Amazon announces its Black Friday deals, which go live this week

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Friday/b?node=384082011

Amazon has already kicked off its Black Friday deals early this year and has just announced a selection of upcoming offers that will run from November 20th. Discounts can be found on everything from electronics and video games, to fashion and kitchen appliances.

New Black Friday deals will be arrive “as often as every five minutes” and there are a number of Gold Box Deals of the Day to keep an eye on as well. For example, today you can already grab a Fitbit One for $74.99. Amazon Prime members will be given a 30 minute head start on most of the limited Lightening deals. There will also be a number of other exclusive sales that are only available through the Amazon Mobile Shipping App. These will be released daily from 3 PM PT to 11 PM PT, starting Thanksgiving and running through to December 9th.

When it comes to electronics, our favourite Amazon category, there’s a big selection of deals to be had. Amazon is offering discounts on its selection of Kindle readers and tablets, its Fire TV box and Fire TV Stick. A number of Samsung Galaxy Tablets will also have a 20 percent saving applied in the week, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There also are discounts on a huge range of TV and speaker products. A 15” ASUS laptop can be bought for just $129, while there’s 50 percent to be saved on the Sennheiser HD 598 over-ear headphones. If you need more space in your smartphone or tablet, there’s up to 70 percent off select SanDisk memory cards and USB flash drives too.

That should be everything you need to keep an eye on the best Amazon deals later this week. To see the full range of discounts revealed so far, click the press release button below.

