Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

I’m sure all of you, along with Oprah and Jeff Bezos, are reading this on your Kindle e-book reader right now. What? You’re not? Oh, let me guess… It’s because it’s too thick and the pages don’t turn fast enough and it doesn’t have enough memory. Well, today is your lucky day, because Amazon has released the Kindle 2, which is only a third of an inch thick, features 20% faster page turning, and has 2 gigs of memory… Enough for 1,500 books out of the 230,000+ book catalog.

The most interesting new feature of the Kindle 2 is probably the integrated text to speech engine, which will read back any text that the book will display. It’s a synthesized voice, and perhaps not something you’d want to listen to extensively, but it might be nice to have the news or something read to you every morning. Another new feature is WhisperSync, which wirelessly keeps your Kindle up to date. You can still download books over 3G (it takes about 60 seconds per book), the 800 x 600 e-ink screen now has 16 shades of gray, and the battery is good for 4 days straight of reading and downloading, or 2 weeks of reading.

The Kindle 2 launches February 24th, and will cost $349… This item ships for free with Super Saver shipping.

[ Amazon Kindle 2 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I desperately want an eBook reader, but so far I’ve been foiled by terrible PDF support on Sony’s offerings, and the fact that the Amazon Kindle isn’t available in Canada. (And is barely available in the US.) But when Foxit, the company behind my favorite PDF editing application, announced that they’d be entering the eBook market, I was cautiously optimistic that they’d finally do PDF support right. And after playing with their eSlick reader in person today, I think I’ve found me a winner.

The device is roughly the size of Sony’s Reader and is just as thin, if not thinner, but feels lighter thanks to its all-plastic case. And the 6-inch e-ink Vizplex screen is comparable in quality to the one used in Sony’s original Reader model. Viewing PDFs in portrait or landscape orientations worked well, and the Foxit software allows you to remove the white space around the edges of a PDF with intelligent zooming, so the text or images fill out the screen as much as possible. It also includes a reflow option which basically completely reformats the PDF content making it easier to read on the eSlick’s screen. In terms of wireless connectivity there’s basically none, but it has a USB port for charging and syncing content, as well as an SD slot for storing your tomes. My only complaint right now would be the eSlick’s software and UI which is a bit rough around the edges, but I was assured it’s still in development, and should be considerably improved by the time the reader launches.

When it comes to innovation the eSlick is definitely not the leader of the pack, but with a pre-order price tag of just $229, I’m already sold.

[ Foxit eSlick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m definitely sold on the idea of an eBook reader, but so far the only ones I’ve actually had a chance to play with are Sony’s offerings. And unfortunately they don’t handle or resize PDFs as well as I hoped, which is a problem for me given the majority of my eBook collection is PDF files. So I’m hopeful that one of Sony’s competitors will step up to the plate and include some really great PDF support in their own reader, and while I don’t know if the BeBook is my knight in shining PDF armor, it does appear to be a pretty decent alternative.

The BeBook supports a wide range of eBook and document formats including pdf, mobi, prc, epub, lit, txt, fb2, doc, html, rtf, djvu, wol, ppt, mbp, and chm as well as other media formats like bmp, jpg, png, gif, tif, rar, zip and even MP3s which can be enjoyed via a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. It also supports RSS feeds, though since it’s lacking any wireless capabilities I assume they’ll only be updated when you sync the BeBook with your PC. Other features include a half-gig of built-in storage that can be infinitely expanded via SD cards, an 800×600 pixel display and a 950mAh lithium-ion battery that’s good for about 7,000 page turns on a 3-hour charge. You can pick one up from Widget.com for about $360.

[ BeBook eBook Reader ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ve been tempted by the Sony Reader ever since the device first went on sale, but a handful of issues have kept me from actually picking one up. Things like a limited screen resolution I can live with, but the device’s PDF support, particularly when resizing documents that are larger than the display is less than awesome. (I’ve tested this out myself on many occasions with a variety of different PDF files.)

