e-book reader

Return of the $79 Barnes & Noble Nook

After yesterday's awesome deal sold out around mid-afternoon, I was looking for something a little more evergreen to post today--something that might last more than 4-5 hours. Well, this ain't it.

By way of eBay, Barnes & Noble is selling the refurbished Nook Wi-Fi e-reader for $79 shipped. Although the "auction" has more than five days left on it, there's a very good chance these will sell out sooner--like, maybe, today.

The Nook, of course, is B&N's answer to the Kindle, and many would say it's the better e-reader of the … Read more

Get a refurbished Nook e-reader for $89.99 shipped

This is an update of a post from last month. Sorry for the back-to-back (should that be book-to-book?) e-reader deals, but I couldn't pass this up.

Many would argue that the Barnes & Noble Nook is a better e-book reader than the Amazon Kindle.

It's definitely cheaper: Buy.com has the refurbished Nook (Wi-Fi) for $89.99 shipped. (Click "See All Buying Options," which takes you to the Barnes & Noble page where you can add it to your cart.) At that price, I expect it will sell out quickly.

What's the big deal about … Read more

Can any tablet challenge the iPad?

As the iPad juggernaut continues with today's launch of the iPad 2, can any other tablet maker truly compete with Apple?

The odds seem to be against it, at least according to the results of a survey released yesterday by ChangeWave Research. Questioning more than 3,000 consumers last month, ChangeWave found that 27 percent of them plan to buy a tablet, 2 percentage points more than a similar poll found last November.

Among those eyeing a tablet, 82 percent said they'll opt for an iPad. That number compares with 4 percent looking into a Motorola Xoom, 3 … Read more

Physical media vs. files: And the winner is?

In 20 or 30 years, how will you feel about the downloaded music, movies, and books you buy today? With physical media you may have written notes on the books' pages or spilled coffee on them. You might remember the day you accidentally ripped page 202 of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," or lent an LP or CD to a friend who put a small scratch on "OK Computer." I have literally hundreds of LPs I bought in the '60s and '70s, most of which I never replaced with CDs. Just holding the LP jacket … Read more

New Kindle ad hints at death of paper book, makes reading look sexy

Back in the early days of the Kindle, Amazon's e-reader tended to appeal to a more mature audience for a variety of reasons. But as the Kindle's matured--and its price has dropped--Amazon's made a concerted effort to appeal to a more youthful demographic.

"The book lives on" is the title for its new ad and it features a bunch of good-looking, active young people and a Kindle that appears at times to be sort of a social lubricant, part Captain Morgan's, part Cialis.

Yes, there's the requisite jabs at the iPad (no glare, … Read more

Get a refurbished Nook e-reader for $79.99

The Barnes & Noble Nook is widely regarded as one of the better e-book readers out there--better than the Kindle, many would say.

Today only, 1 Sale A Day has the refurbished Nook (Wi-Fi) for $79.99, plus $4.99 for shipping. That's the lowest price I've seen on this awesome e-reader, meaning it could sell out very quickly.

What's so special about the Nook? Apart from the obvious--its color touch-screen pad that sits below the main e-ink screen--the Nook supports the popular EPUB format, meaning you can check out free e-books from public libraries (among other … Read more

CES: Sharp Galapagos coming to America in 2011

LAS VEGAS--Like seemingly every other company at CES 2011, Sharp is jumping on the tablet/e-reader bandwagon. But at least the company has one of the more unique names out there: Galapagos.

If the name sounds familiar (in the electronics arena, that is), it's because it's not exactly a new product. The Galapagos is already available in Japan, and it's been spotted making its way through the FCC approval process in the U.S.

But one thing is clear: the North American version of the Galapagos may bear very little resemblance to the existing Japanese one. For … Read more

How to find free Kindle books

Companies with their own Kindle competitors, such as Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Apple, make a big deal of the fact that their e-book readers are compatible with the ePub file format. That means, unlike the Kindle, that the Apple iPad (through various apps, including iBooks), Sony Reader, and Barnes & Noble Nook can be used to read tens of thousands of free books from Google and a variety of other sources. Just choose a title, download the ePub version, and transfer it to the compatible reader of your choice. Yes, nearly all of the books and essays in question are public domain classics (and sometimes not-so-classics) of yesteryear--the works of authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and the like. But free's free, and these are the sort of canonical works of art that bookworms appreciate reading and re-reading ad infinitum.

But fear not, Kindle owners: you too have access to many of the same public domain titles, numbering in the thousands. Amazon has made it easier to find them than in the past by displaying the paid and free titles in the top 100 list in adjacent columns (overall and by genre). But what if you want to see more granular lists--say, separating the public domain titles from the modern freebies? (Publishers occasionally give away older books in a series to hook readers on newer ones, for example.) Or what if you want to see only books in a certain price range--only those that are 99 cents, or $2 to $3?

That's where Jungle-search.com comes in.… Read more

Consumer electronics sales rebound

Consumer electronics have staged a recovery this year.

Consumer electronics makers are expected to grab sales of $340.4 billion for 2010, up 6.2 percent from the $320.7 billion seen in 2009, according to data released yesterday by iSuppli. That contrasts with last year when sales dropped 4.4 percent compared with 2008.

"As shown in the early results from Black Friday, consumer confidence levels in 2010 are higher in all regions of the world than they were in 2009, and buyers are more inclined to acquire new devices or upgrade old electronics equipment," Jordan Selburn, … Read more

New e-paper begins chapter for color e-readers

E-book readers that use e-ink are getting a splash of color, courtesy of a new e-paper technology.

Display maker E Ink announced today the release of its new color e-paper, called E Ink Triton, which will offer e-book makers a way to add color to their e-ink devices. The new technology will make its debut with a color e-book reader set to be released in China next March by Chinese e-reader vendor Hanvon, an E Ink representative told CNET.

"E Ink Triton marks a major milestone in the e-book revolution," Hanvon's Chairman Liu Yingjian said in a statement. "E Ink has the right technology, manufacturing capability, and know-how to transition Hanvon's product vision into reality. With E Ink Triton technology, Hanvon is enabled to release the world's first [e-ink-reliant] color e-book reader today."

The new e-paper is being geared to show off a variety of applications and content, including charts, graphs, maps, photos, comics and, of course, advertisements. Screens using the new Triton e-ink can display thousands of colors, as well as 16 levels of gray scale, according to E Ink. The text and color graphics are also designed to be fully viewable in direct sunlight and are maintained on the screen, even when the device power is turned off.

E Ink is touting the speed of its new electronic paper, claiming that displays made with Triton can perform up to 20 percent faster than ones made with older e-ink technology.… Read more