You might recall that sweet Android-powered eBook reader from Spring Design called the Alex that we talked about last month. Spring Design has filed a suit against Barnes & Noble over its recently announced Nook eReader for alleged IP infringement.

According to Spring, it was in talks with Barnes & Noble to partner to distribute the Alex when executives at Barnes & Noble misappropriated the trade secrets and violated the non-disclosure agreements in place between the two firms. Spring claims that Barnes & Noble made no indications of using the features of the Alex reader in its own product until the Nook was officially announced.

We adults have the Kindle and the Nook, along with other e-readers. But what about the kids? It’s the kids who we want to get reading. Nokia is at least thinking about the children.

The Storyplay e-reader is a new take on storytelling and reading. It will feature Elmo from Sesame Street on a removable paper book that’s attached with magnets. The reader has two screens. One will display Elmo and his antics, while the second screen will display a live video screen. (Displaying what?)

We had heard that Asus was planning some ebook readers and now some new details have emerged. Executives from the company apparently confirmed that WiFi, 3G and WiMAX versions will be announced before the year is out. The ebook readers will apparently hit carrier partners in the US and Europe in March 2010, with prices that will be “competitive” with what’s offered from Amazon and Sony.

Previous rumors have ASUS readying two different sized readers, one with a 6-inch e-ink display while a second model will have a larger 9-inch panel. WiMax seems like overkill, but Asus apparently thinks it will sell well.

Most of the eBook readers on the market have a lot in common. They have the same types of screens and sell for very similar prices. The Barnes & Noble Nook has that color screen and the Kindle has 3G connectivity with both selling for $259. A new eReader from a company called ECTACO was announced today with a significantly lower price of $149.

The reader is called the jetBook-Lite and it sports a 5-inch screen and gets power from normal AA batteries rather than a rechargeable. The device can read the eReader DRM file format that Barnes & Noble uses in its online bookstore.

Back in April we heard that Bridgestone was getting into the e-paper biz and it looks like they are still making progress. The company’s all-color touchscreen e-book reader is based on what Bridgestone calls Quick-response Liquid Powder and is about 5.8mm thick.

It features a 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper display with 4,096 colors that has a refresh rate of about 0.8 seconds. It also boasts mobile phone connectivity. The biggest news here is that the entire thing is designed to bend. Everything from the circuit board, touchscreen, and housing.

We’ve been waiting for more info about Barnes and Noble’s new color e-book reader and it looks like we have some. According to the Wall Street Journal, they’ve seen an upcoming ad for Barnes & Noble’s e-book reader.

It’s called the Nook. And according to the article, you can expect it to be out on Tuesday, when it will retail for $259. Interestingly, the device will let users “lend e-books to friends.” That last bit is intriguing. More tomorrow.

The Alex looks similar to the Android-powered Barnes & Noble reader, but this one sports a 6-inch display using monochrome e-ink (not color), but it also has a secondary 3.5-inch color touchscreen that lets you browse the Web.

Yeah, VERY similar to that Barnes and Noble reader. Spring Design claims that it’s “enlisting major content partners, and plans to release the Alex for selected strategic partners by the end of this year.” Interesting.

We don’t have a ton of details on this one and the official launch won’t happen until January 7 at CES, but Plastic Logic is looking to get into the high end of the e-reader market with its upcoming QUE proReader. The device uses E Ink Vizplex tech in a shatterproof display the size of a regular piece of paper at 8.5 x 11-inches.

It also features 3G wireless capabilities thanks to AT&T and a business-minded ebook store at QUEreader.com to be powered by Barnes & Noble. And yes it has a touchscreen interface, but we aren’t sure if that means the entire display or not. The unit is “less than 1/3-inch thick,” and plays nice with PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, including tools for “interacting with and managing the content,”.

Looks like we have some early images of Barnes and Noble’s e-book reader. As we covered before, this thing is supposedly set for a Spring 2010 release, with a color display.

Then there was word that it would not have a color screen. But it looks like there is truth to both of those rumors. Apparently the dual-panel device will feature a typical e-ink display on top with a multitouch panel underneath. Think of it as a Kindle/iPhone mashup.

Your choice of e-reader devices continues to grow rapidly. And now LG is showing off its Solar Cell e-Book reader. The prototype has an energy conversion efficiency of about 9.6 percent. That means that it gives you an extra day’s worth of power to continue reading on that 6-inch TFT-LCD after four to five hours in the sun.

LG is working on getting that solar cell energy conversion efficiency rate to 12% by 2010 or up to 14% by 2012. Great news for bookworms, not so great if you have to read for your homework.

Plastic Logic’s e-book reader, all set to roll out in spring next year, will power the Barnes & Noble e-book reader application. Looks like this is basically an older model with a color display. It sounds like the B&N application will also be available for cellphones including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices.

Plastic Logic is also boasting that their next color reader is about to hit the market soon, where it will be the “first to market with a large, flexible color display”.

If you want to instill a love of reading in your child early on, this may be a good way to do so. Disney’s new range of eBooks will feature a “Disney-level experience” according to the company. These eBooks feature a “look and listen” section for beginners, where the book will be read aloud by voice actors to a soundtrack and each word will be highlighted as it is being spoken.

That should learn them kids. If your child wants to read alone and finds a word he or she doesn’t recognize, they just click on it and a voice will read it to them. It’s a great visual way for kids to learn.

IREX is introducing its DR800SG e-reader. It may look like the Kindle, but it isn’t. The screen measures 8.1 inches diagonal and the controls are a stylus/touchscreen combo along with a control bar on the side that works sort of like a joystick. Also, the IREX renders newspapers with page layout intact, allowing readers to zoom in on articles.

The device has an always-on 3G connection via Verizon (Don’t worry. No subscription fees). The company has also partnered with Barnes & Noble for their e-book store, selling most new books at $9.99. No PC is required, but the syncing software is Windows only. The DR800SG should be available at Best Buy stores in October for $399.

We first told you about Bookeen’s Cybus ebook reader back in may. Then it was briefly spotted in July. After that nothing. So we figured they gave up on their expensive e-book with no Wi-Fi.

Well, it’s back and now shipping. For the price, at least it looks different than other readers. The E-ink ebook reader weighs just 5.3oz and features a 5″ display, 12 font sizes, 4-level greyscale and 200 dpi and the built in accelerometer lets you auto change from portrait to landscape mode.

Here’s an interesting eBook from Asus dubbed the eee-Book, sporting two color displays that lets you flip the pages like you would on a real book. Think of it as a large Nintendo DS on it’s side. You can also browse the web on one of the displays, presumably while reading on the other.

It connects using 3G or Wifi, comes with a memory card slot and supports Skype audio/video conferencing. The price is a really nice $165. Look out Kindle! That’s about all the info we have right now, but we like what we see.