Gadgets, E-reader | featured news

Apple has sold more than three million iPads since April, but Amazon’s success with the Kindle is cloudier because it doesn’t reveal sales numbers.

Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos cut prices and added features to the Kindle to defend it against a threat from Apple Inc. in the fast- growing market for electronic readers. Amazon introduced two new versions of the device today, including a $139 model that works with Wi-Fi. A second version, with 3G mobile technology as well as Wi-Fi to download books, costs $189. Bloomberg News reported details in May about Amazon’s plans for the Kindle, its bestselling product.

Amazon has sold out of its least expensive Kindle, perhaps providing further evidence of the e-reader's popularity or signaling a new device in the offing.

The e-reader's introduces a new social features. PCMag takes it for a for a test drive.

Digital tools advance beyond screens that talk and play videos, connecting readers to authors and online fan communities. Emma Teitgen, 12, thought the chemistry book her teacher recommended would make perfect bedside reading.

B&N cut the price of its Nook e-reader to $199 and unveiled a new W-Fi only model that costs $149, as the competition over electronic-book readers turns to a new battle front: price.

Borders just announced that they're selling the Kobo eReader, an $149 ebook touted, by Wired, no less, as a Kindle killer. This device isn't formally Border's only ebook reader. Instead, they will sell multiple readers online and in stores and the real news is that they're creating an ebook store that will act as their default spot on the interwebs for ebooks and content.

Dan Lyons emails from the iPad unveiling: "I haven't been this let down since Snooki hooked up with The Situation."