Nook headed for UK as Barnes & Noble goes international, dabbles in the Queen’s English

Posted on 20/08/2012 by Terrence O'Brien

Nook

Well, our English friends, today is a good day. Your choice in e-readers is about to get that much better as Barnes & Noble has decided to make your homeland the first stop on its highly-anticipated international tour. The Nook and its associated store will be making their big debut in the UK this October, though how exactly the prices will translate to British Pounds remains to be seen. At first, only the Nook Simple Touch and its Glow Light-equipped sibling will be available through the storefront, but we imagine it won't be long before the company's line of Android tablets make their own splash in the land of tea and James Bond. The e-book store will be launching with a rather respectable catalog of over 2.5 million titles, which should give the new comer a nice running start. You'll find PR after the break, but sadly it's a bit light on finer details. Don't worry, though, we'll be back with more info as we get it.

Continue reading Nook headed for UK as Barnes & Noble goes international, dabbles in the Queen's English

Nook headed for UK as Barnes & Noble goes international, dabbles in the Queen's English originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Barnes & Noble’s Q4 and FY 2012: revenue up, losses up, hopes Microsoft hurries up

Posted on 19/06/2012 by Daniel Cooper

Barnes & Noble has released its financial results for both the final quarter and full financial year of 2012. It's a picture of a company that's holding steady in the face of continued onslaught from its rivals, albeit with some hope on the horizon. In preparation for its as-yet-unnamed venture with Microsoft, the company has begun the process of spinning off its Nook and College businesses -- while sales from stores and BN.com now come under the umbrella term of "retail."

On that front, it sold $1.1 billion worth of books in the quarter and $4.85 billion for the year -- down from $4.92 billion in 2011. Nook-wise, the company had turnover of $933 million, with device sales increasing 1 percent for the quarter and 45 percent of the year -- but had to eat a loss on taking back unsold Simple Touch readers. Content sales on its various devices increased 65 percent in the quarter and 119 percent in the year -- clearly showing where the market is headed.

Continue reading Barnes & Noble's Q4 and FY 2012: revenue up, losses up, hopes Microsoft hurries up

Barnes & Noble's Q4 and FY 2012: revenue up, losses up, hopes Microsoft hurries up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

CNET |

Barnes & Noble | Email this | Comments

iFixit reveals Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight’s magic — with lasers

Posted on 31/05/2012 by Brian Heater

Turns out the secret to the new Nook's patent pending magic glow isn't so magic after all. Nope, it utilizes the wonder of diffraction. Yep, the driving force behind this marriage-saving device is science! Says iFixit in its latest teardown,

The display assembly contains the front glass, digitizer, and array of GlowLight LEDs, all fused together into one component. The glass over the E-ink screen takes the light from the eight LEDs and evenly distributes it across the screen.

How did the site discover the pending patentness after peeling back the e-reader's layers? Why, lasers, of course, beaming one through the aforementioned glass, which diffracted the green light before it hit a wall, proving once and for all that science can be fun. And ripping gadgets apart, naturally.

iFixit reveals Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight's magic -- with lasers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

iFixit | Email this | Comments

IRL: Sparrow for iOS, Nikon D800 and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight

Posted on 24/05/2012 by Engadget staff

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

One of the reasons we launched this column was to make sure our reviews and hands-on posts weren't the final say on products -- after all, you often need to live with something for more than a week to notice its WiFi signal cuts off past 15 feet, or there's a nasty bug in the settings menu. Indeed, that theme is what ties together this week's roundup of stories: Darren explains why he ditched Sparrow for iOS, Kevin laments the file size of photos he's taken with his Nikon D800 and Brian finds a flaw in his Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight.

Continue reading IRL: Sparrow for iOS, Nikon D800 and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight

IRL: Sparrow for iOS, Nikon D800 and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review

Posted on 24/04/2012 by Brian Heater

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.

Gallery: Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review

Continue reading Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight shipping this week, B&N warns of limited supply

Posted on 24/04/2012 by Brian Heater

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 Simple Touch with GlowLight shipping this week, B&N warns of limited supply originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight hands-on

Posted on 12/04/2012 by Brian Heater

What's American's number one problem in the bedroom? Honestly, whatever you first guessed is probably the right answer. For the sake of this conversation, however, let's just assume that it's light, as Barnes & Noble suggests. People are keeping their partners awake at all hours by leaving the light on as they finish the final gripping pages of that Stieg Larsson novel. There's got to be a better way! Something like, say, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight (make sure to put little sparkly illustrations over the last word when you read it aloud, by the way).

As you'd imagine, it can see in the dark. -- or, rather, you can see it in the dark, so you won't have to get kicked out of bed for reading The Hunger Games anymore. The clunkily named Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is up for pre-order now at $139 a pop. Plunk down your information today, and it should be on its way to you in early May -- just in time for Mother's Day and with a bit of time to spare for 'ole pops. So, how does the reader stack up to its predecessor? Click on through to the other side to find out.

Gallery: Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight hands-on