Barnes and Noble Enters the Ebook Market

Barnes and Nobles has released an ebook section of its website today. This confirms that it wants to battle Amazon's Kindle. They have many popular novels such as (groan) Twilight for $9.99 a pop. These books available to read on your iPhone, computer (Cross-Platform), or Blackberry, via Barnes and Noble's free eBook reader. They are also in talks with Plastic Logic on plans to release and eBook reader. (Do I smell Kindle competitor?)

Here's the press release regarding this:

BARNES & NOBLE LAUNCHES WORLD'S LARGEST eBOOKSTORE

Introduces "Every Device" Strategy

Upgrades eReader Application

Free Downloads

Announces Strategic Partnership with Plastic Logic

New York, New York – July 20, 2009 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, announced today the launch of the Barnes & Noble eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks), the world's largest eBookstore, on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), enabling customers to buy eBooks and read them on a wide range of platforms, including the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry® smartphones, the forthcoming new eReader device by Plastic Logic, as well as most Windows® and Mac® laptops or full-sized desktop computers.

Barnes & Noble's launch encompasses:

· Barnes & Noble's eBookstore offering its customers seamless access to more than 700,000 titles, including hundreds of new releases and bestsellers at only $9.99, making it the world's largest selection of eBooks available in one place. The company expects that its selection will increase to well over one million titles within the next year, inclusive of every available eBook from every book publisher and every available eBook original, which is a fast growing marketplace.

· More than a half-million public domain books from Google, which can be downloaded for free. Readers can discover and explore this rich treasure trove, including everything from classic works by well-known writers to long-forgotten and obscure titles that are historically much harder to access.

· An upgraded version of its eReader application, which was part of the company's Fictionwise acquisition earlier this year. This device-agnostic eBook application supports both wireless and wired access to the new Barnes & Noble eBookstore. Millions of internet-enabled devices are currently supported by eReader, including the nation's two leading smartphone device families from Apple and BlackBerry®, as well as most Windows® and Mac® laptops or full-sized computers.

· First-time users of the eReader will have the opportunity to download free eBooks, including titles such as Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary, Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Last of the Mohicans, Pride and Prejudice, and Dracula. See site for further details.

· A strategic commerce and content partnership with Plastic Logic, whose eReader device is especially designed for business professionals. Barnes & Noble plans to power the eBookstore for the Plastic Logic Reader. The ultra thin 8.5 x 11 inch wireless eReader is slated to debut in early 2010.

· The free, full-featured B&N Bookstore app for iPhone and iPod touch users, which is now the #1 downloaded book app in Apple's App Store. In addition to enabling customers to easily place orders for books, movies, and CDs, the app also lets users search millions of products simply by snapping a photo. Using the iPhone's camera, customers can snap a photo of the front cover and within seconds get product details, editorial reviews, and customer ratings – even find and reserve a copy in the nearest store. The app also includes a store locator, bestseller lists, book recommendations, and a store events calendar.

"Today marks the first phase of our digital strategy, which is rooted in the belief that readers should have access to the books in their digital library from any device, from anywhere, at any time," said William J. Lynch, President of BN.com. "As America's #1 bookstore and newsstand, our goal at Barnes & Noble is to build a service that revolves around the customer, enabling them to have access to hundreds of thousands of titles and read on their smartphone, PC, and many other existing and future devices. We want to make eBooks simple, accessible, affordable and convenient for everyone."

More About the eReader Application

Designed with the reader in mind, Barnes & Noble eReader client software provides an easy-to- use interface to access the Barnes & Noble eBookstore and to manage their personal eBook libraries. It features powerful tools to optimize the reading experience, including the ability to modify type size and font and annotate and bookmark text, as well as an innovative auto-scroll feature enabling users hands free reading. In addition, users will have the added convenience afforded by true eBook portability, allowing them to access their eBooks from any of their eBook software-equipped devices, so that, for example, they can shift from reading their ebook from a smartphone while commuting to a notebook PC or eReader device at bedtime.

