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Now You Can Use the Nook Touch ... As a Kindle

Posted by timothy on from the twain-meet-film-at-11 dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Barnes & Nobles' latest e-reader has already been hacked. In a couple of surprise videos this morning, the hacker zoryl showed the Nook Touch running the Kindle app and running ADW Launcher. The second video also hints at the presence of Bluetooth."

99 comments

  1. So how long by Dyinobal · · Score: 1

    So how long before Barnes and Noble or Amazon flip their wig and start filing lawsuits and or releasing patches to fix such a thing. I give it about a week tops.

    1. Re:So how long by awshidahak · · Score: 1

      Why would Amazon sue? Kindle app means more Amazon purchases.

    2. Re:So how long by Dyinobal · · Score: 2

      People buying nooks, over their kindle because then they can use B&Ns service and the Kindle service as well.

    3. Re:So how long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      B&N have not caused any problems for the thousands of people who are VERY publicly hacking Nook Colors with a full Android.
      And we've been doing that since shortly after they were released. There are multiple versions of Android in fact, and even more different roms to choose from.

      Amazon has not made any noise that I have heard about either- I think they hope to achieve extra e-book sales from those who have hacked B&N devices while B&N is hoping for 2 things:
      Increased customer loyalty (and purchases) from those of us who have replaced the stock rom
      Huge amounts of internet buzz and free advertising about their e-readers.

      I've had one custom rom or another on my Nook Color for 6 months now and I don't know of any lawsuits from anyone, so I think your guess of a week is maybe a bit off. ;)

    4. Re:So how long by xs650 · · Score: 1

      Based on how B&N has reacted to Nook Color "hacks" for many months now, they never will. B&N gets it, the extra flexibility makes their product much more desirable to a significant minority of their customers.

    5. Re:So how long by fluffy99 · · Score: 2

      So how long before Barnes and Noble or Amazon flip their wig and start filing lawsuits and or releasing patches to fix such a thing. I give it about a week tops.

      So far they haven't complained about the Nook Color being rooted and used as an Android Tablet. A few of the engineers in fact are quite supportive of it. A Nook Color with custom firmware is only slightly below a Galaxy Tab wifi version with respect to hardware for about $100-$150 less. I suspect B&N isn't making much profit on the readers, and probably not losing much revenue from a small percentage of their sales to users who intend to root them and never actually use them as an e-reader. In the grand scheme, I they'd spend more money trying to DRM and hardware lock things, then just taking the high road and ignoring the issue.

    6. Re:So how long by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because Kindle sales surely make Amazon rich. Not.

    7. Re:So how long by Sinthet · · Score: 1

      I've actually considered buying a Nook just to use it as a low-cost Android Tablet. If B&N are paying any attention whatsoever to the online buzz, the last thing they'll do is try to stop the customization of these devices.

    8. Re:So how long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm the Nook Color boots from its SD card slot

      You can install cyanogenmod without "rooting" or "breaking in" or anything of the sort.

      I think perhaps Barnes & Noble gets the idea, people want access to their hardware.

    9. Re:So how long by Gideon+Wells · · Score: 1

      People buying nooks, over their kindle because then they can use B&Ns service and the Kindle service as well.

      You need to look at it another way. The people doing these hacks are doing it for the lolz and a cheap tablet. All tablets I know of (IOS, Android, but I am not sure about the Windows and Blackberry tablets) already have the Kindle and BNB apps available. Little to no loss there.

      Second, the Kindles are a loss leader from what I keep hearing from people I am going to assume did more research than I have into the matter. Amazon loses money from Kindles, but in selling a Kindle they know you are going to be giving them profit from books that should in time cancel out. At least in the free shipping they offer from time to time if nothing else.

      These are people who are apparently hacking a rival's product to read Kindle books. Why should Amazon be mad at people who obviously like Kindle books enough to hack the Kindle App into something instead of buying a product designed to lock you into buying Kindle books?

      --
      by Anonymous Coward: I, for one, welcome the shift from car analogies to pizza analogies. um.. overlords?
    10. Re:So how long by hedwards · · Score: 2

      I doubt that B&N cares one way or the other about people hacking their hardware. Considering that Nooks aren't locked into their store specifically, I have to assume that they make at least some profit off the sale of Nooks, even if the profit is minimal.

