Archive for the ‘tablet computers’ tag
eReader & Tablet News – 8/14/2010 no comments
Lots of things happening this week, I’ll recap here what I could not cover elsewhere.
The latest generation Kindle 3 is now shipping on September 10. The Kindle 3 continues to sell well and the ship date for new orders was pushed back two days. E Ink Holdings has said that it is increasing the production of EPDs to keep up with the demand.
* * *
Kobo is running another contest. The prize in this one is a free ebook every month for one year. As is usual with Kobo’s contests, you are automatically entered when you buy a book. This contest is running from August 11 to August 17, 2010. You can read all of the fine print at Kobo.com.
In other Kobo news, guests at Fairmont Gold will have the use of a Kobo ereader during their stay. The eReader will come preloaded with a variety of Random House ebooks, and guests will also be given a $2 off coupon good for select Random House ebooks from Kobo.
This seems like a good idea, as it will no doubt get ereaders into the hands of some who would otherwise not have a chance to try one. It is easy to impress a traveler with the utility of an ereader – it is far easier to carry a load of books on an ebook reader than in your suitcase. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see similar promotions at other hotels soon; also involving NOOKs and Kindles if Amazon and B&N get into the act.
* * *
It’s a tablet. No, it’s a smartphone . . . No, it’s the Dell Streak!
Dell started taking orders for its Streak tablet/phone yesterday
, Friday the 13th (pre-sale registrants were able to order on the 12th, a day earlier). The Streak is $299.99 with a 2-year AT&T contract, or $549.99 without.
In addition to its other features, the Streak has a Gorilla glass screen, which is pretty much unbreakable. If we cannot get flexible screens for our ereaders I would certainly settle for this – I would even pay more for the assurance that my ereader’s screen was much more damage-resistant than current models.
Maximum PC has a pretty thorough review of the Dell Streak.
* * *
According to Gartner (via Electronics Weekly), Android is the most popular smartphone OS in the US, and is in third place internationally behind RIM and Symbian.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Oracle has filed suit against Google, alleging that the Android OS infringes on its Java related copyrights and patents. Oracle acquired Java when it purchased Sun Microsystems in January of this year.
* * *
Smashwords and and the Diesel eBook Store have signed a distribution agreement. Smashwords will distribute its Premium Catalog of over 11,000 ebooks through the Diesel beginning on August 25, 2010. Smashwords will also power the new Diesel Publishing Portal which caters to indie authors and publishers with fewer than 100 published titles.
Authors and publishers who utilize Smashwords to supply eBooks to the Diesel eBook Store will earn royalties of 60% of the retail price as set by the Smashwords author or publisher.
Possibly Related Posts:
Motorola Working on Tablet Powered by Verizon no comments
Bloomberg reports that Motorola is working on a tablet with Verizon. The device is said to sport a 10-inch screen and to be Android-based. The new tablet is expected to be integrated with Verizon’s FiOS service, which would enable users to watch television on the device.
No word on other specs or pricing, though the new tablet will no doubt be competitively priced with the iPad. Motorola’s new tablet should be out in time for the holiday season this year.
The tablet market is really getting crowded, providing even half of the announced tablets actually get released – I wonder how many of these new iPad killers will actually make it to market. Not that I doubt this one; it makes sense for both Verizon and Motorola to have a tablet. Likewise Blackberry’s Blackpad – Blackberry is loosing marketshare with its cell phones.
Possibly Related Posts:
OLPC and Marvell Plan Tablet no comments
In a press release today One Laptop per Child and Marvell announced a joint project to produce a family of OLPC XO tablet computers. From the press
release:
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a global organization whose mission is to help provide every child in the world access to a modern education, and Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, have agreed to jointly develop a family of next-generation OLPC XO tablet computers based on the Marvell® Moby reference design. This new partnership will provide designs and technologies to enable a range of new educational tablets, delivered by OLPC and other education industry leaders, aimed at schools in both the U.S. and developing markets. Marvell is also announcing today it has launched Mobylize, a campaign aimed at improving technology adoption in America’s classrooms.
