Now that Amazon has unveiled its new Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite devices, it seems no place was left for the Kindle DX. The significant discount on the Kindle DX was an effort to remove stocks ahead of the new products launching and Amazon is no longer selling the DX directly to customers. If you’ve have been wanting one of the larger Kindle DX readers, you can still get it used via third-party merchants on Amazon.

The indication that the DX is being removed from the Kindle line comes in the fact that there’s no mention of when the device will be back in stock. The tablet has also reportedly been removed from the Kindle family box and the comparison tables of different Kindle models on Amazon. Taken together that indicates that the DX has, in fact, been discontinued rather than simply being out of stock.

The chance of a new model of similar size packing its own little keyboard coming aren’t great. The market has shifted significantly towards tablets, and Amazon has done impressively well with its Kindle Fire line of tablets so far.

[viaThe eBook Reader]

The connection is tethered via USB, rather than the wireless link used in Air Display, though that’s the least of the limitations. Obviously you’re working with greyscale rather than color, and the refresh rate is nowhere near that of LCD or AMOLED panels. TinyApps suggests setting the Universal Access settings to also use greyscale, so as to avoid the Mac attempting to show mangled color graphics.

Still, there are some possible uses we can see for such a setup. If you regularly need to review longer documents, doing so on a Kindle screen rather than a regular, backlit display would be easier on the eyes. It’s also quicker – once you’ve done the jailbreaking and other setup the first time – than converting multiple documents to a Kindle format ebook and sideloading.

The most limiting factor is probably the relatively small audience. Exact Kindle DX ownership figures have never been revealed, but the expensive 9.7-inch ereader hasn’t been as popular as its smaller, cheaper sibling.

The Amazon Kindle, in all three of its variations, will be landing in Staples stores beginning this Sunday, October 10th. The Kindle and Kindle 3G will be the only two models available on Sunday, so if you were hoping to get your hands on one of the Kindle DX models, you’ll have to wait until about mid-November. Staples is pulling out all the stops,too, as they’ve confirmed that accessories will be sold alongside the Kindle models.

If you’ve been waiting for the Kindle to land in more stores so you can actually interact with one before you pull the trigger on a purchase, Staples will have interactive displays for the Kindle units, and they should be in every store where the eReader will be sold. Potential customers will be able to use the Kindle for a short while, to help them determine if they’d like to pick one up. So if you don’t have a Target or Best Buy around you, and Staples is your last hope, you’re in luck. Prices will remain the same: $139 for the WiFi-only model, and $189 for the 3G+WiFi model. As for the DX, that will still run you $379 for the 9.7-inch device.

[via Electronista]

But, if you were expecting to play some online multiplayer with your other Kindle owners, courtesy of that 3G or WiFi connectivity, unfortunately the game doesn’t support it. It does support on-device multiplayer, though. While other applications have popped up for the Kindles since Amazon released the app platform, the majority of them have been free, and first-party applications. Some of them have even been built into the firmware.

Unfortunately for the Kindle, it’s next to impossible to make any fast-paced actions games for the platform, thanks to the e-paper display and its slower refresh rates, as well as the processor under the hood. But, if Scrabble is something you’ve been waiting for, then you can get your hands on it right now for $5.

[via iReader Review]

Starting this Fall, Staples will officially be carrying all three models of the Kindle line-up. That includes the traditional 3G/WiFi-enabled Kindle, the WiFi-only version, and the larger-than-life Kindle DX. The units will be available in more than 1,550 locations across the country (that means every Staples location, for the record), and you’ll be able to grab the devices for the same price that you’d pay online. That means you’ll get the WiFi-only model for $139, the 3G-equipped version for $189, and the DX will run you a cold $379.

But, to make sure that you’re Kindle doesn’t leave the store all alone, you’ll also be able to get your hands on a wide assortment of accessories. There’s no word on when exactly this will all go down. “Early Fall” is all we get for now. But considering Fall is right around the corner, we probably don’t have too long to wait. Unless you’re wanting the Kindle DX, which will apparently be available in “late Fall.”

Press Release

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) announced today plans to offer customers Kindle, Amazon’s #1 best-selling, most-wished-for and most-gifted product for two years running. Staples is the only office superstore to carry the wireless reading device in all of its stores nationwide beginning this fall. Interactive displays will allow customers to experience the product before they buy and to learn more about the new generation Kindle which recently launched to rave reviews from the New York Times, Wired, CNET, PC World, PC Magazine, and more.

“We are excited that such a great company and brand as Staples will be offering the new generation Kindle to its customers”
“Staples is not just bringing this incredible product to our 1,550+ US stores, but we are offering customers a chance to discover first-hand Amazon’s revolutionary reading device,” said Jevin Eagle, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at Staples. “As part of our efforts to offer customers a wide range of top technology products and services at amazing values, the new Kindle is a natural fit.”

Kindle is Amazon.com’s best-selling product, a reading device that wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. The all-new Kindle has a new electronic-ink screen with 50 percent better contrast, is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter, boasts 20 percent faster page turns, up to one month of battery life with wireless off, double the storage to 3,500 books, and more — all for only $139.

Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The Kindle Store now has more than 670,000 books, including New Releases and 107 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 550,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 73 New York Times Best Sellers. Kindle lets you Buy Once, Read Everywhere — on Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.

Staples will carry the following new Kindle devices:

Kindle ($139.00) – 6” diagonal
Kindle 3G ($189.00) – 6” diagonal
Kindle DX ($379.00) – 9.7” diagonal (available at Staples late fall 2010)

“We are excited that such a great company and brand as Staples will be offering the new generation Kindle to its customers,” said Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Staples will be offering its customers a great experience with Kindle — the ability to think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds, read on a screen that is easy on the eyes even in bright sunlight, carry thousands of books with them wherever they go in just 8.5 ounces — all for only $139.”

Staples will also carry a full assortment of Kindle accessories. Kindle is part of several new exciting technology products available from Staples in time for the 2010 holiday season. Staples will announce their full line-up of top tech products and other great savings for the season later this fall.

Customers can take advantage of Staples’ extensive technology offerings year-round as well. Staples makes buying technology easy as one of the leading retailers of computers, printers, software, ink and toner. In addition, at every U.S. store, Staples EasyTechs provide customers with a wide range of technology services such as new computer set-up, hardware and software installations, data transfer and security, and repair and troubleshooting. Visit www.staples.com/techservices to learn more.

About Staples

Staples, the world’s largest office products company, is committed to making it easy for customers to buy a wide range of office products and services. Our broad selection of office supplies, electronics, technology and office furniture as well as business services, including computer repair and copying and printing, helps our customers run their offices efficiently. With 2009 sales of $24 billion and 91,000 associates worldwide, Staples operates in 26 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia serving businesses of all sizes and consumers. Staples invented the office superstore concept in 1986 and today ranks second worldwide in e-commerce sales. The company is headquartered outside Boston. More information about Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) is available at www.staples.com/media.

Video review and close-up display comparison after the cut

The second-gen Kindle DX uses E Ink’s new Pearl epaper display, which the manufacturer claims offers a 50-percent improvement in contrast.  That, they say, makes it more like reading a regular paperback novel, rather than the newsprint-like experience of their previous-generation Vizplex screen technology.

The difference certainly looks clear in the close-up, though of course we’ll wait until we see a DX in the plastic ourselves before making the final judgement.  Still, we’re looking forward to seeing this new Pearl display tech make its way into the smaller Kindle model (which is a little more pocket-friendly, both in terms of size and price) which is predicted to take place later on in 2010.

