04:55 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

eReader.com offers for a limited time all three e-books of Neil Stephenson's Baroque trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) for the price of two ($39.90).

This is a great deal if you are interested in finding out more about Stephenson's magnificient portrayal of the 1714+ baroque era.

I bought The System of the World yesterday, and now I can hardly concentrate at work, so eager I am to finish reading it!

03:51 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

With tears in my eyes I read the news at Brighthand this morning:

Toshiba confirms that it is leaving the U.S. handheld market, plus according to enterprise customers in Europe, Toshiba representatives told them that Toshiba will be out of the handheld market by the end of the year.

It also means that Toshiba has no plans to release its e830 in the US. First Sony, now Toshiba. This leaves only Dell and Asus in the market for PPC with VGA displays. And who knows, maybe it is only question of time before they leave as well?

07:12 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

There's a pretty good short article at PDAStreet about eBooks on PDAs picking up momentum, and schools are a huge potential market that is just starting to be tapped throught pilot programs.

It seems like eBooks (and PDAs for that matter) have apparently hit the bottom of the trough of disillusionment in Gartner's Hype Cycle and are starting their ascent up the slope of enlightenment.

Now if the DRM issues can be resolved in a way that affords owners the same privileges of real books (letting people borrow them, pass them on to friends or family members, trade them in, sell them, use them on your device of choice), they'll really pick up steam and reach their plateau of productivity much more quickly.

More mainstream PDA sites and media outlets that can inform and educate people won't hurt either.

05:20 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Fictionwise has just started another round of free e-book giveaways which will be available free through September 30th.

This is a follow-up to Bob's earlier news on free e-books from Fictionwise's

05:02 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

Audible.com and Sprint PCS have announced a co-marketing program that allows you to listen to audio e-books on cellular phones.

As part of the agreement, each new AudibleReady Smart Device from Sprint will include the AudiblePlayer application with introductory audio content loaded into the device ROM. The first such phone, the Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device SP-i600 by Samsung, is already available US-nationwide in various Sprint Stores ($469.99 after savings).

Of course, you can also use your Treo 600 to listen to Audible.com content. But I think it is interesting how cell phone technology is heading towards the information-rich online world.

03:26 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

According to CNet News and various other sources, Sony confirmed on Wednesday that it is working to add native MP3 support to its portable music players--a major strategy reversal that could help it compete more effectively with rivals such as Apple Computer.

So finally, though VERY LATE, Sony listens to its unhappy customers and ends its long-standing insistence on the proprietary Atrac format. Not only does Sony plan to add MP3 support to some of its new flash-based players later this year, but also is it also working on software upgrades, so owners of current models could play their songs in the MP3 format.

10:27 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

In a press release nVidia yesterday unveiled the GoForce 3D 4500, the world's first 3D Wireless Media Processor (WPA).

The graphic chip will be first used in the much anticipated Gizmondo game pad to offer mobile gamers superb 3D video and imaging capabilities. From the press release:

The GoForce 3D 4500-powered Gizmondo, runs under Microsoft Windows CE.net platform and features a Samsung ARM9 400Mhz processor. The Gizmondo game pad will deliver arcade-quality 3D gaming, courtesy of the GoForce 3D 4500’s dedicated geometry processor, which offloads the main processor to conserve battery life.

Sounds pretty amazing, doesn't it?

10:02 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Bitstream has just announced the release of its WiFi web browser ThunderHawk wireless V2.0 for PocketPC.

New users, as well as current ThunderHawk 2.0 Preview Edition users, can download the 30-day free trial of the product release or subscribe to ThunderHawk for $49.95 per year or $5.95 per month.

ThunderHawk 2.0 Pocket PC Edition provides:
- Effortless scrolling. Fast, fluid Web page navigation, as if you were browsing on your desktop.
- A more user-friendly keypad.
- Increased speed. Download ThunderHawk directly to your Pocket PC for the fastest mobile Web page speeds available.
- The ability to read information on-the-fly. ThunderHawk's compact transport format and progressive rendering creates a fast, positive user experience.
- Seamless connectivity. With ThunderHawk 2.0, a dropped connection is re-established immediately, along with any data you previously entered.
- The ability to copy and paste text, among other editing functions.
- Proxy authentication support.

Thanks to Brighthand for bringing the news first!