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After a wildly successful Christmas shopping period, Barnes & Noble is considering spinning their Nook tablet business off from their retail operation.

Thanks in part to the bankruptcy of rival bookstore chain Borders, and likely also helped by the introduction of the Nook Tablet, overall sales were higher during the nine week period leading up to Christmas than the same period last year.

More notably, sales of their Nook line of eReaders and tablets were up 70% from last year. Sales of digital content also improved significantly, up 113% from 2010.

While the Kindle Fire got the lion's share of attention over that period, don't forget it was Barnes & Noble's Nook Color which successfully bridged the gap between eReader and tablet a year earlier. Now the company is looking at the possibility of developing a separate content ecosystem for it.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said:

We see substantial value in what we've built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it's the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value,. In NOOK, we've established one of the world's best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that's growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future.

Perhaps nothing raises the blood pressure of Windows users more than the prospect of restoring the operating system on their computers.

Depending on whether your copy of Windows came with your computer or you bought it separately, the experience of reinstalling Windows can vary widely. Making matters worse, the experience of forgetting to backup an important file beforehand is nearly universal.

In Windows 8 Microsoft hopes to address some of these headaches with a new feature called the Recovery Environment, or just RE for short. Microsoft had a number of goals in mind when designing the Windows RE.

• Provide a consistent experience to get the software on any Windows 8 PC back to a good and predictable state.
• Streamline the process so that getting a PC back to a good state with all the things customers care about can be done quickly instead of taking up the whole day.
• Make sure that customers don't lose their data in the process.
• Provide a fully customizable approach for technical enthusiasts to do things their own way.

The first big change is the Windows RE itself, which is used by Windows once you select one of the options found in a Metro Style app on the desktop. The provides two separate options called Reset and Refresh.

Government regulators in Chile have mandated that all phones sold in the country must be unlocked.

Having an unlocked phone means the device can be used on any GSM carrier and not be locked down. The rule is now in effect but will become mandatory on January 16th.

Even if you purchased your phone before the new law, the government will make available a new website to help you unlock your device. Add your device info and IMEI number and the site will send you an unlock code.

Chile is now the third country to have such a law. Singapore and Israel have both banned locked handsets.

Hopefully this will be a trend that catches on around the world.

OEM chip maker Broadcom got a jump on next week's CES in Las Vegas with the announcement of new Wi-Fi chips capable of speeds over 1 gigabit per second.

They are based on the upcoming 802.11ac specification, which Broadcom is also referring to as 5G WiFi. The standard is expected to be finalized later this year. Broadcom will be demonstrating the technology at CES next week and providing samples to some OEM partners.

In addition to increased speed, Broadcom says the new technology, combined with their 40nm manufacturing process, results in lower power consumption for transmissions at 802.11n speeds.

This is largely related to the increased bandwidth which allows the radio to be on for less time. Of course, if you are transferring data between 802.11ac and 802.11n devices, the bandwidth advantage won't apply.

Broadcom will be making 802.11ac chips in a variety of configurations. Some will utilize a PCIe interface for PCs and routers, offering speeds up to either 1.3Gbps or 867Mbps across two channels. Others will interface with USB for devices like game consoles, set-top boxes, and TVs, offering up to 433Mbps on a single channel.

There appears to be a campaign on the horizon to promote Nokia Windows Phone handsets in the US.

A version of Nokia's flagship Lumia 800 smartphone for AT&T has already passed FCC testing. Its little brother, the Lumia 710 will be available from T-Mobile in less than a week.

In addition to the FCC documents, reports from BoyGeniusReport and MobileTechWorld indicate AT&T plans to introduce a LTE variant of the Lumia 800 with a larger display and LTE support. It appears to be designated the Lumia 900 by Nokia, and probably the Nokia Ace by AT&T.

SlashGear is now reporting there is a $100 million promotional campaign planned to promote the Nokia Ace when it launches in late March. Likely there will be more details on the launch given at Nokia's CES presentation next week.