    11. Re:So how long by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      A few of the engineers in fact are quite supportive of it.

      Ah, good to hear. Now, if only they'd tell us how to turn on the bluetooth antenna! :)

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    12. Re:So how long by ajlitt · · Score: 1

      They can file lawsuits if they want, but I can't think of a grounds they could do that on.

      As for patches, Barnes and Noble left the door wide open to custom firmware. Both the Nook Color and Nook Touch use the same OMAP CPU and are hardwired to boot external (USB, microSD) media before touching the internal flash, and there's no code signing or encrypted images needed. They could only kill this off with updated hardware.

    13. Re:So how long by RoFLKOPTr · · Score: 1

      People buying nooks, over their kindle because then they can use B&Ns service and the Kindle service as well.

      Amazon isn't making money by selling Kindles. Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?

    14. Re:So how long by butalearner · · Score: 1

      I think perhaps Barnes & Noble gets the idea, people want access to their hardware.

      +1. B&N deserves customer loyalty far more than Amazon. For now at least; I could very well end up eating those words once some dipshit bigwig looks at how locked down Kindles are and decides to play follow the leader.

    15. Re:So how long by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      As long as they aren't losing money on the Nooks, and as long as some publishing bigwig doesn't get an irrational bug up his ass about "zOMGF hackers=Piracy!"(which would hardly be a shock, given the predilections of the content industries; but would be stupid, given the ease with which downloaded ebooks are currently cracked on PCs without touching device firmware), I suspect that B&N is happy to shift as many units as they can.

      In their ideal world, every unit shifted would be to some hardcore reader with a killer attach rate; but they started second after Amazon, and are still polishing the storefront side of their offering(arguably, their hardware is presently more interesting). They don't really get to be choosy, and they seem to know that.

    16. Re:So how long by DrgnDancer · · Score: 2

      Honestly I don't think it's all that arguable. B&N's Nook color, even without hacking it, is essentially a fairly decent Android tablet for $250. I haven't hacked mine yet, and I still have a decent selection of games, web, e-mail, and quite a few utility apps just from the B&N store. At some point I'll probably hack it to run stock Android, but so far I haven't had a good reason to do so. The main reason I wanted a tablet was e-books, which it obviously handles quite well. Beyond that I mostly use my computer for stuff if I'm local at home or work, and my iPhone for true portability.

      --
      I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
    17. Re:So how long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      . A Nook Color with custom firmware is only slightly below a Galaxy Tab wifi version with respect to hardware for about $100-$150 less.

      Uh, except for that one minor thing... a 7" multi-touch screen. I'd say between that and the other hardware difference, you've found the $100 difference.

    18. Re:So how long by NuShrike · · Score: 1

      They got a NookColor sale out of me because of their lenient policy. That's money in the bank without advertising.

    19. Re:So how long by NuShrike · · Score: 1

      Even though it's been turned on in CM7, it's not a full-strength/range nor good enough to support audio for some devices. External GPS support is really good though.

    20. Re:So how long by fluffy99 · · Score: 1

      . A Nook Color with custom firmware is only slightly below a Galaxy Tab wifi version with respect to hardware for about $100-$150 less.

      Uh, except for that one minor thing... a 7" multi-touch screen. I'd say between that and the other hardware difference, you've found the $100 difference.

      I was referring to the 7" Galaxy Tab wifi only which retails for $349, compared to the Nook Color which can be had refurbed from Overstock for $199 right now. Same processor just clocked a little slower, and both are multitouch capacitive 1024x600 screens. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=61241

    21. Re:So how long by MrDoh! · · Score: 1

      +1 NC sale because it was hackable
      +1 NookTouch sale tonight because of this.

      It makes sense to be nice to the device hackers, as it generates sales/goodwill from the community.

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
    22. Re:So how long by peragrin · · Score: 1

      The only three reasons why i would hack my nook color iare,
      The web browser is painful to use (no bookmark imports, no ad block)
      The email client works, but not very well.
      and I would want some push notifications, so I can send links from my desktop to the device for future reading.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    23. Re:So how long by realityimpaired · · Score: 1

      Doubt it'll happen... but if it does, you can always wait for Kobo to come out with a colour touch screen. I would be very surprised if that doesn't happen with the next generation of the Kobo reader, since they already have a really nice touch screen greyscale version that handles PDF better than any other ebook reader on the market right now. (and better than some Android tablets, to boot).

