Friday, May 17, 2013

Kindle Tip: ABC Player app for Kindle Fire HD allows watching of full episodes of ABC shows for free without Flash Player. Some Caveats.


ABC Player app available for Kindle Fire HD allows watching of full episodes of favorite ABC shows

The ABC Player app allows you to watch, from a selection of the most recent episodes of almost any ABC show (primetime and daytime), full ABC shows you may have missed or want to re-watch.

  It says that you can find episodes "by Most Popular, Most Recent, and Evening vs. Daytime" (I've not found this search function -- please let me know if you find it) and can pause these, with your place saved for resuming from that point later (this does work).

  Closed captioning is available (though I haven't seen this yet in a couple of shows I chose to watch).  There are no easily findable settings for this.   There is a version for iOS devices, Hulu (which I subscribe to and there ARE closed-captioning features in those) and iTunes and it could be that some of these features I haven't found are in one of those and ABC's product marketing is confused about what is available for Kindle Fire HD. This app does not work for my other, earlier Samsung devices with older Android systems.

  On my personal listing of devices I own, it is shown as NOT working for the Original Kindle Fire while OK with my Kindle Fire HD7 and my Kindle Fire HD89.  My guess is that it wouldn't work well if at all with the 2nd Generation non-HD Kindle Fire, but the Product Description page doesn't say anything about that, unfortunately.  Let me know, if it does work for that, but it is a more limited device in memory-management and in storage space, so I'm doubtful, and it's not an HD model (I don't know if they scale down for Standard Definition).

From the Product Description:
"...View full-length episodes of Modern Family, Grey's Anatomy, Revenge, Once Upon a Time, The Neighbors, Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live and more..." as well as Nashville, Castle, and Body of Proof.  Also included are ABC News shows and daytime shows like The View, The Chew and General Hospital.
  NOTE AND MORE CAVEATS - These are in HD, and viewing on mobile devices may give problems, from what I have noted with any HD streaming, when HD owners are using DSL rather than cable modem systems.  DSL's average speed is 6 to 10 times slower than what is doable from cable systems like Cable and RR, from what I've experienced on friends' Internet streaming connections, and HD streaming just needs more speed and robust connectivity.  DSL hosts do offer higher tiers of speed but at higher pricing.

  I would NOT download the app if you have DSL rather than cable.
  I even wonder if a problem exists with Android devices that have only 16 GB of storage space and a fairly filled storage area.  The number of people for whom this app does not work or works badly outnumbers the number of people who have no problems with it.

  I watched a full 50-minute episode of the amazingly amoral Scandal with no glitches at all and with HD quality.  Others experience lower-quality video on their systems though, so be forewarned that it may not be ideal on some devices depending on streaming-connection or maybe a too-full device when using an app that may be just too bloated and using a lot of memory to do what it does.

  At any rate, so to speak, the app is Free to try, and you can remove the app if it doesn't work well on your Internet connection but you'd probably need to reboot or reset (via a 20-second power button press and then a press to restart), if the app just stalls for you on tv episodes, as it did for many who gave it low marks.

An aborted show like 666 Park Avenue still available for 2 more days usually does not offer the unaired shows some have hoped would ultimately air, in this case to explain some of the weirdnesses in the storyline, but I just found out about the ABC app itself (released March 2013) from a Washington Post TV Column on ABC putting online, and on some mobile devices, "unaired episodes of 'Don't Trust the B---" as they put it.  This one is a show I didn't watch after the first 15 minutes, not that I'm fussy about my TV viewing.

The added draw is that with this app you don't need a Flash player app plus different web browser as some of us have used on the Kindle Fire (doable with the Dolphin web browser -- see step-by-step guide to install Flash at How to install Flash Player on Kindle Fire HD, with more info at Getting NON-Amazon apps).

  Before this app was made available, we've been able to view all these (with the steps in those article-guides at http://abc.go.com -- which ABC has now redirected to a longer URL).  BUT since any Kindle Fire HD can use this app, that more-arduous process is not needed for ABC shows.

  However, I don't see similar apps for NBC and CBS or PBS right now, so the Flashplayer-install info just mentioned is given in case you want to watch similar material on the other network channels.

 In the meantime, Amazon Prime Instant Video program offers quite a bit, as you'll have seen if reading the Amazon pages or this blog.




Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Kindle news: U.S. Justice Dept calls Apple "Ringmaster" in e-book price-fixing. Why Android is Winning the Tablet Wars. New NBC-Universal PRIME video deals. The Big Deal (500 books) is back.


