Posted 08/25/08 at 10:13:17 AM by Paul Lilly

Rumblings that Amazon is working on a revised Kindle eBook reader have been coursing through the web since July, and it's believed the new version will come in a variety of colors to appeal to a larger audience. We'll have to wait and see, but at least one analyst sees an opportunity to cash in with college students and believes a collegiate version could make a debut in the not too distant future.

"There are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works," said Tim Bueneman, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen.

Bueneman also predicts that one of the new features might include improved interface operating controls, which he notes has been issue with some buyers. But if Amazon is to target the collegiate crowd, the biggest issue might come down to price - $360 buys a lot of Ramen noodles.

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amazon, college, consumer electronics, kindle, ebook

Posted 08/02/08 at 12:22:11 PM by Paul Lilly

By all accounts Amazon's Kindle eBook reader appears to be a resounding success. Despite the gadget's shortcomings -- no PDF support, closed eBook format, poor batter life when using the wireless service, limited magazine selection -- the $359 device sold out almost immediately after going on sale, fetching as much as $1,500 in Ebay auctions. Fast forward to today and the Kindle pushes over 12 percent of Amazon's book sales. And rumor has it that Amazon will soon release a new model, Kindle 2.0, a bigger version of the original in a multitude of colors.

Book sales aside, just how successful has the Kindle been?  Because Amazon won't disclose how many of its eBook readers it has sold, nobody knows for sure, but TechCrunch claims to have the inside scoop. "240,000 Kindles have been shipped since November, according to a source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers," TC reports.

If true, that puts Kindle sales close to the $100 million mark and well over that amount after factoring in book sales, subscriptions, and so on.  But that's only the tip of the iceberg. TC notes that Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., has Amazon on track to sell 500,000 to 750,000 more Kindles within the next four quarters, with a total revenue of up to $355 million after tallying up additional book sales. This, he says, values the Kindle as a $1 billion business for Amazon.

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amazon, consumer electronics, handheld, kindle, ebook

Posted 07/17/08 at 01:04:06 PM by Paul Lilly

This time last year, most of us would have predicted that Blu-ray and HD-DVD would still be going at it, but even with a victor now declared in the high definition format war, digital downloads and streaming content are ruling the roost, just as Michael Bay prophesized (minus the corporate conspiracy theory). Hoping to become king of the digital hill, Amazon.com is introducing a new online store of TV shows and movies.

What's that you say, Unbox isn't new? That's right, but this isn't Unbox. Amazon Video on Demand departs from the company's first attempt at offering a digital video download service, and this time around, customers will not be required to download special software to the watch programs they buy. And in another departure from Unbox, the new service will extend support beyond just Windows PCs and TiVo set-top boxes.

Find out what else Amazon Video on Demand brings to the table and when it will be available after the jump.

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windows, Software, movies, amazon, videos, tv shows, video on demand

Posted 07/16/08 at 01:48:35 PM by Paul Lilly

Amazon's Kindle is fast becoming a runaway success, and the eBook reader looks to get even more enticing this fall with two new models. Crunch Gear claims to have the inside scoop on two new Kindles, saying the first one will maintain the same size screen as the original but in a smaller form factor. As the un-named insider puts it, Amazon has "skipped three or four generations" with the new models compared to the original. The second of the new Kindles will reportedly come shaped like a standard 8.5 x 11-inch piece of paper, making it noticeably bigger than first run units. 

Both models are expected to come in a variety of colors in an attempt to appeal to a larger audience. But what the insider didn't say is whether or not Amazon plans to implement PDF support and better battery life when using the wireless functionality. If so, will it be enough to get you interested in jumping aboard the eBook scene?

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Posted 07/11/08 at 07:38:50 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Amazon’s proprietary wireless reading device Kindle has been rather successful. It remained out of stock for months after being launched in November, 2007, despite being criticized heavily for its lack of WiFi, ugly design and limited PDF support. Now it is fast emerging as a popular electronic book reader, if a Time magazine report is to be believed.

A source inside Amazon told Time that Kindle accounts for 12% of sales of the roughly 130k titles that are both available physically and as Kindle downloads. Kindle’s share has doubled from May, when Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos had claimed it to be 6%. It is good to hear that digital distribution threatens to change the landscape of the books publishing industry as well. However, Kindle is far from perfect and its design and features need nothing less than an overhaul.

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download, books, gadgets, pdf, hardware, amazon, ebook, amazon kindle, reading device

Posted 07/10/08 at 01:10:17 PM by Chris Moody

Linux is moving a little bit more to center this week with Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 Linux distros becoming available at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com for $20. It includes OpenOffice, FireFox, Evolution email, Rhythmbox media player, and MP3 support. While Wal-Mart has offered Linux based computers at their stores on low end PCs and laptops, this marks a first for boxed Linux Distros at consumer electronics stores like Best Buy.

ValuSoft is packaging the OS and it includes printed documentation and 60 days of unlimited customer support.

ValuSoft advertising goes right for the consumer panic button with this line; “You're right in the middle of an important procedure when your computer freezes and crashes, erasing your data and costing you hours of extra work.” We’ll see how well that works on the masses.

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Posted 06/20/08 at 03:14:55 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The days of tax-free purchases for online shoppers are numbered, feel many experts. A new law in New York has made sales tax mandatory on internet purchases. This has widened the grin on the faces of offline store managers in the state, who expect some internet shoppers to turn their attention and wallets towards them. New York might have just shown the way to other states that are deliberating upon ways to tax online purchases.

Read on to see why this is happening, and whether you'll be affected. 

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law, amazon, wal-mart, retailers, online shopping, new york, tax, online purchases, tax-free, sales tax

Posted 04/16/08 at 04:58:29 PM by Michael Brown & Will Smith

If you’re like us, you’ve bought a lot of traditional media, be it DVDs, CDs, or—gasp!—books, from Amazon.com over the years yet have downloaded little or no content from its digital stores. After spending some time with Unbox—Amazon’s relatively new movie and TV download service—we’re about ready to start using it regularly. With a broad selection of inexpensive content and an easy and cheap way to get Unbox content to your living room, we initially thought this would be the service to beat—despite a complete lack of HD content.

Click Read More for more. 

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Software, hardware, amazon, consumer electronics, movie download service