iPad Free App of the Week: The Very Hungry Pumpkin+

This free app will get you read for tick-or-treat night.

The premise is simple.  Gobble up the candy and avoid the costumed trick-or-treaters.

It starts out slow, but it gets harder and harder.

Ghoulishly fun game for kids of all ages.  It's the perfect Halloween game for the iPad.

Casual game, uncommonly fun
* Touch screen controls
* Starts out easy enough for the youngest players
* Escalates to challenge the most hard core gamer
* Beautiful pre-rendered 3D animations
* Hilarious sound effects
* Frenetic music adds to the excitement

So fun, its SCARY!

It's free, so enjoy this exciting game today.

Barnes & Noble Releases a Color Nook

Another shot was fired today in the ebook reader war.  This time from Barnes & Noble, which announced a color, touchscreen version of its Nook reading device.

The NOOKcolor will go on sale Nov. 19 for $249. It has a 7-inch diagonal touchscreen that displays 16 million colors. Inside, the device has a Wi-Fi radio and 8 gigabytes of memory. It's 8 by 5 inches overall, 0.48 inches thick and weighs 15.8 ounces.

Is it an ebook reader or an Android tablet.  It appears to be both. 

It's built around the Nook electronic bookstore, which competes with Amazon.com's Kindle business, the color Nook is also aiming up-market, at the iPad and upcoming Android tablets.

The device is being pitched as a media consumption tablet, with the ability to browse the Web, play games, send e-mail, participate in social networks and store and play digital music.  Bt will people buy this device to read?

The NOOKcolor is based on Google's Android operating system -- Version 2.1. The store is inviting Android developers to build Nook applications, although they won't be able to directly transfer Android apps to the Nook because it has a custom interface and controls. This isn't good news.  Do we need another Android device with another grouping of apps?  Too confusing for me.

The new Nook will sync with Google's Gmail, so you can use Gmail contacts with social features, including a feature that lets you lend e-books to friends with Nooks.

How the NOOKcolor will do during the holiday season is anyone's guess.  What I do think is if this Nook doesn't take off, Barnes and Noble may be forced to concede to Amazon and Apple.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Frankenstein

A perfect time to reread this classic just in time for Halloween. 

Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelgänger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image … but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates.

It's free so add Frankenstein to your Kindle collection.

Amazon Announces 14-Day Kindle Ebook Lending

Amazon is taking a chapter out of Barnes and Noble's playbook.

Amazon will be introducing a 14-day lending feature for Kindle ebooks later this year, the Kindle team announced yesterday. The move brings the Kindle up to date with Barnes and Noble’s rival Nook e-reader, which has touted 14-day book lending as a key feature since it launched last year.

Just as with the Nook, Amazon says you won’t be able to read ebooks while they’re lent out. The feature won’t be available for all ebooks either, as it will be entirely up to publishers and rights holders to enable it.

What does book lending on the Kindle mean for the Nook? With the feature matched by the Kindle, all the Nook has to differentiate itself now is its superfluous secondary color touchscreen. Sure, it supports expandable storage via MicroSD cards, and it also can read DRM-free ePub ebooks (unlike the Kindle) — but those aren’t exactly features that can combat the widespread name recognition of Amazon’s device.

It seems whatever B&N hs done for the Nook, Amazon has one-upped them.  With the release of the iPad, and the promise of even more tablets to come, there definitely seems to be a demand for low-cost portable devices dedicated to reading. I’m certain the Kindle will remain a dedicated presence in the market for some time, but at this point I’d have to say that the Nook’s days are numbered.

iPad Free App of the Week: Disney's Magic Vacation Mirror

Planning a trip to Disney?

Start planning your Walt Disney World® Resort vacation with the first official Disney Parks iPad application! Join your host, Tinker Bell, on a magical, interactive tour filled with photos, videos and 360° images.

Preview all of the major Walt Disney World sights:
• Magic Kingdom® Park
• Epcot® Park
• Disney's Hollywood Studios™ Park
• Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park
• Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
• Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park
• Disney Resort Hotels

Get your vacation planning started:
• Order a free planning DVD
• Price your vacation
• Find special offers

Plus, there are plenty of delightful surprises. You can even command the Magic Mirror to announce your Walt Disney World vacation to the ones you love!