the new Nook - simple one button reader for a complicated world

I was right about the new Nook | The Digital Reader:

"It is based on a 6″ Pearl E-ink screen and it does have a Neonode touch screen. It has only the one power button, Wifi, 2GB storage, a card slot (upper right edge), and 2 months battery life. Price is $139 and it ships in early June. Ooh, it has an onscreen keyboard, 6 fonts and 7 font sizes, and in general a better user interface."

A bit pricey for what you get (thought the Nook Wifi has now been discounted to $99). It looks a bit too square to be easily held in one hand. While there is talk of hacking the Android innards, this is probably a reader better left alone. People who have never heard of rooting and don't care if they can play Sudoku on their reader will be happy with this device.

e-Reader apps for Android 2.2 tablet - Aldiko wins so far

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.flyersoft.moonreaderSo far my uPad zt180 7" tablet running Froyo Android (2.2) has been a whole lot of fun. The resistive touchscreen is not particularly responsive and the battery life is disappointing (2-3 hours with wi-fi turned on). I've tried out most all of the default apps and tweaked the interface a bit (Better Keyboard 8 made typing much easier)

I'm now concentrating on making the tablet the best e-reader possible. There are three aspects of reading on the tablet that I am working on: reading the book, getting books from my desktop, and getting books from the internet. For now I am focusing on ePub ignoring DRM and purchasing e-books.

So far I have installed and tested the free versions of Aldiko and Moon+ Reader. While Moon+ has tons of fun features like themes, textured "paper" backgrounds, and autoscrolling, I prefer Aldiko right now because it fully supports the CSS stylesheet. The pages are rendered with all of the intended formatting.

So far both apps have failed to connect to the Calibre OPDS server. Aldiko calls up the browser and shows the list of books, but when I click on a link to download I get a download unsuccessful message. Moon+ accepts the IP address to the Caliber server, I enter the username and password, but then nothing happens.

I will continue to tinker with the Calibre server/e-reader connection but I will also look at setting up a FTP server on the tablet so I can x-fer books and other files back and forth without having to use a USB cable or popping out the SD card.

UK chain sells e-ink reader for less than �29 ($50) | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

UK chain sells e-ink reader for less than £29 ($50) | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Those of you in the UK can find a great bargain on an e-ink e-reader. Normally listed at £139 (currently $225.64), the Binatone ReadMe Classic is on sale for £29.99 ($48.69) at UK electronics chain Makro. That’s the cheapest any e-ink e-book reader has been that I can think of, especially in the UK where things tend to cost more than in the US."

New we're talking! Need something like this in Canada.

Stephen Collins’s cartoon: E-Book Reader 2050 � Prospect Magazine

Stephen Collins’s cartoon: E-Book Reader 2050 � Prospect Magazine

Do you miss that old book smell? | The Digital Reader

Do you miss that old book smell? | The Digital Reader:

"But I’m proud to announce that Prism Durosport will soon re-release the Smell of Books line and they even sent me a sample of their new scent, Olde English Parlour. I hadn’t realized how I appreciated the smell of tobacco smoke from an old pipe. The smell really does add something to my reading experience."

Problem solved. Get a nice leather cover for your e-reader to fondle and spray this wherever you are reading. It can only improve the atmosphere on the bus.

6-inch eBook Reader Table - Comparisons and Reviews of 6" eReaders

6-inch eBook Reader Table - Comparisons and Reviews of 6" eReaders
Awesome summary of 14 e-readers. I'd go for the Pandigital Novel, only because there seems to be a growing community of tinkerers out there. As a small company Pandigital is not to be trusted, but they're better than the Shanzai market because the customer base is not as diluted so great things can come out of the user groups.

Aluratek Libre Color 7″ Multimedia eReader (AEBK07FS) | The eBook Reader Blog

Aluratek Libre Color 7″ Multimedia eReader (AEBK07FS) | The eBook Reader Blog:

"There’s a third new device from Aluratek too, one that’s already on the market. It’s called the Libre Color. It has a color screen, as the name would lead you to believe, that measures 7-inches diagonally. The display technology is TFT-LCD and the pixel resolution is 800 x 480."

A no-nonsense e-reader for $129. Lots of solid features but no 3G or wi-fi.

Graphic: Getting started with ebooks | The Digital Reader

Graphic: Getting started with ebooks | The Digital Reader:

"It’s a pretty good flow chart for getting into ebooks, but it only covers the major platforms. You might notice that Android is not mentioned, but I’m sure it will be added in a revision."

MegaReader adds see-through augmented reality background | Never walk into a fountain again.

MegaReader adds see-through augmented reality background | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics:

"Trouble reading on your iPhone without walking into things? E-book app MegaReader may have you covered. It’s just added a “heads up display” feature, which uses the camera on camera-equipped iPhones (and presumably the iPod Touch 4; earlier Touch owners would be out of luck) to superimpose the text of what you’re reading over a view of what’s in front of you."

Awesome technology that isn't quite there yet. I hope my next e-reader has a front-facing camera so I can play with this technology. No more walking into fountains! (check your YouTube)

Nook Color Wins Last Gadget Standing “People’s Choice Award” at CES

Nook Color Wins Last Gadget Standing “People’s Choice Award” at CES

Yesterday the Nook Color managed to win the People’s Choice Award at the Last Gadget Standing competition at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

It was up against some strong competition. The top ten finalists included a dual-screen laptop from Acer, a new chip from Intel, a video camera that shots 3D, the popular Nexus S Smartphone, a portable scanner, and some other cool gadgets.

Cut the price on the Nook Color in half and I'd get one in an instant. This reader will do more to open doors for Android tablets than any other product.