GoDaddy has got to be starting to feel the squeeze.

Two weeks ago, 37,000 domains were pulled from Go Daddy after it was revealed they were formal supporters of the draconian censorship bill dubbed SOPA. Within 2 days, Go Daddy had switched their stance, but the damage had already been done. Many of the domains transferred to companies like NameCheap, who are staunch opponents of the bill.

Three days after that, GoDaddy customers transferred more than 32,000 domains in 36 hours as part of the Move Your Domain Day.

The Move Your Domain Day was a promotion by rival domain registrar NameCheap, which has been making a mint off the poor publicity of Go Daddy.

Today, another large client has left, MLG (Major League Gaming):

MLG would like to officially announce that we have removed our entire network, which encompasses over 100 domains, from GoDaddy.com in response to their support of SOPA. Moving forward, we will be using Namecheap for all of our hosting needs.

MLG is firmly against both the specifics of SOPA and the philosophy behind the bill. We urge all of you to read up on the issue and draw your own conclusions.

Comcast has announced today they have signed a distribution deal with Disney that will add tons of content to their Xfinity TV service.

The cable provider/ISP says "70 services are covered by the broad scope of this new agreement, including: ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN 3D, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FullCourt and ESPN3 as well as retransmission consent for seven ABC-owned broadcast television stations and more than 10 high-definition networks."

Comcast's new deal is an expansion of their previous content agreement with Disney. The new deal is good for the next 10 years.

If you are an Xfinity TV customer, you can now watch all the above mentioned content live or on demand on your TV, PC, tablet, smartphone or other Wi-Fi enabled mobile device.

Adds Comcast in their press release: "This deal is a big step forward in delivering TV Everywhere and good news for our Xfinity TV customers who will have access to more of the content they love and the flexibility to view it in more places."

Datawind, the company behind the $40 Aakash tablet, says they have already received orders for 1.4 million units, just 15 days after launch.

The tablet, which sells in India for 2500 rupees ($40), was created to help "students in higher education and to give them the technological skills" that are needed for 2012. At $40, the tablet is affordable almost everywhere in India, where wages remain low. The Indian government subsidizes the price of the tablet, and students at eligible universities can buy it for $20.

Apple's iPads cost over $600 in India, putting it far out of reach for everyone in the nation but very few.

A Datawind spokesperson says the company will build three new factories in 2012 to cope with the huge demand. "We plan to produce 75,000 units per factory per month from around April," the spokeswoman added.

The Aakash has a 7-inch resistive display, runs on Android 2.2, has a 366 MHz processor, 256MB RAM, 2GB internal storage, Wi-Fi, USB slots, SD slot and a tiny 2100 mAh battery.

Two weeks ago, Google chairman Eric Schmidt suggested that the company is working on a Nexus Tablet that will be released in the near future.

During an interview with an Italian paper, Schmidt said "in the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality." It was unclear, however, whether the quote meant Google is putting out a Nexus tablet or whether they will just be putting their marketing muscle behind an upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich device.

Today, we have a new rumor from Digitimes that looks to clear the air.

The site, which is notorious for either being very right (and early) or very, very wrong on their rumors, says Google is indeed planning a Nexus Tablet. The tablet will be of the 7-inch variety and priced at $199 to directly compete with Amazon's popular Kindle Fire.

Additionally, the tablet will be powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

According to the WSJ, Eastman Kodak will head into bankruptcy protection in the next few weeks, ending their long and horrendous tumble from the top.

Following the news, the company's shares fell to 0.46 cents, it's lowest ever. The share price values the company at just $126 million, well below the value of their assets and patents. In 1997, the company had a market value of $31 billion, before the revolution of digital photography began. The company has not had a profit since early 2007 and has been hemorrhaging money.

Eastman Kodak, which released the world's first consumer camera in 1888, is still looking to sell off some of its patent portfolio and a successful deal would keep the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company has 1100 very valuable photography and digital photography patents and internally they value the portfolio at around $2 billion. Clearly, other companies do not agree.

