Starting university can be tough on your wallet; if you're not paying tuition fees, you're buying rounds for people you've just met at the student union, and that's before you've even thought about all the text books you're going to need.

Amazon may have a plan to save your pennies though. They're preparing to launch a new textbook renting scheme that could see students save as much as 80% on list prices for dusty tomes.

The Kindle Textbook Rental service will allow you to rent books for between 30 and 360 days at a time, available across all Kindle formats including dedicated e-readers, apps and desktop software. Publishers John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis are among the textbook titans already on board, while Whispersync notes will be accessible forever, even once a book has been returned.

Click here for the full details. It seems to be a US-only initiative at the moment, though you should be able to circumvent that by setting up an American Amazon account.

In a fortnight that has seen the UK press take quite a hammering, what with the justified hysteria surrounding the recent phone hacking scandals, it's great to hear some good news come out of Fleet Street this morning for once. The fine broadsheet that is the Guardian is now available as a Kindle edition for e-reader owners.

Calling it "the best newspaper reading experience you can have on Kindle," the Guardian are offering their digital edition as a 14-day free trial to first-time readers, beamed over Wi-Fi or 3G straight to reader's Kindles by 6am every morning.

After that, it's a £9.99 subscription fee per month, which when worked out against a 30-day month, equals a mere 33p per issue.

"This is the first of many mobile launches from Guardian News and Media over the next few months and comes at a time when we're seeing tremendous growth on all our mobile platforms," said the Guardian.

The Guardian are increasingly moving towards a "digital first" attitude when it comes to their news output, with Android and iPad app versions of the newspaper currently being tested. Currently, the mobile version of the Guardian website account for 10% of all the paper's web traffic.

Click here for more info on the Kindle edition of the Guardian.

There have been more whispers surrounding Pottermore, the newly-announced Harry Potter-themed social network, than those surrounding "He Who Must Not Be Named" himself, the books' evil baddie Lord Voldemort.

So it got us thinking about what we'd want to see from such a site. Here's what the Muggles over at Tech Digest hope Pottermore will conjure.

Crowd-sourced new novels

You've got all the series' fans collected in one place, all crying out for more stories that Rowling isn't willing to write. The web is full of fan-fiction, so why not harness that? Sure, fan-fiction is mostly rubbish, but what if there was the chance for one of the more skilled fan-fiction writers to collaborate with Rowling on a new adventure starring some of Potter's supporting cast, with perhaps plot developments chosen by the network users? That'd seriously be giving something back to the fanbase, and offer a new writer a shot at publication too.

Web episodes from the world of wizardry

As well as the culmination of the series of books, the Deathly Hallows also obviously marks the end of the popular Harry Potter movie adaptations. Though they've not always been stellar films, they certainly nailed the feel of Rowling's universe well. How about if Pottermore offered bite-sized chunks of video of plot developments cut from the movies, or fresh video altogether. A "Hagrid's Guide to Hand-Rearing Dragons" starring Robbie Coltrane would be great fun.

A "Second Life" style Hogwarts to explore

This one's probably a bit of a long shot, but the Harry Potter world is so rich visually, it'd be a shame to have its online presence merely a predominately static social network. Why not turn Hogwarts into a "Second Life" style online game? Even a limited MMO browser game can look great these days, and with the "freemium" model employed by the likes of Lord of the Rings Online, everyone could play for free, while die-hard fans could pay a little extra for premium content. Being able to meet up with some pals online and take a stroll around the Chamber of Secrets would be pretty awesome.

Safer security from Severus Sony

Now we know this one isn't based on Pottermore content, but it's an important one nonetheless. With Pottermore you'd imagine aimed predominately at children, Rowling's "safe" network isn't in the most reliable hands at the moment, what with it being in partnership with Sony. Sony's security measures over the past few months have proved to have more holes than the Leaky Cauldron. After the PlayStation 3's PSN hack, lets up Pottermore doesn't fall foul to Secrecy Thief Death Eaters, or "computer hackers" as they are known in the Muggle world.

