360 DEGREES Weblog

Mmm, digital magazines. They are the little bites of paid-for content that all the publishers believe we should be deeply enthralled with. Hoping to show us why exactly it is that we should all care (and pay) for prepackaged digital content is Wired’s latest and most comprehensive demo of its tablet app. Setting aside hopefuls like the Joojoo and Adam for a moment, it is clear that this is intended for Apple’s iPad — the device that stands by far the biggest chance of making the digimag concept a commercial success. Interesting choice of development partner, then, as Condé Nast has opted to use Adobe’s AIR platform for the underlying mechanics. Adobe promises its Packager for iPhone will allow devs to easily port AIR apps to run natively on the iPad, but until Apple gives its official ascent to the final code, nothing is guaranteed. As far as the app goes, it’ll come with Twitter and Facebook integration, and navigation is geared toward the touching and swiping model so prevalent today.

Not content to let traditional books have all the digital distribution fun, Panelfly (Free; App Store Link) lets you purchase, download, and read digital comics right from your iPhone or iPod touch. With hundreds of titles available from some of the biggest names in comics — including Marvel — Panelfly’s slick, well-designed interface makes reading each issue as easy as possible, and in case you’re thinking the iPhone/iPod touch screen is too small, have patience — Panelfly for the iPad will launch alongside the device in March.

Asus leaked some information recently about their upcoming e-reader, the DR-570. Not content to be a “me too” with the standard black and white e-ink product, it looks like they are going to be coming out with an OLED offering that might just kick the rest of the e-readers to the curb.

Details are still a little sketchy, but here’s what we do know. The new reader is currently called the DR-570, it’s a 6 inch OLED color screen that’ll run for 122 hours on one charge, and is capable of running Flash video over a wifi or 3G connection. That sounds like a borderline tablet product to me, but with some incredible battery life. What we don’t know is when exactly it’ll come out or what it’ll cost. The buzz is that we should expect it around the end of 2010

E-readers are likely to get hotter with the next generation of devices sporting color screens and large displays expected to launch through the year.

One of the first products to announce its arrival is the Skiff e-reader, a lightweight device with a 11.5-inch full flexible touchscreen that makes it the largest e-reader on the market, beating the 9.7-inch display Kindle DX.

Unlike other e-readers designed for reading mainly books and PDF files, the Skiff is optimized for newspaper and magazine content and will use Sprint’s 3G network to offer wireless connectivity. The device will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. The company hasn’t announced availability and pricing for it yet.

Amazon’s Kindle for iPhone application is now available internationally, in “over 60 countries”. The catch is that it it still only localized in English.

When the Kindle e-reader was launched internationally back in October, one of the many aspects that Amazon left out in the rush to make some Christmas money was the iPhone application which allows Kindle owners to continue reading on their iPhones. We posted a workaround to get the app from outside the US, but as it involved creating a US account at the iTunes Store it was far from ideal. Now Amazon has fixed things with the long-awaited international launch of Kindle for iPhone.

Amazon doesn’t show much love for its overseas customers (shipping the Kindle with a US power-cord adapter, for example), but we suspect that Amazon’s xenophobia isn’t the only aspect to this delay. Its more likely that Apple’s long-winded (read “broken”) App Store approval process was a major culprit. The release notes for this version show nothing more than the addition of worldwide support. Given that the US version works fine in Europe with a Spanish Kindle account, we doubt that Amazon did much ore than re-submit the app to Apple.

Still, it’s here at last. Maybe now Amazon can concentrate on adding some non-English-language books to the Kindle store.

Print magazines may soon be on their way out, which leaves tablet-based devices to fill their void, like this device by Time Inc. Basically, publishers will be able to offer digitized versions of their “magazines that would be accessible to PCs and phantom Apple tablets alike.”

Qualcomm’s Mirasol displays have already found their way into quite a few products, but the company looks to really be branching out into some new territory with its latest prototype: an e-book reader with a full-color, 5.7-inch display. Of course, Qualcomm isn’t planning to sell this one itself, and it apparently doesn’t have any OEM partners just yet, but it has set the somewhat ambitious target of getting it on the market in the “latter part of 2010.” From the looks of it, however, it doesn’t seem like it’ll have too much trouble attracting interest, considering that the XGA (220ppi) Mirasol display is not only full-color, but allows for video playback, is supposedly readable in direct sunlight, and reportedly has a “minimal impact” on battery life.

Like Harvey “Two-Face” Dent, a new dual-screen device has two faces to match its double identity: It promises to be an electronic book reader and a netbook at the same time.

The Wi-Fi enabled device, called eDGe, will fold like a book and can be used as an e-reader. It will also serve as a digital notepad you can use to write notes or highlight text, send e-mails and instant messages, browse the internet and run apps, say the device’s creators. Under the hood, eDGe will be powered by Google’s Android operating system.

The left half of the eDGe will have a 9.7-inch E Ink e-paper display. Users will be able to read e-books in PDF and EPUB format and take notes or draw diagrams using a stylus. The right side of the device is a 10.1-inch LCD touchscreen that can be used to check e-mail and surf the web.

The $490 eDGe won’t be available until February, 2010, says its creator, Entourage Systems, a startup based in McLean, Virginia. But the company is taking pre-orders for the device.

Currently, e-book readers and netbooks are among the fastest-growing categories in consumer electronics. Not surprisingly, companies are trying to find ways to meld the two. Netbooks pioneer Asus, for instance, is also working on a dual-screen e-reader. Asus showed a prototype of the device at the CeBIT trade show in March and plans to unveil it at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Asus’ e-reader will likely have two color touchscreens, a speaker, a webcam and a microphone, along with the capability to make inexpensive Skype calls.

The eDGe will have an ARM processor, 4 GB storage, an SD card slot and 2 USB ports. Weighing about 2.5 pounds, eDGe’s dual screens will work together, the company says. That means a user will be able to highlight a word from the e-paper screen and drag it to a browser on the LCD screen in order to do a Google search on it. (See a list of eDGe’s specs.)

As with many hybrid devices, eDGe runs the risk of not being good enough as either an e-book reader or as a netbook. Also, eDGe doesn’t have the kind of integrated access to an e-bookstore that companies such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble can offer with their e-readers. However, because eDGe uses the EPUB format, its customers can access the 1 million free, public-domain books digitized by Google. Getting the latest Dan Brown bestseller may be more difficult.

Still, the eDGe packs in some appealing extras. The device will come with a text-to-speech function and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. It will offer about 16 hours of battery life in e-reader mode and up to 6 hours when running the LCD screen, says Entourage Systems.

Thanks WIRED

Further details about the expected Barnes and Noble ebook reader launch have emerged, this time courtesy of the Wall Street Journal who are claiming to have prematurely spotted a full-page ad for the device.  They suggest that the dual-screen device will be priced at $259 and be called the Barnes and Noble Nook, which has to be one of the more ridiculous names for an ebook reader right now.

As well as displaying ebooks on its E Ink display, the B&N Nook will offer a keyboard, browsing options and even the ability to “lend e-books to friends” via its color touchscreen underneath.  It’s also expected to support wireless downloads, in the same manner as the Amazon Kindle, from B&N’s ebook store among other places.

As for the hardware, despite the concept resemblance that’s actually different to the Spring Design Alex announced yesterday.

Remember the Barnes and Noble dual-display ebook reader spotted in concept form last week?  There’s obviously something in the water, as Spring Design have just announced an ebook reader, the Alex, with both a 6-inch E Ink panel and a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, based on Google’s Android platform and with integrated 3G and WiFi.

The touchscreen can be used to browse the web and grab clippings, which can then be viewed on the e-ink panel.  Spring Design have also developed what they call Link Notes, a hybrid of traditional ebooks, clippings, multimedia and user notes.  As for production possibilities, the company claim to be in discussion with “selected strategic partners” and “major content” providers, with a release expected by the end of 2009.

Storage is via SD card, and there’s a headphones socket and full smartphone functionality.  Spring Design call the dual-display system Duet Navigator, and as well as being used to pull up related photos, news articles, media content and more, it will also aid in annotation and searches by offering an on-screen keyboard.