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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]

Thanks to a recent partnership, the SonyNEC Optiarc formed between NEC and Sony, we may be looking at an affordable priced internal PC Blu-ray drive by the end of the year. They are predicting a sub-$100 drive by this upcoming holiday season, which means people may actually begin to use Blu-ray media.

Of course, while this sounds great, this low price would be for a reader only, which means these low priced drives will only be able to read Blu-ray discs, but also write to DVD and CD’s. In addition they have predicted that the pricing for notebook drives as well as Blu-ray burners would be a little higher, in the ballpark of $150.

Via [CrunchGear]

It seems that every time I make a purchase the price of the item soon drops, oh well I guess that it part of being any early adopter. Our Kindle was purchased when they arrived back in stock just about a month ago for $399. Lucky for us, the new price is just a little less, coming in at just about a 10% price cut at $359. The free two-day shipping offer also remains in place.

I really like the Kindle and have enjoyed using it, but still feel that $399 was a little on the high side, thankfully the now lower price is getting a little better, but honestly I would have still felt like I overpaid, even at $359, but at least this is a good start at the Kindle becoming more affordable.

Product [Amazon]

The latest portable media player from iriver, the P10 may seem just like your ordinary portable media player with its 4.3-inch LCD with an 800 x 480 resolution, 33GB internal memory, as well as WMV and Mpeg video support. But aside from being a cool looking player, the P10 can also be used as an e-book reader with support for PDF, Word and Excel files. So, you can listen to music while reading your favorite novel in e-book format. In addition, the P10 also features a GUI that recognized handwriting similar to the Palm Pilot’s handwriting recognition technology, aside from having several dictionaries that include English, Chinese and Japanese languages.

The iriver P10 portable media player will be available in a DMB-less Basic version for around $310 and the Pro version with DMB for around $387. Unfortunately for us living outside of Korea, the P10 will most likely have to remain on our wish list for a while.

Via [Akihabara News]

With all the attention everyone is giving to the iPhone and optimizing services for it, a growing number of applications are actually getting better for all of us.  Here is one little improvement for the iPhone that works great with Firefox.  This neat trick brings Google Reader to a sidebar in your Firefox (others too if you must) browser and it is pretty cool.

This fun trick opens up Google’s Reader in a very easy to read yet not obtrusive sidebar with all my RSS feeds just begging to be checked out.  Here is how you swing this:

1. Open the Bookmarks Manager (Bookmarks/Organize Bookmarks…)
2. In Firefox 2, in the File menu, select New bookmark… In Firefox 3, press Organize in the toolbar and select New bookmark…
3. Enter a name, http://www.google.com/reader/i/ for location, and ensure to check Load this bookmark in the sidebar.
4. Press Save Changes and now you can select the bookmark to load Google Reader in the sidebar.

Read [MozillaLinks]