The expanding popularity of portable e-book readers has e-gadget manufacturers climbing the walls to improve, innovate and expand operations, portability and user convenience. Amazon’s Kindle broke open the e-book reader market, although it wasn’t the first e-book reader on the scene. Barnes & Noble’s Nook is a terrific product as well, and its now-generation reader offers some tough choices for e-book fans that has Amazon concerned. Then bring in Sony products to further complicate matters. These top three e-book reader options can make an e-book reader’s head spin, so let’s compare them on size, capability and adaptability.

The information below reflects the common models within the same price range; it wouldn’t be fair to compare a “deluxe” model with a “basic” model. The approximate price range is roughly $115 to $160 and notes the Barnes and Noble Nook Touch Reader, Amazon’s Kindle 3 and Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition.

Size and Weight Comparison

BN’s Nook Touch Reader, hereafter called NTR for typing convenience, sports a 6-inch display and a 5 x 6.5-inch profile. Weighing in at 7.48 ounces, you barely know you’re holding or carrying it.

The Kindle 3 also offers a 6-inch display and a 4.8 x 7.5-inch profile; it’s a little longer than the Nook but not prohibitively so. The negligible weight difference with Nook, 8+ ounces versus 7.48 ounces, is noticed, but after the conscious notation, you barely notice it.

Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition boasts the smallest and lightest numbers of the three at 4.11 x 5.71 inches and 5.47 ounces. It also has the smallest display screen at 5 inches.

Capacity and Accessibility

The NTR can hold up to . Its battery can last up to two months on charge under minimum use capacity. In other words, you can’t get two months of use under full WiFi use or downloads—just reading. (Those general conditions restrict all battery use comparisons, however.)

The Kindle 3 can hold up to 3,500 e-books in its 4GB memory. The built-in, permanent battery can last up to a month on a single charge if WiFi is turned off. However, its WiFi capability draws a definite plus to this device.

Sony’s device can hold up to 1,200 e-books with a 2GB memory. It can also support word documents, Adobe PDFs, EPUB/ACS4 formats. The Pocket Edition is compatible with both Macs and PCs. Coming in a distant third in battery capacity, it provides only two weeks maximum average use prior to recharging. Sony’s product has no direct Internet access capability, so you must download from a PC or Mac into the device.

Distinct Advantages and Disadvantages

Sony’s device is great for short-term use and storage swaps, but its lack of direct connectivity is a drawback for many. It’s slimmer, lighter, more compact design is a plus over the others, however.

Nook’s longer battery life and expandable memory slot allows slight advantages over both the Kindle 3 and the Pocket Edition. Its multiple platform readability matches Kindle 3′s, and both Nook and Kindle stand above the Pocket Edition in direct Internet access.

Kindle 3′s biggest advantage is that the $114 price tag for the Kindle-With Special Offers edition. Completely identical to Kindle 3 in other ways, the Special Offers version provides a $25 discount for non-intrusive ads in the screen saver mode and on the main menu. Because there are no ads while reading, the ad-supported version is highly recommended.

However, the touch screen and button resign puts Barnes & Nobles’ Nook a half a notch above Kindle 3. Its longer battery life secures it in the number 1 slot—for now.

The author of this post is Holly Miller, who writes for Coupon Croc. In the market for the hottest gadgets? Save big when you shop online and use an Argos discount voucher.

Have you ever gotten irritated by piles of books and papers in front of your desk waiting to be read? Have you ever been upset by loosing very important  information due to the fact that the paper where you wrote it down was thrown out? Well, I have and I know that this must stop. So I went online and looked for different gadgets and devices. I ended up seeing this magnificent gadget that sure suits my need. It’s the iLiad 2nd Edition by IREX Technologies.

