Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app now available

By Christian Zibreg on May 10, 2013

Folks who keep their music, photos, documents and other stuff stored in the Amazon cloud are aware of the online retailer’s dedicated iOS software aptly named Cloud Player which can stream songs from your cloud locker to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.

Although Amazon has yet to release the official Cloud Drive app for Apple’s mobile platform (it’s available on OS X), today it inched toward that goal by releasing a brand new photo management application for iOS.

As the name suggests, the Amazon Cloud Drive Photos application lets you browse image files stored in your Amazon cloud storage, download individual images to your iPhone or iPad, upload on-device images to keep them securely backed up in the cloud and more… Read More

 

Amazon said to be developing glasses-free 3D smartphone

By Cody Lee on May 9, 2013

Now that Facebook has finally fulfilled the prophecies, and entered the smartphone market, all eyes are on Amazon. The online retail giant has also long been rumored to be looking to get into the space with its own handset.

And today comes a new report that adds weight to the story. Citing sources familiar with the company’s plans, The WSJ says Amazon is working on a number of new hardware products, including a glasses-free 3D smartphone… Read More

 

Amazon’s Cloud Player can now stream songs to Ford’s SYNC AppLink vehicles

By Christian Zibreg on May 7, 2013

Not to be outdone by the popular Swedish streaming music startup Spotify, which a month ago updated its mobile client with support for Ford’s SYNC AppLink platform, the online retail giant Amazon today issued a similar update to its Cloud Player mobile app.

The app integrates with AppLink vehicles so you can control music playback using your voice and the steering wheel buttons.

Other changes new accessibility features via improved support for the iOS VoiceOver features and an “improved experience” when adding songs to a playlist… Read More

 

Trust Twitter and Google, not Apple, to protect you from government data demands

By Christian Zibreg on May 1, 2013

Well, this is certainly noteworthy. According to the third annual report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) titled “Who Has Your Back?”, gadget giant Apple along with carriers AT&T and Verizon, Google’s rival Yahoo and the forgotten social network MySpace all are very likely to give in to Uncle Sam’s data demands.

Specifically, Apple and Yahoo scored one out of six possible stars, with Verizon and Yahoo rather ingloriously earning zero stars each. These companies’ weak safeguard implementation does little to circumvent data demands and protect your private information from the government’s prying eyes.

Whereas Apple and Yahoo only fight for users’ privacy rights in Congress, companies like Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Dropbox go to great lengths to ensure privacy of your data, earning four out of six stars each… Read More

 

Amazon is planning on introducing a set-top box this fall

By Lory Gil on Apr 24, 2013

Amazon has been working hard to become a player in the tech hardware market. Not only has the Kindle tablets seen multiple redesigns in an effort to compete more closely with the iPad, but the online retail giant has also been rumored to be working on developing a smartphone. Today, Businessweek is reporting that Amazon will introduce a set-top box to compete in the living room arena… Read More

 

Surprise, Apple continues to lead the pack in US online movie rentals and purchases

By Cody Lee on Apr 23, 2013

Most folks are in agreement that Apple revolutionized the digital music industry, and the music industry as a whole, when it launched its iTunes store in April of 2003. At the time, there was no other service offering easy access to digital tracks for $0.99.

And I would argue that it did the same thing for digital movies and TV shows when it added them to iTunes in 2005 and 2006. No one came close to what Apple was doing in the space back then. And judging by the latest numbers, that still holds true today… Read More

 

Amazon buys Evi digital assistant, thwarts Apple partnership with Goodreads deal

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 19, 2013

Online retailer Amazon in an interesting personal assistant move has reportedly acquired Evi (pronounced ee-vee), a Cambridge, England headquartered startup that specialises in knowledge base and semantic search engine software. The company makes an iOS and Android app which uses the True Knowledge Answer engine and Nuance speech recognition platform to deliver answers to complex queries using natural language processing.

Apple’s Siri also uses Nuance for voice recognition and the iPhone maker even threatened to kick Evi out of the App Store for being too similar to Siri, but later changed its mind. Amazon previously in January 2013 bought Ivona Software, a Polish-based specialist in voice technologies that competes with Nuance.

