Yes, Amazon disappointed me when it denied rumors that it would introduce a new Kindle by Christmas, but there’s still plenty of reason to be excited about e-readers.

iRex just unveiled three business-oriented devices with 10.3-inch touch screens that can translate your scribble into text.

Sony seems to be preparing the next generation of its reader — the announcement is on October 2 — and it will likely copy everything that’s good about the Kindle will improving on its shortcomings.

PlasticLogic will enter the market early next year, with a device that weighs less than a pound and has an 8.5-by-11-inch screen (pictured above).

By then, Amazon will almost certainly have a new Kindle ready for use.

Why is all this exciting? Because each new product makes important advances.

The original Sony Reader was the first device I ever saw with a screen that was almost as easy on the eyes as ink on paper.

The Kindle was the first I ever tested that made getting electronic books easier than getting paper ones.

But problems still remain.

The screens on both devices are too small for certain types of books. It takes to long for them to change pages. The resolution could be superior. They’re not flexible like paper. You can’t underline passages or write notes in the margins. They can’t show things in color.

The next few devices will fix some — but not all — of these problems.

Eventually, someone will develop a device that beats paper in each way. It will look better, do more and save the enormous cost of creating, distributing and storing physical material.

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Dell has always subscribe to the more-is-more theory of press releases, but the company has gone into overdrive this week.

In what may be a record for a company with no vital breakthroughs or huge changes to announce, Dell has issued seven press releases in a 48-hour period.

1. Dell Driving Transition to Energy-Efficient LED Displays
2. Michael Dell Visits Brussels and Commends European Union’s Green Leadership
3. Dell Studio Desktops Converge On Home Entertainment
4. Dell Continues To Deliver Laptop Innovations for Digital Nomads
5. Dell Expands Global Philanthropic Efforts
6. Dell and EMC Combine Next-Generation Technology to Maximize and Simplify Oracle Data Warehouse Environments
7. Dell/EIU Survey Finds Technology Boosts Business Performance In Emerging Countries But Barriers Remain

Why would Dell makes a many announcements one on top of the other?

No one is going to write seven stories about the same company in two days, so all these announcements sort of canceled one another out.

The first one — which stated that all Dell monitors will use energy-efficient LED lighting in the next couple years — got some play in the mainstream media.

The new desktop and notebook computers — announcements three and four — got blurbs on the gadget blogs.

But the others have gone largely unnoticed.

True, some reporters seem to have covered the EU speech, but they ignore the praise-the-EU angle and wrote up Dell’s promise to keep his company growing faster than the overall personal industry.

Any theory on the timing of all this? Pure coincidence or deliberate strategy?

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Chrysler is getting into the electric automobile business — but I find the company’s strategy a bit confusing.

The Doge EV, pictured above, is a fully electric vehicle based on a Lotus chassis and designed to compete with Tesla.

The others are modified versions of existing minivans and SUVs that use battery power for the first 40 miles and engine generators to extend range.

Chrysler’s blog has video of execs explaining the vehicles and their electric-car plans.

Given all the effort GM has made to build its Volt from the ground up — an effort designed to minimize both weight and wind resistance — I’m surprised that Chrysler thinks it can just drop new components in old bodies.

Apparently, the specs for Chrysler’s vehicles call for batteries that are twice as massive as the battery in a Volt, but that, too, puzzles me.

For one thing, I’m under the impression that engineers are having trouble building a battery that’ll be powerful enough for the Volt, so it seems odd that Chrysler thinks it can develop one that puts out twice the power.

For another, batteries are very high-priced. Indeed, they’re the big reason that the Volt will nearly twice as much as a mid-range, mid-sized vehicle. Thus, it would seem, that a battery that was twice as massive would make these Chrysler cars very high-priced.

What am I missing?

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Reading through the comments on various sites about the T-Mobile G1 announcement, I’ve seen several people say they’ll sign up with T-Mobile despite the currently limited 3G network, simply because the company has good customer service.

Bad idea.

Look, I comprehend why good customer service engenders warm, fuzzy feelings. You love me! You really love me!

But honestly, if you’re spending a lot of time dealing with customer service people, then you’ve purchased a crummy product.

I’d rather have a solid, inexpensive gadget that requires me to go Google-ing for help on message boards on the rare times that I need it, than a more high-priced clunky device that’s backed up by sensitive, caring call center staffers who feel my pain.

Ideally, of course, we’d get excellent products and top-notch support, but the reality is that consumer electronics is a price-driven market (like nearly any other), and if you want prices on HD televisions or laptops or MP3 players to keep falling, you’ve either got to cut quality or customer service.

I’ll take the quality and leave the support.

Of course, there’s mediocre customer service, and then there’s gouge-your-own-eyes-out-to-end-the-pain customer service, and certainly any tech company worth its circuit boards should be able to avoid the latter.

