touch e-readers

Nook line to expand to U.K. with mid-October launch

Barnes & Noble will for the first time expand its Nook business internationally.

The company announced today that its e-readers and digital bookstore will be launching in the U.K. in mid-October. At that time, customers will be able to access the company's e-books, as well as purchase either its Nook Simple Touch or Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight.

As with its service in the U.S., Barnes & Noble will let U.K.-based customers read titles on their Nook or "mobile and computing devices."

The Nook Simple Touch has earned high marks from CNET, landing … Read more

State Department offers Amazon up to $16.5M to hand out Kindles

The only e-reader fit enough to meet the U.S. State Department's needs is the Kindle Touch. The iPad and Nook simply won't do. The government has asked Amazon to negotiate a no-bid contract of up to $16.5 million to pass out Kindles to the country's embassies overseas. This was first reported by Nextgov.

If Amazon proposes a contract based on the State Department's needs, it would theoretically provide at least 2,500 Kindle Touches preloaded with 50 titles each to the State Department; but this number could grow because the government is looking to … Read more

Amazon lets students rent Kindle textbooks

Amazon today unveiled a textbook rental service for the company's Kindle e-reader. Students can rent e-textbooks for as few as 30 days and extend rental periods in one-day increments.

A key feature is you can keep annotations and highlighting after the rental period ends. The notes are stored in the Amazon cloud and can be automatically synced if you re-rent a textbook. The amount of storable highlighting allowed is determined by the individual publishers, according to an Amazon spokesperson.

Of course, the devil is in the details. John Wiley & Sons isn't saying how much highlighting they allow … Read more

Review: Kobo Touch Edition eReader

Touch is all the rage these days in the e-reader market, and just as Barnes & Noble has moved to a touch-screen interface for its latest Nook e-ink model, so, too, has Kobo with its 2011 eReader Touch Edition.

If you've run across any of Kobo's previous e-readers, the Touch Edition doesn't look so different from last year's Kobo Wireless, though it certainly has a more refined design. It's understated yet it looks sleek, with a quilted back, and is overall slightly smaller and lighter than the Nook Touch (and Kindle). It comes in a … Read more

New Nook Simple Touch Reader review

Is the new Nook better than the Kindle? That's what a lot of people are asking and the short answer--at least at this moment--is arguably yes.

No, it doesn't have an audio jack for MP3 music playback or a built-in basic Web browser, but it does have one thing the Kindle doesn't: a touch-screen interface--and it's a good one.

How does the new Nook perform compared with the Kindle?

Read the full review of the 2011 Nook to find out.

Hands-on with new Nook: Better than the Kindle?

Note: CNET's full review of the new Nook is up now.

The day after Kobo served up a new $129.99 touch-screen e-reader, Barnes & Noble, as expected, unveiled its own touch-screen e-ink Nook, which it's branding as "The Simple eReader."

We had a very good idea what the new device would be prior to the launch, but before we get to the initial impressions, here's a quick rundown of the new Nook's key specs:

Touch screen with Neonode "responsive" zForce infrared touch technology 6-inch Pearl e-ink screen (same screen as Kindle'… Read more