Despite inventing the digital camera in 1975, the company never capitalized on it, instead sticking to their film business, which has all but disappeared and had already begun shrinking in the 1990s.

According to a former Apple employee interviewed by Scott Martin, Ive, the Apple lead designer and close personal friend of recently deceased CEO Steve Jobs does indeed have a prototype of the much-rumored HDTV.

The anonymous employee used to work in the iTV group, and has intimate knowledge of the still unconfirmed device.

Apparently, the biggest issues Apple is having with the TV is negotiating content. The source says the company is having more than a few issues securing "first-tier TV network programs for an à la carte iTunes TV service."

In regards to the size of the display, the employee says Apple is looking at a 42" screen, which is the sweet spot for most consumers nowadays. The display has seen the full range of rumors, from as small as 32" to as large as 55".

By far the most notable part of the interview is the is the notion that Apple will start a new streaming platform for HD channels, in which users can pick what they want instead of being forced to buy a bundle from a cable company with hundreds of channels they likely don't watch. This had been rumored by analysts last month, but confirmation (of sorts) is good to hear.

Roku has announced a plan to move beyond set-top boxes and produce a new produt they are calling the Streaming Stick which will plug into MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) capable HDMI ports on TVs.

MHL was originally developed as a way for mobile devices to connect to HDTVs via HDMI. Currently MHL-enabled HDMI ports are only available on a small number of TVs, but support can also be added via an external adapter. Notable TV manufacturers behind the the technology include Toshiba and Samsung.

The Roku Streaming Stick essentially packs a Roku Set-top box on a device the size of a USB flash drive. Taking advantage of standard HML features, it will be powered by the HDMI port and controlled by the TV's remote.

Because of this integration, Roku sees this as more than a set-top box. They envision it as a replacement for the Smart TV features becoming common on HDTVs. Not only does it allow a regular HDTV to be turned into a Smart TV, it also offers the possibility of upgrading those features without buying a new TV.

While many people point to the missteps Netflix made in 2011 as signs of the company's demise, their Watch Instantly service remains far and away the most popular online video platform around.

According to Netflix, they streamed more than 2 billion hours of video to more than 20 million subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2011. Of course, all that success doesn't come without a price. As Netflix streaming grows, the price of content is rising with it.

Thanks in no small part to concerns Netflix is cannibalizing viewers from traditional broadcast, cable, and satellite channels, Netflix faces higher licensing fees as existing contracts come up for renewal and less content in the near future with the looming end of their deal with Starz.

Meanwhile, Dish Network represents a serious threat to Netflix thanks to their acquisition of Blockbuster. Blockbuster's streaming and online rental services were recently bundled with Dish Network satellite TV service in Blockbuster Movie Pass.

Yahoo has just appointed former PayPal President Scott Thompson as their new CEO and also appointed him to their board of directors.

Thompson, whose resume includes overseeing product development work at eBay and Visa, takes over the reins from Interim CEO Tim Morse effective today. Morse is returning to his former position as the company's CFO.

The choice of Thompson signals a focus, by Yahoo, on improving their overall platform to attract more users. On a conference call with analysts, Roy Bostock, chairman of Yahoo's board of directors, explained:

Apple appears to be planning a content announcement, perhaps related to textbooks, at a media event later this month.

The event, which has not been formally announced, was first reported on Monday by AllThingsD and independently confirmed by TechCrunch.

AllThingsD's Kara Swisher reported Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue will be involved. She also notes the last time he was in town for an event like this was when News Corp's iPad-exclusive publication was announced last year.

TechCrunch ads more details, saying the audience will primarily consist of publishing industry representatives.

Clayton Morris, host of Fox News' Gadgets and Games with Clayton Morris, claims to have even more specific details. According to Morris, the big announcement will be related to iTunes University, Apple's educational content distribution platform. He also says it was originally planned for last year.