TV host and noted technologist Oprah Winfrey has a favourite gadget, but it's a secret! At least until she announces it on her show, which will probably happen today. But that wasn't soon enough for BGR, who dug and dug and scraped and view-sourced until they found their answer in a tag list, buried in an XML file from Amazon's teaser page:

Oprah Fridays Live, gadget, favourite things, favourite new gadget, kindle, kindel, kindle device, amazon.com, edgar sawtelle, obc, oprah's book club, Cristina Ferrare, Mattie Stepanek, money, economy, savings, dollars, recession, cooking, meals for less

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Sony brought out a new Reader tonight in NYC that adds a six-inch touch screen to the E-ink reader, as well as slimming down the case and adding a built-in frontlight. With the touchscreen readers can enter text with a stylus on a full-screen QWERTY for searching, adding notes and annotations to book marks, or just flipping the page with a stylus or finger swipe. It'll hit at the end of October for around $US400. Hit the jump for more impressions.

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The always fascinating Dark Roasted Blend has an article on alternative uses for books. Sculptures, lamps, structures, furniture... everything made with books. It's an eerie view on book heaven or book hell, depending on your mood. Mine is a bit gloomy, so looking at the beautifully spooky gallery and knowing about the rennaissance of electronic books, I can't help but wonder: Do these images represent the beginning of the end for books as we know them?

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Last week iRex promised that a "new era in digital reading" would begin on the 22nd. While the new 1000 series isn't exactly a "new era," iRex has been in the e-reader biz since the beginning and their new lineup is certainly worth checking out. Available in 1000, 1000s and 1000SW flavors, the new iRex devices deliver a 10.2-inch b&w e-ink display with both the 1000s and SW sporting a stylus. The 1000SW also features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity. The 1000 and 1000S are priced at $US649 and $US749 respectively—and although the SW is not yet live on in the iRex shop, expect to pay around $US900 for the luxury of wireless connectivity. [iRex]

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There are no real details yet, but the e-reader company iRex has a teaser site up promising to unveil a "new era in digital reading" on September 22nd. We're not sure what kind of improvements they're going to make on their iLiad reader to make it worthwhile in this current market. Obviously, they are going to need to try pretty hard in order to take on the likes of Amazon's Kindle. Alright iRex...WOW me! [iRex]

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If this press event invite is any indication, that's the way things are looking. The date is set for October 2, and it all goes down at the Bookmark Lounge of the Library Hotel here in New York. Hmm, there couldn't be any book connotation to all of that, could there? On this day of press events, it seems like Sony's jumping into the fray as well to update their year-old Reader hardware before Xmas. We'll keep you posted. [Sony Reader]

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Here is what the clunky Amazon Kindle should have been since the beginning: a simple, ultra-sleek full-page 8.5-inch by 11-inch electronic book and newspaper reader with a flexible plastic touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity, and the ability to read regular Office documents without conversion of any kind. As we said yesterday, Plastic Logic showed it at the Demo Fall 08 conference in San Diego. Seeing it up close and on its side makes me want to have one. Badly.

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Despite the rumours, it looks like there will be no sunny retirement for the current Kindle. From Amazon's chief spokesperson to the New York Times:

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The US$100 discount on the Kindles may be Amazon's way of clearing out the first-gen to make room for the now all-but-certain second-gen this fall. Business Week says that Amazon's hired a guy from frog design for the next version, which will have a better screen, thinner body, fewer UI annoyances and (obviously) be better looking. The price point is supposedly somewhere around the US$249-US$299 range, which might be right near the sweet spot that mainstreamers will start to pick one up as an impulse buy. That is, if mainstreamers ever really read anything. Students, on the other hand, would be a gigantic market for a Kindle Education Edition. [Business Week]

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The Kindle is currently getting a US$100 discount if you get the Amazon Rewards Visa card and buy a Kindle with it: that's a 28% discount on the list price of US$359. Good for you if you're about to buy a Kindle, and obviously will push the sales of the Kindle. It also raises a couple of questions: is the Kindle not selling as well as Amazon would like, hence the large discount, or is this tied to ditching stock before the possible Kindle 2.0 update we've mentioned before, and that's gathering momentum online? What's your take on this, chaps? [AlleyInsider via NewLaunches]

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