Apple being seen as instigator of eBook price-fixing attempts

In addition to the TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) report, which sources the NY Times article which may not be accessible to some near the end of any month, here are the recent articles on the e-book pricing wars going back a year and through 'today' for those interested in any details of the last year's results from federal, state, and UK lawsuits that have left Apple, alone, fighting the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit still.
  The publishers have bailed.  The trial begins June 3 in New York.

  I stopped detailing the situation after all the settlements were happening, one after another, but kept a chronological list of linked news stories on how it all began and what was discovered during the several investigations, as a lot was being misrepresented throughout the PR wars.  The items are all sourced.

  It was especially difficult to sort out when the largest media sites were also large publishers with a bit at stake so that the reports were too often not exactly illuminating but I collected the more informative ones.

  I also put together a TIMELINE, which shows more clearly what kinds of things the Department of Justice (DOJ) would have seen that had not made it into most news reports.

  The New York Times article opens with the e-mail from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation: "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99."

  That e-mail is part of the evidence in the DOJ's stance explained by TUAW as, "Apple was the 'ringmaster' in a price-fixing conspiracy in the market for e-books, a more direct leadership role than originally portrayed in the department’s April 2012 antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishing companies."

  Two days after that email, HarperCollins, owned by News Corporation, "signed an agreement with Apple to force all sellers of electronic books to adopt the new pricing model, the government said."

  Apple does its usual in describing all this as not conspiring to fix prices on ebooks, of course, but instead 'explaining' that “We helped transform the e-book market with the introduction of the iBookstore in 2010, bringing consumers an expanded selection of e-books and delivering innovative new features ... The market has been thriving and innovating since Apple’s entry, and we look forward to going to trial to defend ourselves and move forward.”

  If you can access it, read the rest of the NYT article on how Apple itself described its strong-arming of Random House during this, which is why the lawsuit did not include Random House.  In fact, for about a year, Random House books were not found in Apple's iBook store due to some disagreement about the Agency Agreement.

 Now, when Amazon removed buy-tags for awhile when Macmillan insisted on using the Agency Agreement (rather than the long-time traditional wholesaler bookstore agreement which guaranteed publishers a bit more, so this was about control) and when Macmillan, furthermore, also insisted on the higher pricing that they would set and which Amazon and other book stores were not allowed to lower even for Sales promos, Amazon received a shellacking from the larger publishing houses and newspapers for being a dangerous "monopolist" out to destroy the publishing industry.

  Imagine if Amazon had just not allowed Random House (said to be the largest U.S. publisher of novels) into the Amazon Kindle store for a year due to a contract dispute over a pricing agreement.  Apple did, though, paint itself as sort of a road-side shop (its book store) relative to big, bad Amazon.
  At the time, Random House said, at a press conference, that it felt that Amazon knew a bit more about book-selling and pricing than Random House did.  The following year, Random House did join in the Agency Agreement, but they were not part of the group that formed the higher-price restrictions for booksellers.

  On the other hand, Amazon's lowering the price on all books would be a danger to smaller stores, and there is an understandable restriction on what it is allowed to do with the lowering of prices on its Kindle books.

  In settling, the publishers agreed:
' to lift restrictions imposed on discounting and other promotions by e-book retailers.  The companies are also prohibited from entering into new agreements with similar restrictions until December 2014.

  The publishers must also notify the government in advance about any e-book ventures they plan with each other, and they are prohibited for five years from agreeing to any kind of so-called most-favored-nation clause with any retailer, which establishes that no other retailer is allowed to sell e-books for a lower price. '

I suppose that after five years they WOULD be allowed to agree to a clause with any retailer that "no other retailer is allowed to sell e-books for a lower price."  Until then, enjoy the kind of flexible pricing we grew up with, on printed books in bookstores.

The NY Times report was from Edward Wyatt in Washington and Nick Wingfield in Seattle.
For more details on how Apple dealt with Random House when they resisted all this, see the NYT article.


Other, QUICK News, mainly links and excerpts that may be of interest
"Why Android is Winning the Tablet Wars -- Forbes, Todd Hixon, Contributor.
  Includes: "The five most popular tablets on Amazon today (May 14, 2013) are four 7 inch Kindle and Samsung tablets selling for $179 – $229, and an 8.9 inch Kindle selling for $269.

