Articles about Kindle

If there is one thing Amazon loves, it's a good sale. The company seems to always be discounting one product or another, and a favorite target is its line of Kindle Fire tablets. That's the case now, this time in honor of your mom.

The company has slashed prices on its lineup of tablets in an effort to convince customers to grab one for dear old mom before her day arrives on May 11th.

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Unlike other mobile device manufacturers, Samsung gets advertising and it also has the money to afford it. Remember the campaigns that pitted flagship Galaxy smartphones against Apple's competing iPhones? Those serve as a prime example of how effective Samsung can be when it comes to comparing its own products against those of the competition.

Well, Samsung is at it once again. This time around the company is showing its Galaxy Pro series slates against Apple's popular iPads and Amazon's Kindle, in four video ads which, once again, focus on major differentiating features. And Samsung is doing a very convincing job here by tackling the right areas, where its slates have a clear advantage.

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Amazon began its retail life as an online book distributor, though it's something we rarely consider the company now -- unless you choose to count digital versions for Kindle and Kindle apps. However, a thriving market for textbooks exists and that has become a recent focus for the company -- also in digital format.

Amazon now lands a major contract in that market, announcing it has reached a textbook deal with the Brazil Ministry of Education. "National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), has been working with Amazon to convert and wirelessly distribute more than 200 textbooks to hundreds of thousands of public high school teachers via Whispercast", the company states.

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New research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that the percentage of American adults who read an e-book in the past year has risen to 28 percent, up from 23 percent in 2012.

Yet the tree book isn't dead yet, at least in the popularity sense, as the results show most e-book readers read print books as well and only four percent are e-only readers.

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Do you have someone on your shopping list who is part of the Amazon ecosystem? Chances are you do, given that anyone with an Android device can install and use the Amazon App Store, Kindle App, MP3 player and more. What you may not be familiar with is something called Amazon Coins.

The currency doesn't get a lot of attention, but it can be used to purchase apps, games and in-app items. Each Coin is essentially the equivalent of a penny -- 500 Coins is the same as $5.

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While children may tout the educational features of tablets to fool adults into buying them, the truth is, no kid wants to use a tablet for education. It's simply a ploy to obtain a new toy on which to play video games and watch movies.

Sadly, some adults are actually responsible and enable these educational features on the device. To the dismay of children across the globe, Amazon announces new educational options for the FreeTime feature on the Kindle Fire line of tablets. In other words, learning is going to severely impact the playing time of Angry Birds.

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Amazon has been all over the news in recent weeks, and much of that has surrounded the Kindle line of E-readers and tablets -- we'll ignore those flying robots that have been on your mind. If you didn't get in on the big Cyber Monday sale, then you'll get a second crack at a deal today.

Amazon is holding a today-only Kindle-fest that features select members of the family at new, lower prices. The basic Kindle E-reader Wi-Fi is down from its regular $69 cost to $56. Other deals available include the 16 GB Kindle Fire HD at only $135, Fire HDX 7 16 GB model for $183 and the Fire HD 8.9 16 GB slashed from $269 down to $229. All of these deals are for the Wi-Fi only versions of the tablets.

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The Kindle has been big news recently, with Amazon rolling out a new version of its Fire HD, as well as 7 and 8.9-inch versions of a brand new Kindle Fire HDX, the latest iteration of its Android tablet. Not stopping there, the retailer introduced a case known as the Origami, but now has taken it one step further, with a personalized version of your own choosing.

"Customers can now design their own Amazon Origami covers and a variety of other covers and skins for Kindle by uploading photographs from their own library, choosing from a variety of Amazon designs made exclusively for Amazon Origami covers, or choosing from a library of hundreds of images, logos, designs and patterns—including popular comic, movie and television show graphics from Peanuts, National Geographic, Breaking Bad, Star Trek, and more", states Amazon.

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The Federal Aviation Administration, better known as the FAA, has lifted the last of its device restrictions, allowing people to finally use electronic devices during takeoff and landing. The ruling went into effect last week, with Delta being the first airline to allow passengers the privilege.

"We've been fighting for our customers on this issue for years, and we are thrilled by the FAA's recent decision -- this is a big win for customers. Delta and JetBlue have already started flights with the new rules -- we're excited to see which airlines are next", said Drew Herdener, vice president of Amazon.

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It has been nearly two months since online retail giant Amazon announced its MatchBook feature for Kindle, complimenting the previously unveiled Autorip service for music. Now, the company finally shows the feature the light of day, unveiling MatchBook availability effective today.

If you aren't familiar, MatchBook for Kindle provides customers with the opportunity to purchase a Kindle version of any book already bought through Amazon in physical form. You could, of course, do this previously, but only by paying full price for each copy. With MatchBook, prices range from free up to $2.99 for the digital version.

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The Kindle Paperwhite is the most successful e-reader ever, and Amazon is updating the range with the sixth generation of the Kindle family. It's the "All-New" prefix that aids identification, but aside from the name, there's a new display, faster processor and a raft of new features for readers to use. In terms of appearance, there are few differences to its predecessor, but the display is where things are most noticeable.

New display technology gives a higher contrast ratio and Amazon claims that pages are "virtually indistinguishable from a physical book". No new version would be complete without an extra turn of speed, and the latest Kindle Paperwhite doesn't disappoint, offering a processor running 25 percent faster than in the previous model. The touchscreen has been upgraded with a tighter grid to help improve sensitivity and accuracy.

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Playing with fire is generally considered bad practice -- I know, as a parent I recommend my kids avoid it. Amazon, however has a whole new Matchbook that it can not wait to set alight. In this case, thankfully, there are no pyrotechnics involved -- just some good literature.

Today the online retailer announces Matchbook -- "a new benefit that gives customers the option to buy -- for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free -- the Kindle edition of print books they have purchased new from Amazon".

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Amazon is not one to miss out on any revenue market and today proves this by making its free Kindle apps more appealing to customers who are either blind or visually impaired. The upgrades are not available on all platforms yet, but are certainly a move in the right direction.

New features will allow customers to access the read aloud feature for the more than 1.8 million titles available in the Kindle Store and seamlessly navigate within their library or within a book, including consistent title, menu and button names.

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Last night something strange caught my attention, nearly enough to post a late-day story. Then this morning I got a little email nudge from Amazon PR, and thought: "Yeah. Why not?" The timing and broader ecosystem implications are interesting for service "Send to Kindle". Just as Google whacks RSS -- pulling feed icons from its products and setting Reader's execution -- Amazon provides a mechanism for saving content you come across, say, browsing at work for reading at home on your ebook reader or tablet.

The concept is by no means new, not even for Amazon. There are several good cloud services dedicated to saving content for later reading or incorporating the capability. Instapaper comes to mind, and Feedly has an easy tap mechanism to save for later. What makes Send to Kindle different is device/app-specificity. Additionally, websites, including WordPress blogs, can place a button supporting the service.

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When I wrote Why I Love Kindle back in February I said I was intending to upgrade to a Kindle Paperwhite soon. Three weeks later, timed so I can buy a Kindle copy of my own book (my publisher only supplies free paperbacks), and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

The Kindle is one of those very rare devices that you don’t really need to upgrade. New features, an improved screen, touch support – it’s all well and good, but when you’re reading something you’re pretty oblivious to anything other than the words on the page. Or rather the screen. That said, moving to the Paperwhite from a second generation Kindle is a huge leap forward.

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