Pholium is a new iPad app that helps users to create and share eBooks using the photos stored on their iPads. In the gallery, users can import pictures stored on their iPad, except for unprocessed RAW images. Images can be stacked, and brightness, contrast, and exposure settings can be adjusted. There are also some basic […]
I’ve always thought that the natural place for eBook readers resides in schools, if only to prevent kids from the terrible backache caused by heavy backpacks. Ectaco have just announced an eReader especially for schoolchildren, the jetBook Oxford+ / jetBook K-12 (they don’t seem to have made up their mind on the title). What immediately strikes you about this is the design- it comes in its own stand with penholders and the Ectaco C Pen arranged to its side. It’s quite an eye-catching design, and the finish is ruggedized, to cope with all those knocks and bumps in the playground.
The jetBook Oxford + comes preinstalled with a selection of books from the reading lists of states countrywide and has a 5 inch TFT screen, is 15mm thick and weighs in at 220g. It has been designed with the education system in mind, and this is evident from the number of thoughtful features included in the device. The included Ectaco C=Pen allows you to scan printed text and upload it to the eReader, which will enable students to put the majority of work they get given on their device, and get rid of all those ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses.
For years the debate has raged- do you opt for the pretty (but tiring on the eyes) LCD eReader for eBooks, or do you go for the drabber but infinitely better eInk screen, which lacks colours. That choice just got easier with news of the Hanvon eBook reader which uses eInk AND has a colour screen. How does it achieve this? Very simply, actually- it simply uses a colour filter to display 4096 colours. They did look rather muted on the devices we got to play with, but we were told they can look brighter with different PDF’s.
Hanvon hope that this option will change the way people choose which eReader to buy, as their reader will offer colour in combination with the 30+ days of battery time associated with most eInk readers.
The eReader will play most common formats, including ePub, TXT and PDF files and will also display JPG’s. It features integrated WiFi to allow you to download easily from their eBook store, and their are plans for a 3G model in the works.
The screen is 9.7 inches and has a digitizer touchscreen, and you can use your hands or the included stylus to flick through pages or surf. There’s seems to be quite a lag on the page turns however- we were quoted 2 seconds- which seems a long time to refresh, but hopefully this will be improved on. There’s an SD card slot so you can expand the memory, and a 3.5mm jack, as the reader can also handle audio.
It comes preinstalled with a selection of games and books, and feels rather nice in the hand- substantial, but not too weighty.
A release date has yet to be confirmed, but it will be on sale for approximately $500 from, Hanvon in China later this year.
Efun demonstrates that tablets are their preferred medium by adding two more to this year’s CES 2011 line-up. Their new tablets are both Android based and feature capacitive touchscreens for ease of use. The tablets on offer are the 10.1 inch High Definition Next4 and the 7 inch Next6. The former runs off Android 2.2 whilst the latter uses Android 2.1.
What’s interesting about these is that they are trying to juggle both the tablet world and make dents into the growing eBook marketplace, as the tablets both come equipped with built in Wi-Fi and the Borders eBook store app. The Next4 features 8GB of flash memory whilst the Next6 has 4GB and they’re both expandable via an SD card slot. They come preloaded with 25 eBooks (most likely classics out of copyright) and feature Wi-Fi for streaming content. The tablet has multiple uses, as not only does it allow you to stream and browse the web, but it also acts as an alarm clock, weather station and photo viewer.
Both devices feature built in speakers and a G sensor which acts as an accelerometer, adjusting the screen when you turn it.
The new Next tablets will be available in Q2 of 2011, the Next4 for $349.99 for the Next6 for $269.99 from NextBook USA.
The Mustek MER-6T is yet another eBook reader for the masses. It’s not color, but it manages to sport a decent 800×600 resolution. The device has support for most popular eBook formats, including PDF (Free/DRM), ePub (Free/DRM), TXT, RTF, FB2, PRC,/MOBI, and HTML. It also has a built-in 2GB memory that will hold 1600 books, […]
The last few weeks we have been inundated with ebook readers. Whether it be the Nook, Kindle, Alex, and the latest hubbub over the Aluratek Libre. Well the Cyberus from Sungale may not have been as publicized as those other ones, in fact it doesn’t just want to be known as an ebook reader but […]
This week is officially the Greenest week of the year for us. On Wednesday we headed over to the Greener Products Expo to scope out the latest tech to help you keep stay environmentally aware. And today, there is the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York, and to kick it all off we’re giving away […]
We headed over to this weekend’s Comic-Con ’09 at the Javitz Center in New York, in search of some gadgetry. Unfortunately we were rather disappointed by the gadget turn out, granted it is a convention centered on Comics, Manga and other geeky stuff – But we figured we’d find something tech-worthy. Regardless, we can’t help […]
We’re back from CES and at this point we’ve spent almost 2 weeks with the Vivienne Tam edition we recently reviewed. First of all, it was a pleasure carrying around the VT on the show floor. Because it’s so small and lightweight, we didn’t feel like we were schlepping a laptop at all. It also […]
Palo Alto-based Speck has released a line of bags with urban fashion in two distinct colors, Speakeasy Black Pinstripe with robin’s egg blue interior and Coffeehouse Brown Plaid with desert tan interior, each of the four new packs are aptly named for their unique form, function and styling. AftPack Notebook Backpack was designed to offer […]
Being the technology loving connoisseur that I am, I never knew a subculture existed for laser pointers and the people that use them! I mean, I can vaguely remember attending my share of conferences, where the person giving the presentation used a laser pointer. Suffice it to say, the only thing that kept my attention […]
News,
Being a blogger and one that travels quite often, you really depend on a good bag that is lightweight, durable, and will carry just about all your electronics and the many adapters along with them. Until now I was basically shoving (and carefully I might add) all my junk into typical laptop backpacks. My laptop […]
Last week we were drooling over the Vivienne Tam Digital Clutch Notebook that we just couldn’t wait to get our hands on! Well we didn’t have to wait too long. We had our chance to get up close and slightly personal with it last night. The pictures don’t do it justice and it really is […]
Fashion week is mostly known for its high end fashion and celebrity sightings. You never see anything remotely gadgety on the runway except for the disco balls or strobe lights for the shows. Well HP and Vivenne Tam decided to do something a bit out of the box and introduce the Vivienne Tam designed Digital […]
It is a pretty well known fact that the typical optical mouse can be a trying to work with in 3D environments. You just don’t have that much flexibility to rotate items or pan smoothly. Especially when it comes to being on the road and you only have your dedicated laptop trackpad, it can be […]
The Portable Slide Panel Digital Media Player brings together all of the features you could want, albeit in a cheap fashion. Sporting a design that looks like a game handheld, the device functions as a video player with a 2.8inch LCD display capable of playing back MP4 and 3GP files. The handheld also works as […]
FM Transmitters work like this – you can’t live without them, but it’s hard to live with them. However until now using an FM transmitter has been the only way you could play music from your ipod on your car stereo, unless for some reason you still have a cassette in your car in which […]
I enjoy the convenience of using a laptop computer; from composing this story from the confines of my sofa or surfing the web, a laptop computer gives you the choice of complete portability. However, there are times that I wish my laptop PC had the functionality of a full sized workstation PC. I found Kensington’s […]
Do you consider yourself fashionable but hip? If so, check out BuiltNY’s line of bags for laptops and other electronics. We got our hands on some of their bags including their Laptop Portfolio, Laptop Sleeve and their Electric Pockets. BuiltNY’s signature style includes a unique bone shape that shows up in both their sleeve and […]
