Plastic Logic has just finished smashing and grinding into dust that particular assumption, having announced that it will not, in fact, use that flexible display in an e-reader.

More precisely, it won’t be making any new e-readers, period.

If it had chosen to keep trying to carve out a slice of the segment, PL would have released a 10.7-inch business reader, called Que.

Alas, after examining all aspects of the business, the company decided to “cease its e-reader product development activities and focus on other applications for its flexible plastic displays.”

There supposedly already are several manufacturers interested in the flexible panel technology, so we’ll definitely see more of it, not just on the e-reader front (assuming there are e-reader makers interested in it) but also in larger displays.

It all boils down to how many collaborators the company gathers and how many licensing deals it inks.

“[Plastic Logic will] actively develop licensing and technology partnerships to exploit its e-reader related capabilities in terms of rugged, plastic displays as well as driver and viewing optimization software,” the company reportedly said.

“Entering this market two years ago was a very logical step to take. It was growing fast. However, this market is driven by tough price competition and many companies are now relying on content sales exclusively to make an economic return and to cross-subsidize hardware. Therefore, for a company at Plastic Logic’s stage of development, the e-reader model as a sole route-to-market does not make commercial sense at the current time.”

Plastic Logic’s business decision has raised job concerns at its Cambridgeshire, UK plant, where up to 40 people may find themselves unemployed in short order. The facilities in Russia and Germany might be restructured too.

We’ve already introduced you to the SONY SLT A37 DSLR here and it comes with many features from its more experienced and capable brother, the SONY SLT A57.

The world photography awards is a great initiative by the WPO (World Photography Organization) that wants to encourage people of all ages and nationalities to take on photography and unveil their world to everybody else using undiscovered talents.
There were over 100,000 participants in the contest from over 170 countries and a serious 40% increase in participants from the host country, Romania.

We will be adding some more pictures from the event, but now we’re giving you a complete presentation of SONY’s new NEX-F3 digital photo camera.

The new NEX-F3 is well-connected to the design of its predecessor, the NEX-C3, but it borrows some features from the STL line and higher targeted NEX models.

The most obvious addition is the built-in flash that the previous model completely lacked.

We also get higher quality videos that are now FullHD instead of 720p.

The beautiful images are captured using a full 16.1 MP APS-C sensor, 23.4 by 15.6 millimeters in size, and they are processed by a newer generation of SONY’s Bionz sensor processor.

This is a processor that’s more powerful than the one inside the mid-range NEX-5N.

The sensibility range is very wide and the NEX-F3 is capable of capturing images at a high 16000 ISO.

The same “Auto Portrait Framing” feature is present just like in SONY’s SLT A57, along with the “Clear Image Zoom” feature, also from the SLT A57, which uses just a hint of digital zoom without disrupting the image quality.

Another useful addition is the 3” 920,000 pixel tilt screen that can be rolled completely up to 180 degrees and that can be used to take auto portraits.

The new NEX-F3 camera uses the same E-mount for the lenses and it lacks the image stabilization that the SLT A57 has. Instead, here,  with the NEX-F3, SONY has lenses with image stabilization inside.

The new SEL18200LE E18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE telezoom lens has even better image stabilization than the old model when it comes to shooting movies, while being 12% lighter.

The maximum resolution is 4912 x 3264 with images in 3:2 or 16:9 formats.

The new SONY NEX-F3 is also more affordable and even easier to use than the NEX-C3.

It comes without a direct charger, and thus, it uses a USB one, while the battery life is about 17 % longer considering SONY states that the NEX-F3 can take up to 470 different photos with a single charge.

The launch price is 50 USD below the initial price of the NEX-C3 and sits at about 600 USD together with the SEL1855 18-55mm zoom lens.

Availability is set for next month and the new SEL18200LE telezoom lens will be available a month later, for around 850 USD.

That’s about 471 EUR for the initial camera and 18-55mm zoom lens KIT and another 670 EUR for the SEL18200LE telezoom lens.

AMD’s APUs have been, and still are, a great success for the company and will probably help things change in the PC market.

The next generation of low-power APUs from AMD is still based on TSMC’s now very mature 40nm process.

Improvements come in the form of an increased clock frequency and a heap of new features like USB 3.0 for example.

The Fujitsu EH30/HT system comes with an AMD E2-1800 APU that integrates a very capable iGPU, called AMD Radeon HD 7340.

The E2-1800 MHz APU runs at a 1700 MHz frequency. It has two “Zacate” processing cores, each with 512 KB or Level 2 cache.

The APU also integrates a memory controller running a single 64-bit channel able to handle DDR3 memory modules up to DDR3-1333.

The AMD Radeon HD 7340 iGPU has 80 shaders and runs at a default frequency of 523 MHz, but it can turbo up to 680 MHz when the 3D tasks thrown at it are very demanding.

The TDP is just 18 watts and that helps the Fujitsu Esprimo EH30/HT stay very quiet during movie play or other activities.

The maximum system memory option is 8 GB in two SO-DIMM slots supporting DDR3-1333 MHz modules.

The display is a Super Fine LCD VX TFT color LCD LED backlight with claimed “high-speed response and high resolution with high color purity” and a 20” diagonal size.

The maximum resolution is 1600 x 900, with a 0.276 mm pixel pitch.

A DVD-Writer is also included next to the 1 TB HDD. There is also an SD Card reader and a DBV-T included along with 6 USB 2.0 ports and, unfortunately there is no mention about USB 3.

The system also comes with Gigabit LAN, Wireless N, Bluetooth 4.0, a wireless keyboard and mouse set along with a remote control.

The multimedia features are rich, as the HD webcam comes with face recognition and an auto-off feature for the system when you leave it for a longer period. Also, the integrated speakers come with DTS certification.

All this can consume a maximum of 68 watts. That’s less than a light bulb and the weight is just 5.8 Kg. That would be 12.7 pounds in imperial.

Unfortunately, the FMV models are only available in Japan and the price is around 1,230 USD.

That would be around 970 EUR for the European buyers.

A great price for the package, but you might have to ask your friends from Japan to buy and send you one.

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