Hasta La Gadget!

With raging success, you can always count on one thing: copycats and rivals. Okay, so maybe that’s two, but you catch the drift here. Not long after Amazon launched its Kindle 2 to much fanfare, Hearst confessed that it was looking to produce a competitor with a screen that was about the size of a standard sheet of paper. In a presumed effort to keep up with the Joneses, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Amazon is looking to develop yet another Kindle (something we’ve definitely heard before) with “a larger screen,” which would obviously help it appeal to newspaper companies looking to easily transition their content to a large form factor e-reader. Not surprisingly, Amazon refused to comment on the “speculation,” but the report did note that there was at least some chance that the newfangled device would debut before the 2009 holiday season.

[Thanks, bo3of]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Is Amazon developing a larger screen Kindle? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apparently News Corp. chairman and multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch likes the Kindle. He likes it so much that while he’s not trying to buy the company, he is instead trying to buy any competition that could undermine it and perhaps ultimately send it into financial ruin. Okay, so he’s probably not trying to take down Amazon, but he does want in on the e-reader action, looking to invest in someone, anyone, who might be the next e-book contender. It makes perfect sense, what with print newspapers failing left and right and magazines not faring any better, but just which company might be the lucky recipient of Murdoch’s favor and finances? We’re guessing he has no shortage of willing recipients.

Filed under: Handhelds

Rupert Murdoch wants in on the e-book action originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It didn’t quite make it out in January, but Foxit’s eSlick is still about the cheapest way to get an e-reader in front of your retinas. Granted, only the earliest of pre-orderers are seeing their units ship, and if you try to jump in now, you’ll be greeted with a note to not expect it for another fortnight or so. In fact, all three hues (black, grey and white) are currently sold out, with new batches expected to be ready by April 10th or so. Thankfully, the kind folks over at GearDiary have hosted up a few photos and have promised impressions in the not too distant future, so head on over if you’re anxious to see just how far this thing is from being a Kindle.

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Foxit’s eSlick e-reader ships out, gets photographed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Clearly, the big news from Endless Ideas today at CeBIT was its next-generation BeBook 2. But what about all those existing / to-be BeBook 1 owners? We’ve got a bit of excitement to share with you folks as well. While prying for information today in Hannover, we were informed that one of the biggest issues with the BeBook is being resolved very soon. Yes, friends, WiFi is coming. In just a few months, BeBook users will be able to buy a WiFi-enabling SD card (and download a new firmware update) which will provide wireless access to eBook stores, RSS feeds and lots of other goodies that can only be touched with a live internet connection. We’re told that the WiFi SD card will be sold directly on the BeBook website for around $40, and it should be listed for sale within the next few months. We took the chance to grab some hands-on footage of the original BeBook in video form for you Yanks who’ve yet to see one, and if you hang in there ’til the end, you’ll hear us get tipped off on the forthcoming card.

Continue reading BeBook e-reader getting WiFi, new firmware update: eyes-on

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

BeBook e-reader getting WiFi, new firmware update: eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Amazon wasn’t just teasing you whiners who blabbed on about how you’d rather just read ebooks on your iPhone: The iPhone and iPod Touch app has arrived.

The free program brings several of the Kindle’s functions to the iPod and iPhone’s much smaller, non-E-Ink screen, including the same electronic books, magazines and newspapers that Kindle owners can buy, and the ability to change text size, add bookmarks, note and highlight stuff. From what we can see at first glance of the app itself, there’s no dictionary or search.

If you already have both a Kindle and an iPhone, Amazon’s program syncs the two so that you can keep your bookmarks on both devices. Immediately after loading up the app, this worked exactly as billed, and the page we’re on in the Kindle 2 showed on the iPhone.

While my first thought was “Jesus (not Diaz), Amazon’s bent on cannibalizing itself,” I guess the move kind of makes sense. People who want E-Ink will still buy the Kindle 2 (reviewed here), but perhaps this will steer people away from the other multitudinous, less complete iTunes ebook options. [iTunes Link to Amazon Kindle App]