I spent a lot of time at CES in the eBook pavilion, looking at the various options. While I found most of the hardware to be knockoffs of the popular Kindle and Sony lines, there were one or two that caught my eye.
I got to take a look at the Alex from SpringDesign on Thursday, offsite at a traditional Italian restaurant called Piero’s. In retrospect, while I enjoyed the Italian lunch, this wasn’t the best place to host the event. The lighting was incredibly dark and the ceilings were low, leading to poor photo, video, and sound. But I did my best.
Alex is a dual-screen Android-based eReader and it fully integrates web browsing and reading. The 3.5″ color lower LCD screen on the Alex browses the web, but also allows you to manage your library. SpringDesign has announced deals with Borders and several other content providers. The neatest thing, for me, about Alex was the ability to pull a web page from the small (color) bottom screen to the large top 6″ eInk screen. You lose the color, but you gain in size. The Alex browser and virtual keyboard provide access to email, calculator and will accommodate a growing number of programs from the Google Android community.
Alex can connect with WiFi, 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM. It will cost $399 and be released on Feb 22 on the SpringDesign web site.
Below you’ll find a dark and loud video, 10 minutes, of the Alex demo’d at the Piero’s luncheon.
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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
Back in July, Amazon got all Orwellian and removed George Orwell’s 1984 from Kindle devices. The irony was lost on no one. The Digits blog (Wall Street Journal) is reporting that Amazon is now trying to make up for it. They are offering a return of the book, including any annotations made by the consumer, or $30 in either a gift certificate or a check.
The full text of the notifying email is below:
Hello,
On July 23, 2009, Jeff Bezos, our Founder and CEO, made the following apology to our customers:
“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”
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.
Please email Kindle customer support at kindle-response@amazon.com to indicate your preference. If you prefer to receive a check, please also provide your mailing address.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
The Kindle Team
I’m not sure what took Amazon so long to offer this solution (which is supposedly not in response to a pending lawsuit about the incident). Is it enough or is the fact that Amazon reached into people’s Kindles just a little too 1984?
Yesterday my Kindle 2 arrived. Today my husband ran off with it to his office, so I couldn’t play with it until rather late in the evening.
At first, I was completely against the idea of ebooks. I swore that nothing could ever replace the printed page. Interestingly, in college I swore that nothing could replace pen to paper and 4 years later I ended up with a minor in Computer Science.
About 6 or so months ago, I saw a Sony eReader display in Borders and after standing at the display for about 45 minutes, I was convinced. The eInk Paper used for eReaders is actually easier on my eyes than regular paper. It was so much like a book, yet I couldn’t destroy it by breaking the binding or dogearing the pages, or scribbling notes that I could never find again.
Another flashback – I started my wine blog accidentally. I was taking wine notes, pen to paper, but they weren’t searchable. I couldn’t ever find anything again. So I switched to online, to what eventually became my blog, and it was searchable.
The Kindle, in particular, has the ability to add notes, highlights, “dogeared” bookmarks, and to pull sharable clippings. And it’s all searchable. One search can sift through all the books on the Kindle, as well as Google, Wikipedia, and a dictionary. I think, perhaps, this XKCD cartoon says it best.
At TechKnowledge ‘09 a few weeks ago, a good friend of mine let me borrow his older Sony eReader, as he’d purchased a new one. I used it on the plane and kept reading it once I got home. At some point, the husband took it and he got hooked as well. (He has a habit of running off with these gadgets, yes?) I was completely thrilled with the eReader reading experience.
Last night, I finished a novel on the Kindle. It’s a novel I started in paperback. As a paperback, it’s slightly oversized and large – a bit unruly. I have a terrible habit of breaking the binding on books and since I borrowed this one, I was having a hard time keeping it pristine. (My books all appear to be well-loved.) On the Kindle, the book was suddenly irrelevant and out of my way. I guess I’m trying to say that it was the content that suddenly mattered more than the form factor. The Kindle itself was so unobtrusive that reading the book was more of a pleasure than usual.
Happily I’m not just limited to ebooks from Amazon. There are a lot of free books out there that are legal. Some friends pointed me to Feedbooks.com where I downloaded Pride and Prejudice and L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Finally, there are the newspapers. I’m receiving the Wall Street Journal through an official 2-week free trial. I probably won’t continue it, as I find $120 for a conservative newspaper a bit extreme. (I just love their tech reviews and the wine reviews.) The newspaper experience is organized and easy on a Kindle. Through a straight RSS feed, I’m also receiving the Cincinnati Enquirer – my local paper. Although not as pretty or organized, it’s still inherently readable and useful. Much more so than the actual paper, in truth, because it’s searchable.
So there you go – my Kindle 2 review after less than 24 hours with the gadget. I love it. Not having had a Kindle 1, I have nothing to compare it to, but I’m perfectly content.
I just pre-ordered my Kindle 2. I’ve been wanting an ebook reader for a while. A friend of mine recently let me borrow his older Sony eBook Reader and I was hooked. Much to my surprise, I actually preferred reading on the device than an actual book. Considering the thousands of books my husband and I have strewn across our house, this is really a big thing.
The original Kindle, while well-loved, was rather ugly in form factor. Amazon has cleaned up the appearance and made some other improvements, as per Amazon:
Thin:Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines.
Lightweight:At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
Wireless:3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
The Kindle holds over 1500 books thanks to upgraded storage (2 GB), and Amazon backs up all of your ebooks (purchased from them) online, so if the unthinkable happens – you’re covered. You can now use a cursor, thanks to the revamped e-Ink screen. WhisperNet has also been upgraded to 3G networking. Even with 3G, the battery life is supposedly 25% more than the original device.
The Kindle store now carries 250,000 options for your reading pleasure, and 10% of Amazon’s sales – if I understood correctly – are now from eBooks. Apparently Amazon is thinking about ways to make Kindle content available for other devices (such as your iPhone), but they haven’t said too much on the topic just yet.
The original Kindle, while well-loved, was rather ugly in form factor. Amazon has cleaned up the appearance and made some other improvements, as