image courtesy of my-pc-nerd

My heat broke a few weeks ago; luckily it wasn’t too cold in New Jersey and the heating company fixed it quickly. After worrying about keeping everyone alive in the house warm, I did worry about what would happen to the various electronics. Fortuitously, Drive Savers has released a list of tips on how to keep your electronics from getting frostbite.

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(image courtesy of Techcrunch)

Hello and welcome to another “State of the ebook!” We have an avalanche of news this week, from smartphone news to international expansion and beyond!

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Remember Choose Your Own Adventure Books? Of course you do. They were awesome; you’d be given a scenario, and after some background you would flip to a certain page for one outcome, and another page for a difference outcome. They were out of print for a bit, having returned in paperback a few years ago, but they are making a comeback…on the Amazon Kindle. Continue Reading

(photo courtesy of Mobile Read)

Sony is proving they are taking their ebook reading customers very seriously. If you bought a PRS-500 (the first Sony Reader I believe), you can choose to send it in for a firmware upgrade or trade it in to save some money on the price of a newer model.

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drawing courtesy of http://www.canastotalibrary.org/book_sale_pic.jpg

Looking for some good books? Before you break out your wallet, Gear Diary has a few ways to save you some money, but only for a limited time!

Direct eBooks has a standing discount of 10% on their books, and this weekend only they are running a coupon for an additional 20% off! Use coupon code – A1NY9VL65W at checkout.

Treocentral also has a deal with Fictionwise this month; use the code Treocentral25 for 25% off at eReader/Fictionwise.

Via Mobileread

Via Treocentral

Remember the Neogreene laptop sleeve and water bottle holder I reviewed a few months ago? GreenSmart has released two great new products; a lunch bag and a wine tote. Read on for more pictures and information on these unusual and fashionable items!

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Welcome to another State of the eBook! This week we’re bringing in an expert to share some thoughts on eBooks, music and movies, and where the future is taking digital media. Read on for Gear Diary’s interview with K.C. Blake of the Entertainment Technology Center at University of Southern California.

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Amazon is not taking their new competition sitting down. I saw this ad watching television tonight, and almost did a double-take; I’ve seen print ads for the Kindle, but prime-time commercials are a whole new level of publicity.

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(image courtesy of Gabriel Dishaw)

The ultimate mashup between sneakers and geeks: Sneakers made from recycled computer equipment!

They weigh in at around 15lbs per shoe, so have fun using them in your next marathon…though you would get MASSIVE nerd cred for it!

Via Treehugger via Afterellen

Check out Gabriel Dishaw’s website for more of his fabulous artwork!

I had to share this example of fantastic customer service. A friend of mine is an avid runner, and for her birthday I bought her a RoadID gift certificate, to be delivered electronically to GMail account.

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(courtesy of Amazon.com)

Just a few short weeks ago Amazon announced the Kindle was coming to PCs, and today it landed! Windows-only for now, with Mac OS X support promised “shortly”, Kindle for PC represents Amazon’s first attempt to strike back against Barnes and Noble’s eBook expansion. Does it succeed? I’ve been playing with it all day, read on for my review and thoughts!

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With Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Sony and smaller e-stores all vying for your dollars (and device support), how do you decide where to buy? There’s no price match guarantee with eBooks, and if you are platform agnostic, with no clear favorite site, where do you download that new bestseller you wanted?

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Time to welcome another previously offline company to the wonderful world of the web! It’s hard to believe, but not everyone has always been on the web. Why is the launch of this particular website newsworthy on Gear Diary? Read on…

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The Symbian Foundation released this video showing a hypothetical phone UI, which basically looks like a mashup of MotoBlur and Palm Synergy with a dash of augmented reality and Google maps navigation for good measure. This isn’t an actual future UI, but how fast would you line up for a Symbian phone if it were?

Via Brighthand

More details are leaking out about Spring Design’s lawsuit against Barnes and Noble. Engadget has information from Spring Design on the details of their “relationship” with B&N. Bottom line: it looks on the surface like B&N saw Spring Design’s ideas, chose not to use them, then implemented the best parts for their own eReader.

Bear in mind this is all conjecture based on the limited information floating around the internet. Please keep your pitchforks and flaming torches at bay until someone is proven guilty!

Via Engadget