CES 2010

I know, I know. You’re getting your fill of eReaders, but mediabistro’s publishing editor Jason Boog wanted me to check out the Samsung Reader, which is expected to launch sometime in 2010. As you’ve probably read, it’s the one you can write on with a stylus. But honestly, I could write on my Palm Pilot in 1999.

It’s heavier than others we’ve held up — including the Interead Cooler Reader — and a bit thicker too. But there’s that stylus.

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You know what eBookNewser is saying about CES 2010, but perhaps you’ve been too preoccupied to check out what other blogs and publications have to report. Here are a few stories from the last 24 hours of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Wired’s Gadget Lab reviews the new Samsung eReader, which can be written on with a stylus. Wired’s Charlie Sorrel says, “I played with them briefly at Samsung’s stand (‘No pictures, sir. It’s our policy this year.’) and took some pictures.”

Here’s PC World on Blio. Writer Yardena Arar notes “There are no Blio e-book readers, although the software’s creators say they expect such devices to follow.”

Catherine Neilan of the UK trade mag The Bookseller talks about the “deluge” of eReaders debuting at CES. “Another issue could be the advent of multi-function devices, such as the as-yet-unconfirmed iTablet,” she also says.

Finally, David Sims of TMCNet talks about the Que, which, he empahsizes is “a proReader,” not just a consumer eBook reader. “Frankly, it does look very cool,” he says.

And, mediabistro.com’s editorial director Chris Ariens has filed a number of video dispatches: on the affordable COOL-ER eReader, on the two-sided Entourage eReader, and on the businesslike Plastic Logic QUE.

So what do authors think of eReaders? At CES, we ran into best-selling author Tess Gerritsen (who is a big GalleyCat fan BTW) Her newest thriller Ice Cold comes out in July, and we asked Gerritsen what digital technology means to up-and-coming authors.

Gerritsen was the guest of eReader maker Interead which launched their first device at the New York Book Fair last year, and plans on launching three new versions in 2010. We talked to their VP of marketing here at CES as well. See that interview here.

CourseSmart, a major player in the eTextbook world, hit the floor at CES with a concept video for how the company’s eTextbooks could be used on tablet computers. eBookNewser caught up with Frank Lyman, CourseSmart’s executive vice president over the phone yesterday to talk tablets.

eBookNewser asked whether Lyman thought that tablets were likely to be used by students in the very near future. He said, “I don’t even think it’s a few years. It’s all functionality that we have. The hardware is coming from a bunch of different players. Some things could be a reality on 2010. We position CourseSmart as a choice for students. It’s been becoming an increasingly popular choice on laptops and netbooks. I think it’ll be used this year by some students and become normal within two or three years for some students.”

Lyman also talked to eBookNewser about the challenges of encouraging the adoption of this kind of technology in the higher education environment: adoption won’t happen “with college students unless the content they need, the content being assigned by their instructors, is available. That’s one of the reasons I’m being bullish” about getting content onto CourseSmart’s platform, he said.

As to whether the tablet is going to play a major role in the future of education and eTextbooks, Lyman said, “My suspicion is that when the hype settles down the tablet is going to have a real impact on the education market.”

A year ago at this time, Neil Jones, the founder of U.K.-based Interead Ltd., was on his way to Taiwan with plans to make the next great eReader — one that didn’t break the bank.

He came up with the COOL-ER Reader. Priced at $249, it quickly became the market leader in Europe. Now it sits behind Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader in global marketshare.

We talked with Interead’s VP of marketing Phil Wood who told us how his device is different than the other guys’:

Here at CES 2010, Entourage Systems is showing off its gadget which combines two trending technologies: eReaders and Netbooks. It’s called the Entourage Edge. Here’s a short demo video. More information here on their website.

eBookNewser knows you don’t want to miss a single tablet, even, or especially one about which there’s almost no information. Well, yesterday at CES, PC giant Dell unveiled an example of its line of forthcoming tablets, sort of.

On its official blog, Dell brags that “Speaking of things that will ship later this year, we used our time at CES 2010 to show off a 5-inch tablet concept.” That’s about all they say, and folks who were there at the event don’t have much more to report. Engadget speculates the li’l slate is a product Dell’s been whispering about called “the Streak,” though they’re not sure. MacRumors says it’s an Android device with a 5-megapixel camera and maybe a SIM card slot.

5-inches isn’t very big. And what a strange angle for the official promo photo above. But Dell is apparently planning a bunch of tablets for later this year, so maybe there’ll be a bigger one. By the time Apple gets around to bringing its slate out of the ether, it’ll be one of many, many devices in its category.

We had a chance to talk with Brent Boyer, the VP of Supply Chain at Plastic Logic today at CES 2010. Plastic Logic officially took the wraps off The Que, an eReader that will hit store shelves in April.

The one we saw retails for $649 for a 4 gig device. There is also an 8 gig that will retail for $799.