Interactive Harry Potter eBooks

One of the biggest announcements to go along with Pottermore was the news that it would be the sole portal for downloading official Harry Potter eBooks. Which is great for newbies to the series who want to load them up onto a Kindle or other such ereader. But what about those who already own the books, and still want an digital copy? While an e-ink ereader can't really offer much more than words on a digital page, tablet editions of the Harry Potter books, in some sort of app format, could be superb. As well as having built-in audiobook support, they could have illustrations, animations, interactive games, spell casting, creature sounds; the works. There's the opportunity here to make the digital books the definitive magical reading experience, if some time and effort is put in.

What do you think of our Pottermore suggestions? Do we deserve a butterbeer or are we waving our wands in the wrong direction? Let us know in the comments below or via our Twitter page, @techdigestnews.

The British Library is set to bring its unrivalled collection of 17th and 18th century texts into the digital age through a new partnership with Google.

Google are to digitise 250,000 texts, making them available to be searched and copied for free through either the British Library website of Google Books. Google will foot the bill for the digitising process, with the texts themselves chosen by the British Library.

"In the nineteenth century it was an ambition of our predecessors to give everybody access to as much of the world's information as possible, to ensure that knowledge was not restricted to those who could afford private libraries. The way of doing it then was to buy books from the entire world and to make them available in Reading Rooms," said Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library.

"We are delighted to be partnering with Google on this project and through this partnership believe that we are building on this proud tradition of giving access to anyone, anywhere and at any time. Our aim is to provide perpetual access to this historical material, and we hope that our collections coupled with Google's know-how will enable us to achieve this aim."

Google's Peter Barron, Director of External Relations, echoed the sentiment: "What's powerful about the technology available to us today isn't just its ability to preserve history and culture for posterity, but also its ability to bring it to life in new ways. This public domain material is an important part of the world's heritage and we're proud to be working with the British Library to open it up to millions of people in the UK and abroad."

The British Library have already ventured out into the digital world, launching smartphone and tablet apps, as well as signing Kindle deals and newspaper digitisation plans. Google's eBook catalogue will get a massive boost from the deal, making their online resource ever more invaluable for researchers when compared to the more traditional libraries offered by Amazon and Apple's iBooks.

While Amazon may be busy sorting out their forthcoming tablet onslaught, perhaps they should be looking over their shoulder at their eReader position too, as Kobo have just revealed a striking new device in the shape of the Kobo eReader Touch edition.

Packing in a glare-free e-Ink multi-touch touchscreen, Wi-Fi smarts and enough space for 1,000 books before you've even popped in an SD card, it's the eReader's design that really sets it apart.

With a six-inch screen and quilted back for comfortable holding, the eReader is almost entirely lacking in physical buttons. Only a single home buttons sits below the screen, making the Kindle's array of tiny buttons look positively ugly in comparison.

"The new Kobo eReader is a major advance for readers. We started with a simple, yet powerful idea - to bring eReading to more people in more places, and inspire people around the world to spend more time reading. At a time when technology is disrupting all media, Kobo's focus on the importance of reading has resulted in a revolutionary new experience for readers," said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo Inc.

"This is the first eReader you can put in your pocket, take with you anywhere and read for hours just like a real book, with ultimate comfort and no distraction. The new Kobo eReader is designed for people who love to read."

Amazon may have their own impressive digital bookstore, but the built in Kobo Store here can hold its own too, with access to more than 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines. There's even the option to borrow books from libraries with the Touch edition.

And while the top-spec Kindle features a 3G connection, we're praying that the above video of the Kobo eReader Touch edition isn't a rendered one, as we've never seen an e-Ink display refresh that quickly. The Freescale™ i.MX508 processor used here must be working its socks off.

Available for pre-order from today, the Kobo eReader Touch edition will set you back $129.99 USD.

Another stat coming in from Amazon UK today that's likely to strike fear into the hearts of struggling bookshops up and down the land. The online retailer has today revealed that sales of Kindle eBooks now sell at a rate of 2-to-1 over traditional hardback editions.

Selling 242 ebooks for every 100 hardbacks since April 1st in the UK, it's even more astonishing when you consider the figure includes hardback editions not yet available as a digital copy, and doesn't include free ebooks that would surely make ebook download numbers significantly higher.

