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The Gizmo Report: Sony's PRS-505 Portable Reader System (part 1, hardware)

Well, the new Sony PRS-505 Reader I ordered last week arrived today, quite promptly, even with the optional engraving.

Here it is. (I blurred out the email address I provided; it doesn't get any spam, and I want it to stay that way.) The screen is showing the only complete book Sony provides with it-- a public domain "classic" that I haven't yet read, and probably never will. The PRS-500 came with a few complete ebooks plus a lot of excerpts. Apart from Wuthering Heights, the PRS-505 is preloaded only with excerpts.

But that's no … Read more

FriendFeed does the Facebook feed minus Facebook

Facebook has several layers of functionality that make it worth using, but my favorite is the once-controversial news feed. Why? I simply don't have time to check each of my friend's profiles for what's new, and the feed does a pretty great job at that without all the legwork or annoying e-mail notifications. FriendFeed is a new service that takes the idea of a news feed and extends it beyond the social network into other social services you're a part of. There are more than 20 to pick and choose from, including social news services like … Read more

Hoping for the best from Sony's updated Reader

This week, Sony introduced the new PRS-505 Reader for ebooks. I've already ordered one to replace my PRS-500, which I used a lot before it broke not long ago.

Update: my PRS-505 has arrived. The review, in two parts, begins here.

That's my old Reader there. The damage was internal, somehow. I have no idea what went wrong. I didn't sit on it or anything like that. I just turned it on one day and that band on the left side of the screen showed up. You can see that the band doesn't extend to the … Read more

Sony opens book on new Reader

Rumors have been circulating that Sony was about to release the second edition of its electronic book reader--and now it's official. Sony's new Reader Digital Book, the PRS-505, will hit stores shortly, and while it doesn't look that different on the surface, it's got some notable improvements.

Next-generation electronic paper display delivers faster response and a higher contrast ratio, with eight levels of gray scale instead of four.

Slightly thinner profile.

More intuitive button layout allows for easier navigation.

Available in silver and dark blue.

The new Reader costs the same as the old Reader ($300), … Read more

Google Alerts: what they are, and how to use them

Yesterday Google rolled out video alerts to its Google Alerts service. If you've never used Alerts, it's a handy way to get Web content updates delivered straight to your e-mail inbox based on keywords. In the case of the new video search, Google will deliver links to videos it's indexed. So how is this helpful? Say you're a big video fan, and you dig seeing those Diet Coke and Mentos videos online. There are always some crazy teenagers out in the suburbs doing new things with them, and that equates to a lot of new videos. … Read more

Feedme (iPhone app)

There are several newsreader apps for iPhone, but this app might have the others beat--at least in the ease-of-use category. Opening this app gives you a list of categories to choose from. Once you pick a category, you're presented with all the popular feeds that fit the category. We especially like the way this app presents feeds from a site with a ticker, making it easy to pick out a good story as it floats by.

iPhone link: http://www.feedmenews.net/

Google adds a search box to its RSS Reader

Google has added a handy search box to its popular Reader service. The new box sits snack dab on the top of the Google Reader screen and lets you search through any entries from your subscribed blogs. There's a handy drop down menu to sort what types of items you want to search though, including read and starred items, along with your folders and subscriptions.

This is a helpful addition to people who want to sort their news. While jumping from feed to feed in Google reader isn't tough, there really hasn't been a way to sort … Read more

No time for EULAs

Few people other than the lawyers, product leads, and a handful of seriously committed users actually know what's in a product's EULA, the end-user license agreement you need to accept before it will install.

Users see the EULA as a long, seemingly pointless block of textual mumbo jumbo; for publishers, it's a legal fallback.

Since some EULAs can trap you into welcoming bundled adware and third-party info-sharing, it's in your best interest to slash through the dense legalese and know what you're agreeing to. EULAlyzer, a free, quick bit of software from the makers of SpywareBlaster, practically does it all for you.… Read more

The Gizmo Report: Victorinox's Trevi 17 briefcase

(Before I get started with this review, a note of caution about one of my other gizmos. My Sony PRS-500 eBook reader has developed some kind of display problem; the leftmost inch of the screen no longer updates. I checked around online and the going price for this repair appears to be about $250. That's on a gizmo that sells for $279 on Amazon right now. Not a good deal. I'll check with Sony and update this information if I get a better price.)

I've been carrying around a cheap nylon briefcase I bought at the Apple Company Store about ten years ago. I bought it because it had a front pocket the perfect size for my… Read more