Hasta La Gadget!

Those people waiting at home, jumping up every time they hear a vehicle stop outside and desperately hoping that their Barnes & Noble Nook will turn up in time for Christmas Day, may now add another nagging doubt to their list: Maybe they should have bought a Sony.

Sony’s e-readers are shaping up to be the pick of a rather abundant crop of devices, with a degree of openness unheard of from Sony, and a model (literally) for every size of pocket. And now, the Reader Daily Edition is shipping. Anyone who pre-ordered the $400 device on or before December 20th should already have one plopping onto their doormat.

The Reader Daily Edition is the 7-inch touch-screen, 3G wireless equipped (AT&T) reader. Like the Kindle, the 3G is free for the life of the device, and you can – as the name “Daily” suggests – download newspapers direct, as well as books from the Sony Store. Newspapers are limited to The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune but more are promised.

Unlike the Kindle, the Reader Daily Edition supports the standard ePub format (in DRM’ed or open flavors) and will let you borrow books from libraries for up to three weeks (you’ll need a PC to actually do the downloading). In fact, the Reader Daily Edition looks to be the king of the e-books right now. And at $400, we guess it should be. Happy Christmas, Reader Daily Edition buyers!

Reader Daily Edition [SonyStyle]

See Also:

• Sony's E-Book Reader Adds Touchscreen, Wireless Downloads
• Showdown: Kindle 2 vs. Sony Reader
• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen 'Nook' E-Reader …
• Barnes & Noble Delays Nook Shipments To Stores
• Barnes & Noble Will Give Customers $100 If Nook Doesn't Arrive for …

Barnes & Noble has rolled out the first firmware update for its Nook e-book reader that includes performance updates in areas such as page turning of e-books and formatting of downloaded books.

The $260 Nook, which started shipping earlier this month, was criticized for its slow refresh rate as users flipped pages and for a software interface that didn’t entirely seem ready, as Wired.com pointed out in its Nook review.

The firmware update 1.1.0 attempts to fix some of these problems. The update improves the start-up time for features such as ‘My Library’ on the device. It also ensures that the device displays the correct time on its status bar, has better page numbering for books and removes some formatting-related issues.

Meanwhile, some users have ‘rooted’ the Nook or hacked the device’s firmware to gain system level access. This allows them to run on the Nook apps such as Pandora, a browser and other programs that Barnes & Noble does not support officially.

The latest firmware update does not lock the rooted Nooks, says nookDevs, a group that has created a wiki and an online forum for Nook enthusiasts. “The update is safe, if you’ve had your device already rooted,” says the group on its website. “It will stay this way.”

But that’s if you got a Nook in the first place. With some customers worried that their pre-ordered Nooks won’t arrive in time for Christmas, Barnes & Noble has sent an e-mail promising a $100 gift voucher to anyone whose Nook doesn’t make it.

See Also:

• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader
• Barnes & Noble Delays Nook Shipments To Stores
• Nook Torn Open, Hacked, Rooted

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

By Nook or by crook, you will get that book! That is, almost, what Barnes & Noble is saying to those worried about not receiving their Nook e-readers in time for Christmas.

Desperate to get the Nook in time to make some fast Christmas cash, B&N decided an early launch with not enough units would be a good idea. Now, as customers start to worry that the gifts won’t arrive in time for Christmas Day, B&N has sent an email promising a $100 gift voucher to anyone whose Nook doesn’t make it. Here’s a follow up email send to the Consumerist, featuring the somewhat over-PC use of the word “holidays” to refer to Christmas Day itself:

The vast majority of customers who pre-ordered nooks and were given a pre-holiday estimated shipping date should receive their devices in time for the holidays […] Unfortunately, there may be a very small percentage of customers who may not receive their nooks before the holiday.

In its initial email to customers, Barnes & Noble has tried to weasel its way out of the real reason for the problem (not enough Nooks) by blaming shipping:

Although your shipment has been slightly delayed, we are aiming for your order to leave out warehouse in time for you to receive your nook by December 24th.

And how, given the sorry state of the B&N warehouse and its inability to get things out of the door, is the company addressing the problem?

We are sending a special nook Holiday Certificate to the shipping address provided when you placed your nook order. [emphasis in original]

That’s right. Despite not being able to ship the Nook itself, B&N can manage to print and post some gift cards. We guess the company is more experienced with dead tree products than this fancy new-fangled gadgetry after all.

We tease, but this is a nice piece of pre-emptive customer service. At least your unlucky giftee will have something to open on “Holiday” Day Morning, and the bonus of $100 to spend when the thing finally turns up.

Barnes & Noble Will Send You $100 If Nook Doesn’t Show Up By Christmas [Consumerist]

Haven’t got your Nook yet? You may actually be in luck. For people who pre-ordered early enough to expect a pre-Christmas delivery, Barnes & Noble is promising a $100 B&N.com gift card if it misses December 24th — which is apparently distinctly possible. Of course, if you’re one of the lucky / unlucky ones to have this on offer, you’ve probably already seen the email, and if you’re a different sort of hapless pre-orderer that won’t be seeing a Nook until next year, this is just another reason to curse your lot in life. To think: not only are you not ushering in 2010 from an economy suite in a space hotel, but you’re going to wrap up this year reading paper books, without $100 to show for it! Can’t we do better as a civilization?

Barnes & Noble giving $100 for Nook pre-orders that miss Christmas originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And here we go. With the Nook rooted and plenty of Android devs at the ready to exploit the device’s free 3G data and semi-useful WiFi connection, it’s officially open season on Barnes & Noble’s new e-reader. Within the last few hours the Nook has been given a web browser (pictured left) to join the Pandora hack just announced by NookDevs. A trick that adds plenty of functionality to the Nook including the ability to login to public WiFi hotspots and read the news on an RSS aggregator (pictured right with Google Reader). Better yet, the rogue band of devs have already ported AndTweet and the Facebook app from the Android Marketplace. Unfortunately, the Google Maps port failed due to some missing libraries within the Nook’s Android implementation. Naturally, none of this has been packaged for the everyman yet, but at this rate we might have off the shelf Nook homebrew before those January Nook orders can be delivered. Hey Barnes & Noble, welcome to the wild west of consumer electronics.

[Thanks, Scott]

Nook hacked with Web browser, Facebook, and Twitter apps for starters originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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