Nook Simple Touch
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Hack enables fast refresh mode on Nook Simple Touch (video)
As anyone who's used an e-reader knows, page refreshes aren't the most elegant feature of E Ink. Well, if you've got a Nook Simple Touch a hack released by XDA Developers member marspeople could put an end to your page-changing woes. You'll need to root your device and install an .apk, then simply activate fast refresh mode by a four-tap gesture -- sadly, not the Konami code. What is impressive, is just how fast the screen refreshing actually is. Fluidly browsing documents and the web on e-readers suddenly has the potential to be a whole lot less frustrating. Check the video after the break to see a demo, and touch the source link below if you want in on the fun.[Thanks, Nate]
Barnes & Noble confirms Nook Simple Touch upgrade WiFi issues, fix coming
Been having WiFi troubles ever since you gave your Nook Simple Touch the old 1.1 upgrade? You are not alone. Barnes & Noble confirmed what e-reader forum frequenters have known since last year -- the firmware upgrade has done a number on some users' connectivity. The bookseller told us that it's aware of the issue and that its team is working "diligently" to address the issue. In the meantime, enjoy the video of a corgi puppy embedded after the break. [Thanks, Dina]
Nook Simple Touch gets USB host mode support via hack, plays nice with low-power devices (video)
Codemonkeys exhibiting the kindness of strangers? Why, yes, this is such a tale. When XDA Developers member verygreen came across the pleas of one user obsessed with attaching an external USB keyboard to an eReader, he did what any decent hacker would and created a workable solution. Using a loaned Nook Simple Touch, this self-styled Make-A-Wish Hack was able to patch Barnes & Noble's existing kernel, which already supported USB host mode, and send commands over ADB to enable the connection. It's not a foolproof workaround, though, as only low-power devices will function without additional juice and even so, at a great cost to the greyscale device's battery life. Sure, this may not excite you much, but it's certainly made for one very satisfied forum dweller out there in cyberland. After all, isn't that what haxxors are for?
Nook Simple Touch upgrade hands-on (video)
The Tablet may have gotten most of the glory at today's Nook event, but there was plenty of love to go around across the line. The Color got some solid multimedia upgrades, courtesy of Hulu Plus, Pandora, Rhapsody and the like, and the Nook Touch -- now known as the Nook Simple Touch -- received a few bumps of its own, beyond that price drop to $99. The Nook Simple Touch 1.1 software upgrade brings among other things, longer battery life -- which, for obvious reasons, we can't actually test effectively at the moment. According to B&N, you should get two months of battery life reading an hour per day post-upgrade, versus up to two months reading half an hour each day pre-upgrade. The upgrade also promises a crisper display, and holding a pre- and post-upgrade Nook next to each other, the difference is certainly detectable. It's not a huge difference, but the slightly darker text does improve the reading experience, over all. Also on the list of improvements is a faster turn rate. Indeed, there is a slight difference, with the updated reader scrolling through a bit faster (though the two readers did go back and forth as we had them scroll through a book) -- the upgrade, according to B&N, will save you a fraction of a second per page, so don't expect to be wowed on that front. Both readers have roughly the same refresh rate, doing a full page refresh every six pages or so. All in all, some welcome changes to a nicely discounted reader, making the Nook Simple Touch a solid contender for this holiday. Video of the page turns after the break.
Nook Simple Touch seeing price drop to $99, touts 'no annoying ads'
Who says a friendly jab is unwarranted? A leaked Barnes & Noble's slide that slipped into our hands has confirmed that the touch-enabled Nook (now formally know as the Nook Simple Touch) will fall from $139 to $99 as early as November 16th, bringing with it a v1.1 software update that's largely unheralded for now. In the paperwork, B&N claims that this guy offers "25 percent faster page turns than any other e-reader, a two-month battery life built-in WiFi, and no annoying ads." Man, Amazon. Are you really going to sit back and take that? %Gallery-138390%
B&N cutting Nook Color price to $199, adding Hulu Plus and more streaming music
So, if the looming Nook Tablet's retailing for $249, what's that mean for the Nook Color? A price drop, naturally. Based on leaked slides that we've received, the Nook Color will be dropping to $199 by November 16th, but the $50 price savings ain't all that B&N's throwing your way. The Nook Color v1.4 update will bring along some pretty intense extras, including the addition of Hulu Plus, "millions of songs" from services like Rhapsody, Grooveshark, Pandora and MOG and a litany of new tailored apps (with Scrabble called out in particular). Decisions, decisions...
