Of the flurry of ebook readers we’ve seen over the past six months or so, one of the more interesting has been the txtr, if only because it promises to embrace the open-source community with its freely-available APIs. Unfortunately, txtr seem less open with their launch updates; the reader is supposedly launching in Germany tomorrow, but the German startup has just revealed that it won’t actually have WiFi.
Among some of the most important things that the world may never know are exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop and exactly how many Kindles Amazon is selling. Amazon won’t offer a firm number of units sold but has announced that the Kindle has broken its sales record.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and weren’t too shopped out yesterday! If you still have shopping to do for Christmas, we have some seen some cool gear over the last week that might be worth a look. The Sony Ericsson Kurara has been reviewed and the verdict is that the device needs to be cheap to succeed. We reviewed the Nokia Booklet 3G this week. The final verdict was that the machine is underpowered and outperformed by first generation netbooks.
Amazon have announced a new firmware update for their Kindle ebook reader that can apparently boost battery life by up to 85-percent. With wireless connectivity turned on, the Kindle now runs for up to seven days rather than the previous four-day battery life; however the non-wireless runtimes are unchanged, suggesting the firmware applies to the Kindle’s modem. The software also adds a native PDF reader to the ebook device.
The ebook reader market has steadily segmented into two niches: the entry-level, non wireless devices and the generally store-affiliated, connectivity-stuffed models. Astak’s EZ Reader falls resolutely into the former category, a compact tablet with a 5-inch E Ink display and basic functionality. Amid the Kindles and Nooks of the world is there room for the EZ Reader? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Here we go with another week in review. Monday IDC released their data on the number of CPUs shipped for Q3 2009. The number of CPUS shipped grew 23% for the quarter compared to the previous year. ZiiLABS unveiled its new ZMS-08 Blu-ray quality media processor this week. The processor promises to be full 1080p HD video support and more for portable devices like tablets.
By all accounts, the Amazon Kindle DX has been wildly successful for Amazon.com. The eReader has sparked a gob of new competing products and is selling very well around the world. There was a push by some to get the Kindle DX into universities for use instead of textbooks.
We first caught wind of the Amazon Kindle for PC application back in October when it was announced with a vague launch date of November. Amazon announced yesterday that the Kindle for PC application is now available for download. The app turns your notebook or desktop into an eReader to access the Amazon digital book site.
Whether or not Barnes and Noble liked it enough to copy it, Spring Design’s Alex prototype dual-display ebook reader is certainly nifty enough to capture our interest. MaximumPC had a chance to go hands-on with the Alex, which has a 6-inch e-ink screen up top and a 3.5-inch color capacitive touchscreen underneath for control and navigation, as part of a Marvell demonstration for the company’s new ARMADA 166E SoC.
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Creative got us all excited when it unveiled its Android-powered Zii Egg last month. Creative has now announced the coming of the next device in the Zii family called the Zii MediaBook. The MediaBook is the company's first entry into the eBook market. The device will compete alongside the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle.
SlashGear Japan
