AllThingsD » e-book reader

The Nook Gets a Nudge From Consumer Reports

Peter Kafka — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:19:09 +0000

Barnes & Noble’s newest Nook has fewer features than its predecessor, as well as many other rivals. That’s great, says Consumer Reports, which has crowned the new $139 device its favorite e-book reader. It’s the first time the magazine has put an e-reader made by anyone other than Amazon at the top of its rankings.

Libretto W100–Toshiba's Answer to the iPad?

Juro Osawa — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:30:39 +0000

Since Apple (AAPL) launched its iPad, more and more competitors are moving to launch similar devices to compete. The latest company to join the bandwagon is Japan’s Toshiba.

The maker of everything from nuclear reactors to consumer electronics on Monday said it will release worldwide a mini touch-screen notebook PC called Libretto W100 that doubles as an electronic book reader. But the device is expected to carry a hefty price tag of more than $1,504, compared with the cheapest iPad model which is sold for $535 in Japan.

A Toshiba spokeswoman says the device isn’t meant to be a direct competitor to the iPad. “It’s a PC and we think it belongs to a different category from the iPad.” It would, for example, appeal to business professionals looking for a powerful mobile version of their office PCs, the company says.

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T-Mobile's HD2 Has Great Screen, Weak Software

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:03:02 +0000

For all the buzz about tablet computers, the hottest category among small digital devices remains the super-smartphones, those pocket-size, touch-screen computers for running apps.

Apple this week reported strong sales of its iPhone. New phones running Google’s Android software platform seem to appear almost monthly and reportedly sell briskly. As these phones have added capabilities, some have gained larger screens. While Apple has stuck with a screen that’s 3.5 inches diagonally, some Android phones sport 3.7-inch screens. Now there is a competitor with a truly huge screen—4.3 inches. It’s the HD2 from Taiwan-based HTC, and it is being sold by T-Mobile in the U.S. for $199 with a two-year contract.

[ See post to watch video ]

T-Mobile boasts that the HD2′s screen is the biggest on a U.S. smartphone. But how big is too big for a device that is meant to be toted in a pocket or purse? How valuable is a large screen compared with well-designed software?

To find out, I’ve been testing the HD2. My verdict is that, despite the larger dimensions required by its giant screen, the HD2′s hardware is attractive and unlikely to put off people who have already crossed over to bigger devices, like the BlackBerry or iPhone.

However, I found the HD2 to be significantly inferior overall to touch-screen rivals from Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), mainly because of its software, based on the aging mobile Windows platform from Microsoft (MSFT). While HTC has added its own software overlay to dress up the design, I still found using the HD2 to be too often a chore. It looks cluttered, a patchwork of different interfaces. And, in my tests, it was prone to error messages and even freezing. Also, despite a fast processor, the software responded sluggishly too much of the time.

Another important downside for prospective HD2 buyers is that the Microsoft software version on which it is based can be viewed as a dead end. The software giant is producing an entirely new mobile-software platform, Windows Phone 7, due late this year.

The HD2 supersmartphone

HTC says the HD2 won’t be upgradable to the new Microsoft platform, nor will it run the new generation of third-party apps Microsoft hopes to attract. The HD2 has access to only about 1,200 third-party apps, versus 185,000 for iPhone and over 30,000 for Android.

The HD2 is both wider and taller than the iPhone and the flagship Android phone, Google’s Nexus One. But it is actually a tad thinner than either of those. The bigger difference is weight. While the iPhone and the Nexus One tip the scales at under 5 ounces, the HD2 weighs substantially more—5.54 ounces.

Despite the larger footprint and weight, I didn’t find the HD2 clumsy to carry in a pocket or odd to hold up to my ear. The screen isn’t only large, but vivid and pleasing. Videos and photos look beautiful on it.

T-Mobile has bundled some nice apps with the HD2 and placed them on the home screen. These include the Barnes & Noble e-book reader, the Blockbuster video download service, and a trial of the MobiTV live TV app. After some false tries and error messages, I was able to rent and watch a movie from Blockbuster (BBI), watch TV and buy a couple of books from Barnes & Noble (BKS). I also could sync photos, music and videos from my own PC and Mac.

The camera, which takes photos and videos, has a 5-megapixel resolution and a flash, and took better pictures than my iPhone does. Phone calls were crisp and clear, the 3G-cellular connectivity was fast, and the built-in Wi-Fi worked fine. Memory is generous for the price, at 16 gigabytes on a removable card, plus another gigabyte internally.

But my problem with the HD2 is mainly its software and user interface. Unlike on Android phones and the iPhone, there is only one home screen available for app icons, and much of it is taken up with a huge clock widget that can’t be removed. That leaves only nine icon slots to fill with your favorite apps or functions, compared with scores on competing phones.

To help make up for this, there is a band of smaller icons along the bottom of the screen, which offers limited customization. But the combination was a confusing jumble, to my eye. In addition, I found the touch functionality was often sluggish and halting. It frequently took hard presses to activate icons on the screen. And twice, while simply dialing a phone call, the device froze on me. I have occasionally had similar bad experiences on rival phones, and T-Mobile says these problems aren’t typical. But the glitches occurred too often for my taste on the HD2.

So, my bottom line is that the HD2 might be fine for folks who value the large screen above all. But, for everyone else, I’d look elsewhere.

Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

New Freescale Chip Could Herald Cheaper Kindle

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:01:35 +0000

Freescale Semiconductor, an ARM licensee and the company responsible for the chips used in the majority of e-book readers, has developed some new silicon that it claims could help drive prices of the devices below $150 before the end of this year.

The i.MX508 applications processor, as Freescale has christened it, integrates an ARM Cortex-A8 processor core and E Ink’s hardware-based display controller into a system-on-a-chip that the company claims delivers twice the performance of its previous eReader chips (it runs at 800 megahertz). It also happens to be more energy-efficient and significantly cheaper.

