TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘e-reader’ Category

By Chris Meadows

Gizmodo’s Kat Hannaford has a piece indicating that LG is planning begin “mass producing” flexible e-paper screens in both 9.7” color and 19” monochrome sizes.

While the prospect of color e-ink continues to be enticing (especially if they can solve the refresh rate problem to let it show video), Hannaford admits to being fascinated by the larger-sized monochrome screen. Weighing in at 130g and measuring 0.3mm thick, it could provide a basis for the newspaper-sized e-newspaper reader that Plastic Logic’s Que turned out not to be.

Of course, price and battery life are going to be important factors in how widely-adopted readers using these screens will be.

By Chris Meadows

Tim Carmody, who I also mentioned earlier today, also has a piece at Wired’s Gadget Lab section on Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader, pointing out that despite the tendency to think of e-books these days as largely a contest between the Kindle and the iPad, the Nook has an estimated 20% of the e-book market—a bigger piece of that market than it has of the printed book market.

Carmody notes that B&N is going for a hybrid strategy that ties together its physical stores and e-book offerings, giving consumers reasons to come into Barnes & Noble stores and spend money on things that have higher margins than books. According to B&N, Nook users have increased their spending by 20%, which is certainly good news for the beleaguered chain’s bottom line.

The question is whether the Nook’s success can come soon enough to save Barnes & Noble, which has taken some pretty big financial hits over the last few years. The company is in the process of fighting off a takeover bid by a major shareholder, while at the same time apparently considering selling itself to someone else. What happens to the Nook if the company changes hands again?

(For that matter, what happens to eReader and Fictionwise?)

By Chris Meadows

The O’Reilly Tools of Change blog has launched a new weekly column covering at e-book news. This week’s column looks at the Samsung E60’s UK release by WHSmith, the $70 price cut for the Aluratek Libre (from $169 to $99), the new Laser EB101 device in Australia, the Pocketbook announcement we covered earlier, and a couple of brief notes about the Blio and the new Sony Readers.

One reader that isn’t mentioned in the O’Reilly article is the new Sharp device (pictured above). Sharp’s President Mikio Katayama becomes the latest electronics exec to trash-talk the iPad, claiming the device will “rival” Apple’s tablet and may well feature a color LCD display and possibly even glassesless 3D. (Cool, that would mean we could finally read Google Books without needing special goggles!)

By Chris Meadows

I’ve been learning a lot in my new job as a tech support representative so far. It’s kind of funny—before I took this job, I thought I “knew” what tech support was, from my limited exposure to humorous tech support stories, and my work supporting a small web hosting company. But exposure to everyday people with common computer problems has given me a whole new perspective—or at least the start of one. The biggest thing I’m sure of is that I’ve still got a lot left to learn.

It’s surprising, though perhaps it shouldn’t be, just how many people have exactly the same problems. A large percentage of calls I take relates to inability to set up wireless routers. These complicated, cantankerous devices, and the convoluted way in which they relate to people’s computers, cause a lot of trouble and misunderstandings, not to mention frustration. Small wonder that some companies can charge as much as $100 simply to have someone come out and set up a home network. There have been some times when even I’ve felt like it might be worth it to pay someone that much.

Another frequent stumper is the way Microsoft now bundles a trial version of Microsoft Office with every installation of Windows 7. Except it isn’t really a “trial” version so much as it is a “Schroedinger’s version”—when presented with a product key, it’s the real deal; if not, it’s a trial. It looks exactly the same either way when you start it up; the only difference is that some computers have a card with a serial number bundled with them.

Since it doesn’t look like a trial when you first run it (it says it wants a product key and there’s a little tiny button in the corner saying “Trial”) and the only place it says it is a trial, before purchase, is in the very fine print on the item’s description (and who reads that), it’s only natural for anyone who buys a new computer and sees the Microsoft Office icon on their desktop to assume their computer just “came with it”.

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By Chris Meadows

Ars Technica’s Ryan Paul has a look at three upcoming or recent Android e-book readers, including the Cruz Reader, the Pandigital Novel, and the SmartQ T7.

Velocity Micro’s Cruz Reader looks particularly impressive. Paul writes:

The device has a seven-inch color LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 800×600. It runs Android 2.0 and will come bundled with the Borders book store. Even though it is designed as an e-book reader, users will still have access to the underlying Android environment and will not have to hack the device in order to sideload and run other applications. Velocity Micro is selling the device for $199 and recently started taking preorders on its website.

Though it will not have the Android Market at launch, it will have a market of its own called the Cruz Market. Velocity Micro will also have a $299 device with better specs, called the Cruz Tablet.

