Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader set to launch tomorrow, color touchscreen, $259

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors

Looks like Barnes & Noble is set to take the wraps off of their ebook reader tomorrow, and according to the Wall Street Journal, it’ll be the Barnes & Noble Nook that they’ll be unveiling. The Nook, pictured above (thanks Giz,) is unique because it has a standard e-ink display like the Kindle, but also sports a color touchscreen beneath the traditional display. Why? Well, try typing anything of length on an Amazon Kindle, and you’ll quickly realize that even that task could use some help. The Barnes & Noble Nook will sell for $259 (same price as the Kindle,) and will also allow users to lend e-books to friends. Obviously, we can’t wait to see it. We’ve got one more image for you after the jump.

Click to continue reading Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader set to launch tomorrow, color touchscreen, $259

Read More | WSJ

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BeBook Mini eReader now available for $199

Posted by Mark Rollins Categories: Handhelds

It would appear that the ebook reader competition is now heating up as Endless Ideas’ has just launched their BeBook Mini in the United States.  It has a price tag of $199, and a 5-inch display.  Unfortunately, there is no wireless connectivity, and so you’ll have to download via USB for content. However, it probably is one of the cheapest ereaders around. 

Read More | BeBook Mini

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Astak’s EZ Reader Pocket Pro Beats Kindle’s price by $100

Posted by Mark Rollins Categories: Handhelds

A lot of e-book readers get a lot of comparison with the Amazon Kindle, but Astak is the first one who is quoted saying that they will give the Kindle “a run for its money.”  They already have the price point beat with their $199 price point ($100 cheaper than the cheapest Kindle.)

The 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO will feature a 400MHz processor, 512MB of memory, 8-level grayscale E-ink screen, an SD-expansion slot, and a background MP3 Player.  It plans to ship later this month in the colors seen in the photo. Just don’t expect any sort of wireless connectivity at this price.

Read More | Press Release

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Wildcharge Powerdisc Dongle charges Kindle and phones wirelessly

Posted by Mark Rollins Categories: Accessories, Misc. Tech

We haven’t talked about WildCharge, since we saw it running on BlackBerry Curve a while ago, but the company finally has some pretty compelling things going on, and so it’s time to share. They’re now offering the Powerdisc Dongle, a device that can offer wireless power to devices like the Amazon Kindle, certain LG headsets, and Samsung devices.  The Dongle itself retails for about $19.99, but you need the WildCard pad to get any use from it, and you can get a bundle with both for $64.99. Oh, and it’s not truly wireless, what with the wired dongle and all, but whatever works.

Read More | WildCharge

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Samsung SNE-50K e-book reader

Posted by Mark Rollins Categories: Handhelds, Misc. Tech

It may look as if the Kindle dominates the e-book reader market like the iPod dominates the PMP market (although, Plastic Logic seems to be breathing down Amazon’s neck,) but customers that want to go for the non-number one e-book reader might want to check out Samsung’s SNE-50K. 

The SNE-50K, formerly the Papyrus, will have a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 600x800 pixels, weigh 6.5 ounces, and have 512MB of memory.  It will also support handwriting recognition, and allow users to read text files, PDFs, and Microsoft Office documents. 

Right now, the Samsung SNE-50K is planned to be released only in the South Korean market on July 29 for about $270.  Samsung plans on creating a prototype to sell outside the country, which we’ll likely see at CES.

Read More | CNET

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Amazon Kindle-Gate: Purchased copies of Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 disappear

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Wireless / WiFi

I have no idea what to even say about this, other than that we are severely, severely disappointed with Amazon and how they are allowing their publishers to treat Kindle users. In a nuthsell, Kindle users who purchased George Orwell’s 1984 and/or Animal Farm found yesterday that those two titles had mysteriously disappeared from their Kindles, and that they were credited $.99 for each purchase. Why? That’s because the publisher decided that they no longer wanted to sell the books on the Kindle Store. Now, that’s all fine, but did they really have to take it away from those who had already made the purchase?

The Kindle edition books Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) & Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) were removed from the Kindle store and are no longer available for purchase. When this occured, your purchases were automatically refunded. You can still locate the books in the Kindle store, but each has a status of not yet available. Although a rarity, publishers can decide to pull their content from the Kindle store.

Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle-Gate: Purchased copies of Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 disappear

Read More | Amazon Kindle Mysterious Orwell Refunds

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Amazon gives in: Text-to-Speech now decided by book publisher

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video

The text-to-speech feature of the Kindle 2 in one of the main features that Amazon was touting when they debuted their latest e-book reader. However, Roy Blount, Jr., president of the Author’s Guild, made it immediately known that the Guild objects to the feature that he believes undermines the market for professional e-book. While this is overly cautious, since the Kindle sounds nothing like a real human being, Amazon has decided to step up (or back down?) and allow book publishers and authors the right to allow their works to be compatible with the text-to-speech feature or not. We are hoping that most will see that it’s harmless, and just allows folks to enjoy their work in a different way, albeit on the same device. You can read Amazon’s full statement after the jump.

You can pick up the Kindle 2 at Amazon, be sure to check out our Kindle 2 review.

Click to continue reading Amazon gives in: Text-to-Speech now decided by book publisher

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Amazon Kindle 2 review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds, Product Reviews

We’ve spent a few days with the Amazon Kindle 2, which has been the talk of the gadget world this week. We know some of you are wondering if you should pick one up, so we are here to give you our thoughts on the latest iteration of Amazon’s e-book reader. If you’re like us, you already know that the Kindle 2 is available for purchase now, and you likely have one in your hands - but for the rest of you, join us for our full review of the Kindle 2 (and if you missed it, check out our Kindle 2 gallery.)

Okay, so while we were working on the review, we sent a couple of questions out to some of our Twitter peeps asking what they thought of the device, and Lisa from EllisLab hit us back with so much info, that we are using her feedback to break this down for you. Sometimes you need the point of view of a “real world” user anyway, as opposed to one of us gadget fiends. So what we will do is give some of our thoughts on the Kindle 2, and then bring in Lisa’s thoughts as well.

The Kindle 2 was announced on February 9th, and just started shipping on February 24th. The announcement came with the promise of a 25% improvement in battery life, 20% faster page turns, a better screen that supports up to 16 shades of gray (as opposed to 4 shades with the original,) and a much thinner design.

Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle 2 review

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Our Amazon Kindle 2 is here…

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds

Oh, happy day, our Kindle 2 has arrived. We are opening it up now and snapping images for your enjoyment. Be sure to keep at eye on Unboxing! Back to work…

UPDATE: We’ve put up our entire Kindle 2 unboxing gallery - check it out!

Read More | Amazon Kindle 2

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Daily Show: Jeff Bezos on the Kindle 2

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Videos

We are fans of The Daily Show for reasons like this - only Jon Stewart can get this type of reaction from powerful mogul like Jeff Bezos. Watch as Bezos comes on The Daily Show to let the world know about the Kindle 2, while Jon makes fun of just about every aspect of the product, from the price, to the notion of e-paper. Great stuff.

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