Barnes & Nobles eReader is Live…And Sweet

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We recently told you that the B&N eReader was launching for WM with a splash screen of ‘coming soon’. Well the day has come! Launching the app now prompts you to install an update that is in fact live. Once installed, you’ll be prompted for your B&N password or you can create a new password/login (but your default web browser will open for this). Once logged in you can go back to the app and you can begin to download 2 free ebooks (only three to choose from:)). Once you choose one it will download it and then you can open the ebook, but more on that in a minute. Tapping on the ebook from the homescreen gives you an overview of the book and even more detail if tapped again (pics below). You can also shop for more ebooks. You are actually again brought to your browser to shop and if you pick a book when you go back to the app you push ‘sync’ and then it appears in your list to download. When you start the app it also auto-syncs. I was testing this on VGA and it did resize (even though I was expecting WVGA only). As far as the reading experience itself – it’s great. It’s actually a lot more readable than I expected. It’s crisp black on white and you can swipe to turn the pages (and you get a little turn page animation). You can adjust all of this in settings as well. If you want to advance a few pages you can tap on the screen and get a slider. Once downside of the web-based method of searching is that it’s the mobile site on your phone so it’s a little harder to navigate the site and I haven’t tested buying an ebook on my PC and syncing to my phone…but I’m sure you guys will:) If you know the book you want to buy though this isn’t an issue.

Want some pics?

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RadioShack To Sell The TMo HD2 for $149

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If you have Wednesday circled on your calendar in anticipation of the TMo HD2 release and were getting ready to stand in line at a TMo store you may be able to snag one a little easier. Just hit up the Shack who will have it available on 3/24. Not only are they selling it, … Read more

WP7 To Ship With No Games

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Over at the Windows Phone 7 Series website they hosted a Q&A from Gian Wilson, product manager, mobile communications business regarding the game hub experience. Here are some of the most interesting Q&A’s that come out of it which talk in terms of Xbox integration, turn-by-turn games and point systems. But first up, how many games will be on a WP7 out of the box? Zero…really? Not even solitaire:) ?

There’s a lot more after the break…I wish the word ‘yes’ appeared a bit more:)

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RIP Google.cn

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Google exited the business of censorship today, redirecting traffic to google.cn for Search, News and Images, including mobile traffic, to google.com.hk from which I grabbed (and subsequently touched up subtly) the picture of Tankman to my right. As of the time of my posting this, China is not blocking its citizens from accessing Google’s Hong Kong site for Search, News, Images, Gmail and Ads while fully blocking Youtube, Sites and Blogger and partially filtering Docs, Picasa and Groups. Judging by the activity I’m seeing on Google Maps, Google Buzz is working fine. Trying to reach some of them for comment but they’re probably asleep. Better fire up my Android Google Translate app.

Update! Read my new Buzz transcripts from China by hitting …click here to read more here or preferably at the bottom! Sample buzz in response to my question about believing their news media:

李鹏 – nothing is true in the newspaper, all written by people, with their own understanding.just information.find the truth by our own mind.11:11 am

biAji ̃ – @doug absolutly not. I’m sure no one live in this planet believe everything in newspaper.1:02 pm

So Google wasn’t bluffing, their stock didn’t tank today (actually it’s up in after hours trading) and I’m proud to see them make this move finally. Up to Beijing how to handle this. I imagine they’ll drum up more rhetoric about Google and the US, have their journalists write negatively about Google’s bad manners but without filtering any further the Hong Kong site than they currently are. To eyeball that, here’s the status page. And here’s the press release.

What’s up now, Beijing? Let me guess, shame on us for being so arrogant and defiant with our big companies meddling in your affairs? This will help your own Internet companies thrive? Something like that? Good luck pedaling that crap, maybe your people will keep buying it. Be grateful they didn’t redirect it to Taiwan. Bravo Google. Cue face saving posturing music from the Orient.

I had better attempt to clarify China’s arrangement with Hong Kong though I may only confuse you more. China has autonomous areas. They call Hong Kong and Macau Special Autonomous Regions which are afforded full responsibility for governing themselves with exception to anything involving diplomacy (which I suppose could extend to Googlegate) and national defense. Such regions have their own legal systems and China keeps their distance. Basically China is to Hong Kong and Macau as the States are to Indian reservations.

It’s getting close to 7am in China (the whole place has the same time zone) and people are starting to go online and right now their government is not blocking the Hong Kong site for Web searching, image searching, news and Gmail (but still is for Youtube and the others I listed). Will the country topple with anarchy if too many people get the scoop on what happened with the man in the picture if the government doesn’t put a stop to it?

Doug Simmons

Update: Buzzing it up with anyone I can find on the streets of Beijing who’s not afraid of what will happen to their families if they respond to my buzz with information on the reaction of the PEOPLE. Read more for Buzz transcripts which are in progress.

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Napalm Facepalm

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Picture a two dimensional drawing by some kid with a half of a really steep mountain on the far left and a long flat valley on the right, eventually leading into the sea. Now scan it to your imagination’s computer and add an outline effect to it in your mental photoshop. What you’re looking at is Palm’s … Read more

Rugged BlueAnt T1 Bluetooth Headset Delivers Superior Performance No Matter Where You Are

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I don’t know about you guys but I don’t normally drop my headset often or use it out in the rain.. if you do though you might like this new headset from BlueAnt called the T1..

-BlueAnt is proud to launch the T1 headset, a durable, reliable Bluetooth device that has been designed to give high quality audio performance in the most challenging conditions.

The T1 is the first BlueAnt headset to feature Wind Armour Technology™. Developed over the course of years of research into wind noise performance, this solution combines patent-pending design features with BlueAnt’s proprietary noise cancellation software to deliver clear audio in wind speeds up to 22 mph—the best wind noise reduction of any Bluetooth headset on the market.

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ThrottleLauncher WP7 Theme Released

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So as expected the WP7 theme for ThrottleLauncher has been released in beta and is available here from 1800PocketPC. I have tested it out on my Fuze and it’s very smooth. It is a beta though and I don’t see it replacing TF3D but nonetheless, if you want to get the WP7 look it’s certainly … Read more

PocketRunner – Exercise Your Fingers

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From Bbonzz comes another classic. This one is called PocketRunner.  You need to run as fast as you can using your fingers. The track moves with you in real time (and graphically it’s smooth as butter).  And because of the engine used to create the game, you don’t have to worry about lifting one finger … Read more

ThrottleLauncher 1.0.1 Released – WP7 Theme Imminent

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The UI ThrottleLauncher just got an update release with a nice set of features intended to speed it up among other things. But with this release we should also be expecting the release of the WP7 theme shortly, since the dev stated that he was waiting for 1.0.1 to be released. This theme appears to … Read more