I am still weeding through my photos and research from CES and today I came across this shot of the upcoming Reader from Sony. Sony showed it on the show floor and I can't wait to get one in-house for testing. No word on pricing yet, but it is due to launch in the first quarter of this year. Measuring 6.9” by 4.9” by .5”, it is the best form factor I have seen yet.  It weighs less than nine ounces and comes with an SD card slot.

The Reader doesn't have a conventional display, which would require constant power, but instead uses what the company calls electronic paper--once the page is drawn it requires no energy to keep it shown. The text is clear, sharp, and very readable. Although it only supports black and white right now, it can display photos and drawings.  

Sony is promoting how easy it will be to buy ebooks from its Sony Connect service, and that is all well and good. To my surprise, however, you will also be able to read any unprotected PDF or eBook file on the Reader as well.  For Sony, this is very open-minded.

Best of all, the Reader isn't just for ebooks. Dock it with you PC and it will collect stories from your favorite Web sites via RSS feeds. Now that is pretty close to a killer app.

There's news circulating the Web today on the HRP-2 Bot, which is odd since PC Magazine checked out the humanoid over a year ago.

The HRP-2 took five years to develop and build--not to mention a whopping $4.5 million in Japanese government subsidies. I like to call the HRP-2 "My Size Bot," since it stands roughly 5 feet tall and weighs 127 pounds. It can walk, talk, see, balance on one foot, and more.

Now it appears that the HRP-2 may soon be your own personal maid by responding to verbal commands. Too bad it won't be ready in time for the Super Bowl. (It would have made the perfect Super Bowl party helper, like fetch me the remote and wings!)

See the robot in action.

Want to show off your blog in style? SnapShirts.com lets you create customizable T-shirts with the most frequently used words from your blog. These words are then arranged alphabetically in progressively larger fonts in what's called a Word Cloud.

Here's how it works:

1.) Go to SnapShirts.com. Type in the name of your blog (or a blog you fancy) and its URL.

2.) After about 30 seconds, you'll see a preview of what your shirt will look like with the option to ignore or replace word(s) in the cloud as well as choose your font (Helvetica, Times, Courier) and color preference.

3.) Choose a t-shirt style. Plain white shirts cost $18 and colored shirts cost $21.

4.) When your T-shirt is ready, they will contact you by e-mail in which you will then pay for the shirt.

The image above is a preview of what GearLog's word cloud would look like. I think I'm going to buy my very own GearLog SnapShirt as an early birthday present to myself!

If, by chance, you're not a blogger or don't read them, you can also create a customizable "author" shirt with famous words from Shakespeare, Melville, and Dickens.

[Found via Techie Diva's]

This one was just too odd to pass up! It seems that with the Flower Printer, you can print words and images directly on flowers. After reading the slightly tortured product description a few times at the site that's selling it, CompactImpact, I'm still not clear on how the Flower Printer accomplishes this feat, but I guess the proof is in the petals.

The printer isn't cheap, though, at $1250. That pretty much puts the brakes on my longing to order one and try it out. Someone really should though. To quote from the site, "When the flower is enlivened with the printing characters or pictures, it becomes more meaningful and displays sincere passion with abundant atmosphere of romance." Exactly!

[Thanks to Robyn Peterson for pointing this one out to me.]

Eh, I knew it was coming. According to the reliable PCS Intel site, the new .03 firmware for the Verizon RAZR V3c disables file transfers over Bluetooth. I was shocked when I found out the V3c let you zap your photos from the phone over to your PC, because it goes against Verizon's corporate policy of trying to force you to use their for-pay Picture Messaging service or buy their USB cable kits.

In similar news, PCS Intel tells us that Verizon's new firmware for the Motorola E815 disables the ability to use the phone as a modem, which Verizon doesn't allow just because. (Whenever I ask them why you can't use many of their phones as modems, their annoying response is, "our billing system isn't set up that way." Sounds like an eminently solvable problem, guys.) I've always liked Verizon's high-quality coverage, but I've never understood why great coverage can't also come with the phone features that power users want.