colors

Kindle Fire has already been hacked

If there's one thing you can say about the Android developer and hacker community, it's that it moves incredibly fast.

Each time a new smartphone or tablet finds its way into the market, the modders and hackers get to work, trying to root the device. And now, just days two days after its release, the Amazon Kindle Fire has become the latest target.

Gaining root-level access gives users the ability not only to install applications from additional sources, but also it allows for the removal of the standard software. Potentially that means that developers and tech-savvy enthusiasts could … Read more

Nook Tablet hands-on: Can it fight the Fire?

Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire?

That's the question that's already bedeviling consumers and gadget aficionados alike.

In a matter of weeks, it seems, the tablet market has been compressed to just a handful of choices. The iPad 2 still rules the high end ($500 and above), but the "e-reader as tablet" option now looms large in the sub-$250 range, with the $199 Kindle Fire going mano a mano with the $249 Nook Tablet.

The Kindle Fire has just started shipping, and the Nook Tablet will follow as soon as tomorrow (a few days earlier than originally expected).

Last year, Barnes & Noble released the Nook Color at the same $249 price. Back then, a 7-inch color e-reader that could run apps as well as read color books and magazines, and even play movies and music, was a revelation. The Android tablet could even be rooted--to many, it became known as the not-so-secret most-affordable Android tablet around with the best design (other similarly priced and more-generic Android tablets are, by comparison, terrible).

With the Fire on the horizon, Barnes & Noble knew it had to up the ante.… Read more

B&N's new Nook Tablet

Hard drive shortages and weak sales slow down the PC market, HTC announces phones that will get the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, and Barnes & Noble takes on the Kindle with a new lineup, including the Nook Tablet and Nook Simple Touch.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Barnes & Noble introduces Nook Tablet (live blog)

Editor's note: We used Cover It Live for this event, so if you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component at the end of this post. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET reporters. Or you can read the edited transcription below. And to get the key points from today's announcement, in which Barnes & Noble introduced the $249 Nook Tablet and reduced the prices for its Nook Color and Simple Touch, you can check out a summary story here. Click here for a hands-on review of the new tablet.

This morning, Barnes & Noble is holding a press conference to unveil next-generation Nook products. We'll be there starting at 9:45 a.m. ET, live-blogging the whole event.

How much less expensive will the touch-based Nook get? Will the new Nook Color be significantly different from the existing one? And, will Barnes & Noble be able to offer the right types of content and value to compete with Amazon's intimidating cloud offerings in books, music, TV, and movies? Will it all unfold like recent rumors suggest, or will there be surprises?

Bookmark this link, and follow the live blog below.

Nook Tablet: Hands on with Barnes & Noble's Fire-eater

If you've preordered the Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble hopes you're now having second thoughts.

That's the message of the just-announced $249 Nook Tablet, the successor to 2010's Nook Color (which remains on the market for $199). The new 7-inch color tablet equals many of the basic specs of the Kindle Fire, but justifies its $50 price premium over Amazon.com's model by offering several notable upgrades.

The Nook Tablet will offer more than twice the storage and twice the RAM of the Fire; it's got an SD expansion slot for even more storage capacity (which the Fire lacks), up to 32GB; and Barnes & Noble is already touting Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora apps which will come included on the device from the start (Amazon's list of third-party Fire apps remains undisclosed). Those features are in addition to the existing assortment of apps and features already available on the Nook Color (and on deck for the Kindle Fire)--e-mail and a Flash-enabled Web browser, in addition to a fully stocked e-book store and magazine and newspaper newsstand.

In short, the Nook Tablet immediately becomes the first real challenger to the Kindle Fire in the emerging bargain tablet arena. Here's why.… Read more

B&N unveils $249 Nook Tablet, $99 Nook Touch, to offset Amazon

It may have the Fire, but now Amazon's the one feeling Barnes & Noble's heat.

On September 28, Amazon sent shockwaves through the tablet and e-reader space by announcing the $199 Kindle Fire and two new low-priced e-ink readers, the $79 Kindle and $99 Kindle Touch. At the time, a lot of people wondered if Barnes & Noble, mum after Amazon's announcement, would be able strike back with both a compelling product and pricing that could blunt Amazon's blitz.

The answer appears to be yes, as Barnes & Noble today unveiled the $249 Nook Tablet, a … Read more

Best Buy swipes Nook Color price down to $200

Best Buy has swiped $50 off the price of Barnes & Noble's Nook Color e-reader, dropping it to $199.99 ahead of B&N's Monday press conference to show off its next-generation Nook gadgets.

The price drop was touted in a tweet spied by Engadget and supports speculation that after Monday's all-but-certain unveiling of a new Nook, B&N may leave the original Nook Color on the market at this reduced price, as an additional weapon against rival Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire tablet, which ships November 15. As of this writing, the Nook Color … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 71: No Galaxy Nexus for Black Friday (Podcast)

Jason Howell from TWiT TV joins us live as we get hands on with the Galaxy Nexus. We also take a look at a new nook, and ask what a dude thinks about his girl phone. All of that an more on this week's episode of Android Atlas Weekly for November 2nd 2011.

NEWS

Samsung Galaxy Nexus hands-on video http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20127234-1/samsung-galaxy-nexus-hands-on-video/

Samsung Galaxy Nexus pushed back until after Black Friday? http://androidandme.com/2011/11/news/samsung-galaxy-nexus-pushed-back-until-after-black-friday/… Read more

Rumor Has It, Ep. 6: What will the new Nook be called? (podcast)

October is over, which means today was humiliation day on Rumor Has It. Since Karyne made every single wrong bet she could last month, she lost (not only this round of bets, but her dignity, as well).

But wearing the costume on the show wasn't enough; she actually wore it out on the big bad streets of San Francisco. Check out the video below to see how that went. Hint: Nobody on the big bad streets of San Francisco seems to notice when there's someone nearby who's dressed like a banana.

Also this week, we take a look at next week's Barnes & Noble announcement, Google jumps into music and original content, we mourn the loss of an Apple product that not many people care about, and mildly celebrate the birth of another Apple product that we don't really care about. Oh, and bendy phones are a thing that we'll probably break.

Heard a tech rumor you think we should cover? E-mail rumorhasit [at] cnet.com. You can also call 1-800-750-CNET, Ext: 1310, to leave us a message!

Why Microsoft killed the Courier

AT&T gets its first LTE smartphones this weekend, Google Reader is integrated with Google Plus, and we learn more about the death of Microsoft's Courier tablet project.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded: