If you are wanting a tablet, but not an iPad – and in particular if you specifically want an Android tablet – you may think that you have only one choice: the new Samsung Galaxy Android Tablet. But you’d be wrong, because the Barnes and Noble Nook Color eBook Reader actually runs on Android, and it’s not that difficult to hack it (“root” the Nook) to run the more full version of Android, giving you an honest-to-goodness Android tablet!

Readers of all ages and backgrounds love a trip to Barnes & Noble for the selection, the atmosphere, and the service. And that really great coffee. But lovers of e-books have ignored Barnes and Noble’s proprietary Nook e-reader in favor of the iPad from Apple and Kindle from Amazon. As a result, the foray into its own tablet has hemorrhaged loses to the point that the retailer appears to have given up on the much ballyhooed effort.

Microsoft announced today that it has taken an interest in the Kindle competitor, Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader. That is, a $300 million interest. That is how much Microsoft has announced that they are investing in the Barnes & Noble device. They have also announced Windows 8 will come pre-loaded with a Nook app.

Check it out! You can get a free Nook (basic model) or a Nook Color for half price ($99 instead of $199) if you subscribe to the digital version of the New York Times (NYT) for a year. Now, granted, the subscription to the New York Times is $19.99 a month, making your free Nook actually cost $239.88, but given that a monthly digital subscription to the New York Times is $20 per month anyways, you are still getting one for $20.00 a month, and the other for free.

This interesting little tidbit landed in our inbox just moments ago: Borders sold all of their customer data to Barnes and Noble, including information about your DVD and other video purchases! And, clearly, your associated email address! Or, another way to look at it is that Barnes and Noble purchased your customer data from Borders. And promptly added you to a mailing list without your consent to use your personal data from Borders, which they *also* obtained without your consent. Either way you look at it, neither of them come up smelling like roses.

While we often tout Amazon on these pages, today we’d like to direct your attention to a fabulous – but little known – Internet-based service provided by another bookstore: Barnes & Noble.