The matter at stake is whether the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are allowed to go through with a class-action lawsuit against Google, something that could result in billions of dollars in damages – over $3 billion, according to some estimates. As such, it isn’t surprising that Google appealed when one court ruled that a class-action lawsuit was permissible, and now the case has moved up to a higher court.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is now handling the issue, and seems to be leaning away from a class-action lawsuit, which would leave those who feel their copyrights have been infringed upon to sue Google on their own. This would result in substantially less damages being paid out, especially considering that many of those who would go after Google are small-time authors not in a position to initiate a lawsuit.

According to Reuters, one of the panel judges said the digitization efforts hold “enormous value for our culture.” Others have mentioned the notion of returning the case to the district court, having it give a ruling on Google’s claim of fair use. We’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out, but presently the plaintiffs are seeking $750 in damages per book Google copied.

[via Reuters]

The update also incudes a section in the sidebar meant for users who are new to the Kindle platform. This section is called Popular Samples, in which users can browse a number of free samples of books to read, to get them acquainted with the Kindle app, as well as find interesting books that they might like.

The new tablet interface has definitely changed according to our experience, and the home screen features the same Cover Flow-esque navigation that’s on the Kindle Fire, allowing you to swipe through different books, newspapers, and magazines. The sidebar also gives you quick access to other sections of the app, including the Kindle Store and the aforementioned Samples.

The app also comes with a slew of the usual bugfixes and general performance enhancements that we see in every app update, so if you’re not a big fan of the new design, you’ll at least have a more rounded-out app that’s a bit quicker and snappier than before. The update is available now in the Google Play store.

As in much of the writings included in the book, the bits included in this Future of Terrorism section do not offer many answers for the questions they raise. Schmidt and Cohen here – and several times throughout the book – speak of the dangers that exist in our modern interconnected world both in prospect and in reality – it could happen, and it could happen again.

In this case, warning about the “importance of digital marketing for future terrorists”, Schmidt and Cohen note that they’re expecting groups to be jumping in with mobile and Internet companies en masse. Schmidt and Cohen give an example account spoken of by a man named Maajid Nawaz, he being a former leader in the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). He speaks of the group’s movements around mobile-phone companies, specifically Motorola in Pakistan.

“‘We pitched propaganda stalls outside the Motorola offices in Pakistan, then we recruited some Motorola staff, who proceeded to leak the numbers of Pakistan’s national newspaper editors,’ he said. Members of the HT would bombard these editors with text messages full of propaganda, talking points, and event threats.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

This same contact with the HT group mentioned the fact that these mobile phone carrier employees would also provide members of the group with concealed identities when they themselves signed up for phone service. Schmidt and Cohen suggest that this is only one of a number of situations in which the mobile connectivity we have here in the present will become a potential problem in the hands of extremist political groups in the near future.

They speak also of the idea that groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas might seek to gain influence over citizens with apps that provide services everyday users might find valuable. The book notes how groups such as these gain community support by providing services the larger state will not or cannot provide.

Responding to the obvious counter-point to being able to create apps and sent them to the public without opposition from the government or those that might control the software that appears on smart devices, Cohen and Schmidt suggest the simplest of work-arounds.

“Even if the Apple store blocked their applications under order from the U.S. government, or the U.N. took similar actions, it would be possible to build apps without any official tie to Hamas then promote them through word of mouth.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

These points connect with chats and keynotes made by Eric Schmidt over the past several years, especially most recently in a transcribed conversation with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. It’s there that Schmidt, Assange, and Cohen collect several hours of material in hopes of including relevant topics in the book. This book is, of course, available digitally starting this week.

The three choices that you have to pick from are “The Power Trip,” Navy Seal autobiography “American Sniper,” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” which is narrated by actor Jake Gyllenhaal and will also be hitting theaters here shortly. All three of these books seem to be really popular, especially “The Great Gatsby,” so be sure to take advantage of the offer while you have it.

Howevever, there is some fine print to be aware of. Only new Audible registrants will be able to get a free audiobook, and you’ll have to register for a new account through the Windows 8 or Windows Phone app on your computer or smartphone. It’s also only available in the US and you have until May 13 to snatch up your free copy.

While this may be an enticing offer for some users, especially the book lovers out there, we’re not so sure that this promotion alone will be enough to get people to try out Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8. It’s certainly a good deal for those who already are on one of these platforms, but we can’t see others really going for it. Either way, if you’re yearning for a free audiobook, now’s your chance.

The new NOOK Press includes updated content-creation and management tools that builds on the company’s old PubIt! platform. NOOK Press gives independent authors the opportunity to sell their work in Barnes & Noble’s ecosystem by giving them the necessary tools and allowing them to sell ebooks anywhere from $0.99 to $199, in which the company takes a 35% cut on books priced up to $9.99, and 60% for anything above that.

The books show up for sale on the NOOK Book Store in both the US and UK, as well as on Barnes & Noble’s website. The cut that the company takes may seem a little steep, but it’s right up there with Amazon’s 30% and 65% cut that they take from authors with their Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Plus, Apple takes the same 30% cut Apple from iBooks Author.

NOOK Press is only available in the US as of now, and aspiring authors have to be approved by Barnes & Noble before they can start writing and selling books through NOOK Press. However, we’re guessing that UK support will come soon enough. As for whether or not NOOK Press can take away some of Amazon’s self-publishing market share, we’ll ultimately have to wait and see.

That didn’t sit well with Arthur Frommer, the founder of the Frommer’s Travel Guide brand. Rather than see the print editions of the books he founded going extinct, the 83-year-old Frommer has now purchased the travel guide brand back from Google. Frommer says that the company will continue to publish its travel guides in e-book and print formats in addition to operating a travel site at Frommers.com.

