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Hackers start hacking the Pandigital Novel e-reader
The Pandigital Novel e-reader may have had its share of problems since its launch just a month ago, but it's starting to look like a slightly more attractive option for those willing to hack the device. As detailed by Nate of The Digital Reader blog, the procedure for installing a new home screen and additional apps is fairly straight forward, and doesn't involve actually rooting the device (although others are working on doing that as well). Of course, it's not quite a seamless experience as an Android tablet (there's apparently some stability issues), but it doesn't look too shabby for a $179 device. Head on past the break for a video of the hack, and hit up the link below for the necessary details to do it yourself.
Amazon's graphite Kindle DX now shipping
Amazon promised that its new, Pearl display-equipped graphite Kindle DX would start shipping today and, as a helpful tipster informs us, the first shipping notices are now indeed going out. What's more, unlike some past Kindle debuts, the e-reader is also still listed as in stock, so it looks like you're not out of luck if you didn't get your pre-order in. Of course, it's not clear if that's due to increased supply or reduced demand -- although, at $379, we'd have to guess it's moving a bit slower than the regular $189 Kindle.
Sony cuts e-reader prices: Pocket Edition now $149
Not much of a surprise here, but it looks like you can officially include Sony in the e-book reader price wars. It's now dropped the prices on its three current models: the Pocket Edition is down from $169 to $149, the Touch Edition drops from $199 to $169, and the 3G-equipped Daily Edition is now $299 (down a full $50 from $349). As The Digital Reader blog notes, however, that still leaves Sony a bit out of step with the competition -- the Pocket Edition lacks the WiFi of the similarly-priced Nook, for instance, and the Daily Edition remains a tough sell even at $299.
Apple rolls out iBooks app for iPhone, iPod touch
It's not just multitasking apps that are hitting the App Store to coincide with the release of iOS 4.0 -- Apple has also just rolled out version 1.1 of its iBooks app, which is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch in addition to the iPad (officially, this time). As previously announced, the app now also supports PDF viewing, and boasts a range of other more minor improvements, including new ways to bookmark (complete with syncing across devices), your choice of white or sepia colored pages, more font options and, of course, "greater stability and better performance."
Pandigital rolls out Novel firmware fix following recall
Pandigital's launch of its Novel e-reader quickly turned into something of a mess after it was forced to pull the device from retail partner Kohl's due to some major firmware issues, but it looks like the company has now gotten things sorted out (or so it hopes). It's just rolled out a firmware update for the device that apparently fixes the problems, and which should also pave the way for its return to retail (though it's still not available from Kohl's just yet). It remains to be seen if the update also fixes the many issues reported in an early review of the device, however, but we're going to go out on a limb and say it doesn't make it any lighter. As we'd heard before, you can also still return the device for a full refund if you're not satisfied with it, or you grab the firmware update at the link below and see if it makes things a bit more bearable. [Thanks, joelaf]
LG Display and iriver enter joint venture to make e-book readers pretty, affordable
Well what do you know, turns out the LB4400 was a harbinger of things to come. LG Display and iriver just announced a $5M joint venture to manufacture e-book readers. The new China-based company, L&I Electronic Technology (Dongguan) Ltd, sees iriver doing the platform development and product design (thank gawd) while LG provides the EPD displays. It's interesting to note that the company will act as an OEM/ODM to anyone looking to slap their brand on an e-book reader... after iriver -- the company's first customer -- takes the pick of the litter.
Apple rolling iBooks out across iOS 4 devices, get your Winnie the Pooh now
No shock and awe here, Apple's already given us plenty of warnings, but we thought we'd drop you a friendly note to say that if you've upgraded to iOS 4 early, your copy of Winnie the Pooh is flying at you right this minute. Tipsters point out that they get a notification encouraging them to download the heretofore iPad-exclusive iBooks app, though they're finding they have to do it via their desktop iTunes client rather than over the air. Ah well, Apple's probably being extra cautious with moving those big wooden bookshelves into the smaller dimensions of your iPhone or iPod touch. We've not been able to get the app running on our iPhone 3G, so perhaps this is another of those features you're not going to be able to enjoy on older hardware -- we hope it's just us though. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iRex Technologies files for bankruptcy, partly due to US problems
It isn't throwing in the towel just yet, but things don't seem to be looking good for Netherlands-based iRex Technologies -- CEO Hans Brons has just announced that the company has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a string of problems that's led to "financial difficulties." While details are otherwise still pretty light, at least some of those problems seem to be related to the company's operations in the United States and, in particular, a delay in its DR 800 e-reader receiving FCC approval that caused iRex to miss out the holiday shopping season and fully take advantage of its deal with Best Buy. As bleak as things might be, however, Brons still seems to be keeping his chin up, saying that the "expectations are still positive."
