Perhaps this isn’t directly about e-books, except insofar as a tablet can be used as an e-reader, but I was so amused to learn today that Hasbro is suing Asus over the name of its latest hybrid tablet/netbook device that I just had to share it. I’m not surprised. I can honestly say I had half-expected it since I heard Asus was calling its original such device the Transformer, and I completely expected it when I heard the newest version was the “Transformer Prime”. I mean, really, what is any child of the eighties going to think when he...

ASUS announced the DR-900 back in January 2010, and it's finally shipping now in the UK for £279.99 ($450). The DR-900 is a 9" e-reader with a touch Sipix (AUO) display. It has 4GB of internal memory (and an SD card slot) and supports Wi-Fi and 3G (and optionally WiMax, too). The DR-900 got a web-browser, a virtual keyboard and it supports handwriting input. Formats include PDF, TXT, MP3 and ePub. Via E-Reader-info...

From a press release I received today: Fremont, CA & Barrington, IL (June 7, 2011) - ASUS, the world's top 3 consumer notebook vendor, and Page Foundry, the leading provider of white label digital content solutions for OEMs, are proud to introduce the Versent ebookstore, powered by Page Foundry. The new ebookstore enables ASUS @Vibe customers to quickly and easily find, buy and read today's most popular eBook titles including New York Time's Bestsellers, Digital Bestsellers, and hundreds of thousands of top selling ebooks. "At the heart of the @Vibe experience our customers will find convenience and choice," said Vira Chang, head...

The ASUS “Campus Life” blog reports that the Eee Note EA800 is about to hit shelves in North America at a list price of under $200 (which probably means “exactly $199.99”). The device is an 8” touchscreen 4GB e-ink “digital notepad” that comes with a stylus (or, as they call it, a “2,540dpi resolution touch pen that has 256 levels of pressure”) for precise, pressure-sensitive note-taking, annotating e-books, and so on. It also includes a 2MP camera, micro USB, micro SD, 802.11 b/g WiFi, headphone jack, and speakers. Battery life is given as 13.5 hours with a 10-day standby....

According to Linux Devices the new reader will be offering a high definition 1024x768, 64 grey scale LCD touch screen with Wacom technology. It will be released in Taiwan at about $230 and may make it to the US in the first quarter of next year. It is called the Eee Note EA800. It will run the Linux operating system. The unit will ship with 42 templates for note-taking needs and will have a built-in camera and voice recorder. Battery life is expected to be about 13.5 hours. The Asus web page is here. ...

Even though iPads and other tablets have largely usurped the limelight, netbooks are not going gently into that good night. And with good reason. The netbook is still a perfectly functional form factor for when you need a miniature alternative to a laptop, and could be great for e-reading if you’re willing to overlook the awkwardness of the mini-laptop form factor (or simply turn it on its side to use it like a tablet with a large sideways keyboard hanging off of it). Here are a few interesting netbook-related stories that have surfaced recently. Augen, More Often ...

Yesterday we mentioned that Google had stated that the $150 Augen tablet and $100 smartbook included a number of unauthorized closed-source applications (Market, Gmail, etc.). Now Engadget reports that Augen has issued a press release stating the apps were installed on the devices for “testing purposes” during development, and were accidentally left in the production version of the operating system. Augen says that it and Google have come to an understanding that, though it can’t do anything about the products that have already shipped, it will remove the controversial apps from future production runs of its...

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!)...

Following up to my post about Augen devices last night, I just called the Kmart in Branson and spoke to them, and what they had in stock was the e-book reader, and one remaining unit of an Augen netbook different from the one Engadget found. Engadget’s find was an Android “smartbook” with a 400 MHz processor and 128 megabytes of RAM, but Branson has one clearanced unit of what appears to be this model listed for $75 (currently out of stock) on Geeks.com, or $67.99 + $9.99 shipping at NewEgg (apparently in stock), a Windows CE “smartbook” with...

Gadgetell has an article on this new ereader. It will have a 9 inch epaper screen, WiFi, 4GB storage, 3.5mm headphone jack and do Epub, PDF, TXT and MP3. They are quotinga 10,000 page turn battery life and an option for 3G connectivity. According to Gadgetell no price has been announced....

According to DigiTimes, Micro-Star International (MSI) has announced plans to launch a $500 tablet PC in the second half of 2010. The device would be based upon the nVidia Tegra processor, and sounds similar to the iPad in overall size and functionality. Though MSI has made computer parts for some time (I have an MSI wifi card in the desktop PC on which I am writing this post), they are relatively new to the laptop/tablet market. However, this past Christmas I received an MSI notebook as a gift, and have been quite pleased with it. It will...

It is easy to confuse Asus and Acer. The names both have four letters and sound very similar, and they both even make similar-looking netbooks. Hence, when I saw this story, at first I thought we had already covered it. However, it turns out Acer and Asus have gained yet another point of similarity. We covered Asus’s planned foray into the e-book reader market—but not to be outdone, Acer is planning one as well. Bloomberg has the details. Acer is planning a “low-cost or free” Android-based app store, for use with its netbooks and smartphones running Google’s...