More than ten years of research and development work has gone into the Que at Cambridge University in the UK. The R&D program is estimated to have cost more than $ 200m.

3G wireless connectivity and a very large black and white screen is incorporated in the reader. It is significantly more expensive than Amazon’s Kindle and is intended for “mobile professionals”.

There is a choice of two different models. The 4GB model sells for $ 649 and the 8 GB sells for $ 799. Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 and the larger DX model (which is probably more closely comparable with the Que) retail for $ 259 and $ 489 respectively. The 4GB Que has memory space sufficient for around 35,000 documents. The 8GB model can store 75,000 documents – which is equivalent to the contents of seventy five filing cabinets.

The Que is, according to Plastic Logic, “more than an eReader”. It has an enormous 10.7″ shatterproof display – currently the largest e-book reader display in the world. Apart from the huge size, the other noteworthy feature of the display is that it is made from plastic rather than glass. This means that it is more durable, lighter and surprisingly flexible.

The overall dimensions of the device are 8.5 X 11 X 0.33 inches and it weighs less than a typical monthly magazine – around about one pound. It is not dissimilar to carrying a pad of letter sized paper around with you.

The fact that the Que is more than an e-book reader hasn’t stopped Plastic Logic agreeing a deal with Barnes and Noble who will furnish electronic books for the device. Partnerships with newspapers, such as USA Today, have also been agreed.

Que users will be able to choose from over 700,000 titles on the Barnes and Noble website. Amazon have around 400,000 Kindle titles available on their Kindle store – but these are being added to at a rate of a little over 500 each day.

The Que will begin shipping in mid-April 2010. Customers can buy it from either the Que website or from the Barnes and Noble website. It’s difficult to predict if Amazon will be truly concerned. It may be that the Que is genuinely more than an e-book reader – in which case the two devices will be operating in different market segments. On the other hand, if they do wind up competing for the same customer base then, even without the price advantage that the Kindle enjoys, Amazon probably have good reason to feel quietly confident that their Kindle family will be able to see off this latest “Kindle Killer”.

Discover Amazon’s Kindle reader for yourself and learn how you can save money by dowloading free Kindle books – straight from the Amazon Kindle store.

At this time, the Kindle enjoys a staggering 60% share of the American ebook reader market. Recently the Kindle 2 was launched globally. Even if Amazon can’t quite replicate the same high levels of success on the international stage (though there’s really no reason to suggest that they won’t) the increased market size alone is going to boost Amazon’s results in 2010.

Certainly, there are those who maintain that a lot of the Kindle’s success up to now has been due to a lack of true competition. There may be some truth in the assertion that there haven’t, until recently, been many competing readers which could give the Kindle a run for its money – but the reality is that the main reason for the Kindle’s success is the fact that it was an innovative product which changed and redefined the market.

There’s certainly no shortage of alternative readers on offer today – with more due for release in the very near future. There is a lengthy list of competing manufacturers who either have readers available or have them in development. This is a very strong indication of the level of growth which can be expected in the ebook reader market in the near future. The market may be nascent and still developing rapidly, but it has received strong support from a wide variety of sources, including the normally traditional world of academic publishing and a number of different political bodies. A period of very rapid growth seems highly likely.

Another good indicator of the expected level of growth in this sector is the high volume of third party goods available to protect, customise and accessorise ebook readers. At the moment the majority of these items are intended for Amazon’s Kindle reader. If you want a Kindle cover, Kindle reading light or a spare charger then there are plenty of independent manufacturers ready and willing to meet your needs. The choice for new readers, such as Sony’s Daily Edition and the Nook reader from Barnes and Noble will gradually expand as their popularity increases.

Just as 2009 was a good year for Amazon, we can expect 2010 to see ebook readers in general become more and more popular. Amazon’s dominance will be challenged and increased competition will drive prices lower – perhaps to the point where such readers enter the mainstream consumer electronics arena.

