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iRex has announced new ebook readers that could potentially steal the spotlight from the now-old Amazon Kindle.  iRex has announced three such readers, each of them with a 10.2” e-ink display.  The differences between the models are the two Digital Reader 1000S and Digital Reader 1000SW ones have touch screens with styli, and the 1000SW one has 3G, bluetooth and Wi-FI.  The bottom of the line Digital Reader 1000 has the same features, without the touch input, bluetooth, 3G, or Wi-Fi.

All of the Digital Readers can support both PDFs and Office Documents, neither of which the Kindle can support.  The 1000S and 1000SW can even edit PDFs and Office documents through the use of their touch screen.  iRex is trying to advertise the Digital Readers to companies, on their website claiming that thousands of documents are printed for offices, only to be thrown away sometimes within a day.  According to iRex the Digital Reader will save paper allowing you to put the documents on the Digital Reader and edit them with the touch screen on the 1000S and 1000 SW.

It’s doubtful the iRex Digital Readers will overtake the Amazon Kindle any time soon, especially with prices starting at $650 for the 1000.  It is nice to see something new in the space.  Maybe they can force Amazon to innovate on the Kindle.  Removing that ugly keyboard for a touch screen would push me over the edge for a Kindle especially at the current price.  Granted, the iRex Digital Readers are designed with offices in mind, but I could imagine some consumers wanted that functionality without having to pay $650.

Read [Electronista]

Getting ready to show off their version of an electronic paper at a trade show today in San Diego, Plastic Logic’s yet unnamed device may just be a needed boost for the floundering newspaper industry. The device continually updates wirelessly, and can store content from newspapers, magazines, books, whatever...hundreds of pages worth.  It has a screen that is about 2.5 times the size of the Kindle, yet it only weighs about 2 ounces more, and is actually thinner than the book reader. 

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Lately we have been seeing quite a few rumors about upcoming models of the Amazon Kindle. Just within the past few weeks we have seen some rumored information about a Kindle 2.0 that was expected to be thinner, a little more stylish and best of all, a little cheaper. In addition to the Kindle 2.0 we have also seen recent stories about a second version of the Kindle that is aimed at student market, this was was even “confirmed” by a recent story in the Seattle PI.

However it seems that everything that has been written recently may not be entirely true. Overall the cheaper Kindle 2.0 sounds nice, and the student edition sounds great, especially compared to a bunch of heavy textbooks, but it is a little strange to see a lower priced model coming, especially considering the success that Amazon is having with the current model and current pricing.

The latest news, which basically kills these rumors comes from Amazon spokesman Craig Berman who recently spoke with the New York Times and told them to not “believe everything you read.” He also went on to state that “there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”

So you can read into that statement however you want, as with any successful product its only likely that we will see a follow or second edition come. So there likely still is a student edition coming, just not in 2008, of course Craig Berman would not offer any comment as to whether they were developing a Kindle for a specific group.

Read [New York Times Bits]

Some further information about the rumored upcoming Amazon Kindle student edition is now claiming that Amazon has confirmed the device is in the works. According to a recent report from the Seattle PI, Amazon has confirmed that “they are planning to target colleges and universities with a new version of the Kindle.”

Based on the information available to date, the student edition Kindle will offer a larger screen, which I think makes sense when reading textbooks. Of course, we can only hope that text book pricing will be relatively inexpensive for the digital versions, because this could essentially kill, or seriously slow the used book market, which means no more quick cash at the end of the semester.

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It was only a few weeks back that Sony announced they were opening up the Reader, however for those that currently own one of the original PRS-500 models there is a pretty big drawback.

The update will not be offered for the PRS-500, and users would have to upgrade to a newer PRS-505 in order to receive the EPUB format support. Of course Sony is attempting to make up for it, but at the same time they are really just enticing you to buy a new Reader.

They are offering a $100 credit for your current PRS-500, which means that you will have to pick up a new PRS-505 for $299, and then ship your old Reader into Sony to receive your credit.

Long story short, if you are a PRS-500 owner you can get a new PRS-505 Reader for $199.

I guess depending on how much the EPUB format will offer you personally, this deal may or may not be worth it. Of course, if you were considering an upgrade anyway, it may not be a bad time, a quick check on some used PRS-500 Readers shows me that $100 is not all that bad of a deal, a little lower than what I found on eBay, but it would at least take away the hassle of listing it and selling it.

