Find eBook Readers Blog » Barnes and Noble

B&N will not sell books published by Amazon

Richard — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:17:13 +0000

Don’t look for any fence mending to take place anytime soon between the two largest competitors in the digital reading space in the US. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Barnes & Noble will no longer sell any books published by Amazon’s publishing imprints in its stores. B&N is irate about Amazon’s growing list of exclusive ebook publishing deals.

To be sure there are a few books that are available in digital format from B&N but not from Amazon, but these are few and far between and the number of exclusives at the Kindle Store vastly outweighs those available at the Nook Store.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s stock price is taking a hit today after the company reported lower than expected revenue for the last quarter, although the company’s profit was higher than expected.

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B&N offers discounts on Nook with NYT & People subs

Richard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:33:45 +0000

Barnes & Noble is currently offering a free Nook Simple Touch ereader or a Nook Color for $99 (regular price $199) with the purchase of a one-year Nook subscription to the New York Times. The Nook version of the NYT costs $19.99 per month and includes access to The Times’ website.

With the purchase of a one-year Nook subscription to People magazine comes a $50 discount on a Nook Tablet, bringing the price down to $199. People is a weekly publication and the digital subscription price is $9.99 per month. The digital version does have some exclusive content not included in the print version of the magazine.

Both offers start today and run through Mar 9, 2012. The subscriptions can be initiated online at the links above and the Nook will then either be shipped out or can be picked up at a local store.

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B&N and Kobo holiday sales results; Nook may be spun off & go international

Richard — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:36:33 +0000

eReaders and ebooks were hot sellers this holiday season, and not just at Amazon. Barnes & Noble reports that sales of its Nook devices were up by 70% over last year, while digital content sales were up by 113%. B&N says that it sold more Nook Tablets than expected but that sales of the Nook Simple Touch were below projections.

B&N’s digital business may be surging but its brick and mortar stores are seeing little growth, even now that with Borders out of the picture there is less competition. B&N is forecasting a 1% increase in comparative store sales for 2012.

Barnes & Noble says that it is exploring options for separating its Nook business and expanding it abroad.

"We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "In NOOK, we’ve established one of the world’s best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that’s growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future."

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Kobo also reports a record breaking holiday season with a tenfold increase in new customers and a near doubling of total registered users as compared to the pre-holiday period. Kobo’s ereaders and ebooks are available internationally and some of its strongest gains were in Europe and parts of Asia.

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An internationally available set of Nook ereaders is not, of course, good news for either Kobo or Sony. The other smaller ereader manufacturers that have failed to compete successfully in the North American market will also not be overjoyed at this news.

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Trade in a 1st gen Nook ereader & get $50 gift card at B&N

Richard — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:50:15 +0000

Barnes & Noble is offering owners of the original Nook ereader a $50 B&N gift card if they trade it in for one of the newer B&N ereaders. This offer is good in stores only through Dec 24 and applies to purchases of the Nook Simple Touch e-ink based ereader, Nook Tablet and Nook Color.

B&N has also finally enabled the gifting of Nook Books and apps. Ebooks at the Nook Book store now have a ‘Buy as Gift’ button under the ‘Buy Now’ button. A notification and personalized message are sent to the recipient’s email address instantly. Amazonand Kobogive one the option to choose a specific delivery date for gifted ebooks — Barnes & Nobel is not quite there yet.

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VIZ digital manga debut exclusively at Nook Comics Store for Nook Tablet and Nook Color

Richard — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:36:30 +0000

Digital manga from VIZ Media, the largest distributer and publisher of anime and manga in North America, are now available exclusively at the Nook Comics Store for the Nook Color and Nook Tablet.

At launch the collection will include 18 series comprised of 107 volumes. Initial titles will include Shojo Beat, Shonen Sunday and the VIZ Signature imports. New issues will be available weekly.

Pinch to zoom is supported and to maintain authenticity the manga are formatted to be read from right to left. Pricing is $4.99 – $9.99.

