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Ebooks and Ebook Readers seemed to be a hot topic this weekend, with such luminaries as Sergey Brin and Steve Ballmer weighing in on the subject and Amazon finding that foreign affairs can be complex.

As for the Ebook industry as a whole, Forrester research sees it really taking off this holiday season and they are upping their expectations.

E Ink recently announced that its 2009 revenues to date were up 250%, and were exceeding its earlier expectations. We, too, are observing the eReader market growing faster than we had expected: We published a report in May, "How Big Is The eReader Opportunity?", that pegged 2009 US eReader sales at 2 million. Our new report ups that projection by 50% to 3 million for 2009, with 30% of 2009 sales occuring in the holiday season of November and December.

With that kind of holiday sunshine, there must be more Reader news. Hot on the heels of the statement by Barnes & Noble that they will be releasing a color Reader in 2010 (though we have yet to see their black and white version, possibly being announced on October 20th) and Asus’ promise to have a color reader out by the end of the year (file this one under “Typical Asustek Blather” and wait and see), Interead has made a statement of their own.

Interead makes the Cooler, one of the most popular Reader devices in the UK, and they have announced that not only will the Cooler finally be released in the US (on QVC or all things, but also available from Interead’s website for $250. No price released yet for the QVC version, so put those phones down). Not only that, but the next version of the Cooler will be in glorious color and be revealed at CES in January.

More Ebook, news? Absolutely, after the jump.

In a New York Times op ed, Google founder Sergey Brin laid out the company’s reasons for initiating and sticking by their controversial Google Books plan, despite the opposition of Authors, Publishers, Radical Librarians, Anti-Trust activists and several governments. For those who have missed it, Google Books basically intends to gather up and digitize all “Orphaned” books, that is to say books that are no longer in print both with and without copyright holders and make them available under the Google Books brand. Google says if someone has copyright on an out of print book that Google Books is providing digitally, they can come forward at any time to claim their rights.

Google’s critics say that is like finding a car by the side of the and being allowed to drive it until the owner sees you and says “That’s my car!”. Publishers and Authors say, understandably, that many authors and the estates of authors may not be tech savvy enough to even know that Google Books is making money off their work.

To answer these points Brin states that copyright details and what not can still be worked out, but despite the complexities and gray areas, Google Books is still needed. Why? Well, in typical Google hyperbole, to rescue the sum of human knowledge from destruction, of course.

In the Insurance Year Book 1880-1881, which I found on Google Books, Cornelius Walford chronicles the destruction of dozens of libraries and millions of books, in the hope that such a record will “impress the necessity of something being done” to preserve them. The famous library at Alexandria burned three times, in 48 B.C., A.D. 273 and A.D. 640, as did the Library of Congress, where a fire in 1851 destroyed two-thirds of the collection.

I hope such destruction never happens again, but history would suggest otherwise. More important, even if our cultural heritage stays intact in the world’s foremost libraries, it is effectively lost if no one can access it easily. Many companies, libraries and organizations will play a role in saving and making available the works of the 20th century. Together, authors, publishers and Google are taking just one step toward this goal, but it’s an important step. Let’s not miss this opportunity.

While the project may be laudable, I think it needs a lot more thinking, especially concerning the rights of authors. Anything like this that has no real Opt In, just an Opt Out makes me nervous. There are several authors in my family who have books out of print, and who I know for a fact would have no idea how to make sense of Google Books, or Ebooks in general.

Beyond that, I am just not comfortable entrusting the preservation of civilization as we know it to Google and Google alone. Call me crazy, but no.

Speaking of Crazy, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer spoke about Ebook Readers while recording a TV show at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

He stated that Microsoft has NO intention of producing a stand alone Ebook Reader. Why? Because Redmond has already produced the software that runs a few billion of them.

"We have a device for reading. It’s the most popular device in the world. It’s the PC.”

Ummm…yeah. TabletPCs are pretty good for Ebooks, but desktops and laptops, not so much. Plus it is tough to whip any of the three out while on line at the DMV or on the subway and use them effectively. That logic may have worked alright five years ago Steve, but Readers, both the thing with a screen and the person looking at the thing with a screen, have progressed since then. They expect more from Ebook Reader hardware and software then just putting words on the screen. Put Ebook capabilities in the upcoming Courier, before it is too late.

Lastly, I reported last week on Kindle’s international plans. As the details are becoming clear, more and more potential Kindle buyers are voicing concerns.

According to The Guardian, Amazon sort of by way of fibbed when they said that UK customers would not pay more then their US counterparts for Ebooks…

The company had attempted to allay those fears by insisting that foreign users would not be paying extra for downloads – but it has now emerged that the internet retail giant will indeed be charging higher prices for consumers outside the United States.

When asked by the Guardian precisely how much downloads would cost, an Amazon.co.uk spokesman revealed that foreign customers – including those in Britain – would be paying $13.99 (£8.75) per book instead of the American price of $9.99 (£6.25). That amounts to a 40% premium for the same title.

Beyond that, TechRadar is reporting that Amazon is charging an Import Fee for the device, then offers a possible solution for the higher rates that doesn’t reflect well on Amazon’s planning or patience…

The levy comes on top of the $45 (£28) ‘import deposit’ Amazon is charging for the Kindle itself.

While there’s no official explanation for the price discrepancy, it’s likely that international roaming charges on AT&T’s US network are at least part of the reason users across the Atlantic will be paying more.

Because Amazon has no wireless partners for Kindle downloads outside the US, any hardware shipped to the UK will come with an American SIM card, resulting in high roaming charges on each purchase delivered wirelessly.

It sounds to me like Amazon, facing competitors about to announce new products, pushed this International plan out prematurely. It would have made more sense to work harder to bring at least a few big Euro carriers on board such as Vodafone, or Deutsche Telecom. That would avoid the roaming fees.

As if all that weren’t enough, the list of countries left out of the the Kindle party is causing some forum posters at MobileRead to wonder of there is some kind of Bias against Muslim or Arab countries at work. Check out the lively debate HERE. Not good for PR, not good at all.