Google has officially confirmed that it has returned the Frommer’s brand to its founder and is “licensing certain travel content to him.” There is no word on exactly how much money the purchase cost Frommer. Google is said to have paid $22 million when it purchased Frommer’s from publishing house John Wiley & Sons last year.

There have been over 300 books published in the Frommer’s travel series since the brand was founded in 1957. While many people see print media as old-fashioned and for technology fans at least printed books are falling out of grace, it’s nice to see the printed option will remain for those who prefer something they can carry in their hands that doesn’t rely on battery power during their travels.

[via Paid Content]

Goodreads launched in early 2007 and it raised almost $3 million in funding since then, so it’s definitely been a successful ride for the founders of the service. Goodreads currently has over 16 million members who have added over 230 million books to the Goodreads database, with more than 30,000 book clubs. The service allows you to find your friends and share book recommendations with one another.

This type of social integration will only strengthen Amazon’s lead in the book and e-book market, where Apple has also been trying to leverage the industry with its own iBooks offering. With the acquisition, Amazon could easily implement Goodreads’ features into its Kindle lineup to give Kindle users better recommendations, and to even let users find their friends on Amazon’s network.

However, Goodreads CEO and co-founder Otis Chandler assures users that the service will not be going away or changing. With that said, it’ll be interesting to see how Amazon will integrate itself into Goodreads, and how Goodreads will integrate into Amazon’s ecosystem. Details on that front are scarce, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about Amazon’s plans for the service in the near future.

The difference between this app and the already released Marvel Comics app for iPad is your ability to see new issues. With Marvel Unlimited you’ll be limited to comics as recent as 6 months – for some of the most ravenous storyline addicts, this will be a bit of a boon. If you want to read entire collections of comics long gone, on the other hand, Marvel Unlimited will certainly be right up your alley.

The app itself is free from the iTunes App Store and you’ll be able to pick it up for either your iPad or your iPhone – or both, if you’re feeling like reading all the time, no matter what, non-stop. You’ll see both the Marvel Comics app and the Marvel Unlimited app in the store – feel free to pick them both up for more comics action than you can possible handle.

You’ll find that some comics have special ways of walking through their pages while some are much more traditional. If you have a peek at a new (and free) edition of Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll find each tiny panel popping up with speech bubbles depending on who speaks first and which action happens when. If you check out Uncanny X-Men Volume 1, Issue 500, you’ll be able to zoom in on individual panels with a double-tap, the others being blocked by white while you peek.

The most traditional way you’ll see comics added to the fold here is a simple one or two page spread. You can zoom in with a pinch or a pull, but otherwise you’re flat as flat gets. Page turning is flat, there’s no extra 3D morphing going on, nothing like that. It’s a real one or two-page experience, front to back.

With Marvel Unlimited you’ll be paying either $10 a month of $60 USD for a whole year, and you’ll be able to read comics offline and keep what you want just so long as you’re still subscribed. With the Marvel Comics app you’ll be paying whatever you’d normally pay for each issue, and you’ll have access to “Marvel Now” – each time you purchase an issue in the real world, in a real comic shop, you get a download code that lets you grab it digitally as well.

But please, please for the sake of our future generations of comic book fanatics, please put your back issues in sleeves with boards and tape – and don’t smoke! And don’t leave them out in the sun! And don’t let them get damp!

As for revenue, Barnes & Noble made $2.2 billion during the quarter, which is down 8.8% year-over-year. As for NOOK sales, that division probably got hit the hardest, where revenue was down 26% compared to the same time last year, but as for digital content sales, the company saw a slight jump by 6.8%.

Of course, Barnes & Noble was expecting to take a big hit, so they’re about as surprised as we were (read: not surprised at all). NOOK made $316 million this past quarter, while the same time last year, it made $426.6 million. Overall, the company saw losses across the board, including their retail business, which saw a 10.3% decrease from last year.

However, it seems that the company may actually be changing things up a bit. Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio is pondering the idea of buying the company back from shareholders, and shaking things up with the NOOK business — mostly throwing out the entire playbook and starting from scratch, but we’ll have to see what direction the company takes this year. It could be an interesting ride for B&N execs.

The Cloud Player app was released on iOS over the summer last year as an app optimized for the iPhone and iPod Touch only, but Amazon has updated to app to version 2.0 today with native support for the iPad as well. The app now features an interface that is consistent with Amazon’s other major iOS apps: Kindle and Amazon Instant Video.

As for the Kindle iOS app, Amazon updated it to version 3.6.1, but after hearing reports of randomly-deleted ebooks from users libraries upon updating, Amazon is warning users not to update, although the update is still available and hasn’t yet been pulled. However, Amazon says they’re currently working on a fix and should be releasing it soon.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that this has happened with app updates. While it’s not common for updates to cause major problems, it’s a factor that developers think about each time they push out an update to its thousands and millions of users, so there’s always bound to be some users who identify problems with an update, but a major issue like this seems to be a first for Amazon.

Riggio is already the largest shareholder of the company, and is also the Chairman of the Board. He’s pondering the purchase of all of the assets of Barnes & Noble’s retail business, according to an amendment to his Schedule 13D filed today with the SEC. It’s also been rumored that the company may steer away from hardware after the buyout happens, but nothing is confirmed on that front.

Of course, Barnes & Nobles emphasizes that Riggio’s proposal will result in any kind of transaction, and there’s currently no timetable for the Strategic Committee’s review, which will the committee that will oversee the proposal. Barnes & Noble doesn’t have any further details on Riggio’s proposal, and doesn’t plan to say anything more until a final decision has been made.