      Kobo has gone on the record saying they are officially, as a company, against DRM and other ways to criminalize their customers, and that they will never lock down the Kobo. One of the main reasons I chose the Kobo Touch when buying a new ereader recently. (the other is the international bookstore, something that the Nook and Kindle are seriously lacking).

    24. Re:So how long by Inner_Child · · Score: 1

      The people doing these hacks are doing it for the lolz and a cheap tablet.

      Not necessarily, in this case; an e-ink tablet would be barely useful at best. The original Nook has a dedicated group of individuals that hack on it, mostly to improve the user experience, and I presume they've migrated to the new Nook.

      --
      Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
    25. Re:So how long by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      it's not a full-strength/range nor good enough to support audio

      Right, there's effectively no antenna yet. The chipset in the Nook shares a common antenna between WiFi and Bluetooth, but to enable Bluetooth to connect to the antenna requires some chipset instructions that apparently aren't publicly available.

      As the customer, the Nook developers could presumably request this information, but then again Bluetooth isn't a feature of the Nook.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    26. Re:So how long by Predius · · Score: 1

      They'll be getting more sales out of me for their lenient policies beyond my initial Nook Color.

      Still hoping they use their access to get a Honeycomb port rolling officially, not that will ever actually happen but I can hope dangit.

    27. Re:So how long by hedwards · · Score: 1

      The books are still DRM encumbered, that's the part that the publishers care about. It's not going to be a problem unless a huge portion of the Nook owning public are no longer able to use the DRM files without cracking them.

  2. Android by awshidahak · · Score: 1

    It's just an android device though, isn't it? Yeah, it's got Barnes and Noble stuff on it, but still, it can't be that hard to hack.

    1. Re:Android by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 1

      It's just an android device though, isn't it? Yeah, it's got Barnes and Noble stuff on it, but still, it can't be that hard to hack.

      It's a ford. Shouldn't be that hard to put a chevy engine and a crystler transmission in should it? After all it's just a car.

    2. Re:Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Any device manufacturer can choose how much effort they put into making an Android device difficult to hack (root and install custom roms if desired.)

      Some cell phone companies and carriers make it very difficult indeed.

      Barnes and Noble has gone the other route, at least with the Nook Color: it is very difficult to actually "brick" one. You can even download a microSD image and boot from that without modifying the stock B&N version of Android.

      I have not followed the Nook Touch so it may be a bit different, but apparently it is still possible to mod that one too.

      They could have easily decided to "pull a Motorola" and make it extremely difficult to do anything with the Nooks.
      Thankfully B&N seems to care about customers more than that.

    3. Re:Android by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      I know we really go for bad car analogies around here, but that's a completely awful one.

    4. Re:Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      A Ford with a Chevy motor is probably one of the most popular rat rod recipes out there.. And the Chrysler Torqueflight transmission is one of the automatic transmissions of choice.. There are kits available that make a Chevy powered Ford with a Mopar transmission very easy to build.

    5. Re:Android by brusk · · Score: 2

      If that analogy were a car it would be a broken-down Yugo.

      --
      .sig withheld by request
    6. Re:Android by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 1
      aye but I was really just saying, while it most likely CAN be done [both the car thing and the andriod thing], it is not "trivial" and requires somebody with the proper skills to make it happen. The old rod days it was pretty simple IF you knew what you where doing. But still needed the skills to fabricate a plate so the tranny would bolt to the engine. Fabricate a clutch and throwout bearing. Fabricate engine mounts to bolt the engine to the frame. Fabricate a drive shaft to run that power from the tranny back to the ford 9 incher you left in there. Now it's nearly impossible since each part listed is controlled by a computer and NONE of them would be able to talk to each other without some mad coding skills. It just drives me crazy when somebody says "it's just Linux, how hard can it be?" So hard that if you have to ask that, you have NO idea just what you are asking. If it were so easy then they could just write it themselves and not need to ask.

      kinda sucks I had to explain it lol.

      Ok sure I suck at analogies.

      But it was "technically" correct :)

    7. Re:Android by jittles · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not too bad. Why? Because each device has custom drivers, that may or may not have source code available. For instance, if you want to build Cyanogenmod from source for your phone, you have to hook your phone up and let it pull some drivers off of it. And some devices are not supported at all because they can't manage all of the necessary drivers.