But I’d much rather hear about a gadget company investing money in the development or design of their new gizmo than in building a new call center.

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You might remember stories about how a royalty payment dispute threatened the existence of web-based radio services like Pandora and Live365. You may also have noticed headlines this week about the music industry and web-based companies reaching a deal on royalties.

It might seem logical to assume that the deal in question solved the problem you’d read about earlier. Indeed, some stories about the deal implied that it had.

But this week’s deal — while important in many ways — has nothing to do with the impasse that still threatens Pandora and its ilk.

The Byzantine complexity of the music industry forces anyone who wants to play music commercially to pay different fees to songwriters, song publishers, performers, music companies and others.

And royalty rates to each of these groups differ for different types of businesses.

Have you ever wondered why restaurants that sing happy birthday to guests never sing the traditional version of “Happy Birthday”? It’s a copyrighted song. Restaurants would owe royalties for singing the traditional version.

Anyway, if you’re really interested in learning which will see issues have been settled in which remain under dispute, the LA Times explains the basics in its blog.

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(Solar panels were stolen from Jim and Shayna Powell’s roof in Palm Desert, Calif. Photo by J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times)

As solar panels become lighter, more efficient and more appealing to ordinary homeowners, they’re also becoming more attractive to thieves.

No one keeps statistics about this particular crime, but the New York Times reports solar panels are disappearing left and right — particularly in California, where so many trends begin.

Investigators do not believe the thieves are acting out of concern for their carbon footprints. Rather, authorities assume that many panels make their way to unwitting homeowners, sometimes via the World wide web.

Last November, someone tried to sell solar panels stolen from a toll road in Newport Beach for $100 each on eBay. Detectives from the local police department entered the bidding and won the panels, which were worth nearly $1,500 apiece, according to Sgt. Evan Sailor, a Newport Beach police spokesman.

It makes sense when you consider it. Solar panels are relatively heavy, but they’re extremely valuable and they have to be out in the open.

I’d guess the key to solving this problem won’t be arresting thieves. Instead, it will probably be educating buyers and convincing them to stay away from black-market sales.

I can’t envision how angry I’d be if I spent $25,000 on solar panels and someone took them a few months later.

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Netflix has signed deals to add 350 older Television programs from CBS and 500 older Television programs from Disney (which owns ABC, ESPN and many other channels).

What does “older” mean? In some cases it means one day after initial broadcast. In many cases, however, it will probably mean after a series stops running.

Some of the higher-profile shows include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Hannah Montana. (Netflix has a similar arrangement to stream NBC shows like Heros.)

Some observers think the lack of current movies and TV shows makes Netflix less attractive than some competitors that stream newer material. This isn’t particularly logical — does it really matter when something was made if it’s new to you? — but consumers apparently care.

Still, Netflix has one major advantage: price. A $9 monthly subscription (and a compatible box from Roku or several other makers) purchases you all the content you can stream AND brand new DVDs by mail. And Netflix is definitely expanding the streaming video library. It has added 2,000 titles since June.

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Say you’re on a train or a bus, and you’d like to nod off for a bit, but you’re worried that you’ll miss your stop. You could find someone who is going further than you and ask for a wake-up call — or, if you own an iPhone, you could pay $1 for iNap.

iNap taps into the phone’s location sensors and sounds the alarm when you get close to your destination. You can even determine how much warning you need. If you’re a slow riser, you can tell it to wake you up 10 miles early. If you wake up fast, you can give yourself less warning.

I’m sure this thing is pretty darned accurate any time your phone gets GPS reception, but I’m curious if it works as well when your phone is using cell towers to approximate its location.

Via Lifehacker.

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The value of your portfolio may be down, but at least the price of consumer electronics has fallen as well. The blog HD Guru reports that Sony, Samsung and LG have all cut prices by as much as $200 on many of their models.

The numbers listed are suggested retail prices and not the best prices that you can find at discounters online. But when manufacturers lower suggested prices, discounted prices also tend to fall, so this is good news for anyone considering an HDTV buy. Further financial chaos might force further cuts.

Come on Dow 5,000 — Daddy needs a 60-inch plasma for $500.

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If you’re thinking of buying anything from Adobe — from $2,500 suite of its professional programs to a $100 version of Photoshop Elements — put it off till next month.

Adobe has just confirmed what many have long suspected: it’s about to release major upgrades to all its programs.

Creative Suite 4 includes dozens, if not hundreds, of improvements to each major program and thousands of upgrades overall. Most of them make the individual programs faster and easier to use, both as individual programs and is an integrated package for creative work.

Beta testers from several blogs and magazines praise the preliminary software they’ve used. Full reviews, based upon final products, should appear slightly after they ship in October.

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