Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

While the hi-larious pun might make you think the Kandle ebook light can only be used with Amazon’s Kindle, rest assured the design and its WideLip grip (patent-pending) makes it compatible with any of the hundreds of eBook readers that will be flooding the market based on what I saw at CES. The Kandle’s dual pivoting arms allow it to fold up to a slightly more compact form factor, but it also allows the light from the 2 LEDs to be directed as needed. And while it’s nice that it includes 2xCR2032 batteries which power the LEDs, and we understand they help make the device smaller, a more common battery choice would have been preferred. $24.95 available from Amazon.

[ Kandle LED eBook Light ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In David’s “What’s Buzzin’?” post about this year’s CES he mentioned 3 early trends we’ve seen including 3D TVs, media players and ebook readers. And this afternoon Samsung delivered on all 3 fronts. In addition to a slew of 3D LED TVs and a new PMP with a see-through AMOLED display, the company also announced their E6 and E101 E-Books. They come in 6-inch and 10-inch screen sizes (you guess which model # is which) and feature 802.11b/g wireless connectivity as well as Bluetooth for downloading content directly to the device.

And in addition to a clever sliding mechanism which hides a set of hardware navigation buttons and speakers, you might also have noticed that the E6 pictured above doesn’t feature hard or soft keyboards like the Kindle or Nook. That’s because it’s got a touch screen with built-in handwriting recognition.

Unlike other e-book devices, Samsung’s E6 and E101 enables handwriting directly onto the display, allowing users to annotate their reading selections, calendars and to-do lists with a built-in electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. This dedicated pen prevents mistypes caused by hands and other objects that may graze the screen’s surface. A variety of pen and eraser thicknesses make the Samsung e-books perfect for drawing and writing.

Yeah, it kind of sucks that you have to use a stylus in this enlightened age of touchscreens, but the technology leaves their readers with a very crisp and high contrast e-ink display, not to mention the fact that most of us are far more comfortable writing with a pen than our fingers. Both E-Books are expected to be available sometime in early 2010 for $399 and $699 respectively.

[ PR - SAMSUNG UNVEILS ITS FIRST E-BOOK FOR READING, WRITING AND SHARING ON-THE-GO ]

By Andrew Liszewski

We didn’t get a whole lot of time to play with it tonight at the Marvell mini-booth (CES: Unveiled can be a bit of a madhouse) but our first real hands-on opportunity with Spring Design’s surprising compact and slim e-ink/LCD reader left us rather impressed. While we should have more coverage of the Alex later this week when it has its first official showing, let’s just say it shouldn’t worry too much about the Nook’s head start.

[ Spring Design Alex eBook Reader ]

By Chris Scott Barr

How many of you actually appreciate having your legally-purchased digital media locked down by DRM? I’d be surprised if a single one of you said yes. The only thing it’s truly good for is aggravating the loyal paying customers. When you take away the DRM, people will still purchase the goods, as proven by Apple with iTunes. Amazon doesn’t seem to think along these lines, at least not with their ebooks. Fear not though, as you can now take those files you download from Amazon and strip them of their pesky DRM.

That’s right, a group has finally cracked the code on the AZW files and has provided the tools to convert them to simple PDF files. If you purchase an ebook, all you need to do is follow their instructions and you’ll have a file that you can actually do something with that doesn’t specifically involve the Kindle. Will this encourage piracy? Perhaps. However I think more people will be inclined to buy ebooks legally if they can actually use them on multiple (non-Kindle) readers.

[ I♥Cabbages ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Are you tired of e-reader news yet? Well since I can’t hear anything other than the voice inside my head, I’m going to assume you’ve answered no. Well as a follow-up to my piece on the Nook the other day, I thought you might find it interesting to know what Amazon did actually think. While they’ve not responded with words, they have done a little trimming to both the selection and price of their Kindle.

Amazon has decided that they no longer need two versions of the regular-size Kindle, so they have dropped one. The International Kindle has had its price lowered to $259, while the US-only version was kicked to the curb. This brings it in line with the Nook, which I don’t regard as enough to help their cause. Yes, the Kindle has become something of a household name (in terms of e-readers), but if customers can get something with a touchscreen LCD (and other features) for the same price, they probably will.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ GearLog ]

By Chris Scott Barr

The last month has been a pretty big one for e-book readers. Some of the highlights include Sony’s touchscreen e-reader, another from Irex and the international version of the Kindle. Well another big name has decided to throw their hat into the ring, and it’s a damn-good looking hat.

Barnes & Noble announced that they will be launching their own reader, dubbed ‘Nook’. The first thing you’ll notice about the Nook is that it has a pair of screens (not unlike the Alex Dual Screen we saw on Monday) instead of just the traditional one. There’s not much to say about the top 16-color e-ink screen, but the bottom is a full-color 3.5 inch touchscreen LCD. This can be used to browse through your library, or as a virtual keyboard for input.

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By Andrew Liszewski

I hope you’re not tired of eBook readers just yet, because something tells me the forecast for the next few months calls for a downpour of new models. But at least companies like Spring Design are keeping it interesting with their new Alex reader. It’s one of the first to include a 6-inch monochrome electronic paper display as well as a 3.5-inch full color LCD display just below it, combining the best of both worlds.

The device is powered by Google’s Android and allows full web browsing over WiFi or 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM mobile networks. An SD card slot ensures storage capacity is essentially infinite and a headphone jack as well as built-in speakers allows multimedia content to be enjoyed on the lower screen. And to prolong battery life, web content can be captured and cached from the LCD display and viewed on the EPD display instead. Pricing and availability weren’t announced, though the press release claims that “Spring Design is currently in discussion and enlisting major content partners and plans to release the Alex device for selected strategic partners by the end of this year.”

[ PR - Spring Design Announces Dual Screen E-book Reader, Hyperlinking Text with Multimedia ]

By Chris Scott Barr

eReaders are getting more common all the time. It seems like a new one is getting released every month or so. However, despite all of the ones on the market, the most well-known has to be the Amazon Kindle. Is it the best? Maybe not, but it’s no doubt what comes to mind when most people think of eBook readers. Well it seems that not only is a new Kindle is on the way, but they’ve decided to drop the price on the Kindle 2.

The Kindle 2 has now dropped in price by $40, bringing it to $259. I really think that the $199 price point is going to be the sweet spot. As for the newest member of the Kindle family, it really isn’t anything to write home about. It’s essentially the same Kindle 2 that we’ve grown to know and love, but with an international SIM card from AT&T. This will allow you to download books from over 100 countries and territories. This new international version will set you back $279 when it ships on October 19th.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Every time I see a new ebook reader, I think that they’re maybe two steps away from being ready for me to buy. I love the concept of being able to read books, comics or anything from just a little pad. If you’ve ever tried to read a book that contains the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, you’ll understand why I want an e-reader. Well the latest one from Irex is another step in the right direction.

The new Irex DR800SD e-reader has an 8.1-inch display, making it one of the larger readers on the market. Unlike the Kindle family, the screen takes up almost the entire face of the device, making it a much sleeker design. Since there are no buttons on the front, they’ve opted for a touch screen. Don’t get too excited here, unlike Sony’s latest reader it isn’t a capacitive screen. You’re still going to need a stylus to work it. They chose this route because the current capacitive screens actually make the text less readable due to the extra layer of glass that needs to be used.

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