Entourage EDGE (in Links)

Here's a pretty cool e-reader/netbook. What's really neat is that my dad knows the CEO of the company that makes it.

I could see picking up one of these... lot of screen real estate for the device that size

They consider $490 a "heavyweight" price? My Lord, reviewers are getting stupider and stupider just to seem edgy in their reviews...too cheap, too expensive, too niche.

How about just plain old "smart". I see this and instantly thought, "smart". One screen for work and one for low-power reading and/or annotating. At first I thought the screens would compete, but they can be held side by side or put back to back. And let's face it, folks, while battery power is not necessarily advancing with the times, screen tech is. I see screens as hitting the same boom as hard drives did (well, kind of always have) -- they are getting cheaper and cheaper, with all kinds of new, lively tech and competition keeping the area hot. Why do you think Nintendo made a "DS"? It's easy, that's why, and we'll have 42-inch LCD TVs under $500 in a year or two (if not already sooner or almost here).

And making one screen monochrome and ePapery is smart to save on battery life while still adding versatility. I would imagine such a form factor could eventually have one screen for pure viewing, one for multi-touch, one for e-reading, etc. Not sure how that would work, geometry-wise, but like I said, this is the spot to watch for innovation.

I hope this succeeds. If low-power fast chips like the SnapDragon announced for the Nexus One keep progressing, and this comes out in a year or so (I suppose I should have read for actual release dates. *smile*), it could have excellent speed and utility...for under $500. Seriously, that reviewer who thinks $490 is a lot must think he/she deserves to have money falling out of the sky or something.

Thanks for the link.

Revenge of the PDA: Die Harder.

According to the company's site, it comes out in February of this year.