Anyone remember Plastic Logic? One of the first wave of would-be Kindle competitors, the company got as far as taking pre-orders for its e-ink tablets before it simply fizzled, and was later bought by a Russian company which funded a $700 million e-reader manufacturing plant. Now it comes out that Plastic Logic is producing e-readers again, and the first 1,000 of them will be part of a pilot program testing e-readers in Russian schools. The tablets run 12,000 Roubles (about $420 US) each; if the program takes off, providing tablets to Russia’s 52,000 schools could be rather lucrative. Perhaps...

Back in November we reported that Plastic Logic was raising money from Russian investors to build a factory in Russia to produce the next generation of business-oriented e-ink readers (after the first generation Que failed entirely to get off the ground). Now PaidContent is carrying more specific details about the investment from the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano).  Rusnano is investing $150 million and Plastic Logic’s existing backer Oak Investment Partners is putting in another $100 million. Rusnano is going to help raise an additional $100 million with “partial guarantees” for financing, and the company plans to raise $400...

Plastic Logic may have abandoned the Que, but a new development around the company makes me inclined to say “¿Que?” PaidContent reports that Plastic Logic has announced “a significant investment” by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies for the purpose of building a factory in Russia to manufacture “a next-generation electronic reader for business that is currently under development,” The facility will supposedly be “capable of producing hundreds of thousands of units a month.” Given that the Que’s launch was first delayed, then canceled altogether, I find myself a trifle skeptical. Is anybody really going to want to pay...

Several reports on forthcoming or no longer forthcoming hardware hit the news yesterday. Most notable is the report from Nick Bilton at the New York Times “Bits” blog that notes the Kindle is just the beginning of the range of devices Amazon wants to invent to make it easy to purchase digital content of all kinds, not just e-books. According to anonymous sources, Amazon’s “Lab 126”, the division responsible for the Kindle, was originally intended to create lots of projects, though it has focused solely on the Kindle so far. “Jeff’s original goal for...

Electronics Weekly is reporting this. According to them a Russian state-owned company called Rusnano is interested in taking a significant stake in the company if they build their next factory in Russia. According to the article Plastic Logic has $200 million in venture capital and Intel Capital and BASF are among its corporate investors....

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!)...

As the iPad emerges as a powerful force for e-reading, the fate of dedicated e-book devices is either dim or bright, depending on who you talk to. Last week, Jeff Bezos made a lot of sound and fury about how well the Kindle is selling, but since he keeps all sales figures close to his chest it’s not at all certain what it signifies. Now Wired has a story about how the iPad is killing off some of the shakier e-reader companies, whose prospects were unclear even before its launch: Audiovox, iRex, Plastic Logic, and Cool-er have all...

A follow-up to my post on Plastic Logic: As anticipated, Plastic Logic has announced it is not going to ship the Que. It is refunding pre-orders and has not announced another ship date. Wired’s “Gadget Lab” blog writes: “Plastic Logic wants to make sure that the product they deliver is the right one for their target business customers in the rapidly changing marketplace,” a spokesperson for Plastic Logic wrote in an e-mail to us. “They are continuing to refine the product, technology and features, and are anxious to get in the marketplace as...

Nate the Great at The Digital Reader reminds us that tomorrow is the ostensible ship date for the Plastic Logic Que. At one time the Great White Hope for saving the newspaper industry and/or bringing e-ink readers to business uses, it seems to have fallen out of the limelight in the wake of the launch of the iPad. Nate wonders whether the device will actually ship at all, and after a quick scan of Google News results mentioning “Plastic Logic” I have to agree. I don’t see anything suggesting that the device actually is shipping soon. You would think...

Jon Stokes at Ars Technica wonders whatever happened to all the Chinese e-ink readers that were on display everywhere you looked at CES but are now conspicuously absent from E3. He points to the examples of the Plastic Logic Que (or “QUE”) and the Sprint/Hearst Skiff, two of the most anticipated devices from early days. The Que was supposed to be in release by now, but has been plagued by delays, and Plastic Logic may even be taking offers for sale (though the person who seemed to imply it has since denied it). The Skiff, as we...

Engadget has a few interesting reports of e-book reading devices finding new sales outlets. First of all, when the iPad was announced with iBooks, people knew it was targeting Amazon’s Kindle. But now, apparently Amazon is “Targeting” its own Kindle, placing the device for sale in the Target big-box stores by the end of this month. Engadget has what seems to be a screenshot taken from a Target inventory management application to back this up. Nate the Great at The Digital Reader did a bit of sleuthing of his own, phoning his local Target to confirm that...

InformationWeek has a look at the current frontrunners in the e-book device market, listing statistics and giving a rundown of the pros and cons of each device. Covered devices include the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Plastic Logic Que, Skiff Reader, Sony Reader, Spring Design Alex, and Apple iPad. The article goes into a fair amount of detail about each device’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great resource for people just considering getting into e-book devices....