This wouldn’t be the first time that a big company has gone private recently. Dell ended up going private a couple of weeks ago, when founder and CEO Michael Dell bought back all shares with help from Microsoft. Perhaps Riggio liked Dell’s idea and may try it out for himself. In the meantime, we could see an overhaul of Barnes & Noble, but don’t hold your breath just yet.

The books are grouped in three genres: romance, sci-fi and fantasy, and mysteries and thrillers. Plus, there’s a fourth blended category called “more to explore” that features a handful of books mixed from the different categories. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Apple is highlighting indie works, but it’s the first time they’re putting them in the limelight like this.

Avid readers will also find that many of the books featured in this section are fairly inexpensive, with even some that are free of charge, meaning that there are a lot of great books that you can read without investing a lot of money. While the landing page for Breakout Books isn’t completely filled with recommended content, Apple says they’ll add more to the section once it takes off.

Since the beginning of the ebook craze, digital publishing has become easier and easier. It gives indie authors a chance to show their stuff to millions of people without spending tons of money for printing. Just like apps, games, and music, authors are taking advantage of the digital age, and are trying to get the word out about their books. This new section in the iBookstore will definitely help with that.

[via paidContent]

CEO Mitchell Klipper confirmed the news today, saying that the company expects to close 20 stores per year on average. In the past decade, the company shut down approximately 15 stores per year on average, but they were also opening at least 30 stores per year in new locations. However, that process met a roadblock a few years ago. The company’s peak number of stores at any one time was 726 in 2008.

While the closing of 30% of its stores is certainly not good news, Klipper tries to see the good things out of the downsize. He says “it’s a good business model,” because “you have to adjust your overhead, and get smart with smart systems.” It’s certainly not what the company hoped for by any means, but Klipper says that business models change throughout the years and you have to learn to adjust.

Barnes & Noble’s brick-and-mortar store business has been drying up more and more as consumers shift toward Amazon and buying ebooks online, but Klipper is confident in his new business plan, and while the company is closing many of its stores, they’re expanding their digital book arsenal to make up for the loss.

UPDATE: We received word from a Barnes & Noble spokesperson about the future closings of their various stores, and they note that the company “has not adjusted its store closing plan whatsoever,” and that the numbers being reported “are consistent with analysts’ expectations.” The spokesperson mentioned that “in 2012, Barnes & Noble opened two new prototype stores and in 2013 plans to test several other prototypes, as well,” saying that they are “fully committed to the retail concept for the long term.”

[via WSJ]

While the Read Aloud feature may not have the best voice qualities and isn’t as polished as something like Amazon’s integration with Audible audiobooks, the feature works in a pinch and will allow you to have your eyes on something else while your phone or tablet reads aloud a book to you while you listen.

The Books app also features new zooming capabilities, allowing you to either pinch-to-zoom or double-tap to zoom, both of which are common features in mobile web browsers and other apps already. Just like the Read Aloud feature, zooming in and out works will all books, so there’s no need to do any configurations or hunt down specific books.

The update also includes recommendations for other titles you might like when you’ve reached the end of a book, and all text editing features are available for notes. Plus, as with any update, the new Books app comes with numerous bug fixes and performance enhancements to improve the user experience overall.

Google Play Books is a free download, and the update is available now in the Google Play store.

[via Android Community]

The Arc tablet will be available at Indigo-Chapters, Best Buy, and Future Shop stores in Canada, while the UK will have the tablet in stock at WHSmith, and at Fnac Booksellers in France. Pricing will start at $199.99 for the 16GB model, while $249.99 will get you a 32GB version and $299.99 for the 64GB variant.

The Kobo Arc is Google-certified, and features a 7-inch 1280×800 HD display (215ppi), with a 1.5GHz OMAP 4470 dual-core processor running the show. It comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but surprisingly, Kobo says that they’re already working to roll out an upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

With access to Google Play, as well as the company’s own content, Kobo Arc users have access to a wide range of Android apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and of course, books (and lots of them). While the Kobo Arc looks to be a real competitor in the 7-inch tablet market, the bigger companies currently have a hold on it, especially Google, who recently launched an updated Nexus 7 tablet, as well as their new Nexus 10.

[via Android Community]

GIF beat out words like YOLO, second-screening, and superstorm for this year’s crown. In the Oxford English Dictionary, GIF is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format and is defined as “a lossless format for compressing image files,” while the verb usage is “to create a GIF file of (an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event).”

The UK’s word of the year, omnishambles, is a term that was coined by the writers of the British comedy show The Thick of It, and it’s defined as “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.” You may remember when the word was playfully changed to “Romneyshambles” when 2012 US presidential candidate Mitt Romney questioned England’s preparations for the London Olympics, which obviously upset a lot of UK residents and officials.

Oxford’s head of the US dictionaries program, Katherine Martin, said that “GIF celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun.” She also noted that the GIF is “a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace.”

[via Oxford University Press]

The photo above gives you a good idea at just how small the device is, and look at those two ladies having a good time together. We’re not sure what they’re reading exactly, but from the looks of it, the books must be good reads. It also doesn’t hurt knowing that the beagle is claimed to be the smallest ereader in the world.

Measuring in at only 5mm thick, the txtr beagle comes with a 5-inch e-ink display. It also only weighs 4.5 ounces and takes up only around six cubic inches. However, one of the biggest features that separates the beagle from its competitors is that there’s no chargers or cables necessary. The beagle fits two AAA batteries at the bottom that can power the device for a whole year. Users can access txtr’s Android reading app to browse and download ebooks and can also connect via Bluetooth to a smartphone in order to transfer ebooks to and from the device.

txtr says the device may sell for as low as €9.90 (roughly $13) in Europe, which is an unheard of price in this day and age. However, we’re not sure how the company will plan to price the device in the US. Availability hasn’t been announced yet, but it looks like the beagle will release in Europe, Asia, and the US.

This settlement has the US publishers able to make available or choose to remove their works – books and journals of all kinds – digitized by Google for their Library Project. For works that the publishers decide to leave in the Library, Google will give the option of receiving a digital copy of for their use. This essentially means that if they want to use the digitized versions of their books in the future as made possible by Google, they’ll have to let Google work with a copy as well – but if they don’t, Google will toss the data entirely.

“We are pleased that this settlement addresses the issues that led to the litigation. It shows that digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyright-holders.” – Tom Allen, President and CEO, AAP

The agreement also works with Google Books, a program that already has users able to read up to 20% of a book before purchase. The agreement notes that books scanned by Google in the Library Project may be included by publishers in this program if they wish – of course the book would need to be submitted separately to the store, but that’s beside the point. Further details surrounding the settlement will likely remain confidential.

This case originally had a $125 million dollar settlement that would have allowed Google a registry of online books. This registry would have allowed US consumers and institutions of all kinds the ability to purchase access to the material. Judge Denny Chin overturned the decision in 2011 after an extended review starting in 2009, deciding that the court never had the power to set up a business arrangement such as the one that was made. It also noted that such an agreement would not allow anyone to possibly compete with Google, nor did it give Google any incentive to, as PC mag‘s recounting notes, “track down the authors of orphaned works.” Such is life!

[via AAP]

It looks like it will occupy the same 6-inch form factor, and also has space for a microSD card slot, but WiFi is all the connectivity this eReader will bring. Bluetooth and 3G are both missing, so if you want those you’ll have to take a trip to Japan and score a PRS-T1.

The Sony PRS-T1 currently has a 6-inch 800×600 e-ink display, 2GB of storage, microSD, and touchscreen input. Some shortcut buttons can also be found at the bottom of the display. Currently that model goes for around $130, so we image the sequel will cost the same and bring some new features or lower the barrier to entry. We’ll keep an eye out in the meantime.

[via The Digital Reader]

The project is designed to squash two criticisms of open source textbooks, namely that they’re too hard to find and the authenticity can’t be vouched for. The University of Minnesota hopes to build up a collection of vetted books that would be available to teachers everywhere, and build up a level of quality control traditionally associated with normal textbooks.

Minnesota has laid out certain guidelines that vetted books will have to adhere to in order to get the project off the ground. The books will have to be complete with a print version and open license, while also being available to institutions outside of Minnesota. The university isn’t hoping to create any of its own books, simply vet existing ones.

So far there are around 90 books in Minnesota’s database, with thousands of visitors reading them since the launch two weeks ago. The popularity has attracted attention from other Big Ten universities, with some looking to get involved and others posting words of encouragement. Several Minnesota faculty members have also pledged to help review the books.

[via Slashdot]

The new novel continues the story where its predecessor, Halo: Glasslands left off. It will delve into a world where the Covenant-Human war has ended but conflicts still remain. Of course. It will go from that point to where Halo 4 begins, or to put it in the quoted words of 343′s Frank O’Connor, it will set up “the events and circumstances that will come to define the state of the Halo universe in Halo 4.” Halo 4 is due out for the holiday season on Xbox 360.

Halo: The Thursday War will, of course, beat it to the punch. It has a scheduled release date of October 2. On that date, the expensive hardcover and audio editions will be available. Paperback will, as always, come out at a later date. And as previously mentioned, an online Web series set in the Halo universe, with ties to Halo 4, is also set to debut in the coming months. It will be quite the lead-up to the eventual game release.

[via Destructoid]

These phones are obviously meant to reflect the NOOK lineup with their already headphone-equipped facia, and has no less than a lovely combination of comfortable material on top, plastic sides, and metal adjustment bars to solidify the experience. These phones are likely of high quality and will likely be released with a discount when purchased with a NOOK Tablet of any kind.

What do you think, NOOK fans, look like something you’d pick up if it were marketed as optimized for the NOOK tablet lineup? Will you be e-reading with audio from now on, now that Barnes & Noble wants you to listen to music at the same time? Do you expect a music store to pop up via Barnes & Noble? We’ll see soon!

[via Barnes & Noble]

What this means for you is a very possible lowering of prices in the short run. If the DoJ is able to find a way to break up what they’re seeing as the first model, retailers will have the ability to make big discounts happen in the short run. What will likely happen in the meantime though is these retailers vying for the exclusive attention of some publishers, this again then allowing publishers to artificially set prices the way the DoJ says they are this very moment with retailers such as Apple.

Publishers are currently in a great place when it comes to selling ebooks as they’re able to ask retailers to set prices at a point where their ultimate goal can be met. Their ultimate goal is of course to keep themselves in business by either pushing ebooks as a primary sales point or by pricing those books just high enough that a reader would rather purchase a hardcover book instead. The DoJ wants the market to be much more free and open than it appears to be right now – discounts for books included.

Whether or not they’ll be able to do it with the model they are proposing here is still and will continue to be open to debate.

Barnes & Noble of course also has a NOOK line of devices which hit the market over a year ago with a color screen – the NOOK we’re looking at here being the one that’s black and white and has letters all over. This new version will have the same sort of E-Ink display as before, but with a front light embedded over the screen. Thats light without light, text that looks like its on paper, but not like the average paper-wielding book has.

