Jul 09

iriver WiFi Story turns to the ‘overpriced wireless connectivity’ chapter

Posted in: e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, kindle, Today's Chili, wifi

Outside of a perhaps too strong resemblance to the Kindle, there was nothing much to fault the iriver Story when we played with it back in January. Its biggest downfall, however, was a lack of wireless connectivity, and iriver is going to rectify that with the new iriver WiFi Story. Apart from this obvious enhancement, nothing’s really new with this reader, which was already pretty feature-flush on the software side, including decent format support for books and even Microsoft Office files. Unfortunately, while the current iriver Story goes for £149 at WHSmith in the UK (which is doing the e-book store end of things as well), the new WiFi model will apparently retail for around £250 — exactly double the cost of a Kindle in the UK right now, with the sort of WiFi premium that only Microsoft could love. So while consumers are getting a kick out of this Amazon / B&N price war in the e-reader space, it looks like it’s indeed going to be tough for other manufacturers to keep up. Right, Sony?

iriver WiFi Story turns to the ‘overpriced wireless connectivity’ chapter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePocket-lint  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,
Jul 08

IRiver Overprices New Wi-Fi Story E-Reader

Posted in: e-readers, tablets, Today's Chili

IRiver, a loser in the war between the iPod and All Other MP3 Players, has added a Wi-Fi e-reader to its smart Story range. The new Story is now on sale at the UK bookstore WHSmith, and will link up with WHSmith’s own e-book store.

Like iRiver’s old media players, the Story offers a lot of features not found elsewhere. In addition to decent format support (EPUB, PDF, TXT, FB2 and DJVU) it also displays comic-book sin the CBZ format, although of course you can’t view them in color on the grayscale 800 x 600 e-ink screen. You can also record voice-memos, listen to music (MP3, WMA and OGG) and slide in an SD card of up to 32GB (it also has 2GB on-board storage).

The big problem is the price. In a world where you pay $150 for big-brand e-books from Sony and Barnes and Noble, and even the Kindle is under $200, the Story costs way too much. The RRP is £250, which translates to an astonishing $380, or the price of the new black Kindle DX. Good luck with that.

Store page [WHSmith. Thanks, James!]

See Also:




No Comments | Tags:
Jul 07

Amazon’s graphite Kindle DX now shipping

Posted in: amazon, e ink, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, ebooks, kindle, Today's Chili
Amazon promised that its new, Pearl display-equipped graphite Kindle DX would start shipping today and, as a helpful tipster informs us, the first shipping notices are now indeed going out. What’s more, unlike some past Kindle debuts, the e-reader is also still listed as in stock, so it looks like you’re not out of luck if you didn’t get your pre-order in. Of course, it’s not clear if that’s due to increased supply or reduced demand — although, at $379, we’d have to guess it’s moving a bit slower than the regular $189 Kindle.

Amazon’s graphite Kindle DX now shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAmazon  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Jul 07

Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps (update)

Posted in: app, Apple, application, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, ios, launch, sony, Today's Chili, touch

Exactly how many eBook stores do we need? Depends. If you own a dedicated e-reader then one is all you get. Own a tablet or smartphone and the world of eBook stores is pretty much yours for the taking through competing apps. Borders looks to be taking a hybrid approach by offering up the $150 Kobo, $120 Aluratek Libre (available July 20th), $170 Sony Touch, and $150 Sony Pocket eReaders and today’s launch of a self-branded eBook store powered by Kobo’s catalog of more than 1.5 million titles — “thousands” of which are free and available in a variety of formats including ePub (primarily) and PDF. Borders also has desktop PC and Mac apps ready for download in addition to a few apps listed as “coming soon” for both Android and BlackBerry devices — these join the apps already released for Apple’s iOS. It just went live so why not hit the source and have a browse.

P.S. Funny enough, there’s not a single mention of Spring Design’s Alex on Borders’ new site. Funny sad, not ha ha.

Update: The Android and BlackBerry apps are now live.

Continue reading Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps (update)

Borders’ Kobo-powered eBook Store now live with 1.5 million titles, Android and BlackBerry apps (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceBorders  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Jul 07

Sharp’s LR388G9 LCD controller suggests more products with dual screens

Posted in: 1080p, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, LCD, Sharp, Today's Chili

While we’ll let competitors tell us whether the chip’s “an industry first,” Sharp’s certainly serious about devices with twin screens — this new LR388G9 controller chip pumps pixels simultaneously to each of two 1,024 x 480 LCDs. Sure, that resolution may sound pathetic compared to your Cinema Display, but this silicon’s intended for the likes of e-readers and phones, where a single image that size is desirable and a pair would be most welcome. Never mind that the chip can send 1080p content at 24fps to an external display, too. Of course, what we really want to see is a nice autostereoscopic smartphone fitted with Sharp’s 3D HD camera module. Pretty please?