CES: Aluratek pairs up with Marvell - $140 e-reader

CES: Aluratek:

"Aluratek also have a new based on a 7″ (480x800) LCD screen. I haven’t seen this e-reader before but I recognize it as being designed by Gajah. It’s even using the exact same menu system as the others I have. It has support for Adobe DE DRM and it probably will also be a decent PMP. I want to double check that first, though.

It’s available now for about $140."

Aluratek would do well to latch on to as much of the OLPC technology as possible. This may be leading to a decent sub-$75 reader.

iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video) -- Engadget

iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video) -- Engadget:

"Our trailer was just visited by an iriver rep bearing his company's Kindle killer in waiting, the Story HD. This 6-inch e-reader touts a bodacious 1024 x 768 resolution, which contributes to an even better contrast ratio than on Amazon's E Ink slate, while software optimizations between now and release are expected to make the Story HD the fastest-refreshing device of its kind."

There is still room in the market for high quality e-readers. Besides the custom firmware and software, the 3 week battery life is the most telling indicator of a dedicated e-reader vs. a modified generic tablet.

Amazon K2, Sharper Image Literati show up in after Christmas clearance sales

Amazon K2, Sharper Image Literati show up in after Christmas clearance sales:

"Best Buy have put the black Sharper Image Literati on sale for $50."

Apparently its a POS. But $50? C'mon! If I was in the states I'd grab this just to fiddle with Open-source firmware upgrades.

The Next1 and Next2 eBook Readers From Nextbook - A close call

The Next1 and Next2 eBook Readers From Nextbook | The eBook Reader Blog:

"There’s a new ebook reader company called Nextbook that has two new ereaders called the Next1 and Next2.

Both the Next1 and Next2 have 7″ color TFT screens with pixel resolutions of 800 x 480. They come with 2GB of internal memory and have micro SD card slots for memory expansion."

I was briefly tempted to pick up the Next1 on sale at XSCargo for $99. Until I did a bit or research.

Most telling were the complaints in the forums at the Home Shopping Network.

Of course, my first clue should have been that it was on sale at XSCargo - the elephant graveyard of electronics.

How Barnes & Noble Can Help Kill Itself - Another case of remote control gone wrong

How Barnes & Noble Can Help Kill Itself

Barnes and Noble has every right to try to maintain the "purity" of their e-readers by wiping out rootkit replacements of their software: its not going help them sell more e-books or e-readers. Theres a difference between trying to build a relationship with the customer and holding a gun to the customer's head and demanding "buy from me or else...".

What’s wrong with e-reader reviews - why tablets may win out

What’s wrong with e-reader reviews

I agree very much with the first point. Not only are the reviews lax when it comes to reviewing the software, the e-reader manufacturer's themselves are guilty of skimping on the software feature set and documenting what they are offering.
This is the main reason why I am looking at a generic Android tablet: the reading/librarian software is open to fine tuning and innovation.

The Cruz Reader from Velocity Micro - Borders - Books, Music and Movies

The Cruz Reader from Velocity Micro - Borders - Books, Music and Movies
Only $110US with free shipping. $3.99 Shipping if you are a Canuck. Very tempted by this: if Borders accepted Paypal this may have been a done thing.
I especially like the 800x600 7" screen over the usual 800x480 on most of the other bargain 7" tablets/readers.
Check out Velocity Micro Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet: Hands On from PCMag.com.

DealExtreme: $89.10 C008 7.0" Touch Screen E-Book Reader Music/Video Media Player w/ Voice Recorder/TF - Black (4GB)

DealExtreme: $89.10 C008 7.0" Touch Screen E-Book Reader Music/Video Media Player w/ Voice Recorder/TF - Black (4GB)

Somebody buy this and tell me how it works. The problem with buying direct with China is the dearth of detailed info (what software is it running?), and the expense involved if there are hardware problems.
I like the feature set and the price, though. I'm gonna keep an eye on it.

New BookReader from OpenLibrary - html5 at its best

New BookReader! - The Open Library Blog: "We’re pleased to announce the release of our freshly re-designed BookReader on the Internet Archive."
    * Redesigned user interface that maximizes the amount of space given to the book.
    * Navigation bar that helps show your location in the book and navigate through it.
    * New Read Aloud feature reads the book as audio in most browsers.
    * Tables of contents are being automatically generated for most books and can be edited or added manually through the Open Library site.
    * Vastly improved full-text search.
    * More sharing options – the new Share dialog gives you to option to choose how to link to the book and set options when embedding the BookReader on a blog or website.
    * Touch gesture support – swipe to flip pages in two-page mode, pinch to zoom on iOS.
    * Improved support for tablet devices like the iPad.
    * Updated UI for the embedded BookReader – now includes “expando” button to view the book in a new browser window.
    * Integration with Open Library – books that have an Open Library record can have their title and table of contents edited through the Open Library site.

PocketBook IQ Firmware Update | a tablet with legs

PocketBook IQ Firmware Update | The eBook Reader Blog:

"The new update seems to make the PocketBook IQ faster. Scrolling is smoother and PocketBook’s Reader app has been improved, although it still does not support Adobe DRM or text to speech, both of which are to be added with a future update."

This reader is starting to look better and better. Consistent firmware upgrades are always a good sign. The price is still high: $149 on the pocketbook site and $159 on eBay (also a good sign--good stuff doesn't show up on eBay in bulk).
On the plus side it seems well-supported and boasts an 800x600 color touch screen. Custom software is robust - fine as a dedicated reader and no need to go fishing in the Android market even though it will be upgraded to 2.2 (from 2.0 now) in 2011.
On the minus side the battery is only 1600mAh and eInk lovers will not be happy reading an LCD screen while sitting out in the sun (not a problem for me!)
For a tablet in this price range to get so little negative press in the pre-xmas season is surely a sign that there is something right going on here.