Posts Tagged: ‘kindle 2’

Crunchgear broke the news earlier this week — Amazon is set to announce a new Kindle format tomorrow. But this new Kindle isn’t going to replace the Kindle 2. The new Kindle is larger than its cousin. Ideally, the large format will make it easier to read electronic newspapers and magazines.

Engadget snagged some covert photos of what appears to be a run-through of the presentation that will take place on Wednesday. The new Kindle, dubbed the Kindle DX according to Nilay Patel of Engadget, looks like a larger version of the old Kindle — black and white screen included. Patel says that the DX’s screen will measure 9.7 inches (about 24.6 centimeters). The earlier versions of the Kindle have a six-inch screen (15.2 centimeters). It will also have one other new feature: Patel says that the new Kindle will have a built-in PDF reader functionality.

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Fujitsu announced this morning that it ‘s selling a color e-book reader — I’m sorry, they call it a “color epaper mobile terminal” — named the “FLEPia.” I would guess it’s pronounced the way you’d think it’s pronounced.

It’s been a long time coming. Fujitsu first announced the FLEPia nearly two years ago, in April 2007. According to a Fujitsu press release, the FLEPia will have an 8-inch color electronic paper screen capable of displaying 260,000 colors in high definition. It’ll also support Bluetooth and wireless technology. Color, huh? Expect to see the words “Kindle killer” in a lot of headlines. If the battery lasts as long as Fujitsu said it will — 40 hours — that’ll certainly help the company take on the reigning e-book champ. Then again, Amazon.com claims the Kindle will allow you to read for four days straight, even with the wireless network on.

And the FLEPia won’t let you wirelessly connect to the Amazon.com Kindle Store. Despite granting access to the iPhone and iPod Touch, Sony Reader fans are still contacting Sony for their e-books. Fujitsu said the FLEPia can access Papyless, Japan’s largest e-book retailer.

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The publishing industry and technology have a love-hate relationship — there are probably still some Franciscan monks who are still bitter over the invention of the Gutenberg printing press. Lately the publishing industry has locked horns with Amazon’s Kindle 2. It’s not because the publishing industry is scared of electronic books (though I’m sure there are plenty of publishers who are terrified). It’s because the Kindle 2 has a text-to-speech feature that allows you to listen to books read (in monotone) by a computerized voice.

The Authors Guild objected to this feature. In a story featured in USA Today, Authors Guild director Paul Aiken explained that authors may grant electronic publishing rights to one entity and audio rights to another. Merging the two would make matters more complicated from a contractual standpoint.

Amazon stated in a press release that the text-to-speech function violates no copyright laws, nor does it create a derivative work or count as a performance.

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