[via The Digital Reader]

Some users of the iPhone 4 started to report that their handsets were getting very hot. Some even reported that their device was locking itself due to overheating. Sony issued the new PS3 3.40 firmware Tuesday. The firmware added PlayStation Plus, Facebook, and more to the console.

iSuppli tore down the new iPhone 4 early in the week to see what was inside. The teardown artists figure the iPhone 4 costs about $187.51 to build for the 16GB version. With all the complaints and issues for users of the iPhone 4 it was little surprise to hear talk of class action suits spring up. The issues with poor reception are the reason for the class action talk.

Corsair announced early in the week that a security glitch with its Padlock 2 flash drive had been discovered. The glitch allowed the password to be removed without affecting the data leaving it vulnerable. Another new potential issue with the iPhone 4 surfaced this week with proximity sensor issues being reported. The sensors are said to randomly activate the screen during a call making it easy to hang up or mute the call you are on accidentally.

Hulu Plus was officially announced this week with more shows and in HD quality. The shows will stream to the iPhone, iPad, and various TVs. Tuesday we posted up our official iPhone 4 review. In the end, we say the new device is a worthwhile upgrade for any user of an older iPhone.

Wednesday brought a rumor that Verizon was set to launch LTE in several test markets in November and then offer LTE handsets in those markets on Black Friday. This would be an earlier launch for its LTE networks than previously expected. Street legal Tron lightcycles hit eBay for auction in the middle of the week. Every geek that likes Tron was drooling for one of the $35K beasts.

Dell was accused of trying to cover up sales of defective computers in 2003-2005. The machines allegedly had mainboards that would fail at a significant rate. Sony announced that some of its Vaio notebooks were overheating to the point of warping the plastic cases this week. The machines were under a recall issued and a new firmware was offered to fix the overheat problem.

Details of Android 3.0 codenamed Gingerbread surfaced midweek. Notable improvements included 720p displays and fragmentation. Amazon unveiled a new Kindle DX this week with a graphite color and a new screen. The screen offers 50% better contrast than the original for $379.

Microsoft officially killed off the Kin feature phones after sales were abysmal for the devices. Hopefully carriers and hardware makers get the point that questionable hardware with a high-priced data plan will not fly with consumers. Lucasfilm told Wicked Lasers to stop selling that sweet Pro Arctic Laser that we saw a week or so ago. The laser looks too much like a lightsaber for Lucasfilm’s comfort.

Apple PR announced that the emails allegedly from Steve Jobs telling a user that the iPhone 4 was “just a phone” were fake. Someone sent the emails as a hoax. That talk of a class action suit over the issues with the iPhone 4 came true. The first class action suit was filed in a Maryland court Wednesday.

Dell officially announced that it did not knowingly sell defective computers on Friday. This was in response to the allegations that Dell tried to cover up defective computers made earlier in the week. Friday we learned that the issues with signal strength on the iPhone 4 when held just right came down to an incorrect formula for calculating signal strength. A new firmware update is coming to fix the issue. Thanks for reading and have a safe holiday weekend!

If you want a better analogy, E Ink reckon that their previous-gen Vizplex screens were similar to text on newspaper, while Pearl is more like a paperback book.  It also boosts detail and reduces jagged edges on fonts and images.

As for the hardware specs, E Ink are claiming a 10:1 contrast ratio, near 180-degree viewing angle, sub-1s refresh, and between 150 and 200 dpi depending on panel size.  There are five sizes on offer: 5-, 6-, 7-, 8- and 9.7-inches, suggesting we may see the next-gen Kindle using an E Ink Pearl panel sometime later this year.

Press Release:

E Ink Announces Next Generation Display Platform

E Ink expands the marketplace for electronic reading with the introduction of E Ink Pearl, the next generation, easy-to-read electronic paper display with high contrast and sunlight readability.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–E Ink® Corporation, the leading developer and marketer of electronic paper display technology, today announced the Q2 release of its next generation display technology, Pearl. With Pearl, E Ink expands the capabilities of reflective displays, bringing electronic paper performance to the next level. With the whitest reflective displays in the industry, and a contrast ratio now approximately 50 percent greater than today’s products, text on Pearl “pops” from the page, enabling a reading experience most similar to reading text on printed paper.

“E Ink Pearl enables further adoption with a next generation product that is a more lightweight and eco-friendly product than ordinary paper, with less eye strain and longer battery life than an LCD.”
“As the electronic reading market continues to expand, there are more opportunities for expansion not only in the eBook space, but also for eNewspapers, eMagazines and eTextbooks,” according to Felix Ho Chairman of E Ink. “E Ink Pearl enables further adoption with a next generation product that is a more lightweight and eco-friendly product than ordinary paper, with less eye strain and longer battery life than an LCD.”

“The use of electrophoretic displays for eBook readers is growing rapidly. DisplaySearch forecasts that the market value in 2010 will be $837 million, and will grow by 44 percent in 2011, reaching $1.2 billion,” according to Paul Semenza, senior vice president, DisplaySearch. “E Ink’s new technology should continue to position them at the forefront of this market segment.”

The E Ink Pearl design builds on the current generation of Vizplex designs, which is used in millions of eReader devices today. Due to a unique and proven two pigment system that is extremely stable, the current E Ink products in the market today have demonstrated long life and high reliability, enabling a whole new class of consumer products.

Enhanced Readability

Images and text become crisp on the screen as the contrast between the background and item of interest is increased. E Ink Pearl raises the bar for displays used in digital reading. This allows for eReaders to go from a contrast ratio typical of newspapers, to a higher contrast ratio typical of paperback books. The crisp text and detailed graphics also continue to remain pleasant to view when E Ink products are enjoyed outside. In addition, with 16 gray level depth, E Ink Pearl offers the sharpest rendering of images and allows product developers to display images with smooth tones and rich detail.

Lowest Power

E Ink technology products are the lowest power displays in the market today for eReaders. E Ink Pearl carries forward that capability with next generation performance. In addition, compared to other technologies, E Ink is completely bi-stable, requiring no power to hold an image or page of text. Forget about bookmarks – an E Ink display can hold your page and save your battery life for weeks or even months, so you can pick up right where you left off.

Widest Ecosystem

E Ink has partnered with top tier semiconductor companies to provide a best-in-class ecosystem of supporting electronics products. Tier one semiconductor providers such as Epson, Freescale, Marvell and Texas Instruments have created integrated circuits that will support the Pearl platform. These ICs include display drivers and power management products (PMIC). With these partnerships, E Ink has continued to advance the state-of-the-art and provide design flexibility to product manufacturers.

About E Ink Holdings Inc.

Founded in 1992 by Taiwan’s leading papermaking and printing group YFY (1907.TW), E Ink Holdings Inc. “E Ink” (8069.TW) is the pioneer TFT and ePaper business in Taiwan. Its corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences, and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper display as well as its 2008 acquisition of Hydis Technologies, manufacturer of the world’s best wide viewing angle LCDs and its 2009 acquisition of E Ink Corp., the worldwide leader in ePaper. Listed in Taiwan’s OTC market and the Luxembourg market, E Ink is now the world’s largest supplier of displays to the eBook market.

