E-book

It's time for our annual selection of the most coveted, clever and fun consumer tech products that you – or even better, a generous loved one – can get your hands on this Christmas. From wireless audio to actioncams and RC flyers, these are some of the items we'd like to be unwrapping this year. Read More

Kogan Technologies has launched a 6-inch eBook reader into the Australian market at a price of just AUD$189 (less than US$170). Around one third of an inch thick and weighing 228.8 g, the eBook Reader boasts good readability in bright sunlight via an 800 x 600 E Ink screen along with simple navigation system and long battery life. Read More

Sharp has announced that its Next-generation XMDF (ever-eXtending Mobile Document Format) standard will be a digital platform for e-book distribution with compatible reader devices to be launched as well, possibly within the year. While the XMDF format has been in use for years already, primarily within Japan, this new 'Next generation' prefix does make the format notable as a competitor in the ebook space. Previously just for text and still images, the refreshed XMDF standard now supports video and audio display as well. Read More

E-paper has some compelling advantages for the next generation of handheld and tablet devices. It provides an image which is very stable and easy to read in comparison to commonly used screen technologies, it consumes negligible power and is lightweight and paper-thin. Color paper arrived in 2007 but it hasn't really been good enough, until now. The principal developer of color e-paper to date has been Fujitsu which has just announced a dramatic increase in color e-paper display quality. The technology will be shown this week at Fujitsu Forum 2010 (May 13 - 14 at Tokyo International Forum) and can be expected in Japanese market e-book readers and advertising billboards by Q3 this year. Read More

First seen at this year's CES in Las Vegas, Samsung's entry into the e-Reader market has now been made official. The device offers much of what we've all come to expect from an electronic reader such as e-Ink display and WiFi but, thanks to a deal with Barnes & Noble, users will have access to over a million book titles, magazines and newspapers. Read More

The British Library has announced that users of Amazon's Kindle e-reader will be able to download more than 65,000 19th century classics for free this coming spring in a special format that will have the look of a genuine first edition. Works from famous authors like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen will be reproduced using the original typeface and illustrations to add an antique feel to the e-reader technology. Read More

In all likelihood, a new era of computing began today as Apple’s long-awaited iPad finally stepped from scifi into reality and filled the massive gap between Apple’s iPhone/ iPod handhelds and its richer computing experience of the MacBook laptop range. It begins life with a headstart never enjoyed by any prior new device. As Steve Jobs emphasised when launching the device, more than 75 million people already know how to use the iPad (because it’s essentially identical to the iPhone and iPod, just bigger) and there more than 125 million customers with one-click shopping on iTunes, the App Store and hence, the new iBook store. The iPad adds books and newspapers to the convergence mix and must seriously threaten the business models of all those eReaders announced earlier this month. Apple has created a special web site to disseminate information on the iPad. Read More

What's on your Christmas list this year? 2009 has seen another bumper crop of innovative products designed to make our lives more efficient, more rewarding or simply more fun. If you've got some last minute shopping to do, and you hurry, this might just help - it's Gizmag's pick of the top 10 tech gadgets of 2009. Read More

Interead's COOL-ER e-book reader was designed to be simple, affordable and stylish. Looking very Apple-esque in appearance, the e-reader also weighs less than an average paperback, comes in eight colors, supports all of the major formats and offers eight menu languages. The company says it was an e-reader "designed by readers, for readers". And from next year, COOL-ER readers will also benefit from Wifi and 3G functionality. Read More