Sharp’s LR388G9 LCD controller suggests more products with dual screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Far East Gizmos  |  sourceSharp  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , ,
Jul 05

Sony cuts e-reader prices: Pocket Edition now $149

Posted in: e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, ebooks, sony, Today's Chili
Not much of a surprise here, but it looks like you can officially include Sony in the e-book reader price wars. It’s now dropped the prices on its three current models: the Pocket Edition is down from $169 to $149, the Touch Edition drops from $199 to $169, and the 3G-equipped Daily Edition is now $299 (down a full $50 from $349). As The Digital Reader blog notes, however, that still leaves Sony a bit out of step with the competition — the Pocket Edition lacks the WiFi of the similarly-priced Nook, for instance, and the Daily Edition remains a tough sell even at $299.

Sony cuts e-reader prices: Pocket Edition now $149 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gear Diary  |  sourceThe Digital Reader, Sony  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Jul 01

E Ink explains the new Pearl display used in the updated Kindle DX

Posted in: e ink, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, Today's Chili
Amazon has already boasted that the display in its updated Kindle DX has a 50% improved contrast, but E Ink has now thankfully come out and provided a few more details on the new display technology used. Dubbed Pearl, the new display builds upon E Ink’s previous Vizplex displays, and not only promises enhanced readability and text that “pops from the page,” but the lowest power consumption of any display used in e-readers today (something also claimed about E Ink’s previous displays). Of course, the display technology isn’t limited to just the Kindle DX — E Ink currently has five different Pearl displays ranging from 5-inch to 9.7-inch, all of which boast 16 levels of gray, and resolutions ranging from 800 x 600 to 1,200 x 825 (and 200 to 150 DPI).

Continue reading E Ink explains the new Pearl display used in the updated Kindle DX

E Ink explains the new Pearl display used in the updated Kindle DX originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceE Ink  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
Jul 01

Toshiba Book Place full-color e-book store is powered by Blio, launches soon (video)

Posted in: e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, Today's Chili, Toshiba, video

And here we go, an honest to goodness book store built around Ray Kurzweil‘s Blio e-reader software. It’s been a long time coming and still it’s only a teaser page, but Toshiba is promising to unleash its Book Place store “in the coming weeks” stocked with “thousands” of full-color e-books. The Blio software, you might remember from our video hands-on, offers a fully interactive reading experience rich in multimedia capabilities and should run beautifully on oh, say, Toshiba’s new dual-screen Libretto W100. Man, when did Toshiba suddenly become interesting? See it in a cheesy, promotional packaging rager (that hints at an iOS app at the 2.42 mark) after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba Book Place full-color e-book store is powered by Blio, launches soon (video)

Toshiba Book Place full-color e-book store is powered by Blio, launches soon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  sourceBook Place  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , ,
Jun 30

Amazon Kindle just $149.99 on Woot! (update: sold out)

Posted in: amazon, deal, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, sale, Today's Chili

You read that headline correctly: Amazon’s 3G 6-inch Kindle is selling for just $149.99 on Woot, an eReader that will cost you $199 $189 on Amazon’s own site. It’s a one day deal no doubt helped by the fact that big daddy Bezos just purchased the deal-a-day site on Wednesday. It’s exclusive and it won’t last forever so you’d best get to clicking if you’ve been on the fence.

Update: And it’s sold out. You know what they say about the early bird…

[Thanks, Kristin]

Amazon Kindle just $149.99 on Woot! (update: sold out) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWoot  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,
Jun 30

Graphite Kindle DX coming July 7th for $379, now available for pre-order

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, Today's Chili

Amazon’s having a field day with its Kindle lineup as of late. Hot off the heels of its Kindle price drop, bigger brother Kindle DX has gotten a new shade, a touted 50 percent improved contrast, and a $379 price tag — much lower than the $489 it asked for when first hitting the scene. Not to worry, there’s still a 9.7-inch E-ink display and free 3G wireless. Though not shipping until July 7th, you can go ahead and give Bezos and co. your money today, whether you’re a domestic or international customer.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Graphite Kindle DX coming July 7th for $379, now available for pre-order

Graphite Kindle DX coming July 7th for $379, now available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAmazon  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,