  Apple held on to over 70% market share in iPods throughout the life cycle. The iPod is a media consumption device, and the link to the iTunes content access/management platform was unbeatable. It’s clear that tablets will be a different story, more like PCs. They are becoming a diverse market with several strong brands (Samsung, Asus/Google, Amazon/Kindle), a large number of popular-price offerings, and multiple content access platforms."


  More PRIME video news: "AMAZON CONFIRMS GRIMM, HANNIBAL, SUITS AND DEFIANCE COMING TO AMAZON PRIME." The Slanted:
'... the Amazon Instant Video that is included in Amazon Prime is one of the services major selling points.

Now with the NBC Universal deal customers can watch earlier seasons of “Grimm,” and “Suits” from USA starting today. “Hannibal” will launch later this year on the service and the hit series “Defiance,” will be made available in early 2014.
  Prime Instant Video will also add past seasons of NBC’s “Smash” and “Alphas”.  The deal also includes “Eureka” and “Warehouse 13″. For the parents out there, “Curious George” and “Land efore Time,” will both be made available in the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited content service. '

Added detail at CNET.


THE BIG DEAL is Back [again]: Shop Popular Books by Category
"Save up to 85% on more than 500 Kindle books through May 27.  Shop for yourself or give Kindle books as gifts to anyone with any e-mail address." [Note the expiration date.]




Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Kindle News: Amazon Coins. Purchase of Liquavista brighter color screen-techology for outdoor reading. Amazon's new Cloud Player for PC. Kindle romance-book-focused podcast w/ Goodreads.

Amazon's Amazon Coins: Why?

They're worth a penny each, and 100 make $1.00.  Most of us with Kindle Fires will have received email notices Monday that we've been given 500, or $5 worth, of these, to spend on apps or games for the Kindle Fire tablets.

  I'm not sure what the reason is for the coins except it seems as if what has the appearance of play money may seem easier and, for some, more fun to use, as if we weren't really spending (because we'd bought the coins earlier) but there's a deal of sorts in that if you buy these in bulk, Amazon says you'll get a discounts "of up to 10%" on purchases.  There's no expiration date or fees on them.

  For now they're not usable for books or videos from Amazon, but apparently, they'll expand the use of these.  This is considered just a start.  It has the feel of a test, actually.  But I'll look at reasons for their trying this.

  Having read there are many millions of Kindle Fires in customer hands now, I think $5 per Kindle Fire customer is quite an outlay for Amazon, which shows that they expect these will encourage use of the coins and, it's hoped, more spending on Amazon apps, with the coin-system of purchasing still bringing app developers 70% of the purchase.  So it's another way to support apps you enjoy and want improved and updated.  Also, if app developers make a bit more this way, they may develop apps sooner for Amazon tablet users than they do, instead of making us wait until all the iOS and pure-Android tablet users have their versions.

  In keeping with the expansion of Kindle Fires and apps to almost 200 countries globally, this should also encourage more app development in other countries that have waited awhile to get access to Kindle Fire apps.

  Amazon's press release is here.


Amazon's apparent acquisition of Samsung's Liquavista
The watchful Nate Hoffelder and his The Digital Reader site reported Monday new filings from the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce that reveal that Samsung no longer owns Liquavista and that its new owner "is listed as a faceless LLC registered out of Delaware."

  In following the trail showing Haverl LLC, with no online presence or products on the market but leading to a holding company called CSC, he noted the similarity to the way in which Amazon hid FCC filings last year, to thwart early reporting of its doings.

  In the meantime, Nate adds in an update the same day that Amazon confirmed that news,

  Since Samsung wanted to sell the company (which they bought 2-1/2 years ago or so), one has to wonder why, if Samsung doesn't find the "electrowetting" technology and its promise of brighter portable color screen quality useful for its own screens, Amazon would want it.  Most stories assume it's because of what it can bring to black & white type eReaders with lower power needs and outdoor readability.

  But PC Magazine's Damon Poeter points out:
' Electrowetting produces displays with advantages in a couple of key areas—viewability in various lighting conditions and low-power video playback.
  Amazon, a leading maker of both ereaders and tablets, may be interested in Liquavista's technology for both device categories.

  ""Liquavista's display cell concepts allow radically brighter and more efficient flat panel displays to be built – but use today's established manufacturing infrastructure and processes to achieve it," Liquavista says on its website. '

  Liquavista's flexible electrowetting displays are described by Liquavista as
' Liquavista’s displays are based on the principles of electrowetting and bring bright and colourful images and video that ensures excellent indoor and outdoor readability but uses dramatically less battery power. The technology is uniquely suited for colour and video electronic paper displays because of its very high reflectivity and its intrinsically fast video-rate switching speed. '

In a forum discussion last night, someone opined that he himself had no need for color eInk-type reading and therefore saw no need for this for the rest of the world.

