Hasta La Gadget!

This day simply wouldn’t be a day between January 18, 2010 and January 27, 2010 without a new gaggle of Apple Tablet rumors to sift through, and while we’re gritting our teeth as we skim every word, we’ve the latest and greatest most far-fetched rounded up here for your perusal.

The rumor: The Apple Tablet will “strike a familiar chord with owners of the original iPhone, with similarities in industrial design trickling all the way down to the handset’s button and connectivity components.”
Our take: Honestly, we can believe this one. Apple has had a great deal of success with the iPhone, and we’ve already seen the “tablet PC” as it’s known today take a nosedive. Apple Insider is saying that the device may look a lot like a “first-generation iPhone that’s met its match with a rolling pin,” and while we’ve obviously no inside way to confirm nor deny, we can get why Apple would stick close to a design that it knows will work. Oh, and be sure to peek two more clearly fake mockups after the break.

The rumor: New York Times Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. won’t be at Apple keynote next week.
Our take: So? Just because the head honcho from The Times is planning to be in Davos, Switzerland next week while Apple unveils its tablet doesn’t mean that Jobs can’t showcase the device’s ability to video chat across oceans in front of the masses… if Apple even has a deal with any publisher. If Apple really is reaching out to publishers for content deals, you can bet your bottom dollar the NYT is listening. And be honest — if you had the option of being in Davos or some convention center in San Francisco, which would you pick?

More after the break… if you dare.

Continue reading Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition

Apple Tablet rumor roundup: publishers and carriers edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve never heard of Astri before, but it sure seems to be one ambitious company. We figure it’s got to take real ambition to create a pocketable dualscreen device with not just one non-working touchscreen, but two! In theory, the Marvel-powered MID or My Interactive Device (not to be confused with Mobile Internet Devices) runs Android on its 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen, while its neighboring 5-inch e-ink Wacom-enabled touchscreen is meant for reading and taking notes. The concept is similar to the much-more-polished Entourage Edge, or even Spring Design’s Alex, though we have no idea if Astri intends the two displays to communicate with one another. We’ll be siding with those alternatives until Astri can work out its many issues, though we do like the idea of the more portable e-reading device. Oh, and please don’t miss one of the most abusive hands-on videos ever after the break.

Continue reading Astri’s dualscreen Android e-ink MID looks and acts like a knockoff

Astri’s dualscreen Android e-ink MID looks and acts like a knockoff originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, isn’t this a doozy. ASUS was a bit of a no-show in the e-reader arena at CES, but has dropped some knowledge on the Times Online’s InGear: it’s building a 6-inch color OLED e-reader, which flies in the face of previous rumors about an ASUS e-reader entry. The device, currently dubbed the DR-570 and pictured to the left, will play back Flash video, includes WiFi and 3G, and supposedly can last for 122 hours on one charge under “real world conditions.” It’s supposed to be released by the end of the year, and while from anybody else we’d assume this would cost an arm and a leg, the ASUS brand gives us some hope that we might actually be able to afford one when it hits.

[Thanks, Ian S.]

ASUS DR-570 e-reader to sport 6-inch OLED color screen, 122 hours of battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One major trend dominating CES 2010 is the massive uptick in manufacturers showing off e-reader devices, software and technology. Vendors of all sizes are here in Las Vegas introducing products they hope will capitalize on piqued consumer interest and the predicted growth in the e-book market in the year ahead.

The biggest (literally) and most impressive electronic ink devices at the show are easily the 8.5 x 11-inch 10.5-inch Plastic Logic Que proReader and 11.5-inch (displays measured diagonally) Skiff Reader. Two touchscreen devices with integrated 3G targeting two totally different audiences. The Que proReader’s gunning to replace bulky stacks of business papers with support for truVue PDF files, MS Office docs, e-mail, and Outlook calendar support. The Skiff Reader, on the other hand, is being pitched as a consumer device with a compelling value proposition for publishers (by publishers) and content owners that will ultimately deliver multimedia on a wide range of devices and display types hooked into the Skiff Store — just not the flagship Skiff Reader with traditional e-paper display.

Otherwise, the CES show floor is absolutely littered with electronic ink also-rans, hybrids, and new screen technologies looking to knock-off the incumbent Kindle, underlying E Ink technology, and Amazon juggernaut. If we’re lucky, that’s exactly what’s going to happen later in the year. Read on to find out why.

Continue reading The e-Reader story of CES 2010

The e-Reader story of CES 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another company pimping a slew of e-readers here at CES. Up next is Hanvon, with its WISEreader lineup of 5-inch E-Ink display-based readers on display. They’re pretty basic in both the design and functionality departments, with support for text, images, and audio in the usual array of formats — including DRM’ed EPUBs. The N518 and N526 models both have touchscreens, though you’ll need to use a stylus for handwriting and note-taking. Other than that, there wasn’t really much of note, though we were told that there’s a capacitive version in the works but it wasn’t quite ready to bring out of their labs in Taiwan just yet. There’s always next year.

Hanvon WISEreader e-book lineup hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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