Amazon cuts Kindle Fire price by £30, new models incoming

Amazon has dropped the price of its cheapest tablet by £30. The Kindle Firewill now set you back just £99, the company has said in an email to customers.

You know what this means: there's new models a-coming. We've already seen leaked snaps of the next Kindle Fire HD, so Amazon could well be trying to clear stock ahead of the launch, which is expected before the end of this month.

The next 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HD leaked this week, and apparently there's an 8.9-inch version in the pipeline, too. The new models will look alike, with a new angular design. The 7-incher should have a resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels -- that's the same as the new Nexus 7 -- while the 8.9-incher should have 2,560x1,600 pixels...

Read the full story here... Source: CNET

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 2 leaked pics hint at new design

What looks to be Amazon's next 7-inch tablet has been glimpsed, in a series of leaked snaps.

The pictures, which hint at a major redesign for the Kindle Fire HD tablet, appeared at BGR, and clearly show a more angular, Batmobile-esque look, complete with new buttons.

An 8.9-inch sequel is also in the works, and will look 'almost identical' to the 7-inch version, the report says, also mentioning that we'll likely see the mythical device revealed before the end of this month, according to 'trusted sources'...

Read the full story here... Source: CNET

Amazon supersizing its food delivery business?

Never mind the books, movies, music, computer gear, and whatever else you might buy from Amazon. How about a nice banana? The e-tail giant is seriously considering a big move into the grocery-delivery business, according to a report.

The company is set to expand its Seattle-only AmazonFresh service to Los Angeles as early as this week and to the San Francisco Bay Area later this year -- with launches in 20 other urban areas in the U.S. and abroad contingent on the success of the LA and SF businesses -- Reuters reports, citing two unnamed sources.

It's true that fresh food doesn't stay fresh for long, and that the banana you ordered three paragraphs ago can also get easily bruised in transit. Those facts make an online grocery business a risky prospect (just ask Web 1.0 casualty Webvan). But Amazon is hoping to make its profit from other items ordered at the same time as groceries, according to another Reuters source, supermarket analyst and consultant Bill Bishop, who told the news service that Amazon is eyeing as many as 40 markets.

"Amazon has been testing this for years and now it's time for them to harvest what they've learned by expanding outside Seattle," Bishop is quoted as saying.

Reuters also notes that, aside from the threat posed to supermarkets and other food purveyors by a giant like Amazon taking a bite out of the market, the e-tailer's grocery effort could ultimately touch FedEx, UPS, and other package pushers: Amazon will deliver the edibles with its own vans, and success on the grocery front could lead to a broad network of company delivery trucks, which could handle nonfood items as well, Reuters says.

We've contacted Amazon for comment and will update this post with any info we get from the company.

Source: CNET

Amazon said to be developing 3D smartphone

Amazon is reportedly working on two smartphones, including one that would have 3D capability.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Amazon is developing a device that features a 3D screen that can be used without special glasses. Citing "people familiar with the company's plans," the Journal wrote that the phone would use retina-tracking technology that would make the images seem to be floating "like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles." What's more, users might be able to navigate through content using just their eyes...

Read the full story here. Source: CNET

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up

Nearly 10-years after the iTunes Music Store first opened up for business, iTunes remains the market leader in digital music downloads.

According to a research report published by the NPD Group earlier this week, iTunes accounted for approximately 63% of all digital music downloads in 2012. Trailing behind is AmazonMP3 with a somewhat respectable 22% share. While Amazon has a ways to go before even getting close to Apple, the world's largest online retailer has been making significant gains in that regard. In 2011, Amazon's share of the digital music download market checked in at 15%, representing a solid 50% increase year over year.

"Since the launch of Apple's iTunes store, digital music downloads have become the dominant revenue source for the recorded music industry and iTunes continues to be the dominant retailer," said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "There's a belief that consumers don't need to buy music because of streaming options, when in fact streamers are much more likely than the average consumer to buy music downloads."

The report adds that 44 million Americans downloaded a digital song or album last year.

To help contextualize the raging success that is the iTunes Music Store, Apple in early February announced that consumers had downloaded over 25 billion songs. That averages out to about 15,000 songs downloaded per minute.

The iTunes Music Store currently offers over 26 million songs to choose from and is available in 119 countries.

[Source: TUAW]

Amazon to Acquire Goodreads, A Social Network for Bookworms

Amazon announced on Thursday its intentions to acquire Goodreads, a popular socialnetwork in the literary world. Neither Amazon nor Goodreads disclosed the terms of the agreement, so it’s unclear what the selling price was, although Goodreads will keep its headquarters in San Francisco. The social network has upwards of 16 million users who have created more than 30,000 book clubs.

“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading,” Amazon Vice President of Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti said. “Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.”

We assume that last line means that Amazon will embed an easy way to interact with fellow Goodreads members into its Kindle software.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Kindle Fire HD 8.9 in the UK today, a bigger Fire for £229

Amazon is bringing its 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet to the UK, joining the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD five months after it made its debut in the US.

The Fire HD 8.9 is essentially the same as Amazon's existing tablet, putting books, music and movies from Amazon into an easy-to-use interface. The larger screen has a higher pixel count at 1,920x1,200, making it possible to play video in 1080p.

