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Barnes & Noble offers 30 free e-books to switch to Nook -- that's one expensive carrot
It seems dangling deals to lure consumers away from competitors is all the rage these days, and Barnes & Noble has jumped on the make-the-switch bandwagon, offering $315 worth of e-books to prospective buyers of its Nook e-reader. Starting today, when owners of those other devices tote their current e-readers into a Barnes & Noble store and buy themselves a new Nook or Nook Color, they'll get 30 free eBooks, with an apparent value of $315. Here's the catch -- because, you know there had to be one -- Barnes & Noble's won't let you pick the books for yourself. Those 30 free eBooks will come pre-loaded on a 2GB microSD card. If you've got the taste of a corporate marketing team, and have been waiting for a reason to get in on the Nook action, check out the source link for more details. Full PR after the break.
Barnes & Noble Nook WiFi review
Many who follow the e-reader market keep coming back to the same question: how long does it realistically have left? The explosion of tablets and reader apps for smartphones have left their respective impacts on the space, while the market for devoted readers continues to be dominated by Amazon's Kindle. Undaunted, both Kobo and Barnes & Noble launched new black and white e-readers based around the same touch and display technologies last week. After all, despite increased competition from outside the space, the reader market continues to be a vibrant one -- and after the Nook Color proved it was an undercover tablet all along, Barnes and Noble has hit back with this latest Nook as proof of its focus on one thing: reading. %Gallery-125004%
NPG, CSU partner for $49 dynamic digital textbooks
The worst part of being a college student? Pricey learning materials... they make even Ramen noodles a fancy meal. This fall, students at California State University will be at least be able to make a step up to fast food. CSU has announced a three-year deal with Nature Publishing Group for low-cost, interactive, web-based textbooks with access options for disabled students. The first to be offered is an introductory biology text, fittingly titled Principles of Biology. Students on the L.A., Northridge, and Chico campuses will each have varying payment and licensing models, but 49 bucks gets anyone a full edition starting September 1st. Professors can edit the content, which includes 175 "interactive lessons," access to a database of research papers, and assessments for students. It can all be used on any device from a slate to a computer and even printed if you prefer scribing your notes with pen and paper or won't be near an internet connection. Details are dry about future books using the system, but it looks like a promising break for college students. Still, before you get ready to ditch your books and backpack for more money and less backaches, we'd suggest skimming the press release after the break.
PSA: New Nook Color partitioning only leaves 1GB for music, other sideloaded content
If you're planning to pick up a Nook Color, keep an eye out for a little blue dot on the box -- no, they're not defective, but new models with the dot have been tweaked to make sure Barnes & Noble retains control of most of that (already limited) internal storage. Updated partitioning leaves just 1GB of internal storage for sideloaded content, such as music and movies, with the remaining 4GB reserved for content purchased from the book and app stores. Previous models allowed sideloaded content to utilize all 5GB of available storage, but the change was made "to ensure ample space for a customer's Nook Library and Nook Apps," according to B&N. We're sure you could figure out how to reclaim those extra gigs, but you won't be able to transfer your entire music library out of the box. Luckily, the Nook still has its microSD slot, allowing you to add up to 32GB of storage for music, movies, and whatever other content you need to keep yourself from using your e-reader to actually read. [Thanks, Mark]
Stream Hulu on your Nook Color, ditch Fitzgerald for Family Guy
In case you need still more distraction from using your Nook Color to, you know, read, now you can have Hulu's extensive video library at your fingertips, thanks to a simple 19-step process. Replacing the standard Adobe Flash Player with a modified version seems to work for the Nook and some other devices; users at Android Central have reported success on the Epic 4G, Thunderbolt, and Droid Incredible. When you're ready to trade One Hundred Years of Solitude for 1000 Ways To Die or 16 and Pregnant, hit the source link for detailed instructions, and see the tutorial video after the break. [Thanks, Alex]
Ebook sales in the US double year-on-year, paper books suffer double-digit losses
We doubt the world will ever get to a stage where it'll completely ditch ye olde paper books, but the US consumer market seems to clearly have its heart set on the electronic kind right now. Net ebook sales in January were this week reported to have accumulated $69.9 million in revenue for their publishers, which amounts to a 116 percent jump from last year's total for the month. During the same period, adult hardcovers were down 11.3 percent to $49.1 million and paperbacks faced a similar reduction in demand and fell to $83.6 million, a precipitous drop of 19.7 percent year-on-year. Educational and children's books weren't spared from this cull of the physical tome, either -- skip past the break to see the full statistical breakdown.