Over 650,000 books are now available in Kindle format, with a futher million available as free downloads from the Kindle store.

I'm an avid reader and since getting my Kindle 3G, Amazon's ereader literally goes everywhere with me. I take it to work for the commute, read it on the toilet, I even sleep with it by my pillow, much to the annoyance of my girlfriend.

But one area of my life the Kindle has yet to penetrate so far is bathtime. I couldn't risk my most prized gadget getting ruined by suds and soap, no matter how much I needed find out what was in 1984's Room 101.

Until now that is.

Thanks to Proporta's waterproof BeachBouy case, I can now soak and read at the same time. Designed with the Kindle second and third generation models in mind, it'll keep any device that fits within its 19.2 x 12.2 x 1.3cm (H x W x D) pouch dry.

Conforming to the British Standards Institute IP57 and IP58 levels, it's waterproof up to a depth of 5 metres, with its transparent covering allowing for full operation of your ereader.

Click here to grab one direct from Proporta, priced £14.95.

Ricoh announces today that it finally solved the industry's problems with coloured e-paper, having passed the first hurdle towards bringing this to the market. Ricoh has developed electronic paper with 4 times better colour reproduction than what's currently on the market, and the new product also is also 2.5 times brighter.

Until now, e-paper has been confined to black and white due to problems with colour reproduction and brightness. The company has now cracked this, while also keeping power consumption low, and is now working on boosting screen sizes and improving long-term reliability. There is no telling how long that will take, but the company expects the industry to be keen to incorporate colour screens into reading devices.

E-paper, which is used in e-readers, is different from computer screens in that it doesn't require any electricity to be viewed. Just don't try explaining this to flight attendants.

Amazon's long-rumoured tablet device may be breaking its cover in the very near future, should the latest round of rumours be believed.

The device is now expected to touch down in the second half of this year, with a FFS (Fringe Field Switching) LCD display courtesy of E Ink Holdings, the company responsible for the Kindle's EPD e-paper screens. Looks like use of a Mirasol screen is now out of the display race then.

700,000 to 800,000 devices are to be churned out a month, according to a manufacturing request sent to Quanta from Amazon.

Via: DigiTimes

Amazon have added eBook library lending to the the list of Kindle features for US users. 11,000 local libraries across America have signed up to offer eBook loans through the device, which have a limited loan period just like physical books due to licensing contraints.

Users will be able to read the books on any Kindle-compatible device, be they smartphone or desktop PCs with the Kindle application, syncing bookmarks across each. However, returning the book sees all annotations lost, so a user must re-loan the title or buy it if they want to keep their personal notes long-term.

"We're excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries," said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle on the news of the deal. "Customers tell us they love Kindle for its Pearl e-ink display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight, up to a month of battery life, and Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps."

If Sony's Reader range had one big feature other than touch control in some models over the Kindle, it was their eBook library lending service. With the Kindle now offering it too, Amazon have the digital book market pretty much sewn up.

eBooks have outsold both traditional hardback and paperback book formats for the first time, according to the American Association of Publishers. $90.3 million worth of eBook sales were made in February 2011, an increase of 202% over the same month a year earlier.

The strong figures, coming so quickly after Christmas, suggest that it was a good holiday period for the makers of eReaders, with a spike in users looking to add to their digital book libraries.

However, the American Association of Publishers compile their data from publishers alone, with retailers like Barnes and Noble witholding their sales stats. It therefore makes it difficult to tell just how closely run the traditional book vs ebook race was during the month.

Regardless, Barnes and Noble have already suggested that retailers have two years to adjust to an increasingly eBook-orientated industry, or be left in serious financial trouble.

Amazon US are launching a new version of the Kindle 3 called Kindle with Special Offers. $25 cheaper than the the current Wi-Fi only model at $114, it has the exact same specs as it's more expensive sibling, but will also throw the occasional advert into your Kindle experience.

From our understanding, it appears that adverts will replace the standby screensavers of famous authors and illustrations when the ereader is inactive. The odd adverts accounts for the cut price of the device.

