Chapter 12. Customizing and Configuring Your NOOK
Your NOOK has many features that enable you to easily customize it and make it your own, and many settings control how your NOOK operates. In this chapter, you examine how to customize and configure your NOOK.
Using Custom Screensavers
You can customize your NOOK by using custom screensaver images. Your NOOK displays screensaver images on the Reading screen when it is sleeping. Even though your NOOK’s Reading screen isn’t a color screen, it can display 16 levels of gray, making it ideal for displaying black-and-white versions of your favorite pictures.
Creating Screensaver Images
Before you use a picture as a screensaver on your NOOK, you need to resize it to fit the dimensions of your NOOK’s Reading screen. Screensaver images should be 800 pixels high and 600 pixels wide. For information about creating wallpapers and screensavers, see Appendix D, “Using Picasa to Create Wallpapers and Screensavers.”
Note
You don’t have to resize your images, but by doing so you can display them at their maximum size.
Copying Screensaver Images to Your NOOK
Screensavers on your NOOK consist of a series of images. Each time your NOOK sleeps, it displays the next image in the series on the reading screen. You select a specific set of images to use as a screensaver by placing them on your NOOK in a folder.
Copy screensaver images to your NOOK by following these steps:
1. Connect your NOOK to your computer with the USB cable. When you do, your NOOK appears in your computer as a new drive called NOOK.
2. If your computer doesn’t automatically display the folders on your NOOK, open your NOOK via My Computer on Windows or the Finder on the Mac. You should see the Screensavers folder.
3. Open the Screensavers folder.
4. Create a new folder for your screensaver. The new folder’s name is the name of your screensaver on your NOOK. Note that the folder name should not be two words: Vacation-Pictures is correct, but Vacation Pictures is incorrect.
5. Copy the image files for your screensaver into the folder you created in step 4.
For example, if you have a series of images of your summer vacation, you might want to create a new folder in the Screensavers folder called Vacation-Pictures and copy your images into that folder. You can then use the images in that folder as your screensaver by selecting Vacation-Pictures as your screensaver.
Now that you’ve copied your custom images to your NOOK, look at how you can change the settings on your NOOK to use the new images as your wallpaper or screensaver.
Choosing a Custom Screensaver
Your NOOK’s Settings menu enables you to change the screensaver on your NOOK. Here’s how:
1. Tap the Home button.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Screen in the Settings menu.
4. To change the screensaver, tap Screensaver and select the folder name of your screensaver. The Authors and Nature screensaver folders are on the NOOK by default, and you cannot remove them.
Screensavers from Other Sources
You can use several online sources for NOOK screensavers. One of the best is NOOK-Look (www.NOOK-look.com). NOOK-Look provides a wide assortment of quality screensavers for your NOOK.
Another way you can locate screensavers for your NOOK is by using the image search feature on your favorite search engine. A search for “NOOK screensavers” in Google turns up plenty of images presized for your NOOK. The same search on Bing is less helpful, but by clicking the Images of NOOK Screensaver link on the left of the page, clicking the Images tab, and selecting Tall on the Layout menu, plenty of images are available in the correct size for your NOOK.
One Step Further—Decals
If you want to take the ultimate step to customize your NOOK, a DecalGirl skin (www.decalgirl.com) is the perfect addition. DecalGirl skins are vinyl skins with adhesive backing that you can easily apply. Many skins also include matching NOOK wallpaper that provides a truly unique look.
Your NOOK’s Settings
Your NOOK offers configurable settings for controlling many of its features. Tap the Home button and then tap Settings to access the Settings menu. Your NOOK displays the following information in the Settings menu.
Device Info
The Device Info section displays a variety of information about your NOOK:
• Battery: Displays how charged your battery is and whether it is charging or discharging.
• Available Storage: Shows how much free space you have on the internal memory of the NOOK. Your NOOK has 2GB of storage space (although B&N reserves 750MB of that for B&N-specific storage.)
• SD Card: Shows whether you have a microSD card installed. See “Adding a microSD Card to Your NOOK” for more about microSD cards.
• About Your Nook: Shows the personal information related to your NOOK: Owner name, account to which this NOOK is associated, software (also called firmware) version, and such.
The Software section displays the version of software (called firmware) currently installed on your NOOK. B&N releases periodic updates to the NOOK to improve performance and fix known issues. As long as your NOOK has a connection to a Wi-Fi connection, your NOOK automatically downloads any updates that B&N releases.
Not all NOOK owners receive new firmware updates at the same time. B&N rolls out new firmware over a period of about a week. If you would like to update your NOOK manually, you can visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-support-software-updates where B&N typically provides instructions for manually updating your NOOK to the latest firmware.
• Erase & Deregister Device: Enables you to erase all content from and deregister the device. This action resets the NOOK to factory defaults, something you should consider doing if you are going to give your NOOK to someone else. B&N technical support also might ask you to reset your NOOK during troubleshooting. However, outside of those reasons, you likely won’t ever need to reset it.
Caution
Resetting your NOOK to factory defaults removes all content from its internal memory. Content stored on a microSD card is not removed. Before you reset it to factory defaults, make sure you have backups of any personal documents stored in your NOOK’s internal memory.
Wireless
This setting enables you to turn on or off Wi-Fi access and set up connections to Wi-Fi networks. See the section “Using Wi-Fi Hotspots” in Chapter 11, “Getting Started with Your NOOK,” for more information about Wi-Fi hotspots.
If you travel on a flight that offers Wi-Fi service and you want to use the hotspot with your NOOK, turn off Wi-Fi access. When aboard and cleared to turn on electronic devices, turn on Wi-Fi access and select the airplane’s network. However, check with the flight crew first to avoid any problems.