Combining Ivona and Evi could yield some interesting results, giving Apple’s Siri a run for its money, even more so knowing Amazon makes tablets and is rumored to be building a smartphone… Read More

 

Amazon rumored stepping up tablet war with $99 Kindle Fire (update: debunked)

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 20, 2013

As Apple released its $329 iPad mini last year to compete with the growing crop of inexpensive seven-inchers, sales overtook that of the full-size model faster than Apple had envisioned. And because of it, the existing Android tablet vendors competing on the low to mid-end have been undoubtedly feeling lots of heat.

Amazon, which first legitimized the category with launch of the $199 Kindle Fire in September 2011, is reportedly about to up the ante with a $99 Kindle Fire version, a potentially disruptive move which will boost sales and popularize smaller, inexpensive tablets, but also put pressure on Apple and other tablet vendors to slash prices of their warez.

UPDATE: Amazon shoots down the rumor, says a $99 Kindle Fire is “not happening”… Read More

 

Apple’s Tim Cook loses top CEO ranking to Facebook in Glassdoor survey

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 15, 2013

It’s uncertain what caused it, but the first cracks are appearing in the honeymoon between Apple CEO Tim Cook and company employees.

After being named the top CEO of 2012, Cook slipped to 18th place, behind Google and Amazon. According to employment site Glassdoor, Apple employees gave Cook a 93 percent approval rating, down from 97 percent last year.

By comparison, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg jumped 14 points to land in the top spot for 2013 with a 99 percent approval rating from employees of the social networking giant… Read More

 

Apple exploring ways of letting users loan and resell “used” iTunes purchases

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 7, 2013

In a world of digital media, ranging from e-books to movies and music, consumers have often questioned the difficulty of loaning or selling their originally purchased items. In an exciting development, Apple has now developed a way to transfer digital content while also protecting the rights of the publisher.

In three patent applications filed in 2011 and 2012, Apple outlines a method similar to selling a house by transferring ownership of the front door keys, only for iTunes purchases. Driven by digital rights management (DRM), the process gives owners of apps, e-books, music and other digital items rights to loan and resell “used” items to other people… Read More

 

Amazon fixes Kindle iOS bug that could wipe your book library

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 27, 2013

In addition to refreshing its Cloud Player software with a brand new iPad interface and other features, online retailer Amazon last night pushed an update to its Kindle client for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Hopefully you haven’t had a chance to hit the Update button yet, because Kindle version 3.6.1 for iOS has a nasty bug which will delete your entire book library on your device. Of course, all your purchases are still safely available in the Amazon cloud.

The company has acknowledged as much in the app’s release notes on iTunes. “There is a known issue with this update,” the note reads. “If you are an existing Kindle for iOS user, we recommend you do not install the update at this time”. There, you have been warned. The company issued a statement confirming that it’s come up with a fix and a new version is underway.

UPDATE: Kindle version 3.6.2 has just gone live on the App Store, fixing the account deregistering glitch… Read More

 

Amazon launches Cloud Player on iPad

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 27, 2013

If you keep your music in the Amazon cloud, you were able to stream it to your iPhone and iPod touch through Amazon’s free Cloud Player app. Today, the online retailer has pushed a major update which finally runs natively on iPads. It has an updated look on both the iPhone and iPad and new settings to manage caches and more. Cloud Player originally debuted on the iPhone eight months ago and the new version arrives just as Spotify has revamped its iOS client and Apple rolled out iTunes in the Cloud support in a dozen European markets… Read More

 

Millennial: tablet use skyrockets, led by iPad mini and Kindle Fire

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 22, 2013

Millennial Media becomes the latest to release research showing 2012 was a year of rising adoption of tablets and smartphones. Apple continues to lead the charge in tablets – particularly the iPad mini – while Samsung has become the popular face for the family of Android alternatives.

