Maybe I'm wrong, but a big part of the goodness of the Kindle e-reader is it's easy-to-carryness, and its whizzy digital modernity: That's where this Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle gizmo has me confused. Because at one stroke it seems to take the Kindle soaring back 20 years, with a faux-leather case with built-in notepad and pen-holder, and a periscope retracting LED reading light. Sure it'll run for 40 hours from three AAA batteries, but it's $US50. Just turn on a bedside light, why don't you? [PocketLint]

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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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Boy Genius just unveiled shots of what is very likely the Kindle 2. Notice the follow-up to the snowspeeder-like original Amazon e-book reader is more rounded, more early-iPod in its proportions, but still white with the same basic screen. The cool sparkly LCD status bar seems to be gone, a joystick has replaced the clickwheel, and the other buttons are smaller for fewer accidental page turns. No word on the availability of this baby, of course. As you might expect, Boy Genius has quite a few more pictures, and more details too, so feel free to drop on over there to have a look. We'll be here when you're ready to comment. [BGR]

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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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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Forget namby-pamby flickering e-ink displays: if Plastic Logic's upcoming electronic paper tech is any good it might actually be the way of the future for newspapers. Due to be unveiled today, Plastic Logic's unnamed device is the size of a sheet of copier paper, about two and half times the screen real-estate of Amazon's Kindle, and is actually aimed at a business environment. But "newspapers is what everyone asks for" says Plastic Logic's CEO: and this makes great sense since the size of the screen would give it a more "authentic" newspapery feel. The plastic-screened gizmo weighs 57 grams more than the Kindle, and yet is one third its thickness (as you can see from the image—it's on the left.) We'll have to see how capable the device is when it's revealed... and, more importantly, find out how much it costs. Update: some more data has surfaced.

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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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The mad scientist behind this hack was faced with a problem. His beloved Amazon Kindle had a shattered screen and was all but dead. Distraught, he thought to himself: "what if I could sacrifice a Sony reader and perform and unholy cross species screen transplant? Yeah, it just might work because the e-ink screens on both devices are nearly identical."

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