But as of today, the PRS-505 Reader is getting a firmware update that will not only allow it to access and accept non-secure ebooks in the EPUB format, but will also support Adobe eBooks with DRM and finally have the ability to reflow standard text-based PDF files. Since the majority of my own collection of ebooks is in the PDF format, I’m hoping this update will finally make Sony’s Reader a viable option for me. But I think I’m still going to hold off for a while and monitor the various Sony Reader forums to see how well the update actually performs. And I’m sorry to say that you owners of the original Sony Reader, the PRS-500, are out of luck since the update is only available for the current model.

[ READER DIGITAL BOOK BY SONY OPENS A NEW CHAPTER ON EBOOK FORMATS (Official Press Release) ] VIA [ Yahoo! News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you just listen to music, an MP3 player provides a convenient way to carry thousands of songs at once. But what if you like playing music? Carrying around stacks and stacks of sheet music is not as convenient. So the E-Paper Music Score, or EMS for short, is a flexible screen that uses e-ink technology to display any piece of music you happen to have on file.

The flexible nature of the display allows it to be rolled up and easily carried, while a bluetooth connected foot pedal allows you to turn the page by just tapping your foot. No doubt a great convenience if you have something like a large cello or tuba in your lap.

[ Musicians Gettin’ High Tech ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Andrew Liszewski

With display technologies like OLED and SED promising rich, life-like colors, it’s kind of funny to see a black and white technology like electronic ink becoming so popular. And yes, I realize that color e-ink displays are inevitable, but they won’t be hitting the markets for a few years at best. In the meantime though B&W e-ink displays have started to invade everything from cellphones to watches.

The PHOSPHOR Ana-Digi Watch combines a traditional analog clock face with hour, minute and second hands, with a digital e-ink display on the face. The e-ink can be used to show an analog clock face, a digital version of the time or a series of other faces at the push of a button. It’s a nifty idea but I could do without the word ‘E-INK’ that’s included on every face. To me that’s like buying one of the new SONY OLED TVs and having the word ‘OLED’ sitting in the middle of the screen at all times. I get it! It’s e-ink! I don’t need to be reminded whenever I check the time.

The PHOSPHOR is available for $250 and comes with your choice of a leather or polyurethane band.

[ PHOSPHOR Ana-Digi Watch ] VIA [ Wrist Dreams ]

By David Ponce

You might have heard by now, but Amazon just released its attempt at resuscitating the e-book market with an amazing little device called Kindle. It’s got a truckload of really cool features, like auto-updates through EVDO, with the cellular service included permanently with your purchase. While the device itself looks like it’s been hit with the ugly stick a couple times, Amazon has streamlined the content delivery system so well that this may become the “iTunes for books”. And, yeah, we’re part of the blogs Amazon offers a subscription to!

So, this little post is to let you know we’re currently ranked #4 in “Gadgets, PCs and Consumer Electronics” and #14 in “Internet and Technology”. That’s unacceptable, people! Sure, pretty much no one actually owns a Kindle yet (since they’re just now being delivered), so the numbers are bound to change. But still. For $2 a month, you can have OhGizmo! content loaded up on your Kindle, ready to read while eating your bagels or buttery toasts or whatever it is you guys eat in the morning. Sure, you could read it for free right on your PC, but what kind of a gadget freak would that make you? Huh? So let’s get these numbers rolling.

[ OhGizmo in Kindle's Marketplace ] and [ Product Page ]

By Andrew Liszewski

HP recently showed off a concept eBook Reader at the ‘Making Connections’ event in Shanghai. Even though the company claims it uses ‘cutting edge’ technology the only feature that really sets it apart from others already on the market is a nifty page turning feature. Sliding your finger across a touch sensitive pad on the bottom results in the text being turned and distorted as it if were on an actual page.

But other than that I think HP has a lot of work on its hands if it intends to compete against Sony and Iliad who are already selling their own readers. First off HP’s device won’t be hitting the market for at least a couple of years giving their rivals plenty of time to upgrade their own products. Secondly while the HP reader will tie into their Snapfish photo sharing website the device won’t have Wifi meaning albums need to be downloaded to flash cards in order to be viewed. And thirdly in a truly baffling move HP has decided to shun the PDF format and instead develop its own file format for use on the device. (You know that decision was made in a boardroom full of suits.)

So while their concept is quite clever I won’t be putting HP’s eReader high on my wishlist when it eventually comes out.

[ HP Concept eBook Reader @ Pocket-lint ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]