According to Freescale marketing director Glen Burchers, the chip will cost less than $10 in volume quantities and will drop the unit price of e-readers that use it by at least $30.

“There’s a big unsaturated market out there, and price is a big factor,” Burchers told Bloomberg. “We do see the price of e-readers coming down this year, and Freescale is trying to facilitate that. That’s a lot of what this chip is doing.”

For Freescale customers like Amazon (AMZN), the i.MX508 couldn’t come at a better time. With Apple (AAPL) about to redefine consumer expectations for e-readers with its multipurpose iPad, Amazon will increasingly need to differentiate its single-purpose Kindle on price.

Dropping the retail price of the basic version of the device to around $150 from its current $259 would certainly do that. If that’s possible. Obviously, the cost of E-Ink displays and the Kindle’s other components need to come down as well.

Acer to Apple: Don’t Mind Us. We'll Just Keep Making These "Cheap Laptops."

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:01:41 +0000

“Netbooks aren’t better than anything. They’re just cheap laptops.”

— Apple CEO Steve Jobs announcing the iPad

Come summer, Acer will enter the arena for e-book readers, releasing a device with a six-inch monochrome screen. The company will also debut an online applications store from which it will peddle apps for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows and Windows Mobile operating systems and for Google’s (GOOG) Android platform.

But Acer has no plans to launch a touchscreen tablet to compete with Apple’s (AAPL) new iPad, despite the fact that Chairman J.T. Wang recently told Bloomberg his company was “developing something” along those lines.

Why the sudden change of tack? Acer President Scott Lin says that while the company is entirely capable of building a tablet device, it wouldn’t be worthwhile because it lacks a software ecosystem like Apple’s iTunes App Store. A tablet, Lin, told DigiTimes, does not fit into Acer’s business model.

“Historically, closed platforms are typically limited in terms of scale and are confined to niche markets,” Lin said. “Apple has built its business out of carving its own niche, which means that while Apple could see success with devices like the iPad, other players are unlikely to be able to replicate its result simply by copying.”

An interesting admission, particularly since it seems to openly contradict what Wang said just about a week ago. Of course, at this point, with the iPad not yet released and the tablet market as nascent as it is, Acer’s tentative view of things is understandable. Why mess around with an unestablished, unproven market when the company is doing just fine peddling netbooks and other portables? Better to throw its full weight behind the broad spectrum of notebooks–traditional, ultrathin and netbook–where it’s already quite strong (Lin notes that Acer shipped about 31 million notebooks in 2009).

That said, Acer would do well to keep an eye trained on Apple. Because according to Deutsche Bank (DB), the iPad will give it claim to about seven percent of the low-end computer market by 2011. Said Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore: “We expect the iPad to compete very well against existing low-end notebooks and netbooks, particularly in the segment of the market where surfing, reading, game playing and emailing dominate the usage model.”

First Impressions of the New Apple iPad

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:49:41 +0000

It’s about the software, stupid. While all sorts of commentators were focusing on how much Apple’s new $499 iPad tablet computer looks like an oversized iPhone, the key to whether it can be the first multi-function tablet to win wide public acceptance probably lies in whether consumers perceive it as a suitable replacement for a laptop in key scenarios. And that, in my view, depends heavily on the software and services that flow through its handsome little body.

I have only spent a short time hands-on with the iPad–too short to fully run it through its paces and formally review it yet. But, after attending the rollout of the new device today, and trying out some of its features for myself, I have some first impressions.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs positioned the iPad as belonging to a new category of device between the smartphone and the laptop (since the netbook, in his view and mine, is really just a small, cheap laptop). But, as the demos unfolded, I kept thinking it was more like a hybrid of the two.

It uses the iPhone’s basic user interface and physical design. But, taking advantage of a 9.7″ screen and a fast Apple-designed processor, the iPad adds some user interface elements and functionality that aren’t available–or at least typical–on smart phones, but look more like computer software. For instance, its photo program works more like iPhoto on a Mac than the photo app on an iPhone, and it will be available with a touch version of Apple’s iWork productivity suite, which is Apple’s take on Microsoft Office. This is a much more powerful program than the phone-based office suites for the iPhone or BlackBerry, and Apple (AAPL) is only charging $30 for it.

[ See post to watch video ]

Also, Apple has rewritten most of the core iPhone apps so they look more like, and have more of the features of, Mac or PC programs. But they aren’t mere clones of full computer apps. For instance, many forego standard menus for clever overlays and sidebars that work more naturally with the iPad’s multi-touch interface. Other app developers can do this, too. But, even if they don’t, the company said the iPad will run most of the current 140,000 iPhone apps, either in a small window on the screen, or in a full-screen mode. That’s a huge plus for a new device.

Mr. Jobs said after the onstage program ended that he sees the iPad’s user interface as a fuller expression of the one on the iPhone, which had been limited by screen real estate.

And, although the reported video and music streaming services were nowhere to be seen at this preview, Mr. Jobs did offer a taste of how the iPad could deliver content, beyond simply downloads from the iTunes store. He showed off a new e-book reader app with built-in online book store that, visually at least, blew away the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle, even if it seemed to lack all of the Kindle’s features and may have a smaller catalog. Representatives of the New York Times (NYT) showed an iPad digital version of their newspaper that seemed vastly more usable than the clumsy version now on the Kindle and its ilk.

So, the iPad is more than just a giant iPod Touch or iPhone, even though it looks like one. But the question is, will that be enough to get consumers to shell out for it, and make it part of their daily lives? Or will it be a niche product, like Microsoft’s (MSFT) Tablet PC or Mr. Jobs’ own Apple TV?

On the plus side, the device is handsome, feels comfortable and solid to hold, and has all that beautiful software built in. Oh, and it’s amazingly low-priced for an Apple product, with that modest $499 price tag for a base version with 16 gigabytes of memory and Wi-Fi, but no cell phone data connectivity. (A fully loaded model with 64 gigabytes, Wi-Fi and a no-contract 3G cellular data plan is $829, and there are variations in between.)

