Sunday, April 6, 2014

Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight Now $99

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Barnes and Noble has just announced the first big discount on their latest generation e-reader. The Nook Glowlight came out late last year and really improved the hardware, putting the front-lit display on par with the Kindle Paperwhite. Today, the Nation’s largest bookseller has announced a price drop from $119 to $99 for a limited time.

The Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight features a six inch IR touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 X 758-pixel and 212 PPI. This is a huge upgrade from the previous generation Nook that only had 800×600 for the resolution. Under heavy tests we noticed that the blacks were deeper in cover art and the way fonts look when you maximize their levels.

The Glowlight technology that allow you to read in the dark has been dramatically enhanced. B&N still continues the philosophy of bucking the major industry trend of putting the LED lights on the top of the device, instead of the bottom. Overall, the light is now almost pure white, where the NST with Glowlight would often have a blue hue to it. The entire Good e-Reader review team think that that the new model has 75% brighter and clearer lighting.

All Barnes and Noble retail stores will be offering the discount starting today. You may also elect to purchase it online from the official Nook website. There is no indication on how long this promotion will go on for, but it is a USA exclusive.

Barnes and Noble Nook Glowlight Now $99 is a post from: Good e-Reader

Book Promo Tours Help Authors Stay Relevant in the Digital Era

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Publishers, agents, and publicists are taking a cue from the film and music industries by making their authors into superstars, at least in the eyes of their fans. By scheduling red carpet-style events for readers to engage with the authors who write their favorite characters and stories, the industry is working to increase exposure and make authors an even bigger household name.

Readers used to discover favorite books and authors by casually browsing the shelves of their local booksellers or reading the review sections of print newspapers. As both of those entities slowly (and sadly) disappear for consumers, replaced by online retail websites and book recommendation metadata, professionals are working to put their authors “out there” and in front of would-be readers with elaborate book tours.

An upcoming event, called the Belles on Wheels tour, is staged by Gallery Books (Simon and Schuster) and will feature authors Christina Lauren, Kresley Cole, Kyra Davis, Alice Clayton, Lisa Renee Jones, Emma Chase, S.C. Stephens, Krisen Proby, Jennifer Probst, and Katy Evans. The tour bus will travel across the southeastern United States and make stops in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Greenwood (MS), and New Orleans. Along the way, those authors will be signing books, staging readings, and attending meet-and-greets with reader fans.

Similarly, Penguin Random House UK just announced that it has sold over 10,000 tickets to meet one of its bestselling authors, Caitlin Moran.

While innovation is key to staying relevant in the minds and interests of readers, some experts warn that publishers and industry professionals shouldn’t be too quick to jump on the hype. There’s something to be said for the stoic and stately bookstore, and some readers may be put off by the glitzy approach to author-reader interaction. But with more data coming out that shows many consumers are more apt to buy a DVD than a book, modeling this type of fandom after movie goers is not too far fetched.

Book Promo Tours Help Authors Stay Relevant in the Digital Era is a post from: Good e-Reader

Nook GlowLight on Sale for $99, But Don’t Get the Clip Cover

This past week Barnes and Noble issued an update for the Nook GlowLight to improve the on-board shopping experience and to add a few new features. Now this week Barnes and Noble is running a sale on the Nook GlowLight to try and get it out into more people’s hands. The Nook GlowLight normally sells […]

Samsung Unveils a Puzzling New Line of Android Tablets

This past week Samsung announced their latest trio of Android tablets, dubbed the Galaxy Tab4 series. The three models have varying screen sizes—7-inches, 8-inches, and 10.1-inches—but all the the exact same 16:10 aspect ratio and 1280 x 800 screen resolution. Unlike Samsung’s Pro series of high-end tablets released earlier this year with high-resolution screens, the […]

Emerging Markets Embracing Tablets with Cellular Technology

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The vast majority of tablets on the market only have WIFI capabilities and only the odd one has cellular data. The Apple iPad is the most successful when it comes to not relying on wireless signals to surf the internet or download apps. Emerging markets are starting to embrace cheap Android tablets thanks to the prices coming down in China and Taiwan.

Many indie companies in the US, UK and Canada often deal with white label tablets to get their products to market. The average company simply cannot afford to devote the resources to design and contract out the manufacturing to an existing fab. Instead, they contact existing companies with the hardware already built, load in a splash screen and customize the software. Companies like Monster, Pocketbook, Pandigital, Pioneer, Skytex, Wexler and many others all do this.

In the second half of the year it is estimated that out of the 12 million tablets intended to be shipped out in the second quarter of 2014, half will have cellular functionality. This is critical to emerging markets such as South Africa, Vietnam, Philippines and the Middle East. These countries have little to no infrastructure to WIFi and being able to use the tablet and use a cheap data plan is essential to have everyone connected.

via Digitimes

Emerging Markets Embracing Tablets with Cellular Technology is a post from: Good e-Reader