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B&N updates Nook Color; Amazon promises to update & improve Kindle Fire

Richard — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:10:48 +0000

Barnes & Noble today released a major update for the Nook Color. This is the update that was promised at the unveiling of the Nook Tablet and brings over 100 feature enhancements including streaming video from Netflix (you have to install the Netflix app from the Store – the update does not install it) and Flixter. At long last NC users will also be able to read their books in landscape mode if they so choose. B&N has also increased the number of font sizes and enhanced the PDF viewing experience. B&N has launched a Nook Comics store for fans of graphic novels.

Software update v1.4.1 can be downloaded and manually installed or it will begin rolling out OTA next week. Some users who have rooted their Nook Color or have run CM7 from an SD card in the past are reporting problems with the update. Nook Devs has instructions for several methods for unrooting the Nook Color that may help.

Today only Barnes & Noble is giving a free $25 B&N gift card and free shipping to customers who purchase a Nook Color, Nook Tablet or Nook Simple Touch online with a MasterCard.

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Meanwhile, the NYT was told by Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener that the Kindle Fire will be getting an update within a couple of weeks. The update will reportedly address performance and multitouch navigation issues.

Some of the more common complaints about the Kindle Fire are the power button, which is very easy to accidently turn off; no hard volume control buttons; occasionally the touchscreen can be unresponsive when tapping on links, etc.; and pinch-to-zoom does not work on some web pages. The Carousel has also garnered a lot of negative attention because it can sometimes be awkward to select items from it and users have no control over what items show up on it.

These are all valid complaints. In my videos of the Kindle Fire I turned it upside down so it wouldn’t be resting on the power button and shutting itself off. I have accidently turned mine off a few times and yes, it is annoying. I have not got a case yet, but I expect that might help. The lack of an external volume button is annoying, but in the Fire’s defense it should be noted that at least the volume control is always on top when you open the settings, so it is easy to get to. I frequently find myself accidently bumping the volume controls on my other devices and then have to readjust them, so this one does not bother me too much. I like the Carousel, but I do want some control over what types of items show up in it. The touchscreen issues are there and they do need to be addressed. The Fire also needs to give its users the ability to create additional bookshelves or categories to better organize the library.

For the price I do think the Fire delivers quite a lot. No, it is not quite as polished yet as the Nook Tablet or Nook Color, but I do like Amazon’s ebookstore and ereading platform best. I do trust that the Fire will get better over time as Amazon updates and improves it. The Nook Color had a lot of problems when it was first released as well, and B&N took quite a while to fix some of them. B&N is just now getting around to letting NC users read in landscape mode.

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Overstock selling Nook Books

Richard — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:12:23 +0000

Thanks to a partnership with Barnes & Noble, Overstock is now selling Nook Books via a new ebookstore powered by B&N. Overstock claims to be the number one seller of refurbished Nook Color ereaders, which it has been selling for awhile.

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A tale of three tablets – Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet vs Kobo Vox

Richard — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:58:38 +0000

The three largest ebooksellers — Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble — all have new reading tablets out for the holidays. The Kindle Fire in particular has reportedly been selling very well — according to Amazon the Fire quickly became its bestselling product right after launch.

Rather than being full fledged tablets like the iPad or a Honeycomb-based device that might be considered a netbook or even laptop replacement, the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet are primarily platforms for consuming content purchased from their respective makers. But Amazon at least seems more than willing to take on the iPad head-to-head, as can be seen at the Kindle vs. iPad page at Amazon, which directly compares the features of the Kindle Fire and the iPad 2.

In some respects the Kobo Vox is the most tablet-like of the three, as it lets users install ereading apps from all three ebookstores and can gain access to multiple app stores. But the Vox suffers from sometimes laggy performance and a buggy web browser. Unless and until Kobo can fix the performance issues of the Vox with software updates it just isn’t in the same class as the other two tablets. Mostly I will be comparing the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire here, although I will be throwing in the occasional comparison to the Vox as well. The Vox was the first of the three to ship and I have already reviewed it.

