While the injunction's been denied, Spring Design has been granted an expedited pre-trial process to push the entire mess into court a bit faster, but at the rate Barnes & Noble will be making the Nook available, there's hardly any rush. [Engadget]

Remember, if you ordered a Nook before November 20th, B&N promises it'll make it by Christmas—but if you waited until after the 20th, your only options are to wait until the backordered Nooks start shipping on January 11th, or fight your way through the likely crowds at the few high-traffic retail stores that'll have them on December 7th. We're also hearing about more general shifting of ship dates—anybody pre-order one and have their estimated time of arrival changed? [Barnes & Noble via Engadget]

Granted, it's a little worrisome that Barnes & Noble was taking preorders before letting reviewers have their say, so this enforced waiting period—which was probably a planned PR stunt, like the ones that pretty much every other hardware manufacturer ever does ever time they have a new product—is a good thing. At any rate, it'll be January—well after we'll have run B&N's Android-powered ereader through its paces—before anyone who hasn't already placed their order can get one.

UPDATE: Some mild reprieve, from B&N themselves:

Barnes & Noble expects to have a limited stock of devices available in its highest-volume stores during the holiday season.

So, go, if you dare! (In a few weeks.) [B&N via Bits]

Qualcomm says it'll be up to the various manufacturers to create devices built on this reference design, but Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity would make multiplayer gaming pretty interesting. Just depends if ARM-based operating systems, like Android, get the right games.

The concept has a 5.7-inch display that uses Qualcomm's "mirasol" screen technology that provides better battery life and smooth video playback. Problem is, for now, this reference is just a static-image prototype. Yet another eReader angle that we'll be watching for you, though. [SlashGear]

The "mirasol" technology mimics iridescent butterfly wings by deploying charged, color-inducing membranes over a layer of mirror. It's a technology that, if integrated into Kindles today as-is, would increase battery life by an estimated 20%.

Instead, Qualcomm uses that extra power efficiency to drive color and higher refresh rates for smooth video. They contend that a Kindle with their more media-capable display could run about a day with its current battery.

The catch? The lead photo is a non-functional prototype (housing a functional, frozen-image display). Qualcomm is offering the tech to third party partners, and they expect you to see mirasol tech on the market by late 2010. [SlashGear]

Analysts Talk Apple Tablet, Make Ever More Predictions

CNN Money rounded up a bunch of analysts to basically talk about how great the Apple Tablet is, how it's going to cure cancer and save the publishing industry and keep your girlfriend from leaving you, and it's mostly a rehash of what we've already heard before with a dash of a few inane statements that are almost certainly not true. Check this one:

The device will come in several different models that offer varieties of Internet connections, such as Wi-Fi or 3G, perhaps through a contract with AT&T.

Oh, really? Several different models, with varying internet connections? That sure sounds like Apple—they love confusing lineups that differ by virtue of technical specifications that only tech dorks like you and I understand.

Otherwise, nothing to see here, just more analyst talk. When something solid on the Apple Tablet leaks out, you'll know—and it ain't to be found in this article, which is why it lands, with a distinct PLOOP sound, into Remainders. [CNN]

Mad Catz Brings Cheaper Xbox 360 Wi-Fi Adapter, Still About $50 Too Expensive

I just got an Xbox 360 this weekend, and somehow did not realize that not only does the console not ship with included Wi-Fi, but an external Wi-Fi adapter costs about as much as my drinking budget for the month—in other words, way too much money. Luckily Microsoft's first-party adapter isn't the only game in town anymore: Mad Catz is entering the ring with an adapter of their own. Great news, right? Except not really, because while the Mad Catz adapter is $20 cheaper than Microsoft's that's still an $80 pricetag on an item that should be included in the first place. This thing should cost $30 at the most, not half the price of the console. It's in Remainders for that very reason: Yeah, it's a price cut, but it's still way too damned expensive. [Engadget]

Sony Reader Firmware Upgrade Is Surprisingly Difficult

The Sony Reader PRS-500 may not have the cachet of the Kindles and Nooks of the world, but Sony did just release an upgraded firmware supporting the soon-to-be-standard ePub format. Except I guess the upgrade is seriously difficult, because instead of, you know, pressing a button, like every other firmware upgrade for every other gadget in the history of the world, you have to mail the Reader back to Sony to get this one updated. What? Well, Sony's got an offer in case you find that as silly as I do: A trade-in program that gives you either $50 or $75 off the purchase of one of Sony's brand-new readers! Eesh, Sony. At least take us out to dinner before trying to screw us with our pants on. [Engadget]