There’s not yet any information out in the wild on a price or release date for this new product, but expect it to be out soon! That is, if Barnes & Noble doesn’t quash it now that it’s been revealed early. We’re guessing it’s well on the way though, especially with rumors of a Next-gen E-Ink Kindle on the way!

[via The Digital Reader]

All the Harry Potter books are now available to purchase for Kindle, Nook, Google Play, and Sony ereaders at Pottermore.com. The first three books are priced at $7.99 each, while the other four will cost $9.99 each. Once purchased, you’ll be able to download the book in any format up to eight times.

Right now the books are only available to read in English, although German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions have been promised. Enhanced versions of the books will also make an appearance in the future.

When the Pottermore website is opened up to everyone in early April, it will feature interactive elements, such as moving through each chapter and collecting items found in the novels. Users will also be able to duel each other and brew potions with ingredients purchased from Diagon Alley. It’s an interesting experiment, and one that Amazon and Apple will surely be keeping a close eye on. Amazon’s content right now only offers a static experience, while Apple have promoted some of their textbooks as having interactive elements.

[via Engadget]

We’ve got Google Play Books, Google Play Movies, Google Play Music, and more. This store is set to work on both the mobile platform and in-browser for all devices able to run a web browser. This new market will be sent out to Android devices running Android 2.2 FroYo over the next few days and will be replacing the Android Market name in the Google sandbar soon as well. The biggest difference for most people here seems to be the logo and the name, with the actual store and stores looking and feeling essentially the same.

You’ll be syncing like a madman with your music, your videos, and books, your ability to stop working with one of these bits of media in one place and start again on a different device now yours to wield. Your Apps will of course work the same way they have before, with you able to purchase them online and sent them automatically to the devices of your choice.

With Google Play you can:
• Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
• Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
• Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
• Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles

Beyond the cloud capabilities of this re-imagined portal then, The only thing that’s really changed therefor, truly, is the branding scheme. The lovely new Google Play logo with the multicolored arrow akin to a Play symbol is up, the store is rolling out now, and Google is once again getting stronger with a simplification of terms. Tighten it up, Google!

The book reveals that the room is located in a walled-off section inside Apple’s main marketing building and requires a special badge in order to enter or exit the room. The packaging designers inside are said to open hundreds of prototype packaging in trying to achieve the perfect unboxing experience.

“How a customer opens a box must be one of the last things a typical product designer would consider,” wrote Lashinsky. “Yet for Apple, the inexpensive box merits as much attention as the high-margin electronic device inside.”

One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box. Getting it just right was this particular designer’s obsession.

What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab.

It truly illustrates the obsessive attention to detail at Apple, something Steve Jobs was well known for. Jobs was said to have gone through more than 2,000 shades of beige to find the perfect one for the Apple II and even insisted that engineers make the circuit board inside the Mac look great although consumers wouldn’t be able to see it.

[via MacRumors]

According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble declined to comment. However, we know that Sterling publishes mainly nonfiction titles in areas such as puzzles and games, gardening, cooking, crafts, as well as children’s books, and that Barnes & Noble will probably try to look for a potential suitor in those particular categories of interest.

Though the bookseller doesn’t disclose Sterling Publishing’s sales in its public filings, in trading today on the New York Stock Exchange, Barnes & Noble shares were down approximately 4% to $13.55. SlashGear readers, how much do you think Barnes & Noble’s publishing division will fetch in a sale? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

During the years Jobs was gone from Apple, he adopted Buddhism and met with an old friend Kobun who, at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California, taught him some rather awesome arts. One example is the walking meditation kinhin, the other being his eventual understanding of the Japanese design concept ma. Simplicity in all things is what this all leads to — have a peek at the preview video here:

The creators of the book would prefer that you pick it up right on over at Wiley. It’ll run you a cool $20 USD and you’ll be able to get it shipped straight to your door. Interestingly enough, an Instructors evaluation copy request button exists for this novella, this meaning they’re pushing it to educators as well. Would you present this book in your class, professors? Either way, grab it now!

According to former Borders customers (thanks everyone who sent this in, by the way,) Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch sent them an email [which can be seen here] that the surviving books and media company acquired the customer data which included “the subject matter of your DVD and other video purchases” amongst other tidbits. Lynch wrote that they sought out the purchase of this data in order to “try and earn your business.”

Massachusetts State Attorney General Martha Coakley has released a statement that noted the following as specifically what is included in the data in question:

Information customers shared with the Borders website, including name, address, and e-mail address.

Information collected from customers in the Borders Rewards loyalty program, including customer name, address, e-mail address, and purchase history. This purchase history will not include the titles of video materials (like DVDs or VHS tapes) purchased by customers.

E-mail addresses from customers who requested to receive special offers from Borders.

You should note here, of course, that credit card information and any and all financial-related information is not included in the Borders database nor in this sale of data. To quell fears that they’d just been bamboozled by the companies in the deal, Lynch added the following in the letter to customers:

It’s important for you to understand, however, that you have the absolute right to opt-out of having your customer data transferred to Barnes & Noble. If you would like to opt-out, we will ensure all your data we receive from Borders is disposed of in a secure and confidential manner. Please visit www.bn.com/borders by October 29, 2011 to do so.

Sound good enough for you?

The Pearl E-ink screen here should be a real winner as its already tried and true, and with this new form factor (seen above), Bookeen may well have a winner on their hands. In addition to having these things in its favor, there’s a video out there showing off how Bookeen has been optimizing this tablet in regards to refresh rate on the “ink”, and wow, it does look pretty darn neat if I do say so myself:

The video isn’t the newest in the world, but it does show the possibilities in this new Bookeen ereader tablet. This video was filmed all the way back in May – can you imagine where they’re at today?! We can’t wait to hear more from Bookeen on the device. E-ink progression forever!

[via The Digital Reader]

If you live in the US, you will be able to rent thousands of movies starting at $1.99 from the new Android Market app directly on your phone. These movies can be streamed to your device so you don’t have to worry about storage space, downloading, and syncing. Instead, you simply sign into Android Market with your Google account and start renting and watching instantly. Downloading the movie is also an option if you want to watch it later when you don’t have an internet connection.

Books will also be linked to your Google account, so that you have instant access across all your devices without the need for transferring or downloading.

Additionally, the overall layout and navigation for Android Market has been improved to make finding apps, movies, and books much faster and easier. There are now more app rankings and top charts as well as an Editors’ Choice section that will help you discover new apps.

The update will be rolling out over the next few weeks automatically to supported devices. You will not need to download anything, although you can download the Videos app for streaming movie rentals if you live in the US.

[via Google Blog]

Judge Denny Chin felt that “the ASA would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case.” The ASA was proposed in 2005 and a settlement was first reached in 2008. However, there were plenty of objections to the settlement.

“Certain objectors oppose the ASA on antitrust grounds, arguing that (1) certain pricing mechanisms would constitute horizontal agreements that would violate the Sherman Act; (2) the ASA would effectively grant Google a monopoly over digital books, and, in particular, orphan books; and (3) such a monopoly would further entrench Google’s dominant position in the online search business,” wrote Judge Chin.

Naturally, some of the objectors to the ASA were Google’s competitors like Microsoft and Amazon. There were a host of other problems and objections like privacy issues and violations, objections from certain authors about adequate representation, and difficulties with foreign laws.

[via Business Insider]

This set is limited edition – can you guess the number of sets that have been made? That’s right, 1,138 numbered and signed wood boxes filled with the 6 books in the edition have been created and can be yours for the low low price of $3,000. The box has a Darth Vader seal on one side and a Yoda seal on the other, the wood case is art deco inspired, and each set comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by George Lucas himself.

This project began all the way back on September 9, 2005, when George and his pals Mike Blanchard and J. W. Rinzler (an interesting fellow in his own right) all sat down in an editorial suite at Skywalker Ranch and began selecting images. Two of three times a month, every month, until July 11th, 2008, these three dudes were selecting frames from the films. After that, more than 2 years were required to “solve all of the production challenged presented by the project’s exacting requirements.” Take a peek at this official info on the case and the medallions surrounding the books:

Constructed from premium hardwoods, this limited edition case measures approximately 25″ X 14″ X 13″ with an extended base. The case features intricate wood inlays from a combination of Padouk, Meranti, and Bubinga, against a hardwood frame of Rubberwood. The finish is an environmentally sensitive water-based product, which provides exquisite luster and enduring protection. This case has outer pocketing to accept the full-relief sculptures of Darth Vader and Yoda, which were created exclusively for Star Wars: Frames. The books inside the case are accessed by means of an innovative spring-loaded storage and retrieval system.

Sound pretty good? I think so. Time to bust out the ol’ pocketbook and sell a few automobiles and laptops – this set will run you a cool 3 g’s: Star Wars: Frames [$3,000] Run out and buy it now! Or actually just go to the official site and buy em all up.

Although this would be an amazingly simple sort of bookshelf to produce and sell in hipster shops across the USA, Eatock has only produced two of these, and both times for installations. This particular one you see above is host to 75 books that were, every single one of them, used as research material that informed the art show this project was included in, Book Show, Eastside Projects, all of them owned by the show’s curator James Langdon.

MDF 1220mm long x 300mm deep x 18mm thick, two metal brackets, 75 books – take a peek on Eatock’s portfolio page for a full list of the books used (if you want to recreate it yourself, I suppose.)

[Via Daniel Eatock]

Borders is delaying the payments to publishers in an attempt to get its finances under control. The news of the money problems and delayed payments reportedly sent Borders stock down 13%. Borders also notes that it can offer “no assurance that it will be successful in refinancing its senior credit facilities or restructuring its vendor financing arrangements.”

BBC News reports that Borders latest financial information showed that its losses had doubled in Q3. The issue that prompted the money woes is that the credit facility available to it was reduced after the value of its inventory fell. The company is seeking alternative financing at this time.

And bonus! Though nothing compares to actually buying the game, running home at full speed, and playing it for a week straight, there are a couple more things. One, customers who purchas Cataclysm at midnight will get a free video game rental coupon, and two, those same customers will get a $5 off coupon for the strategy guide (uh yeah right who would buy such a thing! Me.) Check out the full press release below:

AMARILLO, Texas, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Hastings Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAST), a leading multimedia entertainment superstore retailer, has announced its plans for chain-wide midnight release parties for the new World of Warcraft: Cataclysm video game. Fans are encouraged to join their local Hastings for a midnight release party on Monday, December 6. Festivities for the night will begin at 10:00 pm and will end after the video game goes on sale at Midnight.

Fans enjoying the festivities and awaiting the release of the game will be able to take advantage of special promotions, including 30% off all used CDs, books, video games, and movies during the release party. Customers who purchase the game at the party will also receive a free video game rental coupon and $5 off the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm strategy guide.

To find out more about the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm midnight release party in your area, visit us online atwww.goHastings.com or contact your local Hastings superstore.

About Hastings
Founded in 1968, Hastings Entertainment, Inc. is a leading multimedia entertainment retailer that combines the sale of new and used books, videos, video games and CDs, as well as trends and consumer electronics merchandise, with the rental of videos and video games in a superstore format.  We currently operate 146 superstores, averaging approximately 25,000 square feet, primarily in medium-sized markets throughout the United States.  We also operate a new concept store, Sun Adventure Sports, in Amarillo, Texas.

