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Aug
13
Amazon Kindle: The Buzz Goes On
Filed Under Kindle, News, Reader, Readius, e-Ink | Leave a Comment
The media buzz on the Amazon Kindle continues at mid-week, following a Citigroup analyst’s positive estimates of 2008 Kindle sales on Monday.
The Top Stocks Blog over at MSN Money staked out somewhat of a contrarian position. Under the headline, “Amazon’s Kindle unlikely to set world on fire,” the blogger noted that although some think the Kindle will have a first-year sales record comparable to that of the Apple iPod, “[o]thers believe it’s wishful thinking to assume John Grisham will ever be as popular as Jay-Z.”
After noting some features of the Amazon Kindle — ability to download books over the wireless Whispernet network, the glare-free screen and enlargeable screen fonts, the Top Stocks blogger held firm to the notion of print-and-paper books: “Doodling in the corners and turning the pages into a flipbook, alas, can still only be done in regular books.”
Aug
5
Phones with e-Ink Display Set for Japan Launch
Filed Under News, e-Ink | Leave a Comment
TechRadar reports that two phones incorporating e-Ink displays are set for launch in Japan by Hitachi and Casio.
The Hitachi W61H will use the ‘Silhouette’ display when it launches in Japan in a design which mimics that of a perfume bottle (so not hard to work out the demographic they’re going for there.)
The Casio G’zOne range will also use the display to provide easy-to-read information in a smaller outer screen, though won’t be as impressive as the Hitachi model in form.
Aug
4
An Amazon Kindle - cellphone combo in the future?
Filed Under Kindle, News, e-Book, e-Ink, eReader | Leave a Comment
“Get set–though I don’t know when–for the era of e-reader/cellphone hybrids,” says TeleRead.
It’s difficult to predict who will win among competing display technlogies, the article says.
Who knows which display tech will be dominant? Or whether another company –Sony, or Apple maybe?–might beat Amazon to the marketplace with a full color equivalent of the Kindle blended in with a cellphone. It’s bound to happen, however.
Correctly, while discussing an extra £25 million that the U.K.-based Plastic Logic won in funding from Amadeus Capital Partners and others, PC Pro News noted the Kindle-related possibilities of flexible screens. Flex plastic would not just be more rugged but also lighter and cheaper, and the company says that phones, along with laptops, are another target beyond e-readers alone.
Aug
4
Amazon Kindle - A User Review
Filed Under Kindle, Reviews, e-Book, e-Ink, eReader | Leave a Comment
Over at the Dragonsept Arts & Publishing blog, there’s a user review of the Amazon Kindle. From the blogger’s perspective, the Kindle’s screen is its strong point:
The screen of the Kindle is where it really shines. The resolution is crisp, and it is incredibly easy to read. The text comes out black-on-gray, and very sharp. There is a bit of pixelation at the smallest resolution, but it’s still much better than reading on a small LCD. My preference is settling on the second-smallest text, which is one size lower than the default from the factory. The screen flashes all-black for a moment when changing pages, presumably to reset the electronic ink. It takes less than 1 second to change pages, a very acceptable time.
The weak point identified by the blogger is the lack of open standards compatibility. “Sadly, the only open standards the Kindle natively [are] .txt and HTML. However, it supports Mobi, which you can create from PDFs and other formats without cost. One can also get documents converted to the Amazon format for free by sending them as an attachment to an email address unique to your Kindle.”
Overall, the blogger gives the Kindle a good grade.
I really, really like this device. . . . The electronic ink is a huge improvement over light-emitting screen types. The screen size is wonderful - and this from someone who thought he never cared about the small PDA screen before. The cover that comes with it makes it very easy to hold on to, and protects the screen nicely. It would also be a great place to clip on a book light, if you need to read at night without bothering a bed- or room-mate. I would like it if it supported more formats, but I am content that I am not locked in completely to Amazon’s format.
Do you own a Kindle? We’d love to have your comments and thoughts on. your Kindle experience.
Jul
28
e-Books from a Writer’s Perspective
Filed Under Kindle, Reader, e-Book, e-Ink | Leave a Comment
Ugolino’s Teeth recently examined e-books and ereading devices, and the effect of PDF book giveaways on hardcopy book sales, from the perspective of the working writer.
