Japan has been a hotspot for new ereaders lately with the recent releases of Sony’s new ereaders and Sharp’s Galapagos tablets.

And now Japan is getting another new ereader on December 25th, the Toshiba Biblio Leaf SP02, the first solar-powered ereader to reach the market.

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There’s a new ebook reading platform called Blio for Windows computers and tablets, with apps for iOS, Android, and Silverlight platforms coming soon.

With Blio you can read ebooks, purchase ebooks from Blio’s new store, and download free ebooks from Google and Feedbooks (although this last feature currently is not working, but does work for the Toshiba Book Place app, which is the same exact software ).

Overall, there are some good things and bad things about the Blio platform and software.

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Last week we reported on Toshiba’s new Libretto W100 dual-screen laptop as a possible ebook reader, and now Toshiba is launching their own ebook store—the Toshiba Book Place—powered by Blio software.

Blio is a new ebook software platform created by Ray Kurzweil—a well-known inventor, author, and futurist—that preserves a book’s original layout, including fonts, images, and tables, according to the Blio website.

Toshiba’s Book Place, set to launch in the “coming weeks”, looks to be the first to implement the new Blio platform that will soon be available for PCs, netbooks, tablets, and other mobile devices. In fact, Toshiba is pre-loading Book Place and some free sample books onto their newer laptops.

What makes Blio software so unique is that it has a number of advanced e-reading features, such as playing embedded video and audio clips within books, text-to-speech, some books you can interact with and make selections, it has built-in research tools, such as dictionaries and web-based reference sites, and more.

When Blio launches, they will have over 1 million free books as well as books from bestselling authors from leading publishers like Hachette, HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, Elsevier and others.

Also, Blio claims to offer a wide selection of books that don’t translate well into ebooks, such as cookbooks, travel guides, how-to books, schoolbooks, children’s stories, and magazines and newspapers.

Toshiba’s Video Promo of Book Place

Source: eBookNewser

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As part of Toshiba’s 25th Anniversary of “Laptop Innovation”, they recently announced the Libretto W100, a dual screen mobile PC with an ebook reading twist.

So is this Toshiba’s jump into the ereader market? Hardly. But they do list ebook reading as one of the Libretto’s features and even demo it as an ebook reader in the video below (just don’t hurt yourself laughing at the music). The ebook part of the demo is at the 37 second mark on the video.

The Libretto runs Windows 7 Home Premium so it has the whole gambit of ebook reading apps available for it. Its unique dual screen design features two 7-inch screens that when held vertically, the device functions as an ebook reader that displays a double-page spread, as described by Toshiba. They also use the phrase “perfect for ebooks” on the device’s main page.

While that remains to be seen, looking at the specs the device’s main drawback is the battery life. It’s a pathetic 2 hours with the standard battery pack and 4 hours with the “high-capacity” battery pack. Not sure how popular a “ultra-mobile concept PC” is going to be with a battery that doesn’t last any longer than the average laptop.

Here are the specs from the press release for the Toshiba Libretto W100:

• Dual 7.0-inch diagonal multi-touch displays6 (1024 x 600)
• 6-mode virtual keyboard with haptic response
• Windows® 7 Home Premium operating system
• Intel® Pentium® U5400 processor1 (1.2GHz)
• 2GB DDR3 memory2
• 62GB Solid State Drive3
• 1.0 megapixel HD Webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition
• 802.11 b/g/n wireless4
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• MicroSD card slot
• One USB 2.0 port
• TOSHIBA Bulletin Board, ReelTime™ and PC Health Monitor software
• 8-cell battery
• 7.95″ (W) x 4.84″(D) x 1.2″(H)
• 1.8 lbs.5

Another key feature mentioned in the press release is that the multi-touch screens can work independently or together, displaying separate programs or the same page across both screens. The device also has a 3D accelerometer built-in.

The Libretto W100 is slated for a limited release later this August from select retailers and direct from Toshiba at toshibadirect.com.

Update: The Toshiba Libretto W100 is now listed on Amazon.com for a whopping $1100! Doesn’t look like we’ll be doing a review any time soon at that price . . .

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