Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Been waiting patiently for the next-generation Kindle(s) to hit the market? Growing increasingly frustrated with the wait? Thanks to the Amazon e-reader becoming Oprah Winfrey’s “new favorite, favorite thing in the world (can’t you see the jubilation on her face?),” you might just have to finally pull the trigger on the existing iteration. As a special offer for Oprah Show viewers (and by extension, everyone who reads this post), Amazon.com is now offering $50 off of the Kindle’s $359 price tag by simply entering the code OPRAHWINFREY at checkout and envisioning Tom Cruise leaping on your computer desk. Better act fast, though — the offer’s only good through November 1st, and yes, that Tom Cruise bit is required.

[Thanks, Chad]

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Filed under: Ask Engadget, Displays

Tim from Australia sent in a question via our super-sophisticated submission method (that’d be e-mailing one in to ask at engadget dawt com) regarding e-readers, and given that Sony just pushed out a new one of its own, we found this one particularly timely:

“I’m starting a PhD next year and I’m looking to get an e-book reader so I can read PDFs of journal articles on the bus. It would have to be readable in direct sunlight and have a display large enough to read pages of about 400 to 500 words. Stylishness would also be nice. I don’t know the going rate for decent e-readers but I’d be prepared to spend up to $500.”

So, intellects — what’s the best piece of kit to snag for visually inhaling those scholarly articles in PDF form? Will it handle the occasional FCC user manual, too? Because that’s really important, you know.

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Filed under: Displays, Laptops, Storage

In a move to pump up the impending theater debut of Quantum of Solace, Sony is simultaneously opening up a new promotional game and introducing a few new pieces of limited edition gear. Obviously, we’re a touch more concerned with the kit than the game, so we’ll skip over those details and head right to the meat of it. The outfit will be offering up 100 limited run VAIO TT laptops that are emblazoned with a 007 logo on the palm rest and a matching leather protection case. Additionally, a Special Edition Bond bundle for the Reader Digital Book will feature an embossed cover with a 007 logo and coupon codes for free downloads of Ian Fleming’s novels Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Lastly, we’ve got the 007 USB Micro Vault in 8GB and 16GB flavors, both of which come pre-loaded with the Quantum of Solace trailer and other miscellaneous “bonus content.” Wild guesses as to price / release dates are being accepted now.

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Filed under: Handhelds

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Filed under: Displays

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! (Sorry, but where else were we gonna use that line?) For those unaware, Esquire’s October issue is on newsstands now, and for 100,000 99,999 lucky souls out there, they’ll receive one with a flashing E Ink display. Just in case you aren’t quite lucky enough to apprehend one of your own, however, The Dastardly Report’s Ryan Joseph was kind enough to snap a few photographs and even host a video of the exclusive mag before tearing it down for hacking purposes. Head on past the break for the clip, and tap that read link to have a gander at the stills. Oh, and dart out right this instant to snag your own.

Continue reading Esquire’s E Ink-infused magazine cover shown on video

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Filed under: Handhelds

Well, so much for those rumors of a thinner, cheaper, less 80s-hot Kindle coming soon — Amazon spokesman Craig Berman told the New York Times today that there’s nothing in store for this year, and that a new version won’t happen before “sometime next year at the earliest.” So much for that, unless there’s some huge surprise in store — looks like all you college kids are going to end up killing some trees this year after all.

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Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Like the 1st generation Kindle unearthed by Engadget snoops way back in September of 2006, Amazon’s having a tough time keeping the lid on its 2nd generation e-book reader. Seems everyone and his analyst brother is confirming a new, larger screened collegiate reader and at least one other variation, presumably the Kindle 2.0. BusinessWeek “confirms” the collegiate reader the goes to say that the 2.0 base unit, “is significantly thinner, has a better screen, is more stylish and includes fixes to some of the user interface annoyances,” such as the placement of those massive page forward / back buttons which can trigger inadvertent page changes. In fact, their source claims that the new version is much more than an iterative evolution, “They’ve jumped from Generation One to Generation Four or Five. It just looks better, and feels better.” BW also claims that the new model’s price (currently, $359) will hit $299, “or maybe $249,” and could be announced as early as September.

Interestingly, Kindle 2.0’s design is being lead by a designer hired from the powerhouse shop, Frog Design. A group which just happened to give the Kindle a very public and very critical tongue lashing at its November 2007 launch. We guess this squeaky wheel received its oil in the form of a giant cash payment.

Read — Frog’s take on Kindle 1.0
Read — BusinessWeek rumor

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Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Oh sure, we’ve seen a limited number of hacks surface for the hotly selling (but still unsightly) Amazon Kindle, but we’ve yet to see a hardware mod of this magnitude. We’ve always heard that desperate times call for desperate measures, and evidently said mantra is very true. After having the display in his Kindle smashed around 8 months ago (thanks, kid sister…), blakebevin set out to perform an unprecedented surgery. With an unwanted Sony Reader LCD in hand and a badly broken Kindle on the operating table, he attempted to give the latter unit new life with a few pixels from a cross-town rival. We’ll warn you — this one’s not for the rookies in attendance, and even Mr. Bevin (it is Mr. Bevin, right?) had some “nagging button issues” once the thing was sewn back up. Give the read link a look if you ever find yourself in this admittedly peculiar situation.

