Hasta La Gadget!

Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store has offered short-form works much like those we’ve seen from Amazon’s Kindle Shorts section, but they haven’t really been a highlight. The company’s new Nook Snaps program may give those quick reads their time to shine, however. The effort will see Barnes & Noble publish three to five original shorts every other month at $2 a piece. While the bookseller is leaning on existing titles to fill out the initial catalog, it hopes that the steady supply of original material will keep us coming back.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble’s refusal to open its ecosystem has long been one of our primary complaints about the company’s tablet offerings. The Nook HD and HD+ are extremely nice pieces of hardware that have been held back by their own walled software offerings — having a fast device with a nice screen only gets you so far without the proper apps. The company line up to now has been that walling off content allows for a sort of quality control, assuring that apps are developed specifically for the unique form factor of its devices. And while there’s perhaps something to be said for that sentiment in the sometimes-fragmented world of Android devices, it was hard to ignore the fact that offering up exclusive access to content through your own marketplace assures better cash flow. It also, unfortunately, means that without extensive developer outreach, there are sure to be plenty of popular apps that just never make it over to your side of the fence.

With its announcement tonight, B&N acknowledges that, in this case, open is better. The company has responded directly to user feedback and will be issuing a software update to its Nook HD and Nook HD+ devices (sorry Nook Tablet and Color owners) that brings Google Play directly to the desktop. The software will come pre-loaded on new devices and will be available as an over-the-air update. If you can’t wait that long, you’ll also be able to download it directly from the bookseller’s site. The update also brings a few other tweaks to the system, but this is far and away the biggest news. The first question we asked upon getting a quick demo: will you be able to buy content like books, magazines and movies through Play? Yep, that’s coming too.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Google

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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Barnes & Noble’s PubIt! self-publishing conduit has been active for well over two years, but you’d be forgiven for overlooking it with that somewhat forgettable (if very emphatic) name. The company might just know what you’re thinking, as it’s giving the service a considerably more memorable title, Nook Press, while upgrading features at the same time. Although the royalty structure remains the same, Nook Press now incorporates a web-based authoring tool: would-be Hemingways can write and preview their work through one online hub, sharing their drafts with others in a secure space. Those who commit should also get more exposure through an upcoming Nook Press channel on Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets. There’s no guarantee that the rebranding will lure potential bestselling authors away from Amazon, but they may have a better sense of their options.

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Via: PaidContent

Source: Barnes & Noble

Sure Barnes & Noble’s already promising you the ability to download the “most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere,” but what happens when you want to buy something in those apps? Fear not, the bookstore-turned-hardware-maker will be bringing in-app purchases to its line of slates “soon,” thanks to a partnership with Nook developer Fortumo. That company’s bring single click payment to the Nook ecosystem and offering dashboards and analytics on consumer buying habits for developers. Thanks to the offering, B&N feels certain that, “thousands of the most-requested games and apps featuring in-app purchasing will be available for customers to experience on NOOK’s award-winning line of tablets” in the months to come.

Filed under: Tablets

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Via: The Next web