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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Amazon Responds: Netflix on the Kindle Fire!

Amazon has been pretty close-mouthed about what apps will be available for the Kindle Fire on release day (although they had previously said that Netflix was one of four companies that was given a pre-announcement Fire for development). But, after the press conference from Barnes & Noble, they have made an official announcement and Netflix will definitely be available, along with "Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games"! I've included the full text of the press release below. An earlier press release confirmed that the entire Kindle family of devices will be available at Best Buy, Walmart, Target and other retailers, starting Nov 15 (note that the Touch models will be released a bit later). However, I still recommend you get yours from Amazon direct, if you want the best service during your initial purchase period. That gets you the 30-day return policy (many stores charge a restocking fee or refuse returns for opened electronics) and overnight replacement if there is an issue with the device.

Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games Coming To Kindle Fire Next Week

Just like with movies and TV shows, music, books, and magazines, Kindle Fire offers a fully-integrated Android apps and games experience - purchase or register for an app or game once, enjoy it on your Kindle Fire and other Android-based devices - and all apps and games are backed up in the Amazon Cloud for re-download anytime

SEATTLE, Nov 09, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- (NASDAQ: AMZN) - When Kindle Fire customers across the country open their boxes next week, they will be able to choose from several thousand of the most popular Android apps and games, including Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and popular games from Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio. Kindle Fire customers will be able to download these apps and games without having to register multiple times and using Amazon's simple and secure 1-Click payment technology. Plus, all apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible, customers can get a great "paid" app for free every day, and once you've downloaded an app from the Amazon Appstore, it's available on Kindle Fire as well as your other Android-based devices.

"We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming," Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire - from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga and many other top game developers. And this is only the beginning - we're adding more apps and games every day across all categories."

With the Netflix app, Kindle Fire customers who are Netflix members can browse and instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies and resume watching where they left off on their TV or computer. "We're excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity experience all that Netflix has to offer," said Bill Holmes, Vice President of Business Development at Netflix. "We're certain that our members will have a great viewing experience on Kindle Fire."

"EA is proud to be part of Kindle Fire," said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Electronic Arts. "On Kindle Fire, we're offering some of the world's most popular titles with incredible gameplay and breathtaking graphics that anyone can play and enjoy anytime, anywhere."

"Zynga strives to deliver the best mobile social gaming experiences that can be enjoyed by players anytime and anywhere," said David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer at Zynga. "Teaming with Amazon to make Words With Friends a featured game on the Kindle Fire provides us with a great way to reach new and existing players on a fresh and exciting device."

"As Gameloft continues to create games for the mass market, Kindle Fire comes as a very exciting new platform for us to offer our games on," said Baudouin Corman, Vice President of Publishing for the Americas at Gameloft. "Not only does it provide us with an innovative channel for us to reach new audiences, but the tablet is set to enable a great gaming experience as well. In effect, we plan on providing Kindle Fire customers with a large catalog of top quality premium and free-to-play games."

"We're excited to be bringing our massively popular games to Kindle Fire," said Andrew Stein, Director of Mobile Product Management at PopCap Games. "Kindle Fire is a great gaming device, and consumers will love the touch-screen optimized adaptations of top titles such as Plants vs. Zombies."

"Personalized radio has the power to enhance all types of experiences anytime, anywhere and we're thrilled that Pandora is a launch app on the new Kindle Fire," said Jessica Steel, Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Pandora.

"We are really stoked to offer our members the Rhapsody experience on one of the most anticipated new devices this holiday season," said Brian McGarvey, Vice President of Business Development for Rhapsody. "We want to make sure Rhapsody is available on every must-have device, including the Kindle Fire."

"Being a featured app on Kindle Fire will allow The Weather Channel to continue to fulfill our mission of providing consumers with the most reliable weather information to help plan their daily lives - no matter where they are and what device they use," said Cameron Clayton, Executive Vice President of Digital Product at The Weather Channel Companies.

Additional examples of apps and games that will be available to Kindle Fire customers include Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie's 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox.

