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Amazon’s high-end Kindle Oasis is sleek, sharp and pricey

Jeff Bezos probably wasn’t pleased to see his surprise spoiled this week, but e-book fans still have reason to get pumped. Amazon just pulled back the curtain on its new premium reader, the Kindle Oasis, and it’s the slimmest and sleekest model the company has ever cooked up. Of course, with a price tag starting at $289.99 (£269.99), it’s also one of the most expensive. To hear Amazon tell the tale, all the decisions were made with one goal in mind: to let the hardware itself almost disappear from view and readers lose themselves in their stories. “We’re not going to be happy until we’ve got this magic sheet of paper that contains all the books in the world, ” quipped Chris Green, VP of industrial design at Amazon’s Lab126. “Edge-to-edge, all content, no device. And when we get there, I might be out of a job.” Realizing that ideal is going to take a while, but the Oasis is a fascinating step in that direction. To get the Oasis as light and sturdy as it is, Amazon took a plastic chassis and electroplated with a special metal alloy. I’m told it’s a pricey process, which no doubt reflects in the Oasis’s steep asking price, but the end result weighs in at a paltry 4.6 ounces. The company also used a startlingly thin Paperwhite display and fitted even more LEDs along one side for brighter, more consistent lighting. Amazon let me toss a few books onto their demo Oasis, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World looked fantastically crisp on it. That said, don’t expect the Oasis to be any sharper than current models: it runs at the same 300PPI resolution as the Kindle Voyage and new Paperwhite . So, the screen is still pretty great. The Oasis’s design, on the other hand, is… pretty divisive. Most of it is incredibly thin — think 3.4mm — with a flared edge meant to nestle into your palm. The asymmetric look takes a little getting used to, certainly, but let’s not forget that Amazon is no stranger to asymmetry. Remember how kooky the original Kindle looked ? Anyway, after using it for about a half hour, I’m down with Amazon’s deign decision. I’ve always gripped (or tried to grip) my e-readers with one hand, and the Oasis’s odd look is perfect for it. Its hump has a nice angle to it that’s easy to hang onto, and the larger bezel — where two physical page-turn buttons also live — is spacious enough to accommodate by fat thumb without letting meat spill over onto the screen. The Oasis is also the first Kindle with an accelerometer, so lefties can turn the thing over and use it just fine. Alas, it’s still not waterproof. Amazon wouldn’t comment on future plans when I asked, but one of the Kindle’s designers seemed very well versed on what it takes to waterproof a gadget — make of that what you will. That slimness comes with a price — the Oasis by itself has a battery that’ll last about two weeks on a single charge, down from the nearly six weeks the Voyage gets. To help, Amazon crafted a leather-backed case that houses an additional battery that adds about seven weeks to the Oasis’s modest battery life. Don’t worry: it’s free and comes in the Oasis’s box. Slap the cover onto the Oasis and it automatically starts charging, and if you charge the Kindle while the case is connected, both charge at the same time. Throw a new hibernation mode into the mix and the combined Kindle-and-case can sit untouched for even longer without needing a charge — perfect for when the pull of paper books is too hard to resist. You’ll be able to pre-order an Oasis of your very own starting today, with your choice of black, merlot or walnut leather cover. What remains to be seen is whether anyone but full-tilt e-reading fanatics should invest in an Oasis — stay tuned for a full verdict in the weeks to come.

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Amazon’s high-end Kindle Oasis is sleek, sharp and pricey

Hipster White Noise Generator Simulates Working in a Crowded Coffee Shop

Do you find it easier to work with the din of a bustling coffee shop all around you, but would rather not deal with the guilt of not actually buying coffee for hours on end? A new website called Hipster Noise can simulate the sounds of a busy Starbucks, but from the lazy comfort of your home office. Read more…

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Hipster White Noise Generator Simulates Working in a Crowded Coffee Shop

Roku’s new $50 stick fits a quad-core CPU in a smaller frame

Roku’s last Streaming Stick was plenty of things: Compact, inexpensive and perfect for bringing on vacation. But you wouldn’t call it fast, per se. That’s something Roku aimed to fix with the latest version of the Streaming Stick, which packs in a quad-core CPU to deliver eight times the processing power of its predecessor. Even more impressive, this new Stick is almost as small as a USB flash drive and it’s still $50. While the company won’t speak about any RAM or storage improvements, reps say they’ve tweaked the device’s antennas for better reception. It doesn’t support 802.11ac WiFi yet, but you can at least get 5Ghz 802.11n. The new Stick sports Roku OS 7.1, which offers a few improvements when it comes to following movies and TV shows. There’s also a slightly redesigned remote, which is a bit smaller than Roku’s last few remotes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a headphone jack or voice control support. On the bright side, the new Roku mobile app offers both of those features. The ability to stream audio from whatever you’re watching right from your phone, in particular, looks particularly handy for all Roku users. In a brief demonstration with the Roku Stick sitting in an enclosed A/V cabinet, it was noticeably snappier than the previous model. Simple things like navigating around menus quickly, or scrolling through Netflix titles, was almost as smooth as the more powerful Roku 4 . As a frustrated owner of the last Stick, this one looks like an improvement in just about every way. The new Roku Stick is up for preorder today, and it will hit stores later this month.

