eReader & Tablet News 8/28/2010 no comments
A roundup of some of the news from the past few days.
Amazon is selling more of the Wi-Fi only version of the latest generation Kindle 3 than the model with 3G. This according to the Bestsellers in Electronics pages
Graphite seems to be the hot color. The white 3G + Wi-Fi is third place on the bestsellers list in the US, but not in the top 10 in the UK. In the US the Kindle DX appears at number seven on the list.
* * *
Apple has released iWork Update 4, one of the features of which is the ability to export from Pages in the standard ePub format. More info at the Apple support pages.
* * *
Kobo has announced that you can now import your own PDF and ePub documents and ebooks into the Kobo iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps. This means that you can add books from other sources, as long as they are unencumbered by DRM.
Kobo also says that the Samsung Galaxy is now a supported device on which you can read your Kobo books.
Kobo has added an iPad to its various sweepstakes prizes. This particular contest will end on August 31, 2010. Each ebook you purchase is an automatic entry. For more info and other details, such as how to enter without a purchase, see Kobo.com.
Besides the new contest, Kobo also has a $2 off discount coupon code – 2dollardeal – which should work on all ebooks except those published by Hachette, Grand Central, Warner and Little Brown. This coupon will expire at midnight August 31, 2010.
* * *
You may remember back at the beginning of the year that LG Display unveiled a large format flexible epaper display based on the same metal foil technology that the Skiff ereader was supposed to use.
PCWorld has found an SEC filing by LG Display for 9.7-inch and 19-inch flexible color epaper displays. Only speculation on what plans exactly LG has up its sleeve for these displays, but 19 inches would be large enough to display a newspaper quite nicely.
* * *
Wireless charging coming for the iPad and Kindle? Harvest free energy from the ether? GoSolarUSA, Inc. announced that it is working with PREE Corp to configure the proprietary PREE wireless charging technology so that it can be used with the iPad and Kindle. From the press release:
The PREEcharge technology captures electrons from LAN and Bluetooth waves and converts it into power to recharge batteries for wireless devices. The technology also incorporates a small solar panel to augment the charge with solar energy. To date, the entire product development has been focused on configuration for use with smaller wireless devices such as Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android, and Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry. Now with the funding from GoSolarUSA, PREE will be able to accelerate the development of the PREEcharge for use with wireless PC tablets.
“Why are the iPAD, Kindle and other PC tablets ideal for the PREEcharge?” asked Mr. Rohde. “The answer is simple,” he continued. “The surface area of an iPhone is 10.39 square inches, and the surface area of an iPAD is 71.41 square inches. More surface area means bigger circuit boards, more antennas for receiving wireless signals, and ultimately a lot more power. In fact, if this proportion holds, the PREEcharge could have the potential to generate seven times more power for the iPAD than it makes for the iPhone,” he concluded.
By no means is this a new idea. Products to charge our devices by harnessing energy from Wi-Fi and other signals have been in the works for some time, but don’t have a good track record when it comes to actually making it to market.
One of the relatively unsung gadgets at CES 2010 was 
the Airnergy charger from RCA. The Airnergy harvests energy whenever it comes into contact with Wi-Fi signals and stores it in an internal battery. You can then use the Airnergy to recharge your devices at your leisure.
RCA had working demos at CES and the device was said to be coming to market this summer for around $40. The last I saw about the Airnergy (sorry, can’t find it now) was that RCA was still planning to release it later this year, but I’m not holding my breath. Where’s Tesla when you need him?
* * *
iStoryTime publishes illustrated and narrated ebooks for young children on the iPad and iPhone as well as for Android devices. A new title for the iPad and iPhone – Danny the Dragon: Meets Jimmy – is the first iPad book for the deaf. The ebook includes sign language narration. $2.99 at iTunes. (via NYT)
* * *
Another new interactive children’s iPad book app was announced by Touchoo. Thumbelina is based on the classic Andersen fairytale and is available in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese. Available at iTunes for $1.99 until August 31, after which time the price will go up.
* * *
A few days ago Sony had an event to introduce some of the company’s new products. I was hoping that Sony would take the opportunity to unveil their new ereaders, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. If you are interested in what new gadgets were revealed, PCMag has a picture gallery and details.
