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

Have something interesting to say about mobile computing or reading? Join our forums and share your view on topics like the ones discussed at MobileRead this past week...

Current E-Books Trends
E-books kicked into high gear (at least in South Korea)
iRex Iliad will be available for around 400 Euro
Rollable color OLED prototype display

General Chat
An eWallet software upgrade done right!
CloneDVD mobile V1.021 released
Mobile ESPN gunning for retail
Upcoming technology

Other Gadgets
Nokia 770 is Engadget 2005 Handheld of the Year
Quandry for portable device designers
Ultra Mobile PCs coming this quarter

Palm
How to become a Palm OS developer
Round-up on Palm buyout rumors
Treo 700w goes Palm with StyleTap

Pocket PC
TCPMP V0.71j released

Portable Audio/Video
iPod learns to say video with a 3.5-inch display
Use Smart Playlists in iTunes to organize your podcasts

12:03 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

There's so much tech news that nobody is insane enough to cover it all. Even if we did cover every news item you might lose the really cool stories in the ocean of tech news anyway. But there's always a few nice goodies that are worth sharing, even if they are in the form of quite bite-sized snippets, so here you go...

• Samsung UMPC in the works? [jkontherun.blogs.com]
  Samsung might have the first Ultra Mobile PC. The UMPC news keeps trickling in.

• Pepper Pad vs. the Tablet PC: Pepper's side [teleread.org]
  This is an existing product, but we wonder if devices like this will become popular? David Rothman takes a look at the Pepper Pad, and says you'll either love it or hate it. Plus some interesting remarks from a Pepper exec that are worth checking out.

• Flexible Full-Colour OLED Display Prototype Unveiled [palmaddict.typepad.com]
  Yes, we've covered this before with some great info on its potential, but there are some things you just can't get enough of!

• Japan's "real" 3D image projector [engadget.com]
  Seems that it's a dot display accompanied by tiny explosions in the air. Not clear if the explosions are the display points, or just a side-effect. Not quite a handheld technology, but we love all kinds of displays and it is still pretty neat.

05:05 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Clearly, Apple's engineers don't know how to say no. According to the boys at Think Secret, Apple's complete video iPod solution is quietly en route. They claim that the video iPod will feature a 3.5-inch display and a digital click wheel that overlays the touch-sensitive display and appears when a finger touches it and disappears when the finger is removed.

As for the release, rumor is that it could be as early as late March or early April.

Related: palmInsider reports that Apple was granted a patent for multipoint touchscreen technology.

11:37 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Not every mobile computing device has to fit in your pocket. Intel is hoping that users will fall in love with some new tiny PCs based on a new Intel platform. And they are so anxious to get them into your greedy little hands that they expect to get products out this quarter. This is at least an amazing six months earlier than previous estimates.

We're so used to vaporware and devices which never show up on the market that it's more than a little surprising to hear of a schedule for a whole new class of devices to be moved up like this. But we welcome it with open arms. Maybe even with open wallets.

According to TG Daily, there are two waves of devices.

The first Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) are now expected quarter from Samsung, Asus and Founder. They will have "ULV Pentium M processors with 90 nm Dothan core as well as a 915GMS chipset."

The second set of devices gets even better and are expected later this year, with new low-power processors. They "... will include devices from LGE, Acer and Averatec and run Windows Vista."

These UMPC devices will boast the following (but maybe not all right away):
* One week standby time
* Eight hours continuous operation
* WiFi
* Wireless WAN (maybe EVDO or HSDPA)
* GPS

There is no specific statement that these devices are expected to run standard desktop releases of Windows, or something close to it, but that seems to be what is being intimated.

Price ranges have not been announced, so we don't have much more to go on that the TG Daily speculation that it should be coming out at a significantly lower price point than the $2000 OQO handheld computers.

In the next few months more details should appear, and we'll find out if this is for real or just another sneaky way of creating some buzz to test the market.

(Via engadget.com)

08:04 PM by Brian in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

If you use iTunes, you know how easy it is to find podcasts and get them downloaded onto your iPod if you also own one of Apple's dominant portable media players. There are over 2,500 podcasts that you can subscribe to through the iTunes podcast directory, or you can subscribe to any podcast that isn't listed using its feed URL. Whether you listen to podcasts during your daily commute, while working out, or during some down-time, the ability to listen to your favorite narrowcast content on the go is one of the reasons why podcasting has become so popular.

Unfortunately, as your list of podcasts grows in iTunes, the podcast playlist on your iPod can quickly become a huge jumbled mess. This happens because Apple puts all podcasts together into a single playlist. Depending on your podcast and sync preferences in iTunes, your podcast playlist can grow even longer, and make finding a specific podcast more difficult and potentially dangerous if you listen while driving.

Continue reading..

08:04 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmAddicts carries an interesting step-by-step guide this morning to developing Palm OS applications. Before you get too excited at the prospect of becoming the world's most wanted Palm developer, bear in mind that you still have to go to work and learn about C programming. The experienced C programmer among you may as well buy a dedicated book on Palm OS programming.

07:42 AM by Colin Dunstan in More E-Book Readers | iRex

Now that it's getting close to its official unveiling, some more details on the iRex iLiad ER-100 e-book device are starting to trickle out.

• Pricing: Daniela of DPA writes that the iLiad will cost around 400 Euro (USD $480), though she doesn't make it clear whether the price includes a subscription for the Belgian newspaper De Tijd.
• Digital newspaper: According to project manager Peter Bruynseels, you can switch between a regular printed paper view, a headline view and a single-article view. Other features include access to latest financial news and interactive ads that vary according to the time of the day.
• Battery: The battery is said to last for approximately 21 hours of use.
• Memory: 224Mb of Flash memory is said to be sufficient for holding a month's worth of newspapers, plus 30 e-books, as well as office documents in different formats.

Also: It's a long-shot, but according to Russell J. Wilcox, chief executive of E Ink, E Ink technology with video and sound features is at most ten years off.

Related: De Tijd and iRex to launch digital paper delivery service, As E Ink approaches the performance of newspaper, Sony Reader vs. iRex Iliad e-book reader

[via W&D]

04:14 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

I've just received a very nice email from Dana Kelly at Ilium Software. They have upgraded their eWallet software from 4.0 to 4.1 and have provided me with the exact information that I want from them:

* The version and platforms I originally purchased
* A summary of what has changed in the new version
* Links to the new software downloads
* Software keys for each platform I'm registered for, and
* Appreciation to me for being a customer

I'm not going to knock other developers for not doing this because we've got a great community of developers in the mobile device world. Some even surpass expectations by providing free upgrades across major revisions. (A couple of great examples are ShadowPlan and DVD Catalyst, which are two wonderful applications.)

Sure, there is a range of quality with regard to support, but on the whole mobile software developers are very responsive and helpful. In addition, if you purchase software at PalmGear/PocketGear or Handango, generally you can get upgrades online if you have the right to a free upgrade based on your previously purchased version.

Still, this was a refreshing touch by Ilium Software because rarely do software companies make it so convenient for the customer to learn about and acquire an upgrade. Kudos to Dana and the Ilium Software crew!