nook
Latest
Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review
More Info Barnes & Noble Nook WiFi review Amazon Kindle Touch review Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet...fight! It's a plague against modern marriage, turning husband against wife, and tearing families apart. It's America's number one problem in the bedroom (according to handy stat sheets passed out by Barnes & Noble, at least): light. Spouses are leaving the light on, attempting to read past their designated bedtime, keeping their partners awake and putting a potentially insurmountable strain on their marital bonds. The solution: Divorce? Trial separations? Mariticide? A clunky, clip-on reading light? Until now these were the best -- nay, only -- solutions to the problem of reading after dark. All of that is about to change, thankfully, as Barnes & Noble readies the release of the new Nook Simple Touch, with the company's patent-pending GlowLight technology. The addition of after-dark reading capabilities is the most significant update to the company's e-reader, which otherwise remains largely unchanged from last year's model. Is it enough to keep the Nook on top of the e-reader heap for another year? Meet us past the break to find out -- that is, if you're not afraid of the dark.
Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight shipping this week, B&N warns of limited supply
So much for waiting until May to get your hands on some glowing, Nooky goodness. Barnes & Noble let us know today that the admittedly somewhat clunkily named Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is slipping out ahead of schedule. The light up e-reader starts shipping this week for those who've already pre-ordered a unit and will continue to ship throughout the month. Apparently in-store units will be a bit fewer and further between, however -- the company announced that the device will be available in "limited quantities" when it hits stores early next month. So, if you don't want to make your mom cry this Mother's Day, the company's recommending that you jump on the pre-order bandwagon soonish. Of course, it couldn't hurt to give our review a peek first, just to make sure.
Nook Audio pops up on Barnes & Noble's site, with no e-ink to speak of
What the heck? Did Barnes & Noble score a deal with Dr. Dre? Is the whole reading thing just not doing it for the company anymore? Whatever the case may be, it seems that the Nook name is ready to branch out a bit from the e-reader space. After first appearing in name alone on the very suspicious date of April 1st, the Nook Audio has finally been pictured -- and it looks a heck of a lot like branded headphones. We've reached out to the company for comment. We'll let you know when we get to the bottom of this one. Update: Barnes & Noble has responded to our earlier inquiry with a a big 'ole "no comment." Update 2: How 'bout some buds to go with your new set of cans? [Thanks, Tyler]
NOOK for iPad now with Retina content, improved highlighting features
Better late than never, right? Only a couple of weeks after its rival Kindle, the NOOK app is finally ready to join the new iPad's pixel-packed party. While the main feature is obviously its Retina display compatibility, version 3.1.3 also brings an improved Highlight feature for books, the ability to read in one or two columns when in landscape mode and the enigmatic bug fixes. The refreshed app is up for grabs now, and you can snag it directly from your iPad or via the source link below.
Barnes & Noble establishes German base: Will the Nook visit Europe?
While Americans have more than one way to consume those e-ink verses, those in the old country are largely stuck with Amazon's still-expanding Kindle family or e-reader hardware lacking the clout of a publisher. But Europeans may get the chance to pick up a Nook in the future, following news that Barnes & Noble has filed for a new digital company in Germany. Add in the publisher's recent (and slightly bizarre) meet-up in London with app developers and it looks likely that we'll be seeing some European presence from the bookseller in the future -- hopefully with all the associated content already seen on the other side of the Atlantic.
How would you change the Nook Tablet?
It's hard not to make a series of reductive comparisons between the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire. After all, it's the conflict between Barnes & Noble and Amazon that frames these two 7-inch tablet / e-reader hybrids. When released, this one was $50 more expensive, but is technically more impressive: you get more expandability, it's faster and the screen is better for images and video. Statistically, at least three out of every ten e-book readers purchased were Nooks, so plenty of you out there use 'em. What we want to know, is what are they like to use on a daily basis? What little gripes did we not pick up during our week-long review and, if William Lynch was reading what you had to say, what would you change?
