The Amazon Kindle, the most popular e-reader by market share will eventually have a color version, says CEO Jeff Bezos, but that day is not soon.
Speaking at the e-tailer’s shareholder meeting this week, Bezos says that while not impossible, adding color to the Kindle’s e-ink display is “a difficult technical challenge” and that the device is “still a long way out.”
Bezos adds that he has seen some prototypes “in the lab” but none of them are “ready for prime-time production.”
The e-reader market continues to get more and more crowded, especially with Apple’s introduction of the iPad tablet in April. The iPad has e-reading capabilities on a full color screen and a connection to the growing Apple iBookStore.
While Bezos refuses to disclose the amount of Kindle devices sold since launch, DisplaySearch reported last month that the number is somewhere in the 3.3 million unit range.
Result for: prototypes
Two prototypes of upcoming iPod Touch models hit eBay this weekend, each sporting cameras and development team tags.
The first prototype was marked with DVT-1 and the second, predictably with DVT-2, with one holding an ‘Apple Development Team’ label.
The prototypes were running an OS that only the hardware team gets to test when the phones are in development. The apps pictured are special diagnostic and testing apps.
The auctions were quickly taken down, but the pics were saved.
The latest “leak” follows the highly publicized revealing of the upcoming “iPhone 4G/HD,” after developer Gray Powell left the device in a bar.
Result for: prototypes
Sarah Sharp, of the Intel Open Source Technology Center has said today that Linux will be the first operating system to officially support USB 3.
The support will soon be integrated into the Linux kernel.
“This is a giant project that I’ve been working on for the past year and a half. It’s gratifying to see the code finally released, and exciting to know that hardware is on its way,” says Sharp. “I hope that some USB vendors who have prototypes will test with my driver.”
USB 3, sometimes referred to as SuperSpeed USB has potential data transfer rates of up to 4.8Gbits/sec, a 10x improvement from the current standard, USB 2.