Both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire appear to be solidly constructed, while the Vox has a rather plasticky feel and suffers from a bezel that seems too wide. The Nook Tablet has the same designer looks as its predecessor, the Nook Color. The Kindle Fire is more plain-looking, but I don’t think it looks bad; perhaps functional with no nonsense is an apt description. At any rate I find the Fire to be more comfortable to hold and use one-handed. The Nook Tablet, while it is about a half ounce lighter, is larger than the Fire and feels like it really needs to be held in both hands. The Fire fits much more comfortably in my (rather large) hand.

The displays on both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire seem equally good to me (with one exception, which I’ll get to), with the Vox again lagging behind. All three devices have great angles of view. All three are equally useless in the sunshine, although they can all be read outdoors in the shade easily enough. The photo above (from left: Kobo Vox, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet) was taken outdoors in the shade of my patio on a sunny winter’s day.

Presumably if you are looking at purchasing one of these reading tablets rather than a full-blown tablet, reading ebooks is one of the primary uses to which you plan on putting it. All three provide a good ebook reading experience, although the Kobo reading app has less features (except for its social reading features, which are probably the strongest). I still prefer reading on an e-ink display rather than on a backlit LCD, but sometimes one wants the color. A backlit screen is also good for situations like reading in bed when a lamp would disturb someone else.

The Fire reading app gives you more type faces to choose from, while the Nook Tablet gives you more background colors. On the Fire I usually read with the sepia background in the daytime. It’s not that I’m a particular fan of sepia, but Amazon only gives you three background color choices. Amazon pairs the sepia background with a brownish black font that is slightly less contrasty than the darker black font B&N uses with its sepia background. I do wish Amazon would offer more background/font color choices. This is increasingly important depending on how light sensitive your eyes are. B&N’s first Nook for iPad app let users set their own background and font colors; I wish we could have that ability again — I was able to come up with some color combinations that were very comfortable on my eyes.

Both the Nook and the Fire let you access device settings and brightness controls from within your ebook. This is convenient as you don’t have to close your book to tweak the brightness level or turn off the Wi-Fi.

The annotations menu of the Nook is more attractive and includes a Share button for sharing quotes on Twitter or Facebook. With the Nook Tablet, B&N finally lets its customers read books in landscape mode if they so choose. This feature will also be coming to the Nook Color with an impending update. Other features such as searching and backtracking seem to be adequately supported in both devices. Pagination is better on the Nook as in addition to telling you what page you are on and how many pages the book has it also tells you how many pages are left in the current chapter. All of the Kindle books I’ve opened on the Fire still use the old location system and percentage read instead of showing real page numbers, even when real page numbers are available when the same book is read on an e-ink Kindle.

Shopping for books works well from both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, with each eagerly recommending new titles you might be interested in as well as providing easy to find links to bestseller lists, etc. I find especially the Kindle Store display is nicely done on the Fire, but one complaint I have about it is that you cannot add a Kindle book to your wishlist from the Fire.

You can add to your wishlist at B&N from the Nook Tablet and from the e-ink Kindle ereaders you can add to your Amazon wishlist; so I’m not sure why Amazon left the ability out on the Fire. Perhaps Amazon is hoping that we’ll just hit the Buy It Now button since we can’t use the Wishlist? Using the Add to Wishlist button is good discipline for those of us who already have way more ebooks in our virtual stacks than we can possibly read.

Another ability the Fire is in need of is the ability to make new categories or bookshelves to better organize your library. At the moment all you can do is place titles from the Carousel onto the Favorites shelf on the home screen. The Nook Tablet does let you create additional bookshelves and so has a big leg-up when it comes to keeping your library neatly organized.

Another area in which I think the Nook is superior is the virtual keyboard. The keys on the virtual keyboard of the Kindle Fire are too close together when in portrait mode, causing me and my big fingers to make frequent typos. The keys on the Nook Tablet are spaced further apart and I have no problems typing on its keyboard. In landscape mode the Fire’s keyboard is larger and is easy to use.

The Kindle Newsstand now includes a number of digital magazines that are optimized for the Kindle Fire and faithfully reproduce the print editions. The overall presentation is similar to that of Barnes & Noble. Tapping the screen brings up a sliding strip of page thumbnails for rapidly scanning through the magazine. There is a text view mode that make articles easier to read. On both the Nook and Fire you can adjust font size, background, type face, etc. when in text view mode.