B&N Giftcards Will Work for Nook Ebook Purchases, Soon

Remember when we reported that Barnes & Noble's popular giftcards would, for some unknown reason, not be allowed to be spent on ebook purchases? Well, our reporting did its job, and B&N has decided to change its ways and allow ebook giftcard purchases starting in mid-December. We did it, people! High fives and ass-slaps all around! [Barnes & Noble]

Apple Issues Update for Current-Gen iPod Nano

Apple quietly issued a firmware update for its newest, video-taking iPod Nano, and it's pretty minor but does fix a few problems. Audio podcasts can now be played back in Normal, Slow or Fast modes, and a few random bugs were patched (Nike+ integration, mono audio, VoiceOver). It's in Remainders because it really is a minor update—we wouldn't even bother with it except the Nano is such a ridiculously huge seller. [TUAW]

Barnes & Noble Giftcards Won't Buy Ebooks, Screwing Some Nook Pre-Orderers

Apparently Barnes & Noble's giftcards will buy you everything B&N sells—except ebooks. It's an inexplicable and irritating omission, but what makes it really rankle is that nobody seems to know about it, even those who work at the stores. Check out this story:

My wife and kids pre-ordered a nook for my birthday at our local B&N. The sales person also sold her a $100 gift card to "get my eBook collection started." When I tried to purchase a few books, I found out that gift cards can't be used on eBooks.

What a dick move! We're going to assume ignorance on B&N's part, but this is sloppy stuff, especially given our proximity to the holidays—their giftcards are incredibly popular and this will not be an isolated incident. Get it together, B&N. [Consumerist]

Dell Mini 3 Officially Launched in China

The Android-running Dell Mini 3 smartphone officially began its launch sequence today. It's been shipped out to sellers in China today, for release later this month, with a Brazil release to follow later this year. In early 2010 it should hit AT&T and Verizon—we'll see if we care by then. It's a noticeably low-key release, considering it's the first handheld in years from Dell, but it ends up in Remainders due to its current China-only status. [Electronista]

Palm Stock Skyrockets After Nokia Takeover Rumor

Palm stock skyrocketed today, with trading over 15 times heavier than normal, due to an odd rumor that Nokia would be buying the company. It doesn't really make any sense to us—Nokia is really unlikely to be purchasing a competitor to its Symbian line, and buying the beleaguered Palm would be a weird way to try to make gains in the US market. This one plops into Remainders because it's both unlikely and mere financial news, which isn't really that exciting. [Electronista]

The Nook stand is located at the Barnes & Noble at 86th and Third Avenue.

Update 2: Another reader says there's another stand at the Barnes & Noble at Union Square. He says the units are not real, however: They are plastic mock-ups. [Twitpic via Twitter—Thanks Gabriel, Paolo, and Josh]

Based on the press release, the claim is that Barnes & Noble used information, including design details, gained from meetings with Spring Design which were intended to end in a joint product. Apparently the Spring Design camp was caught just a little bit off guard when the Nook announcements started coming out:

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

CUPERTINO, CA - November 2, 2009 - Spring Design today filed a lawsuit to protect its Alex™ e-book intellectual property. 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.

"Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," said Spring Design Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Eric Kmiec. "We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market."

Spring Design first developed and began filing patents on its Alex e-book, an innovative dual screen, Android-based e-book back in 2006. Since the beginning of 2009 Spring and Barnes & Noble worked within a non-disclosure agreement, including many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of Barnes and Noble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex. Throughout, Barnes & Noble's marketing and technical executives extolled Alex's "innovative" features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook.

Alex, with its unique Duet Navigator™, provides the capability for interaction and navigation techniques of the two screens and furthermore utilizes the capabilities of Android to enhance the reader's experience by supporting interactive access to the Internet for references and links. As the first in the market to offer an e-book with full Internet browsing while reading and with easy navigational control via its touch screen, Alex is well-positioned to offer the most dynamic and powerful reading device in the market.

Spring Design is focused at working strategically with book store partners to jointly develop the market and revolutionize e-book with interactive multi-media open Internet access. "It is our desire to resolve this matter so that we can move forward together to expand and grow this e-book market with enriched user experience, bringing readers to a new level of reading enjoyment," said Eric Kmiec.