$25 is a fair discount, and so long as the adverts remain solely in the screensavers (which I mostly ignore with my Kindle anyway) I think it's a reasonably good idea. However, if the adverts go anywhere near the main text of novels you're reading, or occasionally pop-up between page turns, I can't think of anything more horrific.

No word on a UK version yet, but providing the adverts are fenced off into the screensavers, it's a fine, cheap option.

People don't buy Kindle e-readers because they are gadget buffs; "the reason people choose the device is that they love reading," Amazon's vice president of Kindle Content, Russ Grandinetti, said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

It's taken a while for the digital reading device to hit the mainstream, but it looks like Amazon has managed to do it with the Kindle. Now on its third version, the device has become increasingly versatile, cuter in size and easier to use - and most importantly - there is now lots to read in the digital format. The Kindle was not available in the UK until October 2009, but it seems like Grandinetti might have a point: what's happening now is people who couldn't care less about the latest gadgets are all of a sudden popping out their Kindles.

Still work to do
There is still work to be done on the book-buying side of things; you can't buy someone an ebook as a gift, for example. Availability of older titles is still not perfect, presumably as there is lots to work out in regards to rights and territorial issues, not to mention fees down the publishing chain.

"As the business grows it makes it more possible for publishers to invest in digitising books. I'd expect a very healthy growth rate in availability of books," says Grandinetti. Amazon's goal is to make any book ever printed available digitally in 60 seconds.

The e-reader itself now has WiFi capabilities, meaning you can download a new book directly onto the device. There are a host of other internet-related services the Kindle could potentially have in the future, such as a notification system for new titles.

"We're still in the very early innings of thinking about and building new features that digital books allow," says Grandinetti. "The list of features we'd like to build is longer than the list of things we can build."

The tablet threat
Chances are that Amazon will push on with inventions for the Kindle, as its research shows that Kindle users buy more books than other customers.

Tablet computers could potentially pose a serious threat to the e-reader market in the future; certainly if you have an iPad you don't need a Kindle. But at around the £100 price mark, the Kindle has the upper hand on tablets in terms of price. This holds especially true if Grandinetti is right in his assessment that the core Kindle users is not gadget-savvy and just wants to read. If that's you then an e-reader is probably just about perfect - not to mention the use of e-ink that makes reading a Kindle as close an experience to reading paper as you can get.

But just in case that's not how it's going to play out, Amazon has issued Kindle apps for tablets, so you can pick up where you left off on your Kindle if you don't want to carry both. Not to mention the fact that if you move your e-reading onto the tablet exclusively, Amazon can still collect on the sale on e-books.

Mother's Day is just around the corner in the UK (Sunday the 3rd of April to be exact) and, if you're anything like me, it's going to be a last minute dash to the shops to pick up something she'd like. Chocolates, flowers and a Michael Bublé CD are the staple gift choices, but what if Mum deserves something a little bit more adventurous this year? Gadgets are increasingly being tailored towards technophobic users with kit like the Kindle 3G, iPad 2 and Nintendo 3DS now billed as family devices rather than just for hardcore users.

And while we're sure there are plenty of mothers out there who know their way around a smartphone or tablet like the back of their hands, there are just as many who think an iPad is something you get from an optician. How will you know which gadgets would be suitable for them?

By following the advice of Tech Digest's Mum, that's how! Falling somewhere between the gadget-phobic and gadget-literate categories, we put five top bits of tech into Bernadette's hands (a Nintendo 3DS, an iPhone 4, a Kindle 3G, a Robert's colourSTREAM DAB and Internet Radio and an iPad 2) to see which device she'd most like to own.

Left on her own with each device for an hour, with only minimal input from us tech-heads, read on to see what she thought of each.

Nintendo 3DS - £187 from Amazon

It's the handheld games console that all the kids are clamouring for, and our full review awarded it a more-than-respectable score of 4/5. But what does our near-sighted mother make of glasses-free 3D?

