E-Book News
Weight: 22 oz.
Display: 8.2-inch diagonal color TFT LCD touch-screen
with 480x640 resolution and backlight
Memory: 8MB Compact Flash (5,000 pages); expandable to 128MB (up to 80,000 pages)
Modem: 56K
Broadband: 10 Base T Ethernet to support connections to LANs, cable and DSL modems
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium -ion (rated for 5 to 10 hours depending on backlight level)
Suggested retail price: $699
Available from: major electronics retailers, such as Best Buy and Circuit City. For more info: www.thomson-multimedia.com
Rocket eBook
The Rocket eBook is manufactured by NuvoMedia, a Mt. View, Calif.-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Gemstar-TV Guide International. The paperback-sized Rocket eBook holds about 3,200 pages at a time, while the Rocket eBook Pro holds about 15,200 pages. The device comes with a cradle that plugs into a serial port on the user's PC, from which e-titles can be downloaded, stored and read on the Rocket eBook. Digital rights management (DRM) solutions prevent the e-titles from being read on the user's host PC or Macinstosh, say officials. Device features include the ability to browse, search, annotate, highlight, bookmark, link and reference. There's voice-quality audio, and Rocketwriter allows users to create their own e-books. Each device comes pre-loaded with RocketEngine, an operating system designed for e-books. HTML, Word documents and ASCII text files can up uploaded to the Rocket eBook, but not PDF files. Specifications:
Weight: 22 oz.
Display: 3.5x5.5-inch, 106-dot resolution, touch screen, mono-chrome, white backlight
Memory: Rocket eBook: 4MB Flash. Rocket eBook Pro: 16MB Flash. 32MB card is available.
Battery: rechargeable nickel metal hydride, provides about 20 hours with backlight on or 40 hours without backlight
Suggested retail price: $199
Available from: www.bn.com and www.powells.com For more info: www.rocket-ebook.com
EbookMan
Franklin Electronic Publishers released a line of three hand-held multimedia devices designed to download e-books, audio books and MP3 music files, as well as synchronize personal management applications with the help of Microsoft Outlook. The two high-end units are bundled with value-added applications and content offerings.