On the other end of the quality spectrum, Wired’s Gadget Lab section has a look at a Chinese Android tablet called the “ePad”. As you might expect from the name, it’s a cheap knockoff of the iPad that turns out to be pretty bad.

Meanwhile, Johnny Evans at Computerworld has an interesting look at the assumptions surrounding the Android vs. iOS competition. One thing he points out is that competitors claim iOS’s “closed” nature will cause it to lose out to the more “open” Android. But on the other hand, if this were true than closed-source Microsoft Windows would not be the powerhouse that it is while open-source Linux commands only a tiny fraction of the market.

He also points out the privacy issues that are dogging Google lately, and suggests that Android handsets may be more intrusive than iOS devices. Finally, he notes that even as Google works on an even better Android 3.0, Apple continues to innovate further with future versions of its operating system. The predictions that the iPad will fall to 20% of the tablet market may simply be wishful thinking.

By Chris Meadows

I’ve written about using a MiFi or similar device—pocket routers that channel cellular Internet into secure WiFi—to “retrofit” 3G-style everywhere-connectivity to WiFi-only e-book and other devices. While there is a monthly charge for this Internet service, unlike the Kindle and Nook’s 3G, it is available for many more potential uses than the freebie connectivity baked into those devices. You can use it with any or every wireless device you own—at the same time.

At least, as long as your bandwidth holds out. At the time I wrote the aforementioned article, Verizon was offering 250 megabytes per month for $40, or 5 gigabytes per month for $60. A few other wireless providers have entered the fray, but most of them have similar caps. (Clearwire does not, but is currently limited to a relatively few metropolitan areas—nothing like the cellular network coverage of competitors.)

Even AT&T recently went from unlimited bandwidth for its iPhone and iPad plans to 200 MB for $20 or 2 GB for $25 bandwidth caps, and some people have been making noises about how bandwidth caps will probably be implemented for all mobile services sooner or later.

However, Virgin Mobile has decided to shake up the mobile bandwidth market, in a big way. Back in June, I reported on the prepaid contract-free MiFi broadband services Virgin was beginning to offer. At that point, bandwidth plans ranged from $10 for 10 days of 100 megabytes, through $60 for 5 gigabytes per month. Yesterday, however, Virgin announced it was going to keep the $10 plan but replace all its others with a single $40/month plan for unlimited bandwidth.

Think about that. That’s unlimited bandwidth for mobile data applications of any kind, not bound by contract lock-in so you are free to start or stop at any time—for less than the cost of many capped cell phone voice plus data plans.

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By Chris Meadows

Google’s Android OS has become pretty much the go-to operating system for cheap tablets and e-book readers these days. But what of Google’s other OS, ChromeOS, that is rumored to be hitting tablets by Black Friday?

If you’re curious, and have a computer that is hardware-compatible and a spare USB drive, you can actually try it out and see for yourself. ReadWriteWeb notes that a developer going by “Hexxeh” has been compiling both a modified Chromium (the developer version of Chrome) build called “Flow” and an unmodified, straight-developer build called “Vanilla”. These can be downloaded and placed on a bootable USB drive for experimentation.

ReadWriteWeb also links to a blog post by Lee Mathews of the Download Squad with some additional tips and advice for Vanilla experimenters. Among other things, Mathews notes:

Not all hardware is going to work. The Chromium x86-generic images don’t include a ton of drivers, so you may be missing one fairly important piece of the puzzle: wifi support. Most netbooks will work 100% — full-sized laptops are more iffy.

On a related note, Computerworld reports that the newest beta of Chrome 6 includes menus that have been optimized for touch operation, possibly hinting at the new tablets that are supposedly on the way.

Has anyone tried this OS out yet? What do you think? How is it going to work as a netbook or tablet OS, and might it also make a good e-reader?

By Chris Meadows

Engadget has obtained marketing materials indicating that the CVS pharmacy is going to stock a $99 Sylvania-branded Windows CE netbook, and a $179 “LookBook” color e-book reader.

From the illustration, the Sylvania looks like yet another rebranded cheap Chinese smartbook. If it’s similar to some of the ones I found while searching for other cheapie netbooks, it probably won’t even be able to install new Windows CE applications so will be limited to what’s already installed.

And of course, the savvy consumer will recall that you can get significantly more able refurbished Eee Linux netbooks for only about $50 more from Geeks.com—a couple of years old, but still capable of doing a lot more than a WinCE not-so-smartbook. (Or, for that matter, you can get some refurbished Augen Windows CE devices for $95 from Geeks right now—if you feel like throwing your money away.)

The LookBook will have a hardware keyboard, 512 megs of storage, an 8-gig SD card slot, and access to the Kobo e-book store. Physically, it looks very similar to the $100 e-book reader that Kmart was offering. It’s a little hard to see how they expect to sell very many of those, given that the e-ink Kobo or wifi Kindle are considerably cheaper, and (arguably) easier on the eyes.