"That 3D top screen is really good. I'm surprised to see that it actually works like they say in the adverts, but I'm not sure if I'd like to use it for too long. I think it would hurt my eyes. It's a nice size too, and all the little characters who keep popping up are funny. It's fairly simple to use and the 3D camera is a nice feature, but I honestly can't keep up with all the controls in these games. That Pilotwings one was far too difficult to steer, and all the other ones were too fast to keep up with. The speed of them made it difficult for my eyes to focus."

Apple iPhone 4 - starting at £510 from Apple

Despite being almost a year old, Apple's iPhone 4 is, signalling issues aside, still the smartphone to beat. With all those apps and a vibrant Retina display, have Apple done enough to pique Mum's interest?

"This is very nice. I like its size and design; it looks very clean and tasteful. That screen is really nice too, and I like all the cookery tools and news applications are on there. I really like looking up songs on YouTube too so it's good that that is in there too. It's a bit fiddily for me though; I don't want to have to swipe through loads of screens just to make a call, and I don't think I'd be able to figure out the internet settings stuff by myself. I can see why people would like it, but it's a little bit too complicated for me to have more than just a passing interest in."

Amazon Kindle 3G - £152 from Amazon

The wave of tablets that has washed over the tech world in recent months has done little to dent the popularity of Amazon's Kindle ereader devices. The 3G version is the top-spec model, offering a free mobile internet connection and book downloads straight to the device without the need for cables. But will it convince Mum to drop her paperbacks?

"At first the way the screen turns black before every page turn was quite off-putting, but once you get used to that quirk, the Kindle is great. I much prefer buttons over touchscreens, and the way you can buy books straight from the reader is a great idea. It's light too, and a good size for taking out; I could see myself happily reading on this in the park. The Twitter and Facebook bits don't interest me much, but I like how you can search for information on Wikipedia with it, as I find that website very useful."

Robert's colourSTREAM DAB and Internet Radio - £189.95 from Amazon

With thousands of internet radio stations, an iPod dock, USB port, DAB capabilities and a colour touchscreen, the Robert's colourSTREAM radio is one of our favourite music-boxes out there. It's not without its flaws though, and Mum is quick to spot them.

"That touch screen on the radio was a chore to use. It often didn't do what I wanted it to, or was too slow to react to things I thought I'd already selected. I don't think I'd be able to connect it to the internet by myself either, and some of those menus are full of things that I'd never use, like the sound settings. The number of radio stations is incredible though, and I like that I'm able to plug an mp3 player in (via a line-in port - Ed.) if I wanted to. It looks great, but it's just too much like hard work to use for me."

Apple iPad 2 - starting at £399 from Apple

The iPad 2 needs no introduction, being the top tablet on the market at the moment. Access to thousands and thousands of apps, equipped with dual cameras and significantly lighter than its predecessor, this dual-core sequel is a showstopper. Mum's smitten, but will the price tag sway her choice?

"This is lovely. It's like the iPhone but bigger I suppose, but I'd feel far more comfortable sitting down with this than the phone because of the size. The screen is nice and easy to read, and I like the App Store and iTunes and all the videos and simple games there are on them. It's a pity lots of them cost a couple of quid, especially since this thing costs so much money. You shouldn't spend over £500 on a gadget unless you're really going to use it a lot, and to me I could find plenty of things more interesting for that amount of money. I can totally see the appeal, but this is a sort of special gift, the kind you should reserve for Christmas or my birthday."

Mum's Verdict: Kindle 3G takes the crown

With all five gadgets tested, Mum goes for what many would consider the underdog of the pack - the Kindle 3G.

"They've each got little things I like and don't like about them. The Nintendo looks unlike any screen I've ever looked at, but I think it'd hurt my eyes after a while. I'm never really going to sit down and play Mario or whatever on it either really, am I? I like how much you can do with an iPhone, especially YouTube videos, but it looks like all the best of those app things have to be bought afterwards and I can't be bothered spending more money on something once I've already paid lots of money for it in the first place. The same goes for the iPad, though it's far too expensive in the first place; anyone spending that much money on me for Mother's Day needs to get their head checked. The Robert's radio was really good actually, but I've already got a radio that suits me fine, and the touchscreen wasn't as good as on the other gadgets.

