firing

Amazon may have sold close to 5 million Kindle Fire tablet since the device debuted late last year.

At least, that's the number estimated by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu based on Amazon's own claims.

The retail company said yesterday that the Fire accounted for 22 percent of all tablet sales in the United States over the past nine months. Assuming that number is accurate, here's how Dediu arrived at total sales of 5 million.

Based on testimony from Apple and Samsung at their recent patent trial, the iPad racked up unit sales of 16.14 million from … Read more

Consumers aiming to buy Amazon's current Kindle Fire are out of luck, but a new model may be just around the corner.

The retail giant said today that its popular tablet is officially sold out after becoming the top-selling product since its debut almost a year ago. Amazon wasn't shy in bragging about the Fire, calling it the "most successful product launch in the history" of the company, one that has garnered more than 10,000 5-star customer reviews.

"Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead," Amazon CEO Jeff … Read more

Google really wants people to take a look at its Nexus 7 tablet.

The $199 tablet started popping up on Google's home page today, a rare instance in which Google is actively promoting one of its own products. It's similar to the way Amazon's front page is often dominated by Kindle advertising.

That Google would go to such lengths underscores the company's desire to make a bigger dent in the burgeoning tablet market, one still dominated by Apple's iPad. Given the traffic that goes through Google, the home page would be one of the most … Read more

Friday's tech news roundup can ease symptoms of Gadget News Overload:

We'd been expecting new Kindles to be unveiled almost any day, and now that day has been set -- Amazon has sent out invites for a press conference in Santa Monica, Calif., on the morning of September 6.

While it's unclear just what Amazon will roll out, it's a good bet we'll see a new Kindle Fire (or maybe even multiple Fires) and an e-ink Kindle with a built-in lighting option.

New Kindles: What to expect Back in late June, a source told CNET that the next Kindle Fire would have a camera and physical volume-control … Read more

Barnes & Noble narrowed its fiscal first-quarter loss, but suffered through a few hiccups with its Nook e-reader business.

The book retailer posted a loss of $40.9 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with a loss of $56.6 million, or 99 cents a share, from a year ago. Revenue rose only slightly to $1.45 billion from $1.42 billion a year ago.

Analysts, on average, estimated that the company would post a loss of 98 cents on revenue of $1.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company's Nook unit, which includes the e-reader and … Read more

Just a week after opening up its service to the general public, Pinterest has launched an Android app for the very first time. The tablet-optimized app is now available for your Android smartphone and tablet, as well as the Kindle Fire. Here's how to get started with Pinterest for Android:

Creating new pins You can create new pins from your Android device via its camera or from a photo in your gallery by tapping on Create pin from the main screen.

If you want to create a pin from the Web, tap on your browser's Share button, then … Read more

Suppose you're taking a long trip and want to stock your smartphone or tablet with a bunch of movies.

Just one problem: there's no room at the inn. A Kindle Fire, for example, famously has only 8GB of storage, with no option for expansion. Same goes for any iDevice you own: once it's full, it's full.

Maxell's AirStash offers storage salvation. It's a USB flash drive that also happens to be wireless, meaning it can store files and stream media to a variety of mobile devices. It's an effective solution, though not an … Read more