ASUS Eee Tablet preview
Alright, stick with us here. For some reason, ASUS decided it best to name its freshest e-reader the Eee Tablet, while its downright magical tablet goes by Eee Pad. Got all that? Good. The Eee Tablet (again, not to be confused with the Eee Pad tablet) is half e-reader, half note taker, and it's an interesting twist on a played product category. We took a few precious minutes to experiment with the device here on the Computex show floor, and overall, we like what we're seeing. Gone is the painfully slow E-Ink page refresh that Kindle owners are so accustomed to, with this particular LCD proving deliciously quick at changing screens. The only hang-up comes when you attempt to flip through too many pages, too fast -- we managed to harness a loading wheel on two occasions, both of which took around six or eight seconds to vanish and the next page to finally appear. We also confirmed that the screen only works with the included stylus, much like pen-enabled Wacom tablets. That said, the bundled stylus was perfectly weighted, and the Eee Tablet responded well to our doodling. Speaking of weight, the model shown here in Taipei was shockingly heavy (at least iPad-level heavy), while the 10-inch EP101TC was markedly less hefty. Enough chatter -- have a look at our hands-on video just past the break. %Gallery-93961%
ASUS Eee Tablet: a notepad with impressive 2450 dpi touchscreen sensitivity (updated)
Don't call it the Eee Pad, this is ASUS' Eee Tablet -- a digital notebook with a 2,450 dpi touchscreen and lickity quick 0.1 second page turns on a backlight-less TFT-LCD offering 64-levels of grey. As such, ASUS is calling its Eee Tablet one of the world's most accurate and sensitive note taking devices available. The other being paper and pencil of course. While the Eee Tablet will serve up texts and ebooks for reading just fine, ASUS is really pushing the note taking feature with built-in notepad templates and the ability to store, sort, tag, and annotate your notes on the fly. It comes packing a MicroSD slot and 2 megapixel camera for snapping lecture slides which students or professionals can then annotate and then sync back to a PC over USB. Battery life? 10 hours -- so yeah, it's not E-Ink... but then again it's not E-Ink. Update: Uh, ok, we've received clarification here at Computex. Apparently, when ASUS says "a 2450 dpi touch resolution screen" they actually mean a 2,450 dpi input sensitivity. In other words, annotations probably will feel like writing on paper, or an 8-inch 1024 x 768 pixel panel, anyway. Update 2: We've just been told to expect the Eee Tablet to cost somewhere between $199 and $299 of the green stuff when it launches sometime in September. Update 3: Lookie here -- we've got a hands-on preview up, video and all. %Gallery-93955%
Pandigital Novel e-reader / handheld hits the FCC
Pandigital's already manage to at least pique our interest with its Android-based Novel e-reader / handheld, and it looks like the device has now reached one more milestone on the road to availability -- it's just turned up at the FCC. As you can see, the particular device undergoing testing is black (not white as the final version will apparently be), and the FCC unfortunately doesn't give us much of a look of that bright 7-inch LCD in the on position. It has, however, given us a glimpse of the device's insides, subjected it to the usual battery of tests, and kindly provided us with the device's user manual -- though there's not too many surprises in there at this point. Hit up the link below for all that and more.
Samsung E60 and E61 e-readers heading to British digital bookworms in July
Good news, fellow Brits! Samsung has just announced that it'll be shipping its two 6-inch, stylus-donning e-readers -- the slide-out E60 and the QWERTY-packing E61 -- to the UK in July, with the former to be priced at £299.99 ($443) and the latter's to be confirmed. Sadly, no news on who'll be delivering the ebooks over these devices' WiFi, but we're promised an announcement in a fortnight. For now, gorge yourselves on our latest hands-on photos.%Gallery-92774%
Barnes & Noble Nook gaming and web browsing impressions
Playing some Sudoku and reading Engadget on our Nook? Yeah, we are! Obviously, after hearing about the Nook 1.3 firmware update this morning, us bookworms nabbed the latest software to check out the added features. The over-the-air update took about a total of ten minutes from start to finish, and when the e-reader had restarted the new Games, Wi-Fi, Audio, and Web shortcuts were more than obvious on the main menu. The browsing experience, which is clearly marked beta, is very similar to that on the Spring Design Alex -- you input the address on the touchscreen and an expanded view of whatever site you're visiting appears on the E-Ink display. You can use the LCD to navigate the page, though the physical page turn buttons work as well, which is actually a nice trick. It isn't the fastest browsing experience, but it'll definitely be useful for quickly reading some news or checking the weather when you are near a WiFi network – we got a page not found message over 3G. As for the Sudoku and chess games, it's all pretty standard -- the boards appear on the E-Ink screen and you use the touchscreen to input numbers or move pieces. We weren't near a Barnes & Noble to check out the borrow-a-book feature, but the navigation seems to have gotten even snappier since the 1.2 update, and the lower screen is refreshing noticeably faster. Our early verdict? Those Best Buy shoppers are getting a heck of a much better Nook than we did a few months ago. %Gallery-91603%
Paradigm Shift debuts $130 EER-051D e-reader
They may not quite have dipped into impulse buy territory just yet, but e-readers are definitely getting cheaper, as evidenced by Sony's $169 Pocket Reader, Kobo's $149 eReader and, now, Paradigm Shift's $130 EER-051D. Despite appearances above, this one supposedly has a 5-inch color screen, and packs an FM tuner along with the usual MP3 support, plus a photo viewer, 2GB of internal memory, an SD card slot for expansion, and support for most popular e-book formats (including DRM-enabled ePub books). As you might have surmised from its nondescript appearance and model name, Paradigm Shift is also pitching these at OEMs looking to do a quick rebadge job, but it will apparently be available in the US in its current form through Delstar Wholesale Electronics as soon as next month. Press release is after the break.