"The Kindle would probably be the one I use most often I think. You don't need to faff around with it like the others to get it to work, and the screen was the easiest for me to read. It's a shame it isn't in colour, but I like how simple it is to use and how light it was too. I feel like there's less I could do wrong with the Kindle, and it'd probably make me read more because of the text size choices. The price is reasonable too. If the iPad was cheaper I'd lean towards that, but I think the Kindle is enough for me."

So there you go; if you're looking for a techy-toy for your old dear come this Sunday, it appears the Kindle 3G may be the gadget of choice. The iPad 2 is a close runner-up, and if money is no option, that too is more than worth a look.

Speculation is growing the next version of Amazon's e-reader, the Kindle, will be free.

While the Kindle continues to benefit from being significantly cheaper than the iPad and other tablets, the market the reading tool might not be that big after all. Those who want a multi-purpose tablet will buy an iPad or something similar, meaning the Kindle is the choice for the small number of book worms who aren't that bothered with other tablet functions.

Now rumour has it Amazon may bring out a free Kindle ahead of Christmas, putting it in a better position to compete with the barrage of tablets set to be launched this year. A free Kindle, especially if packaged with some sort discount on books, could be worthwhile for Amazon's ebook sales.

Year of the ebook?
2011 will be the year of the ebook, Nigel Newton, head of publisher Bloomsbury said yesterday:

"With sales of digital devices such as the Kindle, Nook and iPad growing rapidly, 2011 will clearly be the year of the e-book. We believe that digital publishing creates huge opportunities for Bloomsbury and its authors," the CEO told the Daily Telegraph as the company announced financial results.

Bloomsbury published nearly 1,800 e-books last year. 40% of Amazon's new bestseller sales are in e-book format, and Amazon sold 8 million Kindles last year, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Amazon's Kindle eBooks are now outselling their traditional paperback cousins, the company have revealed in the publication of their Q4 2010 financial results.

115 eBooks are now downloaded for every 100 paperbacks bought according to Amazon, with eBooks outselling hardbacks by a massive 3-to-1.

"Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

"We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com.

"Last July we announced that Kindle books had passed hardcovers and predicted that Kindle would surpass paperbacks in the second quarter of this year, so this milestone has come even sooner than we expected - and it's on top of continued growth in paperback sales."

Those sniffing at the figures due to the large number of free eBooks availalbe from Aamzon digitally, sniff again; these figures only count paid-for purchases.

Those this mean that the eReader has rode the tablet wave successfully? It's difficult to say; Kindle eReader software and apps are available on so many mobile devices that without the precise figures as to which platform the books are dowloaded to, we can't say whether they're comfortably ahead of tablets in the reading stakes.

The figures must however send a shiver down the spine of printing houses around the world, as the figures are only pointing in one direction for their businesses.

Name: Cybook Orizon (Bookeen)

Type: Touchscreen e-reader

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £209.99 direct from Bookeen

Just like the tablet market, e-readers are quickly becoming ten-a-penny down at your local tech store. Kindle still rules the roost thanks to its neat web connectivity options and clear display, while Sony's Reader Touch offerings inhabit a slightly different space thanks to their touchscreen controls. Looking to join the fray and sit somewhere between the two is Bookeen's Cybook Orizon, featuring both a touchscreen and Wi-Fi connectivity.

At 7.6mm thick, Bookeen are positioning the Orizon as the world's thinnest e-reader. With a 6 inch screen in a 7.5 inch chassis it is comfortable in the hand, and incredibly light at just 245 grams. The curved plastic design, available in either black or white, is inoffensive, though we did feel it leant the reader a somewhat flimsy feel. Though the Orizon can be operated almost entirely by the touchscreen, it does feature a 4-way ring of directional navigation buttons at its lower centre, surrounding a central select button. They're nice and responsive, though we'd have personally appreciated them being raised slightly rather than inset. Charging via USB and connecting as a mass storage device, the reader is good for 10,000 page turns from a 5 hour charge, or a little less than two weeks in standby mode.

