Electric Dreams

On the small screen Amazon's Kindle is one of 40 electronic readers using E-Ink technology. (Photograph by Tim Llewellyn)

From Boston.com:

One Cambridge company has built its success on Kindle. But can it stave off competitors and make good on its vision of revolutionizing everything from credit cards to clothing?

The hottest technology company in the Boston area sits in a low-slung 100-year-old converted factory in the West Cambridge Industrial Park, not far from the Concord Avenue rotary. Inside its modest lobby hangs a 2-by-4-foot display. Messages scroll across it: “Welcome to E-Ink . . . the time is now 2:58 p.m. ’’ It’s 30 minutes slow.

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Creative Is Latest To Tackle E-book Readers

From CNET:

The question is, who isn't getting in on the e-book reader action these days? Less than two weeks after we met Barnes & Nobles' Nook and just a few days after hearing of tire maker Bridgestone's plans for a flexible e-reader, our friends at Crave UK alerted us that Creative may be hopping on the e-reader bandwagon as well.

Creative fan site EpiZenter.net (so named for Creative's family of popular Zen MP3 players) reports that the company showed off a working model of its first e-book reader, tentatively named the MediaBook, at its annual general meeting Thursday in Singapore. The device reportedly has a touch screen, text-to-speech function, and an SD memory card slot. It will run on Creative's Zii System-On-Chip technology and will be Internet-enabled.

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Is Barnes & Noble's Nook a Kindle killer?

(Credit: Barnes & Noble)

From Crave/CNET:

While information on Barnes & Noble's new e-book reader, the Nook, has been trickling out for several days, the company unveiled the new $259 device on its Web site Tuesday a few hours before the official launch event in New York.

As previously reported, the Nook, billed as the first Android-powered e-book reader, features not only a 6-inch E-ink screen but a color touch screen that allows you to navigate content and also can turn into a virtual keyboard for searches.

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Leaked Barnes & Noble e-Reader Is A Powerful Multitouch Hybrid

Barnes & Noble e-Reader

From Popular Science:

Take a Kindle, and put a multitouch screen where the keyboard and navigation buttons go, and you've got the Barnes & Noble e-reader.

We're still a week away from Barnes & Noble's big e-reader announcement, but we've know they've had something cooking for a while now. And today, our pals at Gizmodo hit the mother load: leaked shots of a forthcoming dual-screen device that is three-quarters e-ink and one-quarter (wait for it) color multitouch.

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The Coming E-Reader Wars

Investing In The e-Reader Battle? Bet On Barnes & Noble -- Wall Street Journal

Crazy? That's what Wall Street thinks—analysts love Amazon, but have little to say about its competitor. But that's why buying Barnes & Noble may be a smart move. Some of the best profits come from going against the crowd.

Everybody loves Amazon's booming stock, which has doubled so far this year. But that run-up in value has made it dangerously expensive. By contrast, few adore Barnes & Noble shares, so they've been left for dead. When you run the numbers, the stock looks remarkably cheap.

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Word Has It That eReaders Will Open The Next Chapter

From Times Online:

Microsoft and Apple are about to follow the tablet trend.

TRAVELLING between airports has given analyst Jon Peddie lots of time to study tech trends. There was the rise of the mobile, laptops, the iPod, the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Now Peddie, who runs California-based Jon Peddie Research, sees another change coming: the rise of the eReader.

Laptops are becoming less popular, he reckons, and even netbooks are fading. The new must-have is an eReader.

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Can The E-Reader Really Replace The Good Old Book? We Put Them To The Test

Book of the future: A festival goer uses the Sony Reader

From The Daily Mail:

Is this the end of the novel as we know it? Thanks to the ebook - a new generation of mini-computers that allow you to download thousands of books at the click of a button - it seems the answer may be yes. Yesterday, Amazon announced their Kindle e-reader - a device that can download a book from the internet in 60 seconds - will be available in the UK later this month. So, can the e-reader really replace the good old book? LINSEY FRYATT, editor of gadget website Stuff.tv, puts them to the test...

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Barnes & Noble To Launch Android-Based Kindle Killer?

From Channel News:

Amazon (NSDQ:AMZN)'s Kindle might have a new e-reader enemy from a familiar source: Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble is reportedly preparing to unveil an e-reader device to compete with Amazon's Kindle and the rapidly expanding field of e-readers. The book retailer is already a force in e-books thanks to its three-month-old eBookstore, but according to reports is prepping an e-reader of its own that will run on Google's Android operating system.

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PCs Are Best For E-Reading, Microsoft's Ballmer Says

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft Corporation Steve Ballmer gestures during a news conference to present the new Windows 7 operating system in Munich October 7, 2009. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

From The Reuters:

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) - Microsoft has no plans to develop a digital book reader to compete with the fast-growing popularity of Amazon's Kindle or a device that rival Apple is reportedly developing.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Microsoft had no need for its own e-reader, since it already supplies the software that runs the most popular device for electronic reading.

"We have a device for reading. It's the most popular device in the world. It's the PC," Ballmer said on Thursday on the sidelines of television show recording at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

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Google’s Abandoned Library Of 700 Million Titles

From Epicenter:

Imagine a world where Google sucks.

It might seem a stretch. The Google logo is practically an icon of functionality. Google’s search engine and other tools are the company’s strongest, if unstated, argument in favor of the Google Books Settlement, which would give the internet the largest and most comprehensive library in history, at the cost of granting Google a de facto monopoly. It’s hard to imagine any company better equipped to scan, catalog and index millions of books than Google.

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My Book Is Mine, Not Google's -- A Commentary

Who's book is it anyway? (Image: Andrzej Krauze)

From New Scientist:

NEXT week details of a plan that could shape the future of books and publishing in the digital age will be spelled out in a New York courtroom. The plan is complex but, in a nutshell, search engine giant Google intends to scan and make available perhaps a million or more books that are out of print but still in copyright.

Google has the support of the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, but it faces formidable opposition. Some 400 legal objections have been filed, and the US Department of Justice has serious concerns. The dispute was due to be resolved in court next week, but at the last minute Google and its partners asked for the case to be adjourned so they could make revisions. A hearing will still take place, but only to inform the parties concerned how Google intends to proceed.

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Amazon Agrees To Kindle Suit Settlement

Photo: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

From San Francisco Chronicle:

Amazon.com has agreed that it won't remove e-books from U.S. users' Kindle electronic readers without their permission, as part of a proposed settlement of a lawsuit over the online retailer's deletion of a George Orwell novel from a high school student's e-reader.

Justin D. Gawronski, a 17-year-old student in Shelby Township, Michigan, sued Amazon after it erased copies of the Orwell works "1984" and "Animal Farm" from customers' Kindles in July. Gawronski's suit claimed removing "1984" from his Kindle made electronic notes he had taken on the e-reader useless. He was reading the book for an advanced placement course in which he had to turn in "reflections" on each 100 pages of text.

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Word Has It That eReaders Will Open The Next Chapter

From Times Online:

Microsoft and Apple are about to follow the tablet trend.

TRAVELLING between airports has given analyst Jon Peddie lots of time to study tech trends. There was the rise of the mobile, laptops, the iPod, the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Now Peddie, who runs California-based Jon Peddie Research, sees another change coming: the rise of the eReader.

Laptops are becoming less popular, he reckons, and even netbooks are fading. The new must-have is an eReader.

Read more ....

Will Amazon Open The Kindle To Developers?

From CNET:

We're heading into the holiday buying season, which means the introduction of new gadgets and the media's annual anointment of the season's hottest tech toy. Plenty of pundits think electronic book readers will sell briskly this year, which got us thinking: Will Amazon update its Kindle e-book reader in time for the holidays?

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Judge Delays Google Books Hearing

From BBC:

A New York judge has put Google's vision of creating the world's biggest digital library on hold.

Judge Denny Chin postponed a fairness hearing set for next month that was meant to address a settlement between Google and authors and publishers.

The $125m agreement, worked out last year, has effectively been sent back to the drawing board by the judge.

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iRex Announces e-Reader with Barnes & Noble Catalog, Verizon 3G

iRex Reader

From Popular Science:

With a larger screen and 400,000 more titles, iRex's DR800SG forces a standoff against the Kindle and the Sony Reader.

Barnes and Noble first tipped their hand in July, when they announed their new e-book store and its 700,000 titles would be made available on the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms. Then in August, the bookseller announced a partnership with e-reader maker iRex, in addition to love for Plastic Logic and their devices. And today (drumroll, please) the company officially announced the iRex DR800SG reader, the first e-book reader with access to the Barnes and Noble catalog.

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The Coming Ebook Reader Flood

The Microsoft Courier leads the way in the coming onslaught of ebook readers.
(Screen shot from YouTube)

From Christian Science Monitor:

The Amazon Kindle ignited an ebook reader industry and created many rivals for itself.

“Kindle” indeed.

Amazon’s popular Kindle ebook reader has sparked some fiery competition. Several companies recently announced plans to produce their own ereader-like device, and signs point to more on the horizon.

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Where Will The E-Reader Revolution Take Publishing?

A commuter uses a Kindle while riding the subway in New York June 1, 2009. The publishing industry is trying to deal with the growing demand for online content and is looking at the music industry for lessons. Lucas Jackson / Reuters

From The Globe And Mail:

Some experts believe the devices will change our reading habits and throw several industries into turmoil -- that is, just as soon as Apple gets into the game.

Will it or won't it?

The Internet is burning up with speculation about Apple Inc.'s plans for an “iPad,” a potential new entrant in the e-reader market of low-power digital devices whose displays approach paper quality.

Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader together cracked the million-unit mark last year, but everyone – especially those in troubled publishing industries – is looking to the iPod maker to potentially bring digital reading into the mainstream, and transform their businesses forever.

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Near-Instant Book Printer Adds Google Books Titles

A morning's worth of output from the Espresso Book Machine, which used Google Books as the source of the data. (Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET)

From CNET:

Google is hell-bent on digitizing the world's books, but it's also aware that sometimes you just want to turn the pages.

On Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine, are expected to announce Thursday that they have been granted access to Google's library of public domain digital books for use with their product. The Espresso Book Machine can print a 300-page book in four minutes, complete with a cover and a bound edge. It ranges in price from $75,000 to $97,000, depending on the configuration, and is found mostly at universities, libraries, and institutions around the globe.

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Google Book Search: Why It Matters

From Times Online:

European publishers and copyright holders gathered in Brussels on Monday to submit their opinions to a European Commission hearing on the American Google Book Search settlement.

In a nutshell, the situation is this: Google has embarked on a project to digitise hundreds of thousands of out-of-print and out-of-copyright books in the United States.

Some of these works are still technically in copyright, and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers took Google to court. A proposed settlement was reached last year, under which Google will essentially agree to pay royalties to anyone whose book they inadvertently put on line.

The settlement will be ratified in a Manhattan court on October 7 this year, by which time any European reservations will need to be registered.

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