Barnes and Noble had grand visions for its Nook ebook reader when the device first launch at the tail end of 2009, but other than an initial flurry of sales, the ebook reader hasn't been able to pluck the crown off of Amazon's market-leading Kindle. Maybe things are starting to turn around.

According to DigiTimes Research, ebook reader shipments to Barnes and Noble jumped ahead of shipment numbers to Amazon for the first time in March, indicating that demand for the Nook might finally be starting to pick up. Looking at figures from upstream suppliers, the Nook accounted for some 53 percent of ebook readers shipped to US vendors last month.

The Nook's future now looks a little brighter than it has been. B&N just recently released another firmware update -- version 1.3 -- which, among other things, purports to kick performance up a notch yet again. In addition, B&N recently struck a deal with Best Buy to carry the company's ebook reader both in the electronic chain's brick and mortar stores and website.

Right now the line between ebook readers and handheld tablets have been drawn, but as time goes on, we may see the line separating the two segments start to blur. Enter Liquavista, a Dutch firm who has developed a color ebook reader that supports video and may end up including Web browsing as well.

Liquavista tapped into a technology called "electrowetting," which the company claims is up to four times more energy efficient than LCD screens. Electrowetting involves small electrical charges moving colored oil within each pixel, and also has the advantage of fast image loads. According to Liquavista, the new display can change images at up to 60 times per second, whereas current ebook readers can take up to 2 seconds to load each page.

"You certainly could see this technology in your smartphone, in your mobile phone, in your Web tablet, in your PC, in your notebook" said Guy Demuynck, head of the firm. But eventually you could see it in your home as your television screen in your living room."

Even more promising for ebook readers and other portable devices, Liquavista says electrowetting works well in sunlight.

Much more here.

Display maker Viewsonic has quietly thrown its hat into the ebook reader ring by unveiling the VEB620 and VEB625, a pair of ereaders that have so far been unaccompanied by a press release or any kind of fanfare.

Both models sport a 6-inch E-ink display, 2GB of onboard storage, and an accelerometer so you can view your ebooks in either landscape or portrait mode. Other features include a 3.5mm headset jack, SD card slot, a 0.5W speaker, support for MP3 audio, and support for XML (epub, fb2), HTML (HTML, HTM), PDF, TXT, and RTF.

Viewsonic says you can turn pages by using the left and right buttons or by shaking the ereaders left or right. The slightly taller (10.9 inches vs 9.9 inches) VEB625 adds touch functionality to the mix so you can also use a finger swipe to turn pages, take freehand notes and highlight sections, and peck notes on a virtual keyboard. In addition, the VEB625 integrates Wi-Fi connectivity.

No word yet on price or availability.