Kindle Fire offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that's easy to hold with one hand, a vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk - Amazon's new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud - all for only $199. Customers also enjoy a free month of Amazon Prime, providing access to Prime Instant Video with 13,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming and the new Kindle Owners' Lending Library where Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers - as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

Customers in the U.S. can pre-order Kindle Fire and it ships November 15. For high resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle Fire, visit http://www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.
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Free Book (Kindle) - Strength for Service to God and Country

Strength for Service to God and Country (US/UK), by Norman E. Nygaard and Evan Hunsberger, is a repeat freebie on the Kindle, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press. This devotional is geared towards those serving in the military and will no doubt be much appreciated by those serving overseas, so be sure to let everyone you know that this is out there, since many servicemen do have a Kindle or access to a PC/MAC netbook that they can use to read books from the Kindle store.

Book Description
Strength for Service was originally published in 1942, and over 720,000 copies were distributed to U.S. service men and women. After the events of September 11, 2001 the General Commission on United Methodist Men partnered with Evan Hunsberger, who had a vision to republish the little devotional book as his Eagle Scout service project to honor his grandfather. Eugene Hunsberger, a Navy corpsman, read it to dying men on the battlefields of the Pacific during World War II. This updated version includes 40 additional entries, with over one million copies purchased by and distributed to deserving service members.
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Ten Free Books for Kobo Vox

I'm still awaiting the arrival of my Kobo Vox, which was supposed to have arrived earlier and then was delayed in shipping until Nov 7 (hey, it's two days after that! where's my reader?). So, I've been anticipating it's arrival a bit, as I'd like to get a few days with it before the Kindle Fire arrives. I was poking around on the Kobo site today and found a section of books that are marked as Just for Kobo Vox. As usual, sorting by price at Kobo simply removes all the free books from a search, but by checking every single page, I've uncovered 10 titles that you can grab for free, including one that actually works on other Kobo readers (and can be downloaded as an EPUB). Most of these are comics and one even comes in several different languages.

Desserts: Sweet Dreams, by Jean Paré
Book Description
A bounty of truffles, fudge, toffee and more await with this fun collection of recipes for sweet treats, all carefully selected from the Company's Coming collection and displayed in beautiful colour photographs.

Essential Europe Promotional Guide, by Lonely Planet
Book Description
Planning a trip to Europe? Know before you go! Download a free copy of Lonely Planet's Europe Essentials and receive helpful tips on packing and planning, etiquette advice, transportation information, themed itineraries, and much more. It's the perfect complement to Lonely Planet's guidebooks and a great starting point to a dream vacation.

TRUE GRIT - MEAN BUSINESS, by Paramount Pictures, actually can be downloaded in 13 different languages.
Book Description
Five U.S. Marshals and a wagon-load of prisoners... A boy appears, with news of a bloody double-murder... Two of the marshals ride out to investigate... TRUE GRIT: MEAN BUSINESS is a free 24-page comic adapted from the novel TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis, now a major motion picture by the Coen Brothers. Inspired by the dime novels that first brought fame to the heroes and villains of the old American west, it is available to view in seven languages using a variety of different comic and ebook viewers.

There's no description for the comics/graphic novels, so I'm just going to list them here - if you have a Vox coming (or think you'll pick one up later), be sure to grab them while they are free.

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Today's Deals and Bargain Books

If you signed up for the KSO offer of a Free Audiobook (Water for Elephants), today is the last day to add it to your Audible account. Once in your account, you can download it anytime or send it wirelessly to any Kindle using WiFi (not 3G cellular). I've loaded mine on an MP3 player and listened to a bit on the PC, so it isn't limited to Kindle playing use.

Several of the free books from earlier this week have now shown up at Barnes & Noble, along with the Savory Pie Cookbook, while two others are now free direct from the publisher and DRM-free.
If you are getting any of the books below from KoboBooks, be sure to check the coupon codes (see the list at the left side of the page), as several of them appear eligible for additional discounts.

The Unquiet Bones ($1.99), The First Chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon by Mel Starr. Be careful is ordering from the Kindle, as there are two editions and the other is at full price; sadly, the one on sale is the Topaz edition.
Book Description
Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks him to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cess pit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes. From there the tale unfolds, with graphic medical procedures, droll medieval wit, misdirection, ambition, romantic distractions and a consistent underlying Christian compassion.