About Spring Design:
Spring Design, founded in 2006, delivers innovative e-reader solutions and products to the e-book market, offering overall "Link Notes", a content authoring and multi-media publishing tool as add on editions to original text. Spring Design is located in Cupertino, California with engineering offices in Taiwan and China. Spring Design pioneered its patent-pending dual screen design with Duet Navigator™ capability in 2006, and has been working with major book stores, newspapers and publishers over the last two years, sharing the vision and the capabilities of the dual screen device. Spring Design's innovative patented technologies incorporate the seamless interaction of dual display and multi-online access in a single device, benefiting and leveraging the technology and resources of the Web to enhance the reading experience with open Internet access.

Barnes & Noble's going to display the Que and Nook together, with displays pointing customers to the one that's right for them—Que for dudes in pinstripe suits, Nook for people in jeans. Not only does it mean B&N is basically offering "pro" and "normal" options for an ereader, it shows how they think of the big picture, if it wasn't already obvious: It's not about the hardware, it's about the content.

That's Barnes & Noble (and Amazon) have apps to read their books on the iPhone and on the PC. And soon on the BlackBerry. And eventually Android. The device you read on is irrelevant—it's about keeping you in their ecosystem, buying ebooks from them. In fact, the more deftly they're able keep you hooked in on any device, the better, since dedicated ereaders are dead tech walking. The race is on now to build the most captive audience you can, while the market's still fresh, like spring dew or baby veal before its braised and delicious. And when Apple jumps into the game, it's going to get a lot more interesting, not simply because of the powers of the tablet, but because they have years of experience tying people to their store for content.

Hopefully, for the Que's sake though, by the time it hits stores, it'll have a wider footprint than the Nook will when it launches. [Plastic Logic]

In a strategy that seems needlessly drawn-out, BN is pushing the sales of Nook to be mostly online, and the stores that don't have the hardware in stock will instead order it for you online, to be shipped to your home. Each store will have one demo unit, but in many stores, you'll have to wait for online shipping after trying it out. Why they've chosen to go this route is a mystery to me—why would they want to add an extra step for consumers? We're not sure yet exactly which stores will be getting Nooks (or why—maybe a supply issue?); it's not a huge deal but it can't help the Nook's chances.

Update: Barnes and Noble responds:

While it's always difficult to predict demand on a new product, and early from response from consumers is strong, Barnes & Noble expects to have nook eBook readers in stock in the majority of its stores by the peak holiday season and plans to have nook devices in stock in all of its stores by early next year. If the product is out of stock or not available in a particular store, our booksellers can help facilitate an in-store order that will be shipped to the customer's home.

Guess we'll see what the rollout looks like when it actually happens.[Paid Content]

Lending seemed too good to be true: Sure, we knew about the 14-day lending period, but we wondered if it'd work like a library, where you can renew a book before its due date. No such luck. As it turns out, publishers have the right to allow or not allow lending (and book publishers are at least as uptight as record labels) in the first place, so who knows if you'll ever even get to try it. Besides that, you can lend each book one time only, forever. When you lend it, it's unavailable for you to read, which admittedly is what happens when you lend a physical book—but THESE AREN'T PHYSICAL BOOKS. For god's sake, let us enjoy the benefits of digital text!

I'm a little pissed off by this, especially since I was so excited about the Nook, but not entirely surprised. It's like when Microsoft introduced the Zune's sharing feature. They understood that people share physical media and want to share digital media, but still forced (probably at the record labels' behest, but whatever) a 3-play, 3-day restriction that was so strict nobody ever used the feature. And now Barnes & Noble is following in Microsoft's footsteps. Balls. [MobileRead, thanks Gideon!]

It's cost-effective. Yeah, at $260 it's the same price as the Kindle 2, but you're getting so much more for your money: Wi-Fi, native PDF support, an SD slot and that crazy second screen makes it seem out of the Kindle's league. It makes the Sony Reader and iRex look absurdly overpriced and the Plastic Logic Que look like a shot in the dark.

Lending and Sharing. One of my main objections to the Kindle and other readers is that most of my books come from friends, rather than bookstores. The Nook realizes that and integrates a 2-week lending period—plenty of time for a quick read. Plus, you can lend to tons of different devices: Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile (soon).

Sharing is also done really well: As opposed to the Kindle, which only lets you read purchased ebooks on a same-account iPhone or iPod Touch, the Nook lets you read on any device supported, the most important of which are PC and Mac. So you and your significant other could read the same book at the same time, on whatever devices you each prefer. The Kindle, in contrast, doesn't support PC and Mac at all—but we'd be willing to bet Amazon is rethinking that decision right about now. Plus, the Nook syncs both your place in the book and any highlights or annotations you've made, which could be great for students.

