Barnes & Noble’s eBook Reader and a Twitter Audiobook
Last week, I chatted about two news items: Barnes & Noble’s new eBook reader and BBC Audiobooks America’s Twitter audiobook project. I’d like to start off the week with updates on both of these interesting projects.
Barnes & Noble appears poised to launch the new eBook reader this Tuesday, October 20. There have been numerous leaks to the press regarding features. The latest information indicates that the eReader, which uses E-Ink technology, will have two screens. The main screen, used for reading books, newspapers, or periodicals, will be about 6 inches in size. A smaller screen is located at the bottom and is an LCD touch screen. This screen will act as a keyboard and will contain the menu for the device.
As with Amazon’s Kindle, the B & N device will utilize a cellular network for content downloads. It apparently uses the Android operating system software for mobile devices. Although quite a bit of information (including photos of the new device) has been leaked, the price and name of the device are still a secret. Watch for B & N to make their big announcement on Tuesday.
Last week I also featured the project launched by BBC Audiobooks America and bestselling author Neil Gaiman on Twitter. At promptly 9:00 am ET on Twitter, Gaiman tweeted the following line: Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled & said,” We don’t love you anymore.” Twitter users quickly jumped in and began submitting lines to continue the story. BBCAA then quickly chose one of the submissions and posted it so that users could submit lines to be considered for the next entry.
I simply couldn’t resist becoming involved. I have managed to get 3 lines included from my personal Twitter account @WotV. It was fascinating to watch the story evolve. The creativity is astounding and the story has taken on a fairy tale style, with an evil Queen, a talking badger, and a sarcastic puppet. The story now has 11 scenes, all of which have been compiled and summarized on the BBC Audiobooks America blog.
The story will likely go on through midday on Tuesday, so if you have not had the opportunity to contribute, there’s still time. Remember, sign in to Twitter and follow @BBCAA. They will tweet each line as it is chosen. Submit your entries as a reply to @BBCAA with the hashtag #bbcawdio. Lines without these elements will not be seen by BBCAA and not considered for inclusion. When the story is complete, it will be recorded as a free audiobook. I’ll keep you posted on its availability.
Tuesday will be a big day this week with the B & N eBook reader and the BBC Audiobooks America project wrapping up!
By Dorothy Distefano
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