eBooks: Barnes and Noble Nook

After my last post regarding the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader, one of my Facebook friends asked:

“Isnt there a thing called the Nook or something that downloads books from the library?”

The answer is a big “Yes” and a little “No”.

Yes, there is a thing called the Nook, and its the ebook reader from Barnes and Noble, but the only library it downloads from is from Barnes and Noble’s catalog of books. Though if you think “free” when you think “library” then you could say “yes” because the Nook has over 500,000 free ebooks available to it, while the Amazon Kindle doesn’t. The nook retails at Barnes and Noble for $259.

Lending

One interesting feature of the Nook is its ability to allow you to lend select ebooks to friends for free for 14 days. They don’t even need a Nook themselves. All they need is an app they can install on their PC or Mac or their iPhone. Soon they’ll also be able to loan their books to Blackberry, Android, and Windows Mobile smartphones, too.

(I do find it strange that there is no Android app yet because the Nook runs on the Android operating system. Is it possible Barnes and Noble will forge some sort of alliance with Google, the provider of the Android OS?)

Expandable Memory

Another plus for the Nook is its expandable memory using MicroSD or MicroSD HC cards. The Kindle only has internal memory, and you can’t swap memory chips with books on them as you can with the Nook.

Color Nav Screen and WiFi

The Nook also has a separate color touchscreen for navigation, unlike the Kindle with its pure grayscale screen. It also has WiFi and 3G wireless, while the Kindle only has 3G. The plus here is you can access WiFi in the Barnes and Noble stores, and elsewhere, and browse and download content in your local bookstore. I suppose if you can access WiFi elsewhere, the you can probably download content there as well.

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Software for a new computer

Several of my recent posts have been about a $450 computer system I build for a client — a homeowner in need of a computer for general gaming, web surfing, word processing, paying bills, etc. So far I shown you the parts I purchased or similar ones (Part1, Part 2, Part 3), then I provided instructions for assembling the system and installing the Windows 7 operating system.

Now comes some recommended software for this new system. The software I am listing here is software I typically install on a new computer system. Most of the software I am listing here is free, and it all comes from reputable online sources.

My first stop after booting up a new computer is the Google Pack site. This site from Google has a dozen different programs you can download and install on your computer. I download and install 3 or 4 of the following programs:

1. Picasa: You can use this program to find, edit, and share your photos stored on your computer; download pictures from your digital camera; remove red eye from your photos; and upload your photos to be shared with your friends on the www.picasa.com web site.
2. Firefox: This is the next most popular browser after Internet Explorer. Though there are many browsers to choose from, Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most popular, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having more than one on your computer. Think of it as having two cars in the driveway. use which ever one you want whenever you want.
3. Adobe Reader: This program is useful for all the PDFs you’re bound to receive from friends or web site downloads, among other sources. The reader allows you to open and print Adobe Acrobat files. (PDF, by the way, stands for portable document format.)
4. Google Apps:  This one is optional. If they have Microsoft Word and Excel on their computer I typically don’t install this. Google Apps allows you to create and share documents and spreadsheets which can be stored in an online account on the Google Docs web site. This is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. (Alternately, you could also download and install Open Office from Sun Microsystems. It, too, is a free office software package. (Personally, I haven’t tried Open Office, but it’s been around for quite a while, and Sun is a very reputable company.)

There are 8 other programs you can add to your computer form the Google Pack web site, but the ones above are my favorites.

Come back later and I’ll share my antivirus and antispyware picks. If you’re a regular reader I’m sure you know which two programs I’m going to recommend.

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T-Mobile G1 Battery Life Accessories

I purchased a T-Mobile G1 w/ Google Bronze phone (that’s the G1 in white shown at left) back in February of this year, and I’ve been pretty happy with it. For 2 decades I’ve had run-of-the-mill cellphones. (Have we had cellphones in the mainstream for two decades now?) I like it because the data plan is cheaper than that of the iPhone. (Economy and efficiency all the way). The only disappointment has been the battery life. Some times, when I have a not-so-great Internet connection I can actually watch the battery level decline while phone tries to access the page.

So I’ve been looking for ways to improve my battery life without erasing all my apps and shutting down features I’m not using at the moment to only have to turn them back on again less than 30 minutes later.

I searched here and there online until I turned to Buy.com to make my purchases. Here’s a list of the items I picked up and why.

I decided to get an extra battery: the SEIDIO Innocell 1400 Extended Battery for T-Mobile G1 (shown at left). It’s supposed to provide 15% more power than the stock 1150mAh battery. It’s not a big increase, but I figure carrying an extra battery will help out. I can just swap batteries when one dies.

Of course, there is the massive SEIDIO Innocell 2600 Extended Life Battery for HTC T-Mobile G1 (with Battery Door) (shown at right) which provides 125% more power than the stock battery. The drawback, in my opinion, is the added thickness the battery gives to the phone. Some people have said the speakers sounds a bit muffled because the larger battery casing places the speaker opening further away from the speaker. Additionally, I like carrying the phone in its stock sleeve in my pocket, and I don’t need a bulkier phone in my pocket.

I also purchased a T-Mobile HTC G1 by Google Desktop USB Battery Cradle (shown at left) so I can charge both the phone and the spare battery in the evening. There’ s a bit of a compromise here since the cradle charges the phone via a USB connection to a computer — the purpose here is to allow you to synch your phone’s data files etc while it charges — while an AC adapter is used to charge the spare battery. I would have liked to charge both phone and spare from the AC adapter, but I guess I’ll have to get a USB power adapter for charging the phone on my night table. Or have both charge in my home office by the computer. Hmm, I’m still mulling this part over.

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