Sony has just dropped three new e-reader upgrades on the reading public, but the company seems determined not to compete directly with Amazon's new Kindle 3.

Sony has updated its Pocket Edition (5" screen), Touch Edition (6" screen), and Daily Edition (7" screen), and the new devices all look terrific. They use the same, higher-contrast E-Ink screens seen in the Kindle 3, and Sony doesn't have Amazon's infuriating resistance to supporting the common ePub format.

But Sony isn't competing on price. The Pocket goes for $179 and the Touch for $229, and neither model has either WiFi or 3G radios (WiFi-only Kindle 3s start at $139). If you want wireless capabilities, you'll need to shell out $299 for the upgraded Daily Edition (meant especially for downloading and displaying daily newspaper content).

Sony has decided to market its devices as touchscreens, and has extended that functionality across all three new readers. While this might seem superfluous in an e-reader, it does allow easier navigation of menu options and doesn't require button clicks to turn pages.

In addition, bookstore chain Borders has just dropped the prices on its own e-readers (a basic Kobo model can be had for $129), but most exciting are its new offerings. Coming later this fall, Borders is pushing two color readers, one based on Android, and both with 7" touchscreens, for $199 and $299—though neither have wireless.

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Apple users will get to watch live today as the company, at an event presumably led by CEO Steve Jobs, announces new services and products.

crabel writes "A couple of weeks ago India went after RIM and its mail service; it has extended its hunger for data now to all telecommunications. All telecom companies have to give them access to all voice over IP services that go in/out or happen within the country. Heck, they are even going after VPNs used by corporate employees working remotely."

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suraj.sun writes "AT&T said Tuesday that any Net neutrality plan restricting its ability to engage in 'paid prioritization' of network traffic would be harmful and contrary to the fundamental principles of the Internet."

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Earlier this week, a research note from analysts at Stifel Nicolaus suggested that a group of private companies had reached "general agreement" on a private network neutrality agreement after FCC-brokered industry talks failed to reach consensus. The companies, including Verizon, Skype, AT&T, Microsoft, and the cable lobby, have been meeting at the offices of the Information Technology Industry Council in Washington, but they have yet to reach a deal.

Two sources tell Ars off the record that the Stifel Nicolaus note was too strong; no agreement has yet been reached, and the parties haven't met for more than a week. The companies do share some similar views on many issues surrounding network management, which is what led them to talk in the first place, but more discussion is necessary and no formal documents have yet been prepared.

After the speculation about a deal, ITIC head Dean Garfield (formerly a top executive in the movie business trade group MPAA) issued a statement yesterday that talked up all the progress the companies were making in crafting something "pro-consumer" (and nothing says "pro-consumer" like private talks between the largest businesses in the country).

"As we work to reach final consensus, we're focused on solidifying what unites us, incorporating new ideas and viewpoints, and, above all, delivering a series of constructive, pro-consumer and innovation-based principles that will only strengthen the Internet as we know it today," Garfield said. "At the end of the day, any recommendations will ultimately be judged by Congress, the FCC and the millions of people who rely on the Internet as an essential part of their lives. Stated simply, this is more than enough incentive to ensure we get it right."

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If you've picked up Apple's iPhone 4, you're probably aware of the new features that can benefit gamers on the go: a higher-resolution display, an integrated gyroscope to complement the accelerometer (for six-axis motion control), longer battery life and faster Wi-Fi.

We've all done it -- surfed on over to the book of faces, our hearts racing and pupils dilating with excitement, let our cursors linger over those oh-so-powerful words, "Remove From Friends," and clicked away with the maniacal glee of a serial killer.

Canada is staying with the community of nations that require their big Internet service providers to share their networks with competitive broadband companies. The country's Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that the nation's big telcos must do so "at speeds that match those offered to their own retail customers."

"Requiring these companies to provide access to their networks will lead to more opportunities for competition in retail Internet services and better serve consumers," declared the CRTC's Chair Konrad von Finckenstein.

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Delicious Library is, by all accounts, a very successful Mac OS X application. The software has won numerous accolades, including two Apple Design Awards and a Macworld Eddy. Creator Wil Shipley often brags about how much money he makes from sales, and won't hesitate to mention how fun it is to drive the Lotus Elise he bought with profits he's earned.

Despite his bravado, however, Shipley can admit when he makes a mistake. On the release of the 2.5 update to Delicious Library, he told Ars that the ambitious plans for Delicious Library 2.0 ending up resulting in a finished product that, while beautiful and impressive looking, performed poorly for some users. That's why version 2.5 consists largely of bug fixes and performance enhancements, and instead of adding features takes a few away.

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eldavojohn writes "Wikileaks' Julian Assange had a warrant issued for his arrest in Sweden on the charges of rape. But it was withdrawn shortly thereafter. Now the case has been reopened to investigate 'molestation charges.' On top of that, a new site (parody?) called wikileakileaks.org has been launched by the chief editor of Gawker to give Wikileaks a taste of its own medicine. You can find links to details on the molestation charges there."

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Upset with the Federal Communications Commission about something? Get in line. Proposed net neutrality rules, the Comcast/NBCU merger, new spectrum auctions—everybody has something at the FCC they want to stop.

But what's interesting these days is that some of the loudest cries of pain are directed not at the agency's decisions, but at its reports, like those on the state of wireless competition or consumer "bill shock."

Ditto for the Commission's Sixth Broadband Deployment Report, which concluded that "broadband remains unavailable" to between 14 million and 24 million Americans and is not being delivered in a "reasonable and timely fashion."