It also boasts a decent 10 hours of battery life, and Mr, Jobs told me after the event that, for some functions, like playing video and music, the battery should last even longer.

But there are minuses. First, since it’s too big to go in a pocket, people might perceive it as just another thing to carry around, despite the fact that it’s only a half inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds. It also lacks a common and popular laptop feature–a web cam. So, it can’t be used for video chats or for the creation of web videos.

Also, the carrier for the iPad’s 3G plan is the deeply unpopular AT&T–there were groans and boos among Mr. Jobs’ otherwise excited audience when this was announced. AT&T is offering bargain prices for iPad data service compared to what it charges laptop owners. But its network is overwhelmed in many big cities and many iPhone lovers, who are strong candidates to buy an iPad, curse the carrier daily.

Finally, while it’s too early for me to say without lots of testing, the size of the iPad’s virtual keyboard may be a liability. I found it almost too wide for thumb typing, and a colleague who’s a whiz at touch typing and tried it briefly found it awkward to type on. Apple is offering an auxiliary physical keyboard that docks with, and charges, the iPad. But you won’t want to lug that around.

Still, the software looked impressive, and that could help Steve Jobs do the one thing even he has never done in an amazing career: get the public to love not just a better version of an existing type of gadget, but a whole new category of gadget.

View the slideshow

Apple iPad Event Liveblog

John Paczkowski — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:00:40 +0000

After months of feverish speculation and as many years of wishful thinking, Apple uncrated its tablet computer–the iPad–at an invitation-only event in San Francisco this morning.

Liveblog

9:13 am PT: Quite a scene here this morning; the queue for media credentials is nearly as long as some of the iPhone 3G launch lines I saw a few years back. Moments ago, an Apple PR rep slipped through the doors of the Yerba Buena Center to ask that the press waiting outside take two big steps back. The last time that happened to me, I was at a Jesus Lizard show.

9:54 am: The doors open and the press enters the event hall. Initially, at least, the scene is pretty crazy. “This is like the subway in New York,” an attendee behind me jokes. More like the subway in Tokyo, I think to myself.

A Bob Dylan soundtrack plays as media and guests file in. It’s momentarily interrupted by a “please take your seats, our event is about to begin” announcement.

10:00 am: Interesting stage set-up today: Instead of an empty stage or a simple table, there are a black leather chair and side-table. Lights are dimming….

And Steve Jobs takes the stage to a standing ovation.

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical product, but first a few updates….A few weeks ago we sold our 250 millionth iPod…I didn’t want to let that moment pass without recognizing it.”

10:05 am: Jobs offers a quick overview of Apple’s retail operations and some of the new stores it has opened recently before moving on to the iTunes App Store. “A few weeks ago we announced that three billion applications had been downloaded from the App Store–that’s in 18 months…amazing.”
He notes, as he did in the company’s earnings release the other day, that Apple is now a $50 billion company.

Apple is a mobile devices company, says Jobs, “the largest mobile devices company in the world now. Larger than Sony’s mobile device business, larger than Samsung’s and, astonishingly, Nokia’s as well.”

10:07 am: A quick historical overview now. Jobs touches on the first PowerBook, introduced in 1991. He moves on to the MacBook and then the iPhone.

“All of us use laptops and smartphones, now. And the question has arisen lately: Is there room for a device in the middle?…We’ve pondered this question as well.”

This “middle” device, says Jobs, must be better at doing certain tasks than either the laptop or smartphone. If there’s going to be a third-device category, it must be better at browsing the Web, video, photos, music, etc.

“Some folks say this device is a netbook…. The problem is, netbooks aren’t better at anything.”

10:10 am: But we have something that is, says Jobs, “and it’s called the iPad.”

Photos of the device appear on the giant screens. Very thin. Very slick. “IPad offers the best Web browsing experience there is–way better than laptops.” There is no camera that I can see. That’s not going to go over well with folks hoping for a device that supports video iChat.

10:13 am: Further details: The “iPad is a dream to type on,” Jobs says, pointing out its life-sized onscreen keyboard. It’s also an awesome way to enjoy media. iTunes, iTunes University and YouTube HD support are built in.

10:14 am: Jobs sits down to demo the device: “Using this thing is remarkable. It’s so much more intimate and capable than the laptop.” He loads Safari and surfs over to the New York Times (NYT). The iPad loads quickly and Jobs is able to easily navigate the page, loading stories and zooming in on articles.

10:15 am: Demonstrating landscape and portrait now. “This device adapts to the way I want to use it.”

Definitely an impressive browsing experience. Fast and elegant.

Now, an overview of Mail. Also elegant. Nice split-screen presentation. Hit compose, and a nice onscreen keyboard pops up. Jobs types out a message to his colleagues at Apple. Seems relatively easy.

10:19 am: Moving on to iPad’s photo capabilities. It supports iPhoto’s Events, Faces and Places features. It also offers built-in slideshows complete with soundtracks and transitions.

Running a slideshow demo, Jobs pauses and looks out at the audience with a Chesire Cat-wide grin. He’s clearly relishing this moment.

10:22 am:: The iTunes experience on iPad is much as you would expect. Similar, if not identical, to what the software currently offers. Calendar and Contacts apps are also nice and, again, similar to what you’d find on a MacBook or iPhone.

10:24 am: Demoing Google Maps now. The iPad supports Google Street View and the implementation is very slick.

10:25 am: Moving on to video. Jobs calls up an HD clip from Google’s (GOOG) YouTube and displays it in both portrait and landscape. That finished, he fires up iTunes and loads “Star Trek” to demo the device’s video features, scrubbing, etc. Then he shows us a clip from Pixar’s “Up.” Tap to go full-screen. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

10:27 am: Watching that is nothing like actually having one in your hands, says Jobs.

iPad is one-half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds, and comes with 9.7 inch IPS display–“very high-quality display”
Full capacitive multitouch
16GB-64GB flash storage
iPad is powered by our Apple’s custom silicon–“We did it inhouse and it just screams,” says Jobs.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, accelerometer, compass.
Battery life: 10 hours.

“And in addition to 10 hours of battery life, iPad offers a full month of standby time,” Jobs notes. “It’s also a good environmental citizen,” he adds, noting that it’s a very green device.

10:31 am: Jobs invites Scott Forestall to the stage to talk about apps on the device.

“We built the iPad to run virtually every app in the App Store right out of the box,” Forestall says.

Evidently, a built-in pixel-doubling feature automatically scales iPhone apps to full-screen iPad apps.

10:35 am: Forestall runs an unmodified racing game from the App Store. He first demos it in the screen size of an iPhone. Then, using the pixel-doubling feature, he blows it out to full screen. Very slick.

“So you can buy the iPad, take it home, hook it up and download all your iPhone apps and run them with no problem at all,” he says.

Forestall announces a new iPhone software development kit specifically geared to the iPad. He notes that iPad-specific applications will be featured “front and center” in the App Store.
He then invites Gameloft’s Mark Hickey to the stage to demo some new games the company has developed using the new SDK.

Hickey notes that the iPad’s additional screen space is a boon for developers, particularly those building games. He demos a first-person shooter that showcases this. “We’re now able to interact with the game world in ways that we weren’t able to before.”

10:40 am: Next up, the New York Times. Martin Nisenholtz takes the stage to talk about its iPad effort.

After talking up the Times iPhone app, Nisenholtz segues to the the paper’s new iPad app: “We think we’ve captured the experience and essence of reading the newspaper.”

The app is largely what you’d expect. Tap to resize text, zoom, breaking news updates, video. “This is everything you love about the paper and everything you love about the Web.”

10:44 am: Now, a painting application called Brushes that was famously used to create a New Yorker cover.
The app is impressive enough on iPhone; it’s even more so on the iPad. It supports “playback” of paintings, and as the presenter notes, brings us one step closer to a real virtual painting studio.

10:46 am: EA’s Travis Boatman take’s the stage. The topic of his presentation: Need For Speed.

“Building for the iPad is a little bit like holding a high-def TV screen a few inches from your face,” he says.

The iPad version of Need for Speed boasts a number of touch-activated enhancements: Tap on the car to view its interior, tap on the rear-view mirror to look behind you.

10:52 am: Up next: MLB.com’s Chad Evans. He demos the outfit’s iPad-optimized app, which uses the device’s additional screen space to display video excerpts and MLB TV.

MLB TV can be streamed like and enhanced with onscreen stats and data. “This big display really allows us to create a much more immersive experience,” Evans says.

10:52 am: Forestall returns to the stage to make another brief plug for the SDK before Jobs takes over for him.
“Let me show you another one of our apps that we’re very excited about,” Jobs says. “An e-book reader.”

Behind him a photo of Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle appears. “Amazon did a great job with their reader and we’re standing on their shoulders here….Today we’re announcing the iBooks store,” says Jobs, adding that it will be supported initially by Penguin, Simon & Schuster and a number of other big publishers.

The iBooks Store interface begins with a simple bookshelf view. Tap the screen and it loads a more iTunes-like view. Purchase a book and it’s added to your bookshelf with a slick little animation.

The reading experience seems very appealing. Much more book-like. From where I sit, the pages look like they’re written on paper.

“We use the e-pub format, the most popular open-book format in the world,” says Jobs. “We think iPad is going to be a very popular e-reader not just for bestsellers, but for textbooks as well.”

10:58 am: And here’s another new product announcement: A new version of iWork tweaked for use on the iPad. Jobs invites Phil Schiller on stage to demo it.

“We have a completely new version of Keynote, a completely new version of Pages and a completely new version of Numbers–all optimized for multitouch.

Schiller demos Keynote first. Creating presentations appears intuitive and simple–a slide navigator on the left, tap to load individual slides in the main window, drag to rearrange.

Nice use of multitouch gestures to enhance the app. Pinch to resize photos, tap to insert animations and transitions. These are all fairly advanced techniques and the device seems to handle them well.

11:05 am: Moving on to Pages now. Also impressive, though creating a written document on a tablet device like the iPad seems like it might be a drag. A nice tool for editing, though. Simple controls.

11:07 am: Moving on to Numbers. This application also makes good use of multitouch gestures and boasts a data-entry keyboard along with some 250 built-in functions. The software’s gesture capabilities makes Excel look antediluvian.
Powerful and fast.

So what’s Apple going to charge for iWork? $9.99 each, says Schiller, who notes that all three applications are compatible with their Mac versions.

Jobs returns to the stage, grinning. “Isn’t that great?” he asks for what’s easily the 10th time. iPad, he says, will synch to Mac or PC via USB.

11:14 am: Evidently, there will be two iPad models–one with Wi-Fi-only and one with Wi-Fi and 3G. The 3G device will come with two plans: 250 MB per month for $14.99, unlimited data for $29.99.

And who’s the carrier? AT&T.

A small groan ripples through the audience.

Jobs allows that AT&T is also throwing in free Wi-Fi at its hotspots. He follows that up by noting that there are no contracts for the iPad. You can cancel at anytime.

All iPad 3G models are unlocked and they use new GSM micro SIMS, so chances are they will just work, Jobs says, after noting that Apple hasn’t yet worked out international carrier deals.

11:16 am: Now a quick overview as a wrap-up. Jobs touts the overall tablet experience along with the new iBook app and iBook Store. “This is an amazing product with tremendous breadth. What should we charge for it?…When we set out to develop the iPad we not only had aggressive UI goals, we had aggressive price goals, because we wanted to put this in the hands of as many people as possible….IPad pricing starts not at $999, but $499,” Jobs says to a huge round of applause.

$499 for 16GB base model.
32GB for $599.
64GB for $699.
Adding 3G requires an additional fee.

Apple will ship Wi-Fi models in 60 days and 3G models in 90.

11:20 am: Apple has created new accessories for the iPad: A standard dock and a second dock with a keyboard attached to it. “Keep one of these in your den and you can write the next “War and Peace” on it.” The final accessory, a new case that doubles as a stand.

Running a video now. It features a number of Apple execs enthusiastically talking up the iPad.

11:25 am: Let me circle back here for a moment to pricing. Adding 3G to iPad requires an additional $130. So we’re talking $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB and $829 for the 64GB version.

Designer Jon Ives on the iPad: “In many ways iPad defines our vision, our sense of what’s next.”

11:32 am: Jobs returns to the stage and recalls the “middle device” scenario he mentioned earlier today. “Can we create this new category? The bar is set pretty high, but we think we’ve got the goods.”

“This is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” he adds. “The reason the iPad is going to be so great is because Apple has always strived to be at the junction of technology and liberal arts.”

And with that he concludes. Lights go up and Dylan begins playing over the speakers again.

View the slideshow

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iFugly

Windows Live Email, Vista and Apple Tablets

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:05:16 +0000

I have just bought a new computer with Windows 7, and not only can’t I download Outlook Express, I can’t even find it. Is it there? Where?

A: Sadly, Microsoft killed Outlook Express—its free, fast and simple Windows email program—long before Windows 7 came out. In Vista, it was replaced by something called Windows Mail. Now, there’s no email program at all built into Windows 7, unless a PC maker chooses to include one. But Microsoft offers for download a free product called Windows Live Email that is the latest successor to Outlook Express. You can get it, alone or as part of a suite of free “Essentials” programs that used to be routinely part of Windows, at: windowslive.com/desktop.

I was told that Apple is developing its own version of the Kindle e-book reader. I wanted to purchase a Kindle for Christmas, but now I’m not sure whether I should wait for an Apple version.

A: I have never heard any Apple official say or hint that the company is developing a direct competitor for the Kindle, or is planning to make any dedicated e-book reader. What you may be referring to is that some Web sites have been speculating that the much-rumored forthcoming Apple touch-controlled tablet would be mainly intended to be an e-book reader. I haven’t any evidence of this either.

The iPhone and iPod Touch already can run a free Kindle app from Amazon that allows you to read Kindle e-books on those devices without needing to own a Kindle itself. And Barnes & Noble, which has also announced a dedicated e-reader, has a similar iPhone app. So I assume that any general-purpose Apple tablet would likely be able to run such an app as well and function as an e-reader—along with performing other tasks.

But that’s different than producing a dedicated reader with a screen and controls designed primarily for book reading and a companion electronic book store, something Apple currently lacks. It’s entirely possible Apple is going into the e-book business, but I know of zero hard evidence that this is the case.

Do you have any recommendations about switching an existing 64-bit laptop from Vista to Windows 7? I totally dislike Vista but I don’t know if the switch can be done.

A: Yes, it can, in most cases, unless your PC’s manufacturer for some reason isn’t supporting or recommending the upgrade of your particular model. Just make sure you get the comparable version of Windows 7 (say, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium if you are currently using 64-bit Vista Home Premium) so you can do a direct, in-place upgrade that will allow your programs and files to remain in place.

You can also do an in-place upgrade if you opt to move up to the costlier Ultimate version. I would also advise backing up your irreplaceable personal files before you begin the process.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Barnes & Noble Reader Out Tuesday

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Geoffrey A. Fowler — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:42 +0000

A new electronic book reader is expected Tuesday from book seller Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) that will challenge readers from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Sony Corp. (SNE) with a color touch-screen and $259 price, according to a planned ad for the device.

The price for the reader, called the Nook, matches that of Amazon’s Kindle. The Kindle controls about 60 percent of the burgeoning e-book market, according to Forrester Research.

Details of the reader appear in a full-page advertisement viewed by The Wall Street Journal in the New York Times Book Review section dated Sunday, Oct. 25. The advertisement says the Nook will enable its owners to “Lend eBooks to friends.”

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble declined to comment.

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Study: Everyone Wants a Kindle–For $50

Peter Kafka — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:14:21 +0000

The Kindle gets plenty of attention, but the e-book reader is still a niche device. When will that change? When it gets cheaper.

That insight is blindingly obvious, of course. But a new study from Forrester (FORR) tries to figure out just how much Amazon (AMZN) and its competitors will have to discount their devices in order to get them into millions and millions of peoples’ hands.

The answer? A lot.

After flourishing a variety of of charts and graphs (Forrester tells us that it employed something called a Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter, which sounds like an awesome Dr. Evil device but turns out to be just a pedestrian marketing technique), Forrester argues that the pricing sweet spot for a dedicated e-book reader is…$50.

The readers will get a whole lot cheaper, of course, just as all consumer electronics do. But given that Amazon’s Kindle2 now goes for $299, and Sony’s (SNE) comparable gizmo will go on sale this year for $399, it may take a while to get there.

And even then, Forrester argues, the Kindle or its equivalent may never reach the same kind of ubiquity that Apple’s (AAPL) iPod line has–in large part because of the success of Apple’s iPhone and other do-it-all devices. It’s an argument I’ve made several times, but just for variety, here’s Forrester’s take:

The price points of multi-use devices like smartphones and netbooks informs the value that they assign to a single-purpose device like an eReader. With new 3G iPhones selling for $199 and a variety of netbooks selling for $300, devices in adjacent categories put the squeeze on eReaders. Convenience plays a core role in consumers’ decision-making. For many, the superior functionality of dedicated eReaders simply isn’t seen as making them sufficiently more convenient than cheaper multifunction devices to justify the additional cost.