    8. Re:Android by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      A Ford with a Chevy motor is an easy modification now because someone did all the hard work of making up a kit of motor mounts and associated parts to make it work. The first person who did the swap is another story, his was surely not as easy. A popular mod for older Jags is to swap in a small block Chevy with a GM alternator and transmission. Yes its a kit.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    9. Re:Android by hedwards · · Score: 1

      I suspect that what's going on here is that B&N makes a small profit on each Nook it sells. And it would be somewhat anathema to release an ebook reader that's not tied to a specific store and then lock the thing down from such hacks. The only thing I can think of them wanting to protect is the cell connection, and even that isn't a big deal because if you use it to access sites other than their store, they just bill you for the overage.

      It's hard to really say, but this is probably part of their, "we're not evil like Amazon" thing they're doing.

    10. Re:Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both are fairly bog standard ARM reference boards. The differentiators are the b&n software and amazon software.

      The both stayed fairly close to the reference designs. Most changes are for the screen and radios. The rest...

    11. Re:Android by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      Your UID is to high to be making car analogies.

    12. Re:Android by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      With an engine from Fiat and wiring by Lucas...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    13. Re:Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yours is low enough to make "get out of my yard" analogy

    14. Re:Android by fractalVisionz · · Score: 1

      Kind of like a ThunderCougarFalconBird?

    15. Re:Android by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      You don't have to touch the drivers. Obtain root. Install Kindle .apk. Done.

    16. Re:Android by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 1

      Your UID is to high to be making car analogies.

      cause I didn't log in for like 2 years and lost me good one :(

    17. Re:Android by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      No, a Thunderstang!

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    18. Re:Android by jittles · · Score: 1

      Ah well if it's already an android device... then yeah no big deal.

    19. Re:Android by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 1

      With an engine from Fiat and wiring by Lucas...

      All hail Lucas, Prince of Darkness.

      --

      Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

    20. Re:Android by triffid_98 · · Score: 1

      The first person who did the swap is another story, his was surely not as easy.

      The only hard bit about it is hooking it all into the stock dash controls and exhaust manifold routing. Custom motor/transmission mounts are actually pretty easy to do.

      And yes, old Jags are pretty cars, old Jags with bowties are pretty cars that don't spend half their time with your mechanic.

  3. Unsupported country by secolactico · · Score: 1

    Now if only Amazon would let me install the Android Kindle app in my country...

    They let me my 3G Kindle, Kindle on my PC, on my Blackberry and on my iPod. But for some reason, not on the Android platform. Bummer.

    --
    No sig
    1. Re:Unsupported country by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

      "...because Android is open." -- John Gruber

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    2. Re:Unsupported country by secolactico · · Score: 1

      "...because Android is open." -- John Gruber

      In all fairness, it's an Amazon restriction, not an Android one. What I don't get is why they allow the other devices but restrict Android.

      --
      No sig
  4. Re:Unsupported country - try MarketAccess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Use MarketAccess. Of course, you will need a rooted Android device to do so, but it will let you change the country the market sees.

  5. B&N and Nook are fairly open by xzvf · · Score: 2

    I think B&N as the underdog has purposely left the reader fairly open. The Nook Color is extremely easy to root and has been for months. They use epub and load many other formats without charging any conversion fees. I speculate that if the publishers would let them get away with it, there wouldn't be any DRM either. While I'm sure B&N would prefer you purchase your ebooks from them, I'm purchased non-DRM versions direct from O'Rielly and Packt and they work fine on the Nook. Considering that Amazon wants to lock you into their proprietary format, severely limits the appeal of their devices for me.

    1. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by hedwards · · Score: 1

      This, I considered getting a Kindle when I got my Nook. The hardware in both cases is quite good, the screens are manufactured by the same company and most areas are more or less identical. The two things that pushed me over to Nook were epub support and the microSD slot. Well, that and I can change the battery without much hassle.

    2. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by caseih · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say the Kindle locks you into a proprietary format. It doesn't at all. It's true that just like books you buy from BN, Amazon Kindle books are DRMed. But the device is perfectly happy to display any .mobi file I throw at it. Thanks to Calibre I can translate back and forth between mobi and epub with ease, and stick any of my O'Reilly books on my Kindle. I also love the scripts that come with Calibre to create custom newspapers for me based on feeds from BBC or CNN or other news sources. Pretty slick. Also the text to speech on the Kindle is very listenable; I've listened to about a dozen books while driving, and while it's a slight bit fatiguing to listen to, it works pretty well. The voice is about as good as OS X's Alex voice.