Read [SonyStyle] Via [jkOnTheRun]

With the Kindle selling out in just a little over 5 hours after the initial release, its been something of a curious mystery as to just how many Amazon had actually sold. Well it seems that even though Amazon has not offered up any hard numbers, the crew over at TechCrunch are claiming that a “source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers” has given up the details, and that magic number is 240,000.

Still less than a year on the market and roughly about a quarter million sold is certainly is not a bad start, that would place the revenue for the hardware alone at an estimated $100 million, and that is not to include any of the books and other goodies that are available. I was not able to grab a Kindle when they first went on sale, but managed to snag one when the first came back, since then its been a pleasure to use, especially when traveling. I even think that it has encourage me to read a little more often, simply because of the easy access to new books from anywhere I happen to be.

Via [TechCrunch]

Sony has just announced that they are opening up their Sony Reader to be compatible with other booksellers. An update, that is expected to be available today will allow Sony Reader owners to purchase books in the protected EPUB format from any retailer and not just the Sony e-book store.

The EPUB format is supported by publishers which include Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, HarperMedia, Hachette Book Group, HarperMedia and Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

This will, at least from Sony’s perspective make the Reader a little more attractive as compared to some others currently on the market, namely the Kindle which has more than 140,000 books available. Sony’s online e-book store has just about 45,000 available.

Of course, I have to point out that while this does make the Reader a much more attractive purchase, it is still lacking the instant access to purchase a book directly from the device like the Kindle.

In addition, Sony also announced that the PRS-505 is now available for pre-order in the UK, of course it will not begin shipping until September, but its still nice to see them get the availability, especially its been available here in the US for quite a while now.

Read [Yahoo! News]

Recent speculation is calling for Amazon to have an updated Kindle available this fall. According to CrunchGear, an “insider” is calling for not one, but two new models of the popular e-book reader.

The first sounds like it will be an improvement over the current model and is calling for the same size display with an overall smaller form factor. It will also have an improved interface and be available in several color options.

The second model, which is expected to not come until sometime next year, will be a little different from the current form factor. This is going to be larger, more of the size of a standard size piece of paper, in the ballpark of 8.5-inches by 11-inches. This model will also be available in multiple colors.

If this does turn out to be accurate, lets just hope that the Kindle 2.0 will remain in stock. No word yet on any pricing, however the current Kindle retails for $359.

Via [CrunchGear]

Princeton University has become the latest to announce that they have plans to begin offering Kindle editions of their textbooks. Joining other universities such as Yale, Oxford, and UC Berkeley the Princeton textbooks will be available beginning in the fall semester.

While there was not any mention of the pricing for the Kindle edition books, the nice part here is that students will have a much easier time carrying around a Kindle loaded with textbooks as compared to a backpack filled with textbooks. In addition the built-in functionality of the Kindle should only aid in studying. The Kindle has support to highlight portions of the text, make notes for future reference and even search to find the text you are looking for. While students could always highlight and make notes, the added search should make studying or trying to find something much easier than thumbing through several hundred pages of text.

Aside from hopefully making it easier to study, the Kindle can purchase books from anywhere, which would be nice and also a huge time saver at the beginning of school, no more long lines at the bookstore. Of course, on the flip side, the Kindle edition likely cannot be sold back to get some extra cash at the end of the semester.

Still a worthwhile trade off in my opinion. Hopefully the Kindle will make its way to more colleges across the US.

Read [CNET]

Buried in all the Bill Gates-Steve Ballmer coffee talk at the All Things Digital conference is a semi-interesting nugget from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who was first to take the stage with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg. When the discussion moved to web video, Bezos let slip that his company will be launching a new for-pay video streaming service “in the next couple of weeks.”

That’s about it for the details, except that you’ll be able to pay a la carte vs. subscription. And while some bloggers have added that the service will offer movies, none of the early coverage has a quote from Bezos specifically saying that this will involve Hollywood studio offerings. Amazon already plays in the downloadable movie space via Unbox and it’s not a smashing success so far.

Most of the talk revolved around Amazon’s new e-book reader, Kindle, although Bezos is still hesitant to give up exact sales figures. But it was clear from his answers to Mossberg’s questions that the Amazon CEO is giving laser beam-like focus to the Kindle and that it will end up accounting for a better slice of company revenue. Which begs the following questions from this corner: will the Kindle have a role in the new streaming video service? If not “in the next couple of weeks,” then when? And if the current version doesn’t have the specs to handle video, what about Kindle 2.0? Does Amazon even want to play in this arena?

Read [All Things Digital]