Hasta La Gadget!

Timely, no? Just as the 2010 back-to-school season really gets rolling (and that dreaded Fall semester arrives to pester you to death), Barnes & Noble is looking to become your go-to place for eTextbooks, study tools and pretty much anything else in the related field. Up until now, there have been few all-encompassing eTextbook delivery method, and the options that are out there are generally poorly thought out, spartan or simply not marketed well. ‘Course, B&N isn’t coming right out and saying it, but why else would you create a comprehensive application suitable for Macs and PCs that not only puts digital textbooks into the hands of students for up to 40 percent less than conventional books, but also a full library of study aids, test prep guides, periodicals, and hundreds of thousands of trade and professional titles. Moreover, the app “provides students access to all of their materials — eTextbooks, lecture notes, syllabi, slides, images, trade books and other course-related documents — all in one place, so their digital library goes wherever they go.” Oh, and did we mention that it also supports highlighting and notes, both of which are searchable? Yeah. Currently, Nook Study is being used in a smattering of universities, with an August rollout pegged for universal use. Lookout, used bookstore — the end could be nigh.

Continue reading Barnes & Noble looks to lock down e-book delivery for education with Nook Study

Barnes & Noble looks to lock down e-book delivery for education with Nook Study originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Nook Study  | Email this | Comments

Oh, snap! Merely hours after Barnes & Noble came out swinging with a $149 WiFi-only version of its Nook and a price-reduced $199 3G Nook, along comes Amazon to rip a massive hole in B&N’s billowing sails. As of this very moment, the $259 Kindle 2 — complete with global 3G and the 6-ink E Ink display you’ve come to know and love (or hate) — is now the $189 Kindle 2. Oh, and there’s also free 2-day shipping. Looks like the undercutter just got undercut, huh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Amazon’s Kindle conveniently falls to $189, Nook looks stunned and bitter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Amazon  | Email this | Comments

Well what do you know, turns out the LB4400 was a harbinger of things to come. LG Display and iriver just announced a $5M joint venture to manufacture e-book readers. The new China-based company, L&I Electronic Technology (Dongguan) Ltd, sees iriver doing the platform development and product design (thank gawd) while LG provides the EPD displays. It’s interesting to note that the company will act as an OEM/ODM to anyone looking to slap their brand on an e-book reader… after iriver — the company’s first customer — takes the pick of the litter.

Continue reading LG Display and iriver enter joint venture to make e-book readers pretty, affordable

LG Display and iriver enter joint venture to make e-book readers pretty, affordable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Still waiting to see a Kindle in the wild before you pull the trigger? Hate shopping online? Need to pick up some toilet paper and a huge barrel of pretzels? You’re in luck, because Amazon’s finally going to be spreading Kindles out in retail nationwide through Target stores. After a trial run in April that got the e-reader into Target’s flagship store and 102 brightly lit retail paradises in south Florida, the $259 e-ink device will be available all over as of June 6th. The press release points out that the Kindle is still Amazon’s bestselling product, and we can’t see a retail push like this hurting its prospects — though with rumors flying about an imminent Kindle update, it might not be the absolute best time to buy. PR is after the break.

Continue reading Kindle going nationwide in Target stores on June 6

Kindle going nationwide in Target stores on June 6 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

My, how the tablets have turned. Despite valiant efforts, even Acer can’t resist the temptation of diving into the ever-expanding e-reader market, but rather than going head to head with Amazon’s Kindle, the company seems to be readying at least one unique creature for release into the mainstream. Thanks to a stop at Qualcomm’s lair here at Computex, we think we may have found the company’s numero dos. In just about every respect, the simply-titled eBook is nothing at all like the LumiRead; in fact, it looks (sort of) like an iPhone 4G after pulling a Mark McGwire. We weren’t told just how large the screen was, but as you can tell from the gallery below, it’s quite long. The device was reportedly made as a way to showcase Qualcomm’s aging MSM7227 processor, and while there’s obviously no way to know if this thing is / isn’t headed for the production line, it was running Android underneath. Unfortunately, responsiveness wasn’t this thing’s strong suit, and it was fairly obvious that the software wasn’t exactly fully baked (we surely hope not, anyway). That said, the form factor could certainly be honed into something practical, and we’re sure they could get the UI humming along a bit smoother if they really put their minds to it. For now, it’s the gallery below… or nothin’.

Acer eBook concept preview: Qualcomm MSM7227 and Android onboard originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments