Mac Tablet

Apple Mac Tablet killed twice by Steve Jobs

Apple Mac Tablet: watch out there's a Jobs about Steve Jobs' legendary eye for detail has led to two Apple Mac Tablet designs being scrapped. According to the Wall Street Journal, Jobs just wasn't happy with the finalised versions and shelved them.

The first Apple Mac Tablet was binned because of poor battery life while the second attempt was killed due to a lack of memory.

Since his return from medical leave, Jobs has apparently been hyper-hands-on with the tablet project. The move is reported to have not gone down too well with employees who've grown used to more freedom in his absence.

Excitingly Jobs has replied to the Wall Street Journal's speculation. Less thrillingly, his response numbers a curt 6 words: "Much of your information is incorrect." Hang on though, just "much" of it. That's daring close to confirming the existence of the Apple Mac Tablet. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Check out our list of things we want the Apple Mac Tablet to include and let us know what features you want to see in the comments.

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Apple Mac Tablet

Steve Jobs on iPod Touch cameras, ebook readers and the iPod Nano 5G

Steve Jobs: he's back!We're happy to see Steve Jobs back in the black polo neck and on stage in San Francisco and it seems he's even up for interviews. The New York Times's David Pogue got a few minutes with him and it was quite illuminating. If, like us, you're reeling a little from the lack of a camera in the latest iPod Touch, Jobs has an explanation. For him, the iPod Touch has become a pocket gaming device and it needs to be affordable.He said: “We don't need to add new stuff – we need to get the price down.” Don't be surprised if we get a camera in the iPod Touch eventually though.

On the subject of the iPod Nano 5G and its new video recording smarts, Jobs blamed the lack of stills snapping skills on the sensor: “Sensors for doing video are fairly thin. The sensors for doing a still camera…and we'd really like to have autofocus…are just way to thick to fit inside the Nano.”Pressed for his opinion on ebook readers, Jobs was rather dismissive of standalone devices pointing instead to the convenience of general-purpose devices. It was a broad statement but could point to Apple's potential plans for the mysterious and possibly non-existence Apple Mac Tablet.

Another interesting hint on the future of the Apple Mac Tablet came in Jobs discussion of what went on at Apple in his absence: “A lot of things that were started before I left…were continually worked on…and there are some things I'm focusing a lot of attention on right now.” ??Steve, you tease! He continued, noting that the new products needed “polish” and that he doesn't think Apple will “miss a beat”. If you were disappointed by yesterday's announcements, I have a feeling you won't be next time.

(via The New York Times)

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Labels: apple, device, ebook, reader
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Sony has eventually found the clue with Ebooks

After letting Kindle dominate the e-book reader market for two years, Sony has fired a huge salvo in return – at least in the US.

The new Sony Reader Daily Edition adds wireless 3G, increase the size of the touchscreen to seven inches and supports a feature called Library Finder that will let users borrow e-books from their local libraries, at no cost.

The Reader Daily Edition will cost $400 and is expected to be in US stores in December. A spokesman for Sony said today that it intends to launch the device in the UK "when the market is right", but it has not yet planned a release date.

Reception for the new device in the US was very positive. "Sony has given the market what everyone was waiting for in terms of a wireless device," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst who has been covering e-readers. "Not only that, they have gone one step further, and shown their latest product is no copycat of the Kindle."

Since Amazon introduced the Kindle to the US market in 2007, e-readers have become a surprisingly hot consumer product category. Though Sony was the first to launch an e-reader, the company has lagged behind its biggest rival. One key missing feature was wireless connectivity: until now, Sony Reader users who wanted to purchase or download books had to connect their e-reader to a PC using the USB connection. By contrast, the Kindle has always offered free over-the-air wireless book downloads. Amazon also aggressively pursued publishers, enabling the company to offer a wide selection of popular books for download.
Now Sony is fighting back on both the features and the content fronts.

The Reader Daily Edition offers portrait and landscape orientation. In portrait mode, about 30-35 lines of text are visible, offering an experience similar to that of a printed paperback book, says the company. The device has enough internal memory to hold more than 1,000 standard e-books, says Sony, and it has expansion slots for memory cards.
The Reader Daily Edition is the third new e-book reader in the company's line-up. The other two, which will be available for pre-order in the UK later today, will be a five-inch-screen device called the Sony Reader Pocket and a six-inch touchscreen model, the Sony Reader Touch. UK pricing is yet to be confirmed, but in the US they cost $200 (£120) and $300 (£180) respectively.

Aside from technical specifications, Sony Reader's second big weakness compared to the Kindle has been access to content. Amazon's position as a leading online retailer of books helped the company offer a wide selection of e-books to Kindle buyers that were competitively priced and easy to download.
To match that, Sony has partnered with OverDrive, a distributor of e-books to libraries, to offer its customers easy access to the local library's collection of e-books. Sony Reader customers can use the company's Library Finder software and check out e-books with a valid library card. Users will have to download the books to a PC first and then transfer them to the Reader. The e-books will expire at the end of the 21-day lending period.

Sony has also said it will adopt the open EPub format in a move that allows consumers to purchase or download books from the Sony store and read them on any EPub-compatible device. In contrast, Amazon uses a proprietary file format that only allows users to read books they've bought using the Kindle, or Amazon-sanctioned Kindle software.
"From the beginning, we have said that an open format means more choice for consumers," says Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business Division. "Now, readers can shop around for what interests them rather than be locked into one store."
Still, it won't be easy to beat Amazon, says Epps.

"Sony is number two in the market and though they are in a strong position to close the gap with Amazon over the holiday season, I expect Amazon to still be the market leader in early 2010," she says.

"Amazon has built a very strong relationship with e-book buying consumers that were the first wave of adopters of electronic readers," says Epps.

"Consumers are now split between the small pocket-sized devices with five-inch or six-inch screens and the larger screen eight-inch to ten-inch screen readers," says Epps. "But it is not over yet. The market is still evolving."


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eSlick

The eSlick will sell for $229 when it first goes on sale in January from Foxit's site (and eventually in retail stores), then for $259 afterward.





It is about the size of a medium paperback, but at 0.4 inches, it's much thinner. Its 6-inch, 600-by-800-pixel "electronic paper" screen is made by the same company that makes the Kindle's; it has the same easy-on-the-eyes, grayscale reflective screen (light is reflected off of words and images on the screen, rather than blasted at you with a backlight). You can resize text, and the device will reflow your document (rather than simply magnifying what's on the screen). Those are all features that make the Kindle such a great device on which to read books, magazines, blogs, etc.



Available in black, gray, or white, the device will have 128MB of internal memory, plus USB and an SD Card slot (it'll come with a 2GB card, too). Because its screen draws very little power, battery life should be extremely long; Foxit says it'll go for 8,000 page turns between recharges; it recharges via either USB or an included AC adapter. It uses an embedded Linux operating system, too.
However, at least in its initial version, the eSlick won't have wireless connectivity, so you won't be able to sync newspapers or blogs unless you convert them first on a PC (using included PDF conversion software, which Foxit is better known for) and copy them over manually. It'll read PDFs and text files, and you can convert any printable document for viewing using the PC-based software. You can download digital books, of course, from online libraries and eBook stores, and transfer them to the eSlick.



You can also play MP3s on the eSlick; it has a headphones port and ships with a set of headphones. Foxit says it anticipates adding wireless, an even better screen, and/or perhaps content syncing in a manner similar to AvantGo at some point in the future.
But until then, the question is whether you'd be okay with firing up your computer in the morning, culling your own content, converting it to a eSlick-readable format, and transferring it yourself. At least that process is free; automatic newspaper delivery to a Kindle costs at least $10 per month--each. Blogs cost $1 to $2 per month--each. At least with the eSlick, you don't have to email your own documents to yourself, as you must with the Kindle.
I like reading electronic books, and doing so on a lightweight device that I don't have to hold open, without eyestrain, would be a great thing. For books and my own documents, it doesn't matter whether the device I use has wireless capability, so if that's your anticipated use, the eSlick might be a great inexpensive alternative to the Kindle.



But I think the Kindle--as expensive as it and its subscriptions are, and as flawed as it is (in its initial version)--set the ground rules for this kind of device. I'm too cheap to pay its multiple monthly subscriptions, but with the way that newspaper outfits are going, we may all be forced into reading the news on Kindle or Kindle-like devices one day very soon.

From PCWorld

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mibook is the one

Electronic books are the persistent wallflowers of the gadget world.

Consumers have snubbed them again and again in favor of a 500-year-old technology: ink printed on paper.

Mindful of the dominance of paper, devices for reading electronic books so far have focused on providing an experience that's as close to traditional books as possible. But there is one that takes a completely different tack, so different that it brings into question the definition of "book."
This is the MiBook (pronounced "my book"), a book-sized white slab with a 7-inch color screen. Its "books" are memory chips with instructional videos. There are books available on cooking, home projects, gardening and child care.

For instance, the "Amazing Party Food" book shows the steps to making 150 different dishes, including a raspberry souffle, accompanied by voiceover from the MiBook's speakers. After each step, the video pauses, waiting for you to hit a button and go on to the next one.

Is it still a book if it's a chip with videos on it? That depends on your viewpoint. But it's quite possible to consider it a book if it does what a book used to do.

The MiBook, from Ohio-based startup Photoco Inc., is also considerably cheaper than Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle or Sony Inc.'s Reader, which start at $300. The list price for the MiBook is $120, but it's available for as little as $75 online, including two books. Extra books are $20 each.

The MiBook lacks the single greatest feature of the Kindle, which is wireless access to Amazon's e-book store, for near instant buying gratification. But both the Kindle and the Reader are limited by their "electronic ink" screen technology. It consumes very little power, but it can't show colors, and doesn't even do a good job of showing photos in shades of gray. Video is out of the question, because the display is very slow to update.

The MiBook uses a very conventional liquid-crystal display. Since it uses much more power than electronic ink, the MiBook is designed to be used at home, connected to a power supply. It has a fold-out stand, so it can be placed upright on a kitchen counter, and comes with a small remote.
But it also has a rechargeable battery, so it can be used untethered. Curiously, though, there's no indicator to tell you how much juice is left in the battery, or when it's fully charged. The manufacturer says the MiBook can show video for two hours on a charge, and cursory tests support that.

The books are Secure Digital memory cards, used in digital cameras and other gadgets. The slot on the MiBook will accept SD cards with pictures, music, text and homemade videos on them, meaning it can double as a digital picture frame and music player, or even, yes, as a regular e-book reader.

Sadly, the MiBook fails to fulfill its potential here, because its screen is of poor quality. Nothing looks really sharp, and it flickers. This doesn't matter so much when showing video — the screen is certainly no worse than an old tube TV set — but the idea of reading a novel or even a short story on it is unappealing. Family pictures don't look very good either.
Still, we can't dismiss the MiBook, particularly at $75. Despite its lack of buzz, it's certainly the most interesting e-book reader to come out since the Kindle, which is now out of stock thanks to an endorsement by Oprah, and unavailable until next year. The MiBook could be a good gift for someone who wants easy-to-follow directions for cooking or home projects.

With a better screen and some attention to the battery issue, the MiBook could have a better shot. With a color screen, it will never have the battery life of the "serious" e-book readers, but it would last for some hours of reading around the house or on the commute. And is it too much to ask for Wi-Fi? That would open it up to book downloads from the Internet, and let it work as an Internet radio player. Oh, and keep the price under $100. Please, Santa. I'll expect it in your bag next year.
On the Net:
http://www.mibook.com/

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Leading provider of solutions for reading

iRex Technologies BV have been instrumental in pushing the frontiers of digital reading since 2001 when their team developed the electronic paper display for the Sony LibriA(C) the first commercially available e-reader launched in 2004.

Following the formation of iRex Technologies in 2005 as a spin-off company from Royal Philips Electronics their focus on open innovation and co-operation has seen them become the world's leading provider of solutions for reading written digital content with the ease and comfort of print on paper. This is combined with the interactivity, flexibility and up-dating functionality provided by digital information.

Located on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands iRex serves the B2B market as well as the consumer market and works closely with companies and publishers to enable them to offer their content (newspapers, books, documents) digitally to clients, subscribers and employees. www.irextechnologies.com

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- PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Reading devices

By Janne Terfruechte, Frankfurt - Relaxing on the couch and browsing through a weighty tome - for many, that sounds like paradise. Trying to drag that book along in your pocket to be read on the train or bus is less fun, though. Digital alternatives to printed books or e-books have been available for a while. But until now they've only enjoyed a niche existence. That might be about to change.

"Reading devices developed especially for e-books should provide a pleasant reading experience," says Gudrun Bolduan from the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. The problem: only a few of the devices have been widely available to date, and with prices of around 500 dollars, they were anything but cheap. Experts predict that ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, currently on sale in the United States, will also soon be available on markets around the world, Bolduan says. One indicator of this was Sony's presentation of its Reader at Berlin's IFA electronics show this past August. The company did not name a price or a precise release date, however. Until then, the PC will remain the prime platform for electronic books. Those who prefer a more mobile approach can often also reach for their PDA, Smartphone or even Nintendo's DS mini-console.

Users should check the website of their e-book provider to see which book will work with which player. At least there's no lack of places to get e-books. Many online sellers like Ciando (http://wwe.ciando.com) or ebooks.com sell nothing but electronic books. Yet "traditional" online booksellers now also offer paper-free variants. "Many e-books are also offered directly from the publisher's website," Gudrun Bolduan notes. Bookworms unsure whether reading on a computer or mobile device is worth a try can visit Mobipocket, a Paris-based e-book seller and software maker. Readers can also visit http://mobipocket.com/freebooks to peruse a variety of downloads in different languages. E-books are offered in several formats. PDFs are generally the easiest to use, says Werner-Christian Guggemos from ciando.com. All that's needed to read PDF files is Adobe Reader, available for free download from Adobe's website. For e-books not available as PDF files, readers need some extra software, such as the Mobipocket reader or eReader. e-books are sometimes cheaper than their printed variants - in some cases, by as much as 20 per cent. The bulk of the e-book catalogue currently consists of textbooks and scientific publications. "That's because scientific publishers have been moving to electronic texts for some time now," Bolduan says. One reason for this is the authors' vested interest in seeing their work distributed worldwide. The target audience tends to be download-friendly as well. Novels and lifestyle books remain less frequent, although their ranks are growing as well. Most e-book providers work directly with the publishers.

There are exceptions, however. "Private authors can also enquire with us about distributing their e-books on the platform," Guggemos says. Half of the profits then go to the author, the other half to the company. The seller, in turn, advertises the electronic titles not just on its own home page but on partner sites as well. "If, however, an author has already assigned copyright to a publisher, then the text cannot then simply be offered privately," says professor Thomas Hoeren from the Institute for IT, Telecommunications, and Media Rights at the University of Muenster. Many amateur authors are not focused on earning money through their stories and books; they simply want to put them out on the web. They are well advised, however, to take certain precautions to ensure that nobody else steals their work and publishes it under their own name. This can be achieved with a free Creative Commons license.

"The Creative Commons Web site (http://www.creativecommons.com) provides a license toolbox for establishing usage rights," says Markus Beckedahl from the non-profit organization's Berlin office.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

EZ Reader

Astak va maintenant diffuser son EZ Reader.

Annoncé comme une nouvelle manière de lire des livres et d'écouter de la musique, il disposera d'un écran de 9,7 pouces et d'une résolution de 800x600, avec une autonomie de 8000 pages. La batterie sera d'ailleurs remplaçable, et celle proposée devrait avoir une durée de vie de 8 ans. Il pèsera un peu plus de 200 grammes.

Anglais, français, espagnol, italien, chinois, japonais seront supportés, entre autres, et on annonce également quatre couleurs : rouge métallisé, bleu électrique, noir et blanc, pour un tarif de 300 $.La société précise qu'au cours des six premiers mois de 2009, des produits très intéressants suivront, et notamment un modèle à écran souple de 9,7 pouces.

Rédigé par Clément S., le lundi 29 septembre 2008 à 09h24 Source : Mobileread

Retrouvez ce post traité par huit algorithmes différents dans La métabole -Rejoignez le journal de l'Hypertexte en anglais (posts du jour différents) -Connectez-vous sur hypertextual.net l'Hypertexte Principal de la Solution -
Entrez dans la Bibliothèque pour readers mobiles de Phonereader.eu

Jean-Philippe Pastor

Livres et journaux pour le nouvel IRex WIFI

La version supérieure du nouveau IRex intègre le bluetooth et une connection Wi-Fi, une perspective avantageuse pour télécharger journaux et revues sans avoir à downloader quoi que ce soit avec son PC ou son modem téléphonique.

Ce modèle, le iRex Digital Reader 1000 SW, coûte 849 dollars (574 euros). A titre de comparaison, le Kindle lancé il y a un an par Amazon se vend 359 dollars (242 euros), plus abordable.

Les journaux américains "seront téléchargeables avant la fin de l'année pour les consommateurs européens", a précisé Hans Brons, le PDG d'iRex. La sortie de ces e-readers bouscule le marché des ordinateurs portable. La légèreté, la taille, le prix, le confort de lecture et les fonctionnalités des nouveaux livres électroniques entrent en concurrence avec certains ordinateurs portables.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts - PHONEREADER Libray - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebook communicant IRex

Voilà finalement le IRex communicant sorti aujourd'hui !Surfer sur le net avec l'Iliad est sans conteste une nouveauté surprenante. Il est de plus tactile, ce qui en fait un terminal de rêve pour lire des hypertextes avec tout le confort nécessaire. Les performances de la batterie on été également augmentées...
De quoi enfin passer à l'âge de l'édition sur internet mobile !

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts - PHONEREADER Libray - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
connected, ebook, internet, reader