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Roku’s new $50 stick fits a quad-core CPU in a smaller frame

Adobe Acrobat Reader Can Now Edit PDFs Directly From Your Dropbox On Android

Android: I hate dealing with PDFs. I understand why they’re necessary, but loading them is a pain and editing them is even worse. So, Adobe’s news that Acrobat Reader can edit PDFs stored in your Dropbox is a godsend. Read more…

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Adobe Acrobat Reader Can Now Edit PDFs Directly From Your Dropbox On Android

Beyond Gorgeous Video Shows the Making of a Damascus Steel Sword

Turn it up to 8K if you can (you can’t), because this truly awesome video of master bladesmith Tony Swatton working on a Roman Gladius Sword made from damascus steel is a treat to watch. Damascus steel is basically art in a material as the layers get built, this sword is especially awesome because it combines a 93-layer damascus technique in the blade with a twisted grip. Read more…

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Beyond Gorgeous Video Shows the Making of a Damascus Steel Sword

California’s Bullet Train Will Now Start In the Bay Area—Which Might Save It

Organizers for California’s high-speed train just announced that when their bullet train opens, it’ll start service out of the Bay Area, not Southern California like originally planned. Read more…

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California’s Bullet Train Will Now Start In the Bay Area—Which Might Save It

Doctors reveal they can 3D print body parts and tissue

3D printing isn’t just for toys and models — doctors at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced yesterday that they’ve managed to 3D print “living” tissue and organs that functioned properly when implanted in animals. The team, led by Anthony Atala, is already renowned for printing the building blocks for human bladders. But now they’ve reached another level entirely: They say it’s possible to print structures large and strong enough for humans. They’ve printed muscle structures, bone and ear tissue so far, according to Nature . With a little more work, the technology could revolutionize the way we approach surgical replacements (and finally make plenty of sci-fi biotechnology scenarios a reality). At the heart of the discovery is the Integrated Organ and Printing System (ITOP), which is unlike any 3D printer we’ve seen so far. It uses “biodegradable, plastic-like material” to form the shape of tissues, as well as water-based ink to hold cells and a series of microchannels to allow oxygen and nutrients to flow through. The idea is to make strong tissue that effectively integrates into animals and humans. Sure, we’ve been hearing about 3D printed organs for years, but this announcement is notable for several reasons. Atala’s team used the ITOP to print human-sized ears that were implanted under the skin of mice and, over the course of two months, managed to form cartilage and blood vessels. They’ve also seen similar progress when implanting muscle tissue and skull bone in rats. At this rate, it might not be too long before we start seeing human trials. Source: Nature

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Doctors reveal they can 3D print body parts and tissue

Themepark in an ancient, cavernous Transylvanian salt-mine

Transylvania’s Salina Turda themepark is housed in an ancient salt mine with millennia of history. Visitors use its vertical shafts to access vast underground salt caverns and lakes dotted with a concert hall, mini-golf courses, bowling alleys, and rowboats. (more…)

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Themepark in an ancient, cavernous Transylvanian salt-mine

Heads-up displays come to paintball goggles

Recon Instruments , the Canadian wearables outfit purchased by Intel last year, has released a heads-up display for paintball enthusiasts. Much in the same way Recon partnered with Oakley to produce its Airwave sports goggles , the firm has teamed up with Empire Paintball to create the Empire EVS. The device uses the game guts as the Airwave — a technology known as Snow2 — albeit in a new mask that’s designed to withstand the rigors of paint-based conflict. According to the firm, the heads-up display will be able to show battle-critical information like ammo counts, field maps and teammate locations. The device itself is running a version of Android and is packing a 1GHz dual-core processor, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFI as well as GPS. The mask, meanwhile, comes with dual-pane lenses that prevent internal fogging and a lower skirt that encourages ball bouncing. We don’t know yet how much the device will set you back, and the company has also been a little tight-lipped about when we can expect shipments to begin. For the former, Oakley’s Airwave retails for around $649, while the Snow2 smart glass insert on its own is $399, so we’d guess $500 is a reasonable amount of cash to start saving.

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Heads-up displays come to paintball goggles