Barnes & Noble has rolled out the first firmware update for its Nook e-book reader that includes performance updates in areas such as page turning of e-books and formatting of downloaded books. The $260 Nook, which started shipping earlier this month, was criticized for its slow refresh rate as users flipped pages and for a software interface that didn’t entirely seem ready, as Wired.com pointed out in its Nook review . The firmware update 1.1.0 attempts to fix some of these problems.

William Gurstelle, a contributing editor at MAKE , has produced a series of project posters, measuring 36″ x 24″. The first two in the series are available on his web site, Ballisticom. Potato Cannon: This device fires a potato at speeds approaching 100 mph. The poster includes information on a variety of ignition options including taser, piezo, and flint/steel systems