I added my thought that others have wanted and, actually, needed, to see diagrams and illustrations in color, since figures and diagrams are often color-coded.  Add that many would like to be able to even see these at all while out in sunlight.

While I'm happy with tablets as they are -- if they're able to keep the costs down with a color e-Ink-like type eReader and provide color that's not as drab as with e-Ink color displays we've seen recently, that could be quite a plus for outdoor reading on devices with batteries that last longer than 7 hours.


Amazon Cloud Player for PC
The Amazon Cloud Player for PC app is a new offering, in that although we've been using Cloud Player for WEB to play via our computers our songs from Amazon's Cloud, this also downloads them to your computer for playing offline without needing a web browser and with your music search results leading you to your offline results as well as those on the Cloud.

  You don't have to click on the search bar first, as the universal search is triggered by typing when the app is the active window.  Per Softonic's Lewis Leong:
' ... users can set Cloud Player to automatically add music to iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Amazon. It will even import songs from your iTunes library if you wish to use Cloud Player as your main audio player.

  It's nice to see Amazon come out with a dedicated desktop application, something its competitor, Google Music, is lacking. Amazon is also leveraging it's physical media sales with AutoRip, which automatically gives customers a free digital version of a CD or LP. '

  Also, you can scan your computer for music files that haven't been uploaded to Amazon's Cloud.

Amazon Cloud Player for PC app is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP SP3.


"Kindle Love Stories" podcast, with discussion group at Goodreads
PaidContent's Laura Hazard Owen reports that Amazon Publishing is launching this romance-reader-focused weekly podcast which will "feature author interviews, reviews and trends in romance books, and is accompanied by a book discussion group on Goodreads...
...
"One possible advantage of “Kindle Love Stories” is that, if it focuses primarily on titles published by Amazon, all of those titles should be available free to Kindle owners through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library."

A Mac version is said to be coming soon.




Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Kindle News: Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app for Apple devices + some info re the Android Cloud Drive Photos app. Amazon working on 3D smartphone?

AMAZON'S NEW CLOUD DRIVE PHOTOS APP FOR APPLE DEVICES

FIRST:
Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app for Android (and for ORIGINAL Kindle Fire) was released November 5, 2012 and described here, in detail, in the blog article for that date.

At that time, the Kindle Fire 2nd Generation tablets were to have these Cloud Drive photo features built in, but as of today, I can download photos from my Cloud Drive to my HD tablet but NOT upload photos from the Kindle Fire HD tablet to my Cloud yet, although I can email them to anyone, including myself, for receipt of these on a different device.
  Oddly enough, photo uploading to the Amazon Cloud works with my Original Kindle Fire.

Amazon Cloud Drive Photos App for iOS, Apple Devices.
As PC Magazine's Angela Moscaritolo points out, the app:
'...lets you securely store thousands of photos taken with your device in the Amazon Cloud for easy access.

  Users get 5GB of storage for free, before having to pay for additional storage. Prices for extra storage start at $10 a year for 20GB. See the iTunes page for the app.

  Once uploaded to Cloud Drive, the photos are accessible from your iPhone or iPod touch, computer, or any Web browser. You can also upload photos to Cloud Drive from your computer and access them on your iOS device.
Photos taken from your iPhone or iPod touch are automatically saved to Cloud Drive whenever the app is running. You can also select photos from your Cloud Drive and share them through Facebook, email, or other apps. '

Re the last point, the Cloud Drive Photos app for Android CAN upload photos directly to the Amazon Cloud Drive even when the app is not open.

Slashgear's Craig Lloyd sees the app as Amazon taking on Apple's Photo Stream iCloud feature, as well as Google and Dropbox cloud-storage-and-access solutions.

GIGAOM's Erica Ogg makes some interesting points about Amazon's strength when it comes to Cloud services:
' Just like Google with Maps, Search and Mail and Facebook with social things, Apple’s biggest and most important competitors are repeatedly besting Apple on its own platform when it comes to producing well designed, popular basic apps that are core to the mobile experience.

But the secret behind Amazon’s cloud-based photo storage is something at which Amazon is verifiably awesome, and something at which Apple is not: the cloud.

