Last Friday, Amazon sent out invites to a press conference being held this coming Wednesday. They didn’t give away any details in the invite, but given our scoop earlier this month, everyone assumed it was to unveil the new Kindle tablet. We can now confirm this is correct. And we know a bit more.
On Wednesday morning in New York City, Amazon will unveil the Kindle Fire. Yes, this is the name Amazon has settled on, to help differentiate the product from the e-ink Kindles, which will still be very much alive and for sale. And while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will show off the Fire on stage, it won’t be ready to ship until the second week of November, we’ve learned. → Read More
The ninjas at The Digital Reader have uncovered the names of two new Nook Color versions – the Encore, priced at $249, and the Acclaim, priced at $349. The Nook Touch (now called the Nook Smart Touch) will remain $139.
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The full line of Nook wares are hitting Radio Shack stores and RadioShack.com beginning October 3. The Nook will join the Kindle and a dozen generic ereaders within the 3,000 Radio Shack locations and select franchises throughout the US. These stores will carry both the Nook Touch and the Nook Color along with a likely stunted line of accessories. → Read More
Although it is free to develop for the B&N Nook Color’s homegrown version of Android, the company is courting devs who may or may not be as comfortable with the vagaries of Android development by selecting Appcelerator as a partner to help “accelerate” app development for the platform.
Appcelerator makes Titanium mobile, an IDE that focuses on web devs rather than hardcore coders. It is a cross-platform development system that allows you to create apps for multiple devices using languages like PHP, Ruby, and standard HTML and has already been used in NBC’s iPad app, among others. → Read More
It’s called simply the “Amazon Kindle”. But it’s not like any Kindle you’ve seen before. It displays content in full color. It has a 7-inch capacitive touch screen. And it runs Android.
Rumors of Amazon making a full-fledged tablet device have persisted for a while. I believe we were one of the first to report on the possibility from a credible source — the same person who accurately called Amazon’s Android Appstore. That source was dead-on again, it just took Amazon longer than anticipated to get the device ready to go. They’re now close.
How do I know all of this? Well, not only have I heard about the device, I’ve seen it and used it. And I’m happy to report that it’s going to be a big deal. Huge, potentially. → Read More
At the beginning of the year, Apple said it wanted 30% of everything sold through the iPad platform. You could sell almost anything – books, downloadable content, magazines, pictures of kittens – but, according to their subscription rules, everything had to go through Apple itself and you could not, in short, go out to a web page to complete the transaction. That promise – to shut down external web stores on the iPad – has been fulfilled and the Nook, Kindle, Kobo, and Google Books apps have just been either drastically changed or removed from the App Store entirely. → Read More
Got an “old” ereader you want to “upgrade?” Get yourself a Nook and B&N will throw in $315 worth of free books, 30 titles in all, including “Glory in the Fall: The Greatest Moments in World Series History, 21st Century Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me” along with some public domain titles. There are some cook books in there and a few other interesting titles but it’s not like you’re going to score a complete Stephen King library or anything.
Beginning Friday, while supplies last, customers will receive a free, 2GB microSD card loaded with 30 NOOK Books – from cooking and lifestyle to classics and reference –when they show a bookseller their old device and purchase the NOOK reader that best suits them.
Just last week we posted a video of the new Nook (which we just reviewed) running Angry Birds. Not exactly the best match for an e-paper display, but it does show that the underlying Android install is sound and functional. Further proof comes this weekend, with forum-dwelling hackers installing the ADW Launcher home screen and even the Kindle app on it. → Read More
The folks at Punchtab, eager as beavers to get their products into your hands, want to send you a new Nook. Why? They’re in love with you and you won’t accept their love, so they’re in the friend zone and you refuse to pay attention to their attempts to win your heart. It’s like 16 Candles only with start-ups.
Anyway, here’s how to win. → Read More
Short Version: After a few days with the new Nook I was hooked. It is a pure reading experience condensed into a device the size of a paperback and with a super-crisp e-ink touchscreen. The Nook is, in short, the best e-reader from a major player I’ve used thus far and is well ahead of its competitors in terms of usability and form factor. → Read More
The new Nook (colloquially called the Nook Touch) runs Android underneath that crunchy black and white book interface, so Nook hacker JFreke decided to root it and see if something like Angry Birds will run. Lo and behold, it does. Very, very poorly. But it’s still awesome, in a really shabby way. → Read More
We just posted our hands-on with the new touchscreen Nook e-reader, and we’ll have a full review in a couple days — but if you can’t wait (or don’t care what we think), B&N has actually started selling the things ahead of schedule. Pre-orders have shipped, online orders are shipping now, and devices will be in-store on Thursday and in stock on Monday. Thinking about whether to buy this or the new Kobo eReader Touch? I’ll have both on hand in about a week, so if you hold tight I’ll be doing a head-to-head comparison. → Read More
I have egg on my face, hands, and in my hair. Last year I called a premature end to the ereader race, stating that the Kindle was first to market and therefore in first place. I’m pleased to report that I was wrong.
The new Nook is without question the best standalone Wi-Fi ereader on the market. Note that I added a few weasel words there, and if you’re looking for 3G then the Kindle 3G is still a winner, but as a reading device the Nook is nonpareil. → Read More
Amazon is now offering the Kindle 3G, originally $190, for $164 with “offers.” This new version integrates 3G wireless alongside Wi-Fi, something the new Nook pointedly does not have. This new version will also include offers aka advertisements, allowing you to see a bit of flimflammery with your regularly scheduled ebook.
The Kindle Wi-Fi with offers costs $114, twenty dollars less than the Wi-Fi Nook. Both are available now.
We’ll soon have both of these new e-reader devices for review, but a quick comparison seems in order since they’re so similar on paper. Both are going to be available in early June, and both promise a frills-free touchable reading experience. How do they differ? Let’s run down the specs and see what happens. → Read More
I’m a big fan of my Kindle DX. It’s literally my favorite gadget. I love the form factor, the large screen, the relatively good battery life and the keyboard. Amazon could eliminate any of those items and my love would still be just as strong. The Kindle DX is perfect in my eyes. It’s so perfect that just the thought of Amazon ditching the buttons in favor of a touchscreen pains me as deeply as The Road.
That’s the trend now: touchscreen e-ink screens. Within the last 24 hours, Kobo and Barnes & Noble introduced models with new touchscreen e-ink displays. It’s a fantastic step in low-power consuming displays with really quick page refreshes and battery life. The new Nook has a 2-month battery. All good. Even the touchscreen is great technology with good-enough sensitivity. But I don’t want it in my next Kindle. → Read More
We’re coming at you live from the Barnes & Noble superstore/cafe/public bathroom on Union Square where we hope to see an update to the Nook line. It’s my understanding that we’ll be seeing a new Nook Color Device with priced at about $140. Update this page as we live blog the event with bated breath. → Read More
Well, after several leaks, an SEC filing, and random speculation from random bloggers, Barnes & Noble just sent out an invite for a Special Announcement. Ready for more random speculation from a random blogger? Here! We! Go! → Read More
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