Still, I suppose you could say that the devices showing up in discount stores like Kmart and CVS is a sign that the devices have finally “made it”. After all, these stores wouldn’t stock the devices if they didn’t think they’d appeal to their clientele.

(Found via our sister blog, Gadgetell.)

By Chris Meadows

Our sister blog Gadgetell reported yesterday on some new Sony Reader devices Engadget turned up in a slideshow presentation. The 5” Pocket Edition and 6” Touch Edition will reportedly introduce new clear touchscreen technology (no more glare like on the Sony PRS-700 Reader I reviewed!), 2 gigabytes of internal storage, a faster page turn, and increased battery life offering “up to 10,000 page turns on a single charge”.

There is no information on price (though Sony famously said it was going to compete on quality instead of trying to match the roller-coaster drops in other readers’ prices), or on the rumored addition of 3G to Sony Reader models.

Are these new readers going to be enough to bring Sony back into the game? They’ve largely dropped off the radar in the current flurry of bookstore e-book reader launches. Without a big-name bookstore partnership of its own, Sony is at a serious marketing disadvantage.

By Chris Meadows

Shane Richmond, Head of Technology (Editorial) for Telegraph Media Group, has an editorial in the Telegraph about the way that DRM breaks up even the same file format of e-books into a Tower of e-Babel. He tried to open Adobe-DRM EPUB files in iBooks and of course was told that wouldn’t work.

Richmond writes:

Can we pause for a moment to remind ourselves just how absurd this situation is? It’s been a problem for so long that sometimes it’s easy to take it for granted but we are being sold products that work in one set of circumstances but not others. And there’s no good reason for the distinction. It’s not as if this is a piece of software that needs to be re-written for each new platform – it’s just text.

The limitation is artificial and it’s only there to prevent unauthorised copying but it’s a wasted effort because anyone who intends to share these books can remove the DRM in no time. As always with DRM, it’s the law-abiding customer who gets punished.

He goes on to explain how he used txtr to get around the Adobe DRM by uploading the e-books to its servers and then downloading them into the iPad app. He isn’t wholly satisfied with that solution, but supposes that “it’s a choice between that or nothing.” (He apparently didn’t investigate far enough to find one of the cracks that allow Adobe DRM to be removed while keeping the book in EPUB format, which would have allowed loading them directly into iBooks.)

Richmond compares the current situation of having his books spread across multiple e-book apps to “having bookshelves in four different rooms and not being allowed to move books between them”—a situation with which I can sympathize, given that I’m now having to diversify my own e-library since eReader and Fictionwise can no longer carry the titles I want to read.

Ironically, Richmond says, all content industries vow not to repeat the digital mistakes of the music industry—but the music industry has actually been getting its act together, while books, film, and TV continue to make it hard for consumers to enjoy their products.

None of this is exactly new, of course, but it is still nice to see it continues to be said. Maybe if enough people speak up, the content industries will begin to pay attention. It probably won’t happen, but we can dream, can’t we?

By Chris Meadows

iReaderReview reports on a seriously cool idea that could get a lot of e-reading devices in the hands of soldiers overseas. E-Books for Troops is running a Kindle 2 donation drive, asking readers who are upgrading to Kindle 3s to send in their working Kindle 2s so that they can be shipped to soldiers. (Kindle 1s are not accepted; the donation page does not mention the Kindle DX.)

I’ve seen a number of paper book drives for soldiers (including ones by Baen aficionados, many of whom have military ties themselves), but an e-book reader drive might have them beat in a particular key area: book for book, it will be a lot cheaper to ship an e-book reader overseas than to ship boxes upon boxes of dead trees there. (And the Kindle works just fine with the Mobipocket version of Baen’s Free Library and Webscription e-books, too!)

It occurs to me that Amazon could get a lot of good publicity out of this if it were to donate its remaining stocks of refurbished Kindle 2s, if it has any left, to this group. Or maybe even kick in some new Kindle 3s, even if only the wi-fi version. (Will the Kindle’s 3G network even work over there?)

Regardless, it’s good to see e-book devices going to soldiers who will undoubtedly appreciate them.

By Chris Meadows

The New Yorker blog “The Book Bench” has a brief piece covering the Kobo e-reader and the company behind it, through the lens of sitting in at a company party. It doesn’t go into any great detail, but does look at the culture and goals behind the company.

“What we’re doing is the first major change in publishing in hundreds of years,” [CEO Michael Serbinis] told me. “Our device is a great marketing tool, but we’re first and foremost a content company, and you can take our content to any device you want. For us, it’s about escape, adventure, learning. It’s about the books.”

