12:48 PM by anurag in E-Book General | News

From http://gizmodo.com/5435814/first-loo...y-ebook-format:

Blio, officially debuting next week at CES, lets you read your ebooks as they're intended to look on paper. Clearly, Kurzweil is signaling his choice of tablets over e-ink, and his first shots are definitely persuasive.

With apps planned soon for the iPhone and PCs, Blio's cross-platform functionality makes it a natural fit for something like the Apple iSlate, which along with other tablet devices should be perfect for reading cookbooks, children's books, and any other illustrated tome. It marks a natural evolution away from the current stock of ebook readers, which are bound by the drab black and white of e-ink.

...

10:23 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

I came across another e-reader yesterday, and I have to say that it intrigues me. The Insdream SX601 was developed by Sanxo Technology,which is located in Shenzhen, China's Silicon Valley.

The SX601 has rather unique screen in the ereader market. Instead of the expected Vizplex, it has a gray scale DSTN screen. According to the manufacturer, it's as energy efficient as an epaper screen and its only disadvantage (weaker contrast) is balanced by a faster refresh.

Specs:

• 6" screen, 16 grayscale level
• MP3 support
• MicroSD slot (up to 4GB)
• speaker
• headphone port
• portrait & landscape mode
• FBReader

***********
The manufacturer has a photo gallery here. Yes, it does look like a Kindle clone. I also think it looks like the screen image was photoshopped. Yes/No?

09:10 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

In this installment I will cover the hidden and less well known exhibitors.

Irex
Maker of the Iliad and Digital Readers, this company isn't registered as an exhibitor, but does have a booth number on its website. I checked, and the booth belongs to Qualcomm, who I assume provides the 3G chip for the DRs.

Notion Ink
This company just announced a tablet running Android, and has said that it will be on display. I checked, and this company will be in one of the Nvidia booths (there are 3).

Qualcomm
This company was on my list for another reason: Mirasol screen technology. I can't wait to see it.

LiquaVista
This company has more cutting edge screen technology than you can shake a stick at (including epaper).

Popular Mechanics
I know it looks a little strange to have this company on my list, but I have 2 reasons to visit this booth. My original reason was that it was a Hearst magazine and I was going to ask about the rumored ebook reader (this was back before the Skiff announcement). Also, Popular Mechanics has been demoing a new digital magazine concept platform. I want to see it, naturally.

Nexar Technologies
I still don't know if this one is for real, but Nexar has a dual screen netbook in its product listings. I figure it's worth at least a walk by the booth to check it out.

NBC Universal
I confess that I don't know why NBC is coming to CES, but I bet there is a good reason.

Marvell
This is a CPU manufacturer, and it announced a new line of CPUs a couple months back. The CPUs have the epaper screen controller on the same chip. The Entourage Edge is using one.

Netronix
This is a key player in the ebook reader market, so it's something of a puzzle why they're not listed as an exhibitor. But Netronix will be at CES sharing a booth with Team Research, distributors of the Astak EZReader line of ebook reader.

08:22 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

TOKYO, Dec. 25 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The estimated annual sales of books and magazines in Japan are likely to fall below 2 trillion yen, a level that had been kept for the past 20 years, the Research Institute for Publications said Friday.

The institute attributed the anticipated decline to deflation and an overall economic crunch, despite a bright spot of a booming bestseller novel "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami.

Toshiharu Sasaki, senior researcher at the institute, said more readers want to read cheaper publications available from electronic publishing and libraries.

from:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

08:09 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

I found an interesting article on canadaeast.com:

"Unfortunately the message that people get when they buy those ebook readers is about where to buy ebooks, but a lot of them don't realize there's a lot of free ebooks available," said Anne O'Shea, assistant manager for electronic resources with the Vancouver Public Library.

With very little fanfare, libraries across the country have been offering access to ebooks for years, well before the Amazon Kindle and Sony's Readers became hot, trendy tech gadgets.

There are ebooks and electronic audiobooks available for download to compatible e-readers, computers, MP3 players and smartphones, as well as music and movies.

And best of all, they're automatically returned so there's no late fees.

from:
http://www.canadaeast.com/article/901510

09:55 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

They’re not exactly page turners. But soon, patrons of the North Bend Public Library will be able to read books in a new way.

Starting in January, the library will begin checking out three e-book Sony Readers that will let a library user lug hundreds of books in an apparatus that weighs less than a pound.

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles...a640055218.txt

Coos County is in Oregon, in the northwestern USA.

10:48 PM by quicksilver in E-Book Software | Calibre

Congrats, kovid! You deserve the praise.

Article here.

07:39 AM by Forkosigan in E-Book General | News

The winners are:

1. Sony PRS-505
The "Classic" and the absolute winner among all the readers since sales began. But it is no longer manufactured since 2009.

2. Pocketbook 301+
The company pocketbook began its triumphant climb with this model, and so they captured 2nd Place in the rankings.

3. Pocketbook 360 °
The novelty of the year 2009! Pocketbook 360 ° could prove a better place if the price is not with the "classical" 6" models would have been comparable.