The casing has now flipped from white to graphite, but otherwise the DX is the same as before.  That means integrated 3G wireless – which can be used internationally – for downloading ebooks, magazines and periodicals, a full QWERTY keyboard, storage for up to 3,500 documents and battery life of up to a week with wireless on and double that with it turned off.

Of course, at 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38 inches it’s still a sizeable beast, and the market is probably smaller than for the regular Kindle.  The new Amazon Kindle DX is available for preorder now, priced at $379, with deliveries expected to kick off from July 7th 2010.

Press Release:

Amazon Introduces New Kindle DX with 50 Percent Better Display Contrast and New Lower Price of $379

Amazon’s latest generation large screen portable reader features all new, high contrast e-ink screen for the clearest text and sharpest images

SEATTLE—July 1, 2010—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today introduced the new latest generation Kindle DX and new lower price of $379, down from $489, and still with free 3G wireless—no monthly bills or annual contracts. Kindle DX is the 9.7-inch large screen member of Amazon’s family of revolutionary portable readers. The new Kindle DX features a new graphite enclosure and an all new, high contrast electronic ink display with 50 percent better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images. The new Kindle DX is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com/kindledx and it ships July 7.

“There’s no turning back once you read on our beautiful new Kindle DX screen,” said Steve Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle. “With 50 percent better contrast and darker fonts, you’ll find it easier than ever to read wherever you happen to be, whether it’s outside in bright sunlight or under the low light of your living room. We’re excited to offer the new Kindle DX with free 3G wireless at the lower price of $379.”

The Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) now has more than 620,000 books, including New Releases and 108 of 111 New York Times bestsellers, starting at $9.99 or less. More than 200,000 books have been added to the U.S. Kindle Store in just the last six months, including the full selection of John Grisham titles. Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle, including classics such as “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Treasure Island.”

All New, High Contrast E-ink Screen: The new, graphite Kindle DX uses Amazon’s all new electronic ink display with 50 percent improved contrast for the clearest text and the sharpest images.

Beautiful Large Display: Kindle DX’s 9.7-inch diagonal e-ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX’s screen looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in the living room.

Buy Books Once, Read Them Anywhere: Kindle books can be read on the devices people use every day, including Kindle, Kindle DX, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android phone, and BlackBerry. Plus, Amazon’s Whispersync technology also automatically saves and synchronizes customer book libraries and last page read across all these devices.

Free 3G Wireless, No Monthly Bills or Annual Contracts: Shop the Kindle Store and download new content wirelessly in less than 60 seconds—all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Amazon pays for the 3G wireless connectivity, so there are no monthly fees or annual contracts.

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Kindle books are delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds, no PC or setup required.

Global 3G Coverage: Kindle DX offers 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries.

Long Battery Life: Read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on or 2 weeks with wireless turned off.

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases from $9.99.

Incredibly Slim: At just over 1/3 of an inch, Kindle DX is as thin as most magazines.

Carry Your Library: Carry up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents.

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Social Networks: New Twitter and Facebook integration enables the millions of Kindle customers to post meaningful passages and share their love of reading instantly with family and friends, and in turn, help them discover new authors, new books, and new ideas.

Built-In PDF Reader: With Kindle DX’s large display and built-in PDF reader, read professional and personal documents with more complex layouts without scrolling, panning, or zooming, and without re-flowing. Zoom capability is now available in Kindle DX for easily viewing small print and detailed tables or graphics.

Auto-Rotating Screen: Read in portrait or landscape mode using Kindle DX’s auto-rotating screen. Simply turn Kindle DX and immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables and images, all displayed in higher contrast on Kindle DX’s new screen.

Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud.

Customers can discover full details and pre-order the new Kindle DX for $379 today at www.amazon.com/kindledx and it will begin shipping on July 7.

About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

What do you get if you do go through the trouble of downloading the update? Well, you don’t have to wait for the OTA update, and that has to count for something. Features wise, you’ll be able to share passes of your books on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and you’ll also be able to sort your novels, and whatever else, into nice little collections.

Other features include password protection, as well as the ability to choose from new, larger fonts, just in case the ones you’ve been using for however long just aren’t doing it for you anymore. So far, those on the forums who’ve downloaded the update say that everything is working great, but just the same, we recommend really doing some research with this. Manual updates are generally fine, but you never know what may happen when you take things into your own hands. Oh, and if you want to see if you’ve got the correct “international” version of a Kindle, find your serial number by going into your Settings and type in “411.” Or, you can look on the back of your eReader. If you see “Boo2,” then you aren’t part of the international club, sorry. But, if you’ve got “Boo3,” then you’re good to go. If you take the leap of faith, let us know how it goes, all right?

[via Kindle Boards]

The software also adds the ability to password protect the Kindle, so as to avoid unauthorised use, together with seeing which passages in the current text you’re reading are being most highlighted by other Kindle users.  There are new, larger fonts on offer, together with the ability to “zoom into PDFs and pan around to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics.”  We’ve just turned on a Kindle here and are yet to see the OTA update; any SlashGear-reading Kindle owners out there luckier than we are?

There’s also a new Collections feature, which allows you to “organize your books and documents into one or more collections” and likely comes as a response to criticism that navigating page after page of on-device texts is a cumbersome way of managing content.  It will also be possible to password protect the Kindle, together with seeing which passages in the current text you’re reading are being most highlighted by other Kindle users.

Amazon are also boosting the number of fonts on offer, promising sharper clarity and two new larger sizes, along with adding the ability to “zoom into PDFs and pan around to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics.”  The update is being rolled out to select testers currently, before its wider availability in the coming months.

[via The Digital Reader]

The H4 concept is simple: an iMac-like base supports a tilting, rotating cradle assembly with four posable arms. At the extremities of each arm there’s a rubberised peg which – by sitting the iPad in the middle and pushing the arms closed – can tightly grip the tablet without scratching it. iPad removed and it looks a little like a headless acrobat performing jumping-jacks, but the benefit to the overly-flexible adjustment is that you needn’t remove your tablet from its case; the H4 will grab on even if there’s a little extra bulk to accommodate.

Once in, since there are only six small points of contact, there’s plenty of room to access the iPad’s minimal controls and ports. The slotted base allows you to route an iPad sync cable neatly through, and – like the arms – all the edges are sufficiently smoothed off that we wouldn’t worry about either iPad or cables getting scratched or sliced with regular use.

As well as portrait orientation, the H4 grip swivels for using the iPad in landscape orientation; it’s great for watching videos without having to hold or prop up the screen. The pivot is stiff enough to hold the iPad in place, but not so much as to make rotating it difficult. It’s actually possible to turn it a whole 360-degrees, though since the top edge lacks any grips you probably wouldn’t want to leave it in that orientation lest the iPad drop out. Meanwhile the hinge means the iPad can tilt back so that the screen is entirely flat, useful for two-player games, or flip completely over to face whoever you’re sat opposite.

Stability is good, with a decent sized base plate – atop rubber feet – and the whole stand tipping the scales at just under a pound. Unless you’re overly aggressive with your taps, we wouldn’t worry above the H4 toppling over in regular use. It’s also worth noting that Luxa2 don’t just recommend the holder for Apple’s iPad but as a Kindle DX stand, too.