While the presentation is similar on both devices, the Nook Tablet seems a bit more polished. Pan and zoom and sliding the thumbnail strip seem to generally work a little bit more smoothly on the Nook, although I did have the magazine app become unstable once, forcing me to reboot. The Nook also adds a couple of embellishments like a 3D effect to the thumbnails and page curls when turning magazine pages.

As for stability issues, I’ve found both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire to be quite good. On the Nook Tablet I did have to reboot on the one occasion mentioned above. I had to reboot the Fire once when I started a game app and the buttons on the in-game menu were unresponsive.

One of the new features of the Kindle Fire that received a lot of attention pre-launch is Amazon’s Silk web browser, which uses Amazon’s cloud servers to speed up the browsing experience. I found the web browsing experience on both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet to be generally good and both browsers to be quite quick. I’ve done a number of comparison sets and in one series the Nook will be faster more often while at a different time the Fire will win the series by connecting quicker more often. The relative performance of the two tablet’s browsers seems to just depend on the vagaries of the Internet at any given time. Overall the Kindle Fire does seem to be slightly faster more of the time, but the difference is not usually dramatic.

The Nook Tablet has 16GB onboard memory, of which only 1GB can be used for content not purchased at B&N. There is also a microSD card slot. The Kindle Fire has 8GB of built-in memory and beyond that depends on storage in Amazon’s cloud. Personal documents and other content can be stored in the user’s Kindle archive and downloaded to the Fire, Kindle ereader or other devices equipped with a Kindle app as needed. Music can be stored in the cloud and streamed via the Amazon Cloud Drive. Storage is free for music purchased at Amazon.

When listening to music with earphones both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire have much better sound quality than the Vox. Between the Fire and the Nook, the Kindle has the stronger bass, while the Nook Tablet to my ears has somewhat clearer mid-range and highs, but slightly muddy bass. The Nook Tablet’s sound quality was also marred by a faint but ever-present and annoying background hiss. The Fire has an equalizer in the music player’s settings that can be played with to tweak the sound a bit. Overall, I think the Kindle Fire has the best sound.

Both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire come with Netflix and Hulu Plus apps. Netflix worked fine for me on both devices, but the picture quality seems slightly better on the Nook Tablet — colors are just a little brighter and the picture is a little sharper. The Netflix app is the only place I’ve noticed any real difference in display quality between the two, and I expect that this could be fixed at some point by an update to the Netflix app for the Fire.

The Kindle Fire also has access to Amazon’s streaming video services, and for Amazon Prime members there are over 10,000 movies and TV programs that can be streamed for free. While I was not able to get a Netflix app to work properly on the Vox, it does support more video formats than the Nook or Fire. Users of the latter two devices will likely be spending time with Handbrake or a similar program in order to sideload their own videos.

Apps have the capability to make a device useful for more than just reading and watching video, and when it comes to available apps, the Amazon Appstore has more titles to choose from than B&N’s Nook app store. The Vox enjoys the greatest access to apps as it can gain access to the Amazon Appstore and other app sellers in addition to the Getjar store app it comes with.

I’ve only tried a couple of games but, as expected, performance on the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet was a little smoother than on the Vox. The better displays of the Fire and Nook also make for a better gaming experience.

The first video below is an overview of the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet.

The second video below compares the digital magazine reading experience on both tablets, as well as graphic novels, video on Netflix and YouTube, and a bit of game playing on the Kindle Fire.

So which is the best reader tablet?

To my mind the real choice here is between the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, as the Kobo Vox has issues. Kobo will possibly be able to improve the performance of the Vox and, if so, it may yet prove to be a contender. The Vox’s strong point is that it is not tied to just one content provider. Its weak points are lower performance and a less vibrant display.

I wish I could say that it is a clear-cut choice as to whether the Kindle Fire or the Nook Tablet is better, but I can’t. Both are quite nice for what they do, and both have their own strong points. B&N has been doing the reading tablet thing longer and in some ways the Nook Tablet is a bit more polished, but I would expect Amazon to catch up quickly via software updates. The Nook Tablet has some stronger specs, but the Kindle Fire is backed up by a stronger ecosystem.