Barnes & Noble now selling the Nook Color on eBay for $199
Well, this one strikes us as a little... odd. Barnes & Noble is currently selling its Nook Color on eBay (along with plenty of other things). The truly interesting part, however, is that the price, once a $50 coupon code is applied, is $199, which is of course $50 less than it sells them for in stores or on its own website. We aren't sure what the motivation behind this move is, but we'd guess that the bookseller is attempting to compete with other, unofficial eBay retailers selling B&N's goods. Either way, if you're in the market for a Nook Color, eBay seems to be the place to get one, for now.
Nook Color review
It's hard to believe we're already writing a review of the Nook Color, considering Barnes & Noble's first foray into the e-reader world was revealed just over a year ago. In that time, the company has gone from no presence in e-books to owning 20 percent of the marketshare, and now has moved from a somewhat sluggish hybrid E-Ink / LCD device to a full color, tablet-like product. The Nook Color is definitely a major step forward, boasting a completely revamped, Android-based OS, and a big push into the children's book and periodical market (particularly full color magazines). Both of these spaces have yet to be mined successfully by players like Apple and Amazon -- and it's clear Barnes & Noble is aware of the stakes. Beyond book reading, the Nook Color potentially offers a tablet alternative that can (or will be able to) do much of what is possible on an iPad or Galaxy Tab. In fact, the company plans to launch its own Android tablet app store in the first quarter of 2011, providing a consistent, compatible application experience that could get the jump on other Android tablet-makers' plans (hello Samsung). Of course, this is a fierce market, and with a $249 price tag, Barnes & Noble has to play to win on every front. So, is the Nook Color the next logical step in e-readers? Is it a healthy alternative to more expensive tablets? And can it cement the prominent bookseller's place in a hotly contested new space? Read on for all those answers in the full Engadget review! %Gallery-107498%
3G Kindle a hit on the Chinese gray market for its ability to bypass the 'Great Firewall'?
A report this morning from the South China Morning Post claims that Amazon's 3G-boasting Kindle is selling fast on the so-called "gray" market in China because of its 3G internet connectivity and browser. The device, it seems, offers the Chinese a rare opportunity to side-step the "great Firewall" of the Chinese government, which restricts access to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Amazon does not officially sell the Kindle in China, which has the world's largest internet-connected population at 420 million. The Kindle, which seems to have been overlooked by the Chinese authorities thus far, makes use of Amazon's own network, Whispernet.
Borders enlists BookBrewer for its e-publishing portal, 'Time Cube' guy asks where to sign up
We guess that Barnes & Noble can't have all the fun, huh? You'll soon have another option for self-publishing your wildly fantastical (and wonderfully fact-free) rants: Borders has announced that it'll be using the BookBrewer platform for its new eBook publishing service. Beginning October 25, $90 will get you one ePUB format book, complete with ISBN and distribution to "all major eBook stores," including Borders and Amazon. Does that mean that your pamphlet, EARTH HAS 4 CORNER SIMULTANEOUS 4-DAY TIME CUBE IN ONLY 24 HOUR ROTATION will finally be taken seriously? Nah, probably not. PR after the break.
Study finds kids think they'd read more if they had an e-reader, drive better if they had a Porsche
Scholastic's recently released a study with some interesting findings. The company interviewed 1,045 children aged six to 17 and their parents about reading habits. One of the interesting tidbits is that the children who don't read for fun very much (once a week or less), about a third of them said they would read more if they had an e-reader. Two thirds of the entire group, however, said they wouldn't want to give up printed books entirely. Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the study also found that as children grow up, the amount of time they spend reading dramatically decreases, as time spent texting and talking on the phone increases. Hit up the source links for the entire report.
Kobo rolls out desktop application for Windows and Mac
It may be facing an uphill battle against the likes of Amazon, but it looks like Kobo's footprint is only continuing to get bigger, with it now matching Amazon with a desktop application of its own for Windows and Mac. That will naturally let you access your current library and buy new books from the Kobo eBook Store, and maintain bookmarks from your Kobo eReader or other devices using the Kobo app. Otherwise, the application is about as simple as you'd expect, with it boasting some basic font customization options and a full-screen mode for some distraction-free reading -- and it's free, of course. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the link below to download the application.
Notre Dame embarks on a paperless course with iPads
The University of Notre Dame's yearlong study of eReaders in academics is starting the school year with a bang -- a course that will use the iPad as the only textbook students need. The course is entitled Project Management, and each of the 40 students enrolled will be given an iPad to use in lieu of textbooks. The students will be encouraged to integrate their borrowed iPad into their life by syncing their iTunes library, games, and anything else they would like, and to report their findings. Project Management is a required undergraduate course for students majoring in Management Consulting, IT Management and Entrepreneurship as part of the management curriculum of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. Participants will come from a wide variety of orientations including: Business, Law, IT, Arts and Letters, Press and Institutional Equity. After the six-week course, the iPads will be given to another set of students and the second group will be studied through surveys, observations and interviews. Corey Angst, the course professor, makes the important point that the iPad will not be considered a thing unto itself, but rather one piece of of an ever increasing toolkit of resources that students will add to throughout their coursework and their lives. Therefore the study will start out as a consideration of eReaders, but organically morph into the discovery of other uses of iPads and other such devices. There will be wiki-based discussions about what the students have found to be useful and to share their discoveries with others in the class. It's quite exciting to see this sort of research being done and I'm sure that the results of this (and other studies yet to come) will make major inroads into a wide range of fields including: business, sociology, IT and literature, just to name a few. You can follow the progress of this study on a blog that has been set up for just this purpose.
iriver Story Touch edition reader shows up on fan site
It's been a while since we've heard anything from iriver on the e-reader front, so this one isn't a huge surprise. It looks like the Story is getting a nice, compact Touch edition, and while we don't have full specs yet, we do have plenty of photos, and we also know it's going to boast a 6-inch, touchscreen display (which appears to be some type of e-ink), 2GB of internal storage, with SDHC expansion up to 32GB. This one's going to be for the Korean market only, so we don't expect to get our hands on one anytime soon, but we can always dream. Another photo is below, hit the source link for more.
New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK
Let's be honest -- you saw this one coming, didn't you? Today Amazon is introducing a new reading device for e-book aficionados dubbed simply... the Kindle. The new handheld -- slated to be released on August 27th -- is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model, has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink (yep, still E Ink) screen, and will now come in two colors (graphite, like its big brother the DX, and the original white). In addition to the color changes, there will be two radio configurations available: a $139 WiFi only version, and a $189 3G version (utilizing AT&T's network, just like the last model). The screen will remain the same 6-inch size as the last two Kindles, though the company claims page turns are faster and contrast is improved. The internal storage on the device has been cranked to 4GB, and the battery life is now rated at a month with no wireless, and 10 days with wireless switched on. The company also announced plans for a UK-localized version at £109 and £149, respectively, as well as a UK e-book store. Along with the big changes, there have been minor tweaks as well -- the keyboard and five-way controls have been streamlined and altered slightly. The rocker is now more compact and flush with the device, and the side buttons have been modified in length to emphasize the forward paddles, while the back buttons have been downsized. Software wise, there are some interesting new features, the most notable being the inclusion of an "experimental" Webkit-based browser. If you're expecting future iterations to go even bolder with their multimedia capabilities, we kindly direct you to some choice quotes by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, care of WSJ: "For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets," adding later, "there are going to be 100 companies making LCD [screen] tablets... why would we want to be 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution." We had a chance to play with the device for a short while during a meeting with the company, and we can report that the Kindle is still very much the reading device you know and love (or hate, depending on your preferences). The build quality and materials used did seem slightly more polished than the previous version, and we really liked the new, more subtle rocker. We can also attest to screen refreshes and overall navigation feeling noticeably more responsive and snappy compared with the previous generation. Amazon was showing off a jacket accessory which will be made available at launch that includes a small, pull-out light for late-night reading sessions. We're sure it will please a lot of folks eager to keep their partners undisturbed while they tear through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We'll have a full review as soon as we can get our hands on the device, but for now, check out all the details in the video and PR after the break, and feast your eyes on the handful of press shots in the gallery below. %Gallery-98426%
