Published: Sunday, September 5, 2010
Technology notebook: Sony raises price on e-reader, adds touch-screen
Lately, the electronic-reader market has been a race to the bottom, with major players such as Amazon.com Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. tussling over which can offer consumers the best, cheapest e-reader.
Competitor Sony Corp. is now trying a different tactic: raising prices.
Sony said Wednesday that it is adding a touch-screen to its cheapest electronic-book reader, the Reader Pocket Edition, while increasing its price by $29 in a bet that consumers will be willing to shell out more for the ability to swipe the screen to turn pages.
The new Pocket e-reader, available for purchase Wednesday, uses an infrared sensor to read finger swipes or taps from a stylus that is included, eliminating the need for a special overlay that reduces clarity. Such an overlay on the device's screen has been in use on Sony's existing Touch Edition and Daily Edition e-readers.
Sony is selling the new device for $179, $40 more than Amazon's cheapest Kindle. Even with the $29 price increase, however, the Reader is still $20 cheaper than what it sold for last year.
Besides the touch capabilities, the new Pocket has a higher-contrast electronic ink display that, like the Kindle, shows 16 shades of gray, compared with eight shades before.
It is also smaller overall and has fewer buttons than the previous model, but it still has a screen that measures 5 inches diagonally.
Gmail features inbox sorter
Google Inc. can sift through more than a trillion Web links in a matter of seconds, but can the Internet search leader help people wade through their overflowing e-mailboxes?
That's the challenge Google will try to tackle Tuesday with the introduction of a tool called "Priority Inbox" in its Gmail service.
The feature relies on formulas devised by Google engineers to automatically figure out and highlight which incoming messages are likely to be the most important to each Gmail user.
Users who opt to turn on the Priority Inbox will see their messages separated into three categories. "Important and unread" e-mails will be at the top followed by messages that have been previously stamped with a star by an accountholder. Everything else appears at the bottom.
Switching back to the standard view of the inbox can be done with a click on a link along the left side of the Web page.
Google's e-mail analysis is based on a variety of factors, including a person's most frequent contacts and how many other people are getting the same message. The content of the e-mail also is factored into the equation.
FCC rejects free wireless proposal
Federal regulators have shot down a proposal by a startup called M2Z Networks Inc. to build a free, nationwide wireless broadband network using a spare slice of airwaves.
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday said it has rejected M2Z's request that the agency demand that the winner of an auction for the radio spectrum provide free Internet service to anyone who connects to it.
That condition would have mirrored M2Z's business model of offering free basic wireless broadband access -- with speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second -- that would be supported by advertising in addition to a faster, premium service.
"We gave careful and thorough consideration to the proposal, but ultimately determined that this was not the best policy outcome," Ruth Milkman, head of the FCC's wireless bureau, said in a statement. The FCC did not explain its rejection further.
M2Z's plan had encountered resistance from T-Mobile USA and other big wireless carriers, which warned that it would interfere with their own services.
"A designer allocation auction that would be tailored for one company was not in the public's interest, especially when that company was offering broadband service that is slow by even yesterday's standards," Steve Largent, head of industry trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association, said in a statement.
Associated Press
Competitor Sony Corp. is now trying a different tactic: raising prices.
Sony said Wednesday that it is adding a touch-screen to its cheapest electronic-book reader, the Reader Pocket Edition, while increasing its price by $29 in a bet that consumers will be willing to shell out more for the ability to swipe the screen to turn pages.
The new Pocket e-reader, available for purchase Wednesday, uses an infrared sensor to read finger swipes or taps from a stylus that is included, eliminating the need for a special overlay that reduces clarity. Such an overlay on the device's screen has been in use on Sony's existing Touch Edition and Daily Edition e-readers.
Sony is selling the new device for $179, $40 more than Amazon's cheapest Kindle. Even with the $29 price increase, however, the Reader is still $20 cheaper than what it sold for last year.
Besides the touch capabilities, the new Pocket has a higher-contrast electronic ink display that, like the Kindle, shows 16 shades of gray, compared with eight shades before.
It is also smaller overall and has fewer buttons than the previous model, but it still has a screen that measures 5 inches diagonally.
Gmail features inbox sorter
Google Inc. can sift through more than a trillion Web links in a matter of seconds, but can the Internet search leader help people wade through their overflowing e-mailboxes?
That's the challenge Google will try to tackle Tuesday with the introduction of a tool called "Priority Inbox" in its Gmail service.
The feature relies on formulas devised by Google engineers to automatically figure out and highlight which incoming messages are likely to be the most important to each Gmail user.
Users who opt to turn on the Priority Inbox will see their messages separated into three categories. "Important and unread" e-mails will be at the top followed by messages that have been previously stamped with a star by an accountholder. Everything else appears at the bottom.
Switching back to the standard view of the inbox can be done with a click on a link along the left side of the Web page.
Google's e-mail analysis is based on a variety of factors, including a person's most frequent contacts and how many other people are getting the same message. The content of the e-mail also is factored into the equation.
FCC rejects free wireless proposal
Federal regulators have shot down a proposal by a startup called M2Z Networks Inc. to build a free, nationwide wireless broadband network using a spare slice of airwaves.
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday said it has rejected M2Z's request that the agency demand that the winner of an auction for the radio spectrum provide free Internet service to anyone who connects to it.
That condition would have mirrored M2Z's business model of offering free basic wireless broadband access -- with speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second -- that would be supported by advertising in addition to a faster, premium service.
"We gave careful and thorough consideration to the proposal, but ultimately determined that this was not the best policy outcome," Ruth Milkman, head of the FCC's wireless bureau, said in a statement. The FCC did not explain its rejection further.
M2Z's plan had encountered resistance from T-Mobile USA and other big wireless carriers, which warned that it would interfere with their own services.
"A designer allocation auction that would be tailored for one company was not in the public's interest, especially when that company was offering broadband service that is slow by even yesterday's standards," Steve Largent, head of industry trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association, said in a statement.
Associated Press
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