Hasta La Gadget!

We gotta hand it to Google: if its goal was to own the technology news cycle for 48 hours, mission accomplished. The Mountain View-based company spent the first two days this week laying out pretty much every big announcement it possibly could: a new flagship phone coming next week (the Nexus S), a new Android build (2.3 Gingerbread), a preview of the next Android build (Honeycomb) on a never-before-seen Motorola tablet, the debut of its cloud-based laptop platform (Chrome OS) with hardware, and a giant plunge into the growing e-book market — and that isn’t everything. We’ve done our best to condense all the days’ highlights into something easier to digest, so read on for a recap on all things Google!

Continue reading Google’s big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot

Google’s big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you do when the web’s 500-pound Googorilla decides to muscle in on your action? Amazon’s answer, apparently, is to work with said primate. Instead of making pouty faces about Google eBooks, the Kindle purveyor has unwrapped a new version of its Kindle for the Web browser-based reader and is rolling it into Google’s Chrome Web Store. Up until now, this web offering only ever permitted the consumption of book samples in its short beta existence, but that’s a limitation that Amazon is lifting with its new software, promising to “enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books.” And hey, since it’s on the web, you shouldn’t have any trouble accessing it on Chrome OS, either! Coming to a Web Store near you early next year.

Continue reading Amazon demonstrates new Kindle for the Web, coming to Chrome Web Store early next year

Amazon demonstrates new Kindle for the Web, coming to Chrome Web Store early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You hear about this whole e-books thing? We hear it’s gonna be a pretty big deal. Google, always with its finger on the pulse of our ever-evolving digital lifestyles, has decided to take a wild stab at this nascent market, and is launching Google eBooks today. Formerly known as Google Editions, the Google eBooks ecosystem is actually a pretty grand gesture, and seems to combine most of the positives of the primary e-book contenders (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple, naturally), while skimping on the UI flourishes, in traditional Google fashion. Books you buy are stored in the cloud, with your progress synced Whispersync-style, and can be read on your choice of native Android, iPhone, or iPad apps; from your browser; or on any device that supports the Adobe Digital Editions DRM for PDF and ePub files, which includes the B&N Nook and the Sony Reader (and plenty of other devices). Google is also trading on its vast repository of public domain books, with 3 million free eBooks on offer at its Google eBookstore, in addition to traditional paid fare. It’s certainly a crowded market, full of sharp elbows, but it seems Google is having no trouble adjusting.

Continue reading Google eBooks is live: just in case Amazon, B&N, and Apple aren’t enough

Google eBooks is live: just in case Amazon, B&N, and Apple aren’t enough originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Admit it, Google Editions wasn’t exactly your highest priority item among the things promised for a 2010 launch, but, according to Mountain View’s Scott Dougall, the e-bookstore from the world’s favorite search company will indeed make its debut before December’s through. It’s premised as a web-centric, buy-anywhere, read-anywhere platform, one that eschews the proprietary hardware and software model currently championed by the likes of Amazon for a more ubiquitous and accessible one (a humble web browser is all you’ll need, which should make Tim Berners-Lee beam with pride). Small websites of all creeds, whether they be independent bookstores or book reviewers, will be encouraged to participate by linking their users to Google Editions of whatever scriptures they’re discussing — with an unannounced revenue sharing model keeping them interested. Retail pricing won’t differ, we’re told, from what Amazon and Barnes & Noble currently charge, which raises the question, what’s the downside to Editions?

Google Editions launching in US before the end of the year, going international in Q1 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 03:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Woah, it was only last week that we finalized the naming scheme for ASUS’s LCD-equipped note taker, yet today the company’s announcing that it’ll be available to buy this week in its native Taiwan. Even better news is the $230 price tag (NT$6,999), which makes the Eee Note quite the affordable little device. It’s versatile too, thanks to a built-in camera and microphone for recording of notes and a 3.5mm headphone jack for playback. Running on Linux, the 8-inch tablet (1024 x 768 res) is said to be capable of 13.5 hours of uninterrupted use, which doesn’t match the similarly monochromatic e-readers out there but is a decent compromise for the functionality on offer. Hong Kong should be the next market on its global tour, to be followed by Germany, Italy and Russia around the turn of the year and China and the US in Q1 of 2011.

ASUS Eee Note EA-800 priced at $230, launching in Taiwan this week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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