We also operate www.goHastings.com, an e-commerce Internet Web site that makes available to our customers new and used entertainment products and unique, contemporary gifts and toys.  The site features exceptional product and pricing offers.  The Investor Relations section of our web site contains press releases, a link to request financial and other literature and access our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Be kind, don’t swear, listen to the nice man, etcetera. Also remember that the book this man is promoting is several times proven plagiarized, and that just this past October http://wikileaks.org/ released a large batch of classified US military documents detailing 109,032 deaths in Iraq over a period of six years, “comprised of 66,081 ‘civilians’; 23,984 ‘enemy’ (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 ‘host nation’ (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 ‘friendly’ (coalition forces).” The man who was the President of the United States during the time these deaths occurred is now chilling with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook in Palo Alto. Take that how you will.

NOTE: that this whole situation has both an unboxing and hands-on post and a demo post preceding it, both of the posts can be considered a sort of prequel set to this. Then lets get into the basics: weight, size, and portability.

The NOOKcolor weighs approximately 15.8 oz, that being .98 pounds – lighter than a Harry Potter book (the bigger ones.) It measures in at 8.1x 5.0 x 0.48 in, making it small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, but just a bit too big to fit in anyone’s pants pocket. You can hold it with one hand and read a book, but like any paper book, you’re going to probably want to hold it with both hands and/or balance it against your leg or a table or something along those lines.

There’s a “loop” in the lower left-hand corner that both acts as an aesthetic gesture which differentiates this device from other tablets and marks the place where you’re going to be able to insert your microSD memory card. Over the phone with Barnes and Noble I was told that without any card inserted, the NOOKcolor was able to “hold 600,000 books” – for me, this ends up being about 5.1GB of space with 26 books and magazines on the device taking up space. It is possible for each regular book on your device to be anywhere from 47.2MB all the way down to 372KB – these aren’t the limits, but they are the largest and smallest books I’ve got on the device at the moment, just to give you an idea. Also over the phone I was informed that with the memory card slot you’d be able to attain “unlimited storage.” Infinite books!

Along the edges of the device there’s a headphone jack (on top), volume up/down buttons (upper right), USB plug in (with lovely glowing orange/green “n” on the official cord) (on the bottom), and power button (upper left.) On the back there’s a lightly gripping rubbery back with the official “n” pressed into the center, FCC info and BARNES&NOBLE logo printed on the bottom of the back panel, above and below a small speaker hole grid. Along the entire edge of the device is a very sturdy plastic ring – don’t go bashing against any brick walls anytime soon, but don’t be surprised if it holds up against attacking small animals.

On the front, there’s on single button in the center of a piece of plastic as long as the short end of the screen and as tall as the greater border. This button is sort of a “home” button, bringing you back to your desktop from wherever you are in a book, app, in the browser, wherever. This button is again, cleverly shaped in the NOOK “n.”

Then there’s the screen. The lovely 7-inch backlit LCD screen which I’m told by Barnes and Noble started as a prototype. It’s an IPS screen with optics fusion, 1024×600 resolution, essentially no space between the display and the glass, with a lamination across the whole thing to reduce glare. It’s certainly not a no-glare situation, especially since it certainly is glass, but the sun’s not blasted my eyes out yet with it, that’s for sure.

The screen’s colors are brilliant. Whether you’re accessing a magazine (the best example of still-images, or a video from your “files”, you’re going to find the display’s details to be no disappointment. You WILL see some degradation if you go through the browser to a place like YouTube, even if you’re watching an “HD, 1080P” video – I always use The Matrix movie trailers to test screens out, and this doesn’t stand up to that test at all – lots of yuck in the blacks and colors and everything. However, if you do have a video optimized for the NOOKcolor, you’ll find excellence.

NOTE: Check out this post by user “The Hillarican” on MobileRead forums which explains optimal settings. Use something like the free application “HandBrake” to convert your video. Convert the file you wish to watch to the following: MPEG-4 (FFmpeg) for video codec, AAC (faac) for audio codec, stereo sound mixdown, samplerate of 44.1, and bitrate of 128. DOUBLE NOTE: This seems to work for some people and not for others. If you get it to work, comment below and tell us your super cool secret.

I do wish it were easier to play video content with the NOOKcolor. With other tablet devices (even smartphone devices) it ends up being a much simpler situation in almost every case. On the other hand, this tablet is being marketed as a reading-centric device and they do not seem to push anywhere in the marketing of this device that you’ll be able to view brilliant video. Also note that there’s no video content available anywhere in the B&N store. Should I wish for an easier video situation on a device that doesn’t technically promise it? I can’t be sure.

There are several ways to interact with books and apps, meaning several ways to tap, swipe, drag, etc, but I’ll get into more of that once we reach the rest of this review series. For now, I’ll let you know how well the screen reacts to those actions. Every sort of move or press or tap seems to work perfectly. There are times (especially when tapping something small, like a text link in a book or on the browser) that it takes a few tries to get it to accept your tap, but on the whole, it’s a very good experience touchscreen-wise here.

There is one place on the screen that shows a digital ghost when squeezing the device – see picture – this shouldn’t be a problem since, you know, why would you be squeezing the thing in the first place, but it’ll be interesting to see if this develops into a problem in the future. More than likely this situation arises from there being a piece of equipment inside the casing set up a little higher than everything else, and that’s the place that touches the back of the display first.