So, flexible, posable and pretty; what’s not to like? Well, the rubber pegs aren’t exactly the most attractive of things, clustering around the display, but beyond that it’s hard to argue too much with either the H4 or the roughly $50 price tag Luxa2 have attached to it. Admittedly it’s considerably more than the basic $29 Apple iPad Dock, which will also charge and sync your tablet, together with offering an audio-out socket, but the official dock’s biggest issue is its absence of landscape orientation support. Similarly, while $19 more than the H4 will get you an Apple iPad Keyboard Dock – with its integrated QWERTY – you’re still limited to working in portrait orientation.

DIY iPad docks are great, and often cheap, but if you’re looking for an off-the-shelf option then the Luxa2 H4 iPad Holder fits the bill. Wide degrees of flexibility and sturdy build make it not only a great way to keep your iPad raised up from the detritus on your desk, but also for media and ebook consumption.

Update: Luxa2 tell us that the H4 is expected to hit the retail market in early May 2010

The Best of R3 Media:

The MyTouch Slide Shows Up in RadioShack: No, no. Not in stores. Well, not where you can get to them as a consumer, anyway. It looks like the MyTouch Slide has popped into a RadioShack inventory list. Unfortunately, the internal list doesn’t have a picture (because we’re hoping it doesn’t look like this), and it’s listed as coming soon. That soon seems pretty . . . Soon, especially if those rumors of a May 17th launch date turn out to be true. [via Android Community]

Apple’s iPad Gets Reviewed: The iPad is one of those devices that’s going to keep getting scrutinized for quite some time. If the iPhone is any indicator, it will keep getting scrutinized up until about the next one comes out, and maybe even past that. But, that’s not stopping the glowing reviews from being issued. Everything iPad reviewed the tablet from Apple, and while there might be some snags (that may get cleared up tomorrow), the overall assessment is that the new gadget from Cupertino is a nice addition to their line-up. [via Everything iPad]

Verizon Wireless Has New Phones Coming Soon: Who would’ve thought! Sure enough, there seems to be enough rumors floating around (or swirling around in a gigantic storm, if you prefer) that Verizon Wireless executives needed to push out a message to employees that they do, in fact, have some new handsets planned for release soon. There’s even more rumors about what the devices may be, and let’s face it: there’s good reason for those rumors. From the Android side of things, it could be an internal message saying that the HTC Incredible is set to launch soon. Or, if you want to remember Microsoft’s got something planned on April 12th, we could very well be seeing the Turtle and Pure hitting shelves soon. Your guess is as good as ours. [via SlashPhone]

The Dredge Net:

Amazon Kindle Hitting Target Stores April 25th: We wouldn’t be going out on too far a limb here if we were going to assume that Amazon, the house that built the Kindle, is a bit worried about the iPad. Yes, the Kindle may still be one of the best, if not the best singular eReader device on the market, but with the launch of the iBookstore and iBooks, the Kindle has some major competition. So, what’s the next step (besides launching a new device)? You start selling your product in brick-and-mortar stores. According to a snapshot of a Target inventory device, there’s a 6-inch Amazon Kindle device listed for purchase. The price? $259 (still). Rumor has it that the device will hit stores on April 25th. [via Engadget]

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Says the iPad Isn’t a Threat: First, this: “Clearly, it doesn’t look like their platform is a viable profit platform…” That’s the start of a very interesting quote from the President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime. The rest goes on to say that, because there’s more free downloads than paid ones, the iPad (and iPhone/iPod Touch by default) isn’t a threat to Nintendo, or any of its mobile gaming platforms. We’d have to second guess that a bit, considering reports from companies like Flurry, which tracks sales from Apple’s mobile devices, estimated that there were 30,000 games available in the App Store, and that all of those games bring in an estimated $500 million. Perhaps to Nintendo that’s a low number, but we don’t imagine that Apple, or Steve Jobs for that matter, is wondering if their platforms are gaming worthy. [via Kotaku]

Lightsaber Nightlight Will Keep You Safe From Shifty Sith: Are you a fan of Star Wars? No, a real fan. Because this nightlight is even worse than the bookends we’ve seen in previous editions of the Daily Slash. Well, perhaps worse isn’t the right word, but we will say that this is definitely a product for the hardcore. (Though, we could be wrong.) This lightsaber nightlight actually has seven different color modes, and you can change the color just from a button on a separate remote. The lightsaber light itself hangs on the wall, wherever you want to put it, and it looks like it might do a pretty good job of actually discarding some of those shadows. [via DVICE]

This Cellphone is Made of Marble. Really: There’s nothing much else to add here. This is a cellphone, made of marble. And yes, it’s going to be expensive. And yes, you’ll be stared at by pretty much everyone if you actually even think about getting this. A cellphone. Made from marble.  What’s next? We’re almost afraid to ask. [via Gizmodo]

The project builds on previous work getting a telnet connection with the Kindle over a USB connection, but of course this new hack allows for wireless access.  Right now there’s no power management or local Bluetooth searching control; when it’s turned on and unpaired, the Bluetooth module is constantly searching for a new connection, which has seen battery life for the Kindle DX drop from over a week to around four days.

Darron has also been working on getting Qt running on the Kindle, and so far he’s managed to compile the platform and throw in support for the E Ink display, the QWERTY keyboard and the 5-way joystick.  Just to show it all works, he’s also got a Sudoku app running; who needs Amazon’s Kindle Development Kit, eh?

[via Hack a Day]

Already signed up are Zagat and Sonic Boom, who will be creating interactive restaurant guides and simple puzzle games respectively.  Meanwhile EA Mobile have also thrown their hat into the ring, though it’s unclear which of their titles might transition over to Kindle.

It’s hard to see this as something other than a pre-emptive attempt to cut Apple off at the pass, what with the Cupertino company expected to out their Apple Tablet next Wednesday.  Rumors have persisted that Apple have been in ongoing talks with publishers and ebook content providers, and of course there is the well-packed App Store for software that most presume will run on the tablet.

Press Release:

Amazon Announces Kindle Development Kit–Software Developers Can Now Build Active Content for Kindle

Travel books that suggest activities based on real-time weather and current events, cookbooks that recommend menus based on size of party and allergies, and word games and puzzles–just some of the possibilities with the new Kindle Development Kit

SEATTLE, Jan 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — (NASDAQ: AMZN)–For the past two years, Amazon has welcomed authors and publishers to directly upload and sell content in the Kindle Store through the self-service Kindle publishing platform. Today, Amazon announced that it is inviting software developers to build and upload active content that will be available in the Kindle Store later this year. The new Kindle Development Kit gives developers access to programming interfaces, tools and documentation to build active content for Kindle–the #1 bestselling, most wished for, and most gifted product across all categories on Amazon. Developers can learn more about the Kindle Development Kit today at http://www.amazon.com/kdk/ and sign up to be notified when the limited beta starts next month.

“We’ve heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “The Kindle Development Kit opens many possibilities–we look forward to being surprised by what developers invent.”

The Kindle Development Kit enables developers to build active content that leverages Kindle’s unique combination of seamless and invisible 3G wireless delivery over Amazon Whispernet, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, and long battery life of seven days with wireless activated. For example, Handmark is building an active Zagat guide featuring their trusted ratings, reviews and more for restaurants in cities around the world, and Sonic Boom is building word games and puzzles.

“As the leading worldwide publisher of mobile games, EA Mobile has had the privilege of collaborating with many dynamic and innovative companies in bringing exciting gaming experiences to new platforms,” says Adam Sussman, Vice President of Worldwide Publishing, EA Mobile. “Working with Amazon, we look forward to bringing some of the world’s most popular and fun games to Kindle and their users.”

