The Nook Color from Barnes & Noble is finally on sale in Staples. Staples is the exclusive office superstore to carry the product, and it will be available both in-store and at Staples.com.
The Nook Color is a 7 inch eBook reader with over 2 million books, magazines and newspapers, and access to social networking and e-mail on the device.
Barnes and Nobles, who have been hanging on tightly to their Nook reader has finally decided to release an app on an Apple device, an move that Amazon was smart enough to do years ago with the release of their Amazon Kindle App. Purportedly the Kindle app does very well on Apple devices, and now with the iPad’s iBookstore, what type of reception will the BN app have on the iPad?
The BN eReader will stand up to some stiff competition in an already saturated market, but variety is the spice of life, right? It’ll be interesting to see how many people are swayed to this app and if habits will change from what they are already using currently.
In an excerpt from their announcement:
BN eReader for iPad is designed to offer an easy, yet sophisticated, customizable reading experience. Users can choose from multiple ways to view their library, including professionally designed themes with elegant and complementary text and page colors, as well as fonts; and instantly switch between portrait and landscape views based on personal preference. BN eReader for iPad users can further personalize their reading experience with unparalleled options: literally millions of colors for text, pages, highlights and links; eight typefaces and five text sizes; and a variety of margins and customizable spacing options.
What I see as a huge win for the app is the support of the Nook’s “LendMe” technology, which allows users to share certain eBooks with their friends. This is made easier with the integration of the iPad’s address book. The book loan is good for 14 days, which is more than enough time to introduce the reader to a new author, series, or genre which BN hopes will be enough to drive sales.
A similar app has been available on the iPhone and iTouch as of last year, but still so late to the game, I’m personally not aware of anyone using the BN app, with the majority opting to use the Amazon Kindle app instead. Do you have a preference and if so, are you a fan of the BN app?
This new e-reader is definitely going to turn some heads. It feels like I’m writing a lot about tablets and touch devices and today is no different. It’s time for the Kindle and Nook to take a back seat to this amazing piece of viewing technology which functions as a full fledged e-reader touting a screen size of 11.5 inches with a resolution of 1200 x 1600. This reader is not for the feint of heart.
Unlike the past e-readers, including the Nook and Kindle, the Skiff Reader uses LG’s “Metal Foil” e-paper technology to bring you crystal clarity that is unparallel in readers of this size. Both the Nook and Kindle use a glass touch surface which makes it much for fragile and susceptible to breaking. This added bonus makes it much more travel friendly and a great reader option for the clumsy.
The device is expected to be sold via Sprint on their 3G network. The device which sports the wi-fi connectivity of its predecessors will also have the ability to download from a virtual store. The reader also offers benefits for publishers looking to put content on the reader. You can find information on publisher benefits here.
Skiff Reader sports an 11.5 in. touch surface.
Barnes & Noble, the popular publishing company, released a competitor to the Amazon Kindle in late November called the Nook. It was equipped with 3G capabilities and WiFi as well as other similar features such as an ink screen and matt finish to avoid glare.
However, fans of the device (who run a site called NookDevs) just released a guide which enables users to easily hack the device. And it really is quite simple. Even a novice user could do it.
All that is required of the user is to pop open the device and remove the memory card. There are then some changes to be made via a PC (namely gaining root access to the operating system) and then the card is re-inserted. You can find the instructions here.
