Kobo is launching a higher-end e-reader, the $169 Aura HD, aimed at users who read several ebooks a week. While the Aura is more expensive than the competition, Kobo says its market research supports customers’ desire for such a device. Read more at paidContent »
One of the biggest battery hogs on a smartphone is the display. Could a low-powered e-ink display improve the experience? Yes, and no, as you can see in this video. Read more »
Tablets keep getting thinner, but how thin can they realistically get? Perhaps no thicker than a few pieces of paper. Plastic Logic is demonstrating its PaperTab project, which is powered by an Intel Core i5 and uses a bendable e-ink display. Read more »
Looking to add a second screen experience to a single device? Check out popSLATE, a new iPhone 5 case with a 4-inch e-ink display on the back. The Indiegogo project is looking for $150,000 in funding and pledges start at $79 for the innovative case. Read more »
With the releases of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo today, we saw an evolution in e-readers. The devices don’t have more tablet-like features, but they should still provide much better reading experiences than older models. Read more »
Though most eyes are on Amazon’s Thursday press conference, Kobo is angling for early attention with its announcement of two new e-readers and a new 7-inch Android tablet called the Arc. How do the devices stack up to the competition? Read more »
Microsoft invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s Nook business. As the following chart shows, that probably wasn’t a great idea: Production problems, slowing ebook sales and other factors are contributing to the Nook’s troubles. Read more at paidContent »
Sony’s newest e-reader, the Reader PRS-T2, may appeal mainly due to the $129 price tag. But the ability to share passages on Facebook and integration with Evernote make it even better. Evernote is superb for clipping web content for viewing later on nearly any device. Read more »
Entrepreneur Russ Wilcox, who is the former CEO and co-founder of display-maker E Ink, has just joined next-gen nuclear startup Transatomic Power as its CEO. There’s only a handful of web and computing entrepreneurs that go nuclear. Read more »
Before Barnes & Noble debuted the Nook with GlowLight last week, I had already bought a Kindle Touch even though it didn’t work in the dark. Now it does, thanks to the Amazon Kindle Touch lighted case. Does this solution work for e-ink? See for yourself. Read more »
Although Microsoft invested $300 million in a Barnes & Noble spin-off on Monday, this isn’t the first time Microsoft played the e-book game. Typical for the company, it often has great ideas, but it errs on the timing: Microsoft debuted e-book software back in 2000! Read more »
A Kickstarter project to bring a new smartwatch to market blew through its $100,000 funding goal in its first day, and two hours later it crossed the $200,000 mark. What’s so unique about the Pebble E-Paper Watch? It works with both Android devices and the iPhone. Read more »
If you’re like many of us, you’re already thinking over some New Year’s resolutions that will make you a better “you” in 2012. But how are the tech industries’ thought leaders approaching the new year? We asked 12 of them for their resolutions. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Although there’s some overlapping functionality between tablets and e-readers, it doesn’t seem to set up either device to cannibalize the other; at least not yet. The number of adults who owned either a tablet or an e-reader doubled this holiday season. Here’s why neither is “winning.” Read more »
Sony’s new Wi-Fi Reader is the only e-reader it introduced this year. It’s good that Sony is streamlining what was an unnecessarily complicated product line, but now that all the eggs are in one basket, how does the device stand up to the competition? Read more »
Amazon’s Kindle has lit a fire under the e-book market, but don’t count out the smaller players. Bookeen, an e-book company since 1998, has a new high-speed E-Ink technology that supports scrolling menus and web pages. Is the e-book market ready for more innovation? Bring it! Read more »
Kindle now supports viewing of over 100 of its newspaper and magazine titles, and Nook for iPad will soon offer access to over 175 digital periodicals. This adds yet another vector through which iOS users can access magazine and newspaper content. So which will you use? Read more »
Bucking the trend of e-readers that run apps like tablets, Kobo today announced a new device called the eReader Touch Edition. Priced at $129, the e-reader marries an e-Ink display with touch capabilities, but it’s not a touch screen. Instead, infrared sensors detect taps and swipes. Read more »
Apple may be working on hybrid displays that have all the benefits of e-ink and LCD with none of the downsides, and interactive bezels for iOS devices. That’s according to two newly published patents that provide glimpses behind Apple’s aluminum and glass curtain. Read more »
Samsung has acquired Liquavista, a display company that uses an electrowetting technology for color screens. The process uses electrical charges to move colored oil and can use reflective sunlight to consume less power. With refresh rates at 60 frames per second, could smartphones use these displays? Read more »
The emergence of a commercially significant electronic book (e-book) market in the past three years has been the result of two quite-recent technological developments. The first, and most critical, has been a breakthrough in the technology for manufacturing reflective electronic paper displays (EPDs), allowing for the introduction of affordable, lightweight and portable e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.
The second has been the rollout of reliable “3G” wireless broadband networks, which have made it possible to deliver digital books directly to reading devices without the intermediate steps of downloading files to a PC and then transferring them to a reader. Direct-to-device sampling and delivery, particularly with Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPhone, have enabled impulse-driven e-commerce, which has been critical to early consumer adoption of e-books.
The technology for e-books, however, remains nascent. The Kindle and its ilk are very much first-generation devices that deliver the minimally acceptable experience. Further development of the business will be closely tied to future technological developments, including flexible and color displays, format standardization and rich-media applications. As the market grows, there are numerous opportunities for other technology players, from social networks to cloud service providers and more. This report examines the trends and opportunities ahead. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Prime View International, a Taiwanese company that makes an e-readers display part, said today it would purchase E-Ink, a company that provides the digital ink technology in the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, for $215 million. The two companies have been partners in developing the Sony […] Read more »
