ebook
Google eBookstore Online
Google’s eBookstore has opened their virtual doors with the goal of capturing some market share away from other eBookstore’s including Amazon for the Kindle, Apple’s iBooks, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Kobo from Borders with over 3 million titles from some 4,000 publishers.
Google provides a web reader but the iOS and Android apps have been released as well allowing synchronization of your bookmarks and library.
What I like about the Google library is that you can download the book as either an ePub or PDF format. ePub is the open source ebook format. With these formats you can view and print on just about any device not to mention “loaning” books to friends.
iPad Thoughts after a Week
Few product releases have polarized and gained as much attention as the Apple iPad release… even between the Geeks at Gizmos for Geeks. I pre-ordered the device within 30 minutes of the Apple Store taking pre-orders and received the unit the morning of release. Here are my thoughts and opinions from my first week with the Apple iPad.
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CES 2010: Plastic Logic and Skiff Join the eReader Club
Two more vendors join what promises to become a crowded field this year – Plastic Logic and Skiff.
Plastic Logic who had previously announced their QUE proReader, premiered it at CES and says it’s aimed at business professionals. The QUE has a shatterproof 8.5″x11″ plastic touchscreen display, is 0.33″ thick and weighs 1lb.
It displays PDF, Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs and can check e-mail from Outlook. It connects to the Net via WiFi and 3G. With 2 models starting at $649, Plastic Logic faces a tough battle with the likes of the Kindle, Nook and others.
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CES 2010: Plastic Logic and Skiff Join the eReader ClubRead More »
CES 2010: Spring Design’s Alex – Dual-Screen E-Reader
Spring Design jumps into the e-book market with its Alex which is another dual-screen reader. It is yet another product running on Google’s Android OS, and features mobile browsing via WiFi and via 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM.
The top screen is a 6″ monochrome e-paper (e-Ink) screen while the smaller lower screen is a 3.5″ color LCD. Also included is an SD card slot, earphones and speakers.
One notable and useful feature is the ability to conserve battery life by displaying content on the EPD screen that was originally captured while surfing on the LCD screen with a simple toggle.
Update: Alex now has a release date of Feb 22, 2010 and a price of $399. [press release]
CES 2010: enTourage eDGe – Dual-Screen Netbook and eReader
As we predicted, here’s another eBook reader. The eDGe from enTourage is not just an e-reader, but a netbook, notepad and A/V recorder/player. It is also unique in that it is a dual-screen device.
Includes a SD card, USB flash drive and WiFi. The eReader screen is a 9.7″ diagonal with a resolution of 1200 x 825 pixels, while the color touchscreen for the netbook is a 10.1″ diagonal 1024×600 pixel screen.
The netbook includes an audio recorder to capture lectures for later playback or sharing. It also has a video camera to record still images or movies as MP4s or 3GP files. You can plug in headphones or a microphone or use the built in speaker and recorder.
eDGe™ runs the Google Android OS with 3GB of memory and has future support for 3G using an EVDO or HSDPA mobile modem.
Available in Feb 2010 for $490.
Amazon.com’s Kindle DX
Amazon’s latest Kindle model, the Kindle DX, ships today for a flat price of $489. The biggest differences between the DX and the Kindle 2 are the larger 9.7″ diagonal screen, a native PDF reader, and the larger 3.3GB storage (roughly 3500 books).
Another new feature is auto-rotate which is pretty nice for formats like newspapers or pages with landscape diagrams, although it is a bit slow to transition from one to the other. The 9.7-inch screen is a 1200×824 pixel resolution at 150dpi. The DX weighs just over 1lb (19 oz total).
While the price tag may seem high, remember that you get free lifetime wireless access on the 3G Sprint network, so no searching for a WiFi hotspot.
Buy now!
Price: $489.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
Amazon.com acquires Lexcycle, maker of e-book app Stanza
Amazon.com now owns Lexcycle, maker of iPhone e-book app Stanza. Stanza, which is free, allows users to read more than 100,000 books and newspapers that mostly formatted in open standard format ePub.
Hopefully, Amazon does not change its free status, but instead builds on it and potentially integrates it into Kindle.
Amazon’s Kindle Store now up to over 260,000 books
Only back in Sept, we reported that the Kindle Storehad over 170,000 e-books. Now they’ve tacked on almost 100,000 more books.
BTW, the Kindle 2 is in stock.
Search inside over 10,000 magazines with Zinio
Did you know that you can search the text in over 10,000 magazines with Zinio? Instead of waiting by the mail for your favorite magazines to show up, you get to view them on your computer/laptop the minute they’re available and with the added benefit of not cutting down additional trees.
Once you subscribe, you’ll also have the same searching ability. Sweet. I do hate having to page through an entire magazine to find that one little article that I read a few weeks ago. No more wasting brain cells on silly remembering!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: depends on the magazine
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)