Kindle Rival E-Cooler Not Ready for Prime Time

British company Interead's lighter, cheaper Kindle rival is intriguing but not ready for the big time yet, David Pogue writes in the New York Times. One huge plus is that books bought on Cool-er can be resold or shared, Pogue writes, but the device went from idea to finished product in just four and a half months, and it shows.

"The hardware and software design are, to put it kindly, unrefined," Pogue writes, with a flimsy case and a troublesome interface. Its bookstore, coolerbooks.com, is full of holes, although a deal is in the works to triple its size. "The Cool-er’s screen makes print look fine indeed," Pogue concludes. "It’s just too bad that, at the moment, there’s so much fine print." (More Cool-er stories.)