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eldavojohn writes "A new analysis of millennia old mummy bones (abstract; full article is paywalled) shows high concentrations of tetracycline, which indicates empirical knowledge and use of antibiotics — most likely consumed in beer. The researchers traced the source of the antibiotics to the soil bacteria streptomyces present in the grain used to ferment the beer. Astonishingly enough, 'Even the tibia and skull belonging to a 4-year-old were full of tetracycline, suggesting that they were giving high doses to the child to try and cure him of illness.' The extent of saturation in the bones leads the scientists to assert that the population regularly consumed tetracycline antibiotics knowing that it would cure certain sicknesses."

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dotarray writes "An Australian man who took Sony to court over the company's decision to remove Linux functionality from the PS3 console has now lost his claim, with the court clearing the manufacturer of any wrongdoing regarding the upgrade."

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The PlayStation Move is Sony's answer to the motion control trend. It uses a digital camera called the PlayStation Eye to track the movement of a new controller stuffed with gyroscopes and sensors and magic—all of it topped with a glowing plastic ball.

It's been over a week since my Move review hardware arrived, and I've played games with a variety of people just to gauge their reactions. When holding one of the Move controllers for the first time, everyone seems to have one instinctive response: they give that ball on the top a good, hard squeeze, like it's a clown nose.

The ball doesn't light up until you have the PlayStation Eye turned on and a game begins. Then it glows brightly, and the changing color of the ball often provides in-game information. The glowing ball also adds an extra helping of surrealism to some titles; playing archery, it was almost distracting to have that glowing pink orb so close to my face. During dark sections, I could see the glowing ball reflected on the screen of my television.

The ball sometimes cycles slowly between different colors. At other times it pulses. You can feel the motor inside the force feedback mechanism move in time to the light, as though you're holding the heart of some mechanical, bio-luminescent beast. If you have kids, you are screwed during play time; anyone from the ages of ten on down will gravitate towards that glowing ball, and they won't want to let go. My baby wants to gum on it constantly, while my older kids wave it around like they're at a pre-pubescent rave.

The PlayStation Move is here, ladies and gentleman, and it's pretty damn great.

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jj110888 writes "CyanogenMod has just been updated to version 6.0, bringing Android Open Source Project 2.2 (Froyo) to several devices. This fork includes enchantments to many of the built-in apps, Ad-hoc network connectivity, OpenVPN support, Bluetooth HID, Incognito browsing, extensive control over audio and UI elements, and more found in the extensive CHANGELOG. The CyanogenMod team uses an instance of Google's gerrit tool for code review and patch submission, helping make this former backport of Android 1.6 to T-Mobile's G1 into thriving development for the G1/MyTouch/MyTouch 1.2, Droid, Nexus One, HTC Aria, HTC Desire, HTC Evo 4G (minus 4G and HDMI output), Droid Incredible, and MyTouch Slide. HTC Hero (including Droid Eris) are coming soon for 6.0, with Samsung Galaxy S devices expected to be supported in 6.1."

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adeelarshad82 writes "Microsoft unveiled a new wireless Xbox 360 controller, which features a revamped D-pad that transforms from a plus to a disc. The new D-pad was developed to address complaints from users. Other new features include: A, B, X, and Y buttons that are gray instead of the standard red, green, yellow, and blue; and a matte silver color. The controller includes 2.4-GHz wireless technology with a 30-foot range."

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Lucas123 writes "Researchers at Rice University said today they have been able to create a new non-volatile memory using nanocrystal wires as small as 5 nanometers wide that can make chips five times more dense than the 27 nanometer NAND flash memory being manufactured today. And, the memory is cheap because it uses silicon and not more expensive graphite as been used in previous iterations of the nanowire technology. The nanowires also allow stacking of layers to create 3-D memory, even more dense. 'The fact that they can do this in 3D makes makes it highly scalable. We've got memory that's made out of dirt-cheap material and it works,' a university spokesman said."

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Man, the broadcasting industry is on a device mandate rampage these days. For weeks, we've been covering the National Association of Broadcasters call for Congress to require all smartphones to include FM receivers. This requirement is apparently what would make passage of the Performance Rights Act acceptable to the NAB—the bill would require radio broadcasters to pay royalties to performers as well as song copyright holders.

But this dubious deal isn't enough, it seems. Now the broadcasters and their supporters are also revving up their campaign to require handhelds to carry TV tuners too. The latest call comes from TVNewsCheck.

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itwbennett writes "Is open source's growth in emerging markets what is driving Microsoft to say 'we love open source' with an attempt at a straight face? 'The emerging markets (like the BRIC nations) are a huge potential market for Microsoft,' says Brian Proffitt. 'And I believe Redmond is wisely not taking the FUD route on open source software in those markets. Why? Because open source already has some strong roots in the BRIC nations (heck, in Brazil, open source is the whole darn tree), and any attack on open source would be seen as a foreign company attacking local software projects. If Microsoft attacked open source publicly in this environment, a lot of potential customers and developers in those countries could react in a protectionist manner and start giving Microsoft the stink-eye.'"

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FleaPlus writes "NASA is spending a total of $475,000, split between Masten Space Systems and John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace, for a series of seven test flights of the companies' reusable suborbital rockets over the next several months, going to altitudes as high as 25 miles. NASA's goal is to foster a more cost-effective and flexible way to conduct microgravity and upper-atmosphere research. Jeff Bezos's suborbital spaceflight company Blue Origin has also been making steady progress this year on their $3.7M contract to test pusher-escape system and composite pressure vessel technologies, which NASA is interested in for orbital spaceflight."

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