  Even with its billion-dollar data center and more on the way, Apple repeatedly struggles with keeping its cloud-based services reliable for users.  And even when things are added to iCloud, like photos, some users still run into problems, as outlined in the link above, with multiple copies or confusing organization. '

Reminder
Free Cloud Drive Space - Three different types
  1) ALL Amazon customers, globally, get 5 free gigs of Cloud Drive space to use for personal photos, documents, music that they didn't get from Amazon, and
  2) Kindle device owners get an additional 5 free gigs of space for personal docs and non-DRM'd books from other sources, for which which Amazon will now provide annotations backup and will also sync the reading of these between one's several devices even though the books and docs don't come from Amazon).

  If you want even more space for non-Amazon items, $10 per year will get you 20 gigs of space, with other options if you want more space.

  3) Anything you buy from Amazon gets automatically-free Cloud Drive space not counted against your space maximums.


Is Amazon really working on a 3-D phone that you control with your eyes?
If you judge this by the number of stories appearing on the conjecture, you'd think so.  There is no confirmation that it is.

MSN puts it this way:
' You may be startled to hear that the online retail giant is actually working on TWO smartphones, and one of them will be a high-end device with a 3-D screen for which no special glasses are required. "Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles," the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with Amazon's plans. "Users may be able to navigate through content using just their eyes." Whoa. Watch your back, Google '

Wired hopes it's nothing like the Nintendo3DS, described as "the worst reading environment ever after reading in total darkness.”  On the other hand, Jeff Bezos has been pretty fussy about readability and stayed away from color eInk as being a not-good experience for the eyes.

  At any rate, it doesn't seem likely for many reasons.  Who would be the audience for this? Maybe it would be a novelty buy for those who want to see their favorite contacts in 3D, but watching 3D on a small screen phone?  It's not that easy on even a giant screen (though I've enjoyed it).  Maybe someone at Lab126 wanted to try something like this for experimental reasons and that started the rumors.




Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button



Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Kindle App for iOS and Kindle Fire News: Kindle Fire HD Sale -'FIRE4MOM' promo code gets $20 off as Mother's Day offer on Kindle Fire HD 7-inch. tablet. Kindle for iOS update v3.7 adds accessibility for the visually impaired


Promo code FIRE4MOM brings $20 off
for any Kindle Fire HD 7-inch tablet through Mother's Day, May 12, 2013. (US only)

That means the price for the 16 GB model will be $179, and for the 32 GB model it'll be $209.

As before, I highly recommend, because of the size of multimedia files, the 32 GB model; think of it as deciding on an additional built-in 16GB SD Card for the additional $30.  It'll help avoid having to swap apps in and out of the Kindle Fire HD to keep from running low on space (which can slow down some program processes). This is for the standard Kindle Fire HD with 'Special Offers' on the Lock Screen only, and many do prefer to know about Amazon's special offers.  If you don't like that idea, $15 more does away with them.  Many of us choose to keep them though.

Be sure to know that Amazon's promo codes cannot be applied to orders placed with 1-click purchasing, so you'd need to turn that off if wanting to use the promo code.

Also, they specify only one promo-code purchase per customer.


Kindle for iOS: the new Accessibility Features
Amazon's forum announcement of these new accessibility features for its Kindle reading apps for Apple iPhones, tablets, and iPod touch (those running iOS 5.0 or higher) is followed by Kindle customer comments that include advice by Apple device owners about where to find the various features and how to use them.  Worth a look if you've one of these devices.

  There is good general info and help on these apps at the Amazon Kindle for iOS Help page.

The new features, using Apple's VoiceOver technology, are aimed at visually impaired users and include the ability to have read aloud to you ~1.8 million Kindle Store titles, added navigational help, as well as more accessible X-Ray and sharing features.

Important also is that Amazon promises a similar update for NON-iOS versions of the app eventually, and it would be a good use for the Ivona Software they acquired in January, already used in the Kindle Fire for text-to-speech, voice commands and "Explore by Touch."  Ivona offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages

  Lifehacker describes the use of Siri's voice for this, pointing out that it's not done with a tap of a button.  "You have to enable VoiceOver in the accessibility settings in iOS before you can have Siri read to you, and even then she only takes one line at a time as you move your finger down the page...For those who are blind or have poor vision, VoiceOver support makes navigating the Kindle app and reading books possible."

