I got that chance on Monday, when the company stopped by CNET with a prototype of the product, which is set to ship in February for $490.

The goal of the Edge, the company says, is to offer a device that can replace the textbooks and notebooks carried around by typical high school students.

"We just thought here was a way to take technology and apply it to what they carry around," said Entourage Systems Vice President Doug Atkinson. "The initial goal was to put a 30-pound backpack in a device. I think we've achieved that."

There are a lot of features to like about the three-pound device, although, it definitely has the look and feel of a first-generation product.

The Edge's main selling point is, of course, the fact that it has two screens to do true work on. Unlike the Nook, which uses its color screen only for navigating the eBook and as an on-screen keyboard, the Edge's LCD can be used to run a variety of Android applications or to browse the Web.

The electronic ink side, meanwhile, can be used not only for reading books, but also for taking notes, using a stylus.

One of the Edge's many neat tricks is letting you go back and forth between the two screens. In particular, one can draw a line over a diagram in an electronic-book and—assuming the graphics are actually stored in color—see the same image in full color on the LCD screen.

The Edge also lets users highlight or annotate text and then navigate between highlights by touching on the color screen, using automatically created bookmarks. The device works with both EPUB and PDF files and has USB ports and SD cards for moving data back and forth, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi connection. It's also one of the first devices to sport a new chip from Marvell.

In addition to its book display abilities, the Edge also has two microphones for recording a lecture and blocking out background sounds with noise-cancellation (It doesn't have is the ability to synchronize one's class notes with the audio, a la Livescribe, but Atkinson said that is something that might be considered for future versions).

For all its cool features, there were a considerable amount of bugs yet to be worked out on the units I saw. Entourage still has a couple months to iron out the kinks, though.

Also, at three pounds and almost $500, the Edge is floating up into Netbook territory on both price and bulk. That, for me, raises my expectations on what the device should be able to do on the browsing and productivity front. I like the idea of a dual-screen e-book, but at that weight and price, it would have to really replace a laptop to earn its way into my already-packed carry-on.

Nonetheless, I look forward to checking out a production unit to see how much progress the company has made.

This story originally appeared on CNET

The Kobo service is already live and will apparently allow downloading of "content to the most popular smartphones, including the Apple iPhone, Research in Motion BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Google Android devices."

Everything sounds quite lovely, right down to the point of Borders and Kobo wanting to make everything an open platform, but I'm just curious to see what sort of device the partnership will produce and when we'll actually see it on the market. [NY Times]

The reader has 24 hours of continuous use (not too shabby for an LCD, even if it is monochrome), and supports MP3 and photos. It's 5 inches big, reads ePub and PDF as well as TXT, Mobi, PRC and RTF formats. Those of you who like downloading books from "non-official" sources know that they usually come in one of those formats. But the Libre comes with 100 "free" books, which are most likely public domain books you could get for free.

We'll see how it stacks up to e-ink type readers when we test it, but on paper, this seems like a pretty decent (cheap) alternative. Especially because it promises a faster page-turn refresh rate than e-ink. It comes in black and white. [Aluratek]

Aluratek, Inc., a leading creator of sophisticated yet user-friendly computer peripherals and consumer electronic devices, announces Libre – the new eBook Reader with exclusive LCD technology. Libre provides the most affordable product in the category, featuring superior battery life with up to 24 hours of continuous use, auto-off and page advance features, MP3 and photo support.

Utilizing the latest monochrome reflective light LCD display technology, the Libre eBook Reader PRO provides a crisp black and white 5-inch screen with the same appearance and readability of printed paper. There is no backlighting, so reading on the Libre is as soft on the eyes as reading a book, while also preserving battery power.

The Libre supports Adobe's Digital Edition software allowing Digital Rights Management (DRM) support for ePUB and PDF formats. This allows users to purchase new book releases from a variety of eBook content providers including eBooks.com, one of Aluratek's content partners.

With an MSRP of $179, the Libre is a cost-effective solution for anyone looking to experience the next generation of digital technology related to books. The Libre connects to any Mac or PC with an Internet connection for easy access to the newest book releases as well as timeless classics. It also comes loaded with 100 free eBooks on the included 2GB SD card.

"Unlike e-Ink displays which require multiple flashes for each page advance, I believe the reflective LCD technology the Libre offers will be a welcome change compared to other eBooks currently on the market" said John Wolikow, VP Sales and Marketing for Aluratek. "The ability to store thousands of your favorite books in the Libre is not only convenient but it's also good for the environment by saving trees."

Libre comes with a 2GB SD card, and supports SD and SDHC cards up to 32GB. The audio player feature lets users also listen to their favorite MP3s, and the picture viewer supports BMP, JPG, GIF and animated GIF. Versatile for any user, Libre offers five font size options and also supports Adobe DRM, ePUB, PDF, FB2, TXT, Mobi, PRC and RTF formats.

Other key features of the Libre include: table of contents, bookmark list and page, content search, jump to page, zoom, auto page turn, background music, multiple language formats, auto power off and a help menu.

The Libre eBook Reader PRO is available in either black or white with an MSRP of $179. For more information about the Libre eBook Reader PRO, or any of Aluratek's other innovative products, please visit www.aluratek.com.

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]

The New York Observer reports that the company formed by publishing's Superfriends—perhaps Legion of Doom is more appropriate—will format and publish rags that "work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices," though they're not developing their own reader hardware.

