Today, Barnes and Noble officially released the “NOOK Kids” iPad app, targeting reading in young children. The app comes with a complimentary copy of both “Richard Scarry’s Colors” and “Elephant’s Child” as well as a robust set of parental controls for protecting youngsters’ eyes from not so age appropriate reading material. Overall, there are over 230 interactive books at your disposal with some supporting text-to-speech as well as compatibility with the NOOK Color.
NOOK for kids is now available in the Apple App Store for free. Press release inside.
- December 30, 2010 12:55 pm
It never ceases to amaze me the sense of entitlement and ownership a company believes they have over your gadget after you’ve purchased it and taken it home. With that said, a thread over at XDA highlights a potentially unsettling issue. Apparently, some rooted Nook Color users are experiencing a random forced wipe and factory default reset. At first, it was suggest that B&N was pushing out an update to reset rooted Nook Color devices. But if you work your way through the thread, it appears to be more of random software glitch occurring because of an issue with the root process on the Nook Color and OTA updates specifically, as it isn’t happening to every Nook Color nor in the same manner. For some, after a purchase in the B&N store the device resets. Others are simply using the internet when it nukes itself. Either way, we’ve sent an email to B&N for clarification. Check back soon…
Fancy a good book? I used to be a big reader. I don’t know what happened really. I just drifted away from the written word. If I had to put my finger on any one reason I stopped reading, I’d have to say patience. Whether or not my gadget/electronic/fast paced fascination has anything to do with me not enjoying a slower paced activity (such as reading) anymore, I may never know.
For those of you who still consider yourself bookworms, this week is an exciting time. The Barnes & Noble Nook ereader is finally slated to trickle into retail channels. Even still, availability is going to be tight for the next several weeks. If you’re looking to score a new Nook for your significant other, you’re probably going to want to check out the Nook In-Store locator and/or go ahead and purchase yours online.
In light of the recent iPad announcement and taking into account all of the other ereaders flooding the market, does the Nook have a chance in your personal library in the near future?
BGR
One of the best ways to kill a product is to riddle the launch with delays, misinformation, and overall insanity and frustration. Barnes & Noble seems to be doing a might fine job with that as we speak. The Nook and it’s followers have been on a roller coaster ride for the past several weeks. Delay after delay has pushed the devices launch date closer and closer towards Christmas to the point that B&N is saying we shouldn’t expect Nooks to ship before Christmas. Hmm, somehow the people that pre-ordered these devices weeks ago with strong assurance that a pre-Christmas delivery date was a sure bet aren’t going to be too happy.
For now, prospective buyers and hopeful owners will have a new date to look forward to — January 15th. If we’re going to get all personal here, I’ve always liked B&N over Borders, perhaps it was the better cafe with actual functioning WiFi (Hey, what do you think I do when I go to a book store — it certainly isn’t reading books…) or maybe it was just the overall nicer layout and atmosphere. Whatever the case, this grand display of disappointment and extremely poor launch management is maddening to say the least. And I didn’t even order a Nook.
For now, I don’t think the Nook’s chances at the eReader market are being hit too bad, but if B&N keeps it up, I can see other eReaders making up for the loss. It’s a shame too, the Nook is by far one of the nicest eReaders to date. Though Engadget is reporting that a B&N rep has contacted them saying “select” stores will still have Nooks in by December 7th. This will definitely be a cross your fingers, multi-rosary, pray to whoever it is that you pray to ordeal. Feeling lucky?
Engadget
