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Elonex launches £189 6-inch eBook reader through Borders UK
Elonex has been dabbling in small screen wares for quite some time now, so it's not a huge surprise to finally see it join the likes of BeBook, Sony and Amazon by introducing its very own eBook reader. Design wise, the 6-inch reader looks an awful lot like that played-out OEM model that everyone seems to start with, but hey, you won't find us kvetching about competition. The device is launching exclusively at Borders UK, and with that comes the new Borders eBook Download Store. With a 4GB expansion card, there's room for some 8,000 ebooks, and the 9 millimeter-thin frame ensures that this one won't bog you down too much. Interested consumers over in the UK can snap this one up right now for £189 ($311), and that price nets you 100 free ebooks, a charger, data cable and a great sense of pride.[Thanks, Sam]
Steampunk Tales: A monthly magazine for your iPhone
When I was in high school, I learned about "penny dreadfuls" and their American counterpart, "dime novels." Steampunk Publishing is re-creating these popular publications by releasing what they bill as the first on-going magazine for the iPhone featuring pulp fiction -- in this case, stories set in the steampunk genre that is a take on our modern world through the eyes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. These stories are a great fit for this type of experimental publication, and doing this magazine through the iPhone is a great way to reap the rewards of a pulp fiction magazine without having to worry about the costs associated with a print run. The initial volume of Steampunk Tales #1 [link opens iTunes] contains 10 stories between 4,500 and 11,000 words. The included reader strives to recreate a Victorian-era feel as much as a possible, with a paper-like background and lavish fonts -- but one of the nicest features about this magazine is that you can customize it to the way that you want. You can chose from among a number of different fonts types and sizes, plus different background wallpapers. The one thing that I think that the magazine is lacking is a bookmark feature a la Classics. With as long as some of these stories are, if you go back and forth between them, you will lose your place unless you remember what page you were on. The stories themselves are highly enjoyable -- my personal favorite to date is "The Anachronist's Cookbook" -- and you can also see the basis for ongoing serials with a couple of the pieces, another hallmark of a bygone era. If you're a fan of the sort of pulp fiction that came out a century ago, or of the steampunk genre in general, Steampunk Tales is an excellent app to purchase. Each issue costs $1.99USD, and that's a lot of content for less than a quarter of the cost of a single paperback novel. Hopefully, Steampunk Tales will inspire other publishing companies to migrate periodicals to an iPhone-native format.
Amazon puts code where its mouth is: releases Kindle source to the world
Well, here's a nice start to what Jeff Bezos was saying about giving the Kindle reader team some competition: Amazon just released source code for all its Kindle devices. It's fairly basic Linux underneath (kernel 2.6.22 on the latest 2.1 software), but obviously includes E Ink drivers and other relevant hardware support. What's unclear without compiling one of these and booting it up (to our untrained eyes, anyway) is whether Amazon stripped out its various DRM and licensed codec support -- MP3 and Audible seem very likely candidates for explosion, even if turns out Amazon did leave in its own Kindle Book DRM. We're also lacking an actual specific license for the code, though the folder we unpacked the OS to is called "gplrelease," so hopefully we're looking at the GNU General Public License -- which would mean manufacturers can take and repurpose this code to build their own Kindle clone / destroyer / gentle homage.
Amazon Kindle DX gets torn apart, examined
Just as soon as we finally get our hands on a new unit to test out, the boys over at Rapir Repair are racing to rip one apart. And that's just what they've done here with the Amazon Kindle DX. Inside it's got the requisite boards, wires, tape and cat hairs (just kidding), plus an E727NV WN2 wireless card, memory, CPU and Epson E-ink panel controller. It's actually pretty sparse and clean inside of there -- we'd expect nothing less! Hit the read link for the full, glorious disassembling (though there is one more shot after the break).
IAC Prodigy e-reader does EV-DO, HSPA, WiMAX and WiFi
While you might say Amazon's Kindle is lucky to have a single CDMA / EV-DO radio built-in, IAC would likely venture to disagree. Over at Computex, said firm was showcasing its Prodigy e-reader, which just so happens to pack every major wireless radio we can think of. EV-DO Rev. A? Check. WCDMA / HSPA? Check. WiMAX? Oh, definitely. 802.11b/g WiFi? For sure, dudes. And the fun doesn't stop there -- it's packing a 6-inch 800 x 600 e-paper touchscreen, 256MB of NAND Flash memory, 128MB of DDR memory, 2GB of NAND storage and a Marvell PXA310 processor. If all goes well, this little bugger will ship in Q4 over in Taiwan, but it'll be a cold day in Hades before it arrives on US soil. Video's after the break.
