Tag Archives: AmazonKindle

Amazon Kindle celebrates five e-inked years

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Amazon Kindle celebrates five einked years

Can you imagine a holiday season without Amazon's e-reader series? The Kindle celebrates its fifth birthday today -- a device that, since its debut, has added bigger screens, slimmer builds, and even some damn decent backlighting. Back at the start, Amazon's first hardware was just a little chunky, covered in buttons, and housed a 6-inch 800 x 600 e-ink display. However, the online bookseller went on to dominate the then-nascent e-reader market, with no shortage of rivals now wanting claim their own slice of the book-loving crowd. Five years goes pretty fast -- we just wonder how many still have their DRM-protected Mobipocket e-books to hand.

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Amazon Kindle celebrates five e-inked years originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Nov 2012 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kindle Paperwhite and two Fires up for pre-order in Japan, Kindle Store opens there tomorrow

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Kindle Paperwhite, Fire and Fire HD now up for preorder in Japan

Amazon's just announced that it's bringing the entire Kindle family to Japan. The basic Paperwhite is now available to pre-order for 8,480 yen (around $106) from the online retailer, with the 3G version arriving at a slightly pricier 12,980 yen (approximately $162) -- both will start shipping November 19th. Obviously you're going to need stuff to read, so the Kindle Store is opening its doors tomorrow and shelves are stocked with over 50,000 Japanese language books (including 10,000 for free) and more than 15,000 manga titles. Amazon's tablet range is heading to Japan as well, with the Fire costing 12,800 yen (approximately $160) and the 7-inch Fire HD setting wallets back 15,800 yen (almost $200). You'll have to wait a bit longer for these two, however, as shipping is slated to begin December 19th -- hopefully arriving in time to fill those stockings.

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Kindle Paperwhite and two Fires up for pre-order in Japan, Kindle Store opens there tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Android’s tablet troubles

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

DNP Switched On Android's Tablet Troubles

If Google had to pick a device category in which it wanted Android to dominate, it would certainly be mobile phones for many reasons. Indeed, the original band of Android backers was dubbed the Open Handset Alliance. However, a strong position in tablets would not only have helped to round out the Android ecosystem, it would also have created a beachhead from which to take on Microsoft prior to the launch of its tablet strategy.

Alas for Google, sales of Android tablets have been lackluster and several PC-centric licensees -- including Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and even Android standard-bearer Samsung -- are hoping to improve their standing in the tablet market with imminent products based on Windows.

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Switched On: Android's tablet troubles originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bezos: Amazon breaks even on Kindle devices, not trying to make money on hardware

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Bezos: Amazon breaks even on Kindle devices, not trying to make money on hardware

Amazon makes a pretty good case for its Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite with prices as low as $199 and $119 respectively, but it turns out there's more at work than just special offers to keep them affordable. In an interview with the BBC, the company's head honcho Jeff Bezos revealed that they can keep the price tags reasonable since they don't turn a profit on the devices. "Basically, we sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break even on the hardware," Bezos said. "We're not trying to make money on the hardware." Instead, Amazon banks on making a buck when owners of the slates and e-readers purchase books, movies, games and other content through their digital storefront. This doesn't exactly come as a surprise, but we're glad that Jeff's confirmed our suspicions.

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Bezos: Amazon breaks even on Kindle devices, not trying to make money on hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Editorial: Bring on the digital overthrow of publishing

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Editorial Bring on the digital overthrow of publishing

Last week's release of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite offered an opportunity to look back on the rapid growth of e-reading, and look forward to what the digitization of publishing will mean to four major market forces: publishers, bookstores, authors and readers. As during any technological disruption, winners and losers trade fates until the upheaval settles and a new cycle of status quo begins.

Amazon is not the only bookstore represented in the scramble for new-era survival, but its major role has multiple dimensions: seller, publisher, enabler, inventor and primary instigator of disruption. Amazon is banking on being a winner, and was recently handed an advantage by the U.S. government in its uneasy relationship with publishers.

While industrial forces work their way through the dislocation of new paradigms, individuals -- both book consumers and book authors -- stand to be the biggest winners, and that is a good thing.

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Editorial: Bring on the digital overthrow of publishing originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kindle Paperwhite gets its own jailbreak, E Ink spews everywhere

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DNP Kindle Paperwhite gets its own jailbreak, E Ink spews everywhere

If you're an avid tinkerer who managed to secure a Kindle Paperwhite before they sold out, then we have some news that may well brighten up your day. A jailbreak based off of the hack for the Kindle Touch has been developed for Amazon's new e-reader and is now available for fearless Paperwhite owners. If you're up to the task, your bravery will award you some elite features which include: using your device as a weather station display and serial terminal access with Raspberry Pi systems. If all of this sounds like a fun weekend project waiting to happen, head on over to source link for step by step instructions.

