Barnes and Noble

Surface users have a lot to look forward to these days: Barnes & Noble is offering free ebook swag for Windows 8 users, and Microsoft just confirmed that the operating system's next big update, codenamed Blue, will be announced in June.

To entice the Surface RT and Surface Pro crowd to download Nook for Windows 8, Barnes & Noble is giving away five books and five magazines to those who get the new app, in addition to the one million free books already available in the Nook catalog.

As always, free swag doesn't come without its strings: the offer is only available for a limited time, and users have to choose from a "select list." Among the good titles on that list is Life of Pi, which is only free to the first 100,000 Windows 8 customers.

The new Nook app for Windows 8 is also making digital life a little more streamlined for Surface users. Instead of signing up with separate Nook credentials, Windows 8 users can sign in and purchase media with their preexisting Microsoft Account.

There's more in store for Surface on the software side, too — but we won't know what exactly that is for a couple of months. Today, Microsoft confirmed that Blue, the first major update to Windows 8, will be announced at the Build Developer Conference in late June.

Leaks of Windows Blue have already "surfaced" on the web, and the previews show some exciting new features, like running more apps side by side, a more customizable start screen, and increased integration with SkyDrive, Microsoft's version of iCloud.

In a blog post, Frank Shaw, Microsoft's VP of communications, stressed that the company's "new normal" is unifying all devices, apps, and services. We can't wait to see how Microsoft integrates Windows, Phone, Office, Xbox, and more in the coming months, but until then, we want to hear from you Surface folk: is it a good time to be a Windows 8 user?

Dust off the reading list as Barnes & Noble's Black Friday deal will have you hooked on the Nook. Normally $99, the Nook Simple Touch is priced at $59 at the company's brick-and-mortar stores only on Friday, Nov. 23. Many Nook accessories will also see a 50 percent discount online and in stores.

Also on Black Friday, receive a $10 gift card with every purchase of a Barnes & Noble $75 gift card. Or, for the analog-minded, buy one get one half off of all Moleskine products online and in stores.

Will the deep Nook discount inspire you to get one?

According to leaked documents, Barnes and Noble will release the Nook Tablet on Nov. 16, just a week after its scheduled press event in NYC on Monday, Nov. 7. The tablet, which will be priced at $249 and look exactly like the Nook Color, will come with a 7-inch VividView IPS color touchscreen, 16GB of on-board storage, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor, plus a MicroSD slot, and eight hours of battery life with WiFi off.

You'll be able to stream video and music content thanks to partnerships with Pandora, Hulu Plus, and Netflix. Bonus — the Nook Simple Touch price will drop to just $99, while the Nook Color will get a price cut to $199. You can preorder the Nook Tablet starting on Nov. 7.

Ebook bestsellers were recently added to the NYT Book Review, and sales are up in a big way. It just goes to show that if you've got an awesome manuscript, you don't have to wait for a publisher to pick it up — you can self publish! Find out how you can get your ebooks on Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and mobile devices all around the world with the outlets below.

• Barnes & Noble PubIt! — Easily publish your own books through the Barnes & Noble ebook store with PubIt! Just upload your files, and PubIt! converts it to an easy to read format that can be bought and downloaded to your Nook or other B&N apps, like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Royalty rates range from 40 percent (for any book priced under $2.98 or over $10) to 65 percent (for any book priced between $2.99 and $9.99).
• Amazon Kindle Store — Get your book sold in Amazon's Kindle store and nab royalty rates of 35 to 70 percent of sale prices. The Kindle Direct Publishing program accepts Word, zipped HTML, PDF's, ePub, and plain text files, and makes your book available on the Kindle, as well as other Amazon apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and Android devices.

But wait, there's more — see the rest of your options after the jump.