Hardware

Amazon says...

Amazon Extends Battery Life of Newest Kindle by 85 Percent and Adds Native PDF Reader

Good news for Kindle owners. The battery life increase translates (so Amazon says) to up to a week of Kindle uptime even with its 3G radio turned on. This goes up to two weeks if you turn wireless service off.

Kindle users can email PDf files to their @kindle.com email address or use a USB connection to transfer PDF files.

I'm still not interested in buying a Kindle myself though. The combination of Kindle for iPhone and Kindle for PC (beta) satisfies my Kindle ebook reading needs just fine. But, if Amazon would produce a Kindle or Mac and Kindle for Android ebook reader, I would be very happy to try those out too.

A friend of mine (hiya, Paul!) brought his...

Wasabi Mobile Photo Printer (sold by Dell)

...to the monthly tech-geek lunch yesterday. The tiny printer prints color photos at a 640x960 resolution. The photos have a slight "banded" look but otherwise looks quite good. The printer has a list price of $110 but Dell's current price is a mere $39 (wow!). It requires special photo paper (the ink is embedded in the paper itself) which Dell sells for $10.99 in 48-sheet packs (regular price is $19.99).

Phones connect to the printer using Bluetooth. Paul said that it doesn't work with his iPhone but works fine with his new Droid.

The Zune HD seems to amassed a lot of praise from reviewers. But, I still haven't seen one anywhere around me in anyone's hands "in the wild". That aside, one of the big questions during the September launch was when it would be available outside of the U.S. The Financial Times says that day is coming soon...

Zune to launch outside US

I didn't see any actual projected release date in the article. It is probably a bit early to gauge the Zune HD's success rate. FT.com's article reports that the Zune had a 2% market share (compared to Apple's 73% share of the MP3 market) in September 2009 when the Zune HD launched. It will be interesting to see what the marketshare numbers look like a the end of 2009 (and the holiday buying season).

Addendum: Phooey. Reading stuff too fast is a bad idea late at night. Zune Brand only. Microsoft's message to those outside of the U.S.: "No Zune HD for you!" (to paraphrase a line from the old Seinfeld show).

YouTube video courtesy of channelintel

The $1,499 Intel Reader is a vertical market product for assistive reading that can take a photograph of a printed page and read out loud the text on that page. The text itself can be displayed on the Intel Reader's display. The text size is adjustable as is the audio reading rate.

Intel Reader (product site)

Photographs of printed pages can be taken while the device is in its case.

Via VentureBeat: Intel introduces a digital book reader that reads aloud to the blind

You might recall how I thought that Barnes & Noble's Nook ebook reader was a relabeled Spring Design Alex ebook reader. Then, we learned that...

Thought the Spring Alex and Barnes & Noble Nook eBook Readers Looked Similar? Spring Suing B&N

Both devices take market leader Amazon Kindle to task by adding a small color touchscreen display beneath the e-ink black and white ebook reading screen.

Maximum PC has an excellent collection of photos of the Spring Design Alex ebook reader in this article...

Hands-On: Spring Design's Dual-Screen Android Alex eBook Reader

The photos also include the unit partially disassembled to let you see how the ebook reader screen is connected to the main board.

Dedicated ebook readers do make sense for my personal reading frequency and habits. So, I'm bypassing this entire generation of devices favoring using my iPod touch and iPhone for ebook reading instead. But, if these dedicated ebook reader devices ever get below $100, purchasing one could become a consideration.

What if I told you I would like you to pay $99.95 for a mobile gadget that only works with one website and that you would have a $7.95 monthly charge ($95.40 annually or apparently $199 for lifetime service) on top of that? Would you laugh uncontrollably? Walk away without saying word? I suppose if you are a Twitter fanatic and that one site was Twitter.com, it might be more palatable. And, if it is, here's the device for you...

Twitter Peek

There have been similar products in the past that tried to focus on one aspect of net communications. You might recall some of the email-only devices from a decade or so back. Perhaps the most successful single function device was the early RIM BlackBerry devices that were wireless email devices.

Personally, I can't figure out who this device might appeal to. Kids really aren't tweeting and perhaps shouldn't without parental supervision. Teens already have phones as do adults of all generations. So, who's left?

Via the Wall Street Journal: The First Mobile Device Dedicated Exclusively To Twitter
Via CrunchGear: What, exactly, is the Twitter Peek?

Back on October 20, I noted...

Spring Design Dual Screen eBook Reader (1 grayscale, 1 color) + Web Browser Intrigues Me

...as well as...

Barnes & Noble Nook eBook Reader May be a Serious Kindle Competitor

Looking at the similarity between the Spring Alex ebook reader and the B&N Nook, I assumed that the Nook was simply a rebranded Spring Alex. Based on this BusinessWire item...

Spring Design Files Lawsuit against Barnes & Noble: Nook Violates Alex Intellectual Property

...I guess I assumed incorrectly. The second sentence of the first paragraph of this article reads: The lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties’ non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex’ features into its recently announced Nook e-book.

Ack...

I spoke with LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen Marketing Manager Karen Lee in Podcast 37. We talked about the LiveScribe company, the new 4GB model Pulse Smartpen, the 3rd party MyScript for LiveScribe ink-to-text transcription application, and some hints about using the Pulse Smartpen.

Karen gave me a great tip that solves a problem I've had for a long time: How do I record a podcast with someone using a conventional telephone (instead of Skype)? The solution is one of those simple-slap-my-forehead ones that I didn't think of trying. But, thankfully, Karen shared that tip with me. You can hear it in about the last third of the podcast.

This podcast is 27 minutes and 31 seconds long.

- You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
- You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
- You can also point your smartphone's browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

Photo courtesy of Medis Technologies

T-Mobile sells an interesting mobile device charging product named the...

Medis Xtreme Portable Fuel Cell Charger

This fuel cell based product sells for $24.95 and provides 20 Watt-Hours of recharging capacity. They say it is enough to recharge a small mobile device multiple times. This fuel cell product is not rechargable. However, it is recyclable and does not contain toxic or hazardous materials.

There's more information on the Medis Technologies site...

24/7 Power Pack Fuel Cell

However, I was surprised to learn that the HSN (Home Shopping Network) product page for a related Medis product had the most useful information for prospective customers...

Medis Fuel Cell Xtreme Emergency Kit with LED Flashlight

Here's what I learned at HSN.com...

- The fuel cell remains usable for about 18 months if left inactive until optimal temperature conditions
- Once activated the fuel cell can be usable for up to 3 months. However, Medis recommends that the fuel cell be used within 6 weeks of activation

The Medis Powerpack instructions add that its optimal storage temperature is 68 degrees F and that elevated storage temperatures shortens the product life. So, although I'm really interested in this product, I know it is not a good fit when you live in an area like mine with a year-round average temperature of about 80 degrees.

Does the soon-to-be-available Barnes & Noble "Nook" ebook reader make sense?

Nook

At $269 it has the same price as the U.S.-only version of Amazon's Kindle 2. B&N has a matrix comparing the two ereaders here...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/compare/

The Nook has the following feature advantages according to this matrix...

- Small second color touch screen
- WiFi
- MicroSD card slot that enables adding up to an additional 16GB storage
- Ability to load and read PDF files
- Ability to lend an ebook once for up to 14 days
- Replaceable rechargeable battery

It lacks the Kindle's text-to-speech feature. And, more importantly to me, there is no mention of it having a full web browser or the ability to install and use Android apps. If it had a full web browser or the ability to install apps, B&N would have my $269 in a pre-order right now. Without either of those features, it is just another pricey ebook reader.