Which is where it gets a little sticky, says one of the Observer's sources: "The really, really hard part is that you've got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want."

In one sense, the venture will be very much like Hulu—a separate company from the publishers, run by Time's John Squires, who's been behind the whole initiative, as All Things D originally reported. It's like Hulu for another reason, in that it's more like a disjointed confederation whose motto is hanging together or hanging separately since every publisher clearly rolling their own, separate gambit as well: We've got the tabletized version of Wired (Conde); Heart was planning its very own ereader at one point; and Time too.

It feels like the early, disjointed days of digital music, at best. There's a good chance stuff you buy now (well, soon) isn't going to work forever. Time's thing. Maybe Apple's thing. Some kind of Adobe formatted thing. Amazon and Barnes & Noble's thing. One of them will stick and we'll have our digital magazines preserving an old print format in a digital way—hey, the publishing industry might even save itself—but I'm just going to cower in a corner with free stuff in my web browser until this all gets sorted out. [Observer]

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.

The reader is definitely slender as it's almost half as thin as a Kindle 2. It's said that it can be "bent to some extent since the circuit board and the electronic paper are flexible," but no one is saying how much "to some extent" is. No matter. While the lack of too many details about it or any plans for a commercial product put a damper onto Bridgestone's device, the good news is that other companies might adapt the technology in their products. The countdown to being able to toss our readers into bags without worrying about destroyed displays is on. [Crunchgear]

It's an ugly little mutant, like a Courier screwed an EeePC and Kindle. The e-Ink screen's 9.7 inches—same as the Kindle DX—and readers ePub and PDF files. It'll let you take notes with stylus, or tap them out on a keyboard. On the Android side, which will apparently let you run full Android apps, you've got a 10.1-inch, 1024x600 screen, which you can use to look at images from books (in full color?). Like any good anything that does everything, it also records video and audio. For wireless, it's got Wi-Fi and optional 3G, along with Bluetooth for external keyboards.

Admittedly, I kind of like the idea of a reader I can use to browse the internet too, but I just can't do it on something this hideous. And, I really can't abide stupid capitalization patterns, like eDGe. It's $500, if you can. [Entourage via Cnet]]

Post a comment here to say you got it. Then anyone else who also got one can private message you (click on the guy's profile, then click Messages) their Gmail address. Hook up and Wave away. If you end up developing a relationship and getting married, I want an invite to your wedding.

That means it'll face off against a planned dual-screen Asus reader. And Asus has said it hopes to kick that out the door as early as Christmas.

Interead confirmed it has "big plans" for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, so there may not be long until the budget color reader showdown begins. [ElectricPig]

Asus pretty much kick-started the whole netbook craze, so it'll be interesting to see if they can shake up e-book readers, too. A second display could be used for a virtual keyboard and Web browsing, allowing the device to even compete with netbooks. The company says it's also thinking about built-in speakers, and a Webcam/microphone for cheap Skype calls.

Budget and premium versions are likely, and it's expected the pricier option would feature 3G. Right now, the two cheapest readers are the 6-inch Amazon Kindle 2 ($300) and Cool-er eBook Reader ($250). The Times says Asus is aiming closer to around $160. Previous Eee PCs have been cheaper than the competition, so you just never know… [The Times]

Reader Shinobiwan wrote in with an e-mail received from "order-update@amazon.com":

Hello,

On July 23, 2009, Jeff Bezos, our Founder and CEO, made the following apology to our customers:

"This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com"

As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made. You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30.

Please email Kindle customer support at kindle-response@amazon.com to indicate your preference. If you prefer to receive a check, please also provide your mailing address.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

The Kindle Team

Is this little love note enough to make us forgive Amazon for practically stealing books from users? Not really, but we say take the $30 check with grace and buy a used copy of the book for $3. [Thanks, Shinobiwan!]

The analysis compared carbon emissions from the production of electronic books to that of traditional book publishing. Despite the manufacturing and mining process required for the Kindles being taken into account, they still came out as the more eco-friendly contender since the Kindle doesn't exactly compare to a single book as Emma Rich, who conducted the analysis, explains:

The roughly 168 kg of CO2 produced throughout the Kindle's lifecycle is a clear winner against the potential savings: 1,074 kg of CO2 if replacing three books a month for four years; and up to 26,098 kg of CO2 when used to the fullest capacity of the Kindle DX. Less-frequent readers attracted by decreasing prices still can break even at 22.5 books over the life of the device,

We found the "fullest capacity" of the Kindle a bit amusing. Sure, the study compares the number of books you can have on a Kindle at a given moment, but what about the infinite number of deletions, downloads, and books stored on your computer for syncing?

Either way, the gist of this is that if you only read 22.5 books or less every four years, then you don't have to feel guilty about mucking up the environment by not using an electronic reader. The rest of us though are going green and ordering a Kindle. Well, at least I am. [CNET]

Asus' Eee range is far from premium, so I'll be curious to see if it ends up with 3G like the new Sony Reader Daily Edition, existing Kindle 2 and DX, or the upcoming Plastic Logic eReader.

And you tell me, where does an e-book reader fall on your Christmas wish list? Have you even seen that many people actually using them out and about? [DigiTimes]

Aaaand we can't not do a proper sizemodo, naturally: