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Nook Color revealed by overzealous screen protector?
Barnes & Noble's done a pretty decent job of keeping a supposed Nook Color hidden from our prying eyes, but an errant accessory may have jumped the gun -- the "Nook Color Screen Film Kit," to be precise, whose product image is pictured immediately above. CNET discovered the protective film hanging out on Barnes & Noble's website, and quickly grabbed this picture before it could be removed. Even if we're legitimately looking at the new Nook, of course, this doesn't tell us much about the seemingly button-less product underneath. How's this: We'll go out on a limb and tell you it's got a color touchscreen.
Nookcolor.com domain snapped up by Barnes & Noble, hints at Nook Color device
At some future point in time, when the technology finally allows it, all ebook reader displays will make the jump to color. Perhaps that's what Barnes and Noble is thinking by registering the nookcolor.com domain. Then again, "Nook Color" is the name rumored for B&N's new 7-inch color touchscreen device said to cost a mere $249. Or maybe it's just a collection of colorful snap-on bezels for its existing Nook. Whatever it is, we'll be treated with the truth on Tuesday when B&N hosts its very special event. Be there won't you, we will. [Thanks, Matthew C.]
Barnes & Noble prepping new Nook with full color touchscreen?
Yeah, the Nook already has one color screen, but its primary display is depressingly monochrome. Now there's word on the street, from a reliable source of CNET's, that Barnes & Noble will be bringing a full-color, Android-based, touchscreen Nook to its event next Tuesday. That sure sounds a whole lot like a full fledged Android tablet, which would be quite a departure for Barnes & Noble -- sure, the Nook is Android-based, but it hardly acts like it currently. Still, there's a smell of Android tablets in the air, and it wouldn't be horribly surprising to see B&N move in this direction. CNET's tipster says the device will be called the Nook Color, and retail for $249. That's pretty low for a 7-inch touchscreen LCD device, but perhaps (hopefully) B&N has its eye on an alternative tech like Mirasol or Pixel Qi? Either way, the existing Nook will apparently continue to be sold as a lower-end version, so e-ink aficionados have no need to throw their hands up in despair just yet. Stay tuned!
Barnes & Noble Nook goes on sale at Walmart next week (update: Kobo, too)
We still don't know what Barnes & Noble is announcing at its "very special event" next week, but the company has just made another fairly big announcement: the Nook will be hitting the shelves at some 2,500 Walmart stores beginning "as soon as" October 24th (in addition to Walmart's online store). That includes both the 3G and WiFi-only Nook models, and some Walmart stores will even have a "Nook-branded eReading area" where customers can try out the device. Head on past the break for the complete press release. Update: Not to be outdone, Borders will release the Kobo e-reader at Walmart next week as well. Competing devices on the very same shelf -- imagine that!
Barnes & Noble holding a 'very special event' next week
Can you believe it's almost been a year since the Nook was announced? The reader was first shown to the public on October 20th last year, and started shipping to the public in limited quantities in December. We don't know if Barnes & Noble is planning a follow-up just yet, but this mysterious invite we just got in the ol' email inbox might hint at such an occasion. Last year's event in NY was at a much larger venue, while this year B&N is hoping to cram people into its Union Square store in the area it typically hosts authors for book readings -- that could be a hint at something less impressive, or maybe they just wanted to cut costs. Maybe Chairman Leonard Riggio is going to read a book to us! Hopefully it's a little more exciting than that, and we'll be sure to tell you all about it either way.
Barnes & Noble opens 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal, details compensation model
It ain't exactly summer, but we'll take it. Launching just a few days after we'd been told to expect it, Barnes & Noble's PubIt! self-publishing portal is finally open for business. As you'd heard before, this platform is essentially designed to give independent writers a venue for hawking their masterpieces, with PubIt! converting files to ePUB for use on a wide range of e-readers (read: not only the Nook). Published titles will be available for sale within 24 to 72 hours after upload on the B&N eBookstore, and the company's pretty proud of its "no hidden fees" policy. Unfortunately, the compensation model -- which is being detailed today for the first time -- has its quirks. For PubIt! eBooks priced at or between $2.99 and $9.99, publishers will receive 65 percent of the list price for sold content; for those priced at $2.98 or less, or $10.00 or more, publishers will only receive 40 percent of the list price. In other words, there's a no man's land in that $10 to $15 range, so you'll probably be settling for a $9.99 price point or reaching for the skies at $19.99. But hey, at least all PubIt! ebooks will also be lendable for a fortnight -- surely that counts for something. Right?
Exclusive: HP Photosmart eStation C510 is Android-powered Zeus / Zeen, may not run Gmail or Market apps
We saw it this weekend for a fleeting moment, but thankfully one handy reader sent us copies of the product page for HP's Photosmart eStation C510, which we can now confirm is the Zeus / Zeen printer and detachable tablet combination we caught wind of back in early August -- and we've got some more details. Bad news first: as of a month ago, the Gmail app was missing and there was no support for Android Market, meaning the Zeen might not be an official "with Google" Android tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab. (The product page conspicuously lacks any mention of the OS, so we're thinking Android might simply be the hidden-away base layer for the TouchSmart UI, making this thing super boring.) It does have the default Android browser and at least some custom apps for printing pictures from Facebook, Yahoo, and Snapfish preloaded, but we don't know about anything else. Major bummer, but we're told it shouldn't be too hard for the community at large to root the sucker. Beta testing begins this month, so that all might change before the projected September 20th release. Here's what else we know so far: The Zeen is a capacitive tablet running HP's TouchSmart skin on top of Android 2.1 -- it won't get shifted to webOS, and it's not clear if it'll get upped to Froyo before launch given the development time required. It has capacitive touch buttons, an SD card slot, video support, and at least some prototypes have cameras with a special webcam app installed. We're told TouchSmart will be locked in, but we don't know how deep that'll go -- right now the standard Android homescreen is still accessible. That's supposedly going away, so don't get your hopes up for any native Gmail / Angry Birds use. E-reading is a major focus, and the Zeen has "significant" integration with the Barnes & Noble Nook bookstore and ecosystem. Makes sense, as the Nook itself is based on Android, and being able to print e-books from the Zeen would be a huge differentiator -- and a great way for HP to sell more ink. The touchscreen is apparently not very accurate at all, and we're told the overall experience is far less satisfying than a competent Android phone. Don't expect this to replace your Droid Incredible for all at-home use. The Zeen will come in two configurations: a $399 bundle with a new printer called Zeus and as a standalone unit for an unknown price. The Zeus has its own "basic" control setup, but when the Zeen is docked it provides a rich interface to the printing functions -- presumably a web-connected interface like the one HP's been moving towards with other printers. (Note: the product page listed $399.99 but provided no indication what price the Zeen might go for solo.) Ship date is an estimated September 20th but due to some testing issues this may be pushed back. Until HP comes clean and inks out the details for all the world to see, check out the product page in pictorial format below. %Gallery-101545%
Guess what Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio doesn't use to read? A Nook
That's right, folks. Barnes & Noble, a company which -- according to its recent earnings -- is making pretty nice inroads into the digital book market, is headed up by a self-proclaimed Luddite. In a recent short profile in New York Magazine, Riggio admitted quite openly that he'd rather turn actual pages, and carry around actual books than use his Nook. While he believes that the convenience of the e-reader will trump most readers' attachment to the physical book, Riggio (in direct opposition to, say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) holds firm in the belief that brick and mortar stores will always exist for books, and says he's too busy, and too old, to adjust to the new format. In fact, he's reading a hardcover copy of Mustaine right now. Oh wait, that's... us.
Nook for iPhone, iPad and PC see updates, slew of new features in tow
Barnes & Noble told us this update was in the pipeline when it introduced Nook for Android, and sure enough, said update is hitting the intertubes this fine morning. The iPhone and iPod touch version of the Nook app is said to be completely overhauled, while the iPad edition is the company's first to offer an in-app "rating" feature. In case you couldn't guess, the former also adds support for the iPhone 4's Retina Display, while also tossing in a slew of new customization options (themes, day / night content options, line spacing, font styles, preferred justification, previews, etc.). Finally, today also marks the reintroduction of the Nook for PC client, though it seems that most of the fanciful new features are reserved for the more portable versions. Hop on past the break for the full skinny, and tap that source link to get to downloadin'.
Barnes & Noble releases NOOKstudy for e-Textbooks
As promised, Barnes & Noble has released their NOOKstudy app for both Windows and OS X computers -- you can get the app for free on their webpage now, and then use it to download textbooks for school this fall (either buying them at a discount compared to the real paper copies, or just checking out a free trial). The app comes with some study guides and over 500,000 books for free, and B&N says it has over a million e-textbooks up for sale already. It'll be interesting to see how a system like this takes off this fall as students go back to school -- I always thought textbooks were a huge hassle when I was in college (and I even made it through a few classes without ever buying them), and I think digital copies would certainly seem a little easier. Too bad for the resellers, though -- I know they make a killing selling used books every year, and a market like this is a definite threat to that one. [via Engadget]
Barnes & Noble Nook Study now available to download, just in time for fall semester
Take heart, freshmen -- six months from now, you'll be kickin' it on holiday break, while the rest of us working folk glare angrily and curse the wasted chances that haunt us still today. Positive thinking goes a long way, right? At any rate, Barnes & Noble has made sure that its newly announced Nook Study is live prior to the start of most fall semesters and as of today, both Windows and OS X users can head to the source link to get those bits a-flowin'. We'll be interested to see just how many students take advantage of the portal -- not everyone's keen on digital textbooks, you know -- but hopefully it'll have a better go at things than did the Kindle DX.