Free in-store reading. You'll be able to take the Nook to any of Barnes & Noble's gajillion stores and read one ebook, for free, each time—the same way you might wander into the store, pick up a book and read it for an hour or two. Barnes & Noble is really thinking about how people actually read, which is a great sign: This kind of feature makes the Kindle feel like it's forcing you to change your reading habits rather than adapting to them.

And potential Nook customers will be able to go into a retail store with which they're comfortable and play around with the actual device, an advantage not shared by the Kindle. Given Matt's impressions of the Nook, I think seeing the hardware in person will convince a lot of people to buy it.

Head-turning looks. The Kindle 1 was, um, distinctive, and the Kindle 2 is inoffensive and sleek enough, but the Nook has legitimate style. As Matt said, "it makes even the relatively benign-looking Kindle 2 seem like it was beaten with an ugly stick." It was clear from the first leak that we were dealing with something very different.

Android. There are two things to be excited about when it comes to Android. First is the legit apps, which B&N seems open to—in today's presentation, John wrote "They, ahem, 'haven't announced' anything about app development, but they're comfortable using the phrase "when we do," which is veeeery promising." My personal most-wanted app? Pandora (or Slacker, or Last.FM).

Secondly, there's the more, well, illicit possibilities: The Nook both runs Android (which we already know is easily and enthusiastically modified) and has a microUSB jack, which should make for easy hacking. Imagine user-created skins, apps, games (in case reading gets boring)—the possibilities are just about endless. The Nook already supports PDF natively (yes!) but we could definitely see it hacked to embrace other formats like Word docs.

The second screen. Yeah, it's weird, and we wouldn't have believed it if it didn't, you know, exist, but it just makes so much sense: Browsing for books on e-ink is an exercise in frustration, and touchscreen e-ink is even worse. With its capacitive touchscreen, the Nook offers a keyboard and Cover-Flow-esque browsing without the awkwardness and lethargy of e-ink, but it also opens the door for multitasking. You'll be able to read a book and control your music at the same time, and because the music browser will be on the LCD screen, it won't look like e-inked crap. It should also support photo browsing and the ability to set your own wallpaper.

Battery life. The Nook's 10-day battery life may not be quite as long as the Kindle 2's 14 days, but 10 days is still insane—especially if we think about the tablets that will vie to make ebook readers obsolete. Whenever the Apple tablet is announced, you can bet its battery life will be measured in hours, not days. Plus, the Nook's battery is replaceable, always a welcome decision (you could have a spare battery, and when yours does eventually die, it's easy to replace).

Both 3G and Wi-Fi. I'm not exactly sure about the benefits of Wi-Fi right now (besides international travel, where AT&T may not work), but given the possibilities of Android, it's essential that the Nook includes it. In the future, we may want to download files bigger than ebooks—apps, games, videos, whatever—and Wi-Fi will be vital once the potential of the Nook is unlocked. Plus, there could well be Wi-Fi-only features of the kind AT&T wouldn't support: Streaming content, web browsing, VoIP, whatever. Wi-Fi is a killer feature not for what it does right now, but for what it could allow the Nook could do in the future.

Apparently the back cover pops off to get to the microSD slot. It might be thicker than the Kindle, but not enough to matter. The LCD is surprisingly nice, though the viewing angle isn't super wide or anything, as I found out trying to angle around the crowd. But yeah, it looks like what an ereader should look like.

Here's a quick touchy touchy video:

4:24: Barnes & Noble's CEO has taken the stage. He's planning on unveiling something, he says, but first, some history!

4:27: You see, Barnes & Noble has done a lot of things with paper books, evidently. All of which are tangential to the matter at hand, that ridiculous two-screened Kindle killer thing that we're all itching to lay eyes on. Sidenote: this sounds like a eulogy for paper more than anything else.

4:28: Ah, on to the ebook stuff. William Lynch, President, is here to talk about electricity and the internet and such.

4:31: Some relevant background: Barnes & Noble has over a million books in their ebook store, and have seen over three million downloads for their mobile apps. They've even decided to give a quick nod to B&N-compatible hardware from iRex and Plastic Logic, which is awfully sportsmanlike.

4:33: Yes! On with the Nook. The intro video is standard boilerplate: the screen is "crystal clear," downloads happen in "seconds." Of course you already know this.