Starting next month, participants in the limited beta will be able to download the Kindle Development Kit, access developer support, test content on Kindle, and submit finished content. Those wait-listed will be invited to participate as space becomes available. The Kindle Development Kit includes sample code, documentation, and the Kindle Simulator, which helps developers build and test their content by simulating the 6-inch Kindle and 9.7-inch Kindle DX on Mac, PC, and Linux desktops.

About Amazon Kindle

Kindle and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the most wished for, the most gifted, and the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

The National Federation for the Blind (NFB), the American Council for the Blind (ACB) and Arizona State University has announced that they have reached a settlement in the litigation stemming from ASU attempting to offer the Kindle on its campus. The allegation was that the Kindle DX was inaccessible to the blind and violated federal law.

The settlement was reached in part because the pilot program will end in September 2010. Amazon is making improvements to the readers, ASU is working to deploy readers in classes over the next two years, and it is looking to use devices accessible to the blind. The settlement didn’t involve any damages or the payment of any attorney’s fees.

The link has now been replaced with a standard “Free 2 day shipping notice” and clicking on it led to a 404 error anyway, but the conclusion is easy: a version of the Kindle DX with wireless that can be used outside of the US is on its way sooner rather than later.  No word on pricing, but given Amazon first offered the Kindle Global Edition at $20 more than the regular US-only model, then deleted the latter and reduced the Global to $259, we’re guessing the Kindle DX Global Edition will come in at the same $489 as the original model.

[via Engadget]

Given the features aren’t expected until Summer 2010, however, we do wonder whether this announcement was pushed out to coincide with reviews of the Barnes & Noble nook, perhaps the first significant wireless ebook reader competitor to the Kindle’s crown.  You can find our nook review here.

Press Release:

Blind and Vision-Impaired Readers to Benefit from New Kindle Features in 2010

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kindle, the #1 bestselling product across all of Amazon, has enabled many vision-impaired readers to enjoy books more easily than before, and has also helped dyslexic readers and those with learning disabilities improve their reading skills. Vision impaired customers benefit from Kindle’s ability to change the font size – easily making any book a large print edition. Dyslexic readers benefit from being able to listen with Kindle’s text-to-speech technology while simultaneously reading along with the synchronized text. Today, Amazon announced that it is working on a new set of features that will make Kindle even better for these readers as well as a meaningful breakthrough device for the blind.

“Kindle is for anyone who loves to read—in fact, we’ve heard from thousands of vision-impaired customers and customers with learning disabilities over the past two years who have been helped tremendously by Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “With some key modifications, we believe Kindle can be a breakthrough device for the blind, and the team is excited about making these enhancements.”

Below are examples of emails sent to the Kindle team over the past two years about the significance of these features:

“The other day I took my visually impaired friend to the eye doctor. I just happened to take my Kindle out of my purse to show her the birthday gift I had received. Amazingly, she was able to read on it. How exciting; she had not been able to read books for many years.”

“I’ve always loved to read, but the last year or so vision problems have hampered my reading. Reading small print was extremely difficult and caused eye strain. Fortunately, a dear friend gifted me with my Kindle 2 on my birthday in September. Since that time, my Kindle has not left my side.”

“I have an 11 year old daughter with cerebral palsy. She has very poor vision and cannot turn pages in a book, so the kindle text to speech is a blessing for her. She loves books and will listen for hours!”

“I am an ophthalmologist specializing in rehabilitation of the visually impaired. I have found the Kindle DX to be of tremendous value to my patients. A few modifications could increase its effectiveness.”

[From teacher of students with learning disabilities] “One of my students brought his mom’s Kindle to class this week and gave a little show and tell for two different classes. He is certainly a hard worker, but reading is not an easy skill for him. He reports that the lack of back-lighting, the ability to change font size and the ‘read-to’ features have been very helpful – already he feels he has made great progress! The Kindle has really grabbed the attention of many of my students who have typically been turned off by reading assignments.”

To make Kindle more useful for the blind, the Kindle team is currently working on an audible menuing system so blind and vision-impaired readers can easily navigate to books unassisted, in addition to listening to books as they can already do today with Read To Me. In addition, a new super size font will be added to Kindle, increasing the number of font sizes from six to seven. This seventh font size will be twice the height and width of the current largest font. These new features are scheduled for release by the summer of 2010.

To receive emails from Amazon when new features and updates on this topic are available, please send an email to blind-interest@amazon.com.

Amazon reports that the Kindle has broken its record for the number of units sold in a single month. The interesting part of the announcement is that Amazon says the sales record for the Kindle was broken before the expected Cyber Monday rush set in today. Last week the Kindle received a firmware update that allowed 85% more battery life with wireless on.

“Kindle is a great gift for anyone who loves to read and it’s flying off the shelves faster than any other product Amazon sells,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re seeing lots of people buying from one to a handful of Kindles as gifts for friends or family, as well as many businesses and other organizations buying Kindles in large quantities for their employees or customers.”

The update is, Amazon claim, the culmination of six months of testing and tweaking, and they’re giving themselves a big pat on the back for it too.  ”Battery power management for portable wireless devices” they explain “is a complex technical area”, so we should probably buy them all a drink or something.

The new firmware will be preloaded on all new Kindles, and delivered to existing “new” Kindle models via Whispernet; they haven’t confirmed a timescale for when that update will go out.  Meanwhile, owners of “some” earlier Kindle models – Amazon don’t specify which – will get the PDF reader as an update.  PDFs can then be copied over via a USB connection or delivered wirelessly by emailing them to the ebook reader; putting “Convert” in the subject line will trigger an automatic-conversion to Amazon’s Kindle ebook format.

Press Release:

Amazon Extends Battery Life of Newest Kindle by 85 Percent and Adds Native PDF Reader

Kindle Now Lasts up to Seven Days on a Single Charge with Wireless on, up from Four Days, and Displays Native PDFs in Their Original Form

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 24, 2009– Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced two new enhancements to the latest generation Kindle—85 percent more battery life and a native PDF reader. Kindle now has battery life of up to seven days even with wireless turned on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of four days. Battery life with wireless turned off remains at the previous level of up to two weeks. Battery power management for portable wireless devices is a complex technical area, and the battery life improvement announced today is the result of a six month firmware improvement and testing program.

Amazon also announced today that the 6-inch Kindle now has a built-in native PDF reader that enables Kindle customers to read professional and personal documents in their original PDF format without conversion. Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment today at www.amazon.com/kindle.

“Kindle, already the #1 bestselling, most wished for, and most gifted product on all of Amazon.com, is now even better—with 85 percent more battery life and a built-in PDF reader,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “These two significant enhancements are available now.”

To read their personal or professional documents, Kindle customers simply email PDFs to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection. Customers that prefer to have their PDF documents converted to the Kindle format simply type “Convert” in the subject of the e-mail when sending documents to their “@kindle.com” address.

Amazon also announced today that previous purchasers of the new Kindle will also receive the 85 percent battery life improvements with wireless on, and native PDF support via a firmware update automatically delivered via Whispernet wireless. Native PDF support will also be available for some earlier versions of Kindle via an automatic Whispernet wireless firmware update.

The National Federation for the Blind is supporting the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University decisions to not use the Kindle DX for electronic textbooks. The reason the Federation supports the decision is that the Kindle DX has menus that are not accessible by the blind.