[Image credit: Jonathan Harford]

Is Discovery Communications Working on eBook Reader?

Eric Savitz — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:53:36 +0000

Discovery Communications (DISCA) has filed for a patent on an e-book reader, the Baltimore Sun reported over late last week.

The Sun notes that Discovery, which owns Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and other cable properties, filed a patent for the device in February; but the Sun notes that the patent filing was not made public until last Thursday.

The story reports that “diagrams included with Discovery’s patent application…depict a rectangular device with physical controls for user navigation.” The device would be for reading e-books and “providing for e-commerce.” As the Sun notes, Discovery already holds a patent on some security and copy protection features, and earlier this year sued Amazon.com (AMZN) for alleged infringement by the Kindle.

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Sony's New Reader, Plus Free Library Books, Passes My "Dad Test." Is That Enough?

Peter Kafka — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:22:58 +0000

Sony started selling e-book readers long before Amazon, but blew its lead. So how can it catch up with its new device, which looks and works much like the Kindle, but costs $100 more?

After Sony unveiled its new line of readers this morning, I posed that question to Sony executive Steve Haber, who immediately pointed out that his “Daily Edition” machine has a slightly bigger screen than the Kindle 2 and boasts a touchscreen. (You can check out my interview with him at the bottom of this post.)

Both of these sound like nice upgrades from Amazon’s (AMZN) machine–I can’t actually tell you if they are since Sony (SNE) was simply showing the device today without actually demoing it. But I don’t think they’re enough to convince someone to shell out another $100.

But Sony does have one feature that sounds much more interesting–at least on electronic paper (Heh-heh. Get it?). The device will let you check out books, for free, from your local library.

In theory, Sony’s library program will work the way conventional books work now: Participating libraries purchase a given number of electronic copies of a particular book and lend them out, one at a time. The books will disappear at the end of the lending period, which will cut down on flexibility, but will also eliminate late fees.

We’ll see how this works in practice. The most obvious hurdle is convincing enough libraries to buy enough books to satisfy e-book owners who expect to be able to check out whatever they like, whenever they like.

But! If Sony can arrange this, it will convince people like my dad, who likes technology and hates spending money. We’ve talked about e-books for years and his line has always been the same: He’s a big reader who’s not attached to the idea of ink-and-paper books, and he’s happy to shell out a couple hundred bucks for a reading device. But he hates the idea of paying for books he’ll only read once.

So let’s assume that Sony and the libraries it is working with can deliver on the promising concept. Dad’s in. Are there enough of him to help Sony catch up?

[ See post to watch video ]

Barnes & Noble Lands Irex, Another Would-Be Kindle Killer

Peter Kafka — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:00:11 +0000

Here’s another company choosing a side in the coming e-book war: Irex Technologies, a Dutch company that plans on selling a Kindle-like reader in the U.S. this fall, has allied itself with Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore.

Irex is the second e-book reader company to join up with Barnes & Noble (BKS); earlier this summer Plastic Logic made a similar announcement. Neither company has a product that’s actually on the U.S. market.

Plastic Logic says its device, which it showed off at the D7 conference in late May, will go on sale next year; Irex sells machines in Europe, but hasn’t demoed its newest gadget in the U.S. yet. Its says its newest reader will feature an 8.1-inch touchscreen and a 3G wireless connection.

Irex doesn’t spell it out, but suggests that the relationship with the bookseller won’t be exclusive. Canned quote from Kevin Hamilton, North American CEO of Irex Technologies: “We will change the dynamics of the consumer market–users want to easily purchase content from a variety of sources and we allow them to read it on an IREX eReader as well as other devices.”

The announcement is one of a series we’ve seen this summer as would-be rivals to Amazon’s Kindle try to gear up for a big push against the market leader. The jostling for position includes competing boasts about whose bookstore is bigger and whose is more open.

Part of me thinks this is all for naught since Amazon has moved so far ahead of the pack already. And part of me thinks the e-book industry remains wide open since it’s still so very small and undefined. And it’s entirely possible that the e-book market won’t be dominated by single-use products like the Kindle, but will end up being driven by smartphones like Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone.

Sony (SNE), meanwhile, has already introduced a new line of readers this month and has another product announcement set for Tuesday morning in New York. I’ll drop by that one and report back….

[Image credit: sapphireblue]

AT&T Adds Another Gadget: Would-Be Kindle Killer Plastic Logic Signs On

Peter Kafka — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:49:22 +0000

Here’s another set of customers for AT&T: People who buy e-book readers from Plastic Logic, the would-be Kindle killer due out next year.

Privately held Plastic Logic says it will rely on AT&T (T) to supply its gadgets with a wireless connection, in the same way that Sprint (S) is the network provider for Amazon’s Kindle.

It’s the second big partnership Plastic Logic has unveiled this week; yesterday, it linked up with Barnes & Noble (BKS), which will be its virtual bookstore. I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence that Amazon (AMZN) announces its earnings Thursday afternoon.

Even if Plastic Logic’s reader becomes as successful as the Kindle, it’s unlikely this will be hugely significant for AT&T, the wireless company iPhone users love to complain about.

Each Apple (AAPL) phone on AT&T’s network represents $30 in monthly data charges alone, plus fees for a voice plan. But while Sprint and Amazon haven’t disclosed their terms, it’s estimated that Amazon pays Sprint something like $2 per Kindle user, per month.

What Book Will Amazon Delete Next?

Peter Kafka — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:11:39 +0000

Last week, Amazon acknowledged that it deleted some copies of “1984″ and “Animal Farm” from customers’ Kindles. So what book will be next?

I ask this because while Amazon has said it won’t repeat what it did last week, it hasn’t actually sworn off remote book-removal–or remote anything-removal, for that matter–altogether.

Which means the e-commerce giant can do it again.