(info from Gizmodo)

Techy Tip: Speed up Windows XP's Startup Time

If you have had your Windows XP computer for a long time, like my 6-or-so year-old Dell Dimension, it probably isn't as zippy as when you first got it. Well, today I will show you how to speed up XP's boot time with NO DOWNLOADS REQUIRED.

(NOTE: I have a custom theme one my computer so XP looks like Windows 7)

To start, go to the Start Menu (tee-hee) ans select "Run" from the left side.


Then, type in "msconfig" (no quotes) into the form and click "OK"

After you have done that, a window looking like this should appear.



Then click the "Startup" tab and select the button "Disable All".

Once you do that, unnecessary programs will not run at startup greatly increasing the startup time on you computer. Hope you found this tip helpful!

Apple Tablet Rumored to Come in October

The dream of Apple Tablet, which always seemed to be vaporware from its start, may finally come true. Well-maybe, just maybe- The China Times published an article saying that Apple will be releasing tablets this October, priced at $800. Even though this is a reputable source, the rumors have been wrong before.

Here is a translated quote from the MacRumors forum:

"During the past several years, there have been countless rumors about Apple competing in the netbook market, but this year, Apple formally finalized orders for netbooks. According to past patterns, Apple normally holds news conference showcasing new products in October, announcing new products for the upcoming shopping season."

Witnek had rumored they had sold touchscreens to Apple before, but that proved to lead to nothing at WWDC. This rumor may also vanish into the air like all the previous ones.

(info from Gizmodo)

Google Unveals Chrome OS

Google has finally gone and done it. After years of rumors, it is finally releasing its own operating system. It will be, in typical Google fashion, Open-Source. Not much is known yet, since Chrome OS is set to release in 2010.

Chrome OS will be "fast, lightweight...start up and get you on the web". This will be a welcome change since other OS's (*cough* Windows) take forever to load because of personal settings, tons of programs, and other crap. Oh, and Chrome will be based on Linux so it will be familiar to other Linux users and will have many of its great applications (OpenOffice, Firefox, etc.).

Chrome OS will most likely largely be based on web apps, using Google's applications (Docs, Wave, Gmail). Hopefully, since it is running with Linux as a base, it will have a large amount of applications it can run offline. With lightweight netbooks in mind, it will most likely use little CPU and hard drive space.

Google already has some sponsors lined up to run this OS, mainly netbook manufacturers. There may never be a Google supported downloaded, a "simple" Os may not be able to handle all the variations in computers. This begs to question whether this Os will ever take off (like Linux). You can read the official post on it on the Google Blog.

Cool Site of the Week: Eternal Moonwalk

I figured I would fan the flames that is the death of Michael Jackson. This week's cool site is a fun little video site. It is literally, and eternal Moonwalk. People submit videos of them doing the Moonwalk around the world and it is posted on a scrolling "wall" to make a seamless("ish") Moonwalk that goes on forever. It is a simple site that, for some reason, you will stare at for hours. You can get your grooves on at Eternalmoonwalk.com.

$17,500 NES Game Sells on Ebay

This is a story of a true fanboy; someone willing to pay $17,500 for an NES game with under 7 minutes of playtime on it. Why would anybody buy such a game you ask? Well, your answer: The Internet.

A man by the name of JJ Hendricks had purchased this game for an insane amount off of Ebay-A "cheap" $17,500. He bought the game as a collectors item, it is a special gold colored cartridge used in a contest run by Nintendo. The contest involved players getting the highest score in several Nintendo games (Super Mario Bros., Tetris, &Ridge Racer) within a time limit of 6 minutes 21 seconds.

Only 26 of these cartridges were made (according to Wikipedia), so they are the "Holy Grail" of games, as Hendricks says. This was actually a good deal, the game was originally list for $25,000.

Youtube Adds HD Embeds, 2GB Uploads, and more

The Youtube Blog made a post about new improvements to the popular video site yesterday.
Some of the changes include:

• Changing the upload limit from 1GB to 2GB.
• Adding HD video embedding options.
• Last but not least, link to HD videos by ending the url with "&hd=1" (no quotes).

For more information, see the post on the Youtube Blog.