Video: Pixel Qi's e-ink / LCD hybrid screen demoed at Computex
Wow, just wow. We were about three months away from putting Pixel Qi on a temporary vaporware watch, and now we couldn't be happier about shoving this crow down our throats. The outfit's so-called 3qi display technology -- which seamlessly integrates e-ink with LCD -- was on display this week at Computex, and there's a beautiful video just after the break that shows it off. Put simply, we've never seen a laptop display look as good in broad daylight as Pixel Qi's display, and even though there's no striking colors in the black-and-white e-ink mode, at least you can see the thing (clearly, at that) without squinting. Seriously, hop on past the break and mash play.
PVI to buy E Ink for $215 million
You may not know who Taiwan-based Prime View International is but the makers of the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader sure do. See, PVI is the company that builds the electronic paper displays for the world's most popular ebook readers. Now, it's also the expectant owner of US-based E Ink and all the associated patents that come with. The deal, if approved by government regulators, is expected to close by October.
Toshiba Biblio e-reader handled, deemed extremely small
We heard that Japanese carrier KDDI au had unveiled a Toshiba "e-reader," and now we're getting a first look at it. The e-inkless Biblio has a 3.5-inch, 960 x 480 LCD, with WiFi, 7GB of onboard storage, an electronic dictionary, and a 5.1 megapixel camera. The device features a slide-out keyboard which displays a numeric pad in the portrait orientation and doubles as full QWERTY in landscape. There's no word on pricing or availability for this bad boy as of yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground. One more shot after the break.
BeBook mini and BeBook 2 priced, 3G added to the latter
Slowly but surely, those oh-so-juicy details are leaking out about Endless Ideas' upcoming duo of e-readers. We've now learned that the BeBook mini will boast the same specifications as the original BeBook, save for the much more compact 5-inch display; if all goes well, it should be available for purchase this summer for €199 ($270). Moving on to the BeBook 2, we've learned that it will include both WiFi and 3G access right out of the box, and the company is currently working with mobile operators in Germany and France in hopes of providing Kindle-like data access for on-the-go book downloads. Unfortunately, it looks like the asking price of that one will hover in the €350 ($476) to €400 ($544) range, but you can check out a Dutch interview with the new announcements just past the break.[Via Slashgear]
Interead's COOL-ER claims to be the 'iPod moment' for e-readers
Upstart company Interead is looking to jump into the ever-expanding library of e-book readers with its debut, the COOL-ER. Company founder Neil Jones describes it as the "iPod moment that e-readers have been waiting for," calling the device the first of its kind to be designed specifically for the non-technologically inclined reader in mind. Indeed, the aesthetics seems to borrow liberally from the iPod nano, and features eight different color options. It weighs in at 6.3 ounces, or a little less than half of the Kindle 2, with the same 6-inch e-ink screen, and is small enough to fit comfortably in your jacket pocket, he says. It's got 1GB internal memory and a SD card slot, as well as a 2.5mm headphone jack with a 3.5mm converter bundled with every device. The feature set is pretty barebones, with no keyboard, text-to-speech, WiFi, or Whispernet equivalent -- all files have to be loaded via USB or SD card -- but in its place is a more attractive $250 MSRP, and Jones assures us at that price the company'll be making a profit on each unit sold. Format support includes EPUB, TXT, JPEG, any kind of PDF, MP3 for audio, and eight languages including Russian and traditional / simplified Chinese. The company's also launching an e-book store and offering an extra discount for customers who register their COOL-ER. It'll go on sale May 29th for US and Europe via its website, with retail distribution partner expected to be announced closer to the launch date. We're gonna wait until we get a few chapters into Alice in Wonderland before giving a final verdict, but in the meantime, check out our initial hands-on in the gallery below. Read - Product page Read - Online store
Amazon takes 70 percent of Kindle newspaper revenues
The Kindle DX launch might have sparked a wave of hype about the next generation of newspapers, but not everyone's so quick to agree: Dallas Morning News CEO James Moroney told a Senate subcommittee yesterday that the Kindle isn't a "platform that's going to save newspapers in the near term." According to Moroney, Amazon demands 70 percent of subscription revenue from newspapers, and further requires content owners to grant Amazon the right to republish content to other devices -- like, say, the iPhone. That's a pretty inequitable split, and while we understand that Amazon has to pay for Whispernet somehow, it's hard to imagine newspaper publishers lining up to wager 70 percent of their digital subscription revenues and a perpetual license to their content on devices that are far from proven. On the other hand, it's innovate or die time for these guys, so we'll see what happens -- with all the competitors out there poised to make a move, things are about to get interesting.
