Hasta La Gadget!

Looks like everyone wants a slice of that steaming-hot e-reader action these days. Right in front of us here is the Tianji — or in our language, Phecda, a distant star — iBook EB-605, which is purported to be launched by Lenovo at some point this year (and we first heard about such plan back in December). Features include a 6-inch electronic ink display, Samsung ARM 400MHz processor, newspaper subscription, music player, picture browser and support for a variety of digital book formats including EPUB (hooray!) and MOBI. ZOL also spotted the SIM card-like icon at the top, which might suggest a thing or two about its wireless capabilities, and estimates a price tag of under ¥2,000 ($293). No word on international release yet, but hey, the more the merrier either way!

Update: eagle-eyed reader charlied spotted this e-reader in its no-frills form from Oaxis. The good news is that WiFi and SD card slot are featured as well, but no mention of a SIM card slot so ZOL‘s probably wrong about that icon. Shame.

Lenovo to launch Tianji iBook EB-605 e-reader? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still patiently waiting for Endless Ideas to launch a 3G-equipped e-reader to compete with the masses, but ’til then, we suppose we’ll have to be satisfied with the WiFi-toting BeBook Neo. Boasting a 532MHz Freescale CPU, Vizplex display (800 x 600 resolution), 512MB of internal storage, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB 2.0 connectivity and an SD expansion slot, the 6-inch, February-bound Neo brings to the table very little that we haven’t seen elsewhere — in fact, it’s a dead ringer for Onyx International’s Boox. Naturally, you’ll find support for a multitude of file formats (ePUB, PDF, HTML, JPG, PNG, etc.), and the internal battery is good for 7,000 page turns on a full charge. The company is also playing up the unit’s ability to access a wide variety of third-party ebook venues, which gives you the option of purchasing books from any given outlet rather than a predefined store. There’s also WACOM tech built in, which should delight those who love to annotate and add text mark-ups. We’re told that future software updates will add a multitude of new features, but it’s tough to say if that promise is enough to coax you into dropping $299 on a pre-order.

BeBook Neo e-reader launches with WiFi and WACOM capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This day simply wouldn’t be a day between January 18, 2010 and January 27, 2010 without a new gaggle of Apple Tablet rumors to sift through, and while we’re gritting our teeth as we skim every word, we’ve the latest and greatest most far-fetched rounded up here for your perusal.

The rumor: The Apple Tablet will “strike a familiar chord with owners of the original iPhone, with similarities in industrial design trickling all the way down to the handset’s button and connectivity components.”
Our take: Honestly, we can believe this one. Apple has had a great deal of success with the iPhone, and we’ve already seen the “tablet PC” as it’s known today take a nosedive. Apple Insider is saying that the device may look a lot like a “first-generation iPhone that’s met its match with a rolling pin,” and while we’ve obviously no inside way to confirm nor deny, we can get why Apple would stick close to a design that it knows will work. Oh, and be sure to peek two more clearly fake mockups after the break.

The rumor: New York Times Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. won’t be at Apple keynote next week.
Our take: So? Just because the head honcho from The Times is planning to be in Davos, Switzerland next week while Apple unveils its tablet doesn’t mean that Jobs can’t showcase the device’s ability to video chat across oceans in front of the masses… if Apple even has a deal with any publisher. If Apple really is reaching out to publishers for content deals, you can bet your bottom dollar the NYT is listening. And be honest — if you had the option of being in Davos or some convention center in San Francisco, which would you pick?

More after the break… if you dare.

Continue reading Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon.com has unveiled a program that will give authors and publishers a larger share of revenue from each Kindle e-book they sell beginning on June 30, 2010.

The 70-percent royalty option offers 70 percent of list price, net of electronic delivery costs. It will be in addition to Amazon’s existing DTP standard royalty option, and will not replace it.

As an example of how the new royalty option works, Amazon cites an $8.99 e-book, saying that the author would see $3.15 with the standard option and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option.

To qualify for the 70-percent option, books must be between $2.99 and $9.99, and the list price must be at least 20 percent below the physical book list price. In addition, the title must be available in all geographies the publisher has rights for, and only covers books sold in the U.S.

Last month, Amazon announced that the Kindle e-book reader was the most-gifted item in Amazon’s history. Barnes & Noble recently introduced the dual-screen Nook, which competes with the Kindle and three new Sony models.

Here’s the skinny from The Wall Street Journal: major publishing company HarperCollins is in talks with Apple about bringing e-books to the oft-rumored, still-unconfirmed tablet that’s expected to be the focus of its January 27th event. The article also states that other publishing companies have been in talks with Cupertino HQ. That jibes with what we’ve heard through the grapevine, specifically with Time Inc. property Sports Illustrated, and fits comfortably well with the New York Times conjecture from earlier today. E-book readers are all the rage these days, but like we said just after CES, we’d wager the future of the medium integrated into slates to provide rich, color multimedia presentations. Seems someone might be sharing in our perspective, but of course, this is just one of many, many, many Apple rumors we expect to see in the buildup to next week.

WSJ: Apple and HarperCollins negotiating e-book deal for tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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