Barnes & Noble working on a new Nook, finally going international

Barnes & Noble is reportedly working on a new e-reader device that could help the book publisher take on both Amazon and the international market.

Barnes & Noble’s line of Nook e-reader devices, which first debuted in 2009, are helping the company boost its digital sales of e-books. The Nook also helps Barnes & Noble compete against online retail giant Amazon, which has its own line of Kindle e-readers, as well as a healthy lead … Continue Reading

Tablet ownership doubled over the 2011 holiday season

Between Kindlemania and the usual gift-giving glut of gadgets, the number of e-reader- and tablet-owning U.S. consumers doubled between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012.

According to research just published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 29 percent of adults own at least one tablet or e-reader. Over the winter holidays, ownership numbers rose for both device types from 10 percent to 19 percent.

The Pew project conducted three surveys, one in mid-December … Continue Reading

Chegg’s new e-book reader is practical, comfortable, boring

Chegg’s digital textbook reader is the “nice guy:” comfortable, treats you right, but doesn’t come with many exciting twists.

“[E-readers] are built for reading purposes, not studying purposes,” said Brent Tworetzky, product leader for Chegg, in an interview with VentureBeat. “We wanted to create an environment that works where students need it.”

Digital textbooks are quickly replacing the traditional, heavy, and cumbersome books of semesters past. This is especially the case as laptops replace notebooks … Continue Reading

Kindle now has an easy way to download files from your PC

Amazon released a new plug-in for the Kindle Thursday that allows you to “print” files to your e-reader.

In the past, loading files that weren’t from the Kindle e-book store has been a pain. Instapaper, a service that lets you save online articles for consumption later, was really the easiest way to do it. Existing files on your computer, however, required an annoying conversion.

The new plug-in, called Send to Kindle, offers quick file transfer … Continue Reading

Solar-powered Kindle cover means you never have to plug it in again

If you’ve ever wanted a Kindle that you never have to plug in, SolarFocus has the accessory for you with its solar-powered Kindle case.

Green tech has dominated the conversation around cars, but now it seems these eco-friendly trends are edging into mobile at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, where SolarFocus is debuting its Kindle case. Taiwan-based SolarFocus has other solar-panel products that have USB ports, but its Kindle case might be the most interesting, … Continue Reading

Amazon starts $6M fund to boost Kindle’s indie authors and publishers

Amazon has started a $6 million annual fund that seeks to encourage more independent authors to publish their works on Kindle first, the company announced today.

Amazon’s Kindle family is on a roll with strong sales over Black Friday, and the $199 Kindle Fire tablet may already be the number two tablet after the iPad in sales. The next piece of the puzzle Amazon needs to figure out is how to get more authors to … Continue Reading

Kobo announces $99 e-reader with ads, taking on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

There’s yet another $99 touch e-reader joining the fray this holiday shopping season. Kobo has announced its $99 Kobo Touch with Offers, which is the same device as a regular $130 Kobo Touch, but the screen will display ads when it is in sleep mode or turned off, as well as in what the company mysteriously refers to as “discreet places.”

The 6-inch e-reader will be a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle Touch with Special … Continue Reading

Kobo acquired: Japanese web retailer Rakuten paid $315M cash

Rakuten, the largest online shopping mall operator in Japan, has acquired e-reader manufacturer Kobo for $315 million in cash.

In the deal, Rakuten has bought 100 percent of all issued and outstanding shares of Kobo, which makes products that compete with Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle product lines.

Around fifty-eight percent of Kobo was owned by Indigo Books & Music, a Canadian retail bookstore chain. Indigo chief executive Heather Reisman said today that … Continue Reading

E-reader wars: How the Nook Tablet compares to the Kindle Fire

In a remarkably speedy attempt at one-upmanship, Barnes & Noble announced its new Nook Tablet today, a direct competitor to Amazon’s similar Kindle Fire.

They have a lot in common. Both are 7-inch, sub-$300 Android tablets, and both are shipping in time for the holiday shopping season — the Kindle Fire on Nov 18 and the Nook Tablet on Nov 15. And both could face a bit of competition from the Kobo Vox e-reader, the … Continue Reading

Barnes & Noble’s $249 Nook Tablet to challenge Amazon’s Kindle Fire

Barnes & Noble is taking on Amazon and its Kindle Fire tablet by expanding its lineup of Nook e-readers to include a lighter, faster, 7-inch color touchscreen device called the Nook Tablet, according to documents obtained by Engadget.

The Nook Tablet, which will retail for $249, closely resembles the Nook Color but has beefed-up specifications. It comes with a dual core processor, 16 GB of storage — twice that of both the Nook Color and … Continue Reading

Oh boy, Amazon’s second (and better) Kindle tablet could land early 2012

While we’re all waiting with bated breath for the full details of Amazon’s Kindle tablet tomorrow morning, the company may also be readying its successor tablet for the first quarter of 2012, reports GDGT.

That means early adopters of Amazon’s tablet (now rumored to be called the Kindle Fire) could quickly find their slates obsolete. Worst of all, GDGT’s Ryan Block says this second tablet is the one Amazon really believes in — it was … Continue Reading

Amazon teams up with Overdrive for Kindle library lending

Amazon’s Kindle e-reader will finally play nice with libraries. The company announced today that it will debut a Kindle library lending feature later this year with participation from more than 11,000 US public libraries.

The move has been a long time coming for Amazon, which doesn’t support the open ePub format on the Kindle — something that has made it difficult for libraries to take advantage of the device so far. It’s also a shrewd … Continue Reading

Big surprise: Amazon's new Kindles are the best selling ever

Amazon announced today that its new Kindle e-book readers are the best-selling Kindles ever — which doesn’t come as a huge surprise, since the new Wi-Fi-only version of the device is also the cheapest ever, retailing for $139.

The company also reported that more users ordered the new Kindles on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk than any other product combined. That too isn’t surprising — it’s been the best-selling product on Amazon for the past two years. … Continue Reading

Barnes & Noble unveils $149 Nook Wi-Fi, Nook 3G now $199 (Updated)

Update: It looks like Amazon has drastically lowered the price of the Kindle to $189 in response to this news. Now there’s little reason to consider the $199 Nook — unless you really want that color touchscreen.
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Book retailer Barnes & Noble hasn’t forgotten about its Nook e-book reader. The company announced today a cheaper, Wi-Fi only, version of the device for $149. The previous model, which includes both 3G mobile Internet and … Continue Reading