Conde Nast to track iPad readership
It's been two long years for advertisers working with Conde Nast and their digital magazines. Until now, the publication has provided advertisers with only minimal details on its digital readership. An AdAge report suggests this is all about the change. Because of the newness of the medium, Conde Nast had to develop new tools and new ways to gather significant data from iPad, Kindle and Nook readers. The publishing company has ironed out some of the kinks and is ready to provide regular data on: the magazine's paid tablet subscriptions and single-copy sales during the reporting period the number of readers that actually opened the issue's tablet edition, including print subscribers using their complimentary digital access the total number of times that readers opened it and the time that readers spent with it The is welcome news to advertisers like Robin Steinberg, Executive Vice President and Director of publishing investment and activism at MediaVest, who said, "There is no doubt this is not only a good move but the right move."
PSA: Nook Tablet can be repartitioned in-store, Android app adds comic support
Did you take umbrage with Barnes & Noble's efforts to hoard all your Nook Tablet storage for its own content? Well, the book seller has made good on its promise to reassign a portion of your 16GB hard drive, opening up 8GB for personal content and leaving 5.5GB for Nook Shop content. As we said before, you'll need to physically take your Nook Tablet to the bricks and mortar outlets to get the storage tweak. Readers that decided to go for other Android-laced tablets have also been gifted with a Nook app update, adding support for comics and related graphical literature -- just make sure that the slab is running Android 2.2 or higher.
Nook Simple Touch gets upgrade to fix WiFi issues, offers 'minor enhancements'
Remember the Nook Simple Touch WiFi issues we told you about, way back when? Barnes & Noble promised that it was working "diligently" to address the connectivity problems, and now it seem that help has arrived. A rep for the company confirmed that a fix is among the "minor system enhancements" promised in the 1.1.2 upgrade for the e-reader. WiFi connected devices will start receiving the upgrade this week. If you're amongst those who can't connect -- or if you're just a bit antsy -- click the source link for a manual download. Let us know if the upgrade did the trick in the comments below.
Dark Horse Comics graphic novels coming to Nook Tablet and Nook Color
Dark Horse Comics has penciled a contract with Barnes & Noble (it'll be sent off to be inked and colored next week*) to get the former's content onto the latter's Tablet and Color e-readers. Available in the Nook Comic store, you'll be able to pick up a mix of the publisher's licensed titles like Mass Effect and Star Wars as well as home-grown fare like Hellboy and Sin City. The range will gently expand month-on-month and is available from today, with titles priced around $10 depending on what you want. * This is a comic book joke.
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 offers to repartition Nook Tablet storage, concedes you may need more than 1GB
Are you one of the many infuriated with Barnes & Noble over how it partitioned the storage on the Nook Tablet -- leaving you just 1GB for you own files? Well, it looks like the company has learned from its mistakes. While only about 5GB is free to load with apps and media on the new 8GB model, just 1GB of that is reserved for Nook Store content. That's in stark contrast to the 16GB version which set aside a full 12GB for Nook Store downloads. Thankfully, B&N is offering to retroactively fix the boondoggle. If you visit a brick and mortar shop starting March 12th, a support rep will gladly help you repartition the internal storage, freeing up more than just one of the 13 available gigabytes for personal use. Having to bring it to the store is a bit of pain, but we suppose it's better that getting stuck with 12GB of Angry Birds and e-books.
Twitter's Android and iOS app get updates; out on Kindle Fire now, Nook soon
The official Twitter app has just received an update on iOS and Android, bringing new features to both platforms, plus an "optimized" Ice Cream Sandwich experience as seen above. The app is also currently available on Amazon's Appstore for the Kindle Fire now, and the company says it will pop up in the Barnes & Noble Nook Store February 23rd. For both Android and IOS the app has brought back / added a swipe gesture to reply to, reweet or favorite something without leaving your timeline, plus a notification on the Find Friends feature that it will be uploading their address book to Twitter's server -- a welcome change after the Path fiasco. The iOS-specific changes are the return of copy and paste, more options to share or save links in tweets, a mark all read for DMs and configurable font sizes. While it is optimized for ICS, on our CyanogenMod 9 tablet, the layout still looked reminiscent of the Gingerbread version instead of the iPad's richer layout. Hit the source links below to give it a look yourself and let us know if it's beating out your favorite mobile app yet.
Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears
It's that time of the year when Barnes & Noble's accountants reveal the figures for the quarter to determine if the age of print is over. Turns out there's some good news for bookseller. Overall sales for the chain increased five percent: the company took $2.4 billion through the cash registers. That was split $1.49 billion (up two percent) in high-street retail, online sales took $420 million (up 32 percent year-on-year) and the Nook in all its forms and glories took $542 million (up 38 percent). The only grey cloud was that sales in college-only stores dropped three percent, thanks in part to renting textbooks to impecunious freshmen. They're probably all using that money on buying digital content on their Nooks: digital content purchases increased by 85 percent in a single quarter. Like rival Amazon, it wouldn't release how many devices were sold, except to say it likely maintained its market share. However, all of that (pretty) good news is a bit of a smokescreen: B&N won't reveal its profits after interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization has been deducted. Pre ITDA income dropped 12 percent from the same period in 2011 and the company has revealed that the BN.com and Nook businesses made a combined loss of $94 million, with annual income looking to be in negative figures. Update: A tidbit from the conference call, the company believes the device currently holds around 30 percent of the overall e-reader market: using numbers direct from the publishers themselves.
Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169
Looks like those murmurings of a lower-priced Nook Tablet with only 8GB of storage were right on, though, the reduced RAM was conveniently left out. In most ways it seems the updated Android slate is identical to its 16GB forebearer, except that by slashing the storage and memory in half Barnes & Noble has managed to meet the Kindle Fire on price -- $199. And, unlike the Fire, the Nook sports a microSD slot, so the loss of 8GB of storage isn't necessarily a huge deal. In addition to the new Nook Tablet, the Color is getting a rather significant price cut to just $169, making it cheaper than the Kindle Touch without ads. Looks like the brick-and-mortar stalwart has finally thrown down the pricing gauntlet. The lower-priced tab is available today both online and in Barnes & Noble stores, with other retailers to join the parade soon. Check out the complete PR after the break.
Nook Tablet coming to Walmart with less storage and a lower price tag?
One of the things that has kept the Nook Tablet from hitting Kindle Fire-like heights has been the price tag. Sure, $250 is super cheap for a rather well specced slate, but when the Amazon's entry is a full $50 cheaper it spells trouble. Now it looks like B&N is getting ready to tangle a little more directly with the online retail giant by cutting the Nook Tablet's storage in half to 8GB and slashing the price. Details are pretty slim at the moment, but it does appear that Walmart will be selling the device starting February 22nd, this Wednesday. Sadly, we'll have to wait till then to find out just how much cheaper it'll be and, whether or not the Color will be receiving a corresponding price drop.
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]
ITC judge throws out Barnes and Noble's patent defense against Microsoft
Microsoft's patent dispute with Barnes and Noble is likely far from over, but the spat saw some movement today, when a judge at the International Trade Commission rejected the bookseller's patent misuse claim. In his ruling, ITC Judge Theodore Essex threw out B&N's argument that Microsoft is misusing its patents against Android, effectively nullifying the company's major defense against Redmond. Microsoft, as you'll recall, is targeting the retailer and its Nook e-reader for allegedly infringing upon a (declining) number of its Android-related patents. Essex's decision is still subject to review from a six-member panel, but Microsoft is already heralding his decision as an early victory. "Today's action by the ITC makes clear that Barnes & Noble's patent misuse defense was meritless," Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard said in a statement. "This case is only about one thing -- patent infringement by Barnes & Noble's Android-based devices." Barnes and Noble, meanwhile, said it has no comment. A full trial on the case is scheduled to begin on February 6th.
Barnes & Noble readying 'e-reading device' for spring, doesn't want to talk about it
Oh spring, flowers blooming, bees buzzing, the smell of new e-readers in the air. According to The New York Times, the folks over at Barnes & Noble's digital team are putting the finishing touches on a "fifth e-reading device," to be released during the aforementioned season. Not a lot of details on that at the moment -- the bookseller's not spilling the beans. Given last year's release schedule, timing-wise the device would fall closer in line with the company's e-ink line of products, so perhaps the non-tablet Nook line still has a bit of fight left in it, after all.
Nook Tablet gets easy root shortcut via SD card (video)
As the (admittedly niche) battle for root access wages on between the Nook Tablet creators and its end users, a new shortcut's been discovered for unlocking the Android-based slab -- and you'll need an SD card to do the business. The new technique, courtesy of xda-developers forum member Indirect, works on all tablets up to version 1.4.1, requiring the installation of some key files onto the card and a reboot to unleash the might of Google's Android Market. Those interested in a Google app hook-up for their Nook should check the video below and visit the source for those all-important files.
