Hasta La Gadget!

We can’t honestly say whether The Wall Street Journal‘s laggy iPad rendition was a success at $17.29 per month, but either way Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is gearing up for another try at this whole digital news thing. The LA Times reports that Murdoch is planning an entirely new national publication for the iPad and other devices — in other words, not just a print-to-digital conversion this time. “Unlike News Corp.’s business-centric Wall Street Journal, the new digital newspaper would target a more general readership, offering short, snappy stories that could be digested quickly,” writes the Times, adding that sources say the digital paper could launch by the end of the year. Here’s hoping it debuts alongside that Skiff Reader, eh?

Murdoch plans digital-only paid newspaper for tablets and phones originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have e-readers in our sights — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers

Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS just dumped Windows Embedded Compact 7 for Android for its lower-end tablet devices, and CEO Jerry Shen is passing along the savings. He’s pledging that the 10-inch Eee Pad EP101TC, due to ship in March, will cost under $399 — and if the Notion Ink Adam is any indication that means it’ll be $398. Then there’s the EP121, a 12-inch tablet running Windows 7 that’s positioned rather higher up in the market, as indicated by its $1,000 price tag. Shen says this high cost is due to that docking station able to intriguingly transform it into a laptop when it ships around December or January. Next is yet another Eee Pad due around January, one that will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 on a 10-inch screen and at a price somewhere south of $499. Finally, there’s the grayscale Eee Tablet e-reader thing, formerly rumored to be under $599 but now priced at a solid $300 and, supposedly, shipping in October. Surely we’re mere months away from tablet saturation at this point.

ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember when hotels used to slip in a copy of USA Today or the Wall Street Journal under the door every morning?

Now, some are going digital and offering e-readers to their guests. Ten Fairmont hotels in the U.S. and Canada will give guests a Kobo e-reader when they check-in, for use during their stay.

The Kobo will be pre-loaded with a selection of fiction and non-fiction books from Random House. Guests who check-out a Kobo will also be able to access free books from the Kobo bookstore.

“Travelers do not want to carry heavy books in their luggage and vacations provide the perfect time to relax and catch up on reading,” says Michael Serbinis, CEO of Kobo in a statement. “This partnership allows Kobo to expand our reach and offer our service to an important segment of our customer base.”

The $150 Kobo e-reader has a 6-inch black-and-white E Ink display and launched in March. It is currently available at Borders book stores in the U.S. When Kobo made its debut, it gathered attention because it was much cheaper than the Kindle. But since then, Amazon has cut price on the Kindle with a Wi-Fi only version of the Kindle for $140.

Giving hotel guests a Kobo to play with is an experiment worth watching. Newspapers such as USA Today tapped into hotels successfully to increase their reach and circulation. The same could happen for digital books and e-readers. Those consumers who haven’t had a chance to try e-readers could play with one at a hotel and see if they are comfortable with digital books. And if they do like the experience, they are likely to want the same device they tried, which should be good news for Kobo.

The downside is that the Kobo e-reader at the hotel may not have the books you want.

And as with the bathrobe and the alarm clock in the room, your credit card will be billed if you walk away with the device.

See Also:

• Foxit eSlick E-Reader Nears its End
• 5 Things That Will Make E-Readers Better in 2010
• E-Readers Will Survive the Onslaught of Tablets
• Plastic Logic Que E-Reader Turns Into Vaporware
• Gallery: E-Readers Push Boundaries of Books

Photo: Kobo (jivedanson/Flickr)

And just like that, with the swing of a virtual axe, she’s all dead and buried. Plastic Logic has been stuck in a world of perpetual delays ever since wowing the universe with its QUE ProReader at CES, and rather than delaying it again, the company is simply cutting its losses and moving on. To quote CEO Richard Archuleta: “We recognize the market has dramatically changed, and with the product delays we have experienced, it no longer make sense for us to move forward with our first generation electronic reading product.” To that end, the company plans to “shift its focus to bring to market a second-generation ProReader plastic electronics-based product,” but absolutely no details regarding form factor, pricing or an estimated ship date are given. Wilder still, those rumors about a company sale have coincidentally (or not?) flared up again, with the Financial Times stating this go ’round that Plastic Logic could sell a “significant stake” of itself to Rusnano, a Russian state-owned nanotechnology corporation. We’re told that the two are currently “in discussions,” and that if a deal is reached, Plastic Logic’s production facility for this elusive next-gen product would have to be based in Russia. We can’t say we’re completely shocked at the outcome here, but we’re man enough to shed a tear at our loss. Rest easy, QUE — at least we had our times.

Continue reading Plastic Logic kills QUE, ‘shifts focus’ to second-generation ProReader

Plastic Logic kills QUE, ‘shifts focus’ to second-generation ProReader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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