On Friday, Amazon told me that it yanked the George Orwell novels from customers’ e-book readers because they were “illegal”–bootlegged copies it never should have sold in the first place. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” the company said in a statement.

See the problem? It’s the, big, gaping “in these circumstances” loophole.

I’m still holding out a tiny bit of hope that Amazon (AMZN) is never going to delete a book, or anything it sells its customers, ever again. And that its oddly worded nonpromise is just an oddly worded nonpromise.

But I’ve repeatedly asked Amazon PR folks to mollify me, or at least spell out the circumstances in which they would delete a book again, and I haven’t gotten any response. So I’m fearing the worst: Amazon reserves the right to yank books out of your Kindle, but won’t tell you why or when until it happens.

If you want to play devil’s advocate, you can note that other e-commerce companies have similar abilities. Apple (AAPL) has disclosed that it has a “kill switch” that allows it to remotely wipe out apps from iPhones, ostensibly for security reasons.

And theoretically, the ability to wipe out a rogue iFart app should be as disconcerting as the ability to make a book disappear–intellectual property is intellectual property. But it just doesn’t rankle in the same way.

What to do? Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo wants new legislation to tackle the problem. But even if you like that approach, it’s not going to happen anytime soon–our lawmakers have full plates these days. My suggestion: Demand that Amazon, Apple or whoever else has remote access to your gadgets spell out exactly when, if ever, they will forcibly take back what they sold you. Or don’t buy from them at all.

Kindle DX Shipping on June 10

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:08:33 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle DX finally has a release date. It will arrive at market nine days from today. In a brief announcement issued this morning, Amazon (AMZN) said its new e-book reader, which boasts both a larger screen and price tag than its predecessor, will ship on June 10 with orders prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis.

According to Amazon, the DX will save the newspaper industry–or at least momentarily reverse its declining fortunes–and revolutionize the college textbook market as well. But with a price tag of $489–$130 more than the Kindle 2–that may be bit of a stretch.

We’ll see on June 10.

Apple, Verizon and the iPhone LiTE

John Paczkowski — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:19:14 +0000

OK. So maybe there’s something to these Apple/Verizon rumors after all. Shadowy “people familiar with the matter” tell BusinessWeek the two companies are discussing a distribution deal that would see two new devices added to Verizon’s mobile devices lineup: the first, a sort of “iPhone lite” handset, the second a high-definition media tablet. Apple (AAPL) is said to have prototypes of each and has been talking them up to Verizon (VZ) for the better part of six months.

A couple thoughts: Odd, isn’t it, that we’ve seen two stories on an Apple/Verizon deal in as many days in two major news publications? They are presumably well-sourced and bullet-proof. Could be that “people familiar with the matter” are Apple execs simply using the media to put the screws to AT&T (T) in advance of the two companies’ iPhone contract renewal negotiations.

Or is it something else?

Perhaps these pieces are the first signs of the Apple’s cunning PR machine ramping up for some big announcements this summer. An Apple tablet/e-book reader is likely different enough from an iPhone that it wouldn’t interfere with AT&T’s exclusive deal on the device. And what of that “iPhone light” mentioned in the BusinessWeek story? Could it perhaps be an iPhone LTE? Or rather iPhone LiTE? A new device designed for the LTE (long term evolution) standard Verizon will begin supporting widely right around the time AT&T’s exclusive iPhone deal expires?

Rumored Apple Netbook Actually an E-Book?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:15:19 +0000

Reports that Apple is developing a new touchscreen device are picking up traction and credibility. In the past few days, claims made in a Chinese-language financial newspaper have been reinforced, first by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and now by Reuters as well. Consensus seems to be that Apple (AAPL) has ordered 10-inch touchscreens from Wintek–the Taiwanese outfit that manufactures the smaller screens used in its iPhone and iPod touch–and that those screens are destined for an entirely new device. Netbook is the word most often bandied about for it, but given its size and function, I wonder if it’s not more of a tablet. Or e-book reader. There’s nothing much on which to base this theory, aside from another rumor that’s been making the rounds lately, as recounted by Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There’s something I keep hearing, and I don’t think I’d rank it as high as a rumor, but it’s an interesting story that I keep hearing, that for awhile, trucks loaded with books would arrive at a loading dock on the Apple campus, and offload big, big, big, big, huge loads of books, and then the trucks would leave empty. And Apple does not have a 100,000-book employee library there on the Apple campus. So one is prone to believe that they’re doing something with these books, such as turning them into text for some purpose we can only guess at. There’s been a long-standing rumor that Apple has been silently preparing to open a bookstore on the iTunes store, and they want to make sure that they have a very large stock of electronic titles when they do open.”

Interesting, no? Especially in light of these new reports about 10-inch touchscreen devices. Could Apple be developing a new souped up e-book reader–a TouchBook, if you will? Something on which you could read books (in color), watch movies, surf the Web and create and edit documents? Something that would upend and redefine the e-book sector as we know it? And are the mysterious “books” to which Ihnatko refers really books and not the device themselves…

PREVIOUSLY:

Reading Periodicals on Kindle 2

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:58:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

In your review of Amazon’s Kindle 2 e-book reader, you didn’t say much about its ability to display newspapers, magazines and blogs. How does it do with this type of content?

The new model’s handling of periodicals and blogs is quite similar to that of the old model’s, which is why I didn’t dwell on it. This wasn’t an area where Amazon changed much.

While I know some Kindle owners happily rely on the device for newspaper reading, in my opinion, the Kindle doesn’t do as well with periodicals and blogs as devices like laptops and the best smart phones. Its ability to render the content optimally is limited by its low-power monochrome screen, and its navigation system is fairly primitive compared to that on a laptop or a good smart phone. Kindle’s features were built mainly for books, which, unlike periodicals, don’t contain links and prompt little navigation in most pages.