Barnes & Noble Nook seen lying in wait at Best Buy
We've already had a pretty clear indication that the Barnes & Noble Nook would be going on sale at Best Buy soon, and we now have our firmest evidence yet courtesy of a tipster who has found Nooks aplenty lurking behind the scenes at the retailer. What's more, as you can see in the shot of an inventory screen after the break, it seems all but certain that the launch date is indeed April 18th, although there's still no confirmation of a price -- we wouldn't be counting on any discounts over Barnes & Noble itself, though.
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.
Spring Design Alex review
We realize that the e-reader market is about as crowded (not to mention overwhelming) as a Walmart on Black Friday, but ever since the dual-screen Spring Design Alex surfaced and we mistook it as the Barnes & Noble Nook, we've been incredibly intrigued by it. Though its 6-inch E-Ink display and 3.5-inch Android LCD form factor may seem like a riff on the Nook, the Alex has quite a few more tricks up its sleeve, including a full Android browser and the ability to extend what appears on the LCD to the E-Ink screen. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the unorthodox extras baked into the $399 Alex. Still, games and gimmicks only get you so far, and you're probably wondering if it has what it takes to pull up next to the majors like the Kindle or Nook and knock them from the top. We've got that answer and lots more details on what it's like to use two screens rather than one just after the break in our full review. Join us, won't you? %Gallery-88668%
Kindle for iPad and tablets makes the scene
It must be getting close to April 3rd because the iPad news is hotting up. Today we get our first glimpse at Amazon's free Kindle app for the iPad. We've also got a Barnes & Noble iPad app on the way, courtesy of a report in the New York Times, that has been completely redesigned by a team of 14 developers working since January to allow for custom fonts in multiple colors and quick page turns with finger swipes. The Kindle app, meanwhile, features a redefined core screen and reading experience, slow page turns, and new ways to view your eBook library. One view, pictured above, presents your books as large icons against a silhouetted figure under a tree -- the sun changes position in accordance to the time of day. Of course, the app also gives you access to the Kindle bookstore (assuming Apple approves) and saves your reading position so that you can pick up any Kindle app (or device) and continue reading right where you left off. Fortunately, Amazon's Kindle App will be targeting tablets beyond the iPad. We're also hearing that Skiff is almost certainly headed to Apple's tablet, and we suspect as many competitors as possible given the plethora of devices demonstrated to us at CES. So seriously, we ask you, in an age where content is king, are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store? Update: The Barnes & Noble app, not the Kindle app, is being worked on by a team of 14 developers. %Gallery-88688% [Thanks, Jason D.]
Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June
Well it's about time, Spring Design! After missing its February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex -- that dual-screen, Android-based ereader we liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you'll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We'd like to say the wait stops there, but we've also learned that early buyers won't have access to the promised Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the "June time frame," which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market -- at least there's access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it'd behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order. Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design's website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you'll see a message to check back soon. We'll keep doing just that until we see signs of life... or hear otherwise. Update 2: And we're back...the pre-order page is finally up! %Gallery-88293%
Entourage Edge review
Is it an Android tablet? An e-reader? Just a sweet gadget with two screens? Truth is the Entourage Edge is a little bit of everything, and that's exactly why we've been so intrigued with the "dualbook" since we fondled it at CES. Finally ready to make its shipping debut, the $499 dual screen device is aimed at students, but really it's for anyone interested in a combination 9.7-inch E Ink reading / note-taking experience and a 10.1-inch Android web tablet. It's sounded very cool to us for quite a while, but there's always a difference between hype and reality. Does the Edge live up to its promise or attempt to do too much? The only place to find out is after the break in our full review. %Gallery-88032%
