e reader

Skinny Panasonic Android Phone Due Next Year . Panasonic is letting a trim new Android phone loose in Europe in March 2012.

If you thought Apple had the whole tablet computing market sewn up tighter than a zombies' mouth, you would be wrong according to newly published research which, while confirming the iPad as market leader, points towards a far from certain future when it comes to convincing the average consumer (as opposed to early adopting gadget geeks) that tablet computing is for them.

Barnes & Noble on Monday added an applications store and an email program to its Nook Color e-reader, bringing the $249 device closer to working like a tablet computer in the vein of the iPad.

Earlier today, Amazon announced pretty significant numbers that illustrate the rising popularity of e-books. For the first time in their short history, they are outselling their hardcover brethren at the bookstore giant.

For the second quarter of 2010, Amazon sold an impressive 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover copies.

Change that number to 180 for the last month alone. Overall, total e-book sales increased three-fold over last years sales during the first two quarters.

With the rampant success of Apple's iPad, which allows users to not only read books but browse the Internet and watch videos, investors fear that the end of devices used solely for reading is imminent.

Electronics seller Best Buy Co. will sell Barnes & Noble Inc.'s electronic reader Nook beginning Sunday, the companies said Monday.

Amazon.com is trying to get more people to buy the electronic books that are compatible with its Kindle e-reader _ even if they don't have the gadget.

After suffering multiple black eyes in the blogosphere and plenty of ire from Kindle users, Amazon has finally decided to make good on its ill-advised decision to delete illegally distributed copies of George Orwell's 1984 from users' Kindle e-reader devices.

News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that newspapers must find a way to charge for online content to make up for declining ad revenue.

"People are used to reading everything on the net for free, and that's going to have to change," Murdoch told attendees at the annual Cable Show event in Washington, D.C.

Murdoch cited The New York Times as an example, saying it has a "very, very good Web site." He said he did not believe the paper would make any money online unless it changes its current business model.