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Filed under: Handhelds

Details are really light on this one at the moment, but Germany’s Der Spiegel apparently has it on authority that Deutsche Telekom is working on an e-book reader of its own, a move that follows a similar initiative from France Telecom’s Orange division. Apparently, Deutsche Telekom’s offering, dubbed News4Me, will be tailored specifically to delivering an “individual electronic newspaper” to users, with its content and layout able to “adapt constantly to the way that you read” — we’d assume it’d boast some other standard e-book reader functions as well. Unfortunately, there’s no indication at all as to what the device itself will be like, but Deutsche Telekom is reportedly set to begin conducting tests with “a few dozen” customers in Berlin sometime this fall — assuming it’s able to line up deals with newspapers and other content providers before then, that is.

[Via Crunch Gear]

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Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon’s been pretty cagey with Kindle sales numbers, except to say that it sold out the first batch in 5.5 hours and that more are finally arriving. Still, you can’t keep a secret forever, and TechCrunch says they have it on good authority that Bezos and Co. have sold some 240,000 Kindles since November. Adding it all up, that’s good enough for $100M in total revenue so far — which is about what Wall Street’s been predicting. Of course, that’s chump change compared to the $1B annual business some analysts think Kindle can be, but you gotta start somewhere — and a quarter-mil out the gate in the first year ain’t bad at all.

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Filed under: Handhelds

While Sony’s Reader has never received the enormous press or enjoyed the supposed whirlwind sales of Amazon’s Kindle e-book, and is certainly lacking in, erm, EV-DOness, the Reader is about to get one trick the Kindle doesn’t have yet: openness. Sony will be shooting out an update on Thursday to allow the Reader to use purchased books in the protected EPUB format from whoever is peddling them, instead of being tied to the Sony’s e-book store, or just DRM-free text and PDF documents. That openness should help Sony beef up its selection — which is lagging behind Amazon’s — and will hopefully mark a bit of a turning point in the e-book market to more standards and, more importantly, more books.

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Filed under: Displays

We Americans have had the opportunity to pick up Sony’s Reader for what seems like eons, but you poor bookworms holed up in the UK have been neglected unjustly. No more, as Sony has just opened up the phone lines for folks eager to claim their spot in line the queue. No need in rehashing the specifications you already know — it’s still the same ole PRS-505, just way more expensive in US dollars.

[Via MobileRead, thanks Alex]

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Filed under: Displays

Nary a month after an E Ink exec asserted that e-newspapers would be going commercial by 2009, in flies word that a forthcoming issue of Esquire will likely be the poster child for the change. According to David Granger, Esquire’s editor in chief, rags have generally “looked the same for 150 years,” but all that will change when 100,000 copies of the September issue arrive on newsstands with a flashing electronic cover. The E Ink technology used will be exclusively available to Esquire until 2009, and the blinking “The 21st Century Begins Now” text will sadly fade after the battery runs dry in 90 days. Still, there’s at least some chance the issue will wind up in the Smithsonian, and an even bigger chance magazine racks everywhere will require Kanye-approved sunglasses to even look at in just a few years.

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Filed under: Handhelds

We first saw Fujitsu’s FLEPia e-books with the company’s color e-ink tech over a year ago, but rumor has it they’re finally getting close to launch. That’s the word according to Nikkei, which says that the A4-sized readers won’t feature an integrated backlight, but still be able to run for up to 50 hours on a single charge. The WiFi-capable unit is said to cost ¥100,000 ($941), but other specs are still up in the air — hopefully they’ll be changing the name as well.

[Via CrunchGear; warning, read link requires subscription]

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Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

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Filed under: Handhelds

E-book readers are becoming quickly becoming the new cheapo MP3 player, what with unusual designs, promises of salvation from paper, and now diving prices. Enter the Astak Mentor. This series of readers comes in three sizes — 5-, 6-, and 9.7-inch — and is based on either Linux or Windows CE. So what’s new here? A sub-$200 price tag for the 5-inch version, touchscreens, Bluetooth, and WiFi. Those three latter features come standard on the 9.7-incher, and are optional on the smaller two. Look for them in October from less-than-$200 to $350, or until someone else comes out with a $99 reader.

[Via Crave]

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Filed under: Handhelds

CyBook’s Gen3 e-book reader has been out for a while, and it looks like there’s a slight spec bump in the making — the Gen3 New Edition now features 512MB of storage, more stable firmware with better battery life and a more responsive interface, and a slightly revised housing. Owners of older Gen3 units will be able to download the new firmware, but sadly there’s no word on whether the new rev comes with Bobby Brown or Johnny Gill.

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Filed under: Handhelds

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Filed under: Handhelds

Get ‘em while they’re hot. Amazon has its Kindle e-book reader back on sale, finally following up on that 5.5 hours of stock available the first time around. Of course, that $399 pricetag isn’t budging, so if you were looking for a cheaper way to get into this racket, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Or just squint really hard and pretend those two nines are zeros.

[Via GizmoScene]

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Filed under: Handhelds

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