of hardware in the whole design. But what if you could replace LCDs with OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes), which apparently don't need a bezel, and consume less electricity? LG has just built such a concept machine, calling it the "ebook" (apparently no one told them about other eBooks?), which is powered by an awesome bubbly blue methyl alcohol fuel instead of a regular (read: boring) lithium-ion battery. The ebook has just won a "best of the best" Red Dot Award, a German prize for industrial design, and we're already drooling over its astonishing look and potentially awesome capabilities -- we want one, like, yesterday. Ok, LG, if you can't debut this product within a year, at least see if you can strike a deal to get some product placement in the next James Bond film, so we can see it in action, dig?[Via Laptoping]
Sony Reader review roundup
Alright, you've already heard our take on the thing, but we've got a few more reviews for you from some old school tech journos. The general consensus isn't great. Sure, the Sony Reader packs a quite exciting new display technology, allowing for long usage times and easy-on-the-eyes viewing, but so do paper books. The main actual benefit the Sony Reader offers you over traditional pulp is that you can store books aplenty in a quite small amount of flash memory, and you can buy the titles online at your leisure. Otherwise, the Sony Reader seems to take quite a few steps back, offering awkward controls, a hard to use online store and a few other baffling functional limitations. Online prices aren't great (luckily, Sony will be including a $50 gift certificate if you buy a Reader before the end of the year), despite the virtually complete elimination of production and distribution costs, and while the Sony Connect app works well enough with pushing around RSS, TXT, RTF, DOC and PDF files, traditional 8.5 x 11 PDF files are pretty much unreadable on the Sony Reader's low-res 6-inch screen. Other funkiness includes the 10 percent skipping buttons -- there's no way to go directly to a page number or search a book text -- and an annoying 1 second refresh between each page turn. It looks like the final word on the Reader is that you should probably hold onto those dead tree editions of your favorite novels at least until some 2nd generation eBooks start popping up.Read - APRead - Walt MossbergRead - David Pogue
STAReBOOK e-book reader to hit China, US next month
We're still not sure exactly how successful this whole eBook thing will be. That said, if you believe Sony, "overwhelming demand" delayed the release of the PRS-500 until November, meaning that surely people will be rushing the streets to get their paws on an eBook. However if you don't want to wait until Sony gets its act together, you may want to check out Staretek's "STAReBOOK e-book reader," which is slated to be released for $440 in November, with two Chinese versions and one in English. MobileRead tells us that this new e-reader will bring a 6-inch SVGA 800 x 600 four-color grayscale e-ink display, 250MHz Samsung processor, 64MB SDRAM, USB 2.0, mono speaker, and it all runs on Linux 2.4.1 (including an MP3 player, apparently). If Staretek plays its cards right, it may just be able to stave off some of Sony's frustrated masses before they turn into an unruly mob.
Fujitsu shows off color e-ink tablet concept
It's all well and good to drool on color e-ink prototypes from afar, but Fujitsu has already managed to squeeze a whole VGA display into a 4.7-inch x 6.3-inch handheld unit. The concept sports 4096 colors, 32MB of built-in memory and a miniSD slot, but weighs a mere 6.2 ounces. We're not sure about the exact thickness of this thing, but it's pretty dang thin -- hardly thicker than a mini USB port -- and we'd kick Sony's oft-delayed PRS-500 to the curb in a heartbeat to view the comic adventures of a Jewish Ryu on this Fujitsu device when or if it hits the market.
Sony Reader PRS-500 hands-on + Connect Reader screenshots
Last night we nabbed an exclusive sneak peek at the oft-delayed Sony Reader, which we're happy to report is finally getting close to coming out. What we can't report, at least not yet, is a confirmed MSRP or when it is actually going to go on sale. Sony wouldn't tell us. But we did manage to get a first-hand look at the final production version of the device, as well as snap a whole slew of pics (and score some screenshots of the Connect Reader software client and Sony's eBook Store). Tech specs are more or less the same as when they announced the Reader at CES this past January -- a 6-inch E Ink display, enough battery life for 7,500 page turns, support for DRM'd BBeB and unprotected PDF, TXT, RTF, and Word files -- but the big news is that this thing will in fact support RSS feeds. Sort of. You can pick from a very limited list of feeds that have been specially formatted for viewing on the Reader (Engadget among them!), you just sync them to the device just like you do with an eBook.Click on for a bunch of pics!