To some users, the Nook Tablet’s on-device memory will be more appealing than Amazon’s cloud features. The Nook Tablet will also probably be a better choice for rooting. The Nook Tablet’s better battery life (up to 11.5 hours vs 8 hours) is also appealing. In the end though, I think the choice for most people will depend on which company they prefer doing business with. I like both devices and think that either one will be a good choice if you don’t need the capabilities of a more powerful and more expensive tablet. The Kindle Fire, at $199 does have a price advantage over the Nook Tablet, which is $249.

Personally, I have to say that I prefer the Kindle Fire for my own use. Partly this is because it feels more ergonomic than the Nook Tablet to me, but also because I just like the Kindle platform and the Kindle Store better. Most of my ebooks are Kindle books, and while I still prefer reading them on an e-ink display, the Fire is great when you need color and/or video.

It should be noted that the Kindle Fire does not have all of the abilities that the e-ink based Kindle ereaders have when it comes to organizing and handling text-based content, but that will hopefully change. Since the Fire has been selling so well I would expect and hope for Amazon to bring its capabilities up to the level of the rest of the Kindle family.

I sold my Nook Color to clear some room on my desk (and in my wallet) for the Nook Tablet. If you are wondering if you need to upgrade from the Nook Color, I would say it is probably not necessary for most users. Especially in view of the fact that the NC will be getting what sounds like a major software update in the very near future. The Nook Tablet does have a faster processor, more onboard memory and improved battery life, and will therefore probably make for a more attractive device to root than the NC. The Nook Tablet will also be better for video as it does support more formats. The incoming software update will bring Netflix and Hulu Plus to the Nook Color.

If, on the other hand, you are trying to decide between the Nook Color and the Nook Tablet, I would spend the extra $50 for the tablet. The better specs will provide some future-proofing.

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B&N announces Nook Tablet, lowers NC and Nook ST prices

Richard — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:37:10 +0000

Barnes & Noble today unveiled the Nook Tablet, which will be competing directly with the Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. The Nook Tablet will be priced at $249, and B&N will be lowering the price of the Nook Color to $199 and the Nook Simple Touch ereader to $99.

The Nook Tablet will feature streaming HD movies and TV programming via Netflix and Hulu Plus, which is a larger pool of content than Amazon’s instant video service that the Kindle Fire will have access to. B&N also will be launching a Nook Comics store that will be dedicated to graphic novels.

Stylistically, the Nook Tablet appears to feature the same elegant design as the Nook Color, and will also feature a 7-inch VividView display from LG. The Nook Tablet will be powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and comes with 16 GB of internal memory. Additional storage space can be added via a microSD card slot. Battery life is said to be up to nine hours of video or 11.5 hours of reading. The Nook Tablet weighs in at 14.1 ounces — slightly less than the Kindle Fire’s 14.6 ounces.

Some of the other specs of the Nook Tablet:

Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x .48 inches.
7-inch VividView Touchscreen with IPS; 1024 x 600, 169 PPI.
Processor: TI OMAP4 Dual-core with 1GB RAM.
Email client with unified inbox.
Parental controls to disable web browser.
Video formats: MP4, Adobe Flash Player format, 3GP, 3G2 MKV, WEBM (Video Codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, VP8).
Built-in microphone; this will be supported by new Nook Kids books with a new Read and Record feature.

It was also announced that “Barnes & Noble’s largest software update ever” will be coming to the Nook Color in early December. Finally, with this update, B&N will address one of the most requested features for the Nook Color — the ability to read ebooks in landscape mode. Netflix will also be coming to the Nook Color, with Hulu Plus to follow in the near future. Altogether, the update will include over 100 enhancements.

There is also a new software update for the Nook Simple Touch ereader that is available today. You can manually download v1.1.0 now or wait for it to be pushed out over the Wi-Fi connection within the next few weeks.

B&N also had a couple of announcements pertaining to its Nook platform in general: Beginning next month B&N will enable Nook Book and Nook App gifting from its website. Customers will also be able to apply their Barnes & Noble gift cards to purchases made while shopping at B&N.com from the Nook Color and Nook Tablet.