AMAZON BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

Show Press Release

Amazon.com Announces Eight Days of Holiday Deals

Enjoy new deals every five minutes starting Friday, November 20 through Friday, November 27 Effortlessly keep tabs on top deals from anywhere with new “Watch A Deal” feature SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 18, 2015– (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon.com today announced holiday deals start on Friday, November 20, with new deals added as often as every five minutes for eight straight days at www.amazon.com/blackfriday. Customers will have access to 10 coveted Deals of the Day starting at midnight on Thanksgiving, and up to 10 more on Black Friday. Customers can also shop limited-time Lightning Deals on thousands of sought-after products per day throughout the eight days of deals. Plus, Prime members will get 30-minutes early access to the majority of these Lightning Deals. This year, Amazon will introduce more than 150 hand-picked Lightning Deals on everything from electronics to kitchen gadgets only through the Amazon Mobile Shopping App available on Android, iOS, and Fire OS. These deals can be found on the “App Only Deals” tab and will be released daily from 3 PM PT to 11 PM PT starting Thanksgiving through Wednesday, December 9. In addition, Prime members in 20 metro areas can use the dedicated Prime Now mobile app to enjoy free two-hour delivery on select Deals of the Day throughout the holiday season. Last year, total holiday sales from the Amazon Mobile Shopping App doubled in the U.S. and Black Friday had the most rapid growth in mobile shopping. This year, it will be even easier to spend time with loved ones thanks to “Watch A Deal” which allows holiday shoppers to pick the deals they’re most excited about and receive a notification to their mobile device when the deal is live. With this new feature, Amazon customers can effortlessly take advantage of deals throughout the day and while on-the-go. “Customers can truly sit back and relax with their family and friends this holiday season knowing that they will be notified as soon as the products they’ve had their eye on are about to go on sale,” said Steve Shure, Vice President, Amazon Consumer Marketing. “Year after year, more and more customers shop for deals on Amazon from the comfort of their own home, and we continue to make that process even more convenient for them. And with App Only Deals, customers will have plenty of options when it comes to scoring great deals from Amazon.” Following are examples of some of the top deals that will be available at various times between November 20 and Black Friday at www.amazon.com/blackfriday: Electronics: Kindle Paperwhite, $99.99 $30 off Kindle and Kindle for Kids Bundle Fire, $34.99 Fire Kids Edition, $84.99 $25 off Amazon Fire TV $15 off Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote Up to 45% off select Samsung and LG TVs, including Samsung 32” 1080p LED TV for $177.99, LG 49” 1080p LED TV for less than $370, and Samsung 75” 1080p Smart LED TV for less than $2,000 Top-selling 60” 4K LED TV, $799.99 TCL 55” Roku Smart LED TV, $348 Hisense 55” 4K Smart LED TV, $448 (App Only Deal) 50” 1080p LED TV, $149.99 (App Only Deal) 40” 1080p LED TV, $145 TCL 32” Roku Smart LED TV, $125 32” LED TV, $75 Acer Home Theater Projector, $299.99 VIZIO 38” 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar, $79.99 $49 off SONOS 2-Room Streaming Music Starter Set Save 40% on Polk Audio Omni S2 Wireless Speaker Up to 25% off Denon HEOS 1 Wireless Speakers 50% off Sony Extra Bass Bluetooth Headphones Save more than 50% on Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition Over-Ear Headphones in Black (Amazon Exclusive) More than 50% off top-selling point-and-shoot camera Jawbone UP3, $99 Save $100 on an Intel-Powered Dell 2-in-1 Laptop ASUS 15” laptop, $129 Up to 40% off select Acer desktops, monitors, chromebooks, and tablets Save more than 20% on select Samsung Galaxy Tablets Save up to 70% on select SanDisk memory cards and USB flash drives Top-selling mobile printer for less than $100 Baby, Toys & Pets: Save 30% or more on select Graco Car Seats and Strollers Up to 60% off select Disney apparel, toys, and more Save 50% on select best-selling wooden preschool toys 40% off select Fisher-Price Musical Instruments Up to 50% off select toys from favorite brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and more Save 50% on select construction toys from K’NEX, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys Up to 50% off select Lionel Train Sets, including Polar Express 50% off select wearable technology products and robotic toys for kids 45% off UDI R/C Falcon Drone with HD Camera LEGO Star Wars Stormtrooper Figurine Alarm Clock, $15.99 Up to 60% off select Nylabone dog treats and chew toys Save more than 50% on select Outward Hound dog toys Up to 50% off select PetSafe pet products Home & Kitchen: Save $50 on Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit Save up to $200 on select Dyson vacuums Save 40% on Silhouette Cameo Starter Bundle $25 off with select DEWALT purchases of $100 or more $20 off select orders of $100 or more in Porter-Cable tools DEWALT 18-Volt Compact Drill/Driver Kit with Two Batteries, $89 More than 45% off Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Ultra LED Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit Up to 60% off select products from FoodSaver, Oster, Krups, Nespresso, T-fal, Wilton, and more More than 55% off select Imprint Cumulus Comfort Mats More than 50% off select Instant Pot Programmable Pressure Cookers Save up to 40% on select cookware from Circulon and Rachael Ray More than 40% off Rabbit 6-Piece Wine Tool Kit Save 20% on Soma Sustainable Carafe and Plant-Based Water Filter, available through the new Amazon Launchpad program for startups Sports & Travel: 34% off Skywalker 15-Feet Jump N’ Dunk Trampolines Insta-Bed Raised Air Mattress with Never Flat Pump – Queen, $87.99 BARSKA Starwatcher 400x70mm Refractor Telescope, $49.50 30% off Reebok Professional Deck Workout Bench 25% off Nautilus T614 Treadmill STIGA Triumph Table Tennis Table, $299.99 25% off select Timbuk2 Command Messenger Bags 25% off select Under Armour fleece adidas Originals Men’s Sport Essentials Tee, $19.99 Save up to 50% on select adidas footwear for men, women, and kids Save 70% or more on Samsonite Two-Piece Spinner Sets Up to 45% off RV and camping supplies, including select products from Camco and Valterra Up to 55% off select Automotive D-I-Y items Fashion & Beauty: Up to 70% off select clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, and watches for men, women, and kids 30% off select clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, and watches with promotional code 30BLACKFRI Up to 70% off select diamond jewelry gifts Up to 50% off select luxury watches for women Select Levi’s Jeans for men, $39.99 or less 45% off select New Balance shoes for men, women, and kids 50% off select Steve Madden shoes for men 50% off select Steve Madden and Madden Girl shoes for women and kids 50% off select Stride Rite shoes and more for kids Select baby and kids’ coats, fleece, hats, and more, $14.99 or less Save up to $30 on Oral Care, including Oral-B electric toothbrushes Up to 25% off select skin care products, including Dove, Olay, and more Books, Music & Video Games: 80% off Transformers: The Covenant of Primus Save more than 50% on Deathstroke Volume 1 Book and Mask Set Save on more than 10 autographed CDs, including Kenny Rogers, Megadeth, and more (Amazon Exclusive) Save 15% or more on select vinyl records Save $20 on Need for Speed Save $30 on Rock Band 4 Wireless Guitar Bundle $50 off Xbox One Consoles $50 off PlayStation 4 Uncharted Bundle $25 off Metal Gear Solid V Hundreds of PC download deals up to 70% off All prices available at select times and while supplies last. Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 20 million items and unlimited Free Same-Day Delivery on more than a million items in 16 metro areas. In addition, Prime members in 20 metro areas receive one- and two-hour delivery on tens of thousands of everyday essentials with the dedicated Prime Now mobile app. To become a member, visit www.amazon.com/prime. Amazon also offers free shipping on millions of items every day, year-round, on eligible orders of $35 or more. About Amazon Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.