The Orc King ($2.40 Kindle, B&N), the first title in the Transitions series by R. A. Salvatore, is the nook Daily Find (and price matched at Amazon). Wouldn't you know, it's one of the series that I already have.
Book Description
Drizzt is back in this exciting new trilogy from R.A. Salvatore!

An uneasy peace between the dwarves of Mithral Hall and the orcs of the newly established Kingdom of Many-Arrows can't last long. The orc tribes united under Obould begin to fight each other, and Bruenor is determined to finish the war that nearly killed him and almost destroyed everything he's worked to build. But it will take more than swords and axes to bring a lasting peace to the Spine of the World. Powerful individuals on both sides may have to change the way they see each other. They may have to start to talk. But it won't be easy.

Sprig Muslin ($1.99), a romance by Georgette Heyer, is one of the new releases from Sourcebooks that was not on the big anniversary sale. It's a pre-order for December, but fans shouldn't count on that price lasting long. The only title from the sale that is currently discounted is Toll-Gate ($1.99), with the rest mostly in the $8 range.
Book Description
Sir Gareth Ludlow is just about ready to settle for marriage with Lady Hester, a plain woman who falls below his standards (according to his sister). Despite her protests, however, Gareth sets out to propose marriage.

Along the way, he encounters young Amanda wandering unattended. Honor-bound to restore her to her family, the gallant Sir Ludlow finds he has more than he bargained for with his young charge and her runaway imagination.

Eli the Good ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Silas House, is a middle-grade reader title from Candlewick.
Book Description
Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 will go down as the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his beautiful and distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild and confused sister; his former war-protester aunt who moves in under mysterious circumstances; and his tough yet troubled best friend Edie, the only person with whom he can completely be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From the award-winning Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war—a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and the powerful sense of place that House is hailed for.

Coffeehouse Angel ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Suzanne Selfors, author of Saving Juliet ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), which I mentioned earlier this week, is also for the middle-grade reader in your home.
Book Description
Katrina works in her grandmother's coffee shop in a small town in Washington State, which isn't exactly the coolest job, given that it's an old-world Scandinavian coffee shop rather than the ultra hip Java Hut next door. One morning, when she gives a free cup of coffee and muffin to a homeless guy sleeping out behind the shop, this random act of kindness turns her life upside down. She soon learns that the homeless guy is actually a teenage guardian angel intent on returning the favor. Fame and fortune seem like the obvious requests, but after two botched wishes, Malcolm knows Katrina is hiding something from him. But how can she tell him the truth, when her heart's desire has become Malcolm himself?

My Fair Godmother ($1.99 Kindle, B&N) is the first title in the Godmother series by Janette Rallison.
Book Description
Finding your one true love can be a Grimm experience!

After her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah Delano wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter Chrissy (Chrysanthemum) Everstar: Savannah’s gum-chewing, cell phone–carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Showing why she’s only Fair—because she’s not a very good fairy student—Chrissy mistakenly sends Savannah back in time to the Middle Ages, first as Cinderella, then as Snow White. Finally she sends Tristan, a boy in Savannah’s class, back instead to turn him into her prom-worthy prince. When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, they must team up to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy Black Knight. Laughs abound in this clever fairy tale twist from a master of romantic comedy.

Another Homecoming ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke, is a stand-alone novel from Christian publisher Bethany House.
Book Description
In the wake of her husband's presumed death, a young war bride makes a desperate choice to give her baby a better life. However, her choice will have unforeseen ramifications for more lives than she ever expected.

The baby girl, named Kyle by her adoptive parents, grows up with no knowledge of her humble beginnings. When a heartbreaking loss pits Kyle against her high society mother, secrets from Kyle's past come to light. Suddenly, she finds herself searching for the family she never knew and a faith she's only beginning to understand. With all that has come before, will Kyle ever be able to find home?

