If I could layer in some old 60s Batman-style audio of “Smashes,” “Booms” and “Blams” into these posts, I would. This would be a great place to use them.

In a move that may frighten Amazon’s Kindle department, Barnes & Noble's debuted the $259 Nook today.

The Nook is the first eReading device with both 3G (via AT&T) and Wifi for downloading content from B&N online. Most interestingly, it runs on Android, so the future could bring plenty of third-party app development. As for now, the device offers a full-color touch/scrollable navigation screen that displays book cover art underneath the standard grayscale E-Ink e-paper screen. The display, which shows content lists and a touch keypad, also goes dark to prevent distraction.

Specs include 2GB of memory (for up to 1500 e-books), a microSD slot, MP3 player and picture viewer. Nooks can also share ebooks with other users, which makes the practice of lending titles to friends easy.

With B&N behind this, Amazon may have something to worry about here. Users have access to more than a million titles (Amazon carries less than half as many), in addition to magazines and newspapers, from both its online store and Fictionwise.
 
“BAM!” Take that, Kindle.