The device is also decidedly "constructionist" in nature. By design, it combines hardware and software to deliver a platform that will enable educators, students and families around the world to create their own content, and learn to read, write, and create their own education programs and share all of these experiences via a mesh network model. The device will also feature an application to directly access more than 2 million free books available across the Internet.
"While devices like eReaders and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don’t meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them. Today’s learning environments require robust platforms for computation, content creation and experimentation – and all that at a very low cost," said Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Chairman of One Laptop per Child. "Through our partnership with Marvell, OLPC will continue our focus on designing computers that enable children in the developing world to learn through collaboration, as well as providing connectivity to the world’s body of knowledge."
Marvell announced a low-priced tablet called the Moby a few months ago that promises a lot of features for a surprisingly low price.
Possibly Related Posts:
Verizon and Google Developing Tablet no comments
The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon and Google are collaborating on a tablet computer. The article quotes Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon:
"What do we think the next big wave of opportunities are?" … "We’re working on tablets together, for example. We’re looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience."
No details on when such a device might see the light of day. Other comments by McAdam indicate that the prices for connectivity may go up as data pricing plans that allow unlimited use are replaced by tiered data plans.
Possibly Related Posts:
NVIDIA Tegra 2 Delay no comments
Slashgear reports that NVIDIA has run into delays with the Tegra 2 chipset. The much awaited new chipset will now not make it to market before late August of this year. Reportedly the delay is being caused by both hardware and software technical issues.
This is sad because the Tegra 2 will be powering some of the most promising non-Apple tablets such as the Notion Ink Adam, which will now also be delayed. Hopefully the Adam can still make it to market in time for the holidays.
Update: This may (hopefully) prove to be an unfounded rumor. See Engadget’s post which quotes NVIDIA as saying “The rumors aren’t true. Everything’s on track." Liliputing was also told by their contacts at NVIDIA that the delay rumors are untrue.
Possibly Related Posts:
iPad at Best Buy Very Limited on Launch Day no comments
TUAW reports that while many Best Buy stores will have iPads in stock on launch day, each store will have only 15 units to sell which also includes the not-for-sale demo units. This from a leaked Best Buy internal memo.
Possibly Related Posts:
Tablets Galore no comments
HP Slate
The Spanish site Clipset (via Engadget) has some details on the HP Slate:
- Official launch in June, arriving in Europe in September.
- European pricing is said to be €400.
- Runs Windows 7 and supports Flash.
- Atom processor.
- USB port, card reader and camera on board.
Clipset makes the interesting observation that the HP Slate is like a scaled down netbook while the iPad is like a scaled up iPhone.
Neofonie WePad
The WePad by German company GmbH is due to arrive in German stores next month.
TechCrunch Europe has an article about the WePad that lists its features. The WePad is said to be cheaper than the iPad and has a larger 11.6-inch display vs the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen.
There is an interesting quote from Neofonie:
The WePad provides elderly users in the core target group of newspaper and magazine publishing houses, who generally have little to no experience with PCs with intuitive and fast access to the digital world of their children and grandchildren (Internet, e-mail, social media, etc.).
I think this is an excellent use for tablets. For elderly people who cannot use a computer and for whom becoming computer literate would be difficult, a tablet will be a much simpler way for them to gain access to email and the Internet.
Marvell Moby
Marvell has just announced the Moby and has been displaying a prototype at the Future of Publishing Conference in New York City.
From the press release:
For about $99, Marvell’s Moby tablet prototype promises to change the way students learn by delivering an always-on, high performance multimedia tablet featuring live, real-time content, 1080p full-HD and 3D media, and full Flash Internet. Marvell’s Moby tablet could eliminate the need for students to buy and carry bound textbooks and an array of other tools.
Some of the features:
- Powered by the ARMADA 600 processor.
- Gigahertz-class processor speed.
- 1080P HD encoding and decoding.
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and GPS.
