ereaders

Kindle gets better battery life, native PDF support

Just in time for the holidays and facing heavy competition from Barnes & Noble's upcoming Nook e-book reader, Amazon has announced that it has improved the Kindle's battery life when the wireless connection is turned on and will now be offering native PDF support for its e-book reader. Both the battery-life boost and native PDF support will be available to owners of new Kindles and some older models via a firmware upgrade.

In a press release, Amazon says the Kindle now has battery life of up to seven days with wireless turned on compared with four days previously. … Read more

Ditto Book--Custom e-readers for a niche market

Though Amazon and Barnes and Noble are grabbing headlines with e-readers aimed at consumers, Ditto Book--a CES 2010 exhibitor--is marketing its device for niche markets.

The $249 e-reader doesn't compete with Nook and Kindle specifications, as it is not wireless, has a 6-inch screen in four shades of gray, and doesn't support the standard ePub format yet.

Its focus is on customization; companies interested in ordering the e-reader in bulk can add a logo, brand name, color, and welcome screen. A unique option is to load the e-readers with bundled content.

Ditto is a subsidiary of Macrotron Systems, … Read more

Nook sold out for the holidays

If you were interested in buying the Barnes & Noble Nook as a holiday gift, strike it off your list. The e-reader is now officially sold out through 2009, according to the B&N Web site.

"The hottest holiday gift is out of stock," a message at the top of the page reads. "Order the Nook today to be first in line for the new year."

If this sounds familiar, it's because last year Amazon had a similar message on its site when it stock ran out of the Kindle. However, in the case … Read more

Amazon debuts Kindle for PC

Kindle book buyers can now read their books right from their PCs without having to buy a Kindle reader.

Amazon onTuesday made available its new Kindle for PC, free software that lets Kindle customers read their e-books on tablet PCs, Netbooks, notebooks, and other personal computers.

The software can be downloaded from the Kindle for PC page. The quick installation sets up the reader application, prompting you to log in and register with your Amazon account or create a new one. After logging in, you can download books that you've already purchased at the Kindle store or click on … Read more

New preorders of Nook get later shipping date

Demand is so strong for the Nook that Barnes & Noble has begun telling new customers not to expect delivery of the soon-to-be-released e-reader until the second week of December.

When the nation's largest bookseller unveiled the device in October, customers placing early preorders were told they could expect the Nook to ship by the end of November; customers placing preorders now are being told they can expect shipment by December 11. The new shipping date was first reported by Brighthand.com.

A Barnes & Noble representative confirmed the December 11 shipping date but disputed the characterization of the … Read more

Hands-on pics of Spring Design's Alex e-reader appear

Spring Design announced its Alex e-book reader just a day before Barnes & Noble introduced its Nook device, but until now, the Google Android-based device hasn't been seen in public.

That's no longer the case.

The folks at Maximum PC have taken photos of the dual-screen, 6-inch electronic-paper-display gadget in the flesh, and it's just as strangely proportioned as the original mockup promised.

Read more of "Hands-on photos of Spring Design's Alex Android-based e-reader appear" at ZDNet's The ToyBox.

The 404 459: Where we walk the streets at 3 a.m.

One surprise guest on The 404 always makes for a great show, especially when it's Bonnie Cha, who's in town apartment hunting for her big move out to New York at the end of the year! We're so excited at the idea of hanging out with her full-time, and even more stoked to welcome our second surprise guest: 404 superfan Brendan!

Our new underage friend took it upon himself to arrive at the CNET offices in the middle of his N.Y. vacation, bright and early at 3 a.m. in anticipation of sitting in on the show. We're more than happy to oblige, because that's some serious dedication. 404 fans rule; thanks for stopping by, Brendan!

In honor of our two guests, we've got a hilarious show today, literally packed full of awfully random stories from the Internet. It's the first day we're all back together as a family, so Jeff takes a second to tell us about his Halloween adventures and his trip to see Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D. It sounds like he might be changing his opinion on 3D, although we're all a little wary about Jim Carrey's upcoming 3D adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

Next, Wilson offers two completely off-kilter stories that he dug from the colon of the Web about a creepy new Wii game that forces you to "cram a Wiimote inside a baby," according to Wilson's description, and another story about a bizarre space hotel that will charge guests $4.4 million for a three-night stay that includes majestic views of the rising sun...15 times a day. No, it's not Fhloston Paradise, it's real life, which is much scarier.

Speaking of movies, check out the official trailer for "Prince of Persia" and this photo of a shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal and tell us you won't be first in line when it comes out on May 28, '10.

Also, Wilson tells us Joss Whedon has issued an open letter to the Terminator owners asking to make a $10,000 bid to continue the popular franchise. The guy definitely means business, and we might be onboard were it not for the fact that he keeps referring to himself as a "legendary mastermind." He does, however, offer a throat lozenge for Christian Bale's John Connor if accepted and even puts in $10k for the Batman series while he's at it, so it's clear that Joss Whedon has lost his marbles. Maybe we should just keep it to blood-suckers and wooden stakes, how about it Joss?

Much thanks once again to everyone who sent in photos for our Halloween costume virtual catwalk you see below. If you'd like to be included, send us a photo of this year's get up to the404{at}cnet[dot]com.

Hope you guys enjoy today's show as much as we enjoyed recording it!

EPISODE 459 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Marvell touts new e-readers, partnerships

Chip supplier Marvell is hooking up with e-reader companies, hoping to take the lead in silicon design for this nascent market.

The market for e-readers, currently led by the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, is poised for growth, according to Weili Dai, a Marvell co-founder and general manager of the consumer and computing business unit. "The timing is right for the e-reader market to take off in volume," Dai said in an interview.

Marvell, though not a household name like Intel, is a major supplier of communications, storage, and wireless chips. Marvell, for example, supplied the Wi-Fi chip … Read more

Creative is latest to tackle e-book readers

The question is, who isn't getting in on the e-book reader action these days? Less than two weeks after we met Barnes & Nobles' Nook and just a few days after hearing of tire maker Bridgestone's plans for a flexible e-reader, our friends at Crave UK alerted us that Creative may be hopping on the e-reader bandwagon as well.

Creative fan site EpiZenter.net (so named for Creative's family of popular Zen MP3 players) reports that the company showed off a working model of its first e-book reader, tentatively named the MediaBook, at its annual general meeting … Read more

Tiremaker Bridgestone develops flexible e-book reader

When not making tires, Bridgestone is working on e-book readers so flexible they'd probably survive being driven over. They've even got a prototype ready for testing, but no plans to commercialize the slender and bendy device at this point.

The reader (press release in Japanese) is definitely slender, as it's almost half as thin as a Kindle 2. It's said that it can be "bent to some extent since the circuit board and the electronic paper are flexible," but no one is saying how much "to some extent" is. No matter. While … Read more