Hasta La Gadget!

Well, well — what have we here? It looks as if AT&T is fixing to rebundle its wireless plans starting on July 25th, obviously with intent to push those newly created data packs onto folks who may otherwise be inclined to pass right over. Furthermore, these new plans encourage users to select unlimited messaging, which — as everyone and their third cousin knows — is highway robbery. But then again, it’s not like you’re about to kick your texting habit, so you might as well pony up. So far as we can tell, the actual value propositions aren’t changing (for example, a single user Nation Plan with 450 minutes, unlimited messaging and a 2GB Data Pro plan will cost you $84.99 either way), but it’s clear that AT&T’s aiming to narrow its offerings. The only real question revolves around the packages that include “pay-per-use” messaging — will the carrier let users add smaller messaging plans, or just force us all to go unlimited or PPU? The 25th is right around the corner, so we ought to know for certain soon enough.

Update: We’ve scooped the family plans as well. We’ve also confirmed that nothing at all should be changing (you can still add select messaging plans to PPU options) in terms of pricing — it’s mostly just reshuffling the furniture, if you know what we mean.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

AT&T readies new calling plans for July 25, nothing changing at the core originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brother Industries’ prototype batteries can be recharged by shaking them. Just don’t hurl your remote control at the TV.

Continue reading Commodore Amiga celebrates its 25th birthday, Andy Warhol still dead

Commodore Amiga celebrates its 25th birthday, Andy Warhol still dead originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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India unveils a prototype for a super-cheap tablet aimed at students. But will it really cost that little once it moves past the RD stage?

E-readers are far from dead but many are certainly gasping for breath. A shake-out in the e-reader market has put some smaller companies out of business, leaving the playing field clear for giants like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony.

The list of e-reader makers running into trouble has grown in the past few weeks:

• Audiovox has canceled plans to introduce the RCA Lexi e-reader that it demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.
• Last month, e-reader maker iRex filed for bankruptcy, citing disappointing sales of its product in the United States.
• Plastic Logic, which also debuted its large screen reader at CES in January, has canceled all pre-orders for its device and scrapped plans to ship the product.
• Cool-er, one of the earliest startups to launch a Sony look-alike e-reader, has listed all its products as “out of the stock” in the United States with no mention of when new devices will be available.

“Companies that had neither brand nor distribution have failed,” says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst for Forrester Research.

Price cuts by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, coupled with the shift in consumer interest toward more multi-purpose tablets, have also taken their toll on e-readers.

“You are seeing the same kind of proliferation and excitement in tablets now that you saw two years ago for e-readers,” says Epps.

After Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, e-readers became one of the hottest consumer products. The category attracted large companies such as Samsung and Barnes & Noble, even as lesser-known players such as Plastic Logic, Aluratek and iRiver jumped in.

Mostly Kindle clones, many of these e-readers were near-identical in how they looked and the features they offered. Almost all sourced their black-and-white screen from a single company: E Ink.

Meanwhile, Apple launched its iPad this year. At $500, it’s pricier than most e-readers, but offers relatively long battery life, a color screen and iBooks, an iTunes-like store for digital books. It may not be as ideally suited to reading as a dedicated e-reader, but many iPad customers are finding that it works well enough as a book reader, in addition to its many other functions.

Apple’s move sparked a price war in the e-reader market. Amazon dropped the price of its Kindle 2 to $190 from $260. Barnes & Noble released a Wi-Fi-only version of the Nook for $150, while a Nook with Wi-Fi and 3G capability now costs $200.

The price war put a squeeze on smaller e-reader manufacturers.

“As a result of the recent price drops in the market, our primary focus has shifted to international opportunities,” Audiovox told the Digital Reader website.

All this doesn’t mean consumers have completely fallen out of love with e-readers, says Epps. Tablets will outpace e-readers in overall sales, she says, but the shift toward digital books is here to stay. Forrester estimates 6.6 million e-readers will be sold in the United States this year. Approximately 29.4 million e-readers may be sold in the United States by 2016, compared to 59 million tablets.

Earlier this week, Amazon said for the first time sales of e-books are outstripping hardcovers. In June, Amazon sold 180 e-books for every 100 hardcovers. In the first six months of the year, the company sold three times as many e-books as it did in the first half of 2009.

“In the e-reader market, price is coming way down and that’s the major consideration for purchase,” says Epps. “If a company can do cheaper and better devices than Amazon, Sony or Barnes & Noble, they still have a chance — but no one’s been able to do that yet.”

See Also:

• E-Readers Will Survive the Onslaught of Tablets
• 5 Things That Will Make E-Readers Better in 2010
• Plastic Logic Que E-Reader Turns Into Vaporware
• Gallery: E-Readers Push Boundaries of Books
• Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for E-Readers

Photo:Jon Snyder/Wired.com