Touchscreen e-readers have suffered in the past from crippling glare due to the necessity of placing two sheets (the e-ink and touchpanel) on top of another. The Orizon uses SiPix ePaper to negate this problem, with the e-ink and touch areas housed within the same layer. As result, it's a very readable display, that, while not glare free, does well to compete with the big-name rivals. A resolution of 600 x 800 is detailed enough to maintain text clarity, as well as displaying grayscale JPEG, GIF and PNG images.

The touch controls are, for the most part, responsive. Swiping through pages is quick, and while the e-reader can be a bit iffy on selecting the right options from some of the more fiddily menus, it's normally up to the job. Multi-touch controls, including pinch-to-zoom text resizing, are nice additions, but the 400MHz Samsung ARM processor running the show means that the delay between the touch input and changes being relayed to the screen is quite significant. You're just as well served using the physical buttons and navigating to the appropriate font options that way.

2 GB of inbuilt memory allows for as many as 2,000 books to be stored onboard, expandable by a further 8GB through the Orizon's microSD slot. It'll handle most major ebook file formats well, including Adobe ePUB/PDF (with or without DRM), TXT and HTML files. The e-ereader is also advertised as shipping with 150 free ebooks, but that's not wholly true; many are duplicated in various languages. The real number is closer to 45, depending on whether or not you count manuals. Nearly all are available free from the likes of Project Guttenberg regardless.

The Orizon's main fault lies with its woeful Wi-Fi connectivity. I rarely was able to connect to a network, even when the e-reader displayed a 100% signal strength from the desired router. The problem remained when testing with multiple networks. It meant that downloading books and transferring them without pulling your hair out will be almost entirely down to using a PC and USB connection. On the handful of occasions that I was able to connect, the built-in browser worked fine, if unremarkably. It did however highlight how handy it is to have an accelerometer in a web-connected e-reader, which the Orizon thankfully has.

While the e-ink touchscreen is readable and relatively responsive, with good file format support, the consistent Wi-Fi issues were quite frustrating. As far as touchscreen e-readers go the Cybook Orizon is definitely among the better ones, but with its poor Wi-Fi connectivity being the only feature that had the opportunity to outshine Sony's latest Touch reader range, it feels decidedly average in comparison. Coming at a much higher premium than the £150 3G-enabled Amazon Kindle, recommending the Cybook Orizon becomes rather difficult.

3/5

Name: PRS-650 Reader Touch (Sony)

Type: Touchscreen e-reader

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £199 direct from Sony

Though many still expect the tablet onslaught to kill off the dedicated e-reader, 2010 still saw some 6.6 million e-reader sales worldwide. While Amazon's Kindle has set the standard, Sony's latest PRS-650 Reader Touch is now a genuine contender for the e-reader crown.

That's mostly down to the advancements made to the touchscreen technology onboard. Past touchscreen e-reader efforts from Sony have suffered from the previous necessity of having two layers make up the display; the e-ink and touch layer, resulting in sluggish touch controls and awful glare in direct sunlight.

Sony's 6-inch PRS-650 Reader Touch however is a vast improvement. This time round, the Reader Touch only employs a single layer display, using an E Ink Pearl screen with 16 levels of greyscale. Text is sharp and very readable, while touchscreen response, be that navigating menus or swiping through pages, is now much better thanks to tiny sensors placed at the top and bottom of the screen. For many, touchscreen controls may swing the e-reader fight in Sony's favour; it makes navigating your library a breeze, while a simple double tap of a word drags up the corresponding dictionary definition.

It also allows for what is perhaps the Reader Touch's killer feature; in-ebook note taking. For students this is a real boon, allowing you to underline, highlight or scribble sketches and words directly onto pages. The higher resolution screen (running at 800 x 600) means that note taking is very accurate, particularly when using the supplied stylus, though the relatively slow refresh rate of E Ink does mean that there's a slight delay between input and the notes appearing on screen.

Build-quality in this edition is also far slicker than the majority of the e-reader competition. Long gone is the tacky plastic finish, instead replaced with an aluminium chassis, giving the e-reader a reassuringly sturdy 215 gram weight. It's also very slim at 119 x 168 x 10mm, making it comfortable in the hand, though the aluminium casing can feel icy-cold without a cover.

