$159 • www.sharperimage.com
Dedicated e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle, Barnes and Noble's Nook and Sony's Reader, have one thing in common: They all use black-and-white screen technology from a company called E Ink.
Now, MerchSource thinks it has a shot at grabbing some market share with its full-color e-reader, the Literati, which is scheduled to go on sale in October.
MerchSource develops and sells products under well-known brands, including Animal Planet, Emerson and Vivitar. For the Literati, the company struck a licensing deal with the Sharper Image. The Wi-Fi-only Literati costs about $159 including a case, $20 more than Amazon's 6-inch Kindle Wi-Fi model. The device, powered by Kobo's e-book engine, has two million titles available through Kobo's library.
The device comes with 25 public-domain books preloaded, along with a coupon code to download an additional 125 public-domain titles at no cost.
THE 7-INCH LCD SCREEN IS BRIGHT, WITH SATURATED COLORS. BUT THE BATTERY PROVIDES ONLY ABOUT SIX HOURS OF USE.
A CAMCORDER WITH TOUCH NAVIGATION
$230 • www.kodak.com
Kodak has expanded its pocket camcorder line with the new PlayTouch Video Camera, a slim, snazzy update to its capable (but plain Jane) Zi8 model. It is more compact than its predecessor and the waterproof PlaySport, and has a bigger 3-inch LCD screen with touch navigation.
The $230 PlayTouch is just 0.6 inch thick and weighs 3.5 ounces. The touch interface and menu controls are intuitive and add a lot of appeal.
The larger screen and its glare-shield feature for better viewing in bright sunlight is also a great addition. The camera has the same 1080p high-definition video capture as its predecessors. As with other Kodak models, it has the familiar swing-out USB connector for shuttling video to a computer.
Of course, there is a Share button that lets you upload videos to popular social networks and send them to as many as 32 e-mail addresses. It will be available this fall in five colors.
