Posted 11/12/09 at 04:33:26 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The past couple of years have been a rollercoaster ride for Holland-based e-paper manufacturer Polymer Vision, the company best known for the Readius e-reader featuring its flexible e-paper technology. It was revealed last month that the board of directors of Taiwan-based Wistron had approved the acquisition of Polymer Vision, which had gone belly-up just a few months earlier.

According to a fresh report, Wistron is developing a 5- to 6-inch device featuring Polymer Vision’s flexible e-paper technology. Brian Chong, chief of product planning at Wistron, told Digitimes that the new device will borrow its design from the Readius e-reader. The plan is to launch it in 2010.

Polymer Vision’s Readius e-reader made heads turn when it made its first public appearance. But Polymer Vision soon found itself in financial disarray that culminated in bankruptcy, and the Readius never came close to being launched.

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Posted 10/27/09 at 09:43:36 AM by Paul Lilly

MSI has so far been pretty quiet about its plans to enter the increasingly crowded e-book market, instead letting others steal the spotlight. Maybe not for long, based on what we just found out. According to MSI chairman Joseph Hsu, the company is developing an e-reader built around Nvidia's Tegra platform.

Sounds promising just on that tidbit alone, but unfortunately, we won't see anything from MSI in time of the holidays. There are still some kinks to be worked out, so MSI has decided to hold off until the first half of 2010 to divulge any more details. Bummer.

The timing might not be terrible for MSI. It's true that rival Asus also plans to release an e-book reader in the near future, but first run batches will be limited and aimed at charities. Consumer models aren't expected to ship until the first quarter of 2010. Plus, tapping into Tegra could potentially turn out to be a huge advantage for MSI, particularly when pitted against grayscale e-book readers like the one Asus is working on.

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Posted 10/11/09 at 02:17:13 PM by Justin Kerr

Based on the sheer volume of eBook reader news that has been making headlines recently, it appears dedicated gadgets for reading is a trend that is here to stay. Generally the devices can be broken down into simple categories by features which sometimes include wireless over the air downloads, touch screens, or additional format compatibility.

Trying desperately to distinguish itself from the pack, LG is set to unveil its new eBook reader which includes a thin-film 10cm solar cell to wirelessly charge the device while outdoors. A mere four to five hours of sun exposure can yield up to a days worth of reading time indoors, and allows you to easily recharge your battery while on the go. Solar made a huge difference for portable calculators, and if it works as well as LG claims, it could prove to be a huge leap forward for the category.

The device itself has a 6-inch OLED display, measures in at 0.7 mm thick, and weighs a mere 20 grams. To save you the trouble of trying to convert those numbers, that’s about the thickness of a credit card and the weight of a fountain pen. It appears as though the design requires the device to remain tethered to the case, but we’ll know more when they get closer to launch.

Is this enough to set LG apart from the rest?

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Posted 10/07/09 at 11:45:45 AM by Paul Lilly

When you're on top, everyone comes gunning for you, especially in a lucrative market like the e-reader business. Not only will Amazon have to fend off competition from Sony, but it will also have to contend with startups and other newcomers hoping to grab a piece of the e-book pie.

Enter Christopher Maire, CEO of txtr, who said his firm would release an e-reader before Christmas rolls around. Or in other words, just in time for the holiday shopping spree.

"Reading is a 100 million market and we think is a big opportunity for providing an 'Easy tech' solution," Maire explains. "The e-reading design will be launched by Christmas, and is custom designed to include energy saving.."

Maire went on to say his company's device will include touch technology, a simplified form factor, and various connectivity options, including UMTS, GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB. But the company's real advantage, Maire claims, is on the software side. The CEO says that txtr is a software stack company and it will share folders in the cloud, licensing its middleware stack to other manufacturers. At launch, Maire says his company's software will boast support for the iPhone.

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Posted 09/11/09 at 07:46:41 AM by Paul Lilly

Amazon may not have invented the e-book, but it sure did popularize the genre of electronics with its Kindle reader, and now everyone wants in on the action. The latest with intent to enter the e-book fray is Time, Inc., says Owen Thomas from NBCBayArea.com, who claims to have seen an internal document detailing the company's intention.

According to Thomas, the presentation, titled "New Platforms & Business Models for Publishers," is dated June 25, 2009 and contains handwritten notes updating the paper. Thomas says the presentation was circulated as recently as August, which would indicate that Time, Inc. plans to make a move within the next few months.

"We're speaking with a number of hardware and software companies as well as other content companies about various projects," said Time, Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges when asked about the project. "At this point we don't have anything else to say publicly."

Thomas says the presentation points out Time, Inc.'s awareness of the publishing opportunity presented by the emergence of e-book readers and other portable reading devices, and "whoever defines the interface wins."

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