  Here are more details, from the Amazon Kindle forum announcement and thread:
' New accessibility features of the Kindle app enable blind and visually impaired customers to:
- Read aloud over 1.5 million titles available in the Kindle Store using Apple's VoiceOver technology. Over 300,000 of these books are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Over 700,000 books are less than $4.99; over a million are less than $9.99.
- Seamlessly navigate within their library or within a book, with consistent title, menu and button names; navigate to a specific page within a book and sort books in the library by author or title.
- Read character-by-character, word-by-word, line-by-line, or continuously, as well as move forward or backward in the text.
- Search for a book within their library or search within their book and navigate to specific text.
- Add and delete notes, bookmarks, and highlights.
- Use customer-favorite features like X-Ray, End Actions and sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
- Look up words in the dictionary and Wikipedia.
- Customize the reading experience including changing the font, text size, background color, margin, and brightness.
- Use iOS accessibility features like Zoom, Assistive Touch, and Stereo to Mono, as well as peripheral braille displays.

Other new features include:
- Easily rate and review books by accessing `Before you go...' directly from The `Go to' menu
- Enhancements to `Before you go...' including the ability to download a free sample and email yourself a reminder about recommended books.
- Additional Font Selection for Japan - Hiragino Mincho ProN (Serif)

These new accessibility features are available first on the Kindle app for iOS and accessibility features will be added to other Kindle apps in the future. Customers can download the new Kindle for iOS app for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone or iPod touch or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore.  Blind and visually impaired customers interested in using a Kindle app can also choose Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin, a free application for Windows PC's.

You can download [for free] a quick reference guide here: Kindle for iOS Accessibility Gestures - Quick Reference Guide.

If you need assistance with this update, please drop by the Kindle Help Forum '



Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Kindle Tips: May's Monthly 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less - Editors' Choices + Free non-classics by publication date + discounted-book alerts. FREE APP today: Jump Desktop (RDP & VNC) - remote desktop app (normally $9.99)




MAY 2013's 100 Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK page below.)

I highlight the monthly deal at or near the beginning of the month for those who don't know about it or might not remember.

  The May pricing for this group of 100 Kindle books ranges from $0.99 to $3.99, as usual for this monthly deal, and are "hand-selected" by Amazon's Editors each month.

What you'll see on that special monthly-deals page (UK version is here) are new for May 2013.

(US Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)


FREE KINDLE BOOKS (Non-classics) for May (and April)
I've updated the "Temporarily-free books -- Non-classics" search results to show free contemporary Kindle books for MAY, sorted by publication-date, as of May 1, 2013.  There are only a few shown on the first day or two of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month.  As ever, on the first day of the month, most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entire-family-safe titles may show up.

  Here, also, are the current Search results for still free Kindle non-classics, by publication date during the last month (April).


The Kindle Daily Deal page
for any given day now shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.


DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks II - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  There is an ongoing message thread in which Kindle owners share information on recent drops in pricing on specific Kindle books, often with some added info by the person posting it.

  Here's a link to the thread, starting at an April 29 posting that includes some books that are still on sale May 2.
    These tend to be very short-term discounts.

  The forum topic link is to a specific day to start, in this case, a book released 4/29, as mentioned, but you can look at previous days or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, as Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.  While most of the better deals seem around $1.99-$4.99, there are many larger-publishing house deals included that tend to end in a DAY, so you'd need to double-check the current pricing of ANY Kindle books that interest you to see if the discounts are still active.

  I see that Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library) was heavily discounted for April 29 and is still discounted today, May 2, and I've started the forum topic browse-link at that point.

  Again, prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.  Most of the large-publisher discounts last only one or two days.


Free Android App of the Day
Jump Desktop
  Normally $9.99, this "remote desktop app lets you control your computer from your phone or tablet.  Compatible with both RDP and VNC, Jump Desktop is secure, reliable and very easy to set up. Features include a streamlined user interface that gives you the best possible remote desktop experience on any of your mobile devices.
Easy setup and reliable: "

. RDP features: Tested on: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, SBS Server
. VNC features: Tested with Mac OS X, TightVNC, RealVNC, UltraVNC, Linux (Ubuntu Remote Desktop)

The Your Devices listing shows it working for

Out of 16 customer reviews currently, it's received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount as a Spring sale than usual) on covers for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on covers for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets





Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.
US:
Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web
Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd
Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire 2, UK
 £129
Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK
£159/199
Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129
Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199


*OTHER International*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $139
Kindle Keybd 3G - $189
  Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB
Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199

France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Kindle News: Large Kindle for Android Update - new features, customer reactions. Tom Semple adds what he's found.