4:36: Now we've got hardware. It exists, in spacetime! It looks smaller than I would've thought in a human being's hand. Interestingly, Android earned a shoutout—the OS was sorely missing from the prior leaked launch materials, despite that fact that it's total nerdbait.

4:38: The onscreen keyboard—on the bottom screen, natch—looks spacious but kind of gridlike, rather than staggered, which could make typing a little awkward. The bottom screen turns off when you haven't used it in a while, which makes sense: it'd kill battery life, and if you're using it for controls, you probably don't need to see it most of the time anyway.

4:40: Malcom Gladwell is here to read one of his books for a few seconds. I mean, hey, nice essays and all, but that's a strange looking man.

4:43: They're putting the Nook in all of their stores—this could be kind of a coup for them, since Amazon doesn't even have stores. This is what their giant retail displays will look like.

4:47: If you take a Nook to a brick-and-mortar store, you get free Wi-Fi, which is nice, I guess. More importantly, you get to browse an entire ebook for free each time you visit, which is sort of like a digital equivalent to shelf browsing. Sort of.

4:49: Aaaaaand that's it, at least for the tragically gutted announcement portion of tonight's proceedings. The Nook, as we expected, will ship by the end of November, and preorders will open tonight. People who were lucky enough to squeeze a preorder through earlier today know that "late November" means "November 30th."

There's a Q&A session coming up in a few minutes, so they're telling press to stay. At the same time, they're blasting the stupid "TONIGHT'S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT, MAZEL TOV" song, which says to me, "Go." We'll stick around, but only out of a sense of duty.

Q&A

4:56: We're back, and questions kick off with a question about ePub formats. They like it, which is why their entire catalog will switch to it when the Nook launches.

4:58: So, what about Android? They like it because it's optimized for small screens, but they're not saying a whole lot about apps. They, ahem, "haven't announced" anything about app development, but they're comfortable using the phrase "when we do," which is veeeery promising.

4:58: Says the rep about the prospect of a browser, "browsers on E ink are clumsy." Yeah! Stick it to E Ink! He's right though.

5:00: How does lending work? It'll work between any Barnes & Noble account, meaning anything with a Barnes & Noble reader app—iPhone, BlackBerry, PC, another B&N-compatible reader, etc.

5:06: Now Matt's got a question. Actually, like three: Is there anything exclusive to the Nook that you can't get in other apps? No.

And back to Android, anything else on those apps? Yeah, they're open to it, including games, but they're not making any announcements yet. (Again, promising!)

And finally, what kind of touchscreen tech does the bottom screen use? It's capacitive (but I don't think it's multitouch).

5:10: Now my turn, to follow up on this Android business, which all seems a little half-done: They've got reader apps on iPhone and BlackBerry, and now the Nook, which runs Android, so where's the Android app? "We're watching it closely" is an odd answer, but there was a tacit acknowledgment that the inconsistency seems weird. I'm reading this as a likely yes for an Android app, but there's really no way to tell when it'll come out.

5:12: And another, is there any desktop client software? No—it'll mount via microUSB, and show up as mass storage. Book transfers are intended to be wireless. USB's there for music and photo transfers, as well as charging.

5:13: They're strangely happy to say they're developing a Windows Mobile app—"we are," they say—so why so coy about Android?

5:18: Everyone's left the stage, and they're playing GO AWAY music again, so that's it. OR IS IT? (It is.)

To be clear, this is the same device we saw before—a smallish (7.7 x 4.9 x .5, it turns out) e-reader with two screens, a 6-inch E ink display up top for displaying book text, and a 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD down below for navigation.

Connectivity comes by way of free AT&T 3G as well as 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, while storage duties fall to the 2GB of internal memory, as well as an microSD expansion slot. Barnes & Noble claims charge time of 3.5 hours—by microUSB, thankfully—which'll let you read for "up to ten days," which is a curiously indirect way of describing battery life, and doesn't really say much about what "reading" means. With constant LCD use? Occasional? None? Audio playback seems limited to MP3s, with a 3.5mm headphones jack taking care of output. Say what you will about the design, but you can't fault B&N on ports.

Naturally, the main content source is the B&N ebook store, which has a reasonable—though not spectacular—selection of magazines and newspapers too. What the Nook has that other B&N-compatible readers don't, though, is sharing. As with Amazon's Kindle iPhone app, the Barnes & Noble's reader can be synced with the company's various mobile apps. Even better is the user to user sharing, which sounds an awful lot like the Zune's old "Squirting" feature, which let people sharing DRM-wrapped songs for a limited time. That said, the sharing terms are pretty generous:

Share favorite eBooks with your friends, family, or book club. Most eBooks can be lent for up to 14 days at a time. Just choose the book you want to share, then send it to your friend's reader, cell phone, or computer.

