11:24 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Some very sketchy details have emerged on what might be the future of iRex and their iLiad e-book reader. Imagine mass production AND color e-paper AND bendable screen, and you get the picture. Tad digged out this information from a Chinese news report and dodowolf translated the important stuff for us.

For details and discussion, check out the original thread.

Related: Will iRex Survive? (poll)

11:06 PM by in |

11:03 PM by Steven Lyle Jordan in E-Book General | News

I just finished watching the coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show '07 on HGTV. Why on HGTV? They were the only network that I knew was providing an hour-long program highlighting the "coolest stuff" at CES.

But I was disappointed to see no mention of e-book readers. In one scene, one of the hosts caught up with the other one, who may have been looking at an e-book reader (when he put it down, he closed it like a book). Could have been Sony's reader... could have been another. But did they mention it? Did they even hold it up to see? Nope.

Clearly, for all the attention we give to e-books and readers here, the public is still in the dark about e-books, readers, all of it. And the networks aren't helping, showing us wall TVs, ump-teen iPod attachments, sock-retrieving Roombas and alarm clock bed vibrators, but little innovative tech. Honestly, giving people a look at an e-book reader would have been a step up in quite a few of their segments!

What's a geek to do?

05:26 PM by TadW in E-Book General | News

The latest edition of the Economist runs a story on how various companies including E Ink and Sony are working on new technologies to bring e-paper closer to everyday use.

Unlike the electrophoretic displays used in E-Ink's products, which rely on charged particles being physically moved by an electric field, Sony's new imaging device uses an organic electroluminescence display (OLED). Such displays emit light in response to an electric current or field being passing through them.

Don't expect such a clever innovation to be wasted on something as prosaic as a portable reader for e-books. Apple's multimedia iPhone may be the gadget du jour, but Sony may trump it with an all-singing-and-dancing gizmo, built around a foldable display for downloading television, which can run for days without recharging. Now that's something not to be sneezed at.

Prosaic portable readers? No comment.

04:02 PM by NickMilner in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

According to paidContent.org Sony is closing its Connect service to concentrate on the Playstation brand.

In an all-hands meeting yesterday in Sony's offices in Los Angeles, employees were told that about 20-plus jobs are being phased out during this winding-down phase as a result of this closure. The eBooks division will remain however, as it will be servicing Sony Reader product.

Steve Banfield, the head of the Sony Connect division, will be leaving in the next few weeks, and Tim Schaaff and Fumi Kanagwa from Sony corporate will now run what's left of Connect engineering team. The remaining team of around 80 will be devoted support Playstation.

Luckily for us the eBooks division component of Connect will be kept on to support the Reader device.

This is a worrying turn of events.

12:50 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

More and more people are starting to move to Vista, and one of the biggest questions has to do with application compatibility.

One somewhat surprising good source of information turns out to be the Direct2Dell blog by Dell.

You'll find information about the Microsoft Program Compatibility Wizard, reasons for incompatibility, troubleshooting tips and even information about using VirtualPC for overcoming compatibility issues.

07:58 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

It gives me great pleasure to introduce a few of the newer members of our team.

Adam B. joined us in October 2006. Adam B. is best known for his work in porting popular Linux applications such as FBReader and Abiword to the iRex iLiad. By creating the iLiad development VMWare image, he also provided a comfortable platform for developing future iLiad applications.

HarryT joined MobileRead in November 2006. HarryT is the founder of the "Book Uploads" sub-forum, and he's been helping us to constantly improve this latest addition to MobileRead since its initial launch in March 2007. Behind the scenes, HarryT does a fantastic job in moderating the forums and in providing help to our members.

RWood joined us also in November 2006. RWood has been active in virtually every aspect of our community. He initiated multiple entries in the Wiki, including listing information on e-book formats and conversion utilities, participated in a countless number of discussions sharing insightful information, and has been a fervent contributor to the "Book Uploads" forum.

JSWolf is the most recent addition to our team who also joined MobileRead in November 2006. As a proud owner of the Sony Reader, JSWolf has helped us solving many of the initial quirks of the Reader. He is also a contributor to the "Book Uploads" forum and as moderator he is going to help us expanding "Book Uploads" for e-reader devices other than he Sony Reader.

Welcome you guys to the family!

Alex

04:10 AM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | Netronix

We received word (thanks Eric!) of a new e-reader device launched in South Korea today. Take the hardware case of the STAReBOOK and equip it with the latest technology E Ink currently has to offer, and what you get is the NUUT eBook Reader. And while it's not the size of its screen that is going to impress your friends (6-inch is de facto standard today), it's most likely to be the doubled refresh speed and the 20 percent boost in brightness compared to previous E Ink readers.

The Vizplex Imaging Film technology was only recently introduced by E Ink.

The specs:

• Weight: 178g
• Screen: E Ink Vizplex (6-inch / 168dpi / 600x800 pixels)
• CPU: ARM-compatible 32bit RISC CPU (250Mhz) operated at 200MHz
• Memory: 8MB (Boot ROM) + 32MB (SDRAM) + 512MB (RAM)
• Battery: Li-ion (one charge for 7'500 pages)
• Expansion Slots: SD Card
• Other Interfaces: USB 2.0, headphone

Street price will be around US$300.

If you can figure out which e-books format the NUUT supports, feel free to comment here.