TUAW Watercooler: Apple's next big thing
The internal email list for all the TUAW bloggers is a busy place. Some of the best conversations from the list, including musings, rants and raves, don't ever appear on the site. Today we wanted to give you a taste of one of those conversations, about Apple's 'next big thing.'There has been plenty of discussion lately about Apple's next category-defining product. For months, I've dismissed tablet rumors. I know that Windows-based tablets are plentiful, but I've never used one, and don't know what the most useful applications are. I immediately think of a guy conducting inventory in a warehouse, but I know that's only because I have no experience with these machines. Some suggest something that's essentially a laptop inside a touch screen, much like the iMac is a computer within its display; of course, Axiotron already makes a MacBook-based tablet. I don't see the practicality. I certainly enjoy the internet and email on my iPhone, but the amount of typing I do on the iPhone is a small percentage of what I do on my MacBook Pro.Still, I think a similar device is coming.
Poll: Will you buy a Kindle DX?
Now that the dust is beginning to settle, we here at Engadget are wondering how all of you are feeling about your new Kindle options. With the Kindle 2 still in its infancy, and the newborn Kindle DX ready to hit the scene (not to mention the host of other e-reader options), how are you likely to spend all that cash you normally shell out on paper and ink Neal Stephenson novels? Will you make the leap to e-ink, or are you still bound and determined to cart The Baroque Cycle around in a Radio Flyer? We've already shared some of our thoughts -- tell us how you feel in the poll below -- and feel free to quote The Diamond Age in the comments. %Poll-29840%
NYT: Big-screen Kindle coming from Amazon "as early as this week"
Go ahead and grab the salt shaker, 'cause this one's nowhere near carved in stone... or is it? A breaking report from The New York Times has it that Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle e-reader "as early as this week," one that's tailored for "displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks." If you'll recall, magazine publisher Hearst made its intentions public to produce such a device earlier this year, noting that a larger panel would be more conducive to traditional print media layouts, and thus, additional revenue from ads. The article also notes that Plastic Logic will "start making digital newspaper readers by the end of the year." Coincidentally (or not), the Wall Street Journal also published a report this evening that dug deeper into the aforementioned Hearst deal. As the story goes, a number of big-shots in the publishing industry are banding together to set their own subscription rates (rather than go through a middleman such as Amazon), and this writeup asserts that Plastic Logic's reader won't actually roll out until "early next year" (as we'd heard previously). If you're seriously able to handle yet another twist in this madness, WSJ also points out that "people familiar with the matter" have stated that Apple is "readying a device that may make it easier to read digital books and periodicals," but it's hard to say if this is simply regurgitation of unfounded rumors already going around or something entirely more legitimate. All in all, it's clear that flagging print publications are desperate for a device that caters to its layout and allows them to regulate rates -- only time will tell if there's room for two, three or possibly more of these so-called "big-screen e-readers" in the world, but this week definitely just got a whole lot more interesting.Update: Press event invite just received, it's on for Wednesday! Read - New York Times reportRead - Wall Street Journal report
Amazon has acquired Stanza
Last month Amazon released the free Kindle application for the iPhone in the US [App Store link], shortly after the Kindle 2 hit the market. If you haven't used it yet, it works quite well. Users can buy books (but not subscriptions) from the Kindle Store via Mobile Safari for reading on their iPhones, although the purchasing process is easier from a desktop browser. Unlike the Kindle, the iPhone app is able to display color images, but it lacks text-to-speech as well as a direct connection to the Kindle Store. Whispersync, which synchronizes ebooks between the iPhone app and Kindle, works as advertised.A few weeks ago, we posted a comparison of ebook readers featuring, among others, the iPhone app Stanza [App Store link]. As Steve mentioned, Stanza works with nearly every ebook format, even Project Gutenberg etexts. I only used Stanza briefly to check it out and I can say that the UI was very nice. Additionally, the folks who created Stanza have an existing relationship with ebook seller Fictionwise. In fact, Fictionwise created an ebook store just for Stanza users.This week, we've learned that Amazon has acquired the company behind Stanza. We can only assume that aspects of Stanza will make it into a future release of Kindle for the iPhone.