Both universities say that they will not purchase any more of the Kindle DX devices because of the devices are inaccessible to the blind. I don’t get that; normal textbooks are inaccessible to the blind too. Why block students that can see from using something that would be much more convenient than normal textbooks.

“Good news! Due to strong customer demand for our newest Kindle with U.S. and international wireless, we are consolidating our family of 6″ Kindles. As part of this consolidation, we are lowering the price of the Kindle you just purchased from $279 down to $259. You don’t need to do anything to get the lower price–we are automatically issuing you a $20 refund. This refund should be processed in the next few days and will appear as a credit on your next billing statement.” Amazon email to Kindle customers

Meanwhile Wired have been playing with the new international Kindle, and as we highlighted at its launch they’ve been a little disappointed with the US-centric accessories, such as the power adapter with US pins.  They’ve also suffered mediocre wireless speeds; a 4.4mb ebook took several minutes to download.

However, on the plus side there’s Wikipedia access from the “experimental” browser, a surprise given that Amazon had said that international Kindles wouldn’t have any browser functionality outside of the US.  That at least saves you $99 for a WikiReader.  We’re yet to see an international version of the Kindle DX, but Amazon have confirmed that one is in the pipeline.

[via Engadget]

According to Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener, the international Kindle DX will come “sometime next year”; however he refused to be drawn on exact release schedules and what sort of price the ebook reader might carry.  The international Kindle 2 is $20 more expensive than the US-only version.

US customers will still be able to buy the larger Kindle DX, though for the moment there’s no international version.  While all this sounds great, there are a few signs that the US and International Kindle may be more US-centric than foreign; for instance, they ship direct from the US rather than any of the 100 countries Amazon are now claiming compatibility for, so buyers will be responsible for shipping, import taxes and duty fees.  A UK buyer, for instance, can expect $20.98 shipping and $45 in fees, bringing the total cost to $344.98.

It will also come with a US power adapter, all books and periodicals are still priced in US dollars, and both blog access and the internet browser are not functional outside of the US.  Amazon seem to be using AT&T’s roaming service to gain access worldwide, hence the limitations on potentially data-hungry applications.  It’s a nice attempt, but it feels something of a halfway measure by Amazon; perhaps they’re having more trouble browbeating European carriers than they usually do with the US networks?

Press Release:

Amazon Lowers Price on #1 Bestseller Kindle to $259 and Introduces New Addition to the Kindle Family of Wireless Reading Devices-Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless
#1 bestseller Kindle now $259,
Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless now available for pre-order at $279 and ships Oct. 19

SEATTLE—October 7, 2009—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that it is lowering the price of its #1 bestseller Kindle to $259, down from $299. Also today, Amazon.com introduced a new addition to its family of portable reading devices—Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless. Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless now enables readers to wirelessly download content in over 100 countries and territories. Readers can pre-order Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless starting today for $279 at www.amazon.com/kindle and it ships October 19.

“Kindle is the most wished for, the most gifted, and the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items we sell on Amazon, and we’re excited to be able to lower the price,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “We’re also excited to announce a new addition to the Kindle family—Kindle with global wireless. At home or abroad in over 100 countries, you can think of a book and download it wirelessly in less than 60 seconds.”

Kindle wirelessly downloads books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution 6-inch electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle utilizes the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so you never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot or sync with a PC. Readers can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download books in less than 60 seconds, automatically receive newspaper and magazine subscriptions, receive personal documents, and read from their library—now in over 100 countries and territories.

“Kindle has revolutionized the way we purchase and read books, by making it mobile, easy and intuitive,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T. “We are excited to work with Amazon to help readers access books even faster and from significantly more places than ever before, including more than 100 countries and territories around the world through AT&T’s global wireless coverage.”

The U.S. Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) now has more than 350,000 books, including New Releases and 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, which are typically $9.99 or less. More than 75,000 books have been added to the U.S. Kindle Store in just the last five months. Starting today, Lonely Planet guides are now available in the Kindle Store, joining existing travel guide selection from publishers Rick Steves, Frommers and Michelin.

“Lonely Planet is excited to make a vast selection of travel guides from Australia to Zanzibar available to Kindle customers around the world,” said Lonely Planet CEO Matt Goldberg. “Travelers can now pack as many Lonely Planet guides as they want into Kindle’s 10.2 ounces and download new guides wirelessly while travelling around the world.”

Over 50 top U.S. and international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Times (UK), Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Shanghai Daily are available in the Kindle Store for single purchase or subscription, and can now be delivered wirelessly in over 100 countries and territories. Over 35 top magazines, such as The Economist, Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Forbes, Fortune, PC Magazine, and The New England Journal of Medicine are also available for single purchase or subscription, and can also be delivered wirelessly in the U.S. and abroad. U.S. Kindle customers can also continue to take advantage of the Kindle Store’s selection of over 7,000 blogs and receive new posts while traveling overseas.

Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless offers customers the same features that have helped make Kindle with U.S. Wireless the #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com, including:

Slim and Trim: At just over a third of an inch thin (0.36 inches) and weighing just over 10 ounces, Kindle is pencil thin and lighter than a typical paperback.
Reads Like Real Paper: Kindle’s 6-inch electronic ink display reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays.
Stores Up To 1,500 Books: Kindle’s 2 GB of memory holds up to 1,500 books and Kindle books are automatically backed up by Amazon so customers can re-download titles from their library.
Read For Weeks On A Single Charge: Kindle’s electronic ink display sips battery power so users can read for over two weeks with wireless turned off and up to four days on a single charge with wireless on.
Read-To-Me: With the experimental Text-To-Speech feature, Kindle can read most newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud.
Automatically Syncs With Kindle and Kindle Compatible Devices: Amazon’s “Whispersync” technology automatically syncs customers’ last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless, Kindle with U.S. Wireless, Kindle DX, and Kindle compatible devices like Kindle for iPhone.
Wirelessly Receive and Read Personal Documents: Wirelessly send, receive, and read personal documents in a variety of formats such as Microsoft Word and PDF.
Instant Dictionary Lookup: Kindle comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary and over 250,000 definitions that appear instantly at the bottom of the page.
Choose Text Size: Kindle lets readers customize their reading preference by providing six different text sizes.
Bookmarks, Notes, and Highlights: By using the QWERTY keyboard Kindle users can add annotations to text, as well as highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use.
Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless will be available for shipment to customers in over 100 countries around the world on October 19. Media can visit the Kindle Media Room at http://www.amazon.com/pr/kindle for additional media resources and to request an interview.

Full policy after the cut

Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).

The new policy leaves Amazon with the capability – and agreed right – to remove consumers’ ebooks from their Kindle devices (and the iPod touch/iPhone client), though only in certain circumstances.  Those include failure of payment (or if a refund is sought), “judicial or regulatory order” or should the ebook have harmful code or otherwise threaten either the device or the Whispernet network.

1984 was removed – complete with student Gawronski’s exam notes – after it was revealed to have been added to the Amazon catalog without the permission of the rights-holder.  The new policy means that Amazon will no longer be able to remove from a user’s device such an erroneously-published ebook already purchased, at least not off its own back, but instead the rights-holders will have to seek a court injunction ordering the retailer to do so.

Amazon have previously confirmed that they plan international launches of their ebook reader, which is capable of wirelessly downloading new titles from their online store, but have never made public any sort of timescale for their release.  Qualcomm is tipped as the supplier of wireless modules which will enable 3G connectivity for the digital downloads; however those rumors also suggested that the UK Kindle wouldn’t debut until December 2009.