Reading a book is faster than reading an iBook
A study conducted by usability consultant Jakob Nielsen claims that reading on e-book readers like the iPad and the Kindle still doesn't match up to the reading speed of good old printed paper. The test chose 32 people (admittedly a small sample, but one that was felt to be representative of an e-reader audience), taught them how to read on both the Kindle and the iPad, and then clocked their speed in reading through an Ernest Hemingway story on both devices, a PC-based reader, and the printed word. It turns out, according to the study, that the iPad was generally faster than the Kindle at reading speed -- about 6.2% slower than reading a normal book, compared to the Kindle's 10.7% slower than the printed word. The way it all worked out, there was no actual significant difference between the iPad and the Kindle, so the study can't say officially which one of those is faster. But the difference between the Kindle and the book was significant, so reading print is faster than e-readers so far. The iPad and the Kindle barely beat the book in ease-of-use, while the PC lagged way behind, so the study is still bullish on e-readers in general. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of reasoning on why the e-readers are slower -- is the audience just not used to them, or is there something in the mechanics that make things slower? Since e-readers can adapt for usability and your standard book is pretty much as good as it's going to get, we'll likely see the iPad overtake a printed page in usability very soon. [via PC World]
Sony cuts e-reader prices: Pocket Edition now $149
Not much of a surprise here, but it looks like you can officially include Sony in the e-book reader price wars. It's now dropped the prices on its three current models: the Pocket Edition is down from $169 to $149, the Touch Edition drops from $199 to $169, and the 3G-equipped Daily Edition is now $299 (down a full $50 from $349). As The Digital Reader blog notes, however, that still leaves Sony a bit out of step with the competition -- the Pocket Edition lacks the WiFi of the similarly-priced Nook, for instance, and the Daily Edition remains a tough sell even at $299.
iRex Technologies files for bankruptcy, partly due to US problems
It isn't throwing in the towel just yet, but things don't seem to be looking good for Netherlands-based iRex Technologies -- CEO Hans Brons has just announced that the company has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a string of problems that's led to "financial difficulties." While details are otherwise still pretty light, at least some of those problems seem to be related to the company's operations in the United States and, in particular, a delay in its DR 800 e-reader receiving FCC approval that caused iRex to miss out the holiday shopping season and fully take advantage of its deal with Best Buy. As bleak as things might be, however, Brons still seems to be keeping his chin up, saying that the "expectations are still positive."
Sony predicts digital content will overtake print 'within five years'
We can't say if there's an actual rule or not, but we're pretty sure that anyone in the e-reader business has to, at one point, make a prediction about when e-books will overtake actual books, and it looks like Sony has now come through with a big one of its own. That comes courtesy of Sony's Steve Haber, the man responsible for the company's digital reading business division, who says that: "within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content." Note that he says "digital content," not books, so we can presume that also includes magazines and newspapers, but it's still a fairly ambitious statement nonetheless. What's more, Habar also insists that there is a place for standalone e-readers alongside multi-function devices like the iPad, saying that, "it's just like digital imaging, where you can take pictures with a cellphone - and many people take pictures with cellphones - but if they want the best possible picture they'll use a point-and-shoot camera or a digital SLR."
TSA: Netbooks, e-readers and iPads can be kept inside bags during airport checks
The American Transportation Security Administration has used its blog, of all things, to inform the good people traveling to, from, and within the USA that portable computers smaller than "the standard sized laptop" need not be removed from their bags. What is the standard sized laptop, you ask? Well, we're not exactly told, but Kindles, iPads, Sony Readers, Nooks, and "Net Books" are explicitly named as being exempt from the annoying requirement to unbag your computer for the airport's prissy X-ray scanners. There's still the disclaimer that staff might want to take a second look at anomalous-looking gear, but for the most part you'll be just fine leaving that Eee PC in your backpack while making the barefoot jaunt through security.
