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Continue reading Best Buy confirms Nook for April 18, Greg Packer still hasn’t opened his iPad (update)

Best Buy confirms Nook for April 18, Greg Packer still hasn’t opened his iPad (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two more contestants have joined the e-reader showdown, ViewSonic’s VEB620 and VEB625, and while the Plain Jane styling on these two won’t score very well in either the evening dress or swimsuit competitions, they could do just in the talent show portion thanks to native compatibility with PDF, along with ePub, RTF, and plain text. They also sport orientation sensors, so that content will automatically rotate on the 6-inch, 800 x 600 E-Ink screens, and offer 2GB of internal storage with SD expansion. At .24kg they weigh a little less than the latest Kindle (which weighs in at about .29kg), though they’re 2mm thicker (11 here vs. 9) and only the VEB625 sports WiFi connectivity. In Europe, where these are apparently now available, the higher-end model will set you back £205 ($315), while the non-wireless 620 is £175 ($269) — meaning they won’t win the affordability competition either.

ViewSonic getting literate with VEB620 and VEB625 e-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While you can’t buy a QUE proReader until summer it seems that you can buy the company. Well, maybe not you but someone with a few hundred million in the bank. At least that’s the way the Financial Times is framing a piece focused on UK investor Hermann Hauser, whose venture capital firm has a stake in Plastic Logic. According to Hauser, “We’re in very interesting negotiations with … well, that would be a separate interview, you will hopefully hear [more] about this in the autumn.”

Why would anybody want to buy this offshoot from the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory? After all, dedicated monochrome E-Ink devices are on their last legs, right? Chips made from plastic, not silicon, that’s why — intellectual property that could revolutionize integrated circuits and the entire computing industry. For the moment, however, Plastic Logic is only manufacturing the simple plastic transistors found inside its QUE proReader display that switch each pixel on or off — a far cry from PCBs loaded with plastic integrated circuits. And as the FT acknowledges, any potential buyer might end up with an e-reader company and nothing more. Not exactly where you want to be at the dawn of the second coming of tablet computers.

Updated: We heard from Plastic Logic investor Hermann Hauser who firmly says the company is not for sale. Apparently his comments were taken out of context. That still doesn’t answer our question of when we will be able to get our hands on a QUE proReader.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Plastic Logic up for sale even though its QUE proReader isn’t? (Updated: Investor confirms neither are for sale) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get ready to welcome some amazing wood grain effects into your lives, future iPad owners, for the iBooks app has just landed at the App Store. Proudly proclaimed as being “designed exclusively for the iPad,” this app gives you direct access to the iBookstore, which will offer free samples of books ahead of purchase and a brand new way for you to channel money into Cupertino pockets. Built-in search, highlighting and bookmarking features are augmented by text-to-speech functionality and ePub format support. Funnily enough, iBooks will only support DRM-free ePub files sourced from outside the iBookstore, but no mention is made as to whether its own wares will be similarly unimpeded. Speaking of restrictions, the whole operation is still limited to the United States, leaving the Stephen Frys of this world sighing wistfully from across the pond.

[Thanks, Brian]

iBooks app meets App Store, produces US-only iBookstore offspring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot on the heels of a ginormous OS X update comes this, the freshest version of the music management software that everyone loves to hate. iTunes 9.1 is live and available to download, bringing with it support for iPad syncing (you know, that little tablet that arrives on Saturday?) as well as the ability to “organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library.” The new version also gives users the ability to rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes, but we’re fairly sure you stopped caring after hearing the first point. It’s weighing in at around 97.3MB (give or take a few KB), so fire up Software Update and get it going… if you dare.

Update: We’re hearing that the new version renames “Applications” to just “Apps” and the Genius Mixes / iPhone / iPod touch sync pages have been retooled. Anything else major? Let us know in comments!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading iTunes 9.1 now available, brings iPad syncing and iBook support

iTunes 9.1 now available, brings iPad syncing and iBook support originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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