03:59 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

Update: added some closeup photos

While Amazon did a pretty good job hiding most signs of the Amazon Kindle, some impudent digging of yours truly revealed the following links (which still may or may not result in 404 errors). As you see there is nothing special about the accessories offered for the Kindle, except that we're happy to report that its battery is replaceable!

• Amazon Kindle (other) (Price: $399)
• Amazon Kindle USB Cable (other) (Price: $9.99)
• Amazon Kindle Battery (other) (Price: $19.99)
• Amazon Kindle Power Adapter (other) (Price: $14.99)
• Amazon Kindle Book Cover (other) (Price: $24.99)
• Kindle Books (currently 91,324 results)
• Kindle Newspapers (currently 8 (US), 1 (France), 1 (Germany), 1 (Ireland))
• Kindle Blogs (currently 308 results)
• Kindle Magazines (currently 8 results)
• Kindle Management Panel
• Kindle Support

02:27 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

Alright, the whole Kindle thing is getting a little out of hand. I promise I won't say anything more about it (at least for today, *grin*). So, without further ado, here is the frontpage cover of next week's Newsweek which has an exclusive on Amazon's highly anticipated e-book reader (click to enlarge):

For more Kindle small talk (including details from the Newsweek article), check out this thread and also this one.

07:12 AM by Nate the great in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

Newsweek apparently scored at least one interview about the Kindle. Here are the juicy parts:

...the Kindle (named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge) has the dimensions of a paperback, with a tapering of its width that emulates the bulge toward a book's binding. It weighs but 10.3 ounces...

The design was deliberate.

The Kindle gets as many as 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours.

If we can get an honest 20 hours out of it with the wireless, I'll be happy. But it's not good enough to get me to give up my PRS500.

In addition, the Kindle can venture out on the Web itself--to look up things in Wikipedia, search via Google or follow links from blogs and other Web pages. You can jot down a gloss on the page of the book you're reading, or capture passages with an electronic version of a highlight pen. And if you or a friend sends a word document or PDF file to your private Kindle e-mail address, it appears in your Kindle library, just as a book does. Though Bezos is reluctant to make the comparison, Amazon believes it has created the iPod of reading.

Some more Kindle details from the article:

• 6-inch E Ink screen
• Price: $399
• weighs 10.3 ounces
• 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours
• has a "sleep mode"
• built-in memory holds 200 e-books
• allows searches within e-books
• wireless capability through "Whispernet" (based on EVDO) which extends the Amazon store
• "buying a book with a Kindle is a one-touch process."
• Over 88'000 e-book titles will be available on launch
• NYTimes bestsellers priced at $9.99
• First chapter of almost any e-book for free
• Available newspaper subscriptions: the Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde
• Available magazine subscriptions: The Atlantic
• Subscriptions to blogs also cost you something!
• Lookup features for Wikipedia, Google Search
• Private Kindle e-mail addresses to communicate with other Kindle users
• Development of the Kindle began in 2004

I added some more details from the interview -- Alex

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been away? Fear not! Here is your chance to check out what appeared on our frontpage this week:

E-books - News

• MARK bookmark: illuminates your book pages at night
• Seiko Epson produces hi-res E Ink display

E-book Devices - Sony Portable Reader

• Sony Reader gets a 6/10 from Ars Technica
• PRS-505 Premium Cover mini-review (with pics!)

E-book Devices - Bookeen Cybook Gen3

• CyBook Gen3 review - comparison to a PDA
• Better Cybook support in new Mobipocket software

E-book Devices - Amazon Kindle

• Latest rumored Kindle release date: November 19th
• CNET Pre-Announces Amazon Kindle Launch

Mobile Devices - Handhelds and Smartphones

• Palm Garnet VM now available for Nokia N770, N800, N810

01:23 PM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | Bookeen

Thanks to MobileReader tcmoon for reporting to us that the folks over at Mobipocket have just released a new beta of their Mobipocket Desktop Software (6.1 build 590) that adds various fixes and improves detection for the Bookeen CyBook Gen 3 device.

You can always grab the latest beta from here: link

09:59 PM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

CNET goes out on a limb and pre-announces Amazon's announcement of a Kindle launch, but did they take along a saw?

