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Entries Tagged as 'Kindle'

One of Shelfari’s Most Active Members is a Computer Program, And It Loves KDP eBooks

May 16th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · Amazon, Shelfari, X-Ray → 2 Comments

Shelfari[1]Amazon has long touted the online book community Shelfari as a site where members can assemble virtual bookshelves, contribute details, and generally be bookish. While this is all true, Amazon is also hiding a number of secrets on the site.

Earlier this week I learned that at least one of Shelfari’s members isn’t a person; it’s collection of computer programs and it has been quietly adding book details for some years now. But more importantly, that collection of computer programs is now adding details to ebooks because those ebooks are selling well in the Kindle Store.
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ADW Launcher Replaces the Kindle Fire HD Home Screen

February 24th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · Kindle Fire, tips and tricks → 1 Comment

Screenshot_2013-02-24-11-54-30When Amazon launched the Kindle Fire HD last fall they made sure that you couldn’t escape their showroom/billboard, and one of the tricks they pulled was blocking any competing apps that would protect you from Amazon’s adverts.

For example, none of the home screen apps I tried to install last Fall were able to run on the Kindle Fire HD, even though they were properly installed.

But today that changes. I’ve just come across a new version of ADW Launcher, the popular free home screen app. This version of the app will work on the KFHD, and it can be downloaded to your KFHD or to your PC and then transferred via a USB cable.
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Kindle 4 Firmware Update Adds ???

January 25th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · Amazon, Kindle → 2 Comments

TequilaSauza_feat[1]Don’t look now but Amazon has just released a new update for the 14 month old Kindle 4 ereader.

They haven’t released any details on what this update does, but the file size for the update is about 10MB. That suggests that this is no more than a minor patch for the OS running on the Kindle 4 and not an update which will introduce a new feature.

I’ve installed the update and I don’t see any changes.

Update: One reader pointed me to the explanation on Amazon.co.uk. This update adds a “Read for Free” feature for Waterstones, Amazon’s UK partner. at least, the UK version of the update does this; it’s not clear that the update I installed has the same option.

(Thanks, Mathieu!)

Amazon

Breaking News: Amazon Still Only Offering Kindle Rentals for Academic Titles

January 18th, 2013 by Nate Hoffelder · Kindle, Rental → 3 Comments

fire-40954_640[1]There’s a hot story going around today that Amazon is renting out non-textbooks titles in the Kindle Store. Zatz Not Funny broke the story and Engadget, Liliputing, and The Next Web have repeated it.

I would not get too excited; the titles mentioned in the posts above were published by Princeton University Press so I’d bet they are being regarded as textbooks (or at the very least academic titles).
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5 Free Graphic Novels for Your Kindle

December 31st, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · free ebooks, Kindle → 6 Comments

5120vjJbCWL._SS500_[1]It’s a new year, and if you’re like me you have new gadgets. It’s time to fill them up with content.

Here are 5 free graphic novels from the Kindle Store and iBookstore. All of these titles can be read on the Kindle Fire Android tablets or on the Kindle iPad and Android apps, and some can even be read on the Kindle ereaders. If you don’t have any of those gadgets you can also read these titles in your web browser.
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Kindle Fire HD Update Adds Camera App, Swype

December 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Amazon, Kindle Fire → 3 Comments

Amazon got a lot of attention yesterday for Kindle FreeTime, the new paid service which lets kids access a curated selection of content, but that’s not all they did.

They’ve just rolled out a new update for the 7″ Kindle Fire HD, and it adds a couple useful features:
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Kindle App for Windows 8 Reveals Some Windows 8 Quirks

November 1st, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Kindle, software news → 19 Comments

Windows 8 has been in the hands of consumers for about a week now and we’re just now beginning to get reports about the new OS’s foibles from real users.

One of my readers left a comment last night about the new Kindle app for Windows 8. From what he can tell, it truly is a new app. He has it installed alongside the previous Kindle app:
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Kindle FreeTime Adds Parental Controls to the Kindle Fire HD, But There’s a Catch

October 25th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Amazon, Kindle Fire → 4 Comments

Amazon’s long promised update for the Kindle Fire HD is finally rolling out today, and it looks like it’s not going to be all puppies and gumdrops. While I am still waiting on the update, one member of MobileRead Forums already got it and he is not happy.

It seems that the parental controls in Kindle FreeTime are quite good at limiting how kids can access content bought from Amazon, but Amazon’s engineers don’t seem t have realized that Amazon is not the font of all knowledge.
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Kindle for iOS, Android Updated With Support for Japanese & New Features

October 24th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Kindle, software news → 1 Comment

The Japanese Kindle Store is opening tomorrow, and since Amazon isn’t a company to do things at the last minute they rolled out a couple updates today to support their new customers.

Amazon has released new versions of both the Kindle for Android and Kindle for iOS apps. Both apps now support vertical text required for some Japanese ebooks, but each also got new abilities that the other did not.
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Does Amazon Have Physical Stores In Store?

September 24th, 2012 by Chris Meadows · Amazon, bookstore, Kindle, Linux → 8 Comments

ZDNet has some more speculation on the possibility of Amazon opening physical stores, sparked by the recent announcement Wal-Mart would no longer be carrying Amazon’s devices. Wal-Mart, ZDNet thinks, fears Amazon’s increasing dominance in retail through the “mobile cash register” of its tablet, and doesn’t want to put itself in the position of helping its competition.

The article quotes a Reuters article speculating, though the Reuters article actually doesn’t do much more than say Amazon might do it. And people have been saying that for months now, ever since Amazon started capitulating to the states demanding that it collect sales tax within their borders. If Amazon has to collect sales tax in a state anyway, it might as well add physical facilities there as well, not least because they can be such handy things when it comes to receiving deliveries of things ordered on-line. (I had an $18 Amazon package of ballpoint pens stolen from my doorstep a couple of weeks ago. Where’s an Amazon Locker when you need it?)


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