Hasta La Gadget!

Looks like the battle for e-reader dominance between Amazon and Barnes & Noble could soon expand beyond the recent spate of price drops and into the courtroom as well: the USPTO just granted a 2006 Amazon patent on e-readers with secondary LCD displays (like the original Kindle’s scroller-navigation panel), and several of the claims are potentially broad enough to cover the Nook and many other devices with both electronic paper and LCD displays. What’s more, Amazon agreed not to file for any corresponding foreign patents during the four-year approval process and thus wasn’t required to publish the patent application — meaning this is likely a complete surprise to the entire industry. Yeah, it’s juicy. Here’s one of the claims that could cause problems for Barnes & Noble — in plain English, it potentially covers any device with both an electronic paper display and a second smaller LCD display next to it.

A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.

That’s pretty sweeping — it doesn’t take much to look at the Nook and see that it has both an electronic ink display and a smaller LCD located next to it. Now, we don’t know if Amazon has any plans to actually sue anyone over this patent yet, but we’re guessing there’s a flurry of legal activity happening at all the major e-reader manufacturers right now, and we’re definitely curious to see what the fallout looks like — remember, Barnes & Noble is already involved in a trade secret dispute over the Nook with Spring Design, which claims that B&N saw its Alex reader under NDA and then copied it for the Nook. That case isn’t scheduled to wrap up before November, so there’s a chance B&N and Spring Design could end up simultaneously fighting each other in one case while taking on Amazon as allies in another, which would be… messy. We’ll see what happens — while we’ve no doubt Barnes & Noble will put up a serious fight if it comes to that, we’re curious to see if the shift away from e-reader development to general-use tablets hastens as the market contracts, margins shrink, and the cost of litigation becomes prohibitive. The ball’s very definitely in Amazon’s court now — stay tuned.

[Thanks, Anand]

Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Barnes & Noble Nook potentially in trouble originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unless you’re in the music biz, selling out is generally considered a good thing just as long as you can restock, pronto like, to meet consumer demand. So we’re sure Mary Lou Jepsen is roiling in her jollies knowing that the first batch of $275 dual-mode Pixel Qi displays have sold out after less than 24 hours of retail availability. You can pre-order now for a second shipment of the 10.1-inch reflective LCDs expected to arrive on MakerShed by the middle of next week. Until then, we patiently wait for the first-hand DIY experiences to begin trickling in.

Pixel Qi dual-mode displays sell out, in a good way originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve waited and waited and, let’s face it, waited for this day to arrrive. Now Pixel Qi’s 10.1-inch display is available for DIY types looking to swap out their LCD for a dual-mode reflective Qi display capable of slipping into a power-sipping e-paper mode that’s visible even in direct sunlight. It’s only certified to work with Samsung N130 and Lenovo S10-2 machines but we’re sure you’ll figure out how to slide this pup into the Acer or ASUS netbook of your dreams. On sale now at MakerShed for $275, the swap reportedly takes about 5 minutes using only a screwdriver. So get out of here — stop waiting for the majors to introduce a Pixel Qi netbook, it’s time to build your own and put those claims of a 20+ hour laptop to the test.

[Thanks, Philpax]

Pixel Qi netbook display replacement kit finally on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we think of surround sound we think of lots of speakers, but SRS intends to change that with its front rendered surround sound technologies like SRS TheaterSound. When we first heard of this idea we thought of it as simulated surround sound, but then we realized; hey wait, all surround sound is simulated — there aren’t actually bullets whizzing around our living room. So while the jury is still out on how many speakers are required to make you feel like you’re in the middle of the action, we always appreciate steps in the right direction and the new Samsung owners will get the benefits of SRS TheaterSound. In addition to the surround sound part, it also helps tames loud commercial and inaudible dialog. Of course in this case hearing is believing, and this is one we’ll have to hear for ourselves. Assuming we can get our hands on one of the latest Samsung LED back-lit LCDs or plasmas to try out.

Continue reading SRS TheaterSound featured in new Samsung LCDs and Plasmas

SRS TheaterSound featured in new Samsung LCDs and Plasmas originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heard of PVI? What about E Ink? Well, PVI, the Taiwan-based owner of E Ink has renamed itself to E Ink Holdings Incorporated to better align itself with its popular electronic paper namesake. PVI’s LCD products using its fringe-field switching technology will be sold under the brand Hydis. We guess it makes sense given PVI’s dominance in the ePaper industry, but we can’t help but question the merits of such a move with the world lusting after multi-purpose, transflective or IPS LCD tablets capable of displaying both text or full-motion, color video… imagine if Sony had renamed itself to Betamax in the early 80s, for example.

PVI bets the farm, changes name to E Ink originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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