CNET's Lance Whitney Amazon's new "Matchmaker" Audible book bundling feature. The image here is of an Audible audio-book that Amazon presented to Whitney as matching a Kindle book he owns, available at a Matchmaker discount price.
' The retailer's new Matchmaker page scans your Kindle library to see which e-books have a corresponding audio version. The audio versions then pop up with discounted price tags. Simply click on the upgrade button for a specific book to make your payment. You can also listen to an audio preview of any book before you buy it. 'You'll need the Audible app on your mobile device. With Whispersync, you can listen to the book "and then switch to the e-book version where you left off."
The ones presented to me at the Matchmaker page were of NON-public domain books and I was surprised they were available on Audible.
He points out that ""The Wizard of Oz" could be had for 99 cents, down from $14.95. And "Gulliver's Travels," as read by actor David Hyde Pierce, was free."
E-Ink Kindle DX Graphite (DXG) - $50 off until Oct. 15 at 11:59 pm
This 9.7" e-Ink Kindle, with more text on a 'page' and larger fonts that look as if they are etched onto the screen, made a re-appearance on Amazon's e-Ink family header in May 2013, at $299 (formerly $379).
A couple of months ago, the price was lowered to $239 and as of last night, when I saw that it became $189 for "a limited time", the specific time given in an Amazon email notice I received this morning.
That price is good until almost midnight on October 15. You can see information on what this device is like in the blog article for May 31.
Alert: The current e-Ink family header with the discounted DXG price has an oddity on it, at least for now: The 3G Kindle Paperwhite is linking to the previous Paperwhite model at $179 rather than to the current 3G Paperwhite that is $189. If you click on that, note that it's the older model for some reason.
Meaty excerpt from Brad Stone's book about Jeff Bezos
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (release date Oct. 15).The long excerpt really is a fascinating read. Considering the often eye-opening descriptions of Jeff Bezos by those who are former employees or friends (as well as current ones), the following paragraph probably describes the working atmosphere well:
' The people who do well at Amazon are often those who thrive in an adversarial atmosphere with almost constant friction. Bezos abhors what he calls “social cohesion,” the natural impulse to seek consensus. He’d rather his minions battle it out backed by numbers and passion, and he has codified this approach in one of Amazon’s 14 leadership principles—the company’s highly prized values that are often discussed and inculcated into new hires:And of course there can be sudden limits to that idea when the person whose ideas or reactions you're challenging is Jeff Bezos."Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly." '
As a result of this article and book, I suspect that his longtime email address will be flooded and, even though staff would open most of it while he reads at least some of it, the latter will be considerably more difficult soon. One thing remains clear; the customer is royalty, with limits, though the latter seem fewer than normally encountered. Even clearer is how essential Bezos the man is to Amazon as the consumer-trusted company it is.
Outside of some not totally surprising confrontational styles, there is one unexpected parallel with Steve Jobs in that JB has never (past the age of 3, with no memory of it) met his biological father (T. Jorgensen), while having a supportive adopted father from earliest years. These are examples of apples falling quite far from the trees.
And, ironically, now Brad Stone has met Jorgenson, who had never heard of Jeff Bezos. "Is he still alive?" While this may seem idle gossip, the similarities with S. Jobs's situation is remarkable. And the story is a poignant one.
I was going to quote a startled reaction by one of Jorgenson's grandchildren, but since it ends the Businessweek excerpt, it's fairer for you to read it there. I think I know what book will be in the Top 10 in Amazon charts for awhile :-) (I just ordered mine.)
Digital Trend's Trevor Mogg reports on Amazon's new incentives for Android app developers to optimize apps for the Kindle Fire line (with tight standards), making the developers eligible for more exposure or 'discovery' and more revenue and growing the appstore.
Free Android app of the day - 10/10/13 - Entertainment category
Supermarket Management - a game in Time Management with focus on managing, well, a supermarket - gets good ratings
Updated Skype app soon
"Skype improves Android application, adds better video quality"
The Mobile Indian's Rahul Gupta reports on an updated Skype for Android, to be available on Kindle "later this month."
ifixit.com's "Teardown" of the 7" Kindle Fire HD 2013 (the $139 model)
Intro and highlights
The pictures and details are on scrolling pages -- with an option to see it all on a single page
Am glad they clarify for readers what Amazon's Kindle naming hasn't made very clear (described by me earlier).
"Let us break it down for you: This HD is really the new Kindle Fire and the Kindle Fire HDX will be the new Kindle Fire HD. Confused yet?"
So, again, comparison of the Yr 2013 7" HD model vs last year's model should be by looking at last year's NON-HD basic model, since this year's basic model was upgraded to an HD display and, as before, does not have a camera or HDMI-out but does have a faster processor in addition, although the super-budget $139 model has only GB of memory as an option. My recommendation is that people wanting the basic model buy the 16GB version ($169) as most will want to have more apps and probably a video on the device and that additional 8GB will save users some frustration with needing to swap out apps or other content due to limited storage space. The $139 model is for those who want to save the money and can deal with using the Cloud to swap content in and out.
- A couple of findings (besides identifying all the parts)
"Not only does your tablet have virtual surround sound, but it has clarity-optimized sound, with or without headphone."
"The few components that might fail can be easily, inexpensively replaced."
Opportunities increase for authors in e-book Singles marketplace
(Tweeted earlier for authors interested in the growing "Singles" book market)
article by Howard Polskin for Huffington Post
Wow, they are really tough in Guyana!
"Jailed three years for stealing Kindle" - Only a part of the story is available as the rest of it is for subscribers.
Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
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.
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BGR's Zach Epstein