Questions re: Aura HD, Kobo

Hello - as I didn't see them touched on in the FAQ, I have a couple general questions....
I'm an Amazon Kindle reader, or have been, for a while. I have a flawed 1st-gen paperwhite that's been jailbroken for a while. Has much as I like the Kindle, I've been toying with the Aura HD. Having casually demoed them in a couple indie bookstores, I think it is far and away the best of this current generation of readers screen and light quality-wise.

So I'm looking to be sold. A couple of things I like about Kindle: its support - I use Send to Kindle, Instapaper, and Clippings Converter - I'm a big fan of clippings (highlights and notes, essentially)... I also like the ease in e-mailing .doc files etc, via e-mail to my Kindle.

How easy are these things with the Aura HD/Kobo system? Do you get a Kobo e-mail address a la Kindle? Can you send yourself documents? I know at least with Instapaper, the site can export as epubs. What about notes and highlights? Are they exportable or easily accessed?

For what its worth, I'm not adverse to hacking, and I use Calibre for organization and conversion. If what I want isn't offered out-of-box, can I do the things I want to do via hacks?

Thanks for any input - the screen's a beaut!