LOTS of NCs in stock at my local B&N as of 2:30pm MST. (And I forgot to test in-store reading with my rooted 1.1.0 NC, which is why I went in the first place! - Got caught up in a discussion with a very tech-savvy clerk about the latest autonooter instead.)
For grins, I called my local BB a minute ago and they have them in stock as well.
Yeh, CNet's uncited sources
must be correct. Much more likely a supply-side issue rather than new firmware, or especially the rumor about them trying to block rooting. Yeesh...