Just as I needed, the iLiad is an electronic device that can basically substitute paper. The main feature is to store ebooks and different documents. It doesn’t end there though. Aside from its electronic paper display style, you can transfer documents, annotations, and comments between this iLiad devices and even computers, it supports other media application such as sudoku or crosswords, plus you can switch between portrait and landscape settings. Another thing I like is the fact that I can read newspapers on it – not just local newspapers, but international! It has this devise to devise compatibility, so that when you for example needed someone to edit a part of a document, you just need to annotate it and pass it on, then it can be corrected. And take note, it isn’t just compatible with iLiad devices, but to other computers as well. As for technical support, you can log into MyiRex so that you will have free access to updates and softwares you can encorporate with it. Something that did not strike my attention that much is the fact that it only has a little available internal memory, and that the battery life is only around 15 hours, compared to others that may last weeks and has gigabytes of storage.

The specifications are quite impressive. The display is 8.1 inch diagonal and has a 768 x 1024 pixel resolution, 160 DPI. It uses an Intel 400MHz XScale processor with 64MB RAM. Internally, it has 128MB flash memory accessible to the user. It may seem small, but it is indeed expandable MMC cards. This device has a built-in rechargeable Lithium Ion battery which takes which takes about 3 hours to charge via a power adapter. It also has a built-in stereo speaker and a built in WiFi 802.11B/G wireless network ability. As per price range, it is usually about $599 – $699, depending on  where you desire to purchase.

Overall, I can say this is one magnificent device. It may fall short on some aspects, but it definitely was able to catch up with its other “wow” features. This is something to recommend to someone irritated by dozens of books to read and comments to write. I can say that this is indeed a must have for book lovers.

The iLiad 2nd Edition can be found at:

• i-Pmart for $539 USD
• Amazon for $599 USD

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If you were on the fence about purchasing an Amazon Kindle 2 before because you considered it to be too pricey, well we have some good news for ya!

Amazon must have heard the complaints because they’ve recently reduced the price of the of the Kindle 2 to a much more reasonable $299!   It was previously $359 so that’s a $60 discount (17%).  Weeeeeeee! 

Read more about the Kindle 2 or purchase this popular device…

Amazon has announced that the highly anticipated Kindle DX will be shipping starting June 10, 2009. Woo-hoo!

The shipping schedule apparently goes like this:

• Pre-orders placed before June 5 will start shipping on June 10
• New pre-orders (after June 5) will be treated as first come, first served
• New pre-orders will likely be shipped in between 7-10 days?

So basically, even if you haven’t pre-ordered a Kindle DX, you didn’t really miss out on anything, as you can still order now and get one within 2 weeks. That’s not bad at all!

Read more here…

For you Amazon Kindle 2 owners, here’s a list of many tips & tricks that you should find useful. These were compiled from many sources – let us know if any of them aren’t as helpful as we think!

Access Free eBooks @ Amazon

1. After you sign into Amazon and choose the Kindle store to search in
2. Type “-domain” (no quotes) into the search field.
3. This will give you a list of free books offered by Amazon!

Helpful Shortcuts

1. Bookmark: Alt-B. Alternate: Press 5-way up or down to go to cursor mode, and then press 5-way twice.
2. Kindle Store: Alt-Home.
3. Top Screen Icons: Press Menu button to see Wireless Network on top of the screen (top right), Time on top of the screen (top center) and Memory Remaining on your Kindle 2 on Top of the screen (top left).
4. Screenshots: Alt+Shift+G. Hold down Alt and Shift buttons and then press G.
5. MineSweeper: Alt+Shift+M.
6. Refresh Screen: Alt-G to refresh the screen and eliminate Ghosting.
7. Reload in Web Mode: Alt+R = reload when in web mode

Restart Kindle 2 in Two Seconds

1. Go to the Home Page.
2. Press the Menu button to go to the Menu.
3. Navigate to Settings and press 5-way to go to Settings.
4. Press Menu button Again.
5. Navigate to the Restart option, and press 5-way to select it.