New update for the free Kindle for Android app - v4.0.1.3

The Amazon Kindle for Android updates:
· New design and user interface: Apparently many customers have told Amazon that they really like the User Interface (UI) of the Kindle Fire, as find it easy to access and navigate the content on the tablet.

  Amazon has extended that design to Kindle for Android by
  1. optimizing the Kindle Store for tablets
  2. improving the library interface
  3. redesigning the home screen, which includes the Carousel option for recent items), and
  4. simplifying navigation through the app.

· Easy access to samples: To help customers new to Kindle or Kindle apps get started, Amazon is making samples of many of the best sellers very easy to find; the samples will be on the home screen of their Kindle app.

More info is at the Kindle for Android details page.

From Google Play store's What's New page
What's in this version:
4.0.1.3
• Redesigned library experience.
• Carousel displays recent items on the Kindle app home screen.
• Navigation panel organizes content for quick access to your Books, Documents, and Newsstand periodicals.
• Browse all your items in the Cloud or just the content downloaded on your Android device.
• Explore and download popular samples in the Kindle Store.
• Fixed a crash some customers reported.

Contributor Tom Semple weighed in early
This guy is the Kindle world's intrepid explorer and is everywhere.
Tom has given permission to quote what he's found so far (I'm just late getting to it, and I saw reports that some are finding that the Table of Contents can be balky under the new update and that customer service has said they are aware of that and are working on it).

  Here's Tom: (Bracketed entries are mine.)
' Kindle for Android finally has a version of the 'Cloud/Device' pattern found on Kindles and Kindle apps, with Recent added to Sort options.  Very welcome.  [Yay!]

  As usual, there's also an experiment: an item called 'Popular Samples' brings up a list of 25 samples that we are to believe are popular (and hopefully not some manipulation on the part of Amazon to direct us to certain books).
    [They say they're from the already "best sellers.]

The Kindle Store experience has been greatly improved as well.  There's also a Carousel view, which thankfully one does not need to use. [ ]  Now, if only they'd add TTS [Text-to-Speech], I would use the app a little more (which I try to do anyway on the assumption that Amazon updates the apps that are used the most).

By my count there are at least 3 features unique to Kindle for Android:
- Voice search
- Send To Kindle (shows up as a Sharing option with a number of other Android apps)
- Popular Samples'

Thanks, Tom.  I use Google Voice search a lot on my Samsung S2 phone and on my 10" Galaxy tablet which I hardly use anymore since I am spoiled by the HD display of the KFires.

  Off topic
  Although we're talking about Kindle for Android and NOT Kindle Fire apps, I just tested my Google Voice app on my Kindle Fire anyway (I downloaded the app from 1mobile.com long ago) and it works really well.  This is just my usual, confusing side note.

  I use Dolphin browser (for its Flash support) on the KFire and when I brought up google search, I touched the side "||" mark to get the Menu on the side and tapped the Star to get Favorites while still using Dolphin browser  Then I tapped 'Voice' and once I did that, the mic icon showed and asked me to say what I wanted and I said, "a kindle world" and it gave me a short list of what I might have said to the mic.  I tapped the correct item and then Dolphin browser took over, and the Google links to the blog showed up.  Can we say 'insular' ? But Google Voice is so smooth -- both on pure Android devices (the topic of this blog article) and even on the Kindle Fire.

BACK to the topic of Kindle for Android devices
The user reviews for the Kindle for Android app at Google play store are an interesting read.  Excerpts from the first few on the top (the most recent):
. Wow, great app to read book - Also, the dictionary is very good as some people mentioned. Great work, Amazon!

. BETTER NOW...The app's interface is much cleaner and modern now.
[He mentions it has List View and that you don't have to use the Carousel.  You can just open the slider on the left, tap books and at the top right, toggle list view or grid view.]
. Best of the DRM readers [Loves the new Recent reads and the Carousel, as well as "the whole new layout. Good job!"]
That was just the first three showing right now, and you have to click on 'more' to read the rest.
  The 2nd page notes some things people want it to do (like TTS].

  Also, it's evident that the phone users are less ecstatic about how the layout fits on the smaller screens -- some of it is optimized for tablets.  Table of Contents links are too close to the edge on some devices, so you might turn back a page instead of going to the chapter selected.  Amazon is working on fixes for any glitches with the table of contents.

  Things to watch for:
  Reading progress was reset in a few cases.
  Some don't realize the Carousel is an option and that you can choose between List and Grid views.

  A mix of really happy and really unhappy reactions :-) depending on the devices.