Falling to Pieces: A Quilt Shop Murder ($3.99 Kindle, B&N) is the first title in the Shipshewana Amish Mystery series by Vannetta Chapman, published by Zondervan.
Book Description
In this first book of a three-book series, author Vannetta Chapman brings a fresh twist to the popular Amish fiction genre. She blends the familiar components consumers love in Amish books---faith, community, simplicity, family---with an innovative who-done-it plot that keeps readers guessing right up to the last stitch in the quilt.When two women---one Amish, one English---each with different motives, join forces to organize a successful on-line quilt auction, neither expects nor wants a friendship. As different as night and day, Deborah and Callie are uneasy partners who simply want to make the best of a temporary situation. But a murder, a surprising prime suspect, a stubborn detective, and the town's reaction throw the two women together, and they form an unlikely alliance to solve a mystery and catch a killer.Set in the well-known Amish community of Shipshewana, Falling to Pieces will attract both devoted fans of the rapidly-growing Amish fiction genre, as well as those who are captivated by the Amish way of life.

Belonging ($3.99 Kindle, B&N) is the first title in the new Where The Heart Lives series by Robin Lee Hatcher. You may have one of her earlier titles, A Vote of Confidence, which was free courtesy of Christian publisher Zondervan this past May.
Book Description
In the high desert town of Frenchman's Bluff, Idaho, Felicia Kristoffersen has set out to create a future for herself that is better than her painful past. Alone in the world with only her faith to sustain her, she must prove herself as this tiny community's new school teacher. She cannot, must not, fail. But, there are those who never wanted her there to begin with.Five years after the death of his wife, local merchant Colin Murphy cares about just one thing: raising his daughter, Charity. Colin wants to give her the educational advantages he never had. The new schoolmarm's inexperience doesn't sit well with him, and if this teacher up and marries like the last one did, Charity's heart will be broken once again.A woman who hasn't known love. A man who lost the love he had. In the midst of the wide, sage-covered plains, each is about to discover that life's bitterest circumstances truly can work together for good.Tender, evocative, and beautifully written, Belonging is a journey about love after loss, and about two hearts destined to become one---despite their stubbornness!

Shades of Blue ($2.99 Kindle, B&N) is a standalone novel by Karen Kingsbury. By my count, Christian publisher Zondervan has given away four of her titles in the past, as well as made a number of them more affordable with periodic sales.
Book Description
Brad Cutler, twenty-eight, is a rising star at his New York ad agency, about to marry the girl of his dreams. Anyone would agree he has it all ... a great career, a beautiful and loving fiancee, and a fairy tale life ahead of him---when memories of a high school girlfriend begin to torment him. Lost innocence and one very difficult choice flood his conscience, and he is no longer sure what the future will bring except for this: He must find his old love and make amends. Haunted by the past and confused about the future, he turns to God seeking forgiveness and redemption. Three people must work through the repercussions of a decision made long ago before any of them can look toward a new future.

Wined and Died ($1.99 Kindle) is the fifth (and most recent) title in the Home Crafting Mysteries series by Cricket McRae. You should have the first one in this series, Lye in Wait, as it was free in July. Once again there are two editions in the Kindle store and the Topaz format is the one that is on sale.
Book Description
Something is brewing in Cadyville, and it's not only dandelion wine. Sophie Mae is intrigued by a recently discovered cassette recording in which a therapist fearfully contemplates her client's murderous threats. When the same therapist ends up dead, Sophie Mae is lured into another intoxicating investigation, one that explores the age-old art of mead and wine making.

Blink & Caution ($3.49 Kindle, Kobo), by Tim Wynne-Jones, is aimed at the young adult/older teen market.
Book Description
Boy, did Blink get off on the wrong floor. All he wanted was to steal some breakfast for his empty belly, but instead he stumbled upon a fake kidnapping and a cell phone dropped by an "abducted" CEO, giving Blink a link to his perfect blonde daughter. Now Blink is on the run, but it’s OK as long as he’s smart enough to stay in the game and keep Captain Panic locked in his hold. Enter a girl named Caution. As in "Caution: Toxic." As in "Caution: Watch Your Step." She’s also on the run, from a skeezy drug-dealer boyfriend and from a nightmare in her past that won’t let her go. When she spies Blink at the train station, Caution can see he’s an easy mark. But there’s something about this naïve, skinny street punk, whom she only wanted to rob, that tugs at her heart, a heart she thought deserved not to feel. Charged with suspense and intrigue, this taut novel trails two deeply compelling characters as they forge a blackmail scheme that is foolhardy at best, disastrous at worst - along with a fated, tender partnership that will offer them each a rare chance for redemption.