Apple held on to its tablet lead with 58 percent of the market. About a half-dozen Amazon tablets helped Google’s mobile operating system capture 41 percent of tablets, with Samsung the most significant player… Read More

 

Audible launches iPad app

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 20, 2013

In the speeded up world I’m increasingly finding myself listening to audiobooks because I just don’t have the time for long reads. Besides, reading is rarely a background activity.

That’s what I love about spoken word: it saves time. I can enjoy my audiobooks while jogging, cooking, commuting and what not. Heck, I sometimes even listen to audiobooks while I simultaneously blog about technology.

Amazon-owned Audible sells some awesome digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs and today they’ve finally launched an iPad app. And let me tell you, it’s been a worthwhile wait.

Of course, the Newark-based company has had an iPhone app in the App Store since July 2010. That piece of software, too, has received a major refresh today, bringing out a revamped interface, quick sign ups / sign ins and other tidbits… Read More

 

IMDb app updated with Amazon Instant Video links and new Oscar section

By Cody Lee on Feb 19, 2013

Amazon-owned IMDb issued a nice little update for its iOS app last night. The update, which brings the app to version 3.1, adds a handful of new features, including a new Oscar section—just in time for the Award show this Sunday.

Also on the list of additions are new direct links for titles that can be viewed on Amazon’s Instant Video service (if the app is installed), a new ‘Recommendations’ facet that will offer up suggested movie/TV show content, and more… Read More

 

Kindle app gains multicolor highlights, book end actions and more

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 14, 2013

Amazon’s Kindle iOS app has been updated with three useful additions. First up, now you can pick between four color choices to highlight passages of text. Second, Amazon says that the brightness setting will now be saved across device sleeps. And last but not the least, the app now supports something Amazon refers to as Book End Actions, which is basically “sharing the accomplishment with friends on Facebook and Twitter”. Read More

 

Apple closely trails Amazon in mobile shopping satisfaction

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 14, 2013

A new survey out Wednesday gives an intriguing snapshot of current mobile shopping. Naturally, the top Internet retailer, Amazon, takes the first spot in shopping satisfaction but Apple is close on its heels and ties with TV retail powerhouse QVC. In a survey by analytics player ForeSee taken during the all-important holiday shopping period, Apple scored 83 percent as consumers expressed increasing satisfaction with mobile shopping… Read More

 

Apple now a lone holdout in the e-book price fixing suit

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 8, 2013

Last September, three of the nation’s top five book publishers settled with The United States Justice Department (DOJ) over alleged collusion in the pricing of e-books, despite Apple crying foul and accusing Amazon of assisting the government’s agenda. Following DOJ’s deal with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, Penguin followed suite in December 2012 and today DOJ announced that Macmillan has stricken a similar settlement with Uncle Sam, leaving Apple as a lone holdout in the suit… Read More

 

Chitika: iPad recovers from post-Christmas dip, now back to 81% share

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 6, 2013

Apple’s iPad appears to have recovered from its post-Christmas slump. The tablet now enjoys an 81 percent share after falling from a high of 89 percent to 79 percent between December 25-27, 2012. Online advertising network Chitika Tuesday released the chart for the U.S. and Canada which proves the iPad recovered some of the ground lost to cheaper tablets.

The latest data obtained from millions of devices participating in Chitika’s ad network shows Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet having the second-highest January 2013 market share. Although a distant runner-up to the iPad, the Amazon tablet scored a 7.7 percent tablet share, while Samsung’s family of Galaxy tablets reached 3.9 percent… Read More

 

Kindle ad praises the iPad’s Retina display, but…

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 5, 2013

Amazon’s advertising strategy took on an interesting twist indeed. Even though this commercial surprisingly praises both tablets, it paints the iPad as an overpriced choice versus the Kindle Fire HD, which starts at $199 for the seven-inch version.

Both tablets offer “stunning HD”, the commercial proclaims. What Amazon “forgot” to tell viewers is that its 1080p screen is no match for the iPad’s Retina display: the latter has a million more pixels (2,048-by-1,536) than the Kindle Fire HD (1,920-by-1,080). Nothing like the good ol’ fine print, eh? Read More

 
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