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....

Plastic Logic has announced it is delaying the Que for several more months. As CNet points out, with the advent of the iPad this may be a product whose time has already come and gone. It is hard to see paying $649 for a black-and-white-only reader, no matter how big it is, given that the iPad starts at $499. Speaking of the iPad, from order numbers it was estimated that it sold 50,000 units in just the first two hours of its presale period yesterday. Not a big surprise that people are anxious to get their hands on it. Meanwhile, Gizmodo...

Engadget has a report on the Que which was demoed at the show. It will be incredibly expensive---$649 without 3G and $799 with 3G from AT&T. At those prices even corporate buyers are going to have to evaluate its utility when their workforce already has laptops which can do much the same thing. One surprise of the presser is the new truVue format for publications that Plastic Logic supports. The standard was developed in conjunction with Adobe, and it preserves some of the style and layout (though certainly not all) of...

Such great device names: Kindle. Nook. Blio. Ectaco JetBook Lite. Spring Design Alex. Txtr. JournE. Skiff. Cool-er. Plastic Logic Que. iRex. Pixel Qi. Bookeen Cybook. Foxit eSlick. Astak EZ Reader. BeBook. Not exciting enough for you? How about the oh-so-brilliantly named Sony Reader? Most of these names are flat out horrible. What were the marketers thinking? These manufacturers are not only trying to build their brands in a crowded marketplace, they are trying to create a new market for a new generation of devices against a well established device that does not require electricity to operate, has a long history...

Is a new e-reader---well, a variant of existing technology---on the way from Plastic Logic? Something other than the tablet that PL has been talking up? Maybe even a gizmo that is all flexible, not just the screen? “This is not the final product,” says a BBC journalist in a report in video and text, a look at the technology and people behind Plastic Lgoic. “The final product will be unveiled very shortly.” So is the gizmo the Que we’ve been seeing for months---simply headed for a formal unveiling at CES in Vegas? Or will Plastic...

Ars has a short article about what is coming up that is watch-worthy. Jon Stokes discusses the Plastic Logic Que, the Hearst/Sprint Skiff and the Qualcomm Mirasol displays. Of the three, David and I saw a prototype of the QUE at last year's O'Reilly TOC and it was a pretty impressive device. Too big for me, but it is aimed at a different audience - business documents. A smaller one aimed at the general reader would be a "must buy" in my opinion. The current crop of ereaders are really pretty delicate and Plastic Logic seems to...

The always excellent Amazon Kindle Review has a great article today on whether it is really necessary for Amazon to adopt EPUB. It points out that in the past the Kindle has done well without such support. And in the future the author notes that B&N does't bill EPUB support as a feature, the Sony Reader only mentions it as feature #11 and the Plastic Logic Que doesn't mention it at all. He goes on the say that of his 5 favorite "Kindle killer" articles 3 don't mention EPUB and the other two list it way down on the...

Plastic Logic has issued a press release, printed in full below, about its new ereader. Unfortunately the new unit is 8.5 x 11 and I don't have any use for something that big. Let's hope they come out with something smaller. It will be unveiled at CES. Here's the website for it. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – OCTOBER 19, 2009 – Plastic Logic revealed today its plans to unveil QUETM, the first proReader designed for business professionals. Premiering January 7, 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (Central Hall of Las Vegas Convention Center at Booth 11840 anchoring...

New York Times reporter Brad Stone’s take on sales figures for the e-book version of The Lost Symbol---versus the numbers for the p-book---inspired lots and lots of skepticism from E boosters. And I’m still waiting for him to write on social DRM and certain nuances of e-book standards that he and the Times have yet to explore, despite some progress in a recent article. But Stone is right on the mark in highlighting another Kindle issue. And that’s the ticklish little matter of opening up the Kindle to third-party developers. Look at all the apps for...

Barnes & Noble has filed with the FCC, as reported by Engadget, though it isn’t clear if if the Plastic Logic reader is the gizmo under consideration. What’s your guess? I suspect that it’s the same device for which B&N will power the bookstore. Furthermore, though this is almost surely outside the FCC’s turf, the reader will most likely use ePub, among other formats---with DRM provided by Fictionwise, now a branch of B&N. Speaking of DRM---and not just in a B&N context: I’d love for the New York Times...

Kindle Review has a summary, with comments, on seemingly all available, and rumored, ereaders. It makes an excellent reference. Covered are Dell, Asus, Sony, Kindle, Foxit, Neolux, Azbooka, Hanlin, BeBook, Cool-er, Samsung, Bookeen, Onyx, Hanlin, Pocketbook, txtr, Plastic Logic, Apple, Netronix, iRex, Fujitsu and Brother....

This is not unexpected given Plastic Logic's interest in newspapers. You can find the papers Olive is working with here. From the press release they sent me: Plastic Logic announced today that Olive Software will be a key service provider and partner for the Plastic Logic Publishers Program. Together, Olive Software and Plastic Logic are developing content publishing solutions that enable major newspapers, magazines, web content and other publishers simply and efficiently optimize and distribute their content for the Company’s forthcoming eReader. The Plastic Logic Reader, designed especially for mobile business professionals, is due in the marketplace in early...