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.

NEC has announced a world’s first. They are boasting that the Aterm WM3300R is the world’s smallest WiMAX router with wireless LAN support. The device measures just 94mm x 67mm x 22mm and weights 145grams. This WiMAX router comes with embedded Wireless LAN (BG), offering Multi SSID functions and basic Wireless LAN Security protocols like WEP and WPA(TKIP/AES).

The WM3300R connects to your computer via the USB port and will be available in early November 2009 in Japan for 25,000 Yen or $272.

Sprint is working hard to get its 4G WiMax service into more areas of the country and it has quite a few cities that are set to come online this year. The most recent two cities to get 4G with Sprint are Portland and Las Vegas.

Sprint has offered pricing on the 4G service in these two areas. The 4G/3G data plans will sell for $69.99 per month, $10 more than comparable 3G plans. The plan includes “unlimited” data which we all know has limits; Sprint just doesn’t specify what they are at this point.

Sony is all set to introduce its Vaio P WiMAX edition sometime later this month. July 30th in fact. The notbook will boast an integrated 4G mobile broadband modem to help keep you connected no matter where you are.

Pre-orders should begin from July 27th onwards, so you might as well start saving up. Holy Jesus, look at the veins in that guys hand. He’s gonna kill that Vaio P and possibly turn into the Hulk. Looks like you have four colors to choose from, including Hulk green which this dude should be packing.

Citizens of Portland are about to get a first shot at Comcast’s High-Speed 2go service. Based on Clearwire’s WiMAX service, Comcast High-Speed 2go is available in what they are calling a “Fast Pack Metro” bundle which includes home internet service, a WiFi router and the WiMAX for $50 a month, with another $20 tacking on nationwide Sprint 3G (along with the appropriate 3G / WiMAX combo card).

Existing Triple Play customers need not worry. They can add the WiMAX by itself for $30. Comcast plans to launch a similar service in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia before the end of 2009.

Looks like the Sony VAIO P is learning some new tricks. These new processor and drive upgrades will have the Tiny PC taring up benchmarks at twice the speed of the original. Most of that improved speed comes from the SSD drive, but the Atom Z550 sure doesn’t hurt.

Over in Japan they are getting a WiMAX version, which doesn’t mean crap to us since most of the US doesn’t have WiMax coverage. As usual, Japan is always beating us.

Today Samsung shared some details on the unannounced SWD-M100 Mondi mobile Wimax device for the Clear network via their RSS feed. According to the company, the Mondi features a touch screen and can access the Internet via Clear’s mobile Wimax network.

Based on the above picture, the Mondi is a slider, with a slide-up screen that reveals a four-row QWERTY keyboard, very similar to the Nokia N810 Internet tablet. It also sports a D-pad and some function buttons on face of the device. Neither Samsung or Clear has announced this device, so we have no idea when it will be available.

According to Sidecut Reports, Clearwire will soon unveil a portable WiMAX / WiFi router built by Cradlepoint. The prototype is pictured above. It will use a Motorola WiMAX USB stick to enable WiFi-capable devices to surf on the ultra fast WiMAX.

What this means is that non-WiMAX handsets that have WiFi modules can get into the WiMAX network using this pocket sized device. There’s no word yet on when it will ship. Also no word on price. This might be the way to go to replace that expensive cable modem at home.

Sprint isn’t in a good place right now. It’s losing customers as its service quality drops and other providers improve and Sprint’s is in a bad financial situation to boot. The cellular arm of the phone giant bet big on WiMAX and repeatedly had to scale the service back.

Sprint has introduced its first 4G/3G modem that can operate both on its 4G WiMAX network and on its nationwide 3G broadband network. The modem connects to a PC via USB and on Sprint’s 4G network provides download speeds of up to 4 Mbps.

Art Lebedev’s design shop is at it again, this time trying its hand at handset design. We like the results. Art is teaming up with Scartel, a Russian carrier in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The conceptual stage is looking good.

In addition to a WiMax radio, the device has WiFi, tri-band GSM, microSD, dual cameras, 3.5mm audio, an A/V plug and a huge 850 x 480 screen. The buttons are kept minimal at the base: five-way joystick and call/end, and no keypad, so it must sport a touchscreen. There’s a lot to like already. Android maybe? No word yet if it will go from concept to actual product.