Amazing Amazonia: Amazon Rainforest [46 Pics]

From: http://www.lovethesepics.com/

The “lungs of our planet” have been attributed to the Amazon rainforest, also known as Amazonia. This Amazon jungle, or the Amazon basin in South America, covers over 1.7 billion acres acres (7,000,000 square kilometers); the actual tropical rainforest is spread over 1.4 billion acres and 9 countries: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 60% of the Amazon jungle is contained within Brazil. The Amazon represents over half the remaining rainforests worldwide and contains the largest and most species-rich tropical forest system on our planet. Amazonia grew around the Amazon River which is the longest river, the largest river, and the basin has the largest area in the world. The Amazon River has total flow greater than the top ten world’s rivers combined. The biodiversity of this wet tropical forest could boggle the brain; one in ten animal species lives here and it is the largest collection of living plants on the globe . . . and much of the Amazon is still unexplored. It definitely should be protected for the tropical jungle paradise may hold the keys, yet to be discovered, to cure countless diseases.The amazing Amazon rainforest is one of the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition. We love these pics! [46 Photos]

The biodiversity in these wet tropical forests is mind-blowing. It is home to the largest collection of living plant and animal species in the world. One in ten known species on this planet lives in the Amazon Rainforest. Amazonia is home to around 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and more than 2,000 birds and mammals. So far, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fishes, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified within this region. One in five of all bird and fish species live here. The Scarlet Macaws above are indigenous to the American tropics. The photographer wrote, “Red-and-Green Macaws DO grow on trees in the Amazon.” Photo #1 by Billtacular

The San Rafael Falls and Quijos River are located at the foot of the highly active Reventador Volcano which rises out of the Amazon jungle east of the Andes. Based on archaeological evidence, it is believed that humans first inhabited this Amazon paradise at least 11,200 years ago. Photo #2 by Imagesunion

Streams of light in the Amazonian mist. Inside this rainforest, you never quite know what you might see . . . Photo #3 by Jon Rawlinson

You might see a Tupi ‘red bird,’ also known as the scarlet ibis, one of the most beautiful Brazilian birds, because of the color of their plumage. Photo #4 by J.Gil Photography

Or you might see an Amazonian ‘Godzilla.’ Photo #5 by Laurent

In Amazonia, you might even stumble upon an Emerald Boa. Eek! Photo #6 by Free Pet Wallpapers

Amazon rainforest jaguar. Bet you won’t bump into one of these beautiful beasties in an urban jungle? Photo #7 by By Land Rover Our Planet

Click here for the FULL GALLERY: http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/10/amazing-amazonia-amazon-rainforest-46-pics/

Van Damme Friday - Behind Closed Doors DVD

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Jean-Claude Van Damme - Behind Closed Doors DVD is available now from all good retailers!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jean-Claude-Van-Damme-Behind-Closed/

Mili PowerSpring 4 doubles the battery life of your iPhone 4

By Thomas Ricker
From: http://www.engadget.com/

There's a big difference between the iPhone 4 and Galaxy S. No, not iOS vs. Android 2.1 or even Retina vs. Super AMOLED. We're talking batteries: one is removable and one isn't -- guess which is which? This perennial iPhone "feature" has spawned as entire industry of device-specific accessories that sate the need for more juice while simultaneously killing the form (and aesthetic) of an otherwise pocketable gadget. But hey, it's your only choice when you're either too busy (CES) or unable (intercontinental flights) to tether yourself to a power socket. And guess what? Those curvy battery packs that hugged your iPhone 3G/3GS won't work with the boxy iPhone 4. So, here's the latest, and one of the first iPhone 4 cases with an extended battery pack to ship. The Mili PowerSpring 4 starts shipping today for £54.99 (or $85 on Amazon). It claims to be the world's thinnest iPhone 4 battery pack to double your battery life thanks to a 1600mAh capacity Li-Pol battery. That makes this roadwarrior necessity just a bit less evil.