The Nook Tablet is available now for pre-order for $249. It is expected to be in stores on Nov 17, which is about the same time as the Kindle Fire will be out. Yesterday a few new retail partners for the Nook ereaders were announced; TigerDirect, CompUSA and Fry’s will all soon be offering the Nook ereaders.

Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire

Barnes & Noble has not only introduced a strong new entry into the tablet market today but with the accompanying announcements pertaining to the Nook Color and Nook Touch ereader has strengthened its ereader platform as a whole.

Neither the Nook Tablet or the Kindle Fire is out just yet, but looking at the published specs makes for some interesting comparisons:

Pricing: The Kindle Fire is $199 vs the Nook Tablet’s price of $249.
Styling: The Kindle Fire looks like just another tablet, while the Nook Tablet looks like a fashion accessory. Seriously, I think Amazon’s ereaders need some improvement in the Looking Good Department.
Size and weight: The Kindle Fire (7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches) is slightly smaller than the Nook Tablet (8.1 x 5 x .48 inches), but is a little heavier — 14.6 ounces vs 14.1 ounces for the Nook Tablet.
Battery life: The Nook Tablet gets better battery life: 11.5 hours reading, 9 hours video vs 8 hours reading and 7.5 hours video for the Kindle Fire.
Storage: The Nook Tablet has 16GB of internal storage plus a microSD card slot; the Kindle Fire comes with 8GB of internal memory.
Content: Personally I still like the Kindle Store best, but I also like the Nook Book store, which has improved by leaps and bounds. You are still more likely to find a contemporary ebook title at the Kindle Store, especially if it is farther out in the long tail. The Kindle Fire will also have access to ebooks from Kobo and Wattpad via the apps in the Appstore for Android. When it comes to streaming video, the combination of Netflix and Hulu Plus mean more video content will be available for the Nook. But these are both subscription services. Existing Amazon Prime members will have over 10,000 movies and TV programs to stream at no additional charge. Prime members can also read 5,000 Kindle books for free that are part of the Kindle Lending Library. Prime membership costs $79 per year and includes free two-day shipping on eligible items sold at Amazon. UPDATE: Amazon has announced that Netflix will be available for the Kindle Fire at the Appstore for Android when the tablet ships. Hulu Plus, Pandora, ESPN ScoreCenter and Comics by comiXology will also be available for the Fire.
Other features: The Kindle Fire will be a good choice if you purchase your digital music through Amazon as you can store it and stream it using the Amazon Cloud Drive. To some extent Amazon’s cloud storage might make up for the smaller onboard storage of the Kindle Fire for many users. For web browsing Amazon’s Silk browser looks promising and should result in a faster browsing experience.

Both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet look good and both have their pros and cons. It will be interesting to have both tablets side by side to see the relative performance. The Nook Tablet looks to be a very strong contender with some stronger specs, although it is pricier. Actually, at $199 and with the addition of Netflix and Hulu Plus the Nook Color has strengthened its position against the Kindle Fire. For those who do a lot of shopping at Amazon a Kindle Fire plus a Prime membership will probably be the winning combination.

P.S. I have to say that I am not a big fan of 7-inch tablets. While they are very portable, I find that the larger 10-inch screen format is better for many of the things I want to do with a tablet. On the other hand a 10-inch tablet is often a little too large to be really portable. I have played with demo units of the 8.9-inch Samsung Tab and I think this screen size is a nice compromise.

The rumor mill has had it that Amazon is planning a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire for early next year. A few days ago DigiTimes reported that the latest word from its sources is that Amazon will instead launch an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire in 2011 with larger sizes to possibly follow in 2012. If you also feel that the 7-inchers are somewhat less than satisfying this is good news and it may be worth waiting for a slightly larger Kindle Fire.

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Nook Color refurb $135

Richard — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:56:05 +0000

Refurbished Nook Color ereaders are available at Daily Steals for $134.99 until tomorrow night around 9pm PST . I’m getting the feeling that B&N has a stack of these things to get rid of. The NC is a good reading tablet, especially at this price, but the line is in imminent threat from the Kindle Fire.