kindle

Nest 2.0: Slimmer, sleeker thermostat smarter than ever

When the "Father of the iPod" Tony Fadell unveiled Nest, the "learning thermostat" last fall, it was likely the first time anyone had ever thought of a thermostat as sexy.

Now, less than a year after the first version of the product arrived, bringing Apple style design and user interfaces to what had traditionally been one of the most staid home appliances, Fadell's Palo Alto, Calif.-based company today announced Nest 2.0, a slimmer version of the thermostat that was built to work in more homes and brings new flexibility and features to the … Read more

Shining light on new Kindle Paperwhite

Monday's CNET Update has a glow about it:

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is now shipping, and CNET has given it the Editors Choice award. You can read the full review here. The Nook GlowLight dropped its price to $119 to match the Paperwhite.

Apple has released a Wi-Fi bug fix for the iPhone 5 on Verizon. The bug caused the iPhone 5 to use data even when the device was connected to a Wi-Fi network. Verizon won't charge iPhone 5 customers for any excess data as a result of the bug, but customers should download the fix … Read more

Almost a quarter of U.S. adults own a tablet, survey finds

Cheaper tablets propelled the growth of the tablet market in the last year, loosening Apple's grip as the king of the tablet world, according to a report released today from the Pew Research Center.

The report said 22 percent of all U.S. adults surveyed actually own a tablet while another 3 percent said they regularly use someone else's tablet for their browsing needs.

The percentage has been growing since last year and Pew attributes the popularity to companies releasing cheaper tablets in late 2011.

About 68 percent of tablet owners got their tablet in the last year, … Read more

E-book glitch leaves new J.K. Rowling novel unreadable

Update, 3:21 p.m. PT: Updated with comment from Amazon.

E-book readers who were excited about reading Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's first adult book, "The Casual Vacancy," were met with an unpleasant surprise today -- the text delivered to their e-book readers was unreadable.

A glitch on the publishing end caused the book to be viewed into two formats: oversized letters that took up the screen or tiny, illegible font, paidContent reported, which first noticed the problem on Amazon's Kindle models.

It left the eager fans who shelled out $17.99 for the … Read more

Kindle Fire HD hot, but Google Nexus 7 grabs more Web traffic

Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD is off to a good start in the market, yet the Nexus 7 remains the tablet to beat, at least in the eyes of mobile ad network Chitika.

Tracking hundreds of millions of ad impressions on its network from September 14 to 18, Chitika compared the Web traffic generated by the the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7.

Only five days after its debut, the Kindle Fire HD racked up 11 percent of all Kindle Fire ad impressions in the U.S. and Canada. That means the new model is doing nicely in … Read more

Kindle Paperwhite so popular, new orders will be paper-late

If you waited until now to buy Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite, you'll have to wait a bit longer to actually get it in hand. Amazon said any new orders placed today won't be shipped until October 22 -- three weeks after the original October 1 shipping date.

"Due to popular demand, orders placed today are expected to ship the week of October 22nd. Limit five per customer," reads a note on the device's order page.

Those who preordered their device need not worry. The company said it is shipping orders on October 1 as … Read more

Kindle Fire HD vs. iPad

The iPad and Kindle Fire HD are two different tablets intended for slightly different market segments. The iPad is a "does everything" tablet, while the Fire HD remains focused on media consumption.

However, most people shopping for a tablet don't have the funds to afford both (not that I'm at all encouraging anyone purchase both) and will therefore have to choose. The following is an attempt to make that choice a bit easier. With the iPad being the "everything" tablet in this comparison, I'll focus on comparing the two in categories both tablets are capable of, while also pointing out the strengths of each.… Read more

Kindle Fire HD teardown reveals repair-ready tablet, minor annoyances

With a base price of $199, Amazon's Kindle Fire HD gives you a lot for your money. And while it's just as easy to crack open as the original Fire, it has better hardware and a completely redesigned interior.… Read more

Wal-Mart fires Kindle, kicks it out of its store

Wal-Mart will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle products, highlighting the tensions between the online and physical retail worlds.

The retailing giant confirmed in an e-mail that it would no longer carry the product beyond its current inventory. Reuters earlier reported the decision.

Amazon declined to comment.

The decision to cease selling Amazon's products comes as the online retailer is eating into physical retail chains, also known as brick-and-mortar stores. With more consumers browsing in stores but making purchases online, retailers face the risk of declining sales -- an issue that has shut down companies such as Borders and … Read more

$199 Kindle Fire HD's display puts Retina iPad on notice

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD display is good enough to challenge the pricier Retina iPad's display and "decisively" beat Google's Nexus 7, said display testing firm DisplayMate.

In an article posted Wednesday, DisplayMate compared the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD with the third-generation iPad Retina and got a surprising result.

"It is much better than the iPad 2 and almost as good as the new [Retina] iPad in overall picture quality and color accuracy," wrote Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate.

For example, the Kindle Fire HD has greens and yellows "that are slightly more … Read more