[via MobileRead]

“As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30″ Amazon email to 1984 customers

The 1984 situation came about after a third-party without copyright authority over the text uploaded it to Amazon’s ebook store.  Many users then purchased it, only to see Amazon wipe it remotely from their Kindle – complete with any notes or annotations they may have made – after a complaint from the true copyright holder.

As for the Authors Guild, they’re angry that Amazon have been criticizing Google Books’ moves to offer out-of-print titles out of a claimed fear of the search giant acquiring “a monopoly”.  Meanwhile they contrast this with what they see as Amazon’s own intentions for the ebook segment, namely bring users into the Kindle ecosystem with cut-price texts, then ramp up the price once they’re committed:

“Amazon’s hypocrisy is breathtaking. It dominates online bookselling and the fledgling e-book industry. At this moment it’s trying to cement its control of the e-book industry by routinely selling e-books at a loss. It won’t do that forever, of course. Eventually, when enough readers are locked in to its Kindle, everyone in the industry expects Amazon to squeeze publishers and authors. The results could be devastating for the economics of authorship.

Amazon apparently fears that Google could upend its plans. Amazon needn’t worry, really: this agreement is about out-of-print books. Its lock on the online distribution of in-print books, unfortunately, seems secure” Authors Guild

[via Gear Diary and via Guardian Technology]

Video review after the cut

The touchscreen works well, and Sony’s newly added functionality – such as the integrated dictionary – works well.  It’s also slim and seems well put together, and handily uses the same case-fittings as the previous models (handy because Sony no longer provide a book-style case, only a neoprene slip-case).  Unfortunately the touchscreen layer seems to have blurred the text quality, with the PRS-600 lapsing behind the PRS-505 which shows more contrast and crisper edges.

Still, it’s better than the PRS-700 for text quality, and there are plenty of other elements which improve over the non-touchscreen 505.  The overall opinion is that it’s a decent model, but we’ll still keep our wallets in our pockets until we have a chance to play with the upcoming Daily Edition.

[Thanks Barry!]

Full statement after the cut

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

The ebooks – which included famous title 1984 – had been uploaded by a company who did not hold the rights to them, using Amazon’s self-service feature.  When the rights-holder alerted Amazon to the issue, the company not only deleted the titles from their catalog but remotely wiped them from Kindle users’ devices, along with any notes or annotations they may have made.

The company has promised to handle such situations differently in future, saying that it will not reach into users’ Kindles in the same way should a similar problem occur.  Amazon reported their Q2 2009 financial figures earlier this week, with net income for the quarter dropping 10-percent to $142m.

[via NYTimes]

Unlike the US Kindle, which solely uses Sprint’s data network for its mobile connectivity, the UK version is tipped to include WiFi support as well as 3G.  The identity of the carrier involved is unknown, but likely candidates include T-Mobile and O2, both of whom have well-established WiFi networks which their own subscribers have access to.

Amazon are believed to be working to arrange the launch of the UK Kindle before Christmas 2009, and to have already secured agreements with publishers of books and be mid-negotiation with those of magazines and newspapers.  The company’s carrier talks in Germany reportedly broke down in June, after they were unable to reach consensus on a fair price, while a similar break-down is suggested to have taken place in the UK around six months ago.

The Kindle 2 was announced back in February, keeping the wireless download capabilities, QWERTY keyboard and lengthy battery life of its predecessor but throwing in a newly designed casing and Whispernet synchronization.  At $359, though, it encountered criticism from many users, who suggested Amazon should discount the hardware device and recoup any losses from ebook sales.

More recently, Amazon introduced the Kindle DX, a larger version with a 9.7-inch E Ink display.  That, currently, remains at $489, though despite the significant premium the DX has sold out.  It seems unlikely that, with demand so strong, Amazon will discount their newer device any time soon.

Sales of the ebook reader will continue, and be shipped on a first-come, first-served basis.  It’s not the first time the DX has been in short-supply, either; a few weeks ago, Amazon ran out of stock, but it took them just a few days for inventory to come in.

This delay, meanwhile, seems expected to last through July and into August.  There’s no word on whether this is being caused by a parts shortage or another reason; E Ink encountering difficulties producing the 9.7-inch panel used in the DX has been one suggested explanation.

[via E-Ink-Info]

One unnamed Amazon manager described the carriers’ price demands as “excessive”, according to the paper.  Apparently Amazon’s German partners have confirmed that no deal has been made.

The nature of the Kindle/carrier partnership is unusual, because Amazon include lifetime wireless access for their ebook reader with the original purchase price of the device.  Rather than requiring users to sign up to a data contract, Amazon negotiate access for the Kindle with the carriers themselves; in the US, that agreement is with Sprint.  Only actions which might have significant cost – such as converting and wirelessly-delivering a user’s own documents over the network – are billable.

[via MobileRead forums]

The problem arose when Dan attempted to download ebooks he’d already purchased through Amazon onto his iPod touch, which had just been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0.  While some of the titles would cooperate, others refused; customer services first told him that each book has a limit to the number of times it can be downloaded, and that this limit was both undisclosed (sometimes even to Amazon customer care themselves) and arbitrarily set by publishers.

In trying to corroborate this, and find out how to track the download limits, Dan was then told several different versions of this, until reaching what’s believed to be the bottom line.  Apparently, books can be downloaded an unlimited number of times, though only active on a limited number of devices (e.g. Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX or the Kindle Reader app on an iPhone or iPod touch).  That number is usually five or six, but the publisher can apparently change it to as little as one.  Swapping an older device for a new one doesn’t automatically release the license, so you’ll need to contact customer services to have them do it for you.

Complicated enough, but at least one Amazon ebook publisher has spoken up claiming that nowhere in their distribution agreement or control panel is there the ability to change download settings in the way the retailer describes.

“The device team has the job of making the most remarkable purpose-built reading device in the world. We are going to give the device team competition. We will make Kindle books, at the same $9.99 price points, available on the iPhone, and other mobile devices and other computing devices” Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon

The move would be part of Bezos’ plan to treat the ebook and Kindle businesses as separate entities, rather than than have one subsidize the other as is the case with Apple’s iPod and iTunes store relationship.  It would also see more flexibility in how users could read Amazon ebooks; currently there is a client for the iPhone and iPod touch, but that looks set to spread to other mobile devices.

Bezos also obliquely commented on one of our Kindle DX criticisms, the high sticker price.  Talking about subsidized devices tied into a certain number of downloads or a monthly tariff, he said that he wasn’t opposed to such a scheme if enough customers requested it; however he prefers the “cognitive simplicity” of people buying a Kindle and then choosing to use it or not.

[via PC World]

If Apple isn’t your choice of platform, then we also unboxed HTC’s new flagship Windows Mobile smartphone, the Touch Pro2.  A slide-out QWERTY keyboard, huge touchscreen and more connectivity than you could legitimately ask for, we’ll have the full review this coming week. 

Meanwhile, we also reviewed Amazon’s latest ebook reader, the 9.7-inch Kindle DX.  Aimed at students, newspaper & magazine addicts and businesses, the big question is whether it offers a realistic leap over the Kindle 2 that’s around $100 cheaper.  Finally, we featured our review of Sleek Audio’s CT6 Custom earphones, individually molded to the wearer’s ear-canal and promising tailored audio. 