Mili, Amazon

Amazon to Acquire Zappos for $847 Million

By Brad Stone

Zappos A Zappos warehouse in Kentucky. The ten-year-old online shoe company has won fans with perks like free shipping and personalized service.

Amazon says it has reached an agreement to purchase the online shoe retailer Zappos.com.

Amazon says it is paying for the acquisition with 10 million shares of stock worth approximately $807 million, based on the average closing price for the 45 trading days ended July 17. In addition, Amazon said it would provide Zappos employees with $40 million in cash and restricted stock units.

Tony Hsieh, the chief executive of Zappos, has blogged about the deal here and said the company would maintain its independence within Amazon.

Asked whether Amazon plans to close its own Endless store for shoes and handbags, a spokesman, Craig Berman, replied via e-mail: “Amazon plans to continue building these stores and focusing on making the experience even better for our customers. There are no plans to shut down any existing stores based on the acquisition of Zappos.”

In an eight-minute video address, Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey Bezos, used a flip chart to pass along the lessons he had learned from running his company:

1) Obsess over customers
2) Invent
3) Think long term

When he finally got around to talking about Zappos, about six minutes into the video, he said, “Zappos has a customer obsession, which is so easy for me to admire,” he said. “I get all weak-kneed when I see a customer-obsessed company.”

Mr. Bezos also said he valued Zappos’ culture, brand and leadership, and that poised the company for a lot of growth ahead. “And that brings me to that final thing that I know: It’s always Day 1.” (Read more about Zappos’ culture in this November Bits interview with Mr. Hsieh.)

In a note to his employees, Mr. Hsieh said Zappos would continue to operate separately from Amazon. “We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos — continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are switching out our current shareholders and board of directors for a new one, even though the technical legal structure may be different.”

Get a 6-foot HDMI cable for $3.19 shipped

by Rick Broida

Pay more than a few bucks for an HDMI cable and you're getting ripped off.

(Credit: Amazon)

As regular Cheapskate readers know, HDMI cables are insanely overpriced. Pity the uninformed consumer who walks into, say, Best Buy, and walks out $40 to $90 poorer. Happens all the time.

But it doesn't have to. Help me spread the word: Eforcity (via Amazon) has a 6-foot HDMI cable for just $3.19 shipped. (Actually, the cable's only 21 cents, shipping costs $2.98. That drives me nuts, so I stayed focused on the total price. Which is awesome.)

In case you're not familiar with them, HDMI cables carry digital audio and video signals between your TV and gear like game consoles and Blu-ray players.

Are they all created equal? No, but there's ample scientific and anecdotal evidence that dirt-cheap generic cables perform just as well as their pricey big-name counterparts (cough *Monster* cough). Don't get suckered into buying the latter.

Need more proof? This particular cable has a whopping 1,863 user reviews on Amazon, and the average score is 4.5 stars out of 5. 'Nuff said.

Joke review boosts T-shirt sales

By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News

The T-shirt has three wolves and the Moon on it...

A T-shirt has become one of the most popular items sold by online retailer Amazon in the past few weeks.

Sales of the kitsch Three Wolf Moon T-shirt shot up 2,300% after a spate of ironic reviews went viral.

The first review gave the shirt five stars, saying it "Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women" but "cannot see wolves with arms crossed".

That prompted hundreds of others to post frivolous reviews, turning the page into an internet phenomenon.

"When I put this T-shirt on for the first time, my wife left me! Thank you, Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt," wrote one wag, while another said that "the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt gave me a +10 resistance to energy attacks, +8 Strength... and I have successfully solved 7 crimes in my city".

Amazon's senior manager of community content, Russell Dicker, said the T-shirt was currently the top selling item in their clothing store.

"The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt recently moved up 2,300% in sales rank," he said. "We are grateful that our reviewers are so passionate."

Publicity shy

However, the firm which actually makes the T-shirt appeared less than pleased at some of the comments.

"The Mountain is a wholesale company and does not sell shirts on Amazon, so this viral assault went under our radar until the shirt made it into the top 10 in the Amazon apparel section," they said in a posting on the Amazon site.

"We appreciate humour as much as the next company, but we don't approve of some of the remarks.

