In addition to announcing the new Nook Tablet, Barnes & Noble updated its Nook SimpleTouch touchscreen E Ink e-reader. Barely six months old, the new Nook SimpleTouch looks virtually identical to the old one — only it's now faster and cheaper. Best of all, the speed boosts are available as a software update.

Just as predicted, Amazon refreshed the Kindle lineup and with touchscreens. Both will be extremely low-priced. $99 for the Wi-Fi-only Kindle Touch and $149 for the Kindle Touch 3G. Boom. Cheap touchscreen Kindles for everybody.

When the iPad was released, everybody said e-readers like Amazon's Kindle were going to be dead in the water because it was a single-purpose device unlike a tablet. Boy were they wrong. A new Pew Research report shows e-readers taking the lead over tablets in growth.

Who needs an official announcement to drum up interest when all you have to do is "accidentally" put up a product page for a few minutes and then take it down. That's exactly what happened last night when a product for a screen protector film for the yet unannounced "Nook Color" was seen on the Barnes & Noble's website.