Last week, rumors were circulating that Microsoft was gearing up to buy out Barnes& Noble’s Nook business in what could have been a $1 billion deal.

Insider Monkey is reporting that this story is false and that the story was “nothing more than a rumor.” Check it out:

Insider Monkey received word from a highly placed source inside Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) who said that the story was only a rumor, and that nothing imminent is happening in regards to Microsoft and its investment in the NOOK Media entity, or reports that it is buying out Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) from the operation.

“I literally just walked out of the meeting today discussing all this Microsoft/NOOK hoopla going on,” the anonymous Microsoft source emailed Insider Monkey.

Microsoft is considering offering Barnes & Noble $1 billion to buyout the Nook Media business, an asset that the Washington-based technology company already has a 16.8% stake in, according to a report in TechCrunch. Microsoft would redeem some of its shares in Nook Media, and take over the Nook eBook and tablet business. Here is more from TechCrunch:

The documents also reveal that Nook Media plans to discontinue its Android-based tablet business by the end of its 2014 fiscal year as it transitions to a model where Nook content is distributed through apps on “third-party partner” devices. Speculation about the plan to discontinue the Nook surfaced in February. The documents we have are not clear on whether the third-party tablets would be Microsoft’s own Windows 8 devices, tablets made by others (including competing platforms) or both. Third-party tablets, according to the document, are due to get introduced in 2014. Read more

Barnes & Noble has launched a new self-publishing program called NOOK Press. Independent authors who used the bookseller’s PubIt! platform need to switch to the new platform.

If you want to see what sign-up entails, watch the video embedded above–you can follow the same sign up process at the NOOK Press sign up page. In the video embedded below, you can watch the new set of editorial tools in action. Here’s more from the release:

The “Quick Start” option lets writers try out the tools before they commit to becoming a vendor, all they need to sign up is an e-mail address … Easy ePub Creation and Editing: With new content creation tools, authors can easily upload a manuscript just once, then continue to write and edit directly within NOOK Press, quickly and easily turning their work into a professional-quality ePub file. Integrated Collaboration: NOOK Press allows authors to safely and quickly invite their network of friends and editors to read and comment on any NOOK Press project in a secure environment.

Read more

Nook Media, Barnes & Noble’s digital arm, is running a promotion on its Nook HD+, the company’s 9-inch high-def tablet. Today through Monday, March 11, customers who purchase a Nook HD+ will get a $50 credit in their Nook account to purchase digital content. The promotion is good for sales online and in stores.
Here is more from the press release: “The $50 credit will load to a customer’s NOOK account within 3-10 days of registering that account to the new NOOK HD+. The free $50 credit must be used within 30 days of posting to a customer’s NOOK account.” The Nook HD+ costs $269 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version.

Yesterday, Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio revealed that he would like to buy Barnes & Noble’s retail business. This would not include Nook Media, which the company established as its own entity back in October.

Barnes & Noble ships its new Nook HD tablets this week. The tablets feature 720p HD screen (at 1440×900). It is available in 8GB or 16GB versions for $199 and $229 respectively. It’s getting pretty good reviews. To help give you an idea of what the device is like before it lands in your mailbox and on store shelves, we’ve rounded up a bunch of reviews from around the web.

CNET calls it a “reading tablet for non-technies”. Check it out: “The Barnes & Noble Nook HD can’t match competing tablets in media library breadth, but as long as you’re not looking for bells and whistles, its sharp screen and comfortable body make it an ideal tablet choice for reading books and magazines.”

TechCrunch says, “it’s just about the best reader you can buy.” Check it out: “The Nook HD is Barnes & Noble’s latest entry in the great sub-$200 tablet race, and, barring a few hardware issues associated with this sort of underpowered hardware, I’m glad to report that the Nook HD is, in many ways, superior to the Kindle in this iteration, if only for a few key software and hardware features.” Read more

Barnes & Noble hasn’t given a specific date for when they plan to release Nook Video app and start selling movies and TV shows on the Nook HD, but they have been dropping hints about the content they plan to sell.

Today B&N announced they had signed new deals with  NBC and Fox. These deals will bring a wide selection of movies and TV shows to Nook HD owners, including blockbuster films like Snow White and the Huntsmen, Battleship, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and many more. These deals will also add hit TV shows like The Michael Richards Show, Coupling, Good Morning Miami, and other hit titles from Fox and NBC. Read more

The Nook Color is in many ways an android tablet, but one fo the ways it falls short is with digital comics.  Many of the comics apps support features like directed viewing, and that’s a trick that the Nook Color only learned today.

Barnes & Noble announced today that a newly available update for the NT and NC will allow readers to view the comics panel by panel. This will probably sound familiar to users of ComiXology and affiliated apps on Android and IOS, where the guided view experience has done much to make digital comics readable on small screens. The NT and NC also got a new way to read PDFs; when you switch from portrait to landscape you’ll be able to see 2 pages at a time.

The new feature is being launched alongside 100 new titles from DC Entertainment. Nook Tablet owners are now going to be able to be able to read up on the adventures of Sandman, Superman, Batman, and other characters published by DC. The viewing mode will work on all DC titles, and it’s likely to be added to other titles as time goes on.

You’ll find these new digital graphic novels on both the Nook Tablet as well as the Nook for Android app. If you want to to install the software update immediately can do so with a manual download offered at www.NOOK.com/update.

If you’re in need of an eReader, Barnes & Noble has the Nook Color on sale today. It’s the refurbished model, but this is still  worthwhile device. B&N has continued to support the Nook Color with software updates, and by all accounts they plan to keep doing so.

The hardware design is getting a little old, but users have reported that the NC still has the performance not to far from the first run tablets, which is great considering that the NC is priced with the budget tablets.

Ebay

Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet is in stores and if you are planning to buy one, you may want to consider getting a cover for it to prevent scratches. We’ve put together a list of different Nook Tablet covers that are out there on the market with their price and a brief description of the product. If you are in the market for a Kindle Fire, check out our list of 10 Kindle Fire Covers.

1. Neoprene Case, $19.95: This form fitting neoprene sleeve (pictured left) features an embossed ‘n’ logo for the Nook, as well as a chrome zipper up top

2. Minimal Trifold Cover, $34.95: This leather case folds out flat and features a faux suede interior with pockets and a magnet closing system

3. Jonathan Adler, Pink Circles Cover for Nook Tablet, $39.95: The tablet slips inside of this portfolio-style cotton canvas case which features a brightly concentric design  Read more

Barnes and Noble offers plenty of newspaper subscriptions for the Nook to fine publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, but if you are looking for a way to turn your Nook into a news reader for free, here’s how. (If you are a Kindle user, check out our post on “How To Read News For Free On The Kindle.”

Using a free tool called Calibre, you can download news into the app and then convert it for reading on the Nook. Then:

1. Open Calibre and at the top of the application, click on the “Fetch News” icon. This will produce a drop down menu with news in more than thirty different languages.

2. Click on English and there more than three hundred different news organizations offering free news through the feed. We chose the Associated Press. (Once the news is downloaded it will appear in your library.)

3. The content will automatically be in the ePUB format which is readable on a Nook. So all you have to do is add the file to your Nook library.