MobileReader Studio717 has pointed out that CNET is reporting that they have word from "an industry source" that Amazon will announce their long awaited Kindle Reader on Monday, November 19th, at the W Hotel in New York.

Attached to this report are a few details, mostly not new to us, but still interesting:

The Kindle is equipped with a Wi-Fi connection that taps into an Amazon e-book store, which users can access to purchase new electronic books--and Amazon has reportedly signed onto a deal with Sprint for EVDO access. Additionally, the device comes with a headphone jack for audiobooks, as well as an e-mail address.
...
The Kindle may also lack a backlight. Instead, it comes with a small reading light attached to an adjustable arm.

There's also some word on the presumed delays in the launch, as well as some all too scanty comments about the hot topics of offerings and delivery:

The industry source said Amazon experienced setbacks in the process, but attributed them in part to natural difficulties that a retailer would experience when expanding into the hardware business. One of the foremost challenges, the source added, was battery power.

But an even bigger problem was reportedly getting publishers onboard. Amazon wanted to have the biggest e-book catalog of any reader available, the source explained, to give it an advantage over other e-book readers and services that are already on the market.

The company is also said to have forged agreements with somewhere between 50 and 100 newspaper publishers, in addition to the daily New York Times and Wall Street Journal features. Kindle owners are expected to be able to select from a long list of publications for automatic download.

"The hardware isn't necessarily what's important," said Richard Shim, an analyst with IDC. "It's the delivery mechanism for the content. That's where Amazon has a major advantage. They have a huge repository and huge track record of selling content. They also have customers who keep coming back to them. One of the things that companies have neglected in the past is developing an e-book store where you can get the content and use the leverage to get the publishers to get content into a digital format."

I'm hoping they're more right about what little they're saying about the Kindle than they are on their "filling-out" comments toward the end of the article about the Sony Reader:

Sony unveiled the second edition of its Sony Reader device in October. The original Reader, released in September 2006, proved to be a bust [links to their own story about how the Sony device was a bust in their opinion]. For the Reader's Version 2.0, Sony maintained the Reader's $300 price tag [dropped it $50, actually), the storage capacity (160 "typical" books [that's double the PRS-500's capacity, in fact]), and the battery life (7,500 "page turns" [one out of three ain't ... totally bogus]), but improved the device's speed and navigation features and slimmed the hardware down [okay, two out of four].

Unfortunately, there's still no answer in sight to the most burning question: Is it still fugly? Maybe will know the answer to that in four more days.

So what do y'all think? Genuine inside info, or just more rumors and speculation?

Full source.

08:21 PM by kezza in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

When I came home from work today my new, hot pink Reader cover was waiting on the front steps. It comes packaged in the dreaded blister-pack, which shouldn't surprise me. It also comes with a number of "pass it on" cards and a lifetime warranty card.

The cover itself is made of decent quality leather (I'd say shoe-grade), with a very soft matching suede interior. The rear has three pockets, one large (for a passport, boarding pass or small papers), one very small (for a memory card) and one medium with a vinyl window (for a business card). The thickness of the back cover makes the magnets I can feel under there hardly work at all. The front magnets work well, as long as I don't fold the cover all the way back, at least not yet. The cover made a distinct crunching sound the first few times I attempted to fold the cover all the way back, but now that sound has subsided and I suspect that over time the crease will soften and the cover will both open and close more easily.

With the back pockets full the Reader doesn't sit flat in the case, so I doubt I'll use the pockets everyday. I will probably take advantage at the airport, though, when ID and boarding pass have to be accessible all the time.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my purchase. It's thicker with a softer interior, and I feel like it'll be a teensy bit more protective of the device. Also, it's way cuter than the stock case.

11:48 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

We cannot deny that we wish it was our hands wrapped tightly around this panel. According to Tech-On, Epson Seiko borrowed E Ink's e-paper technoloy applied with their own proprietary TFT design to produce a 6.7-inch e-paper terminal panel with a resolution of 1200 x 1600 pixels. More specs:

• Terminal measures 180x120mm (B6 size)
• Thickness: 3mm
• Weight: 57g
• Contrast ratio: 8:1
• Reflectivity: 43%
• Redrawing time: 0.7s
• Battery: one CR1220 button cell battery (1'400 screen redraws)

Alas, there is no information yet if, and if yes, when this display unit will enter the market.