Category Archives: Nook

The NOOK 1st Edition bites the dust

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Barnes and Noble notified customers by email today letting them know that as of June 29, 2018, they would not longer be supporting the NOOK 1st Edition. The e-reader had a 6″ e-ink screen and a smaller color screen which was used to navigate the device. I never used it much because I found it difficult to navigate, especially when compared with a Kindle.

When it debuted in 2009, it was originally just called the NOOK e-reader, but the name was changed to NOOK 1st Edition when Barnes and Noble released the Simple Touch e-reader.

It seems that there are several versions of this email being sent out. Nate from The Digital Reader notes that his email offered him a discount on other NOOK devices. My email did not contain such an offer.

Here’s the email I received:

Dear Valued Customer,

Over eight years ago, we launched our first NOOK® eReader, and we were thrilled to have you as one of our first customers for what has become a tradition of offering great books on demand to readers. We want to thank you for your loyalty and continued support of the NOOK 1st Edition and NOOK products.

Because of advancements in our eReader technology, we wanted to let you know that, unfortunately, we are unable to continue to support the NOOK 1st Edition.

Please note that as of June 29, 2018, you will not be able to purchase new content, register with a BN.com account, or sign in using a NOOK account on your NOOK 1st Edition. However, you will still be able to access your existing library, or download new content, by using our NOOK Reading Apps™ for iOS, Android, or Windows, on mobile and tablet devices, as well as any of our other NOOK devices.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 877-831-2393 Monday-Friday 8AM–11PM ET and Saturday-Sunday 9AM–11PM ET. Please be prepared to provide your NOOK 1st Edition serial number. If you need assistance locating your serial number, click here for instructions.

We truly appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to provide you with the great NOOK experience and to welcome you at Barnes & Noble stores.

Sincerely,
Barnes & Noble

This email snafu is not surprising. There have been several times I have received erroneous emails from customer service, if I was lucky enough to get a response at all.

I only own a few books for the NOOK. Most of them were freebies or books that were offered on sale at an bargain price. I also own a NOOK Glowlight (the original one). I mainly used my NOOKs for library books and various epubs I bought elsewhere. Since I bought the Kobo Aura ONE, I tend to use that, especially for books that require Adobe Digital Editions for DRM. So for me personally, this is no big loss.

However, as a consumer, I find this kind of behavior infuriating. Not that I would take them up on it, but if others were being offered a discount towards a new device, I should have been offered one too. After all they are rendering my device pretty much inoperable by their actions.

Compared to Amazon’s customer service, Barnes and Noble’s looks positively medieval. Look at what Amazon did when thy had a device that needed an update to connect: Amazon nagged. Amazon called. Amazon even sent me snail mail to make sure I updated so that I could keep using my device. Barnes and Noble can’t even get an email right. Is it any wonder that they are eating Amazon’s dust in the e-reader market?

Nook closes support forum

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As of September 7, the official NOOK forum at Barnes and Noble is shutting down. From the posts on the site, it seemed that posting activity had dwindled to a small number of posts. Users of the forum received an email on the closure.

While the forum may be closing, assistance is still available from Barnes and Noble. According to the post,

Though the forums will no longer be around, we’ll still be here to answer all your support questions at https://help.barnesandnoble.com/ and on social media at the following links:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BN_care
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/barnesandnoble

If you are looking for another forum, there is still an active community of Nook users at NOOKBoards.

You can also find discussions for Nook users at the NOOK forum on mobileread.com.

Barnes and Noble sends customers email about defective charger (finally)

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bn_adapterI have written several posts about the issues plaguing Barnes & Noble’s new $50 NOOK tablet. In December, malware was discovered by researchers on the tablet. The company countered that with an announcement stating that they had already corrected the malware issue. A few weeks later,  Barnes & Noble voluntarily recalled the tablets, stating that there was a defect in the power adapter included with the device.

Today, Barnes & Noble finally sent an email letting customers know about the defective power adapter that came with the $50 Barnes & Noble tablet.  (I received my email this morning.) It seems like Barnes and Noble was waiting for the replacement adapters to be available before contacting customers

According to the email, Barnes & Noble is voluntarily recalling the charger because the casing can break when plugged in to an electrical outlet and cause an electric shock.

The recalled adapter bears the model number TPA-95A050100UU and was sold with the $50 Nook 7′ tablet with model number BNTV450.

