By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:07 AM
Barnes & Noble booksellers have announced plans to bring Nook devices to the UK this fall.
The company’s Nook Simple Touch and the Simple Touch with GlowLight backlight feature will both be available in UK stores starting in mid-October.
Barnes & Noble’s CEO, William J. Lynch, said in a statement, “we are proud to be able to offer our top-rated line of Nook reading devices and our award-winning digital bookstore to the discerning and highly educated consumers in the UK.”
The Nook will be entering a market already tested earlier this year by Amazon. In Amazon’s case, the company partnered with UK bookseller chain Waterstones to sell Kindle devices in physical stores
Barnes & Noble has not yet announced any partnerships.
By Gilbert Falso :: 3:20 PM
In the online news world, first is not always right, as we’ve recently seen, but a Tweet from Erick Erickson, Editor-in-chief of RedState.com and a political correspondent for CNN.com claims that embattled Missouri Representative and Senate candidate Todd Akin has withdrawn from the race.
The Tweet, sent at 2:31 PM, Eastern time, seems to be the only place, for now, that an Akin withdrawal is mentioned. None of the other news outlets, including CNN and RedState’s website, have corroborated this claim.
Erickson’s Tweet, while retweeted nearly 250 times, has not moved any official word one way or the other just yet.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:16 AM
Congressman Todd Akin, the Republican U.S. Representative from Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, made remarks on Sunday about his theory that the female reproductive system effectively shuts down when a woman is being raped, preventing conception from taking place.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said.
The comment came during an interview on St. Louis television station KTVI-TVÂ about whether he supports a woman’s right to have an abortion in the case of rape. Akin is challenging incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.
Akin’s comments quickly made it onto social media, and the phrase “legitimate rape” began trending on Twitter early Sunday afternoon. It is still trending at the time this article was published.
The vast majority of the comments were incredulous reactions toward Akin and his belief. On the TwoXChromosomes sub-reddit on news aggregation site Reddit, over 400 comments were logged by the end of the day. The top comment questioned Akin’s credentials on the subject – “do go on Doctor Akin. Where did you get your medical degree again?,” said Reddit user joaniesteelie.
Akin is challenging incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in a closely watched race.
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:49 AM
Instagram Releases Version 3.0
The new release of Instagram focuses on the user browsing experience and introduced a new way to explore photos, through a map view. You can now view your photos and your friends photos through a map interface. However, as many users are finding out, to have a viewable history, your past photos need to have been geotagged. Information Space
Mars Rover Crew Does AMA on Reddit
Some of the scientists from the Mars Curiosity Rover took part in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post on Reddit today. The thread culminated in a McKayla Maroney “not impressed” look-alike photo. Reddit
United Loses Children
So not only does United Airlines break guitars, they apparently also lose children traveling alone as well. A 10-year-old girl traveling by herself missed a connection, and her pleas for help were rebuffed by United gate agents. It took several hours to locate the girl, and then the airline kept her parents on hold on the telephone for 40 minutes until they finally reached out to a television station for help. United, of course, took a beating on social media. Slate
Twitter Locks Down API, Paints Bleak Future for 3rd Party Apps
Twitter announced today that it will initiate user caps for third-party Twitter clients, effectively limiting the maximum number of users any outside client can ever have.These changes will effectively kill off many third-party apps, and change the Twitter landscape as we know it. Twitter wants to drive users to official apps. The Next Web
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:13 AM
Nikola Tesla Museum Fundraiser
Web cartoonist Matthew Inman, who draws at The Oatmeal, has launched a crowdfunded campaign to raise money for a museum on the grounds of Nikola Tesla’s former laboratory in Shoreham, NY. Tesla Museum Fundraiser
Penny Arcade Goes Ad-Free For One Year
Another cartoon and another crowdfunded success – this time, Penny Arcade has reached its $525,000 Kickstarter goal and will keep its homepage free of advertisements for one year. The Verge
German Officials Probe Facebook Facial Recognition
Data privacy officials in Germany have reopened an investigation to look closely at Facebook’s face recognition technology, and whether the social network was collecting user photographs without their knowledge. Mashable
New Hampshire University Makes a Meme Out of Their President
Southern New Hampshire University has turned their president, Paul LeBlanc, into “The Most Interesting President” on a Tumblr blog. Modeled after the Dos Equis man meme, the pictures take a lighthearted look at the campus leader. BostInno