Though the majority of controls lie within the self-explanatory touchscreen menus (Library, Periodicals, etc), there are a few dedicated hardware buttons on the device just below the display in the shape of page forward, page backwards, home, zoom and option keys. They're ever-so-slightly raised, and click satisfyingly when pushed. A power slider at the top of the e-reader shuts down the device and puts it into sleep mode, while there is also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom. An internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery allows for a claimed usage time of 2 weeks on a single charge, though we'd put that closer to 9 or 10 days of intensive reading.

The PRS-650 has 2GB worth of built-in storage, enough for some 1,200 ebooks. But should that not prove enough (which may be the case if you plan on storing plenty of songs or audiobooks on the e-reader, which can play in the background whilst reading), there are plenty of expandable memory options. Slots for microSD, SD and MemoryStick storage methods are all present. While we're never ones to shun as having many potential storage options as possible, we can't help but feel Sony are flogging a dead horse by continuing to push their MemoryStick brand.

Plenty of ebook formats are supported, including EPUB, BBeB eBook, PDF, Word, RTF and TXT. There's also decent PDF support, automatically resized to fit the e-reader, though do be prepared to see some images popping up in the wrong places as a result.

If there is one notable omission however it's the lack of any online connectivity, be that Wi-Fi or 3G. The Kindle wins hands-down here, offering both in its top range model and allowing some light web-browsing to be done on the go, as well as buying on-the-fly ebook downloads. It's not too much of a problem really (the ability to have 1,200 pre-loaded ebooks onboard at any one time means that just a smidgeon of forward planning means you'll never be short of reading material), but it's worth considering if you're a compulsive ebook buyer.

As a result, you'll have to physically connect the PRS-650 to a PC via USB to transfer books across. Thankfully, the provided library software is very intuitive, featuring an iTunes-style interface with links to book stores including Waterstones. We did have trouble syncing the odd file with the reader however, with some simply freezing mid-way through the process. Sony do offer a library loan system (available through 50 UK councils) as well as a comprehensive system for searching Google's free book downloads through the Reader Touch website, which goes some way to combating the Kindle's impressive online store.

While the screen still can't match the clarity of a non-touch Kindle, there's no denying the quality of Sony's latest touchscreen reader. It's incredibly readable as well as responsive to touch inputs, and while it comes at a higher premium than its closest rivals, the PRS-650's excellent build quality more than makes it worth the asking price.

4/5

Despite the threat of full-blown tablet computers, it appears to have been a bumper year for Amazon's Kindle e-reader.

According to Business Week, Amazon are on their way to selling a huge 8 million of the devices by the end of 2010. That's 60 percent more than was predicted, and far more than anyone thought it would manage in the face of the Apple iPad onslaught.

It also represents a 233 per cent increase on last year's Kindle sales of 2.4 million. Slashed costs which saw the Wi-Fi model retail for a very affordable £109 alongside the launches of the DX second-generation and the DX Graphite versions bolstered sales.

While Amazon have not officially revealed the sales figures themselves, all evidence is pointing towards Business Week's sources not being far off the mark.

Via: Business Week

Sony's e-reader range are taking the fight to Amazon and their Kindle devices. Well, In Japan at least. Their 6 inch Reader Touch Edition is nearly sold out in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The news came in a Sony announcement made at the Electronic Book Summit 2010, which took place on December 15th, a mere 5 days after the Japanese launch of the e-reader.

In somewhat of a short-sighted shock to the Sony executives on hand at the EBS 2010 conference, hey admitted that they had not expected the e-reader to sell well in traditional bookshops. Seriously, books not selling in a bookshop?

"To be honest, we didn't expect that it will be sold well at book stores," Sony said. "But, in fact, a considerable number of the Reader has been selling. Our strategy is to attract book lovers, and it has been going well so far."

Accessory sales have also been strong.

"A very high percentage of those who purchased the Reader use those accessories," the company said. "And they have almost been sold out, too."

Via: Tech On