Circle Nine ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Anne Heltzel
Book Description
Abby doesn’t remember what happened the night she woke up in soot-stained clothes, lying next to a burning building with an unfamiliar boy at her side. But her connection with Sam is immediate and intense. And she has no one else: no family, no home, not even a last name. She and Sam start a new life, just the two of them, and Abby’s deliriously happy. Until memories from her past begin to haunt her?—?and suddenly everything she’s learned to love turns sinister. It’s only a matter of time before her reality cracks apart.

The Midnight Zoo ($3.99 Kindle, B&N; $3.49 Kobo), by Sonya Hartnett
Book Description
When the Germans attack their Romany encampment during World War II, Andrej and his younger brother, Tomas, flee through a ravaged countryside under cover of darkness, guarding a secret bundle. Their journey leads to a bombed-out town, where the boys discover a hidden wonder: a zoo filled with creatures in need of hope. Like Andrej and Tomas, the animals—wolf and eagle, monkey and bear, lioness and seal, kangaroo and llama— have stories to share and a mission to reclaim their lives.

What Comes After ($3.49 Kindle, Kobo; $3.99 B&N), by Steve Watkins
Book Description
After her veterinarian dad dies, sixteen-year-old Iris Wight must leave her beloved Maine to live on a North Carolina farm with her hardbitten aunt and a cousin she barely knows. Iris, a vegetarian and animal lover, immediately clashes with Aunt Sue, who mistreats the livestock, spends Iris’s small inheritance, and thinks nothing of striking Iris for the smallest offense. Things come to a head when Iris sets two young goats free to save them from slaughter, and an enraged Aunt Sue orders her brutish son, Book, to beat Iris senseless - a horrific act that lands Book and his mother in jail. Sent to live with an offbeat foster family and their "dooking" ferrets, Iris must find a way to take care of the animals back at the farm, even if it means confronting Aunt Sue. Powerful and deeply moving, this compelling novel affirms the redemptive power of animals and the resilience of the human spirit.

Bluefish ($8.79 Kindle; $3.49 Kobo), by Pat Schmatz, is one you'd want to get at Kobo, as it appears to be the only store with it on sale.
Book Description
Travis is missing his old home in the country, and he’s missing his old hound, Rosco. Now there’s just the cramped place he shares with his well-meaning but alcoholic grandpa, a new school, and the dreaded routine of passing when he’s called on to read out loud. But that’s before Travis meets Mr. McQueen, who doesn’t take "pass" for an answer—a rare teacher whose savvy persistence has Travis slowly unlocking a book on the natural world. And it’s before Travis is noticed by Velveeta, a girl whose wry banter and colorful scarves belie some hard secrets of her own. With sympathy, humor, and disarming honesty, Pat Schmatz brings to life a cast of utterly believable characters—and captures the moments of trust and connection that make all the difference.

Boy Trouble ($1.24), the first title in the Ask Amy Green tween series by Sarah Webb, is only on sale from Amazon.
Book Description
Thirteen-year-old Amy Green has a lot to juggle: handling her divorced parents, minding her messy baby siblings, and navigating the snobby popular cliques at school. So when her cool but crazy seventeen-year old aunt, Clover, lands a job giving advice for the teen mag The Goss, Amy jumps at the chance to help out as her sidekick. Of course Clover, being Clover, doesn’t just want to answer readers’ letters, she wants to solve their problems . . . personally. From stamping out malicious rumors to giving a cad his comeuppance to creating the perfect web page, the two come up with some clever hands-on schemes that bring happiness to many unhappy girls. But when Amy falls for the cute but aloof boy in her art class — and her own friends start snubbing her big-time — can she find a way out of her own dilemma?