      I have a Hanvon 516 reader that handles just about any non-DRM format as well, and even with it I would never do without Calibre. An indispensable tool for any e-book reader.

      Valid complaints against the Kindle could include: fairly crappy warranty on a very fragile screen, potential privacy issues when the unit phones home, and the ability of Amazon to remote delete books from kindles. But this nonsense about locking into some proprietary format is just silly.

    3. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by DarkTempes · · Score: 1

      First I'd like to say that I think both the Nook and Kindle e-readers are rather solid (though I don't agree as much with the Nook Color).

      While Amazon could be lying they have flat out said that it was publishers that forced them to use DRM. So I don't agree with your disingenuous painting B&N as the good guy in that respect. I think both companies blame publishers for DRM requirements on the books they sell and, at least if you look at Amazon's MP3 market, that it's probably truth.

      The Kindle doesn't lock you into proprietary formats any more than the Nook does. They both support reading DRMless formats, it's rather trivial to strip DRM from ebooks, and one can easily convert from any ebook format to another using free tools such a Calibre. Kindle, same as the Nook, has been rooted and there is custom firmware out there to let you do whatever.
      It would be nice however if both devices supported more formats out of the box as there is no good reason for them not to.

    4. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by basotl · · Score: 1

      DRM != Proprietary
      .mobi is based on an open format but with proprietary extensions. It is just easy to convert from an open format to proprietary in this case.

      --
      HTC EVO 4G LTE w/ CM 10.2 | NookColor w/ CM 10.2 | Samsung Epic 4G w/ CM 10.1
    5. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      In what sense is MobiPocket more open than ePub, though?

    6. Re:B&N and Nook are fairly open by fluffy99 · · Score: 2

      I think B&N as the underdog has purposely left the reader fairly open.

      I honestly don't think it was intentionally left open for the purposes of rooting/repurposing. I think they kept the reference board design which normally will boot from the SD card, perhaps thinking this would help avoid bricked units down the road and better support firmware updates. That the Android community has embraced the hardware has only helped their sales and popularity. Certainly, some of those units are getting used as generic tablets and they're not buying B&N ebooks, but I don't think that's actually hurting their profits.

  6. The anti-aliased fonts by kriston · · Score: 0

    It's too bad that even with the Kindle reader you will not benefit from Amazon's patented e-ink anti-aliased fonts. These excellent fonts are the reason I own a Kindle. After using a Kindle you won't tolerate an e-ink Nook, Kobo, or other e-reader.

    --

    Kriston

    1. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not for nothing but...
      I gave my sister a Kindle and I have read a book on it.
      It is very good and I understand the attraction.

      Reading a book on the Nook Color is better as far as I am concerned: text is more legible and I find it easier to read in both a dark room or bright light.
      Plus I can watch videos, surf the net, send emails.... and use it as a GPS in my car.

      I suspect that there will ALWAYS be both color and E-ink screens for e-readers: both have their own pros and cons.

    2. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by hedwards · · Score: 1

      The main reason why they aren't using E-ink for the color screens is that the technology isn't there yet. I'm not sure if you remember the original Gameboy Color, but the color was really bad compared with the Gameboy Advanced which took its place. It's unlikely that LCD screens will ever be as efficient as E-Ink is.

    3. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the nook, you do get the option of 3 default fonts and if you're even remotely technically capable, you can put any truetype font you want on the nook.

    4. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      He's got a point, though. You don't want just any TrueType font there - they all look like crap (specifically, thin elements such as serifs get blurred). This is a general problem with eInk not being 100% accurate for single-pixel precision.

      What Amazon did was make fonts that don't have thin stems or serifs. They're not particularly beautiful, but they're most readable by far from anything I've seen on an eInk screen.

    5. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ....the kindle's font is Caecilla for your info. Its not made by amazon but by the linotype font forge. Presumably you could just use this on a nook or embed it in an epub.

    6. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Advertise much on your spare time?