  AND, at the Amazon app store, here are the reviews sorted by most recent date so that you can see what people are finding - positive and negative - about the update.

  5-star ratings are most evident, but with a few who experienced problems.  You should view these to see what experiences are for the pure-Android device(s) you own.  Again, customer support says they ARE working on an update for the glitches that occur in the Table of Contents for some.




Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button



Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle News: Paperwhite at $99 thru' April 30 at 11:59pm (Little doubt, U.S. only)


Amazon has a rather hidden promo for $20 off Special-Offer models of the Kindle Paperwhite through 11:59 PM (PST) on Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The promo page was mentioned by TechnoBuffalo, but the promo code didn't work for me.  They also didn't reply to my question of where the rather hidden actual promo page could be found.  Commenters, though, let us know where we can find the brief promo page.

  HOWEVER, the promo code of " KINDLEPW " still might not work for you, as it was initially sent some via email and probably targeted certain customers.

 What some people have done, if they have a problem, is to just contact Kindle Help (as described below) and choose to have them chat with you.  The Chat feature entails typing with them.

  LessthanZach, who happens to be a Sales Manager for AT&T, advises the following, which worked for him:
' Ok guys. Here's the wrap.  The offer is only available for the Special Offers edition[s] of the Kindle.  As of right now, the code doesn't seem to work.  Simply go to "help" then "contact us" and click the option to chat about "payments or promotional codes".  I chatted with a very helpful representative who had me place the order without the code and then he manually applied the discount.  It only took about 5 minutes to get it taken care of.  It is a bit of a shame you have to live with the ads, though.
@David Nguyen I appreciate your suggestion of chatting with them and I can confirm it indeed works just fine. '

This would work with the Special-Offer edition only, remember, and the promo doesn't mention at all the 3G model BUT it also does say "Add any Kindle Paperwhite device to your shopping cart..." so the links to both are WiFi only or WiFi+3G models with Special Offers.  Again, they don't specifically show the 3G model as eligible for the discount, but they did say "any Kindle Paperwhite device."

  My guess is that it's limited to US customers (as are most brief Kindle device promos) but they don't say.

  Reminder of a few other rules (full rules are at the promo page)
. Promotion applies only to new Kindle Paperwhite devices sold and shipped by Amazon Digital Services. It does not apply to the same products sold by other sellers or to Certified Refurbished Kindle products.
. If you do not purchase Kindle Paperwhite prior to April 30, 2013 11:59 PM (PST), the promotion will not apply.
. Each promotion code can be used only once
. The promotion code is not transferrable and may not be resold.
. Limit one promotion code per customer.
. Does not apply to orders placed with 1-Click.
. Offer good while supplies last.

An answer to what happened here found after I wrote the above.
At the Amazon Kindle Forums, flipoid writes the following:
  "I called Amazon Kindle CS and was told by the CS rep that the code was sent out in emails to non-Kindle owners who purchase lots of print books from Amazon.  He told me that if you didn't receive an email, you can't use the code.  So it seems that they're trying to get non-ebook purchasers/readers to get on the digital train. (-: "

And my answer to that is that apparently Amazon is allowing people who call them about this, to buy it, because the promo in no way holds language limiting this offer to people who don't already own a Kindle, and there are many who have older Kindles and DO want a Paperwhite, and it seems only fair that they could get the benefit of the promo if they know about it (which is what has been happening).

The ones that were allowed to go through with customer service chat help were bought many hours after the forum member's phone call got a negative for current Kindle owners.

  And, the promo code entry validation is no doubt programmed to work only for those who don't already own a Kindle device, which is why the automated discount would work for some people but not for others.

  Normally, if they want only a subsection of customers to be eligible, they'll add the language "For new Kindle [device] customers only" but they didn't.

So, this will be your call. Customer reps, in chat mode, have been asking customers to go ahead and buy one and they will issue a refund after the purchase process.  Those were allowed to be purchased with discount half a day or more after the morning explanation to a Kindle owner by phone.

Please let me know if any customer rep does not allow this to be done after you've let them know that manual purchases with customer service rep help on the promo have been going through.  It's a dilemma of sorts for two more days :-)



  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:
Temporarily-free books - Non-classics
USA: by:
   Publication Date  
   Bestselling   High-ratings

UK: PubDate   Popular

The Kindle Daily Deal

What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care

Highly-rated under $1
,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3
Most Popular Free K-Books
U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):
   Top 100 free
UK-Only:
   Top 100 free

Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.

USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently):
  99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,
  99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

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