There are certain brick and mortar outlets that simply refuse to go down without a fight. Barnes & Noble is one of them and they are partnering with a powerful force to help them make up ground with their Nook eBook reader: Microsoft. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Image via CrunchBase"][/caption] As subsidiary that is currently unnamed will see and investment of $300 million coming from Microsoft to help eBook and educational book sales. In return, Microsoft receives 17.6% equity, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. For B&N, it’s an opportunity to have…

Barnes & Noble has something new up their sleeve, and it’s in the form of a new six-inch Nook. This isn’t the Nook Color. This is back to basics with the e-ink technology that made e-readers famous in the first place. This time Barnes & Noble has fully embraced touch-screen technology, but there is much more here than meets the eye. The six-inch Nook features a full touch-screen display, which is different from the original Nook in that only the lower portion of it was touch-enabled and had a color display. You lose the color display entirely here, but what you gain is so much more. Six-inch…

There is something different about this; something I can’t quite explain. There is no paper, no page turning, no cover, and no physicality to it at all. It’s confusing, yet it’s intriguing. So what is this thing, exactly? It’s a revolution. It’s the e-reader. I have never owned an e-reader (or e-book reader, as they are commonly referred to). I’m one of those types of people who prefers books: real books — you know, those things with dust covers, paper pages, scribbles in the margins, and the occasional yellow highlight. Sure, the idea of using an e-reader has intrigued me — I had tinkered around…