Avid readers can easily plow through all kinds of books in 14 days, so this is a pretty sweet deal.

And in a deprecating nod to the Kindle's notorious durability issues, Barnes & Noble is pushing extended warranties right out of the gate: a $70 protection plan stretches the stock warranty to two years, and throws in accidental damage coverage, meaning you don't have to worry too much about pulling a Matt, which given that this thing has two freakin' screens, is a very real worry.

So let's just get this out of the way. "Hi, I'm Kate, and this is my Nook!" Ha. Ok!

The above video does give a better sense of how the reader's control scheme works than words ever good, but I'll give it a go anyway: the only hardware buttons you'll really use are the right and left page switchers. The rest, from book library navigation to settings menus to book sharing, is managed through a separate menu system on the much more responsive (though from the looks of it, kinda jerky) color LCD. One one hand it's a clever workaround for E Ink's horrendously slow refresh rate; on the other, it's kind of hilarious. I mean, really? [B&N]

Preorders are live on B&N's site, and units should hit mailboxes on November 30th. [Last Week's Exclusive First Look]

UPDATE: Err, looks like B&N's web guys jumped the gun a little bit, and they've pulled the site. But ha, not soon enough. Eyes, feast:

The similarities are uncanny...could this be the actual device Barnes & Noble may unveil tomorrow? Spring Design says it's "enlisting major content partners, and plans to release the Alex for selected strategic partners by the end of this year." Curious indeed.

Spec wise, the Alex supports Wi-Fi and 3G, and lets you save "Web grabs" to its removable SD card storage. Saved items can also be viewed on the larger monochrome screen. From the sounds of it, this "Link Notes" system also lets you easily annotate clippings.

This could be one killer device. Stay tuned for more details. [Spring Design]

FREMONT, CA – OCTOBER 19, 2009– Spring Design today announced Alex™, the first e-book based on Google Android featuring full browser capabilities and patented dual screen interaction technology, the Duet Navigator™. The Alex livens up text with multimedia links, adding a new dimension to the reading experience and potentially creating a whole new industry for secondary publications that supplement and enhance original text. Alex's dual-screen display design brings together the efficiency of reading on a monochrome EPD (electronic paper display) screen while dynamic hyperlinked multimedia information and third party input on its secondary color LCD screen, actually an integrated Android mobile device, opens a rich world of Internet content to support the text on the main screen.

Alex is the first Google Android-based e-book device to provide full Internet browsing over Wi-Fi or mobile networks such as 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM. With its dual-screen, multi-access capability, it provides the entire Web universe as a handy reference library, prompting users to delve into its vast information base to complement, clarify or enhance what they are reading. Alex is the first truly mobile wireless e-book device that gives users their own personalized library on the go, whenever and wherever they need it.

Spring Design pioneered its patented dual-screen device with ‘touch and extend' capability in 2007, and has been working with major book stores, newspapers and publishers over the past two years to share its vision and the capabilities of the dual screen device. Alex brings together the efficiency of an EPD display with the responsiveness and richness of navigational convenience of the LCD screen. Its removable SD card gives users extensive storage, allowing them to expand their text with multimedia "add on" editions.

Ideal for professional, educational and entertainment markets, Alex dynamically transforms the reader's experience with images, videos and notes inserted as ‘Web grabs' or with custom text created by the user or other secondary authors pertaining to the subject being displayed. Users can create their own images and notes and capture them to augment the original text or just dynamically grab relevant content with Link Notes™, Alex's innovative multimedia authoring tool to enhance multimedia publishing.

"This is the start of a whole new experience of reading content on e-books, potentially igniting a whole new industry in multimedia e-book publishing for secondary authors to create supplementary content that is hyper linked to the text. We are bringing life to books with audio, video, and annotations," said Dr. Priscilla Lu, CEO of Spring Design. "This gives readers the ability to fully leverage the resources on the Web, and the tools available in search engines to augment the reading experience."

An analyst told Barron's that "He's got a lot bigger stake in Barnes & Noble. Clearly he thinks selling GameStop is better than selling Barnes & Noble." One could definitely say that. [Barron's via GamaSutra via Kotaku]