"Not everyone can start out at the top and not everyone from our neck of the woods lives in a trailer or cruises Walmart to hook up."

This is not the first time comedy reviews on Amazon have gone viral. In 2006, there were more than a thousand reviews for Tuscan Whole Milk.

They ranged from soap opera-style script - "That was when I knew. He was tired of this life with me, tired of bringing home the Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz" - to stating the obvious: "Has anyone else tried pouring this stuff over dry cereal? A-W-E-S-O-M-E!"

Amazon Caves to Snippy Authors: Kindle's Text-to-Voice Feature Now Optional

By Dan Nosowitz

We reported the Author's Guild's litigious anger about the Kindle 2's text-to-voice feature, claiming it violates audio book copyrights. It's an arguable position, but Amazon has gone ahead and caved to the literate man.

Amazon has backed down for the Guild's comfort rather than for any legal motivation, since it's pretty clear that a robotic reading isn't the same as an audio book. "We strongly believe many rights holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver's seat," Amazon said.

But instead of removing the feature, Amazon has simply made it optional, so publishers can decide for themselves what's best for their property. That means it's unlikely the much-advertised (though not necessarily much-loved) feature is going to be too useful for Kindle 2 owners. We're not thrilled, since the Guild has no real legal leg to stand on and seems to need Amazon more than Amazon needs them, but then again, we're not fancy-pants authors. [CNET]

I'm a fancy-pants author and I say this is crap! -JC

10 reasons to buy a Kindle 2… and 10 reasons not to

by John Biggs

From xkcd

Having used both Kindles 1 and 2, I thought it would helpful to list where the new Kindle excels and where it falters. The dead tree book will never die - I think it will even have more longevity and popularity than the boutique appreciation of vinyl records - but our generation will be the last to use “books” as our primary reading systems. Expect ebooks to hit colleges in perhaps five years and high schools and grade schools in about 7. That said, should you buy a Kindle now? Why and why not?

10 Reasons to buy a Kindle 2

1. It’s great if you travel. If you travel, the Kindle is a godsend. I’m the kind of guy who stocks up books for even short trips, fully expecting to finish War and Peace, Notes from Underground, and four Clive Cussler novels on a plane trip from Pittsburgh to Columbus. With the Kindle you have a full complement of books available at any time.

2. You can put anything you want on it. You can easily email DOC, TXT, and PDF files to your own Kindle email address for conversion to the Kindle - but that costs 10 cents.

3. It looks great. The Kindle 2 is an amazing improvement over the Kindle 1. If every manufacturer took cues on build quality and product life cycles from Amazon, we’d all be better off.

4. It feels great. This new version has excellent button placement and is thin enough to cut cheese. It’s eminently portable.

5. Almost any book at any time. Except for a few esoteric reference books I’ve found just about everything I need on the Kindle store. As more and more publishers go ebook - and I think an iPhone Kindle reader will truly blow the last bottlenecks out - this excuse will become ineffective.

6. It works in inclement conditions. I was in Mexico with the wife and kids and I wanted to test the Kindle out near the pool. Three books later and I felt like the laziest high-tech maven in the world. The ladies next to me brought twenty softcover novels with them and all of them got wet and messy. The Kindle worked like a dream.

7. The bookmarking and highlighting systems are vastly improved. The original Kindle had two methods for note-taking: you could select text and add a note or you could add a book mark. The new system refines those considerably and adds visual feedback whenever you take a note.

8. The dictionary is now in-line. When you move to a word, its definition appears at the bottom of the page. If you wanted a definition before, you had to pop out to a separate page.

9. You can almost see and understand the illustrations in 16 greyscale shades. Note the “almost.” However, it’s better than 4 shades, which was abysmal.

10. It is the future. Sorry, it is. Amazon nailed the ebook and they’re going to own the space for the next few years. Maybe they’ll pull a Netflix and sell the software to OEMs, which is fine by me. But ebooks are what we’ll be reading while we rocket to Mars in 2050. Or we’ll have our robotic concubines read them to us.

10 reasons not to buy a Kindle 2

1. It’s bad for research. I’m working on a book right now and I wanted to use the Kindle for all of my research. Sadly, this is almost impossible. The book is a physical object - you can move through it, skimming for notes and important points - and there is something in our education that gives us a sense of space inside a book. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but you know how you can pick up a book and show someone what you’re looking for in a few page turns? You know it was halfway through, maybe a third of the way down the page, and it was near another set of words. The Kindle is not conducive to that kind of mental map-making… yet.