Navigate within Magazines and Newspapers

1. 5-way controller to the left = previous article.
2. 5-way controller to the right = next article.
3. Press the 5-way = A list of sections within the periodical will appear.
4. On this Sections List page = Selecting the Number to the right of the Section Title will take you to a list of Articles within a section.

Read-To-Me Shortcuts

There shortcuts can be used with the “Text To Speech” functionality:

1. Shift + Sym button to start and to stop TTS. You have to keep Shift pressed down and then press Sym.
2. While TTS is on – Use Shift button to Pause or Resume it. Note: this might be Space (spacebar).
3. While TTS is on – you can switch between male and female voices, and change voice speed by using Alt + Aa keys and then using the 5 way controller.
4. To start TTS at a particular place on a page, move the cursor to the spot BEFORE starting TTS.

Mp3 Player Shortcuts

1. Alt+Space = play or stop background audio.
2. Alt-F = skip to the next audio track.
3. Space – starts or pauses an audio book

Change Spacing & Number of Lines Per Page

By using the Alt+Shift+ numbers 1 through 9 buttons you can change the spacing between the lines on the Kindle 2 and also the number of lines per page.

1. Press down the Alt and Shift buttons.
2. Keeping Alt+Shift pressed, Press a number button like 1, or 2, right up to 9 to cycle through the various spacing options.

Delete an Item or Book from Your Kindle 2

1. Press the Menu button to go to the Kindle 2 Home Page.
2. Use the 5-way to go to the item you want to delete.
3. Press Left on the 5-way to bring up the Delete selection.
4. Press the 5-way to confirm that you want to delete the item.

Note: Books you have purchased are still available in the Archive selection even after deletion you can reload them!

Load Pictures onto your Kindle 2

1. Connect Kindle 2 via USB to your PC.
2. Go to the Kindle 2.
3. Create pictures folder on your Kindle 2.
4. Now create sub-folders for your photo albums.
5. Put in images into these sub-folders.
6. The images that you put into a sub-folder will become part of the photo album.
7. Unplug your Kindle 2 and go to the Home Page.
8. Press Alt-Z on home page to see photo albums among books.
9. When you select one of these photo albums, the experimental Image Viewer starts.

Picture Viewing Tips

While you are viewing pictures in the Image Viewer:

1. Zoom In on the Picture = Q key.
2. Zoom Out = W key.
3. Reset Zoom Level for the Image = E key.
4. Toggle Picture to Actual Size = C key.
5. Toggle Picture to Full Screen Mode = F key.
6. Pan Photo if its larger than the Kindle 2s screen with 5-way controller.
7. Rotate the Image = R key.

Text Entry Shortcuts

These are helpful shortcuts when entering Text -

• Alt-6 for question mark ?
• Alt-7 for comma ,
• Alt-8 for colon :
• Alt-9 for quotation marks
• Alt-0 for single quotation marks

Change the Default Dictionary

You can change the default dictionary used by Kindle 2 from the New Oxford American Dictionary to another Kindle 2 supported dictionary, such as the Merriam Webster. Please check before buying any other dictionary as it might not be supported.

1. First, press the Home button to go to the Home Page.
2. Press the Menu button.
3. Move the 5-way to underline Settings and press 5-way to select.
4. Press the Menu button.
5. Move the 5-way to underline Change Primary Dictionary and press 5-way to select.
6. Move 5-way to select the dictionary you want as your primary dictionary, when its underlined press 5-way to select it.

Navigate Through the Home Screens Pages

1. Jump to page x on the Home Screen Press the number x on the keypad and then press the 5-way.
2. Also you can use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons to circle through the pages.

Search Shortcuts

These shortcuts can be used while using search (simply enter @help in the search box) -

• @help will show a list of supported commands.
• Instead of pressing your 5-way on find you can move the 5-way right to bring up other search options i.e. Kindle Store, Wikipedia, Google, Dictionary, etc.
• @author Narrow a search in the kindle store to a particular author by using the authors name.