BeBook mini e-reader with 5-inch display makes pictorial debut
It's not the BeBook 2, unfortunately, but Endless Ideas' official Twitter has released an image of a smaller variant of its current e-book reader, dubbed the BeBook mini. It's got a 5-inch e-ink display and reportedly all the same features as its older brother. Manufacturer Tianjin Jinke Electronics also happens to sell products under the Hanlin brand, and this looks to be the same device as the upcoming Hanlin v5, which according to Chinese site mobread would indicate SD card support and a May release window locally. As for elsewhere in the world, there's no indication of a release date, but BeBook Twitter feed did tease about staying under the $200 / €200 price barrier. [Via Wired] Read - Hanlin v5 Read - BeBook mini Image Read - Teaser about sub-$200 / €200 price tag
Amazon to charge per megabyte to send personal documents OTA to your Kindle
So far, sending files to your Kindle cost a flat fee -- one dime per document for conversion and download over Whispernet. Looks like that honeymoon is over, as Amazon's announced that as of May 4th, the Personal Document Service will be a variable fee of $0.15 per megabyte, rounding up. It's still free of charge if you transfer the documents over via USB, and sending them to "name"@free.kindle.com will return converted files to your email address gratis. If you're trying to be frugal, we might suggest combining all those pending transfers into one fat PDF and sending it off sometime this weekend. [Via GearDiary]
Braille e-reader concept can't be far from reality
The technology's already here, we just need a venture capital firm and a determined entrepreneur to make it happen. A foursome of designers -- Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, Sun-Hye Woo and Jin-Sun Park -- have banded together to create the above pictured concept, an e-reader for those with limited or no vision. Their Braille E-Book concept theoretically relies on electroactive polymers in order to change the surface's shape as pages are turned, and while we fully expect the battery life to suffer due to all the necessary commotion, it's definitely a start that needs to happen.
Kindle 2 users complain of eye strain, mull over possible solutions
You know how it is: Amazon refreshes the Kindle, makes some upgrades, and everybody's happy. Almost. It seems that a small but vocal minority is really, really not into the way that fonts are rendered on the new device. For real. Y'see, the newest iteration of the e-reader sports font smoothing algorithms and sixteen levels of gray (as opposed to four levels on the original). For sure, these enhancements make for prettier pictures, but on the downside it causes text to blur significantly when displaying fonts in the smallest three sizes. If you're one of the disgruntled Kindle 2 owners looking for some relief for your tired eyes, there are a couple options available to you. You might want to try the Unicode Fonts Hack, which will allow you to replace the system font for something more to your liking. Or you could hop on over to Amazon's Kindle forum, where you can commiserate with your fellow angry customers (OK, not really a solution -- but possibly therapeutic). You could wait for the rumored Kindle with a larger screen to arrive (no telling when or if that's gonna happen), or even downgrade to a first gen device, as some folks already have. Or you can read a book. One thing you can't do? You can't stop progress. [Via Wired]Read - Amazon: Please make the text darker on Kindle 2Read - Unicode Fonts Hack
Book Time shrugs off e-readers, turns paper pages for you
Oh sure, the e-reader may be just fine for some, but for the traditionalists in attendance who just can't enjoy a novel without turning those crisp, cool pages as you plow through yet another masterpiece, this invention is the one to care about -- particularly when you're fingers are frozen in place and you're just too dilapidated to do anything but read and comprehend. The absolutely genius Book Time creation managed to nab a Robot of the Year award over in Japan, as it holds down books and periodicals and automatically flips pages and pins down edges to keep sheets from flapping about uncontrollably. We can't quite tell if this thing's voice activated or not (we're hoping so), but either way, you can check out the hot paper turning action for yourself just past the break.[Via NewLaunches]