It also mentions that, regardless of whether Amazon’s Kindle makes it that far down or not, there will “reportedly” be a $99 Kobo available for insertion into Christmas stockings. Good news for e-reader fans, both those who like the Kobo itself and those who would prefer the other brands of e-readers that are going to be feeling the pricing pressure.image

(Found via eBookNewser.)

By Chris Meadows

On Slate, Farhad Manjoo is making a rather bold prediction concerning the pricing of Amazon’s Kindle. Only a short time after Jeff Bezos dropped the price to $189 and introduced a lower-priced wi-fi version for $139, Manjoo predicts Amazon will go even lower in time for the holiday season:

I rarely make predictions about the tech business, but here goes: Before the holidays, Amazon will cut the price of the Wi-Fi Kindle to $99, and the 3G version will go for $150 or less. Amazon will do so, I think, not only to sell a lot of Kindles but also to cement its online store as the iTunes for books—the dominant force in the publishing business for the foreseeable future. A $99 price tag will make the Kindle the hottest gift of the season—much cheaper than the $499 iPad, more useful than an Xbox Kinect, and a lot more fun than a cable-knit sweater.

The price drop will be possible, Manjoo believes, because the cost of producing e-ink screens has fallen dramatically since the Kindle was first introduced, and the wi-fi version can simply leave out the pricey $30 3G module of its bigger brother.

Also, competitors such as Copia are dropping their own prices, and Amazon also dropped the price on its Kindle for the holidays last year making the Kindle the “‘most-gifted’ item in the company’s history.”

And by dropping the price to $99, Amazon could cement its already considerable hold on the e-book business, given that $99 is one of those threshold prices that would get a lot of people to jump off the fence. (Maybe not as many as the $49 Kindle that Seth Godin wants, but baby steps are the way to get there.)

Will we see a $99 Kindle in time for Christmas? Good question. It would certainly rock the e-book market to have a big-name reader go that low. And it’s going to happen sooner or later—so from Bezos’s perspective, why not sooner?

By Tony Bandy

If you’re a fan of military history or just like a good historical title for your eReader of choice, then head on over to the Air Force Historical Research Agency or the HyperWar section of ibiblio.  Jam-packed with research data, personal papers, images and more, you will find lots of neat and historical information!

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By Chris Meadows

Technology Review has an interesting piece about what may be the most ambitious dual-screened e-reader yet: the Kno, a color double-tablet composed of two facing 14.1” LCD screens. It is intended to allow textbooks to be reproduced faithfully at their original sizes, rather than shrunk for the 9.7” Kindle DX or iPad.

The Kno will be undergoing testing by 100 students this fall to see if it fares better than the Kindle did in prior studies. There are also some concerns about how responsive the hardware is; it’s an awful lot of screen real-estate for an nVidia Tegra 2 to control.

I have my doubts about how well this is going to work. If people think the iPad is too heavy for reading, how are they going to respond to a device that weighs in at five and a half pounds? That’s as heavy as my laptop!

It’s also worth noting that Kno is remaining mum on how much the device will actually cost:

We are not disclosing the cost at this time. However, given the price of textbooks, the Kno will pay for itself when compared with buying traditional textbooks.

I’m curious how that’s going to work, given that once you buy this turkey you still have to buy the books that are going to go on it, too. I’m not sure I can see textbook publishers lowering their prices very much for e-books over “traditional” books. They’re still doing the work of compiling and editing them, after all.

By Chris Meadows

Our sister blog Gadgetell reports on a Digitimes story that Asus is planning to release an 8” 64-greyscale e-paper reader at “under $599”. (E-Reader Info and Engadget also have coverage.)

When I saw this story, I had to glance at my new wristwatch, which helpfully provides a display for the year as well as month and day, to make sure that I hadn’t accidentally slipped one or two years back in time. (The watch synchronizes by radio with the atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado, so I can know for certain that it’s still 2010—the atoms say so!) It’s been at least that long since anyone seriously tried to list an e-reader of that size at that price range.

The 9.7” Kindle DX is $379. The 9.7” color iPad starts at $499. That kind of overpricing is what has presumably killed the Plastic Logic Que, which was supposed to cost $649 for a slightly larger e-paper screen. Meanwhile, the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Sony are priced between $100 and $300 depending on model, and mostly between $100 and $200, for 5” or 6” screens. And as the Digitimes story points out, Asus doesn’t have any content distribution deals in place the way Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Border, and Apple have.

Of course, the article only said that the e-reader would be “under $599”. It didn’t say how far “under” it would be. In most commercial cases, “under $599” generally means “exactly $598.99”, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. After all, you could also truthfully say that the iPad costs “under $19,999”, because it certainly does (unless, of course, it’s this one).

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