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Nook Vs Kindle Ereaders – A Review

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

21310674807_dsc00085.jpgThe Barnes and Noble’s Nook arrived a few months ago amid much fanfare. Though touted as the Kindle killer the Nook ends up being much more like the Kindle from Amazon.com. Both electronic book readers, the Kindle and the Nook are very similar in looks. However, the Nook has a few features that the Kindle does not.

Startup: The Nook’s touted extra features do not make up for its glaring lack of speed. From opening a book, to turning the pages, the Nook is much slower than the Kindle. When starting Amazon’s Kindle 2, their current version, from pushing the power button to the point you can start reading is less than five seconds. In comparison, the Nook after pushing the power button made you wait almost 2 minutes before you could start reading. That huge difference is one that Barnes and Noble will need to address in future software updates for its Nook.
Displays and Connectivity: The Nook and the Kindle are very much alike once their up and running. They both have 6-inch black and white displays and both currently use AT&T’s 3G Wireless Network for browsing and downloading books, magazines, and newspapers.
Navigation: When looking at the Nook and the Kindle side by side the most notable difference between them is that instead of tiny keys and a joystick at the bottom of the Kindle, the Nook uses a color touchscreen. It is this touchscreen that the reader uses to adjust the settings, navigate to their stored library or to go online to the Barnes and Noble bookstore. Many have found the Nooks touchscreen to be more useful than the Kindle’s awkward keyboard. However, having a touchscreen gives the Nook a shorter battery life. The Kindle boasts an advertised 14 days between charges, the Nook when its Wi-Fi is turned off will stay up for 10 days.
Downloads: Since they both use the AT&T 3G Network, both the Kindle and the Nook download books bought over that network at the same time. However, since the Nook is the only one with Wi-Fi, you can turn it on when entering your local Barnes and Noble store and take advantage of what is offered. You will be privy to in-store offers and you can access the contents of any e-book in the store. The Nook will also allow you to lend your e-book to a friend, something that the Kindle does not support currently. If a friend has a Nook, an iPhone or if their computer is running Barnes and Nobel e-reader software, you can lend them your e-book. There are certain restrictions on lending and not all titles will be available to do so, but having the option is nice.
Software: The Nook also supports the ePub standard of open platform software. The Kindle currently uses the proprietary book format instead. Having an open platform allows the Nook to access a wider variety of sources such as Google’s book project. In addition, the Nook uses the Google Android operating system that could allow it to run various applications in the future.
Conclusion: The Nook benefits from a color screen and allows other users to borrow your books. The Nook also allows you to browse while in your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. However, the Nook is slow on startup, its color screen and continuous Wi-Fi, if not turn it off, will drain the battery significantly. The Kindle is faster on boot up than the Nook and has a sustainably longer battery life. The Kindle has been on the market for some time and is a well tested e-reader. On the other hand, the awkward keyboard of the Kindle and lack of features boasted on the Nook do make for an uninspired device.

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How to Find Magazines for Free

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

01310674806_barnes-noble.jpgHow to Find Magazines for Free

There’s a little-known secret of any bookstore or magazine news stand. What do you think they do with the magazines that don’t get sold as the new one is coming in (the new one is probably dated at least 1 or 2 months in advance)? Some companies just chuck them out as-is, and some have different policies. All you have to do is ask!
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:

Resourcefulness, and a friendly attitude

Step 1

I would try this with smaller local chains first, but even big companies such as Barnes and Noble bookstores, or Borders will sometimes help you out. It kind of depends on who’s the manager, and what their policy is. But it doesn’t hurt to ask now does it?
Step 2
I used to work at my University bookstore, and they would tear off the covers of all the magazines (I think they send the covers back to the publishers to be reimbursed for the mags that didn’t sell, and then throw them out into boxes, to be picked up for garbage or recycling. Since I’m an artist who works with collage and decoupage, magazine images are very helpful for my art. Plus I love reading ‘em!
Step3

Save yourself a bundle of money and ask the person who works with the magazines what they do with the “old” magazines. Find out what day they get the new ones in, and then be there to pick up the old ones (usually the cover will be pulled off, but who cares about that? When I worked at the bookstore, I told them exactly what I’ve said here in this article and it really worked. I was able to get all sorts of fantastic images for my collages and find many great reads as well. I even made a list for one of the workers, and he set anything on that list out for me, I’d come by once or twice a week and walk out with a boxful of magazines. After I was done, I passed them onto Laundromats, Dr. Offices, and friends so that they were really getting recycled!! Save the earth and get free magazines!!! Sounds great to me!!

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Stock Price Prediction 0

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

11310674812_firsttimeatourlocalbookstore.jpgStock Price Prediction:
The Case of Barnes and Noble Bookstores
Introduction
This paper will analyze the current stock performance of Barnes and Noble Bookstores which are based in New York. The company, which started more than a century ago started out as a printing press and turned out to be one of the largest bookstores in the world. Tracking the company’s stock price performance in the New York Stock Exchange in a five-day period from August 6 up to August 10 for the current year as well as providing a forecast for its future performance can be attributed with several factors.
Internal Influences
One of the factors that affect the stock price performance of the company is the internal decisions that guide the company. Currently, under Steve Riggio’s term as CEO, the stock price of the company at NYSE has already soared to its current level of 30+- barrier through a lot of innovative as well as daring in-store offerings. In 2007, all of the Barnes and Noble Bookstores in the United States totaled to about 840 in all with average store openings of 30 to 40 every year. The stock price of Barnes and Noble has also been affected by the modern comfort offerings within all its stores which have Wi-Fi connections with modest separate fees. The Barnes and Noble stores also have the cafe offerings such as Starbucks coffee which greatly provides convenience to its customers. This could probably be one of the reasons why the company has been enjoying a modest growth for the past years. In 2006, revenues for Barnes and Noble and its subsidiaries reached $5.3 billion USD. It could then be said that the modern as well as cosmopolitan outlook of the bookstore company would keep its stock prices as well as revenues up or the next couple of years or so. That is also according to the current figures provided by the company’s solid 57,000 employees as of the 1st quarter of 2007.
Explaining how these internal factors could affect the fate of Barnes and Noble stock prices, it would have to be attributed to the image that the company projects towards their customers as well as their investors. The offerings are the company’s way of differentiating themselves from other conventional bookstores in the book retail industry. And with a market as volatile as that of the United States, market differentiation is really important for Barnes and Noble to win market shares as well as investors who would finance their planned expansions in the future. This would have to be coupled by other aggressive marketing strategies for their books as well as other future offerings which investors will dig out as good investments.
External Influences
Another important aspect in determining the future stock price performance of Barnes and Noble in the New York Stock Exchange are the external factors or those that are way beyond the control of the company. External factors may include the over-all performance of the retail industry, the situation of the US Stock markets as well as regional markets which may affect the company such their source of raw materials as well as major retail subsidiaries. In this case of Barnes and Noble, it can be said that the popular bookstore’s stock performance may be at the mercy of the bearish US stock market which as Ben Bernanke announced, could lead to a slight slowdown in the US economy as the US real estate draws to a halt. This could greatly affect Barnes and Noble which attributes most of its profits from high consumer spending. If and then the US economy would in fact be slowing down, the bookstore will experience a hard time making customers come back and purchase reading materials. Although the bookstore has offerings which may still entice customers to come back without even buying a book or a magazine, this situation could still greatly affect the performance of not only the bookstore’s stock price performance but for most American companies as well.

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