Screen
Here you can alter the screen timeout length and change screensavers.
The Screen timeout option controls the time interval after which your NOOK puts itself to sleep. This timer is set to 5 minutes by default. To change the interval, tap Screen Timeout, and then tap the desired time interval.
Tip
If you set the sleep timer to a time interval shorter than the amount of time it takes you to read a page on the reading screen, your NOOK goes into sleep mode while you are reading. So, be sure you set the interval appropriately for your reading speed.
Because your NOOK uses almost no battery power when you read, 10 minutes is likely a suitable interval for most people.
Time
These settings enable you to select your current local time zone and select a 12-hour or 24-hour clock format.
Reader
This option enables you adjust the set up the physical page control buttons. By default, the top buttons advance you forward in a book. But if you want the bottom buttons to advance you forward in a book, tap the Open button just above Page Forward with Bottom Buttons.
Shop
This option enables you set up some basic shopping features when shopping from your NOOK:
• Require Password for Purchases enables you to require to have the password entered for any purchases.
• Clear Wishlist and Clear Recently Viewed Lists do just what they say they do. The wishlist on the NOOK is not connected to any other NOOK or NOOK Color devices or to your BN.com wishlist, so clearing the wishlist does it for this NOOK only.
Social
This option contains several screens for configuring your NOOK’s Social settings, for which you will need to have an active Wi-Fi connection. Basically, you can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts and Google Contacts lists to this NOOK, which enables you to share quotes and recommendations directly to your and your friends’ Facebook walls and Twitter account.
Tip
If you have earlier set up your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Contacts info (for example, you have a NOOK Color) for this username, your NOOK automatically sets up your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Contacts information.
• Tap Link to Facebook, Twitter, and Google to access these specific settings. If you have already linked your Facebook account, you can unlink it. To link it, tap Link Your Account. Then enter the required information and tap Log In. You’ll be asked to allow Facebook and your NOOK to share information. Tap Allow. For more information about Facebook with your NOOK, see Chapter 16, “Using the Social Features of Your NOOK.”
For Twitter, if you have already linked your Twitter account, you can unlink it. To link it, tap Link Your Account. Then enter the required information and tap Sign In. Twitter asks you to allow this linking to occur. Tap Allow to do so. For more information about Twitter with your NOOK, see Chapter 16.
Google Contacts: This enables you to link your Google Contacts list to this NOOK. If you have already linked your Google Contacts list, you can unlink it. To link it, tap Link Your Account. Then enter the required information. If you want the NOOK to remember this information should you come back to this screen, tap the Remember Me check box; then tap Go. Google wants to know if you want to grant access to the NOOK to do this linking. Tap Grant Access to do so.
• Manage My Contacts: This enables you to add and edit your NOOK contacts list (for example, if you don’t use Google Contacts, you can just use contacts on your NOOK). When you tap this, you see a list of your contacts. From the drop-down list, you can choose to see only your NOOK Friends or Google Contacts. The default is to see all of your contacts. To see the details for your contacts, tap the contact’s name. If the contact is not a NOOK Friend, you can tap the checkbox Invite as a NOOK Friend and tap Send to invite that person. Tap View Emails to see all the email addresses. If the contact is not a Google Contact or NOOK Friend and is one you added directly to the NOOK, you can tap Modify to adjust the contact’s information. Those are the only contacts you can delete as well (tap Modify and then tap Delete This Contact). To update Google Contacts, log in to your Google account on your computer and update.
Search
This option enables you to clear recent searches you have made on your NOOK. For example, if you have searched for “poetry” in your library, that appears when you go to do a new search in your library. If you want to clear those historical searches, tap Clear Recent NOOK Searches.
Adding a microSD Card to Your NOOK
Your NOOK has approximately 1.3GB of built-in usable memory. That’s enough memory for an enormous library of books. However, it might not be enough memory if you add pictures and even more books to your NOOK. Therefore, your NOOK’s memory is expandable using a microSD card.
Tip
A microSD card is not the same as an SD memory card like the kind typically used in digital cameras. A microSD card is approximately the size of your fingernail.
To install a microSD card, you need to open the flap on the top right of your NOOK.
1. The microSD slot is the small opening. With the metal connectors of the microSD card facing the front of the NOOK, slide the microSD card in, and push until it locks into place. The NOOK automatically recognizes the card, and you hear a beep. Close the metal plate.
2. If the microSD card has not yet been formatted, a screen appears letting you know that formatting it will erase everything on the disk. Tap Format Now. Tap Format Now again to confirm.
On the Device Info screen (from the Quick Nav Bar, tap Settings, and then tap Device Info), tap SD Card (only available to tap if a microSD card is installed). This opens the SD Card screen. Here, you can see information related to the amount of free memory available on the microSD card.
Tap Unmount SD card if you want to remove or format the microSD card. The card unmounts, and you can follow the preceding step 1 to remove. (Just press the card in farther and it pops out.)
If you tap Format SD Card, you can format the microSD card, which erases everything on the card. (This option is only available after tapping Unmount SD Card.) A confirmation screen to format and erase all data on the micro SD card appears. Tap Format to do so. Tap OK when done.
When you connect your NOOK to your computer, you now see your microSD card in addition to your NOOK’s built-in memory. (It is the drive called NO NAME.)
Note
You can add a microSD card that already has items loaded on it, but the NOOK folder structure is necessary, so it is easiest to install a blank microSD card into the NOOK and then plug the NOOK into your computer and load files into the appropriate categories (documents, videos, and so on).
Now that you have a microSD card installed, how do you access those files? From the Quick Nav Bar, tap Library and then tap My Files from the type drop-down list (the far left drop-down list beneath Library).