E-readers •

Nook and e-books from Barnes & Noble will no longer be available in UK

STATES CHRONICLE – Barnes & Noble seems to have been on a rough path lately, with sales dropping dramatically. They are a chain of bookshops which would be quite successful if it weren’t for Amazon that managed to take over the market, especially when it comes to books and e-book readers.

Amazon has the Kindle, in all its forms, as the most popular e-reader in the world. Barnes & Noble tried to compete with Amazon by launching Nook, also a great and popular e-reader, but even so, they were unable to surpass the giant retailer and its Kindle.

Since they figured out there is no point to keep competing with Amazon when it comes to e-readers and also when it comes to e-books, Barnes & Noble has decided to withdraw their Nook e-readers as well as the e-books from the UK market.

They have officially announced that the company will stop selling digital content such as videos, magazines, fiction and non-fiction starting with March 15. You can purchase and download any content until then, either on you Nook or on your iOS or Android device via the Nook Reading App.

After March 15, all Nook books and other digital content will be available on Sainsbury. They also have an app for e-books that works on any Nook. The option of synchronizing Nook libraries will no longer be available starting May 31.

So far, it is not known how the Nook e-readers will be supported, but it is very likely that Barnes & Noble is working on it and will announce their users of any changes. Although the company did not give a reason for the decision of leaving the UK e-book market, it is quite clear that the competition with Amazon might have caused them trouble.

Amazon offers a wide variety of e-books and e-book readers and Kindle seems to be the preferred brand. Besides, the online retailer earned its customers many years ago as the first online “bookshop” and the first company to launch an e-reader. Their target public was won over long before, Barnes & Noble brought us the Nook and before any other companies such as Sony, could think of competing with Amazon in the field of e-readers.

Image source: www.bing.com

People suffering from dyslexia may improve their reading speed and comprehension while reading online, suggests a study.

According to the study, electronic devices may help those with dyslexia as while e-reading only a few words per line are visible. This makes people with dyslexia read more easily, quickly and with greater comprehension

Electronic reading is growing in popularity as convenient alternatives to traditional books.

An element in many cases of dyslexia is called a visual attention deficit. It is marked by an inability to concentrate on letters within words or words within lines of text. Another element is known as visual crowding – the failure to recognize letters when they are cluttered within the word.

Short lines on an e-reader help alleviating these issues and promote reading by reducing visual distractions within the text.

“At least a third of those with dyslexia we tested have these issues with visual attention and are helped by reading on the e-reader,” said Matthew H Schneps, director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and lead author of the research.

“For those who don’t have these issues, the study showed that the traditional ways of displaying text are better,” said Schneps.

Study

The researchers tested the reading comprehension and speed of 103 students with dyslexia at the Landmark High School in Boston. Reading on paper was compared with reading on small hand-held e-reader devices.

The use of an e-reader significantly improved speed and comprehension in many of the students.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Barnes & Noble Pulls Nook from UK

Beat dyslexia with electronic reading

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