Hasta La Gadget!

So far, sending files to your Kindle cost a flat fee — one dime per document for conversion and download over Whispernet. Looks like that honeymoon is over, as Amazon’s announced that as of May 4th, the Personal Document Service will be a variable fee of $0.15 per megabyte, rounding up. It’s still free of charge if you transfer the documents over via USB, and sending them to “name”@free.kindle.com will return converted files to your email address gratis. If you’re trying to be frugal, we might suggest combining all those pending transfers into one fat PDF and sending it off sometime this weekend.

[Via GearDiary]

Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon to charge per megabyte to send personal documents OTA to your Kindle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it’ll always be difficult to accept innovative technology from a company that makes our tires, there’s just no faulting Bridgestone’s work in the e-paper space, or their latest color entry, above. The 13-inch display, based on “QR-LPD” tech, has what looks to be great color depth, along with snappy 0.8 second screen refreshes (great for this screen size) and actual Wacom-based pen input. There’s video of it in action after the break, and if we didn’t know better we’d think they were putting a Sharpie to a perfectly good display. Unfortunately, the image does look a little dim at the moment, so hopefully that’s something Bridgestone can improve upon as they approach commercialization — whenever that might be.

Continue reading Bridgestone’s 13-inch color e-paper display handles pen input, has the future written all over it

Filed under: Displays

Bridgestone’s 13-inch color e-paper display handles pen input, has the future written all over it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh sure, the e-reader may be just fine for some, but for the traditionalists in attendance who just can’t enjoy a novel without turning those crisp, cool pages as you plow through yet another masterpiece, this invention is the one to care about — particularly when you’re fingers are frozen in place and you’re just too dilapidated to do anything but read and comprehend. The absolutely genius Book Time creation managed to nab a Robot of the Year award over in Japan, as it holds down books and periodicals and automatically flips pages and pins down edges to keep sheets from flapping about uncontrollably. We can’t quite tell if this thing’s voice activated or not (we’re hoping so), but either way, you can check out the hot paper turning action for yourself just past the break.

[Via NewLaunches]

Continue reading Book Time shrugs off e-readers, turns paper pages for you

Filed under: Robots

Book Time shrugs off e-readers, turns paper pages for you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As far as business relationships go, Amazon and Sprint’s Kindle lovechild has proven to be a fruitful endeavor. So it’s with little surprise that other manufacturers have been seeking out that same feeling of carrier companionship. According to Verizon Wireless VP of open development Tony Lewis, there are five e-book readers in the works from various companies that are looking to be certified for use on the network, possibly in the same way Kindle uses its connectivity to download books on the fly. While he wouldn’t provide any names, he did hint they were looking at segments of the market Kindle isn’t currently catering to, such as college textbooks. We’ve also got word that AT&T’s looking to hop on the bandwagon, with head of emerging devices Glenn Lurie chiming in that they want to be a part of that market. If that Whispernet connectivity is the feature that’s been tempting you to go Kindle, looks like you’ll have a few more options on the horizon, if you’re patient.

Read – Verizon
Read – AT&T

Filed under: Displays

AT&T, Verizon looking to join e-book reader market? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s finally coming true; all those e-ink readers we expected would flood the market after the Kindle’s initial release were apparently just waiting for its successor before jumping into the fray. Joining recent announcements from iriver, Neolux, and Plastic Logic is Brother, with the SV-100B. The company is calling it a “Document Viewer,” featuring a 9.7-inch, 1200 x 825 display — larger and stocking twice the pixels of the Kindle 2. However, it’s not meant to be a Kindle-killer, instead aimed at business users who will pair this over Bluetooth with PCs or mobile devices to keep its microSD card filled with content, content that must be run through a converter app prior to display. No MSRP was announced, but given its focus on the corporate clientele it will surely be priced accordingly when it ships early this June.

Update: Will commented to let us know this will apparently retail for ¥140,000, or just shy of $1,500. So, yeah, not really aiming for the consumer market here.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Brother’s SV-100B Bluetooth “Document Viewer” looks like an e-book reader to us originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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