Hasta La Gadget!

Early adopters are usually SOL a few months into owning their new doodads. After helping make products successful, their version 1.0 devices are often cast aside to make room for the newer, better, faster kit waiting in the pipeline. If you happened to jump on the Kindle bandwagon early on or even just a short while ago, you may be feeling these very flames of tech fury whenever you consider the company’s newly refreshed line. Well, buck up bookworms, a partial solution to your economic woes is now available. Amazon’s accepting your used and abused e-readers in exchange for a gift card applicable to any purchases you make on the site. It’s the same old trade-in program the Bezos-backed company’s been running for years, only now you’ll have a more sensible way to upgrade your E Ink or tablet game.

Amazon adds e-readers to Trade-In program, ebook lovers pass the old Kindles to the Bezos side originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew that lurking under the e-ink screen gracing the front of Sony’s PRS-T1 reader was some version of Android. What was unclear, was whether or not we’d ever be able to actually get a peek under its highly customized skin and a chance to start poking its open-source innards. Well, thanks to one intrepid hacker, we’re almost there. YouTube user vladboroda has managed to install AWD.Launcher and a host of other apps on the Reader and actually got some of them up and running. You won’t be able to play Angry Birds on its 6-inch touchscreen (yet…) but it is capable of running other e-reader apps, like FBReader, and there is access to the terminal. It’s not quite enough that we’d start referring to the PRS-T1 as a tablet just yet, and the hack still isn’t available to the public, but work is progressing and we’re sure it’ll have you browsing the web and slingshotting aggravated avians in no time. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Sony Reader PRS-T1 hacked to expose Android, run other e-reader apps (video)

Sony Reader PRS-T1 hacked to expose Android, run other e-reader apps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no secret that the market for Android tablets is crowded – and getting more so every day. Just ask Samsung, Acer, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, Pandigital and, oh yes, Verticool. We could keep going, but you get the point: it’s a big market out there, one with wildly varying prices and features. And just recently a little company called Amazon made its move in a big way with the Kindle Fire, an Android-powered $199 portal to its corner of the cloud. The world’s largest online retailer clearly thinks competing on price is a way to stand out from the pack. Velocity Micro, maker of the 8-inch Cruz T408, wholeheartedly agrees. It’s coming to market with a $199 slate, hoping to capture some attention of its own. Can it succeed? Read on to find out.

Gallery: Velocity Micro Cruz T408 review

Continue reading Velocity Micro Cruz T408 review

Velocity Micro Cruz T408 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Frankly, we’d advise against crossing anyone given to costumed superheroics, but a policy is a policy. Book selling giant Barnes & Noble has begun pulling select DC Comics from store shelves this week, in response to a deal struck between the publisher and Amazon, which will make digital copies of a number of comics exclusively available through the online retailer for use with the forthcoming Kindle Fire. The move is part of Barnes & Noble’s policy to remove physical books from its shelves if the available digital version of the text is not offered up to the company. According to an exec, “To sell and promote the physical book in our store showrooms and not have the e-book available for sale would undermine our promise to Barnes & Noble customers to make available any book, anywhere, anytime.” J’onn J’onzz has yet to weigh in on the matter.

Barnes & Noble pulls DC Comics from shelves over Kindle kerfuffle, risks Martian Manhunter’s wrath originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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France is getting the Kindle! No, seriously, until now the land of baguettes and Nicolas Sarkozy has had to make do without the world’s most popular ebook reader. Starting today though, our French friends can pre-order a Kindle (no touch and no keyboard) for €99 and have access to over 825,000 titles from the newly launched Kindle store. The first French-language readers from Amazon will start shipping out on October 14th and, if you need some more details, you’ll find the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Amazon brings Kindle and associated ebook shop to France

Amazon brings Kindle and associated ebook shop to France originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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