Whenever I watch an Internet movie, the monitor on my desktop Vista PC shuts off every 10 minutes unless I touch the keyboard. How can I solve this problem?

Unless your monitor has its own feature that turns itself off after some time period, this is usually easily controllable from within Vista. You simply need to go into the Control Panel, find the power settings, and set the option for automatically turning off the display to “never,” or to some very long interval. Remember to re-enable the screen dimming feature after you’re done with the movie, so you don’t waste energy. If this doesn’t work, check to see if the manufacturer has installed its own software for controlling power settings. If so, you may have to change the settings there.

I am retired and would like to buy a small, wireless computer for travel that would have email and Internet software and very few other applications. The keyboard would be bigger than a Blackberry’s and smaller than a laptop’s. Can you recommend something?

I would look for a so-called “netbook.” These are little laptops, with screens generally 10 inches or smaller, that usually weigh almost nothing and sell for under $500. They typically come with relatively slow processors and relatively limited storage, but every one that I’ve seen is wireless and does a decent job with email and the Internet. There are many models, from companies like Acer, Asus, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo and Dell.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

First Impressions of Kindle on iPhone

Walt Mossberg — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:02:37 +0000

As I predicted in my review of Amazon.com’s Kindle 2 e-book reader last week, the giant bookseller has moved quickly to make the 240,000 book Kindle catalog available on other devices. On Tuesday night, the first Kindle software reader appeared, and it’s a free iPhone app. Called Kindle for iPhone, the app replicates the basic book-reading functions of the hardware Kindle device, and can be thought of as a complement to that device, which has more features. However, you don’t have to own a hardware Kindle to use this app. You can now choose instead to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as the reader for books from Kindle’s catalog.

I tried the new iPhone Kindle app moments after it became available on Apple’s App Store (AAPL), and my first impression is generally positive. But first, let me note the key features of the hardware Kindle that aren’t carried over to the iPhone app. It doesn’t support periodicals. It doesn’t read books aloud. It doesn’t allow you to enter notes or highlight text, look up words in a dictionary, or perform searches.

And, if you wish to purchase a new e-book, the Kindle app sends you over to the iPhone’s Safari Web browser to go the Amazon (AMZN) Web site; it lacks a built-in Kindle store.

However, it is a solid basic app for reading books, and is especially valuable if you already own a hardware Kindle, as I do. In my brief tests, the iPhone app synchronized rapidly and perfectly with my purchased library of Kindle books on Amazon’s servers, and allowed me to retrieve a previously purchased e-book, without paying again, just as my hardware Kindle does. It also synchronized to the furthest page I had read in that book on my Kindle. After reading for awhile on the iPhone, I performed that process in reverse, and my Kindle took me to the same spot where I had quit reading on the iPhone.

This means that, if I were in line at the grocery store with my iPhone, I could read a few pages of my book, and then, when I picked up my Kindle at home, I could continue reading, starting from the same spot.

I also was able to buy a new book using the iPhone’s Web bowser, and Amazon gave me a choice of auto-delivering it to either my Kindle or my iPhone, which it treats as just another Kindle. I did so, and it appeared very quickly. I later downloaded it as well to my Kindle.

Reading on the device was easy. You turn pages using the iPhone’s horizontal swiping gesture, and you can change the font size on the fly, and create bookmarks, which then can be synced back to a Kindle device. You can view any notes you made on a hardware Kindle. And there’s a slider to quickly go back and forth through chunks of the book.

The only flaw I encountered in my brief testing: if you turn pages too fast you get a fleeting blank page or two.

In two key respects, using the iPhone app seems superior to using a Kindle. First, the iPhone’s screen is brighter, and supports color, so book covers and illustrations in my test books looked much better on the iPhone than they did on the Kindle. Second, the iPhone is smaller and thus much more portable.

The new Kindle app isn’t as full-featured as some other e-reader apps for the iPhone, which do allow annotation, searching, and so forth. But it gets the job done and it gives you access to Amazon’s large catalog, which contains more popular and current commercial titles than other e-book sellers offer.

If you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch owner who has yearned for a Kindle but balked at its $359 price, or a Kindle owner with an iPhone or Touch already, this new Kindle app is a good bet, even if it is bare-bones.

Shut Up, Kindle

John Paczkowski — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:55:04 +0000

Rather than argue with the Authors Guild over the text-to-speech feature of its new Kindle 2 e-book reader, Amazon is modifying the device’s software to make it optional. Authors and publishers will now be able to decide if they want the function enabled or not on titles for which they own the rights. Amazon (AMZN) announced the move in a statement released late Friday afternoon, in which it also said it believes the Kindle’s text-to-speech function to be legal:

Kindle 2′s experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given. Furthermore, we ourselves are a major participant in the professionally narrated audiobooks business through our subsidiaries Audible and Brilliance. We believe text-to-speech will introduce new customers to the convenience of listening to books and thereby grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business. Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rightsholders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.

Therefore, we are modifying our systems so that rightsholders can decide on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.

The move comes on the heels of a meandering New York Times editorial in which Roy Blount Jr., president of the Authors Guild, argued that the Kindle’s roboticized nondramatic book readings are a threat to the audio book market.

Re-Kindled

John Paczkowski — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:37:26 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Comcast Busts a Cap

John Paczkowski — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:00:33 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Google Take All

John Paczkowski — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:00:02 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Amazon's Unseen Bestseller Raises Questions

Therese Poletti — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:00:46 +0000

There was a certain irony Monday when Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney jacked up his sales forecast for the Kindle, the electronic book reader developed by Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Ironic because in Silicon Valley–the capital of early-technology adopters and the bleeding-edge users of all things geek–actual sightings of the device are quite rare.

Most of the digerati around here are still obsessed with Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) latest 3G iPhone, which still draws lines wrapping around the block. By contrast, the Kindle is so scarcely spotted that whenever tech analyst Rob Enderele uses his, little crowds tend to gather around him.

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