2. It’s horrible for reference. Don’t buy a Kindle of you just read programming manuals. Programming manuals offer something different. While it seems counterintuitive that a document you can search programatically wouldn’t be good as reference material, you’re better off looking up function calls on a website and using the physical book as a guide to building your programs. This is a corallary of point 1, above, so this could change.

3. The Kindle is flimsy. You’ll go through your day thinking you will break your Kindle. You don’t fit that much screen on a thin device that is meant to be thrown into a bag without a care and not risk cracking it. There will come a day when you open your bag and see that your Kindle is dead, even in its case. It’s not your fault. Say it with me: it’s not your fault.

4. It’s not ready for students. Add points 1, 2, and 3 together and you come to the conclusion that this is not ready for students. This may be a good device for English classes requiring lots of long novel reading, but as an education tool it isn’t quite there.

5. The net connection doesn’t work internationally. For some reason last year I was convinced the Kindle had Wi-Fi built-in. I was trying to get on the Internet in Warsaw, Poland and I kept looking for that Wi-Fi button. Then I remembered - no Wi-Fi. And I cried. How I cried, my friends. Then I downloaded the Kindle book onto my desktop and dragged it over via the USB cable. So that’s, in essence, your international solution.

6. No SD slot. While the Kindle can easily hold 1,500 books, what if you’re the kind of person who likes to keep everything in its right place? Maybe you want to make a book playlist? Maybe you have 1,501 books? I don’t know. Sadly, the Kindle doesn’t allow for memory expansion. Not a big deal, but to some it’s a bad thing.

7. Flight attendants will tell you to turn it off on take off and landing. You can’t explain that it’s epaper and uses no current. You just can’t. It’s like explaining heaven to bears.

8. It contains a battery. Remember, Reader, the Kindle is mortal. It will die on you when you don’t have your charger.

9. It’s bottom heavy. The internal battery makes the device want to plop face down on your chest. I read it last night when I was sleepy and it kept getting ready to fall on me.

10. There’s just something about a dead tree book, isn’t there? It’s nice to pop into the airport news stand and pick up a novel. It just is. I’m sorry.

Amazon Kindle 2 Revealed

The 2.0 version of the ebook reader is slimmer, handsomer, and easier to use

Kindle 2 Design: The new, ultra-thin Kindle has a better screen and much better navigation. Sean Captain

Make no mistake about it: The original Kindle ebook reader was an amazing device -- the first ereader to engender feelings of love. Tying a lightweight screen to Amazon's book collection with a free 3G wireless connection was genius, and easily earned our Best of What's New kudos.

But the original Kindle was by no means a looker. Its wide, clunky buttons seemed to have been placed at random, with the sole intention of making them easy to press by accident. The four-level grayscale e-ink screen was fine for text but made photos (say, from newspaper articles) look like really cheap Xeroxes from the library copy machine. And navigation was sluggish.

Kindle 2.0, introduced today, is what 1.0 should have been. It's an amazing 0.36 inches thin -- making the 0.48-inch iPhone look chunky. (In fact, 2.0 looks eerily like an oversized original iPhone in its dimensions and two-tone back plate.) Buttons now tilt inward, meaning you're a lot less likely to bump the edge and accidentally advance to the next page. And a new 16-shade grayscale screen renders handsome black and white photos.

It works better as well. Gone is the odd scroll wheel that moved so much faster than the lethargic screen refresh that I typically overshot what I was looking for. In its place is a joystick that lets you zip the cursor around text -- to select words and look up their definitions, for example. It also makes newspapers easier to navigate. While you're reading one article, you see can push the joystick to the left or right to scroll through headlines of other articles and jump to them. Or push down on the joystick to get a list of all the newspaper sections.

Kindle 2.0 also introduces a text-to-speech function that reads aloud anything on the screen. Though it lacks real intonation, the voice does sound much better than the 1950s android-style speech you might expect.

Curiously, the Kindle plays this audio over stereo speakers. Overkill? Or can we be expecting real eBooks and maybe music downloads in the future? And in case your neighbors aren't as fond of robospeech as you are, you can plug in a stereo headphone.