    7. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by Methuseus · · Score: 1

      I have a nook and have read on a kindle. I don't see what you mean, as the kindle doesn't look any better to me, and they both look much better than most paperbacks I have read.

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    8. Re:The anti-aliased fonts by kriston · · Score: 1

      The Kindle 3 has the improved fonts. It's very obvious side-by-side.

      --

      Kriston

  7. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finally the Nook Color is useful!

    seriously though, pick what you want, an e-reader or a tablet, as a tablet its sub-par and as an e-reader it causes eye strain

    1. Re:Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not as much eye strain as an e-ink screen for a lot of people.
      As for being sub-par...
      Seems to me that an 1100mhz android tablet with bluetooth that fits in my pocket for $250 without needing a 3g contract is much better than "par" for my purposes.

      Statements like yours assume that everyone wants or needs the same things YOU want.
      Which isn't the case.

  8. Re:"Now" you can? by proverbialcow · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is the Nook Simple Touch, which was available yesterday. The Nook Color's been out since November. It's news because the various Nooks have been rooted for a while now, and the latest Nook iteration apparently did nothing to make it harder.

    --
    The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
  9. Usefulness? by proverbialcow · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The touch screen isn't capacitive; it apparently uses a much less precise IR system to track your finger. So, neat, you got it rooted and can run Android apps - on a six-inch grayscale screen that can only roughly approximate gestures. I think that if you want to pay for an e-reader and use it as a tablet, the Nook Color is the better bet.

    --
    The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
    1. Re:Usefulness? by MSRedfox · · Score: 3

      It's highly useful. You get all the benefit of e-ink and the ability to buy books at any bookstore. This makes it better than an e-ink device that is locked to a single ebook provider. As for swapping over to the Nook Color, that's fine if someone wants an LCD screen, but some of us like the idea of having an open e-ink device.

    2. Re:Usefulness? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Aside from the purely recreational hacking value, the real upside to getting Android applications running on the Touch would be expanding its capabilities for handling the subset of activities that are largely text-based, or tolerant of greyscale graphics; but lie beyond ebooks specifically:

      Email, light web browsing(Hello Wikipedia...), grabbing a map and directions, that sort of thing.

      Anything that depends on capacitive precision, 30FPS screen refresh, or color is going to be a waste of time, in practice; but there are a number of activities that could usefully be performed with reading-focused hardware that are not supported by the stock firmware.

    3. Re:Usefulness? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      light web browsing(Hello Wikipedia...),

      Apparently the new Nook touch has a hidden web browser - enter a URL into the search bar and it'll load up the page.

      Of course, surfing the web is painful on e-ink...

    4. Re:Usefulness? by proverbialcow · · Score: 1

      After I posted that, I was thinking that this would be perfect for things that already work well in the shell - Lynx, vi/emacs, etc - but there's no keyboard.

      --
      The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
    5. Re:Usefulness? by MrDoh! · · Score: 1

      From the vids, looks like it uses regular android keyboard when it hits a textfield. So should be ok.
      Though hearing it's got a BT chip? Might be good to pair up a BT keyboard. Screen refreshes shouldn't be too bad on a console.. (though using VI on these things isn't good at the best of times, this might be a bit /too/ extreme)

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
    6. Re:Usefulness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, surfing the web is painful on e-ink...

      Not sure what counts as surfing but while I wouldn't use my Kindle as my primary web device, I'm happy to put up with the slight clumsiness for light use while travelling. the benefits (tough, very low power use, non-glare screen, fits in a pocket, 3g access with no roaming costs) are considerable, in that particular use case. I imagine a touch screen would reduce the clumsiness of use considerably.

  10. Kindle Store? by EricX2 · · Score: 1

    I'm assuming the benefit of this would be to use the Kindle store, but are there books you can get from Amazon that you can't get from B&N?

    Using the epub (and PDF) format, it seems to be a lot more open, I know the libraries here support the Nook but not the Kindle because of it's format.

    I understand the android market being cool on the NOOKColor, but on the eink screen, I can't think of many apps working well.

    1. Re:Kindle Store? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Well, suppose you already have a Kindle, and a bunch of books in your account, but want to move onto B&N offering?

  11. DjVu by Weezul · · Score: 1

    Does the nook support display and search of PDF, CHM, and DjVu formats?

