Google planning on getting into ebooks in a big way

We've been having life-changing ebook experiences of one form or another promised to us for what seems like forever, but it really could be just around the corner this time, honest -- though the whole life-changing thing is still debatable at this point. It turns out Google is pressing forward with its Google Book Search service, and planning to roll out full-on ebook sales "sooner rather than later," with downloadable books available to computer screens and mobile devices. Of course, with Sony already in the game, and Amazon prepping downloads of its own, it's not like Google will be doing this all by its lonesome, but some innovative features like the proposed rental and single-chapter purchase schemes could garner interest in the Google offering, not to mention the whole "Google world domination" thing. It seems like the primary obstacle at this point for Google is the publishing associations that still haven't decided they're so hot for Google throwing up the contents of books online for open searchability, but we have a feeling they'll come around soon enough, or Google will just go ahead with the licensees it already has -- which with buddies like Penguin, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster already warm to the book searching, probably won't be insubstantial.

BlackBerry worldphone coming to Sprint

It looks like the long-rumored GSM / CDMA hybrid variant of the BlackBerry 8700 series might find itself a home on Sprint later this year. We didn't see it in the alleged 1H '07 product pipeline earlier today, but a tipster noticed a document describing Sprint's marketing partnership with the Super Bowl floating all willy-nilly on the official Super Bowl XLI site -- and lo and behold, it reveals that a "global BlackBerry" is waiting in the wings featuring EV-DO, GSM, and a GPS receiver, to boot. Granted, we don't know that this will be an 8700-based product, but we can say with some certainty that there are hybrid 8700s kicking around, so it's a logical move. Don't get us wrong, we're pulling for an 8800 here, but we're trying our best to stay realistic until we see something a little more solid than an ominous silhouette on Super Bowl paraphernalia

UMPC v2 roundup: the dawn of Vistagami

The UMPC is a relative no-show here at CES compared to its viral, CeBIT 2006 origins. Still, we managed to track down and get up close and personal with devices like the Kohjinsha SA1F00A, Samsung PH-P9000, OQO Model 02, and Medion and even checked a preview of the new Origami Experience UI for Vista. HTC's UMPC, which may or not be the Athena, is absent but there's still hope for a formal announcement in March at the CTIA wireless show. In a surreal moment, we even witnessed a visibly shaken Intel exec demonstrating "Yahoo! Go for UMPC" to Yahoo's CFO while a VIA exec (Intel's biggest competition on this platform) quietly snaked through the crowd nearby. Only at CES, friends. We also managed to extract the UMPC v2 reference designs from the recessed bowels of Intel -- displayed almost as an afterthought, not a highlight. The verdict? Vista on these new UMPCs coupled with the new Origami Experience UI is a big step in the right direction. The "Yahoo UMPC" reference design we saw at Intel's IDF felt very solid in the hand, and features a well positioned thumbpad we found easy to use while holding the device two handed -- a design which might have a chance of success if picked up by an OEM. Intel also has a few new reference designs under glass: a chubby, slim-screened slider and another perched in a fat brown media dock with integrated DVD and AV outs. The Medion? Forget it, the keyboard is plain and simply, unusable and the device felt poorly engineered. Word is that Intel will have their new, ultra-low power mobile processor for these v2 UMPCs ready before the end of Q2. That, coupled with Vistagami might finally give the platform a fighting chance this summer.