E-books, in other words, are not books and those who have suggested that giving away free novels will increase sales have yet to prove their case. Pdfs are like the little samples of food they give away in supermarkets — good for publicity, but not enough by themselves to fill a belly. They are not product.
A real test will come with the mass arrival of e-ink readers. With devices such as the Sony Reader, or the Amazon Kindle, we are entering a world where, for the first time, the e-book experience is every bit as valid as the printed page. Sure, there are a proportion of people who collect physical books and have to have them at any cost. But most of us, just want to lose ourselves for a few hours in Carribean Steampunk. Giving away an e-book to the owner of a Sony Reader, is the equivalent of giving them product and makes it very unlikely that they will buy the real thing. In fact, the offer of a free softcopy of something they had already been considering, might well lead to a slight dip in sales.
Jul
13
Cybook Gen3 - The Pros and Cons
Filed Under Cybook, Reviews, e-Book, e-Ink, eReader | Leave a Comment
The Future of Things recently featured a very comprehensive review of the Bookeen Cybook Gen3 ereader device. The reviewer summed up the analysis with this list of pros and cons for the Cybook Gen3.
Pros
* Fast—faster than the Sony PRS-505
* Thin, light, and small
* Very good battery life, (8,000 page-flips, according to Bookeen, and many hours of MP3 playback, revealed by our test)
* Latest e-paper screen—very comfortable to read in a well-lit environment
* Mobipocket format and software is excellent
* Good—and free—RSS supportCons
* Cumbersome page-flip mechanism
* Only a few, small hardware buttons
* Current firmware (late February 2008) lacks folder and subfolder capabilities, making anything with more than 100 items difficult to find
* Incomplete PDF support—some files don’t open or crash the device
* No SDHC support
* No wireless connectivity
Jul
13
Cybook Gen3 - A Thumbs Up from ZDNet UK
Filed Under Cybook, Mobipocket, Reviews, e-Ink, ePaper, eReader | Leave a Comment
 | GBP 165.00 (24 Bids) End Date: Thursday Jan-08-2009 10:02:58 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
If you’re considering a purchase of the Bookeen Cybook Gen3 ereader, you’ll be glad to know that this device received a glowing review from ZDNet UK. Sandra Vogel wrote:
BOOKEEN Cybook Gen3 eBook Reading Device + 1 yr wtyPerformance
The Cybook Gen3’s 1,000mAh Li-polymer battery is good for 8,000 page refreshes. Depending on the font and font size selected, the number of pages in any one book will vary, making it difficult to estimate how many books can be read within this number of page refreshes. However, we used the Cybook Gen3 for several weekend reading sessions with no need to recharge. If you’re not happy with the range of fonts supplied, you can add more TrueType fonts.The ergonomics are excellent. We found the Cybook Gen3 very comfortable to hold for extended periods, as it’s light and compact. The screen is unusual as it has no backlight and is not reflective. However, we found it legible in a wide range of lighting conditions, both indoors and out. It’s very easy on the eye and suited to extended periods of concentrated use. In short, we found it no more demanding than reading text on paper.
Conclusion
The Cybook Gen3 is simply the best e-book reader we’ve seen to date. It could use one or two tweaks: most obviously, support for more audio formats, a 3.5mm headset jack and support for SDHC (although you can get a lot of content onto a 2GB SD card). We’d also like to see a thinner, more bag-friendly carry case. Even as it stands, if you want to try an e-book reader, then the Cybook Gen3 is definitely recommended.
| GBP 165.00 (24 Bids) End Date: Thursday Jan-08-2009 10:02:58 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
Jul
13
iRex Iliad Ereader: Watch This Demo
Filed Under Demos, Mobipocket, Reviews, e-Book, e-Ink, ePaper, eReader, iRex Iliad | Leave a Comment
 | US $549.55 (12 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Jan-07-2009 9:58:11 PST Bid now | Add to watch list |
The number of the ereader and digital media devices on the market seems to grow daily. An ereader that’s been around for a year or two is the Iliad, released by iRex Technologies. This Linux-based device uses the e-Ink technology for displaying text.
In this video, an iRex company representative demonstrates the Iliad’s capabilities at the O’Reilly TOC conference.