Barnes and Noble is offering a replacement adapter and a $5 gift card upon the return of the adapter. According to the email,

If you have the power adapter that came with the NOOK Tablet 7″, you should immediately stop using the power adapter and go to https://help.barnesandnoble.com/app/tablet7_adapter_replacement to register to participate in the recall. Barnes & Noble will provide you with a free replacement adapter along with a $5 Barnes & Noble gift card upon return of the recalled adapter. In the meantime, you can charge your NOOK Tablet 7″ by using your computer and a USB cable.

If you need additional assistance, please contact Barnes & Noble at (877) 886-5025 from 8am to 11pm ET, Monday through Friday, or 9am to 11pm ET on Saturday and Sunday, or visit our website atwww.barnesandnoble.com and click on “Product Recalls” listed at the bottom of the B&N.com home page for more information.

After I registered for the recall, I was told that I would receive a UPS return shipping label in the mail. Within minutes, I received an email with a link to print the label.

According to the instructions, after I return the defective adapter to the Returns Center, a replacement power adapter will be shipped out via UPS 2-Day Delivery and a $5 gift card will be included. Note that you must enter your device’s serial number to register for the recall.

As of this writing, the Nook 7″ tablet is still listed as unavailable on the Barnes and Noble website.

Photo © The Ebook Evangelist,  All rights reserved.

Barnes & Noble recalls the new $50 NOOK tablet

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nook_recallFriday,  it was reported the Barnes & Noble had pulled the tablet from its stores, both physical and online. Supposedly, the recall is due to three faulty chargers. according to an article on Android Police, the company is seeking an alternate source for the charging adapter. In the meantime, the device can be charged via USB.

When Barnes & Noble first released its new $50 NOOK tablet last November, it seemed like it could be a viable alternative to the $50 Fire tablet by Amazon. The initial promise of the cheap tablet that included Google services seemed like a product that could put Barnes & Noble back as a contender in the ereader game.

However, the discovery of the ADUPS malware was included in the tablet software was a major misstep for the company’s new tablet direction. Conflicting reports about whether the firmware had been updated and claims of other exploits didn’t help the situation.

Friday,  it was reported the Barnes & Noble had pulled the tablet from its stores, both physical and online. Supposedly, the recall is due to three faulty chargers. according to an article on Android Police, the company is seeking an alternate source for the charging adapter. In the meantime, the device can be charged via USB.

Oddly, a link for the tablet still shows on the main NOOK page, but is unavailable on the product page.

I have the feeling there is more to come here….

B and N says they already fixed the NOOK malware issue, but….

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nook_boxYesterday I posted a story about the new NOOK branded tablet coming with malware pre-installed. Barnes and Noble says that the device had already been update prior to its initial sale and that an new update to remove it completely is forthcoming. Here’s their response to 9 to 5 Google’s request for comment:

“NOOK Tablet 7” went on sale on November 26. By that time, the device automatically updated to a newer version of ADUPS (5.5), which has been certified as complying with Google’s security requirements, when first connected to Wi-Fi. ADUPS has confirmed to Barnes & Noble that it never collected any personally identifiable information or location data from NOOK Tablet 7” devices, nor will it do so in the future.

Finally, we are working on a software update to remove ADUPS completely from the NOOK Tablet 7”. That update will be made available to download within the next few weeks, but in the meantime customers can rest assured that the device is safe to use.” – Fred Argir, Chief Digital Officer

The problem with this is that Charles Fisher, the engineer who broke the story on Linux Journal, says that ADUPS 5.5 is not version that was on the NOOK BNTV450.

A new Android Central article notes that the shipping version for the tablet was 5.2.0.2.002. Evidently, there was some sort of an update, as their post goes on to note that “the version in the update file we received last night is 6.0.” While they state that the update should solve the ADUPS problem, they are still saying avoid this one:

But there are plenty of reasons to still not buy this tablet. Beginning with the fact that it’s still 100% vulnerable to CVE-2015-6616. In human language, that means the Stagefright exploit. The Android version (6.0 in this case) should be at least partially patched, but there are security updates for the processor which have not been applied.

The bottom line is that there is just too much uncertain about this tablet. I am sending mine back.From comparing them side by side, the $50 Fire 7″  was faster anyway….

Photo © The Ebook Evangelist

So that $50 NOOK has malware….

