Good news for all the Sony Reader fans out there, and there are a lot of them. The Sony ebookstore says that applications for iOS and Android will be coming in December. According to the site you will be able to access books purchased in the Reader Store, get books from the Reader Store (I presume this means buy them through the application) and make bookmarks, notes, highlights and adjust font sizes. No date is given for the release....

This weekend, Tim Carmody at Wired had a summation of the Blio Windows app’s first few days and the flak it’s taken from reviewers. It reportedly suffers from accessibility problems and text-to-speech conversion issues. Kurzweil has responded that the app was still undergoing improvements and a revised version will be released next month. An iOS 4 version is still in private beta. Carmody also mentions the controversy over Blio’s use of Feedbooks feeds without permission, and the fact that the Toshiba Blio store only has a little over half the titles of the main Blio store for reasons...

Tim Carmody has an in-depth review of the Sony Pocket Reader PRS-350 at Wired. He starts by looking at the touchscreen feature, which is neither capacitive (like the iPhone) nor resistive (like the Pandigital Novel), but instead uses a network of invisible infrared beams like movie burglar alarms. As a result, it is very responsive to touch, or even just to getting one’s finger near the screen. The device uses a slightly smaller version of the same Pearl screen as the Kindle, and since it doesn’t have a keyboard it’s a lot smaller than the Kindle as well....

I have lately been thinking about writing an e-book guide for the average consumer—something very simple and basic that breaks down some of the complex issues surrounding e-books into something easy to understand for people who don’t currently know anything about them. Before I begin, I’d like to know what members of the TeleRead community might think such a guide should contain. My new tech support day job has brought home to me once more just what a gap there is between how much the average person knows about computers and how much computer geeks know. In a...

Ebouquin also has a full review of the unit on their site: Vendredi dernier, nous avions rendez-vous dans les locaux de Sony pour la présentation de la nouvelle gamme. Clairement orientée haut de gamme, dans la philosophie de Sony, le marché français va bientôt accueillir deux nouveaux readers, le PRS-350 et le PRS-650 (respectivement, le Pocket Edition, 179€ et le Touch Edition, 249€). Ils remplacent les deux modèles du même nom et auront fort à faire : réaffirmer la place de Sony et montrer son savoir-faire technologique, en particulier avec ce nouvel écran tactile dont nous vous parlerons en détails. En Europe,...

I'm in NYC waiting to get a hands-on with the new devices. However I just received this press release which I'm reprinting in full.  Pictures at the end of the release: SONY BRINGS DIGITAL READING EXPERIENCE TO LIFE WITH THE LAUNCH OF ITS NEW LINE OF READERS New Readers Feature Sony’s Unique Touch Screens with Anti-Glare Technology for the Optimal Digital Book Reading Experience SAN DIEGO, September 1, 2010 - Continuing to provide book lovers with the most natural, immersive digital reading experience, Sony today announced the launch of its beautifully-designed new line of Reader digital books, including the new...

I'll be traipsing into New York tomorrow morning to visit Sony and talk to the VP of the Digital Reading Division for a briefing on the new Sony Readers. Don't know whether it will be under embargo or not, but I'll let you know after the meeting. As I'll be in the City (in 94 degree heat according to Weather Underground!) postings may be a bit thinner than usual....

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),...

That's right and I think it's a great idea. Most of us reading ebooks today are either techies or computer savvy people. However, ebooks are reaching out to a greater and greater audience and a lot, if not most, of this audience does not have a high degree to computer literacy. They can use the machine for everyday tasks, but if it gets more complicated than that there is a problem. Talk about updating "firmware" on an ereader and I will bet you that many ereader owners don't know what "firmware" is. This is one reason why...

Notice Len's comments about lack of DRM interoperability - the fact that the books are "Epub" doesn't mean anything!!...

CNet, among others, has been publishing rumors that Sony will be releasing new readers soon. I generally don't consider publishing rumors like this to be responsible journalism as they are so often wrong (look at the last round of "reliable" Apple rumors, for example), but mention them for the sake of completeness here. Sony has invited TeleRead to a presentation, at the end of the month, about the future of the Sony Reader and when we get some real stuff we'll let you know as soon as we can. ...

  The “big” news ebook reading devices recently has been Amazon’s new Kindles with their Pearl screen. OK, ebookers got the point: Amazon is moving right along in its attempt to capture the wallets of all ebookers. Which raises the question, here in the United States, “Sony, Sony (and Barnes & Noble, as well) — Wherefore art thou?” Not a hint, not a misspoken word, not anything leaked to eBookland about a response by Sony and/or B&N to Amazon’s new Kindles. I, for one, am desperately seeking solace, especially from Sony, that there will be new competitive...