- Support for Flash.
- Support for Android or Windows Mobile.
That’s a really feature-rich device for only $99. The iPad is facing major competition from a lot of competitors that are promising more features and in many cases at a better price.
Possibly Related Posts:
New Photos of the Notion Ink Tablet; A Couple of Interesting Ebook Related Posts no comments
Technoholik has some more photos of the Notion Ink Adam tablet, as well as a chart with the specs. It seems that Notion Ink may plan to release a Pixel Qi version as well as a model with a regular LCD screen. As of yet no definitive prices or availability have been announced, though in an earlier interview at Technoholik a June launch in the U.S. was mentioned.
Slashgear also has a video of the Adam which shows the camera that swivels to the front for webcam use and to the back for taking photos.
The Adam is looking pretty interesting.
A Couple of Interesting Posts About Ebooks and the Publishing Industry
In Towards A World of Smaller Books Ezra Klein notes that many non-academic non-fiction paper books start out as essays and are then padded out with repetitive material to achieve a desirable length for publishing on paper. He speculates that as ebooks predominate this will change and we will see more shorter format work with less bloat. You can read the post at Crooked Timber.
Dan Agin writes an eloquent criticism of the book publishing industry and its apparent inability to adapt to digital publishing at the Huffington Post. Agin seems to think that the whole paper book industry will mostly disappear, and that paper books will some day become relatively rare and costly ( read his response to comments ). I can imagine this happening eventually, but not in our lifetimes. Then again, all it would take is a couple of generations growing up reading mostly digital books and schoolbooks.
Possibly Related Posts:
Camangi WebStation Price Reduction no comments
Besttabletreview is reporting that the Camangi WebStation MID has dropped
in price from $399 to $275. No doubt this is due to competition from all of the other new and upcoming iTablets.
Some of the features of the Camangi WebStation:
- 7-inch LCD screen; 800 x 480 resolution
- Micro SD card slot
- Built-in Wi-Fi and support for some 3G dongle
- Ability to reverse the text/background colors when reading ebooks – said to help keep your eyes from tiring (?)
- Device Size: 4.72 x 7.87 x .57 inches; weight 13.75 oz
- Battery: Standby up to 4 days; up to 4-5 hours when using internet and media
- GPS module
- Android based
- Type A & mini-B USB port
- Various display languages; input in English, Japanese or Simplified Chinese
The Camangi WebStation has received rather mixed reviews, but if you want to try it out for yourself you can order one from Amazon
Possibly Related Posts:
The “Real” iTablet Reveals Itself; e-Ink News no comments
While the press debates whether or not the iPad will make dedicated ereaders obsolete, the iPad is itself coming under increased pressure from newly announced tablets. The battlefields of the tablet wars are getting almost as crowded as those of the nearby ereader wars. Of course none of the other combatants has the Apple brand or the app store behind them, though one of them apparently does have the temerity to copy Apple’s naming conventions.
Electricpig has the goods on the iTablet by X2 Computing. This new iWannabe will run Windows 7 and come with a 250GB hard drive. It also comes with a few features that the iPad is famously missing such as a webcam and USB ports. The iTablet will come with screen sizes of 10.2 inches and 12.1 inches, and is a rather bulky 1.38 inches thick.
It is beginning to look as though any company capable of making a toaster will have either a tablet or an ereader to market by the end of the year.
e-Ink Expanding Production and Features in 2010
Meanwhile Prime View International, which makes e-Ink displays, doesn’t seem to be a believer in the prophesies of coming ereader obsolescence.
Digitimes reports that PVI is increasing its production capacity, which will enable the company to triple its output of e-ink, e-paper films and back-end modules by the end of the year.
PVI also plans to introduce flexible and color e-ink displays this year. Touchscreens and e-ink displays with a response time fast enough to support animation are also in the works.
PVI chairman Scott Liu is quoted as saying that he expects ereader shipments to possibly exceed 10 million units globally in 2010, with over 50 new vendors expected to launch ereaders this year.