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new_nookIf you had wondered if that NOOK $50 tablet was too good to be true, turns out you were right. Remember last month’s story on that ADUPS malware that was infecting the Blu R1 HD phones and sending data back to China? Yeah, that one. Well, as it turns out, the same malware is affecting the NOOK BNTV450. And, unlike the BLU scenario where an update was issued, 9 to 5 Google is reporting that there seems to be no way to disable the ADUPS on the NOOK device.

If you want the technical info on the malware, there’s a lot more information on the issue in the Linux Journal article that apparently broke the story. The article notes that Google has blacklisted the ADUPS agent and that a user can expect “zero privacy” from a device with this agent installed. Barnes and Noble has yet to comment on the story.

Since I bought one of these last month, I am not a happy camper. Although I hadn’t had time to do much with it (maybe a blessing in disguise), I was already past the 14 day return window that the online store allows. I have performed a factory reset on my device while I reach out to Barnes and Noble on the matter.  I suggest you do the same or use at your own risk. While the ADUPS does not seem to be active at the moment, that can change at any time.

To reset the device, go to Apps> Settings>Backup and Reset. (Note that the correct one is the grey option that says just settings, not the green NOOK settings option.) Everything will be erased from the tablet, so make sure to transfer any files you want to keep.

More on this as it unfolds. I will update with any news from Barnes and Noble. I am off to change passwords. 😦

See an update to this story here.

How does the new $50 NOOK tablet compare to the $50 Fire?

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nook_tab_2016

Barnes and Noble has a new NOOK tablet coming on November 25th. Most recently, B & N has had a line of tablets co-branded with Samsung, but now is getting back into the tablet game again with this new budget friendly device. It’s priced at $50, clearly competing with Amazon’s 7 inch Fire tablet.

Here’s a comparison table of the specs for the two devices:

Fire 7” NOOK
Price Starting at $49.99 $49.99
Screen Size 7″ IPS Display 7″ IPS Display
Resolution 1024 x 600 (171 ppi) 1024 x 600 (171 ppi)
Colors Black, Magenta, Blue, Tangerine Black
Processor Quad-core 1.3 GHz Unknown
Alexa Enabled Yes No
Google Play No Yes
Content Access to millions of movies, TV episodes, songs, books, apps, games, and more via AMAZON Audio: M4A, 3GA, AAC, MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, AAC

Video: MP4, 3GP, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Gallery (pictures): JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP

Reader/Other: PDF, ePUB, DRP, ePIB, HWP, HWT, HML, HWPX, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, DOT, DOTX, HWDT, XLSX, XLSB, XLS, XLSM,XLTX, XLTM, XLT, CELL, HCDT, PRN, TXT, CSV, TSV, HTML, HTM, PPTX, PPT, POTX, THMX, SHOW, HSDT, HTHEME
Audio Mono speaker,

Built-in microphone

 Unknown (website specs only list headphone jack)
Storage 8 or 16 GB

(expandable by up to 200 GB microSD card)

Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content

 8GB on-board memory

Add up to 128GB with an optional microSD card and store eligible eBooks (NOOK Books® with Digital Rights Management enabled only) to make more room. All of your NOOK® purchases are stored for free in the NOOK Cloud.
Cameras VGA Front-facing camera +

2 MP rear-facing camera with 720p HD video recording

 Front: VGA

Rear: 2 MP
Connectivity Single-band Wi-Fi b/g/n Dual-Band (2.4GHz/5GHz) Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)

 
Battery Life* Up to 7 hours of reading, surfing the web, watching video, and listening to music Up to 7 hours of reading, watching videos and web browsing
Weight** 11.0 oz (313 g) 8.80 oz
Dimensions** 7.5” x 4.5” x 0.4”

(191 x 115 x 10.6 mm)

 7.40” x 4.2” x 0.39”

 
Customer Support Screen Sharing + email, web, and phone In-store support provides assistance for setup, connectivity, and basic troubleshooting when you visit Barnes & Noble bookstores

The specs on the new NOOK tablet seem pretty comparable with the 7″ Fire. There are a few pluses for the Nook. Unlike the Fire, the new Nook doesn’t have the special advertising offers on the lock screens. It also runs a straight version of Android (6.0) and has the Google Play store installed on the tablet. (You can install the Play store on the Fire, but it involves work and whether it continues to function is at the mercy of software updates.) The new NOOK tablet also features dual band WiFi rather than the single band sported by the Fire.