Recharge your Kindle Battery when it’s at 20%

1. You can re-charge your Kindle 2 battery at any time, without using up its life. There is no memory and there is no let it drain completely before charging rule.
2. You should maximize by re-charging your Kindle 2′s battery when it’s at 20% charge left. The worst thing you can do is let the battery completely drain out.
3. Do not recharge it to full every day. The battery is happiest in the >20% charge, <80% charge range (close to 80% is better than close to 20%).

It seems that Amazon has really been stepping up their portable ebook reader game in the last few weeks. They’ve gone from two Kindle releases over a 1.5 year period to announcing something major every week or so. That’s quite a turnaround!

Here’s some of the recent developments from Amazon:

• Kindle DX – This was an expected but still huge announcement on May 6, 2009. It’s the largest ebook reader yet and the first ever to incorporate an accelerometer device, so pages are automatically rotated between portrait and landscape, simply by turning the device.

• Kindle for iPhone v1.1 – Amazon recently released a new version of this popular app which is available from the iPhone App Store. Some of the notable new features include:
  • Pinch screen to zoom images within books
  • Read in landscape or portrait mode
  • Select alternate text colors and backgrounds to improve reading comfort in low light
  • Tap on either side of the screen or flick the screen to turn page

• Amazon Encore – Amazon has joined the “publishing” industry. They’ll reportedly be publishing authors who are currently doing it themselves and are showing promise. Amazon has obviously realized that there’s tons of money to be made in publishing, especially with a lot of their future competitors going under.

• Kindle Publishing for Blogs – Amazon is now allowing bloggers to sell their blogs to Kindle owners through the Kindle Store. This is huge news for web marketers and content publishers as it provides a simple method for generating income from their labors of love.

Many people have been asking lately -“Which is a better choice for me, the tried-and-true Amazon Kindle 2 or the brand new Kindle DX?”.

Well…today we plan on helping you answer that question!

The Kindle 2 is Amazon’s 2nd generation Kindle device and was released on February 23, 2009.  It had many improvements over the original Kindle, but due to its smallish size, it was still not ideal for reading larger print media like newspapers or magazines.

Amazon’s solution to this problem came shortly after, with the May 6, 2009 announcement of the Kindle DX.  It has a much larger screen (2.5x the size of the Kindle 2), can natively display PDF files, and is the first Kindle device to come with an accelerometer so pages can be viewed in either landscape or portrait by simply rotating the unit.  (If you’re familiar with the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch, these also come with an accelerometer.)

Note:  The Kindle DX won’t be shipped until sometime in the summer of 2009, so if you need a portable ebook reader ASAP you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Below is a detailed comparison of many of the features of these two popular devices.  We want to give you as much information as possible so you can make an educated decision about your purchase.

* Red text denotes the “winner” for each feature

As you can see, it’s neck-and-neck between these two Amazon electronic reading devices.  Each one has its own set of strengths and weaknesses.  The best way to decide which one is best for you, is to ask yourself these questions:

• Is price important?  (Kindle 2)
• Is screen size important – ie. will I be reading a lot of magazines and newspapers, rather than novels?  (Kindle DX)
• Is portability important?  (Kindle 2)
• Do I plan on reading a lot of PDFs? (Kindle DX)

Hopefully that was helpful and you now know which Kindle is right for you!  If not, please let us know how else we might be able to help you decide.

As anticipated, Amazon recently announced the release of the brand, spankin’ new Kindle DX!  It’s now available for preorder at Amazon for $489.

“Personal and professional documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display that you’ll find yourself changing ink-toner cartridges less often,” said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. “Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks – anything highly formatted – also shine on the Kindle DX. Carry all your documents and your whole library in one slender package.”

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Amazon.com has an eDocs department where you can shop from over 1,000,000 articles, documents and books – then download them instantly.  Most are quite reasonably priced as well.