Sony's PRS-500 e-book reader in the wild
Speaking of the future, we always thought that by the 21st century we'd all have digital pads to read stuff on, instead of these old-fashioned analog "books." Well, that's what Sony's betting on with its PRS-500, anyway, which has just been spotted in the wild for the first time -- in the hands of none other than Phillip Torrone of MAKE magazine (and Engadget) fame. We'd previously reported that this $350-ish e-book reader was going to be delayed (again), but that somehow it would be shipping in time for "the holidays." Given Sony's other problems of late, though, we wouldn't be surprised if the company was referring to our next summer holiday. Remember, regular ol' books may be low-tech, but at least they don't explode. Keep reading for another snap, and then head over to MAKE for the full lowdown...
Hands on with ARINC's iLiad-based eFlyBook
We had a chance to spend some quality time this week with ARINC's eFlyBook, essentially an iRex iLiad all gussied up in aviation trim. True, we know the subject matter may not interest the lion's share of our readers, but finding appropriate vertical markets may prove crucial to the short-term success of the iLiad and products like it -- besides, the eFlyBook is a dead ringer for its unbranded sibling, so if you're in the eBook market, do read on.
Hitachi showing off color version of Albirey e-paper
Now that monochrome e-paper is a pretty standard affair, those at the forefront of e-ink technology have moved on to perfecting the real killer app, which is full-color displays. We've already seen a tiny color model from Fujitsu, and a larger, but only two-color offering from Bridgestone, and now Hitachi -- maker of the black-and-white Albirey e-paper -- is showing off a 13.1-inch version of this product will an impressive 4,096-color palette. Apparently the power-saving "RGBW" filter enables the device to display bright whites as well as deep blacks, but the trade-off is the unit's rather underwhelming resolution of just 512 x 384 pixels. Therefore, we probably won't be seeing color eBooks anytime soon, but the low res should be adequate enough for certain types of signage that would benefit from the paper's ability to hold a picture in the absence of power; we think they would look great advertising all the quality products found at Engadget's retail location.[Via MobileRead]
Sony's PRS-500 eBook reader subject to another delay
First off, contrary to the beliefs of certain commenters, we absolutely do not hate Sony -- we just think that after the infamous PS3 and BDP-S1 Blu-ray delays, the company would want to do everything possible to make sure that another highly-anticipated product doesn't fall into the same cycle. Yet that's exactly what we're seeing with the upcoming PRS-500 eBook reader first announced at CES -- originally scheduled for a spring release before slipping to a summer time frame -- whose launch has now been pushed back once again to sometime this fall. According to an email Sony sent out to potential customers -- wisely thanking them for their patience -- the e-ink-based Reader will now be shipping "in time for the holidays," which hopefully doesn't refer to December 24th. Sample launch titles include Freakanomics and The Da Vinci Code, although by the time you can actually get your hands on the hardware, you'll probably have already read those books along with many of the other initial offerings. As much as we'd like to own one of these handy ~$350 devices -- and despite having no need whatsoever for a bunch of aviation documents -- we're pretty close to just biting the bullet and shelling out $900 for the eFlyBook version of iRex's iLiad that went on sale yesterday.[Thanks, Curt C. and Riley P.]
Next iPod an eBook reader?
Engadget is reporting that reliable sources claim that the next iPod will have plenty of screen real estate and have an eBook reading mode. It seems that a major publishing shop just sent Apple all of their archived manuscripts, so unless Steve has been jonesing for some reading material books might be coming to an iPod near you.I, personally, can't wait for this since I'm a big reader and I would love eBooks to really take off and iPod involvement can't but help.
Apple to do eBooks?