The Fire, of course, now has voice integration with digital assistant Alexa installed on the device.

The tablet is available for pre-order now with free shipping on the Barnes and Noble website. Tablets begin shipping on Friday, November 25, 2016. It will also will be available in stores on Black Friday.

I ordered one of the these new NOOK tablets and will be posting a review after I have played with it for a while. 🙂

And PS: If you are interested in one, at least for the time being, the Samsung-branded NOOK tablets are still available (and at sale prices!).

Barnes and Noble offers print, e-book bundles

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bnsyncE-book aficionados have long been asking for for e-books to be bundled with the sale of a paper copy. Barnes and Noble is fulfilling that wish–at least for the holiday season. With the new B & N Sync Up! promotion, customers can purchase a paperback at a B & N store then get the e-book for $4.99. There are over 70 books to choose from, including bestsellers such as Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander,  Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and the Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  Eligible titles will be marked with a “B & N Sync Up!” bookmark.

The program offers a  great value because the purchaser can either keep both copies or give one away as a gift. Details of how the program works are available here at Barnes and Noble.com.

This is a special offer for the holidays, but the web site does not list the begining and end dates for the promotion. It is live on B & N now.

 

 

Will a Nook Glowlight case fit the new Kindle Fire 6 inch?

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javoedge6vintageI am still sorting through all the info on the new Kindle offerings to evaluate the specs and decide which one(s) I want. Amazon has given us lots of choices and I even got an email first thing this morning reminding me of certified refurbished Kindle Fire offerings.

So far, I  am most interested in  ordered the new Fire HD 6″ tablet. It looks like a great size to fit in a purse for use on the go. My problem is that I don’t like to use devices without covers and I also don’t want to spend nearly $30-$40 for an official Amazon case. I am fussy about cases and didn’t like the Amazon case  I bought for the Fire HD 8.9. I have usually used third-party cases on my Kindles, beginning with my first Oberon case for the Kindle 1. However, this is a non-standard size tablet and it seems there is nothing available to fit, at least, not yet.

Checking the measurements for the new device and looking for a workaround, I took a look at my current case for my NooK Glowlight. Made by Javoedge, the case looks like it might fit, given its size and the way that it is made.

The JAVOedge 6″ Universal eReader Book Case is described as a universal case, designed to fit the Nook Glowlight, Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo glo, Kobo Aura, Kobo Touch, and the Kindle. It comes in a variety of patterns, including one with a metallic finish.

Pros of the case are lightweight, flexibility in sizing due to the loops holding the device in place and the way it is constructed.The price is a distinct advantage as it is $14.99 versus $30-$40 for the Amazon brand case.

There are a couple of downsides to the case. One is the fact that there is no sleepcover function with this case (or not one that works on my Kindle Paperwhite). Another is the quality of the case. It seems like it is essentially covered cardboard, slightly lighter than that of a hardcover book.  And, because it is designed for an e-reader, it does not have the ability to be used as a stand for normal tablet use.

I have not had any problems at all with the one I use for my Nook Glowlight. I have a one with a cute owl pattern. Yes, I am a cover junkie! 🙂

I have no doubt that one the new Kindle Fires start shipping, we will quickly see new covers for the six inch Fire available on the market. While I don’t think that this is a cover I would want to use long-term (it is not, after all, really designed for tablet use), I intend to try it as a short term solution until new covers are available. Note that I do have other devices (Kindles and Nooks) that will fit this cover, so it is not much of a risk for me to try.

This isn’t the first time I have done this. When the original Kindle Fire came out in 2010, I used the faux lether cover that came with my Kindle 1 for the Fire  until I could find something I liked.

Updated: The answer to will the case fit an HD 6 is no. The case is too wide to safely hold the device. I talk about this in my review of the Fire HD 6.

Daily Links: Open Road launches series for controversial books

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From Publishers Weekly: Open Road launches series for controversial books

From the eBookReader.com: Kobo Website formatting tip on how to identify ePub types

From Teleread: Opening Nook books in Adobe Digital Editions

From Vox (via the Digital Reader): 7 Things the most-highlighted passages from Kindles tell us

From the Digital Reader: Missing in Action: The Kindle Paperwhite 3

Today, Amazon has a Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 8.9 with 4G LTE  as the Bonus Deal of the Day. It is $199 for the 32GB version.This is the older version with the micro-HDMI port and the 4G coverage is set up for AT & T coverage.

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news.