I’m an all-day note-taker—my day's or week’s itinerary, messages to give to someone else, story ideas, ramblings, etc. Unfortunately I’m also a bit of a messy ... well, unorganized person, I admit. And as you may guess, those two personality traits usually add up, for me, to lots of unorganized, folded pieces of paper in my pockets or around my house and office, and also a library of notebooks of compiled thoughts and ideas with real order. So needless to say, I’m anticipating Sony’s A4-sized (8.3-inches x 11.7-inches) digital paper slate to be rather beneficial in my life. Unveiled last week,...

Who said high-end 10-inch Android tablets are not attractive anymore just because they’re much pricier than 7-inchers like the Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fires? Well, a lot of people, but Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z is bound to make you rethink that. With a splendid design resembling the Xperia Z phone, a stunning Full HD screen, outstanding hardware, up-to-date software, plus water and dust protection, it’s pretty difficult to ignore Sony’s latest 10-incher. True, the thing is not exactly the most budget-conscious around, but it’s probably worth every penny of the $500 Sony is asking for it in the U.S. Available for...

Sony Launches Discover Map Feature on Reader Store (Good e-Reader) Books to Help Kids Talk About Boston Marathon News (GalleyCat) Kobo Unveils Aura HD, a High-Definition Reader (Digital Book World) Enough About Data Caps, They are a Terrible Idea (Paid Content) Kindle Daily Deals: Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther Kind Jr. (and 3 others)  ...

Today is Presidents’ Day and that’s reason for celebration not only for Dell, but also for Sony. The latter isn’t exactly as generous as the former, but we still have awesome news for folks that are in the market for a decently priced 10-inch tablet. The Xperia Tablet S, released less than five months ago, is now just $399.99 in the 16 GB flavor. That’s $50 off the list price, but the savings don’t stop there. Sony’s store also throws in a free “casual cover” (regularly worth $59.99) with every Xperia Tablet S order, bringing the savings total to $109.99. Not too...

By Robert Nelson | for Technology Tell Sony unveiled the Xperia Tablet S back in late-August during IFA, and it looks like the tablet has since come available for purchase. Those interested will be able to make the purchase by way of the Sony Store, where the tablet is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. The tablets are priced at $399.99, $499.99 and $599.99 respectively. Also worth noting: Those who make the purchase will “get 3 digital movies on Google Play” — a $45 value. Otherwise, the Xperia Tablet S is running Andorid 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich; features include a 9.4-inch (1280 x 800) HD...

By Robert Nelson Details for the Sony Reader PRS-T2 have been floating around for some time now, mostly due to an FCC filing that arrived back in early July. That bit aside though, it looks like the e-reader is just about ready for a primetime release. So far we have yet to see anything official from Sony in terms of an availability announcement, but we have seen a pre-order product listing from the folks at J&R. The retailer has the Sony Reader PRS-T2 available for pre-order, however they have yet to offer anything in terms of an expected shipping date. The e-reader is...

I hadn’t been aware of this until just today, probably because it happened on the other side of the Atlantic, but in recent weeks there’s been a bit of a furor over Amazon UK listing several e-books for only 20 pence each. It turns out, though, that this isn’t Amazon’s “fault”—Amazon is only pricematching Sony. Sony recently launched its own UK e-book store with 20 pence promotions on ten e-books, which will apparently change over time—including, oddly enough, titles from Macmillan, whose American branch was so concerned about Amazon’s $9.99 e-book prices eroding the value of e-books that it...

In case you were wondering, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling isn’t finished innovating in digital storytelling with Pottermore. At E3 yesterday, Sony announced an interactive storybook/game called “Book of Spells,” first in a series of interactive storybooks called “Wonderbook,” with all-new content written by Rowling. The game turns Sony’s PS Move motion-sensitive wand into a Hogwart’s-style magic wand, used for performing spells from a Hogwarts spellbook. The trailer is a bit misleading, showing a kid opening a book and it animating and magically transporting him into a wizard’s castle. The video from CNet of the E3 demo is a...

French book news site ActuaLitté reports (in French) that Sony’s PRS T1 149-Euro touchscreen e-reader has sold over 500,000 units in Europe—reportedly not far behind the sales of Amazon’s Kindle. It’s a little tricky to make sense of the Google-translated text, but ActuaLitté seems to report that the Sony’s biggest problem is the lack of a library integrated into the device. The existing store is slow, but Sony says it is seeking a partner who can meet Sony’s performance demands. Meanwhile, competitor Kobo is invading Europe, and a possible Barnes & Noble European expansion could be on the...

Here’s another story of a developer railing against used video games. Although it may not seem to have relevance to e-books at first, I think this story demonstrates the way the gaming industry and the publishing industry are struggling with some similar issues in the digital age. In an interview with GamesIndustry International, Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack states that used games are clobbering the game industry, cutting off the “tail” of sales that used to support game studios well after games’ original release. Without that “tail”, Dyack says, game companies can expect to receive almost all their sales...

CNET has a 3-minute video that bills itself as a “Buyer’s Guide” for tablets and e-readers, though it primarily focuses on tablets, and mostly the more expensive tablets—the iPad, the Galaxy S, and Sony’s Android tablet (which I hadn’t heard of before). It paints this trio of $499 tablets as the main attraction for buyers this holiday season, then spends a little time discussing the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire as alternatives. In the video, CNET’s Donald Bell refers to the Kindle Fire as a “good enough product”—essentially a device that will work well as an e-reader and...

Yesterday, perhaps hoping to stage a preemptive strike on Amazon, Barnes & Noble announced a new cooperative venture with self-publisher Lulu.com, which is supposed to make it easier for Lulu customers to get their books published as Nook e-books. However, given that B&N was already partnering with Lulu on self-publishing e-books, it is entirely unclear how it was harder before and how it will be easier now. And this bright bundle of glittering generalities does not seem to have helped in the end. Barnes & Noble’s stock was down by as much as 13% after Amazon’s Kindle announcement today,...