Hasta La Gadget!

We’re still not about say the e-book reader industry has branched out beyond the infancy stage, but one of its flagship products certainly has reason to celebrate. Amazon has announced it’s hit some pretty big milestones with the Kindle. The two bullet points it’s currently touting loudest is that the reader has become “the most gifted item” in the company’s history — quite an achievement given the size of the online retailer, but what’s missing here is any quantitative sales data to give us even a ballpark of the number of units sold. The other big news is that on Christmas Day (we’re guessing not Christmas Eve, else the press release surely would’ve mentioned it, too), e-book sales actually outsold physical books. Those brand new Kindle owners needed something to read, right? It’ll be interesting to see if that momentum is maintained through next year, especially with some major publishers starting to show some teeth with digital delays.

The Kindle bits were all part of Amazon’s annual post-holiday statistical breakdown, so in case you’re wondering, besides Kindle, the company is claiming its other top-selling electronics were the 8GB iPod Touch and Garmin nuvi260W, and in the wireless department the honor goes to Nokia’s unlocked 5800 XpressMusic, Plantronic’s 510 Bluetooth headset, and AT&T’s edition of the BlackBerry Bold 9700.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Kindle most gifted item in Amazon’s history, e-books outsell physical tomes on Christmas Day originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aigo jumps on the e-reader bandwagon with EB6301 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s one thing to see the Entourage Edge in a controlled demonstration by a company representative, something else entirely in the capable hands on CNET‘s Ina Fried. Ina got down with a prototype of the Marvell-powered, dual-display, 9.7-inch E Ink and 10-inch LCD hybrid with built-in WiFi. The video walkthrough after the break shows that Android-powered resistive touchscreen browsing the web and launching other apps from the familiar Android desktop. The E Ink display lets you read EPUB and PDF files, as you’d expect, in addition to taking notes and manipulating text with the help of an included stylus. You can also move content between the displays and record audio via a pair of mics (one to record the lecture, one to cancel the noise). Unfortunately, Fried says that the device is still buggy and “definitely has the look and feel of a first-generation product.” Sounds like the company has its work cut out in order to launch as planned in February as a textbook / notebook replacement for “typical highschool students” with $490 to burn. Let’s hope they have more luck with that than Amazon did in its early Princeton pilot. Right.

[Thanks, Henry]

Continue reading Entourage Edge dual-screen Android e-reader given lusty hands-on (video)

Entourage Edge dual-screen Android e-reader given lusty hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a season of e-readers, that’s for sure… and while Foxit is a smaller player in the scene as compared to the Nook or the Kindle, it’s got some news of its own to boast about today. That’s right, Foxit’s launching an online bookstore all its own. The aptly named eSlick Store has been launched in partnership with Fictionwise LLC (a company which is rather interestingly owned by Barnes & Noble), and currently contains about 60,000 books. If you haven’t forgotten — Foxit’s also recently released a firmware update which enables its support of EPUB. Full press is after the break.

Continue reading Foxit busts out ebook store for eSlick owners

Foxit busts out ebook store for eSlick owners originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Other than a delightful-looking keyboard, it’s a little tough to tell what sets the iriver Story apart from its E Ink brethren (other than its complete lack of wireless), but the little issue of a $400 US pricetag for import versions doesn’t give us much reason to find out. Meanwhile, in the UK the somewhat more reasonable £230 tag has been affixed to the now-shipping e-reader, and while that’s still a tad bit more than just shipping a Kindle to the UK, if you’re still interested you can feel free to check out a few videos after the break that do a mild job of explaining the device to a rollicking soundtrack of Taylor Swift.

Continue reading iriver Story up for sale in the UK, can be imported to the US for contrarian amount

iriver Story up for sale in the UK, can be imported to the US for contrarian amount originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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