Nook for Android now available to download, offers eBook lending
Well, what do you know? Turns out you don't actually need to invest in a Nook e-reader to enjoy the experience on your existing smartphone. And considering that the average Android smartphone will boast a display larger than your face within 2 years (if current trends continue, anyway), we'd say we could be onto something good here. At any rate, B&N's own eBookstore app is now available for Google's dear mobile OS, landing just weeks after Amazon pushed its Kindle app out into the same marketplace. Of course, B&N's not shying away from the competition, dubbing its app "the only Android e-reader application to offer eBook lending." It's available to download now on devices rocking Android 1.6 or above, and yes, even Android users can pick up on another platform where you leave off on your phone. Fancy.
Barnes & Noble's NOOKstudy coming to students in August
Barnes & Noble is diving deeper into the education market with an expected August release of NOOKstudy which will run on Macs and PCs and not require a NOOK or any other mobile device. NOOKstudy will act as a hub for eTextbook, class notes, syllabi, scanned handouts, and even non-educational eBooks. It will allow students to take notes as well as highlight passages in eTextbooks. Users will also be able to tag items for easy retrieval using common terms like: "for the final exam". It will provide full searches of anything, in the eTextbooks or your notes, and link into Google or Dictionary.com to look up terms. Multiple eTextbooks can be opened at the same time, or two pages from different sources can be simultaneously displayed. The program is currently being piloted at Penn State, University of Nevada, Queensborough Community College, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. [via Campus Technology]
Get the New York Times on iPad via BN... sort of
Update: Barnes & Noble's PR team pinged us to point out two salient points. #1, the message above does in fact note that only the iPod touch and iPhone versions of the newspaper/magazine subscriptions are temporarily offline -- the iPad subs are still available, as I found. #2, via the "Go To" button at the top of the eReader app screen, you can access an abbreviated table of contents (a list of the paper's sections); that's a help, but still not a particularly well-adapted navigational approach for all the stories in the NYT. My apologies for the errors. We got the heads-up from reader Jehuda S. that Barnes & Noble is now listing the New York Times as available for subscription or single-copy download into the company's B&N eReader app. A quick check of B&N's site does indeed show the paper available for $0.99 a day, or $19.99 for a monthly subscription -- the monthly price is the same as Amazon's Kindle version, but that edition isn't available for iPhone or iPad yet. Amazon's deal with the NYT is a possible explanation for the kneecapped Editor's Choice app, which doesn't offer the paper's full content. Great, so the paper's ready for prime time on the iPad courtesy of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Noble? Well, not so much. First of all, even though I was able to go through with the $0.99 purchase of today's paper [for my iPad], the site is featuring a banner update as seen above -- newspaper delivery is being 'temporarily suspended' to the iDevices iPhone and iPod touch, with a 'better reading experience' around the corner. That's good, because the current reading experience is downright cringeworthy. There's no navigation to speak of except for section front pages and 'next story' / 'previous story' -- in order to see the whole paper, you have to scroll via the page scroller at the bottom (today's edition shows as 525 screensful, not easy to manage). There's no master table of contents, no overall list of sections, no moxie whatsoever. It's a bit like someone faxing you the New York Times, story by story -- not at all a positive way to consume this premium content. I can't recommend you get the Times in this fashion until B&N revamps the reader; good news is, it looks like there's consensus on that point over at B&N. Thanks Jehuda!
Barnes & Noble looks to lock down e-book delivery for education with Nook Study
Timely, no? Just as the 2010 back-to-school season really gets rolling (and that dreaded Fall semester arrives to pester you to death), Barnes & Noble is looking to become your go-to place for eTextbooks, study tools and pretty much anything else in the related field. Up until now, there have been few all-encompassing eTextbook delivery method, and the options that are out there are generally poorly thought out, spartan or simply not marketed well. 'Course, B&N isn't coming right out and saying it, but why else would you create a comprehensive application suitable for Macs and PCs that not only puts digital textbooks into the hands of students for up to 40 percent less than conventional books, but also a full library of study aids, test prep guides, periodicals, and hundreds of thousands of trade and professional titles. Moreover, the app "provides students access to all of their materials -- eTextbooks, lecture notes, syllabi, slides, images, trade books and other course-related documents -- all in one place, so their digital library goes wherever they go." Oh, and did we mention that it also supports highlighting and notes, both of which are searchable? Yeah. Currently, Nook Study is being used in a smattering of universities, with an August rollout pegged for universal use. Lookout, used bookstore -- the end could be nigh.
Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Barnes & Noble Nook potentially in trouble
Looks like the battle for e-reader dominance between Amazon and Barnes & Noble could soon expand beyond the recent spate of price drops and into the courtroom as well: the USPTO just granted a 2006 Amazon patent on e-readers with secondary LCD displays (like the original Kindle's scroller-navigation panel), and several of the claims are potentially broad enough to cover the Nook and many other devices with both electronic paper and LCD displays. What's more, Amazon agreed not to file for any corresponding foreign patents during the four-year approval process and thus wasn't required to publish the patent application -- meaning this is likely a complete surprise to the entire industry. Yeah, it's juicy. Here's one of the claims that could cause problems for Barnes & Noble -- in plain English, it potentially covers any device with both an electronic paper display and a second smaller LCD display next to it. A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display. That's pretty sweeping -- it doesn't take much to look at the Nook and see that it has both an electronic ink display and a smaller LCD located next to it. Now, we don't know if Amazon has any plans to actually sue anyone over this patent yet, but we're guessing there's a flurry of legal activity happening at all the major e-reader manufacturers right now, and we're definitely curious to see what the fallout looks like -- remember, Barnes & Noble is already involved in a trade secret dispute over the Nook with Spring Design, which claims that B&N saw its Alex reader under NDA and then copied it for the Nook. That case isn't scheduled to wrap up before November, so there's a chance B&N and Spring Design could end up simultaneously fighting each other in one case while taking on Amazon as allies in another, which would be... messy. We'll see what happens -- while we've no doubt Barnes & Noble will put up a serious fight if it comes to that, we're curious to see if the shift away from e-reader development to general-use tablets hastens as the market contracts, margins shrink, and the cost of litigation becomes prohibitive. The ball's very definitely in Amazon's court now -- stay tuned. [Thanks, Anand]
Pandigital Novel preview
Sure, Pandigital's Novel may be delayed until next month because of some firmware issues -- and we haven't heard the most positive things about the 7-inch LCD based e-reader / tablet -- but we had to check it out for ourselves. At $179.99 $149, the all-plastic reader isn't going to win any build quality awards (it's also rather heavy for what it is), but the Android 2.1-powered gadget does have a pretty attractive user interface. In use, however, the resistive screen had to be pressed quite firmly to make selections and the software was noticeably sluggish. Surprisingly, the device did play a standard definition video smoothly and it has an accelerometer -- which is more than the Archos 7 Home Tablet can brag. Barnes & Noble's eBookstore will be preloaded, and it also has a skinned Android browser of some sort. We've got a short hands-on video after the break, but you've got the picture here: the Novel isn't what we'd call novel, you just get what you pay for. %Gallery-96241%
Barnes and Noble Nook firmware version 1.4 now available
Barnes and Noble sure is busy today. If you're a Nook owner, you're going to want to get on the update they've just unleashed pretty quickly. Version 1.4 includes a couple of pretty important fixes -- including the much-need "go to page" feature, an extra large font size, and support for AT&T WiFi. That's right, the next time you wander into an AT&T hotspot you'll be Nooking for free. The Nook firmware version 1.4 update is available now (and we've included a direct link to the download below if you really want to check that out).
$149 WiFi-only Nook confirmed, 3G price dropped to $199 (update: official)
Turns out all our snooping was spot on with this one. We first spotted a simpler, cheaper Nook making its way through the FCC late last month, and then only last night we got tipped off to a $150 price point for the e-reader sans cellular connection. Now Best Buy has confirmed the whole thing with its listing of the BNRV100 model, which comes in over $100 cheaper than Barnes and Noble's original ($259), although Best Buy has seen fit to give that a price trim as well. We like where this is going, especially if it triggers B&N's competitors to lower their own fees. [Thanks, Paul] Update: Barnes and Noble has now gone fully official with its new $149 Nook. The 3G version has taken a price drop to $199 as well, matching the pricing indicated by Best Buy. B&N is today also outing its firmware version 1.4, which allows the free use of AT&T wireless hotspots everywhere.
WiFi-only Nook surfaces in Barnes and Noble database, costs $149?
We knew it was coming, but not how soon, and we'd only guessed at a price. Today a tipster sent over this screenshot, however, clearly showing a Nook WiFi on Wednesday for $149. While internal databases aren't the most reliable source for release dates even assuming the screenshot is legit, we'll know for sure in just days. The question now is how Kobo stacks up. Update: Google's dropping some $149 - $199 hints about the new Nooks in its sponsored ads as well. See a sample after the break. [Thanks, Joseph]
