I was working away this morning, minding my own business, when a tweet sent to me and @Gartenberg got me thinking. The Twitter conversation was about reading e-books, and @AppGeniusBar asked us the question that got it all started:

@Gartenberg @jkendrick Have u imagined spending at least 12 hrs without feeling the need for an electronic gadget in ur hand?

I thought about this for a bit, and the answer hit me over the head (or in the hand). I have reached a point in my gadget usage that the gadget simply doesn’t matter. It’s the task I am doing at the time, in this case reading e-books, that grabs all of my attention. It is a testament to how far mobile technology has advanced that I have so many choices in the gadgets I use to do things. As I replied to @AppGeniusBar:

When I’m reading an e-book, and I read 2 – 3 a week, the gadget is simply the vehicle. It’s a book to me, just like paper kind.

That statement couldn’t be more spot on — I do not think about the gadget, I am simply reading a book. The same holds true with all the other tasks I do with a gadget, it’s the task that matters, not the gadget. Sure, it’s nice having a cool gadget that lets me do things I need to do, but when I’m actually doing them I do not think about the gadget at all, as long as it lets me complete the task at hand. This may sound only logical, but for someone like me who is always looking for the “next big gadget”, this was eye-opening. The gadget doesn’t matter, it’s what I do with them.

Earlier today, I was less than enthused with BenQ’s e-book entry, but Qualcomm rejuvenated my e-book excitement with this news from SlashGear — color e-book screens will ship in 2010. The chipmaker’s mirasol color display has the potential to shake up the e-book industry — and possibly others in the portable space — just as much as Pixel Qi’s, in my opinion. The magic behind mirasol is the inspiration, which comes from the wings of a butterfly. Mirasol displays reuse external, ambient light, so no backlighting is needed. The company won several awards in 2009 for its 0.9″ mirasol display, but now it’s ready for a bigger footprint — say hello to a  5.7″ mirasol screen.

Image Credit: SlashGear

This larger panel is color-capable and, like traditional eInk displays, requires power only when refreshing the view. SlashGear says the new panel is even capable of video playback, but at usable frame rates, you’ll understandably see a big hit to the battery life, Still, Qualcomm figures that a Kindle equipped with a color mirasol display could last for a full week on one charge. I’m topping off my Kindle’s battery every three weeks these days, but I’d make it weekly for a color display.

I’m also interested in this display technology from a phone and handheld perspective. From what I’ve seen so far, a mirasol display would look fantastic outdoors, which can’t be said about many other traditional screens. Using it for primary computing might not provide huge battery savings, but on a phone, the overall benefits might outweigh the cons. I’d even like to see it on a smartbook. Who’s getting ready to power those devices? Oh, that’s right… Qualcomm.

Image Credit: Digitimes

Yet another e-book device is coming to market — if you live in Taiwan, Japan or China, that is. Digitimes says BenQ is joining the ranks of Sony, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, to name a few, by offering its own branded electronic book reader. Dubbed the nReader, it uses eInk technology for the 6″ display, offers 2 GB of internal storage and can handle up to a 16 GB expansion card.

But “content is king,” as they say — and by content, I mean “supported formats.” The nReader is pretty bland in that regard: PDF, HTML and TXT are what’s expected to appear on that screen. Pics are viewable through standard formats and you can listen to MP3 tunes as well. Without wireless support or compatibility with ePub or any other major book-specific format, I don’t envision the 300,000 units sold in 2010 that BenQ sees. Watch for it to hit in January for around $280.

I just received the weekly newsletter from eReader and they snuck in a biggie:

Sure enough, just go to www.ereader.com/android from your phone and download the app. The Android version supports working with the eReader online store and the user online bookshelf. I can tell you one thing — the Droid’s big screen makes it a fantastic e-book reader. The only complaint so far is no justification of the text, a pet-peeve of mine.

Sony’s old PRS-500 eBook reader gains a new trick with the addition of ePub format support, says MobileRead. Oh, but it’s quite a trick to get the support. While one would expect this to be a simple firmware update, it isn’t. Well, it’s either that or it’s a way for you to get a new model — you be the judge. To get ePub support, you’ll need to send in your PRS-500 to a Sony Service Center. Sony will “update the firmware” — so it is just a firmware update, yes? — and return your reader to you within 14 days. Plan B is to trade up. Sony will give you $50 off of the $199 Reader Pocket Edition or $75 off the $299 Reader Touch Edition if you trade in your older device. Both of the newer models already support ePub, so you gain the new format as well as a newer device if you go the trade-in route. Don’t wait too long to decide — Sony is migrating its eBook platform and store to ePub before the end of the year.

Early adopters of the PRS-500 might be on the fence here, but if it were me and I had the money, I’d probably take advantage of the upgrade for a little cost savings. The newer devices have a faster refresh rate, 8-level grey scale and, in the case of the Touch Edition, offers a touchscreen display. Nice to see Sony give a little something to the first Reader customers.

Our platform focus continues this fine Sunday with the e-Book Echo, our take on the week in the digital publishing world. Amazon released a beta version of the Kindle reader software for PCs this week. The app aims to do what Kindle for iPhone does, allow the reading of Kindle books without the need for a Kindle reader. Amazon says a Mac version is coming soon. Early adopters of the PC app complain that it doesn’t have a wealth of features, but it does work well on XP, Vista and  Windows 7, and even on netbooks.

