Hasta La Gadget!

Oop. So much for the PSP Go’s premium “aspirational” pricing — several UK retailers have already discounted Sony’s newest handheld to £199 ($319) after launch weekend. That’s not a massive drop from the £224 ($358) MSRP, but it’s still pretty notable, especially considering the PSP-3000 has an MSRP of £139 ($221). No wonder Sony thinks the Go will drive PSP-3000 purchases — too bad it couldn’t figure out a way to make the Go interesting enough to sell itself.

Filed under: Gaming

PSP Go already discounted in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon might have been extremely contrite about remotely deleting 1984 from Kindles, but a Jeff Bezos apology and an offer to restore the book doesn’t necessarily add up to a meaningful change in policy. As part of the settlement with that student who sued over the 1984 situation, Amazon’s had to clarify its remote-deletion guidelines, and they’re pretty much the same as ever: they’ll hit the kill switch if you ask for a refund or if your credit card is declined, if a judge orders them to, or if they need to protect the Kindle or the network from malware. Sounds simple, right?

Well, sort of — saying they’ll delete content at the behest of judicial or regulatory decree pretty much leaves the door open to exactly the same situation as the 1984 debacle, just a couple procedural steps down the line and with less blame placed on Amazon. If you’ll recall, 1984 was deleted after the publisher was sued for not having the proper rights, and Amazon took the proactive step of deleting the content — and although Amazon won’t do that on its own anymore, all it takes now is one strongly-worded motion before a sympathetic judge and we’re back at square one. That’s pretty troubling — no judge can order a physical bookseller to come into your house and retrieve a book they’ve sold you, and saying things are different for the Kindle raises some interesting questions about what Amazon thinks “ownership” means. We’ll see how this one plays out in practice, though — we’re hoping Amazon never has to pull that switch again.

Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon clarifies Kindle book-deletion policy, can still delete books originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The more you think about it, the more obvious it is that an Apple tablet would specialize in reviving dead-tree media (i.e., newspapers, magazines and books). All the rumors suggest the device would be a larger iPod Touch/iPhone with a 10-inch screen. Previously Wired.com argued that redefining print would would be a logical purpose for a gadget this size, and Gizmodo today has even more details to prove that this is Apple’s goal with the tablet.

Gizmodo’s Brian Lam cites two people related to The New York Times, who claim Apple approached them to talk about repurposing the newspaper onto a “new device.” Lam notes that Jobs has called the Times the “best newspaper in the world” in past keynotes. (I recall him saying that when introducing the iPhone’s web browser at Macworld Expo 2007.)

Lam proceeds to cite a vice president in textbook publishing who claims publishers McGraw-Hill and Oberlin Press are collaborating with Apple to move textbooks to the iTunes Store. The possible distribution model would involve a DRM’ed “one-time-use” book, which could spell out to lots of money for publishers while reducing pricing of e-books for consumers.

Lastly, Lam claims several executives from magazines met at Apple’s Cupertino campus to demonstrate their ideas on the future of publishing, where they presented mockups of magazines in interactive form.

Those are all strong data points, and we agree with the overall argument. Wired.com in July speculated that an Apple tablet, in addition to an e-book section in iTunes, would be a killer combination to compete against Amazon’s Kindle and e-book store. We suggested an à-la-carte purchase model for textbooks so students could download single chapters as opposed to purchasing entire books. The suggestion from Lam’s sources about a DRM’ed “one-time-use” book would probably be a more attractive model for publishers.

Meanwhile, Amazon recently launched a pilot program with some universities to determine how to sell Kindle-compatible textbooks in the Amazon.com e-book store. It doesn’t appear to be going well: Princeton students are complaining the Kindle DX is disappointing and difficult to use, according to a Fox News report. We’re not surprised: In May, Wired.com polled students on their impression of the Kindle DX as a replacement for textbooks, and most of them dismissed the idea. Apple has a clear opportunity to seize the e-publishing market, and it appears the company has that precisely in mind.

See Also:

• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com
• Large-Screen Kindle Won’t Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives …
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• Everything We Know About Apple’s Touchscreen Tablet

Photo: Gizmodo

In what has become the “hip cool thing to do” for consoles these days, the 250GB version of the PS3 Slim is up for pre-order in the UK before it’s been even confirmed by Sony for most of the world. Sadly, it’s just the boring old black version — so far the white PS3 Slim has only been seen making nice with Final Fantasy XIII in Japan — but at £285 (about $455 US) it is more than double the capacity for only 40 more “quid” than the original PS3 Slim. Pre-orders are available now, and Amazon says the console will ship on October 1. So the question is, do you jump in now, or do you wait for one of the myriad 250GB bundles headed for Europe? It’s the moral dilemma of our times.

[Via I4U]

Filed under: Gaming

250GB PS3 shows up for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk, ships on October 1 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Pre for $100, but coming from Amazon, the legitimacy level is at an all-time high. If you’re up for a contract renewal, it begs the question why you wouldn’t do this over… oh, pretty much anywhere else where you’re still paying the recently-reduced $149 rate — and it also makes you wonder just how much price pressure’s going to be on the Pixi’s diminutive shoulders by the time it launches.

[Via Gear Diary and everythingpre]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Pre going for a nice, round $100 on contract at Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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