Plugging into the wall or the computer seems to work pretty well, the drive folder showing up on your computer’s desktop within a minute, most of the time within 10 seconds. As I’ve said before, I do really enjoy when any power plug lets me know when the device is fully charged, and this one does just that with a lovely NOOK “n” on the cord on the device’s end. While the device is plugged into the computer, you’re not allowed to access anything on the device unless you eject the files folder. Once you do this, though, your device will power up even as you use it. IMPORTANT: if you ever decide to fully power your NOOKcolor off, you’ll have to press the power button down for more than the otherwise short-click-on if you’d like to turn the device back to its on-state. Holding the button down for around 5 seconds should do the trick.

Wrap-Up

The NOOKcolor has very minimal problems in the hardware department. If you’re the sort of person who loves to own the latest device in every department, this is definitely the one for reading books. It feels really great, handles well, and looks just lovely. Powered off or powered on, you know that this is an iconic piece of industrial design, and that is to be commended. I do not miss the ability to turn pages with physical buttons, and as of yet (remember we’re not reviewing the apps in any form yet) I do not miss the eINK display. The NOOKcolor is bright, it’s beautiful, and hardware-wise, it’s right on.

Now that our “A Week With” cycle is complete for NOOKcolor, take a look at all of the posts in turn:
A Week with NOOKcolor: Hardware
A Week with NOOKcolor: Reading (aka Core Apps)
NOOKcolor Unboxing and Hands-on
NOOKcolor Demo
A Bit of Extra Clarity for Would-be Developers of NOOKcolor Apps
and of course A Week with NOOKcolor: 3rd Party Apps and Final Wrap-Up

For those of you who don’t hang out in the comic book shop every Tuesday, lemme give you a little crash course in this particular situation. Marvel Comics is one of the largest comics labels in the world, marked most recently by their extremely successful dip into the film business. One of their tactics for upping sales on back issues and fuel the secondary market of comic collectors collecting rarities, they print “variant covers.” All this means is that literally the front of the comic is different, and that’s it.

Now Marvel comics doing this sort of special edition large-scale assault pumping up a movie can only mean one thing: there’s a brand tie somewhere. Oh, wait, didn’t Disney buy Marvel a while ago for $4 billion dollars? Yes they did! And isn’t it Disney that owns the rights to the TRON movie (and now franchise?) Yes indeed! Now enjoy the flashing lights and get the full press-released list of issues in on this deal here:

The issues featuring TRON variants, and spotlighted characters, are as follows:

•AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #651 TRON Variant, featuring Spider-Man
•AVENGERS #7 TRON Variant. featuring Spider-Woman
•AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 TRON Variant, featuring Quicksilver
•CAPTAIN AMERICA #612 TRON Variant, featuring Captain America
•INCREDIBLE HULKS #618 TRON Variant, featuring Ghost Rider
•INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #33 TRON Variant, featuring Iron Man
•NEW AVENGERS #7 TRON Variant, featuring Ms. Marvel
•SECRET AVENGERS #7 TRON Variant, featuring Moon Knight
•THOR #617 TRON Variant, featuring Thor
•WOLVERINE #4 TRON Variant, featuring Wolverine

An unprecedented one-time event bringing together the world’s greatest super heroes with the hotly-anticipated blockbusters of the year, TRON: LEGACY, no pop culture fan can afford to miss Marvel’s TRON Variant Covers!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #651 TRON VARIANT (OCT100568)
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Back-up Story pencils by STEFANO CASELLI
Tron Variant by MARK BROOKS
Rated A …$3.99
FOC-11/19/10, On-Sale-12/15/10

AVENGERS #7 TRON VARIANT (SEP100583)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils and Cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.
Blank Cover Variant Also Available
Gatefold Variant Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Variant Cover by ED McGUINNESS
Tron Variant Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
Rated A …$3.99
FOC-10/22/10, On-Sale-11/17/10

AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 TRON VARIANT (OCT100576)
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Pencils & Cover by MIKE McKONE
Variant Cover by ED McGUINNESS
Tron Variant by BRANDON PETERSON
Rated A …$2.99
FOC-11/19/10, On-Sale-12/15/10

CAPTAIN AMERICA #612 TRON VARIANT (SEP100612)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by BUTCH GUICE
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Tron Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS
Rated T+ …$3.99
FOC-10/29/10, On-Sale-11/24/10

INCREDIBLE HULKS #618 TRON VARIANT (OCT100603)
Written by GREG PAK
Penciled by PAUL PELLETIER
Cover by CARLO PAGULAYAN
Tron Variant by MARK BROOKS
Rated T+ …$3.99
FOC-11/11/10, On-Sale-12/8/10

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #33 TRON VARIANT (OCT100613)
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art & Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
Tron Variant by BRANDON PETERSON
Rated A …$3.99
FOC-11/26/10, On-Sale-12/22/10

NEW AVENGERS #7 TRON VARIANT (OCT100573)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by STUART IMMONEN
Tron Variant by MARK BROOKS
Rated A …$3.99
FOC-10/22/10, On-Sale-11/17/10

SECRET AVENGERS #7 TRON VARIANT (SEP100585)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by MIKE DEODATO JR.
Cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.
Tron Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS
Rated T+ …$3.99
FOC-10/29/10, On-Sale-11/24/10

THOR #617 TRON VARIANT (SEP100641)
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by PASQUAL FERRY
Tron Variant by BRANDON PETERSON
Rated T+ …$3.99
On-Sale-11/10/10

WOLVERINE #4 TRON VARIANT (OCT100649)
Written by JASON AARON
Penciled by RENATO GUEDES
Cover by JAE LEE
Tron Variant by BRANDON PETERSON
Parental Advisory …$3.99
FOC-11/11/10, On-Sale-12/1/10