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Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, announced today that it began shipping the highly anticipated NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight ahead of schedule to customers who pre-ordered the device.

As many iPad and Kindle Fire owners know, when you get a tablet, your habits change. Some start reading their email or doing most of their shopping on their tablets instead of their desktops; others begin buying more ebooks than printed books. Those changes were highlighted in a recent Forrester survey. The research firm found that after purchasing a tablet, owners are far less likely to engage with more traditional devices and media. About a third of respondents say they use personal computers and read books less frequently. About one in four claim to read print magazines and newspapers

HP announced new digital press solutions that offer greater flexibility and higher productivity to help print service providers (PSPs) and publishers meet growing market demand for customized, shorter-run and personalized publications. The solutions, which HP will showcase May 3-16 at the drupa tradeshow, Düsseldorf, Germany, include:

—  HP T360 and T410 Color Inkjet Web Presses, offering faster monochrome speeds (244 meters/800 feet per minute),(1) and an HP T230 Color Inkjet Web Press offering faster color speeds (122 meters/400 feet per minute),(2) for higher-volume book manufacturing.

—  The HP Indigo W7250 Digital Press, a high-volume, roll-fed device offering 33 percent faster throughput(3) for one-off and short- to medium-run production of high-end color textbooks, journals, manuals and trade books.

—  The HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press – the first offset-quality digital press in a B2 size format (750 x 530 millimeters [mm] / 29.5 x 20.9 inches) suitable for printing a very broad range of publishing applications, including book signatures. Available next year, it offers HP Indigo’s unparalleled print quality and extensive media flexibility.

—  The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press, a sheet-fed press offering greater versatility and productivity, improved automation(4) and exclusive special effects for book cover printing.

Actors use a physical platform to raise themselves above their audiences, focusing the attention on themselves so that they can more easily be seen and heard. The concept of building a marketing platform is not dissimilar. Publishers generally assume that if their authors’ platforms are significant enough, potential buyers will either buy their book upon its publication or spread the word about it to others. But this is often not the case. Simply because people have heard of you or have befriended you on Facebook does not necessarily mean they will buy your book or support its introduction.

Good books have a way of bringing characters to life. But what if your favorite character sang a song and you could actually hear it? What if your favorite character drew a picture and you could really see it? These are some of the questions Andrea J. Buchanan, author of the bestselling The Daring Books for Girls, considered while imagining her next project, GIFT, an e-book original that seamlessly pairs a YA paranormal story with the latest technology.

As tablet sales surge and put downward pressure on dedicated e-reader ownership growth, publishers are pessimistic that tablets will provide readers with an enticing reading platform. According to a recent Digital Book World survey, conducted by Forrester Research, 31% of publishers think iPads and other tablets computers are the ideal e-book reading platform, down from 46% a year ago.

Only 30% of publishers think reading tablets like the Nook Color and Kindle Fire are an ideal reading platform. This question was not asked in the previous year’s survey.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced plans to once again recognize January as “No Name-Calling Month” in its stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com. Now in its second year, the month-long campaign is aimed at bringing attention to the national problem of name-calling and bullying of all kinds. Barnes & Noble stores across the country will bring awareness to “No Name-Calling Month” by placing “No Name-Calling” signage in various locations, and hosting a national Storytime event and other activities. Barnes & Noble.com will feature exclusive video

Interactive books for kids hit the App Store every week, but mature readers have fewer options as most turn to iBooks and eBooks. But, that doesn’t mean a few gems that use digitization well without compromising content emerge every year. This sector is grossly under-reviewed and the offerings can be very pricey making it hard for readers to decide which book-apps are right for them. These are the best of the lot from 2011, which, if you read them all, should keep you busy well into the New Year.

Amid the press of daily news, it sometimes helps to step back a bit to examine the larger Internet trends driving a lot of what we see crossing the tickers and newswires. At the AlwaysOn Venture Summit today in Half Moon Bay, AlwaysOn Founder and Editor Tony Perkins is outlining the big trends he sees with Kelly Porter, managing director of Woodside Capital. Here are the big ones they’re watching: Big Data + Cloud: More data has been created in the last three years than the previous 40,000. And with services such as Amazon Web Services, using that data is

This story might need to be taken with a grain of salt based on its sources, but it could have some serious implications if true. Megaupload, like Rapidshare, is a cyber-locker site where people can upload files of any kind for others to download. Many of those files are illicitly-copied commercial material, which naturally gives [...]