Mar 16

Spring Designs Alex E-Reader Now Available for Preorder

Posted in: Android, e reader, Today's Chili

Alexreader.jpgSpring Design said its Android-powered Alex e-reader is now on sale, and customers can pre-order their complementary e-books in a variety of formats.

Customers can order the $399 Alex e-reader at www.springdesign.com. The company announced the Alex e-reader late last year, sporting a dual-screen 6-inch E Ink display, a second 3.5-inch Android-powered touchscreen, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Pre-orders will be shipped no later than mid-April, Spring Design said.

Spring Design will allow e-books to be shipped with what it calls a novel feature: LinkNotes,” which “opens up a whole new dimension in publishing,” according to the company. “Authors may
insert
hyperlinks in their books that show up on the EPD reading screen
indicating that
there is linked-in Web-based content available.  Users can click on
hyperlinks
in eBooks, corporate documents, or periodicals that lead to relevant
web-based
information or to multimedia content stored on the Alex eReader that
will enrich
their reading experience. “

Spring Design has hooked up with Google’s bookstore (with over one million titles) and other bookstores that
support Adobe’s DRM technology.  Spring has also engaged with multiple international partners to
jointly deliver multi-language versions of Alex for countries speaking Chinese,
Spanish, Russian, Korean and Hebrew, the company said.

It’s possible Spring Design may be the launching pad this whole “hypertext” idea needs to really take off.

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Mar 16

Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, GoogleAndroid, Today's Chili, unboxing

Well it’s about time, Spring Design! After missing its February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex — that dual-screen, Android-based ereader we liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you’ll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We’d like to say the wait stops there, but we’ve also learned that early buyers won’t have access to the promised Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the “June time frame,” which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market — at least there’s access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it’d behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order.

Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design’s website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you’ll see a message to check back soon. We’ll keep doing just that until we see signs of life… or hear otherwise.

Update 2: And we’re back…the pre-order page is finally up!

Gallery: Spring Design Alex unboxing

Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 14

Plastic Logic QUE proReader pre-orders halted?

Posted in: delay, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, ebooks, pre-order, PreOrder, Today's Chili

We’re not going to engage in too much wild speculation on this piece of information, but there are certainly a few raised eyebrows in Engadget-land right now. Apparently Plastic Logic is no longer offering pre-orders of its QUE proReader, as a tipster of ours discovered while trying to push through his order of the $799.99, 8GB / 3G version of the large-screen device. According to the order page “Pre-orders are sold out. QUE will be available online and in select Barnes & Noble stores this summer.” This of course comes on the heels of news that the company would be further delaying the ship date from mid-April to summer related to “fine-tuning” and “enhancing the overall product experience.” So our minds aren’t exactly at ease, as we’re trying to understand why a company wouldn’t just caveat pre-orders by letting people know there’s been a run on supply — though it’s possible that Plastic Logic is doing separate batches for mail order and in-store, and just needs to pace themselves. We’ve reached out to the company for comment, and we’ll let you know as soon as we hear back.

[Thanks, Clive]

Plastic Logic QUE proReader pre-orders halted? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 12

Entourage Edge review

Posted in: Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, e ink, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, review, tablet, Today's Chili

Is it an Android tablet? An e-reader? Just a sweet gadget with two screens? Truth is the Entourage Edge is a little bit of everything, and that’s exactly why we’ve been so intrigued with the “dualbook” since we fondled it at CES. Finally ready to make its shipping debut, the $499 dual screen device is aimed at students, but really it’s for anyone interested in a combination 9.7-inch E Ink reading / note-taking experience and a 10.1-inch Android web tablet. It’s sounded very cool to us for quite a while, but there’s always a difference between hype and reality. Does the Edge live up to its promise or attempt to do too much? The only place to find out is after the break in our full review.

Gallery: Entourage Edge review

Continue reading Entourage Edge review

Entourage Edge review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 12

Plastic Logic Delays Que E-Reader

Posted in: delay, e reader, e-books, Media Players, Today's Chili

plasticlogic

Plastic Logic, which was set to ship its large screen Que e-reader in April, is now delaying it to “sometime this summer.”

The company sent notifications to pre-order customers late Thursday afternoon announcing the delay and saying it needed the time to “fine-tune features and enhance the overall product.”

Plastic Logic launched the Que at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The Que proReader has an 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen display and the ability to handle a range of documents such as Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, digital books, PDFs, magazines and newspapers. It can also synchronize with Microsoft Outlook to display e-mails and calendar.

A 4-GB version of the Que with Wi-Fi and storage for about 35,000 documents will cost $650. An $800 8-GB version that can store 75,000 documents and includes both Wi-Fi and 3G capability — powered by AT&T– will be $800.

Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta didn’t reveal the exact reasons for the delay. But if it is to make sure that the company works out all the kinks in the product before it ships, he may have made the right decision. Last year, many e-reader enthusiasts criticized Barnes & Noble for rushing its Nook e-reader to market. Barnes & Noble has since the launch offered firmware updates to fix some of the Nook’s problems.

But the delay is also likely to cost Plastic Logic some ground. Apple’s iPad tablet will be available April 3 and the device starts at $500. Though it doesn’t offer an E Ink screen, the iPad is also targeted at consumers who want to read digital books. Apple will have its own iBook store, similar to iTunes, so consumers can buy digital books directly from the device.

Meanwhile, other companies such as Dell and HP are also planning to launch their own tablets and plan to highlight digital reading as one of the key experiences on the device.

See Also:

Photo: Que (Priya Ganapati/Wired.com)


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Mar 12

Plastic Logic Delays QUE ProReader Until Summer

Posted in: e reader, Today's Chili

Que proreader.JPGIf you were waiting to purchase the Plastic Logic QUE ProReader e-reader tablet, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Late Thursday night, the company notified customers that the company is postponing shipments “until the summer”, to “fine-tune features and enhance the overall product experience,” according to a note sent out by Richard Archuleta, the company’s chief executive.

“I can imagine that you want to get your QUE proReader as soon as possible,” Archuleta wrote. “We
are sorry for the delay. For your inconvenience, the shipping charges will be on
us.

Plastic Logic will send more details on when customers can expect their ProReaders next month, Archuleta said.

There will be two version of the QUE proReader: a
$649, 4-GB model that includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; and an $799, 8-GB
version that also has a AT&T 3G modem. The QUE proReader is 1/3 inch
thick,and weighs about 1 pound. It uses a 10.7-inch shatterproof
plastic display, which is larger than the Nook or the Kindle.

Want to see more? Take a look at Lance Ulanoff’s
hands-on video with the Que.

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Mar 09

Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle?

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, kindle, Linux, Today's Chili, web browser, WebBrowser
Are you a software dev with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, familiarity with current Web standards, and experience with browser engines, Linux on embedded devices, and Java? If so, do we have the job for you. Lab126, the group at Amazon responsible for the Kindle, wants you to help “conceive, design, and bring to market” a new embedded browser on a Linux device. Might this be a sign that the company is ready to start taking web browsing on the e-reader seriously? We don’t know, but it sure sparked some interesting discussion over at All Things Digital. As Peter Kafka points out, a decent browser for the thing is pretty much a no-brainer in light of the Apple iPad. On the other hand, the idea of a robust browser on the Kindle has its own complications. What about subscription content like the New York Times — why would anyone pay for something that’s available for free on the web, if you’re using the same device to view both? And what about all that new data traffic? Surely AT&T will have something to say about that. Of course, we’ve been hearing enough scuttlebutt about a mysterious next-gen device being developed at Amazon that perhaps this has nothing to do with the Kindle whatsoever. Who knows? These are all questions that will have to be answered sooner or later, but in the meantime we can say with some certainty that E ink is definitely not the best way to troll 4chan.

Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 09

Samsung E6 e-reader coming to Barnes and Noble this spring for $299

Posted in: barnes and noble, BarnesAndNoble, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, samsung, Today's Chili

Samsung still hasn’t committed to a formal launch date for the e-reader line it launched at CES, but the company narrowed down the launch date from “early 2010” to “this spring” this morning — which makes sense, seeing as spring has nearly, uh, sprung. We’re only hearing about the six-inch E6 at the moment, along with a new Barnes and Noble partnership — we’re not sure anyone will pick the Samsung over the popular Nook, especially at the $399 price point we heard at CES, but at least there’s a built-in content ecosystem. Interestingly, we’re not hearing anything about the 10-inch E10 or QWERTY-equipped E61, both of which would fill large gaps in the B&N lineup, but we’re looking out for more info — we’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can watch a video of all three devices right here.

Update: Samsung says the E6 will be $299 at launch, which is a nice little drop. As for the E10 and E61, all we’re hearing is that they “may be coming soon,” so who knows what’s going on.

Gallery: Samsung announces E6 and E10 e-book readers at CES

Samsung E6 e-reader coming to Barnes and Noble this spring for $299 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 08

Spring Design Alex still not available for pre-order, ‘early spring’ ship date still planned

Posted in: Android, delay, e reader, e-book, ebooks, Today's Chili
The first week of March may have brought warmer weather and an awesome episode of the Engadget Show, but unfortunately we’re still missing a Spring Design Alex pre-order page. The company had promised to have its dual-screen, 3.5-inch Android and 6-inch e-ink e-Reader ready last week after the original February delay, but we’ve now been told that there were some slight issues with the order page and that it should be up within the “next week or two,” and Spring Design still plans to have the reader in customer’s hand’s by “early spring.” We’ve got no choice but to wait, but we can tell you we are looking forward to this whole spring thing in general.

Spring Design Alex still not available for pre-order, ‘early spring’ ship date still planned originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 08

1Cross Tech MIDhybrid is the Android-powered e-reader that looks like a book (video)

Posted in: Android, e ink, e reader, Today's Chili
1Cross Tech MIDhybrid is the Android-powered e-reader that looks like a book (video)

It’s debatable whether the act of reading on a Kindle or the like is actually preferable to perusing something bound and printed on paper, but regardless 1Cross Tech’s MIDhybrid helps to bring the two experiences closer together. It’s an e-reader with an E-Ink screen on the left and a small LCD plus keypad on the right, with a hinge in the middle that allows it to fold in half either way. It’s Marvell-powered and running Android 1.6 that, much like the tardy Alex, allows you to render content from the LCD over to the E-Ink screen. This could mean browsing PDFs, looking at spreadsheets, or maybe even playing Robo Defense at 1fps (probably not). The device also packs 3G, Bluetooth, and a front-facing webcam, making it sound like a very usable little thing, and while we do have a 15 minute video exploring the thing embedded below, we sadly don’t have a price or release date for you just yet.

Continue reading 1Cross Tech MIDhybrid is the Android-powered e-reader that looks like a book (video)

1Cross Tech MIDhybrid is the Android-powered e-reader that looks like a book (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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