Reshaping It All: Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness ($4.39 Kindle, Kobo; $4.99 B&N), by Candace Cameron Bure and Darlene Schacht, is just in time for the upcoming Thanksgiving season.
Book Description
Candace Cameron Bure first became known to millions as a co-star on the hit ABC television series Full House. Today, like her brother Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, Fireproof), she is the rare Hollywood actor who is outspoken about her Christian faith and how it helps overcome certain obstacles, like her struggle with food addiction. Bure’s healthy lifestyle has been featured in US Weekly and People magazines as well as national talk shows including The View and NBC’s Today. In Reshaping It All, she continues the story, inspiring women to embrace a healthier lifestyle by moving faith to the forefront, making wise choices, and finding their worth in the eyes of God. Candace shares a candid account of her struggle with food and ultimately her healthy outlook on weight despite the toothpick-thin expectations of Hollywood.

More than a testimony, here is a motivational tool that will put readers on the right track and keep them there. In addition to practical advice, Candace offers a biblical perspective on appetite and self control that provides encouragement to women, guiding them toward freedom.

Includes 16-page black and white photo insert.

About the Authors
CANDACE CAMERON BURE starred for eight seasons in the hit ABC television series Full House (still syndicated in more than one hundred countries) and is now a featured cast member of ABC Family's popular drama Make It or Break It. She is also active among several charities and speaks to women nationwide about her faith-based weight-loss success story. Candace lives with her husband, National Hockey League star Valeri Bure, and their three children in Los Angeles, California.

DARLENE SCHACHT is the founder and former editor of ChristianWomenOnline.com. She and her husband have four children and live in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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New Nook Tablet Announced

The Kindle Fire is just around the corner and Barnes & Noble has fired back with the new NOOKTablet, which is an upgraded version of the NOOKColor. Physically, the Kindle Fire and NOOKTablet are similar - they both have a 7" screen, both with Vivid technology for outdoor use; the Fire is about 1/2 ounce heavier (which you won't notice, after place both in a cover and adding an SD card to the Tablet). Inside, though, the new device will have twice the memory (1GB) and storage (16BG) as both the Fire and the NC, and will continue to have an SD card slot for expansion, features a microphone and an app that lets parents (or grandparents) record reading a book, complete with page turns, for their kids to play later on. This should be a great feature for those who travel or are deployed overseas.

Perhaps the most vocally wished for app for the Fire, Netflix, will be pre-installed, as will Hulu Plus (no word on plain Hulu, though) and Pandora Radio. Another feature that has been a constant features of the Amazon forums is parental controls -- the NOOKTablet will let parents turn off the web browser (but that appears to be the extent of the feature), while with the Kindle Fire you can block wireless access at home using your router. What both need, though, is a simple password-controlled blocking option for: web access, store access, library access and hidden category/book access. Just don't look for any of this soon, on either platform.

One area where the Kindle Fire is ahead, though, is with the included speakers - you get stereo, while the NOOKTablet has a single mono speaker built-in. Battery life looks a bit better on the Tablet (but real-life use may prove that to be a bit of marketing hype) and they claim it will charge even faster than the Fire (3 hrs vs. 4) and the native file support seems a bit richer (it includes many Microsoft formats, including powerpoint, which would require add-on apps on the Fire). You'll also get a few games built-in (Chess, Crossword, Sudoku), but a comparison of the Amazon Android Appstore vs. the NOOK Appstore will quickly shows that prices are higher and selection much poorer on the B&N side of the fence. Another shocker may be that of the 16GB of internal storage, 3GB is used by the OS and 12GB is reserved for purchases from B&N, leaving only 1GB for you to load on your own. You'll need that built-in SD card slot (which supports only up to 16GB) if you plan on taking several movies with you.

The NOOKTablet will be shipping next week, with a $249 price tag. The older NOOKColor has dropped in price to $199 and the updated SimpleTouch is now $99. If you have the NOOKColor, then you should be able to get NetFlix and Hulu Plus soon, while SimpleTouch owners will want to check for the update that improves text rendering and battery life. You'll be able to get support in-store, as with all the nook devices (although repairs and replacements have always seemed to require a long shipping round trip, from what I've seen); not quite the same as from Amazon, but with Amazon you can call 24x7 and usually get an overnight replacement before sending in the defective unit.

At the press conference, B&N was really playing up the lack of ads, but that isn't entirely true, as there are ads in store and there has been a persistent campaign from B&N that keeps placing un-ordered samples onto your nook with their updates (and you can't erase them, since they aren't part of your content, but the update itself).
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