While Amazon’s front page currently lures readers to take a look at their Kindle, it appears that the new Kindle DX is now out of stock, just 2 days after it was released. Eager readers won’t even have to wait a week, though; Amazon claims it will be back in stock on June 17, allowing time for a possible expedited Father’s Day shipment.

What does the Kindle DX offer that the Kindle doesn’t? For starters, the display is a massive 9.7 inches, compared to the original Kindle’s 6 inches. This is enough real estate to give users the feeling that they really are holding a book, while at the same time displaying more at-a-glance information. With a bigger screen, though, comes a bigger everything, stretching the DX’s measurements to 10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38,” in contrast to it’s forerunner’s slim size of 8″ x 5.3″ x 0.36.” In addition, the DX comes preloaded with a native PDF reader, and can store up to 2,000 books more than the original Kindle.

The rapid Kindle DX sellout is a positive sign of its growing popularity. While most young techies aren’t trading in their iPhones for a Kindle, Kindle definitely has a market. Out of the 48 so-far reviewers on Amazon.com, the Kindle DX has a 4 out of 5 star rating. Several users have commented that the PDF viewing is not as they had imagined, but most of the displeased are an audience that hasn’t even tested the Kindle or Kindle DX. The Kindle’s popularity may be in for some tough competition. As the smartphone market gets smarter, many developers are launching onboard e-readers to compete with a growing market that the Kindle has illuminated.

Perhaps the smaller audience is because many of the younger tech-loving generation would rather bang out something on Guitar Hero than read The Hemingses of Monticello. And while hardbacks may eventually become a bit dated, reading won’t. So for now, there’s Kindle DX-a library that doesn’t require a bookshelf.

Sony Ericsson has finally decided to release the name of their newest Idou, due to ship in October. This device features built-in GPS, a 640 x 350 widescreen touchscreen, video recording, a 12.1 megapixel camera with a xenon flash and up to 12x digital zoom, dual band HSPA and a microSD expansion. And more. But instead of keeping the Idou name the same, Sony has renamed the line of devices to “Satio.” Sony’s new Satio is essentially a portable entertainment system that allows users to watch movies, TV shows, or just listen to music.

In addition to the Satio, Sony Ericcson put the word out that they will also be introducing the “Yari,” a gaming “gesture phone,” the first of its kind. It would respond to user movements much like the Nintendo Wii remote in order to control the game. Other attractive elements of the Yari include built-in GPS, support for Sony’s PlayNow, and a 2.4-inch screen.

The third and final model Sony Ericcson plans to release is the “Aino.” Perhaps a cross between the Satio and Yari, the Aino will feature the capability to connect to the PS3 or PC. The Aino will also have a 3-inch touchscreen, support for Sony Remote Play, built-in GPS and an 8.1 megapixel camera.

With all the stunning features, you might forget that these are also phones. Forget the era of smartphones; we’ve now entered the age of the superphone!

The title isn’t so much a thought-provoking conundrum as it is the query of a confused mind. Where is mobile going? Laptops are now thinner than my wallet (which is pretty thin), netbooks are cheaper than ever, and smartphones can do everything short of fly me to the moon. But do I need all three? What’s the future of mobile?

As I sit here, typing on my now-oversized laptop, I realize that notebook computers are a lot more mobile than they were just a few years ago. As yesterday’s laptops became more and more powerful, they were advertised as “desktop replacements” because they could do everything that your desktop computer could do. Now, desktops are found less and less frequently on the tops of desks. The notebook is the machine of choice. There is something comforting about having your entire office in your hands as you exit the office for the weekend, but it is still not as mobile as the up-and-comers in the tech world.

The most up-and-comer of them all is the netbook. It’s a notebook for the ‘Net. In other words, you don’t buy it to watch DVDs or do high-power video editing. The only video editing you’ll do is to turn up the volume on a YouTube clip. That’s because the netbook’s primary purpose is to surf the Internet—affordably and portably. Recession means less spending, and with the netbook average price dropping to a projected $399 this year, less spending is easy to do on a netbook. Admittedly, you compromise some of a traditional laptop’s power, but you gain more mobility, flexibility, and even connectivity. Beta versions of netbooks are now rolling out, where users can get online via the 3G network, for example, rather than the local WiFi signal.

Most mobile of all are smartphones. These powerful little devices are highly concentrated packets of power. For a device that plays videos, maintains our audio library, finds the closest Chinese restaurant, manages our finances, regulates our schedules, keeps us in touch with friends, and everything in between, it comes in a very convenient size. When was the last time you tried to stuff your laptop into your pocket?

But how many devices do we really need? Is a day coming when all three devices can be replaced by a single piece of technology? What is the future of mobile?

Three weeks ago, we did something new. Something daring. We called our land-line phone company and told them, “Thanks, but no thanks. We’re done.” And that was it. Now, if you happen to dial our old home phone number, you will get nothing but that familiar tri-tone error message along with a recorded message telling you “This number is no longer in service.”

We’re exclusively a cell-phone household now.

But apparently, our move wasn’t exactly so new or so daring. In fact, as AP reports today, “In a high-tech shift accelerated by the recession, the number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines.” Many households, 60%, still use both landlines and cell phones. But even that number is changing.

Although the article cites the ‘recession’ as a motivating factor for the wireless-only switch, many are doing so for other reasons. I saw a few dollar decrease in my monthly bill (we weren’t about to cut our high-speed Internet access), but I have not noticed any set-back from not having a land line. In fact, it is more of a convenience issue for me. It’s one less voicemail that I have to check. Besides, if I ever called from my land line, I ended up having to pull the number from my cell phone address book anyway.

If someone has a cell phone, why increase the work, the hassle, and the costs by throwing a land line in the mix? Many land line owners claim that their land phones serve as a call-collection center for telemarketers, little more. Another strike against land lines has to do with housing situations. If one is in a mobile situation—renting or living in temporary housing—it makes little sense to set up a permanent land line.

Obviously, there are compelling reasons for hanging on to the land line. However, as the numbers suggest, our society is going more and more wireless—exclusively.

If you’ve been looking for a chance to try out Sugar Labs’ fresh new take on the user interface — without mucking about in your machine’s internals — the project has a new option for you: Sugar on a Stick.

Sugar on a Stick is based on a custom build of Fedora Linux with Sugar layered on top. It works with Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, although Macs (and some PCs with and older BIOS) will need to boot first from a “helper CD.” After that, it’s all Sugar all the time. The USB stick holds a persistent copy of the filesystem, so unlike a LiveCD any documents created or changed settings will still be around the next time you fire up Sugar.

Most famous for its inclusion on One Laptop Per Child’s XO computer, Sugar is a task- and collaboration-based user interface that dispenses with common computing concepts like file management, windows, and menus. Instead, the user interface consists of full screen applications, ubiquitous collaboration features, and a unique “journal” metaphor for file tracking.

It’s a bold new concept in UI design, and perhaps a way for us to move away from computer conventions like file system management and the desktop interface metaphor that, while revolutionary in their time, have gotten increasingly clunky with age. While the UI was designed for use by schoolchildren, many have praised it for offering a fresh computing experience.

Sugar has been praised by some bloggers for its no-nonsense, easy UI, and its journaling features, task-based UI, and stripped-down application loadout might make it an attractive option for writers or other users looking for an alternative OS that helps them focus more closely on the task at hand. Sugar might also be an intriguing alternative UI for the emerging netbook computer category.

The link above will take you to the Sugar Labs Wiki, which contains all the instructions you’ll need to get Sugar on a Stick up and running.

(Via Lifehacker.)

Mega-ouch: Gizmodo reports that 0% of teens want to get a Zune in the next year, while 100% of teens want an iPod.

Though numbers this dramatic should be taken with a grain of salt, they don’t offer much hope to Microsoft, Sansa, or any of the thousand other hardware manufacturers who have been trying for years, with varying degrees of success, to craft the perfect “iPod killer.” Clearly, they need to go back to the drawing board — like a Stephanie Meyer vampire, the iPod seems extremely difficult to kill.

These numbers come from Piper Jaffray’s biannual Teen Survey (in its eighth year) and show that the iPod has 100% of teens’ attention. It’s worth noting that previous iterations of the survey showed single- or (occasionally) double-digit interest in other devices. Not so anymore. It’s flabbergasting, but 0% of teens wanted anything else as their next player — even those who already owned an iPod competitor.

It’s unfathomable that Apple will stay number one forever. However, at this point it seems the only way for them to lose their market-leader position will be for the PMP market to transform so dramatically that the iPod no longer fulfills customers core needs. Until that happens, Apple will be sitting pretty — on top of a giant pile of money.