If you've taken advantage of the great sale on the Nook HD (ending today), or if you've had one for awhile and recently upgraded to add the Google Play Store, you might be wondering what apps to add. Here's my list of must-have apps, not available in the Nook App store. 1. Feedly With Google Reader going away this July, you'll need another way to keep track of your feeds. I've been using Feedly for awhile now, and it's an excellent Google Reader replacement. In some ways, I've grown to like it better. For example, I've found its integration with Pocket to...

Yesterday, I wrote about the Nook HD mostly from a stock OS perspective. But I know the question you really wanted to have answered was this: "Does it work as an Android tablet?" After three days of using it, my answer is a cautious "yes." Because I still don't have a tablet case for it, I haven't run it through a typical work day. However, from my use in the house over the weekend, I can tell you that it's got potential. Let's start with what it can and can't do. Loading apps from Google Play is a breeze. When you install the...

I've wanted a Nook HD from the moment they came out. The reviews of the hardware were great, but I swore after I sold my first tablet, a Nook Color, that I'd never buy another crippled device again. The Nook App store is just terrible, and while I tried to make my Nook Color work as a tablet (including buying an N2A card), it was never quite satisfying. I needed to boot to the card to have the apps I needed. But for reading, I've always preferred the stock Nook reader, so I spent too much time either being unhappy or booting...

All right! Barnes & Noble has finally listened to its customer base, and the tech bloggers. They recently announced that they'll be rolling out a software update that adds the Google Play Store to the Nook HD and HD+ tablets. This is excellent news. The Nook HD tablets have consistently received great hardware reviews, but the Nook App Store lags so far behind other app stores that there's no point in drawing comparisons. Good hardware plus crappy app selection does not equal a winning combination. I confess to being surprised by the news. While it's what I've been writing about for a...

So it’s been a full year since Google’s Play Store went live (how time does fly,) and the Web-based media store is celebrating by offering deep discounts in all departments. Free tunes, apps, gift cards and cheap movies are only a few items that the service is advertising. You definitely don’t want to miss these deals. Starting today, you can redeem a free $15 gift card to use on your first purchase from Fancy, the crowd-curated gift shop. Also, ten percent off you next hotel booking from the Hotels.com app, a digital  $20 gift card for use with the Gyft app...

  By Adrian Diaconescu | for Technology Tell Google’s Nexus devices have surely proven to be intensely popular, but narrowing it down to one thing that has been stopping people from buying the Nexus trio is its limited availability. The Nexus 7 has been the only device to keep up with the high demand, while the 10—and especially the 4—have been very rare sights. And while eBay sellers are “kind” enough to supply you with the goods whenever you need it for luxurious prices, it sort of defeats the purpose, since the Nexus 4 and 10 are very attractive because they’re so cheap. But fret not, ladies and...