09:05 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Interested in meeting members of the Sony Reader product team in a relaxed environment? Next weekend, April 28-29, they will be at UCLA for the LA Times Festival of Books, which is billed as "America’s largest book festival."

According to the web site, Sony Electronics will be at booth #723.

If you come, please share your MobileRead site name, so they know who you are!

10:58 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Fresh into our tattle box, an anonymous MobileReader tips us to the fact that Fujitsu has readied the FLEPia device: the world's first e-reader that's based on flexible electronic paper capable of displaying color images.

The juicy details:

• Resolution: 768x1024 (XGA)
• Colors: 8 or 4,096 (depending on the mode; 8 colors refresh in 2s; 4,096 colors refresh in 10s)
• Size: 210x304x12mm (A4), 158x240x12mm (A5)
• Thickness 12mm
• Weight: 480g (A4), 320g (A5)
• Body colors: White pearl, pink pearl, silver
• Features: Touch panel, scroll button, six function buttons
• OS: MS Windows CE5.0
• Security: AES-128
• CPU: Intel XScale
• Connectivity: WiFi 802.11b/g
• SD Card
• USB 2.0
• Stereo speaker built-in, head phone connector
• Lithium polymer battery with 50 hours runtime

No word on pricing or availability. But if you happen to be around Tokyo on May 17th or 18th, make sure to visit the Fujitsu Forum and fetch us the details!

Update: Check out the replies for more photos and the official press release.

Related: Fujitsu first to give us e-paper in color?

04:56 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Have you also wondered how an until now relatively unknown player in the e-paper biz could possibly win the race on colored e-paper? Well, here is a small follow-up to our news from two days ago. DisplayDaily had a chit chat with Nemoptic CEO Jacques Noels who explained that during the past three years, his company was working in "stealth mode" on making their BiNem technology compatible for high-yield production with existing STN-LCD manufacturing lines. Earlier projects had failed because a high-yield, especially for e-book-sized displays, was not achievable.

Unfortunately for us, according to the article, e-book readers are not Nemoptic's prime target, at least for the time being.

Nemoptic’s initial application target is electronic shelf labels, with an estimated market of a billion units in the grocery sector alone. Because of the relatively high resolution of Nemoptic’s e-paper displays, bar codes can be readably displayed directly on the shelf label. Other market sectors under investigation include eBooks, industrial automation, logistics, remote metering systems, and a wide range of consumer products... The first place you will be able to see BiNem displays in quantity will be on the edges of Spanish supermarket shelves late this year, when SII fills an existing 40,000 piece order.

01:46 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Almost everyone seems to love the Sony Reader. Not everyone wants to buy one because of the price or because they love physical paper, but it's definitely interesting to just about everyone. So why do the tech reviews often get so fixated on the little things, and miss the forest for the trees? You would think that tech writers are against technology. But, pretty clearly it's because people seem to appreciate the Sony Reader more and more as they use it more and more. That's the sort of response I think we will see from people for many of the new e-book readers that are going to come out in the next 5 years or so, which will make it an exciting time.

But there's a recent video review that finally captures some enthusiasm. This reviewer is a communicator, not some old-school journalist who is so caught up in trying to appear neutral that he can't even capture the spirit of the device. Okay, enough introduction. What you want is the link, right?

Check out this great video review by Yahoo Tech News right here.

Thanks to "Cliff" for the tip!

09:40 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

Giz Wiz Biz is short for Giz(mo) Wiz(ard) Biz(ness). Dick DeBartolo and Leo Laporte do an associated podcast, and the topic this week is the Sony Reader.

Check out the podcast page here or the podcast itself here. It's the "Turn the Table Tuesday, April 17th, Netcast 292 episode".

Thanks to Caro for the tip!

05:58 AM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Telegraph's Shane Richmond has been playing with the iRex iLiad, and his findings were mixed:

Pro:

• touch-enabled
• screen is wonderful
• size is ideal
• WiFi capability

Con:

• clunky interface
• writing notes didn't work
• price is uninviting

His final verdict:

The Iliad reminds me of the first MP3 player a saw, about ten years ago. It was too big, too slow and could hold only a couple of albums but the potential was clear.

Then Apple showed up with a brilliantly designed, easy to use device and suddenly MP3 players are everywhere. Will they do the same for the e-reader or leave it to others?

Pity they've already used the name iBook.

05:39 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

It seems like ages ago when we first laid our eyes on the retro hotness that is the Amazon "Kindle" device, but now it has finally made its way into the hands of a few select publishers, and the first comments sound remarkably positive. From Publishers Weekly:

According to publishers who have seen the player, the reader is a step up from the Sony Reader which was introduced last year. The screen quality is reportedly as sharp as Sony, but the Amazon device has better functionality, and, as should be expected from the e-tailer, a first rate e-commerce option. Amazon is expected to release the reader this spring, although the exact timing may depend on how fast it can develop a critical mass of titles. Two years ago, Amazon acquired Mobipocket—the company’s cross-platform e-book reader is designed to run on all PCs, handheld devices and mobile phones—and it is using that company to supply titles for the player. Price is expected to be above $400.

There are a few interesting bits to point out: First, the Kindle will indeed have some kind of online functionality for direct e-book purchase (the word is EV-DO cellular data). Second, the expected release date is this spring, which is, uh, now. Third, the Kindle will use the Mobipocket reader software, which is not a surprise given that Amazon still needs a way to justify their acquisition of Mobipocket in 2005. And forth, the price mentioned is way above what we expected.

Now it's time for Sony to step up and show us what's up their sleeve. Didn't Howard Stringer mention a new Reader with wireless capabilities? Then, of course, the real question is, do we need any more features for an e-book reader?

[via TeleRead]

Related: E-Book Reader Matrix, Leaked FCC specs

01:38 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Seiko Instruments (not to be confused with Seiko Epson) and French e-paper producer Nemoptic have entered into an agreement to produce LCD modules in high volumes based on the latter's bistable BiNem technology.

The high volume manufacturing of Nemoptic’s bistable LCD displays will take place at SII’s Microtechno plant, located in Akita, Japan. SII’s Microtechno plant has a worldwide reputation as one of the most modern sites for high volume production of color super-twist nematic liquid crystal displays (CSTN-LCD displays). Customers can expect to see the first units appear from the plant at end Q2 2007.

I hate to be the sceptic, but I can't help to compare Nemoptic to E Ink, and while E Ink has already a proven track record, Nemoptic is still new in the game (although the company exists since 1999). It remains to be seen if they can deliver what they promise. Did anyone say color e-paper?

[via TeleRead]