Consumer Confidential: New e-reader, free cellphone calls

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Here’s your fix-it-up Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Does the world need another e-reader? Some of us who have resisted the Kindle’s charms this long might say no. But Samsung is the latest electronics manufacturer to take a contrary view. The company has taken the wraps off its own entry into the increasingly crowded field, and says it has made some refinements that will take the gadgets to a whole new level. Just don’t drop it in the water when you’re at the beach.

--Free cellphone calls? That’s what YMax Corp., the company behind the magicJack Internet phone gadget, is promising with a new version of the device. It says users will be able to use radio waves to make free cellphone calls from the home. The device will sell for about $40 -- if wireless companies don’t challenge magicJack’s borrowing of their airwaves.

-- David Lazarus