    The DjVu format is critical for ebook readers because sooooo many books are ONLY available in DjVu. DjVu to PDF conversion is NOT an acceptable option, but a third party app should be fine.

    Does it run other Android apps?

    --
    The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
    1. Re:DjVu by caseih · · Score: 1

      I don't think nook or kindle support DjVu. The Kindle does do PDF I think, but depending on the PDF the results may not be that great, given the size of the screen. The only useful PDF-viewing device I've seen is the iPad, which its pinch zoom capabilities.

      Most nook and kindle owners use their books primarily for casual reading. In those kind of books, I have never heard of a book that was in the DjVu format. Indeed for this kind of reading, a digital format like epub or mobi is infinitely preferable because the device can paginate the document according to my font size preference.

      Ebook readers typically are not used for browsing scanned documents (technical manuals, perhaps). The e-ink screen, as nice as it is, does not lend itself well to rapid page flipping and eyeball-searching. That's probably why you won't find DjVu or PDF support on them. There's just no demand for it, compared to the huge library of arguably throw-away literature that's in epub or mobi format.

    2. Re:DjVu by WhirlwindMonk · · Score: 1

      Both nooks do PDF as well, and to my understanding, the new Nook Touch has pinch and zoom making PDFs much more readable on the device. The review I saw said the feature still had a lot of room to improve, but that it was a huge step in the right direction.

  12. Re:"Now" you can? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    It's too bad you didn't parse the first sentence of the summary, "Barnes & Nobles' latest e-reader has already been hacked. The key word is "latest". You didn't even RTFS, you just read the title.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  13. Nook wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This makes me want to go and buy a Nook today. I hope the other publishers are watching.

  14. Yes, there are books available in only one format by Michael+Meissner · · Score: 1

    My wife gave me a nook for Christmas, and after using my nook and her mother's kindle, my wife wanted her own reader. Originally, I was going to give her a nook, and we could share the purchased books. However, one of the things my wife wanted to download on her device was the Nancy Drew books that she read growing up. Those are only available for the kindle. Similarly, after reading Winterfair gifts (by Lois McMaster Bujold), I noticed that more of the Miles Vorkosigan books are available on kindle than nook. It might be possible to get the books as epub books (such as the Bujold books at baen.com), but it isn't as convenient.

  15. White/black flashes are annoying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It seems like it's refreshing all the e-pixels rather than just the ones that change. Does anyone know why it does that?

    1. Re:White/black flashes are annoying by Methuseus · · Score: 1

      it's a limitation of the e-ink screen. The periodic refreshes are needed to preserve the image on the screen,

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    2. Re:White/black flashes are annoying by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      B&N has made a big noise about the new Nook Simple Touch Reader flashing "80% less than the original Nook." Apparently it now only flashes about once every five pages instead of every page, according to reviews. Personally, I don't find the flashes all that annoying at all in practice. They might seem annoying when you're just fooling around with the device in the store, pressing buttons and trying to see what it can do, but when you're actually reading a book you stop noticing it pretty quickly.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  16. drinkypoo why'd you run from a simple question? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmmm, troll? See here http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2225174&cid=36390518 ? Perhaps because it shows you are nothing but a TROLL, & a "ne'er-do-well" that claims he has a "massive ego", but nothing to show for it (delusions of GRANDEUR there, boy?)??

    You know, I tried to "extend the olive branch" to you here http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2230314&cid=36414652 , but to no avail... now, you sow the wind? Here comes the whirlwind... from now on, & that's showing you are a troll by your own evasions of the 1st URL above & a simple question there...

    1. Re:drinkypoo why'd you run from a simple question? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Troll love: the love that transcends all others.

  17. Re:"Now" you can? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

    A little harsh, aren't we? I actually did see the word latest, but I was ignorant of the Touch's existence, having skimmed over the word in the title (given the crap that's passed as headlines lately, can you really blame me?), so, as far as I knew, the Color was the latest.

    I already copped to my mistake, but consider me suitably chastised again.

  18. Re:"Now" you can? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Yes, I was probably in full asshole mode at that time, and I apologize. I've been randomly testy off and on of late.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  19. It's enough to see drinkypoo run from by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a straight question, no need to toss on more wood onto the fire from you.

  20. Yes, being shown as trolling will do that to you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2230966&cid=36430302

  21. Re:"Now" you can? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

    Eh, it happens. No harm done. :)