Amazon

From 9to5Toys.com:

Amazon has just kicked off a 2-day Android App sale that includes 30 different apps for free. These “essential” apps cover a range of categories including games, utilities, travel, finance, fitness and more. This sale is a great way to pad your app library without spending a dime.

Before you get started, make sure you have the Amazon Appstore for Android installed on your smartphone or tablet.

Here’s our top picks:

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The reason Amazon’s Fire Phone has failed to impress is that it spent so much on the “gimmick” of dynamic perspective that it only had enough cash left to build an otherwise mediocre phone – the conclusion of a component analysis of a teardown of the phone.

Dynamic perspective allows the phone to detect and respond to head movements when viewing the phone’s display, but has been widely seen by reviewers as a novelty or gimmick.

Following iFixit’s earlier teardown of the Fire Phone, re/code has been given sight of a component costing following a separate teardown by research form IHS. This reveals that the total component cost of the Fire Phone is around $205 – more expensive even than Apple’s flagship iPhone 5S. The cost of the dynamic perspective technology left little room for anything but mid-range specs in the rest of the handset, says IHS … 
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iFixit has added to the poor reception given to Amazon’s first ever smartphone, the Fire Phone, by rating it 3/10 for repairability. Even Amazon didn’t seem to have great confidence in the technology, its first ad focusing instead on the free 1-year Amazon Prime subscription you get with the phone.

Despite external, non-proprietary screws and no adhesive holding the casing together, iFixit found that simply removing the battery proved challenging, requiring a mix of heating and prying. After that, says the company, things only got worse … 
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Amazon’s worst kept secret, an all-you-can-read Kindle eBook service, is now live. Dubbed Kindle Unlimited, this $10 per month subscription service grants its members unlimited access to over 600,000 ebooks and thousands of audiobooks. Highlights of the library include:

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, Water for Elephants, Oh Myyy! – There Goes The Internet, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People… plus thousands of classics such as Animal Farm, To the Lighthouse and 2001: A Space Odyssey…

Kindle Unlimited members will also get free access to Audible’s library of over 150,000 audiobooks for 3-months. After which, you’ll presumably need to pay the standard rate of $14.95 per month.

Anyone in the U.S. can try Kindle Unlimited for free for 30 days by signing up for a free trial. All of this content is available on Android, iOS, Windows phone, and of course all Kindle hardware.

Full press release follows:

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Amazon is currently testing an all you can eat subscription-based ebook and audio book service called “Kindle Unlimited.” A product landing page spotted by GigaOM revealed that the unannounced service will provide customers with access to over 600,000 titles for $10 a month. While subscription-based e-book services for smartphones and tablets already exist, Amazon has a vast number of resources that could quickly make the company a force in this relatively untapped market.

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Google X director Babak Parviz founded and led both the Google Glass and contact lens projects at Google, but it appears he has now left the Mountain View corporation in favor of Amazon. This news comes shortly after just two months ago stepping aside to let former Old Navy and Gap marketing VP Ivy Ross take the Google Glass helm.

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Amazon is now a part of the Federal Trade Commission’s investigations into technology corporations with mobile application marketplaces unlawfully billing parents for in-app-purchases. Both Apple and Google have been tangled in the allegations with Apple settling earlier this year and Apple telling the FTC to investigate Google. The FTC today announced it is filing a complaint against Amazon, saying that children have been able to buy goods and extras within apps without the consent of parents. The full release from the FTC can be found below:

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A Re/code piece on Google’s Shopping Express service says that the company is investing $500M to expand the service beyond San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City and roll it out nationally.

The service lets shoppers buy things from local retail stores through Google, which then delivers them to consumers from the physical retail store on the same or next day.

A source familiar with the company’s plans says senior Google execs have set aside as much as $500 million to expand the service nationwide …

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Zoltan Szabadi, a former manager at Amazon Web Services, is being sued by the company after accepting a job on Google’s Cloud team. Amazon claim that by accepting the new role, Szabadi violated a non-compete clause in his employment contract. It will now be up to the courts to decide whether the broad terms of the original agreement actually hold up.

At Amazon, Szabadi was responsible for managing business partnerships with third parties. When he joined Google, he was specifically blocked (by Google, not Amazon) from reaching out to any of his former contacts within six months. Amazon said that wasn’t good enough, however, and filed a lawsuit last week.

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From 9to5Toys.com:

For the next 48 hours, the Amazon App Store for Android is making 31 popular apps and games available for free. This package of apps would cost over $100 if purchased individually at their standard rates.

Amazon hasn’t fluffed this promo with poor titles either. Some of the best known apps include Plex, The Room Two, Slashtop Remote Desktop HD, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek.

While you’re at the Amazon App store you might as well pick up the free app of the day too. Today’s app is the “thrilling, action game,” MacGyver Deadly Descent.

If all these downloads are chewing up too much space on your phone or tablet, then head over to the Amazon Gold Box deal of the day and save up to 70% off select Sony memory cards.

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BlackBerry continues its push to make the platform’s app ecosystem on par with Android and iOS, and a new move announced today will probably be the company’s biggest stride yet. As of the BlackBerry 10.3 update landing this Fall, the apps within the Amazon Appstore will be available to BlackBerry 10 device owners.

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Amazon is expected to announce its first smartphone tomorrow, but the outfit seems to have a lot more in its pipeline. The folks at Lab126, the company’s secretive hardware division are reportedly busy working on several unannounced projects. According to Bloomberg, one group is rumored to be working on a gadget that projects a computer image onto any surface. Another team within the company’s R&D fold is laboring away on a wireless speaker that responds to voice commands and a third crew is working on a payment accepting device said to be in the vein of Square.

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We’re one day away from Amazon’s big reveal and it’s now being rumored that the company’s new smartphone will be exclusive to AT&T, according The Wall Street Journal. If true, this would nurture an existing relationship between the two companies, with Ma Bell currently offering wireless services for Amazon’s Kindle tablets. As for non-AT&T customers interested in the online retailer’s first smartphone, it’s unclear if Amazon will offer an unlocked version of its new handset, or the device will truly be exclusive to America’s second largest wireless carrier.

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After being available on Amazon for a short while, the Moto G with LTE is now available on Motorola’s official website. The device will run you just $219 and comes in either white or black.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erUZQ9GK0sE

Update: Amazon has officially announced its 3D phone dubbed the Fire Phone. You can read the full breakdown here.

Amazon has just announced that it is holding a press event in Seattle on June 18th. The company says that it will unveil a new device at the event. Amazon is also letting anyone request an invite to it by simply filling out a form on its website.

The company also posted a video showing reactions to the new device by customers. One person remarked that “it moved with” them and another claimed that they’ve “never seen anything like” it before. All the customers are essentially moving their heads around with the device. It is widely expected to be a 3d-capable smartphone, which the company has allegedly been working on for quite a while.

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With Apple having just acquired Beats Electronics, Amazon is apparently preparing to launch its own streaming music service. According to a new report out of BuzzFeed, Amazon has just signed deals with two of the three major labels. Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have both signed on, while Universal Music is still pondering the deal.

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