Breaking: This (disturbing) piece of news: Barnes & Noble, which had previous released their VP of Hardware for the Nook project, just let go their entire Nook hardware engineering group. Unable to compete with the Kindle or the iPad, B&N found itself in a very difficult corner with no apparent way out. I applaud their attempts to create a new product/platform for the company but also wonder why they didn’t investigate a perhaps more efficient/less expensive option and do a co-branding deal with Amazon on the Kindle. B&N gets an electronic reader/tablet product line for their stores; Amazon gets a B&N network of stores. Sort the pricing and everyone wins. The full story is here, courtesy of Business Insider.