color

Nook guide: Get daily news, custom screensavers, free e-books

The Nook Simple Touch is out, and while it's touted as Barnes & Noble's simpler, bare bones e-reader, we think it's nonsense to call any gadget "simple." Nook Touch (and Nook Color) owners should know that their devices can do a lot more than just read books from B&N--we're here to show you how.

With your Nook in front of you (and an enthusiasm to get creative), follow this guide to make your Nook a little more useful, fun, and worth every penny you spent.

Colorful desktops

Windows7Theme offers a variety of free themes and desktop backgrounds for Windows 7 in self-installing theme packs. The high-resolution images are presented in a wide-screen format (1,920x1,200 pixels) and can be scaled, shuffled, and selected via the standard Windows Personalization page. We took a look at Windows 7 Colorful Theme, which emphasizes vivid colors.

As with other theme packs we've tried, the download unpacked and installed automatically, replacing our previous wallpaper with the first image in the series, an abstract image of pastel layers that strongly suggested lemon and raspberry sherbet (a good start, by the way). … Read more

How to use ColorSync Utility to assign color profiles in OS X

Apple's ColorSync Utility is built in to OS X. ColorSync profiles are used in image-rendering devices so colors will match across different devices. For instance, if you have two monitors attached to your system that are of different makes or models, then it is likely their pixel response ranges are slightly different. As a result, reds may be more vivid on one monitor than on another one, or the blues may be deeper. These variations can be allowed for by creating a color profile for each device, so when image data is passed between them they will display it … Read more

Back to basics

Calendar software is ubiquitous, with options for everyone no matter how simple or complex your needs. As the name suggests, Classic Calendar falls more into the simple category, with the features you would expect from a traditional calendar and not much else.

The program's interface is plain and easy to navigate, consisting of a basic-looking calendar and an Options menu at the top. The calendar's color scheme is highly customizable; users can select the colors for the main background, date boxes, empty boxes, calendar text, and highlighted days. Users can also select the font they want to use … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1474: More pain for Sony (Podcast)

Sony is expecting $3.2 billion loss for its fiscal year and Sony's BMG Greece music site is hacked revealing more customer data. Google's idea of being a truly open platform goes through more growing pains and HP creates a whole new numbering system. That's "one plus" for you my friends.

The Dell Inspiron R's color-swapping strategy

Color matters in consumer electronics, or so we keep hearing. White iPod, black iPod. Black iPhone, white iPhone. Some people buy pink or purple laptops that have been discontinued, just because they're not available hues in this year's lineup. For some, color might even be more important than brand.

If you subscribe to this theory, then Dell's new swappable-lid Inspiron R laptops are a work of genius. All 2011 Dell Inspiron 14R and 15R laptops--which come with updated second-gen Core i-series CPUs--come with a staid back lid, but much like Nokia phones of the late '90s, a … Read more

Liberty Media offers $1B for Barnes & Noble stake

Barnes & Noble may soon have a new majority owner.

Liberty Media, a conglomerate with its fingers in everything from the QVC and Starz channels to Expedia and Evite to SiriusXM Radio, announced yesterday after market close that it has offered Barnes & Noble $17 per share, or about $1 billion, for a 70 percent stake in the book retailer.

The offer represents a sizable 20 percent premium on Barnes & Noble's closing stock price yesterday of $14.11. In after-hours trading, the book retailer's shares soared to $17.95.

Liberty Media's acquisition bid comes at an … Read more

Nook Color app downloads hit 1 million

Barnes & Noble's Nook Color application marketplace appears to be catching on with users.

Barnes & Noble announced today that 1 million applications were downloaded from its marketplace in the first week of availability. Not surprisingly, Angry Birds was the most popular paid application, followed by Drawing Pad and Solitaire, the company said. Aces Jewel Hunt and Astraware Mahjong rounded out the top five paid apps. Fliq Calendar and Fliq Notes were the most popular free applications in the store.

Barnes & Noble released a major update to its $250 7-inch e-reader late last month. The update delivered a … Read more

Bezos hints at Amazon tablet in interview

For months we've been talking about the impending arrival of an Amazon Android tablet and Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos didn't quite let the cat out of the bag--but he came close.

In an interview with Consumer Reports, when asked about the possibility of Amazon doing a tablet, he replied, "stay tuned."

Bezos also said that if Amazon were to do a tablet, it wouldn't replace the Kindle but be sold alongside it. That seems rather obvious, but that he was even talking hypothetically about such a scenario strongly indicates that a tablet is coming; … Read more