Hasta La Gadget!

It’s definitely shaping up to be the year of e-book readers: the Amazon Kindle is flying off (virtual) shelves, and we’d expect the Barnes & Noble Nook to start moving at a decent clip once the kinks get worked out. But any device with an always-on 3G connection to a central server raises some privacy questions, especially when it can broadcast granular, specific data about what you’re reading — data that’s subject to a wide spectrum of privacy laws and regulations when it comes to real books and libraries, but much less so in the digital realm. We’d say it’s going to take a while for all the privacy implications of e-books to be dealt with by formal policy, but in the meantime the best solution is to be informed — which is where this handy chart from our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation comes in. As you’d expect, the more reading you do online, the more you can be tracked — and Google Books, the Kindle, and the Nook all log a ton of data that can be shared with law enforcement and various other third parties if required. Of course, we doubt the cops are too interested in your Twilight reading habits, but honestly, we’d rather users weren’t tracked at all. Check the full chart and more at the read link.

[Thanks, Tom]

E-reader privacy policies compared: Big Kindle is watching you originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The stranglehold E-Ink has had on the e-book market is slipping. We’ve seen the tantalizing promises of Pixel Qi, mixing a color LCD with a low-power reflective display, but in the here and now we’ve got a new LCD-based e-reader from Aluratek. Extensively dubbed the “Libre eBook Reader PRO,” the unit uses an unnamed 5-inch monochrome reflective LCD panel, with 24 hours of continuous use off a battery charge. Not as great as E-Ink, but it should be plenty for most people, and the resultant $179 price is hard to knock. The Libre is ePUB and PDF compatible, and comes with a 2GB SD card — just the right sort of barebones-yet-functional we appreciate. We’ll have to see how well that LCD performs in person before we pull the trigger, but for people looking for an alternative to the premium devices out there (or something with a faster page refresh rate), it might just fit the bill.

Aluratek Libre eBook Reader PRO sports monochrome reflective LCD, $179 pricetag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, sometimes show hosts can get a bit too excited, especially when it comes to Christmas giveaway segments behind a massive pile of gadgets — most of which they’ve probably never heard of until ten minutes before the show. If you were Ellen DeGeneres here with the upside-down Nook e-reader, what could possibly be going through your head? Video after the break.

Ross: “.ɹıɐɥɔ ǝɥʇ uı ʞɔɐq puɐ dn ǝɯ d1ǝɥ ǝsɐǝ1d ‘ʞoou sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı”
Chris: “Everyone gets a (deafening applause, people fainting).”
Joanna: “Oh cute, Ellen pulling a Michael Jackson. Where is the closest balcony?”
Vlad: “And with your purchase of the androgynous android, you get an added value ebook reader — absolutely free!”
Don: “The good news? B&N has settled its dispute with Spring Design. The bad news? You have to hold it this way.”
Richard Lawler: “Read this way, Twilight has an entirely different double meaning.”
Paul: “I’m holding it upside down because it’s a non-working dummy unit and it doesn’t matter.”
Nilay: “God I wish this was a car.”
Richard Lai: “Look!! It’s got the same smile as me! It’s just like a magical mirror.”
Ross Rubin: “Maybe one day, the Nook will be like me and finally come out.”

Continue reading Caption contest: Ellen DeGeneres and her ʞoou giveaway

Caption contest: Ellen DeGeneres and her ʞoou giveaway originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you didn’t feel you got the whole Story yesterday, here’s a pleasing helping of seconds, this time in the form of a full-on review. The PC Pro team rates iriver’s Kindle emulator as a “serious contender,” and places its readability on par with Sony’s touch-less Readers. While congratulations are also meted out for a decent integrated MP3 player, 3.5mm headphone jack, and the wide variety of supported formats, two issues stood out for the reviewers. One was that the support for Word, Excel and Powerpoint files was somewhat hit-and-miss, with zooming sometimes not working and rendering some files unreadable. But the major gripe related to the asking price of £230 including taxes (around $380), which the Story was not considered capable of justifying. Hit the link below for more — even if your interest is purely academic.

iriver Story reviewed, incites rebellion over price originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re pro-ebook readers but anti-Amazon censorship, here’s a decent alternative for your cashola. The Story reader from iriver has been undressed for our entertainment and rightfully praised for its trendy eco-friendly packaging. It’s not an altogether unique device, but with an 800 x 600 E Ink display, support for ePUB, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and even Ogg / WMA file formats, it’s at least versatile enough. Hit the read link to try and spot the other differences between this and Amazon’s record-breaking piece of authoritarian hardware. Go on — it’s a real rush, we promise.

iriver Story unsheathed, still looks remarkably like a Kindle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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