Kindle DX finally coming back in stock

The Kindle DX is now "expected to ship in 2 to 3 days."  Why did they run out for so long - small runs?  Much higher interest than anticipated?  What happens when the Fall Semester nears?

At any rate, here's a portion from a more recent review of the DX that is pretty thorough.

Brad at Sunset Lake Software reviews it from the standpoint of scientists and engineers.  Some of his comments:

" So far, I'm finding it to be an extremely useful device, with a screen that works very well for many types of documents, including scientific papers and technical manuals.  The Whispernet data connection is really cool and provides a strong differentiator for this reader versus others on the market right now...

While seeming a little too small at first, I think Amazon got the size just right.  The screen is large enough to display detailed content, yet the Kindle is still portable enough to take with you everywhere...

I tried a bunch of complex PDFs on the Kindle, and all of them rendered flawlessly.  The images below illustrate various documents, including a research paper, a page from my Ph.D. thesis, a spec sheet from a microelectronic component, and pages from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.  The text and vector art are sharp and clear, but text that was already in small print within two-column research papers might be difficult for people with poorer eyesight to read.

Unfortunately, the only way to zoom in on a PDF is to rotate the device into a landscape mode, which widens the PDF to fit that orientation.  It would be very nice if Amazon were to add a portrait zoom function in a future firmware update. "

Brad doesn't seem to write notes on PDFs though, and that's not possible anyway with Amazon's current Adobe licensing.  As mentioned before, for adding notes, you'd have to convert a copy of the PDF to MOBI/PRC via one of 3 free utilities, mentioned in earlier articles here, to get a copy which pays less attention to intended layout but allows highlighting and notes added as well as all text to be findable when doing a full search of the Kindle contents.

See the full review and photos here.

Also, here's that video of the DX used for pilots' approach plates;
 it's the most accurate representation I've seen of the DX rendering PDFs.

Some photos I took earlier of the DX screen, in vertical and then landscape modes are here.

Updated for minor corrections and addition of video information for those who missed the approach plates story.

Borders UK and Barnes & Noble challenge Amazon's Kindle

The Borders "Elonex" e-reader was launched yesterday in the UK for the equivalent of $310 U.S. (£189)currently).

There are not many details on the specifications for the e-reader yet.

ASTAK EZ READER (not affiliated with any bookstore)
  But the Elonex may not be far from the Astak EZ Reader (EB-06EZ) that Elmo Glick has found buyable from Fry's, advertised on their site for $300 currently but discounted down to $250 locally.

  That's another 6" e-ink reader (and now we can guess why the Kindle DX with its large e-ink screen is out of stock currently) that has native support for PDFs, can read a plethora of languages directly (with the installable upgraded apps), and can handle CHM, DOC, ePub, and HTML directly.

  It has 4 shades of gray relative to the 16-shades of the new Kindles and only a 200Mhz CPU (vs. a 532Mhz one on the Kindle 2) but it can zoom in both portrait and landscape mode, making PDFs more readable (if slow-going when graphics are involved) than they'd normally be on a 6" screen.  That it has an SD card slot up to 4Gigs is a plus.
  Note that the customer photos of the PDF manuals show the 6" to be fully capable of displaying them well.

Now, I stress that despite my talking about it in this space, it's not related to the Border's UK e-reader but it was also just released.  Bruce Bracey of the Gadgets and Hacks site found that it is the same physical device as the Jinke Hanlin V3 e-reader available in China.

QUESTIONS re the Astak EZ
In my questions area on that Gadgets... page, at the bottom but more readable at the comments-posting page, I asked about several of the interactive features in connection with annotations, inline dictionary, and searches within books or of the device, but further reading indicates it doesn't have those, as there's no virtual keyboard mentioned.

  But it certainly has direct support for a lot of file formats, with a rotatable screen, so even without the study-features or wireless it's going to be an attractive choice (if the functions are implemented better than the Cool-er Reader's) for those who want just a pocketable and versatile passive reader.  At $300, I'd think No, but at $250 it starts to sound attractive for those who don't need the study features or the 24/7 wireless.

BARNES & NOBLE'S eReader.com pricing
jkOnTheRun reports that eReader, a company owned by Barnes & Noble's new subsidiary Fictionwise, is challenging Amazon's $9.95 pricing by also offering all NY Times bestsellers at $9.95, newly released e-books (carried by the site) at $9.95 or less, and no e-book priced over $12.95.

They offer iPhone/iPod versions but not the Kindle format but do offer a Windows format so you can read these on your Windows computer (and maybe convert them to .txt for the Kindle).

  In checking out the eReader.com store I looked at the categories, did a search on "photoshop" and got one e-book, for Photoshop Elements, ver. 3 - so that's one way not to sell at prices above $12.95.

  I then looked up a book about traveling in Egypt, "Down the Nile."  It's $12.95 at eReader but $9.95 at Amazon.