We tend to field a lot of inside information here at Engadget HQ, but we've gotten not one, but two bits from separate, trustworthy insiders that Apple's not satisfied merely vending Audible's books-on-digital-audio solution. With the iRex iLiad and Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader both right around the corner, is it possible the next iPod might catch the eBook bug? We'd say the possibility is very real, since according to a source at a major publishing house, they were just ordered to archive all their manuscripts -- every single one -- and send them over to Apple's Cupertino HQ. A separate trusted source let us know that the next iPod will have a substantial amount of screen real estate (as we'd all suspected), as well as a book reading mode that pumps up the contrast and drops into monochrome for easy reading. It's no e-ink, sure, but a widescreen iPod would be well suited for the purpose, and according to our source, the books you'd buy (presumably through iTunes) won't have an expiration -- kind of like Apple-bought music, as well, but contradictory to the movie rental scheme we've heard rumored. Could they please just rename it the iTunes Music, Movies, and Book Store and get it over with already?
Netac's P210 multifunctional GPS receiver
It's been a few days since we brought you a GPS/PMP device that will never be available for purchase in the States, so here to fill that void is the Netac P210, straight out of China. You probably don't really need a spec run-down on a product so similar to countless others that you've seen before, but that's what they pay us for, so here goes: preloaded with a complete Chinese map (well, maybe not complete- it seems that Taiwan is MIA), the P210 offers a 16.67 million-color, 3.5-inch touchscreen display, an FM transmitter for streaming MP3 tracks to your head unit, support for "millions" of so-called Zuiku games, and eBook functionality in case you'd rather read than rot your brain with movies and music. Pricing has not yet been announced, but as usual with these cookie-cutter units, that's basically a moot point.[Via Engadget Chinese]
Sony's PRS-500 Portable Reader slips to Summer
Ahh, the site of burning man-pelts in the park, a sharp increase in aimlessness along 42nd street, and the volatilization of sidewalk excretions exhumed by the subway heat below... Spring in New York and and the unmistakable sign that Sony's PRS-500 Portable Reader is set to launch. Er, or so we were thought until we took another peep at the SonyStyle site which now features a "late Summer 2006" availability for the 6-inch, E Ink reader. Ah well, by then we may have lost our Reader jones after spending the summer in the Engadget Hamptons' hideaway listening to interns whisper verse from ancient texts.
NTI Comodo's NP-950 DAP with in-dock VoIP and DJ functions
Talk about a convergence device-- not only does NTI Comodo's new NP-950 digital audio player perform the obligatory playback and recording functions, it can even act as a VoIP "handset" or broadcast tunes DJ-style over the Internet when docked in its USB cradle. Being marketed as the "Universal MP3 Player" in conjunction with OpenCast, this model is available in 512MB or 1GB flavors and supports MP3, WMA, ASF, and WAV audio tracks, WMV and AMV video files or JPEG/BMP/GIF photos on its 1.5-inch LCD, as well as English, Korean, Japanese, or Chinese eBooks. We're not really sure exactly who's being targeted with this unit -- whose price and release date are unknown -- since you can't store all that much content on it, and the chat/broadcast features seem more gimmicky than useful.
Hitachi introduces Albirey eBook in Japan
From what we can tell (machine translation often thwarts our best attempts at fact checking), Hitachi will be joining the likes of display manufacturers iRex and Sony when they release a commercial eBook reader in Japan tomorrow. The black-and-white e-ink model, supposedly called the "Albirey" and developed with technology from Bridgestone, seems to sport a WiFi connection with "the possibility to modify making use of radio communication," whatever that means, and comes in a package with standard A4 paper-size dimensions. The Albirey should be available tomorrow starting at what Nikkei Net is claiming to be 4,000,000 yen, which is probably the result of some Google Language shenanigans, 'cause that's like $36,000.Update: Once again, our readers have stepped in and succeeded where machine translation has failed: apparently the price quoted is for a batch of 10 units, which indicates that this unit probably intended for commercial displays and not consumer eBook consumption. Also, make sure to check out the comments for the full specs.