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Kindle Paperwhite gets its own jailbreak, E Ink spews everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

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If you had told us at roughly this time last year that the e-reader race would be heating up going into the 2012 holiday season, we would have disagreed. If anything, 2011 seemed like the beginning of the end. Spurred on by the tablet explosion, companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even Kobo were looking toward that space for inspiration, introducing flagship devices on which reading was just one of many features. Heck, even the readers themselves started to look more tablet-like, with many abandoning of physical keyboards in favor of infrared touchscreens.

But here we are at the end of September, and this product category has never been more exciting. Back in May, Barnes & Noble captured our hearts and midnight reading marathons with the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, a wordy name for a great little device that made reading in bed at night a little easier. (A problem, according to Barnes & Noble, that was tearing the country's families apart.) But don't let it be said that Amazon doesn't believe in the American family. Earlier this month, the company launched the Kindle Paperwhite, the latest addition to a product lineup that has more or less become synonymous with the term "e-reader."

At that launch event, CEO Jeff Bezos described the four years of R&D that went into the front light technology powering that bright screen. It was clear from our hands-on time with the device that, although Amazon is placing extra emphasis on the Fire line these days, it still has a lot invested in the e-reader fight. The sharpened, illuminated text is impressive, and Amazon has gone so far as to describe this as the Kindle it's always wanted to build. That's all well and good, but how does it compare to similar offerings on the market? Is this worth the $119 asking price (with ads)? Let's find out.

Gallery: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon breaks down its Kindle Paperwhite light technology (video)

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Amazon breaks down its PaperWhite technology video

Amazon's certainly not the first company to deliver an illuminated e-reader, but the mega-retailer's psyched about its new Kindle Paperwhite nonetheless, and after playing around with the device a bit, it's easy to see why. According to CEO Jeff Bezos, R&D's been working on the technology for years now, attempting to get the perfect balance of brightness and battery life, all while ensuring an even distribution across the display. How does it achieve this? We've heard the technology described as an optical cable laid flat across the display. The company goes into a bit more detail on the technology that powers the reader, via a few Beautiful Mind-esque shots in the video after the break. It'll give you something to do while you wait for your reader to ship early next month.

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Amazon breaks down its Kindle Paperwhite light technology (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nikkei: Amazon to launch Kindle in Japan ‘early October’

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Nikkei: Amazon to launch Kindle in Japan next month

If it feels like we've heard about Amazon's intention to punch through the Japanese wall with Kindle before, it's because we have. However, if a new report on Reuters via The Nikkei is to be believed, it could finally be getting closer. It's said that the internet retailer had planned to launch its e-reader line in September, but supply chain problems put paid to that. Now we're told it'll land in "early October" with Amazon hurriedly securing Japanese content in time for the busy end of year sales period. The Kindle's still not out of the woods just yet though, as it's also been suggested that publishers are being asked to change data formats for their content, which is ripe for causing another bottleneck, should they not comply in time. Sadly, given the history of this tale, we're not expecting Japanese farm owners to be making any irrational bets just yet.

Nikkei: Amazon to launch Kindle in Japan 'early October' originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Walmart to stop selling Amazon’s Kindle line of readers and tablets

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Walmart to stop selling Amazon's Kindle line of readers and tabletsIt's a lonely world when you've no storefronts to call your own. Shortly after Target decided it best to halt the sales of Amazon's Kindle products, it's being reported that Walmart is following suit. A quote obtained by Reuters suggests that Wally World's bigwigs won't be carrying Amazon tablets and e-readers "beyond the existing inventory and purchase commitments." And yes, that includes "all Kindle models current and recently announced." No actual reasoning was given beyond the conventional company line, but one has to wonder if Walmart isn't somehow considering getting into some of the businesses that it was previously helping Amazon push.

It's also taken a plunge with Vudu, as it's offering an in-store disc-to-digital UltraViolet conversion as well. You might say that Walmart would never, ever start hawking its own e-readers, but crazier things have happened -- Best Buy has an entire brand devoted to in-house goods, and Amazon itself has expanded from an online storefront for laundry detergent and bestselling novels to a bona fide hardware mainstay.

Walmart to stop selling Amazon's Kindle line of readers and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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