Content offerings include 230,000 books for $9.99 or less (including 103 of the top 110 on the New York Times bestseller list). Among those titles is an exclusive on the new Stephen King novella Ur, perhaps the first literary infomercial. The horror writer showed up at the unveiling announcing "I'm the entertainment portion," and recounted how Amazon asked him about a month ago to write a story specifically for Kindle.

King read aloud a portion of Ur in which the protagonist, a university literature professor, first encounters the Kindle in the hands of a student. He chides the young man for reading from a computer screen, but the student fights back, explaining all the wonderful advantages of this Kindle electronic reader, finally saying "You ought to get one." The entire class cheers when the professor says that he "just might." For anyone who believes in the separation of literature and commerce, Ur certainly will be a horror story.

But with 229,999 other books on offer, there should be some enjoyable reading available for most anyone.

Amazon also expanded its selection of newspapers and magazines, including USA Today and The New Yorker, and it has grown the number of blogs that are available for automatic updates, including our pals over at gadget site Gizmodo.

Kindle 2.0 is available for pre-order now at amazon.com/kindle2 for $359 and will start shipping on February 24th. Customers on the waiting list for the long sold-out Kindle 1 will get an automatic upgrade to K2, and current K1 owners move to the front of the line if they order a K2 before midnight Tuesday.

Here are some other key specs:

Size: 5.3 by 8 by 0.36 inches, 10.2 ounces

Screen: 6-inch electrophoeretic screen at 600 by 800 pixels, 16-level grayscale

Storage: 2.5GB internal storage with space for about 1500 books

Battery life: two weeks

Wireless: 3G EVDO cellular data connection (from Sprint) for 60-second book downloads

Connection: USB 2.0 for loading audio files

Audio: stereo speakers plus standard 3.5-mm headphone jack

Built-in dictionary: 250,000-entry

Blogs available: 1,200

By Sean Captain Posted 02.09.2009 at 1:57 pm 1 Comment

Amazon Fails At Gift Wrapping Your Nephew's X-Mas Present

By Meg Marco, 10:45 AM on Tue Dec 9 2008, 98,198 views

Matt would like to let Amazon know that there's no point in gift wrapping a present if you then put the gift wrapped item inside a box that says what the gift is. This should probably be self-evident — but alas — it isn't.

Matt ordered this copy of "Tales of Beedle The Bard" for his 13-year-old nephew. He paid an extra $4 to have it gift wrapped. Amazon actually gift wrapped it, then put the gift wrapped book inside a box that said what it was. Matt is annoyed.

My 13 year old nephew is a huge Harry Potter fan. So being the loving uncle that I am, I ordered for Christmas the “Tales of Beedle the Bard” special Amazon only deluxe edition. I also paid four dollars to have the gift pre-gift wrapped for Christmas. Unfortunately there will be no glow of surprise and joy as he opens his gift this Christmas. No I did not tell him what he got and yes the gift was properly wrapped. The fail here is the fact that the shipping box was covered in stickers and printing indicating exactly what was inside of the shipping box.

Enjoy this bad packaging.

Sigh.

Want a Better Way to Search Amazon and eBay? Try PicClick

by Adam Ostrow

Searching Amazon and eBay sometimes feels a bit archaic – the look and feel hasn’t changed all that much over the years, and the search results can be cumbersome. PicClick is a new visual search tool that looks to improve this process, offering a thumbnail view of dozens of items for a given search.

To use the service, you simply enter in a search term, a minimum/maximum price, and a zip code. PicClick will then search Amazon or eBay, presenting you a list of thumbnail pics and prices for products matching the search. Alternatively, you can browse by category, like Electronics, Home & Garden, or Sporting Goods. For more information on a product, you simply click on the thumbnail, which takes you to the respective product page on Amazon or eBay.

The site was built by Ryan Sit, the same developer who brought us ListPic, a similar tool for searching Craigslist that was shut down last year by the classifieds site. I asked him if he thought PicClick might meet a similar fate, to which he responded, “[it] shouldn’t, PicClick is an approved eBay compatible application, which means it went through some eBay certification and they checked it out. Plus eBay and Amazon both have open APIs so as far and I know this type of thing is encouraged .”

Assuming Sit is correct, PicClick is an elegant and simple tool that is more enjoyable to use than the built-in search tools on eBay and Amazon. If it’s at all successful, Sit should make a few dollars this holiday season too, as anything people buy after clicking through from PicClick will earn him referral fees through Amazon and eBay’s respective affiliate programs.