Amazon promises 10 hours of battery life, while the 8.9-inch Fire HD plays host to a slightly speedier processor -- a dual-core affair clocked at 1.5GHz, rather than the 1.2GHz chip in the 7-inch model.

£229 gets you the 16GB option, though if you've got a little more cash, a 32GB model can be yours for £259. An extra £10 means you won't see 'Special Offers' -- ie ads on the lock screen. A case is also available (see above), doubling as a stand when you fold its cover back, but it's not cheap, setting you back another £40. 

Amazon says the Kindle Fire HD is its best-selling product online worldwide, so there could be a lot of interest in this device. I wonder, though, if there's much appeal in the larger, pricier tablet when the 7-inch option is similar and more portable.

The 7-inch option won three stars in our review, as we praised its simple interface and good screen. But it was a real kick in the teeth that movies weren't available to download and watch offline, with the only option being streaming via Lovefilm. That's no good if you're travelling or on a plane, and is a gripe that's still present on the larger 8.9-inch tablet.

[Source: CNET]

Amazon UK pulls misogynist t-shirts following outrage

Amazon UK has stopped selling a range of t-shirts that promote rape and violence towards women, after receiving a barrage of complaints.

The t-shirts, from Massachusetts-based company Solid Gold Bomb, feature slogans based on the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster from World War II. Examples include "Keep Calm and Hit Her" and "Keep Calm and Rape a Lot". Unsurprisingly, Amazon was inundated with complaints, and has removed the offending items, though it continues to sell other garments from Solid Gold Bomb, the Guardian reports.

An Amazon UK spokesperson told Sky News: "I can confirm that those items are not available for sale." 

Solid Gold Bomb was flooded with complaints and death threats, leading it to delete its Twitter account and Facebook page. It issued an apology, blaming the offensive slogans on "a computer error".

Apparently to make its t-shirts, the company relies on "computer-based dictionaries and online educational resources i.e. verb lists". These generate word lists "using simple scripting methods". In other words, it used software to randomly jumble words together, then printed the resulting slogans. Because it sells a big range of t-shirts, some offensive terms slipped through the net, Solid Gold Bomb claims.

Sound like a lot of nonsense? Well amazingly it could actually be how the company operates, with some of the slogans on its t-shirts ("Keep Calm and Skim Me", "Keep Calm and Bomb Not") making no sense whatsoever. Either that or the people producing them are illiterate, which could also be true.

Even if we give Solid Gold Bomb the benefit of the doubt, and assume it just didn't check which slogans the computer had thrown out -- which I'm doubtful about -- it's still phenomenally irresponsible.

[Source: CNET]

Amazon Releases Cloud Music Player for iPad

Apple has released its Cloud Player app for the iPad, some six months after it came out for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Your music. Everywhere. Listen to your music collection from the cloud on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad anywhere you are. You can download or stream your library from the cloud – or play the music you already have on your device.

Amazon has made several moves to expand its cloud music platform in recent months. It has optimized its music store for mobile Safari, made free digital copies of all CDs ever purchased on Amazon.com, and introduced a new "scan and match" service similar to iTunes Match.

[Source: MacRumors]

Amazon slashes $50 off Kindle Fire HD 8.9 models during January, but only for students

While many of us are still recovering from New Year's celebrations, Amazon is considerably clearer-headed: it wants us ready for the winter school term that's about to start. Appropriately, it's offering a surprisingly steep discount on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 for students. Americans headed back to class can get $50 off the price of the larger tablet for the whole of January, regardless of the capacity or the presence of LTE. The catch, apart from needing a .edu email address for the Amazon Student program, is the requirement for an active Prime subscription -- although that's no great shakes when Amazon accepts both the free six-month offer and the $39 yearly student plan. At $249, the discounted Kindle Fire HD is tempting for anyone who can do their course shopping at the Kindle Store... or just wants a convenient distraction during mid-terms.

[Source: Engadget]

Amazon Instant Video app now available on (some) Google TV devices

Hot on the heels of making it available on the iPhone and iPod touch, Amazon's now bringing a native app for its Instant Video service to Mountain View's TV platform. It's always been accessible via the web browser, although navigating the site via remote was painful and the Flash video quality suffered. Granted, the on-demand application doesn't appear to be compatible with some devices at the moment, with a few folks pointing out that they are not seeing it be friendly with their particular Google TV-powered set-top box -- including ones such as the Logitech Revue and the (much) newer Vizio Co-Star. Here's to hoping the giant e-tailer makes Instant Video friendly with more Google TVs pretty soon -- according to Google, it's only available on LG TVs so far, since they've received the latest v3 updates already.

[Source: Engadget]

Foxconn reportedly manufacturing Amazon smartphone

Rumors about an Amazon smartphone heated up this summer, and the latest whispers -- from Taiwan Economic News -- say the e-retailer is turning to Foxconn to construct its handset. Amazon is said to have put in a five-million-unit order with the Chinese company, which we've already seen mentioned as the potential manufacturer for this device. The report also says the phone will launch in the second or third quarter of 2013, with a price somewhere in the $100-to-$200 range. Stay tuned, as more rumors are sure to come.

[Source: Engadget]