Elsewhere, we saw the Palm Pre jailbroken and running Doom, heard a glowing review of the Viliv X70 UMPC, and saw leaked details of Intel’s upcoming Atom CPU range.  There were also hands-on videos of Pixel Qi’s incredible 3Qi low-power display, leaked photos of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X2, and confirmation that the Nokia N97 and N86 8MP were both arriving in stores across America.  Archos also held their long-awaited press conference, sadly not delivering the Android MID we’d been promised but dropping the Windows 7 Archos 9 UMPC instead.

Inside, as you might imagine from the ebook reader’s extreme thinness, there’s a relatively small amount of individual components.  The white front bezel is glued to the E Ink panel, but most other things seem to clip off or unscrew relatively easily, and of course as the photo above shows, the display can maintain its text even with no power supply attached.

Interestingly, the wireless card is simply a separate mini-PCIe EVDO module, to allow access to Sprint’s 3G network and Amazon’s Whispernet service.  We’re now wondering whether anybody has switched this out for an HSPA modem and managed the get their Kindle working on GSM networks. 

The differences between the Kindle 2 and the new Kindle DX are obvious: a 9.7-inch E Ink monochrome display dominates the front panel, offering around 2.5x the space of the smaller ebook reader and squashing the QWERTY keyboard into tic-tac tininess at the bottom.  Amazon has obviously worked hard to minimize the screen’s impact on the overall chassis, with mixed results.  It’s a scant 0.02-inches thicker than the Kindle 2, at 0.38-inches, with a metal back-plate lending stiffness, but the left-side page controls have been dropped.

Make sure to click through for the full review, photo gallery and unboxing/walkthrough video of the Amazon Kindle DX.

That means that anybody who automatically goes to use their left-hand to turn pages (and that’s not just the left-handed among us) will have to either retrain themselves or follow Amazon’s advice and flip the display 180-degrees.  Doing so obviously puts the keyboard and joystick out of easy reach, so it’s not an ideal solution.

Amazon expect the extra screen inches to be most valued by students reading electronic versions of textbooks, those wishing to migrate to non-printed magazines and newspapers, and business-people keen to tote masses of documentation without impact on their briefcase.  Two elements step into play here: firstly, the Kindle DX gets native PDF support, for Adobe’s ubiquitous file-format, and secondly Amazon has added automatic screen rotation, which will flip the display between portrait and landscape.

PDF support is a nice addition, and we’ve had no problems loading files onto the Kindle DX either via the wireless Whispernet service (where you email the PDF – or indeed a variety of file formats, including HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP – to your DX’s unique email address, and it’s converted en-route) or via a USB connection to PC or Mac.  There’s 3.3GB of user-accessible space, more than twice what the Kindle 2 offers.

Anybody planning on doing this regularly really should get into the habit of using the included USB 2.0 to micro-USB cable, though, as Amazon’s Whispernet conversion fees can quickly mount up.  Shortly before they announced the DX, Amazon quietly changed their policy on wireless conversions: where previously they charged a fixed $0.10 per document, they now bill per megabyte.  Files are rounded up to the nearest whole megabyte (MB), each charged at $0.15.  Given that a typical research paper will range in size from under 1MB (which Amazon will round up) to perhaps 10-15MB depending on length, graphics and whether the original is in color or monochrome, you’re likely looking at least a dollar per conversion.  Manual transfers via the USB cable (Amazon will also convert documents not natively supported and send them back to your email account) are free.

Once on-screen, PDFs generally render well.  The Kindle DX doesn’t support PDF zooming, so if text is too small you either rotate to landscape (which gains horizontal width at the expense of length) or squint.  Here’s another reason why it’s wise to convert and transfer manually: Amazon don’t give refunds if your wirelessly delivered document proves unreadable.

All other documents, whether magazines, newspapers or books, are presented as on the Kindle 2.  That is to say, they show cleanly and crisply, thanks to the highly readable E Ink display, and page-turns, though a little slower than the smaller model, grow less distracting the more you read.  Ebook deliveries via the integrated 3G connection (which relies on Sprint’s EVDO Rev.A network) are fast and simple, and there’s certainly no shortage of choice through Amazon’s online store.  The much-vaunted textbooks are yet to appear, however, so we’ve been limited to testing the Kindle DX with standard ebooks and our own files.

Some of the DX’s more interesting features, Amazon lump under the “Experimental” heading.  Text-to-Speech incurred the wrath of the Authors’ Guild, and now there’s a clear “unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable” high up on the product page, but we really can’t see anybody offloading their parenting duties to the Kindle DX and expecting it to read their kids a bedtime story.  It seems more gimmicky than anything else, and AudioBooks are certainly not at threat.  Amazon also throw in an MP3 player, which is rudimentary in its features but, as long as you’re satisfied with merely MP3 support, does all you ask of it, including background playback either via headphones (there’s a standard 3.5mm socket) or the integrated stereo speakers.  Finally, a very basic web-browser offers rudimentary online access over the 3G connection, good enough for the occasional Google query but unlikely to displace your netbook.

As for frustrations, there are a few.  The automatic page rotation is efficient at spotting an angle change, but we’d like a button or switch to easily toggle it on or off.  Reading when sat upright at a desk may be how students and business people consume their text, but most other people like to read lying down, slumped on the sofa or at any number of angles, all situations in which an automatic page turn is an unwanted annoyance.  The option to turn it off is in the Kindle DX’s settings page, but it’s a few too many steps away to be habitual; a “lock orientation” toggle would make it easier, especially given the few seconds required for the E Ink to rotate.

The missing left-hand buttons are the next main flaw, and in fact the tools on the Kindle DX generally fall short of what the average student or worker might expect to use when reviewing documents.  As with the Kindle 2 you can add text comments and clip sections of an ebook, but there’s no circling, in-line amendments, underlining or any of the common highlighting many people do with their textbooks.  We’re left looking enviously at the touchscreen controls on the unreleased Plastic Logic Reader.

The final – and undoubtedly biggest – frustration, though, is price.  At $489 it’s just too expensive for our liking.  That buys a lot of textbooks (we’re yet to see how much individual electronic textbooks get priced at, too) and puts it out of the reach of many student budgets; it also seems at least $100 too much for mainstream newspaper and magazine readers.  Now E Ink panels aren’t cheap, that’s true, but Amazon’s ebook ecosystem, with the Kindle DX tied so closely into their own retail store, does mean that it’s Amazon’s own door that most people will be knocking on for Kindle content.

Objectively, the Kindle DX is a great piece of hardware.  If the few ergonomic issues – absent left-hand buttons being the most significant – don’t affect you, then working with such a broad expanse of E Ink display is great.  Problem is, most general readers will be quite content with the 6-inches offered by the cheaper Kindle 2, and from the subset of users left over many will balk at the DX’s price.  If Amazon can negotiate strong enough deals with publishers to offer significantly discounted electronic versions of textbooks and technical documents then the initial outlay may seem more realistic; until then, the company has priced the Kindle DX into an even smaller niche.

Deliveries of the Kindle DX will be made on a first-come, first serve basis, which means that those who have pre-ordered will be top of the queue.  Amazon is keeping stock level information close to its chest, so there’s no telling whether there’ll be plenty of DX units around on June 10th or, as the previous Kindles suffered from, demand exceeding supply.

The DX has an integrated PDF reader, automatic screen rotation and storage for up to 3,500 titles.  You can read our hands-on report from the ebook reader’s launch here; our demo video is below.