The Readius pocket reader was doomed with the failure of Polymer Vision. The innovative device used a flexible display that rolls up into a base unit, and early prototypes were impressive. This week came welcome news, Wistron bought the failed company and plans to sell a similar device early next year.

When the Barnes and Noble Nook went up for order at launch, the company claimed a Nov. 30 ship date. Early buyers were indeed quoted that date, and it is expected to see the Nook appear in B&N stores around that date. Customers who are buying the Nook currently, are now being quoted a ship date of Dec. 18, so the logical deduction is that sales are going briskly enough to outstrip production. This is similar to the situation when the original Kindle was launched. Maybe it’s an e-book thing.

Image from ZDNet

Remember the Readius, the pocket-friendly e-book reader with the display that rolled out of the device? It interested a lot of enthusiasts with the prospect of the flexible e-Ink screen that folded away when not in use. Then the company behind the Readius, Polymer Vision, went bankrupt before bringing the Readius to market and all hope of seeing the cool reader were dashed. Not so fast, Wistron bought Polymer Vision and the technology behind the Readius and they are now telling folks they will bring a 5 – 6 inch device with Readius-like flexible e-paper display to market in 2010.

(via engadget)

Yesterday, I took a look at Amazon’s Kindle for PC software on my netbook. The beta software is missing a few features just yet — search, note-taking and highlighting passages — but for reading Kindle content, it’s quite good. You gain the benefit of a color screen and the ability to tweak fonts and line spacing to a greater degree. All in all, the experience is enjoyable. But will it be so good that it actually kills off Amazon’s Kindle hardware products? I don’t think so.

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Amazon’s Kindle for PC beta application arrives this morning. The software supports Windows XP, Vista and 7 machines, while Amazon says that a Mac version is coming soon. What’s ingenious about this app — as well as the iPhone app before it — is that you can read Amazon Kindle books without buying the Kindle hardware. With a Windows version, Amazon is expanding their potential customer base to 85% or more of computer users. Reading books on a computer certainly isn’t the same experience as reading them on a light eInk device or a handheld, but I could see this swaying more money into Amazon’s bank account.

I downloaded and installed the beta app on the Windows 7 partition of my Toshiba NB205 netbook this morning. Once I signed in to my Amazon account, I was able to see all 44 of my archived book purchases with full color covers. Books can be sorted by Title or Author. A double-tap downloads the book and you’re off and running. Page navigation can be done by mouse, arrow keys or Page Up/Down keys. There are 10 font sizes to choose from and you can modify the page width using a “Words per line” slider. Kindle for PC does support Whispersync, so the software will pick up from the last read position if you were reading on a Kindle. Or you can read on your PC and your Kindle will synchronize to that point when you move from PC to Kindle.

Notes, highlights and bookmarks also sync to the PC, but with this version of the software, there’s no way to make notes or highlight text on the PC — you can bookmark pages, however. Amazon is also planning to add search and zoom / image rotation to Kindle for PC in a future version. Of course, you shop directly for Kindle books, but not within the application. Clicking the “Shop in Kindle store” button opens your default browser where you can then send samples to or purchase full titles. Now that my software is registered, I see a “Kevin’s Kindle for PC” delivery option for content. It’s worth noting that Windows 7 users with touch supported hardware gain one bonus now and one in the future. The current app supports touch zooming with a two-fingered pinch. In an upcoming release, Amazon will add page turning with finger swipes.

Since I have a Kindle, I’ll still rely on it for my daily reading. I generally take the Kindle everywhere, but on the off-chance I don’t bring it, I usually have my netbook with me, which will make for decent backup reading device. I’ll still likely use Kindle for iPhone as well, but that would be for a different scenario. When I have five or ten minutes of just standing around, the iPhone does the trick. If I can sit somewhere and I’ll want to read for a longer period of time, the netbook will be my tool of choice. And if I have my Kindle with me, it will likely trump both options, provided I have enough light to read the eInk display. The only exception might be a graphic novel of some type as the PC app supports reading color.

Our platform focus continues this fine Sunday with the e-Book Echo, our take on the week in the digital publishing world. Sony is teaming up with indie publishers to allow such work to be carried in the company’s e-book store for Sony Reader customers. Sony is working with Smashwords and Author Solutions to handle e-books distributed by those services. This opens the door for authors to get their own self-published works onto the Sony Reader line of electronic readers.

The Foxit eSlick reader is going to support the standard ePUB format for e-books. This support comes with a firmware upgrade for the readers that adds not only ePUB but eReader format support, in addition to the text and PDF formats already handled. The firmware upgrade also added a touch keyboard for entering passwords on the reader.

Barnes and Noble was sued this week for violating information shared with them by Spring Design under NDA. Spring Design announced the Alex reader the day before B&N announced the Nook reader and the two devices do share similar features in both hardware and software. The lawsuit claimed that B&N met several times with Spring Design and details of the Alex were shared, yet B&N never acknowledged they were working on the Nook at the time. The suit asks for an injunction barring the sale of the Nook reader.