Many industry insiders seem to agree that a price somewhere in the region of $ 150 is what will trigger this. With the high level of competition that seems likely for 2010, together with the amount of development work currently being undertaken, it’s just possible that we may see this being achieved sometime in 2010.

Check out the Kindle ebook reader and see the full range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalize it to suit your needs.

The size of the final settlement is not important for Google. However, the ruling may impact upon Google’s plans to scan, and make available online, as much of the world’s literature as it can. Google is currently in the process of scanning and storing as many books as possible. Books which are out of copyright are made available in their entirety, books still covered by copyright either have “snippets” made available or have the whole book made available under a previously agreed licensing scheme.

It’s not the first time that Google has had to go to court regarding their plan to make books available in a digital library. The Author’s Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a number of independent publishers and individual authors filed a class action against Google in 2001. They alleged that Google had breached copyright law by digitising books from university libraries without, in some cases at least, seeking the consent of the copyright holders.

Google claimed that it was complying with the principle of “fair use” as books which were scanned without the copyright holder’s permission had only short snippets made available.

In 2008 an agreement was reached with Google establishing a $ 125 million fund to provide compensation for authors who had their works made available online. However, the deal covered North America only and there were still concerns regarding books which, whilst out of copyright in America, were still bound by copyright law in other parts of the world.

In addition to opposition from Europe, including both the French and German governments, Google also faces competition from Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo who support the “Open Book Alliance” being driven by the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is a non-profit organisation which scans and digitises books. To date, they have scanned over half a million books, all of which are available free. Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, feels that Google is attempting to monopolise the library system.

Google, quite reasonably, asserts that their Google Books project will make millions of books which are currently out of print available to readers worldwide. It’s also noteworthy that out of copyright books are available to Amazon Kindle reader users direct from Amazon’s website and that there are numerous other websites where free books can be found online, without any copyright infringement. Our reading habits, along with publishing methods, will change to take advantage of the internet and digital storage media. However, in order for this to be truly successful, a legal framework to protect the interests of copyright holders and authors will require to be put in place.

Source free Kindle ebooks direct from Amazon and make your Amazon Kindle reader pay for itself in no time.

Before starting to read the Home Made Power Plant guide, we thought the claims were far-fetched and too good to be true, but once we received the download, the advice was accurate and easy to follow. If you you are one those do-it-yourself type of people, you will love this guide – but you may have to figure a few things out on your own, since support was quick but not very helpful in their reply.

What we like about it:

1: Quality diagrams

Homemade Power Plant had, in our opinion, real quality drawings. The solar plans were well labeled, full-color, very much to scale and simple to follow. And they were actually large enough to see the important details.

2: Awesome free gifts

The information on the maintaining the systems, and getting the legal aspects of the systems sorted out was comprehensive and useful. We particularly liked the strategies of saving power – they were so simple, yet most of us overlook them. And the best part is, these tips have already helped us save hundreds of dollars over the past 4 months.

3: Adds value to your home

Okay, this actually applies to any of the top 3 guides, but we thought it is worth mentioning. We had heard that installing renewable energy systems at home adds value to your property. So, we put this to the test by getting a valuation done before and after installation. The results were quite astonishing! With just 2 solar panel systems and 2 wind turbines our house had increased in value by almost $6,000. In fact, the valuer actually thought we had hired a professional to install our systems – but we didn’t tell him that

The Negatives:

1 – Miscommunication with customer support

We had a small concern on the best way to get the wiring for the solar panel system done. Although customer support was quick to reply, they simply said, “Go back and look in the guide, since it is all there.” What they did not understand was that our situation was different to what is explained in the guide. Since they were no help, we eventually figured it out ourselves.

Verdict

With the best drawings, and helpful free advice, Homemade Power Plant was well written enough for someone with limited technical know-how to follow. The instructions were rather simple to understand, and though customer support could not help us, at least they replied relatively quickly.

Before you buy any diy home wind turbine or solar power guide, Tim McDonald recommends you Try Earth4Energy for FREE – a sneak peek of the TOP rated diy energy guide on the market.