Hasta La Gadget!

The saga of Polymer Vision has been defined by optimistic plans braced by second chances when financial reality came crashing in, with no happily ever after or definite end in sight. Unfortunately, there may not be much more of a story to tell. CTO Edzer Huitema claims that Wistron has shut down Polymer Vision entirely: while it’s keeping the intellectual property behind the rollable display company it acquired in 2009, it has reportedly dismissed all associated staff after unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer. We’ve asked Wistron for a more formal confirmation and an explanation, and we’ll let you know if there’s an update. However, it’s possible that Polymer Vision’s technology was simply past its prime. As +Plastic Electronics notes, Polymer Vision and the Readius came at a time before mobile tablets and giant smartphones, when it wasn’t clear that we would tolerate big screens in our pockets; while flexible displays are still in development, some of Polymer Vision’s biggest advantages have faded away.

Filed under: Displays

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Via: The Digital Reader

Source: +Plastic Electronics

Barnes & Noble’s Nook unit didn’t have its greatest quarter. The $160 million in revenue the new Microsoft-backed spin off raked in was slightly better than last year’s $152 million, but still a significant drop from $220 million. In a sign of the growing ubiquity of e-readers however, digital content sales were up 38 percent while the units overall revenue was up just 6 percent. Of course the Nook is still losing money, having cut $51 million from the company’s bottom line. If you step outside of the digital realm things are looking slightly better for the book purveyor, as profits were up to $65 million — a 15.6 percent increase over the same time period last year. As we enter the holiday season things should start to look up for B&N and there were good signs during the four day shop-stravaganza from Black Friday to Cyber Monday as sales of Nook hardware doubled from last year. For all the fun financial details hit up the source.

Continue reading Barnes & Noble reports Q2 2013 earnings: digital content sales up 38%, Nook unit rakes $160 million

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Barnes & Noble

Another decent discount on Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader means you can now get the sans Glowlight Nook Simple Touch for just under $80. This prices it below to Amazon’s (ad-free) basic e-reader but above the $50 price tag that Target’s announced. However, this limited-edition Nook is encircled with a white border, which at least sounds a little more festive — we haven’t managed to snatch a glance at one just yet. Barnes & Noble says that it’ll remain at this price for as long as in-store stocks last, but bare a thought for your transatlantic cousins, who are paying the same amount, but in pounds, for an identical e-reader.

Continue reading Limited-edition White Nook Simple Touch lands at $79 this Black Friday

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Source: Barnes & Noble

Penguin will refresh its ebook lending system later today, according to a report from the New York Times. The publisher will start lending out its titles in Los Angeles and Cleveland, mimicking the program that trialled (despite some DRM issues) in New York. Public library users can even expect downloadable audiobooks to join the lending list soon, through a team-up between Penguin and OneClickDigital. Expect the same lending rules, with new books appearing six months after their first release and the bizarre ‘one copy at a time’ system, in which each title can only be rented at one person at any one time. Worse still, at least for libraries, at the end of each year they must buy each title again or lose access to the digital copy.

[Image courtesy Sten Rüdrich]

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Via: The Verge

Source: The New York Times

Kobo’s Arc tablet is hitting stores for the first time in Canada and the UK today, leaving eager punters in the US of A wondering if they’ve been forgotten. In America‘s hat, the 7-inch competitor to the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 is showing price tags of 200, 250 and 300 Canadian dollars for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, respectively. A WHSmith exclusive in the UK, £160 and £190 is what you’ll need for the lesser two options, and we can’t see a 64GB listing online just yet. French store Fnac will keep customers waiting til Monday, when they’ll be able to swap €200 for an Arc avec 16 gigs — its listings show no other sizes right now, barring a non-existent 8GB variant. Kobo hid a surprise for us in the announcement PR, too: it’s already working on a Jelly Bean 4.1 update for the ICS tablet. If you’re American and bummed you’re not reading this on your own shiny new Arc, it’s already passed inspection, so should be shipping before you know it.

Continue reading Kobo Arc available today in Canada and UK, coming to France on Monday

Filed under: Tablets

Kobo Arc available today in Canada and UK, coming to France on Monday originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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