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Apple leads, Dropbox gains in cloud storage wars

Apple is currently in the lead when it comes to the domestic cloud storage wars, according to a new survey produced by Strategy Analytics.

The real strength here for the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation was digital entertainment, which tends to require a lot of space anyway.

Thus, the combination of iCloud and iTunes Match was said to account for 27 percent of cloud storage usage in the United States during the third quarter of 2012.

Ed Barton, director of digital media at Strategy Analytics, highlighted in the report how music has become a "key battleground in the war for … Read more

Bezos Expeditions recovers pieces of Apollo 11 rockets

A year after discovering rockets from the Apollo 11 moon mission on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Bezos Expeditions has recovered "many prime pieces" of the engines, Jeff Bezos blogged today.

Amazon's billionaire founder and chief executive wrote that the crew of the ship Seabed Worker spent three weeks at sea, working almost three miles below the surface to pull up the various piece of the engines.

"We've seen an underwater wonderland -- an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves … Read more

Amazon dumps on report claiming $99 Kindle Fire on the horizon

Could Amazon offer a high-definition Kindle Fire tablet as cheap as $99? That's the latest rumor coming from the folks at TechCrunch.

Citing no specific sources, TechCrunch said it's "now hearing" that a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire is on the production line, with plans to ship sometime this year. Reportedly, the new device would use a TI chip and offer a 1280x800-pixel resolution, just like the current Kindle HD 7-inch tablet.

Amazon recently trimmed the prices on its Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablets. TechCrunch pointed to price drops as a way of either selling more … Read more

Amazon offers up 'Send to Kindle' button to Web site owners

Amazon has released a new tool for Web site owners that allows them to get users to share their content on its products.

The new feature, called Send to Kindle, is basically a button that's embedded into content sites. When a user clicks that button, the article or page they're on will automatically be sent to their Kindle device or Kindle apps on iOS and Android.

The Send to Kindle button is the latest in a long line of apps that are designed to share content from one product to a Kindle device or app. Amazon already offers … Read more

Amazon could be next Spotify challenger

CNET Update can't be grumpy for GIFs:

The streaming music scene is about to get more interesting. The latest report indicates Amazon is targeting Spotify with its own on-demand music streaming service. We've also heard that Google and Apple are working on similar products.

Other stories featured in Wednesday's tech roundup:

- Google Image search has added filters for finding animated GIFs and other specific file types.

- The Jawbone Up fitness bracelet now has an Android app.

- Websites can now put a "Send to Kindle" button on blog posts and news stories, next … Read more

Amazon looking to add subscription music service

The music industry is pinning great hope on subscription music services such as Spotify, a segment that's growing faster than any other part of recorded music industry. And now comes news that Amazon is looking to jump into the fray.

The Verge, citing multiple sources, reports that Amazon is holding informal talks with the music industry about launching an on-demand service similar to Spotify, which is the largest such service with 24 million active users and 6 million paid subscribers.

This development comes as Google is trying to launch a pair of subscription music services this summer, one tied … Read more

eBay lowers seller fees, in bid to swipe business from Amazon

eBay is eliminating listing fees and simplifying rates in hopes of bringing Amazon sellers to its doors.

In addition to a new fee rate system, eBay will let sellers list many items for free, the company announced today. eBay said the changes, which begin rolling out in April, are the online marketplace's first major update in pricing in several years.

"The update is part of eBay's ongoing commitment to be the most competitively priced commerce platform in the U.S. today, offering sellers of all sizes a great deal and being a partner of choice for merchants, … Read more

Spies on the cloud? Amazon said working with CIA

Here's a fun one: The folks over at Federal Computer Week got their hands on a hot rumor about Amazon supposedly building a cloud service for the spooks over at the Central Intelligence Agency, a project estimated to be "worth up to $600 million over 10 years."

Amazon Web Services will help the intelligence agency build a private cloud infrastructure that helps the agency keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA's previous cloud efforts, sources told FCW.

Given how Amazon usually considers everything -- including the … Read more

Amazon debuts new literary fiction imprint

Continuing its push into creating original content, Amazon has launched a literary fiction imprint dubbed Little A.

The imprint falls under the ambitious publishing unit at the retail giant, Amazon Publishing, led by industry veteran Larry Kirshbaum. Little A will publish novels, memoirs, and story collections. The books distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will be published under its New Harvest imprint with both Little A and New Harvest logos.

Little A's first title is "The Blue Book," a novel by Scottish author A.L. Kennedy, that debuted this week. Next week, Jake Arnott's "The House … Read more

Amazon cuts Kindle Fire HD 8.9 price, sends it to Europe, Japan

Amazon is launching its Kindle Fire HD 8.9 in Europe and Japan today, which means a lower price for the tablet in the U.S., the company announced.

In the U.S., the Wi-Fi version now starts at $269 and the 4G device starts at $399. Customers in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan can purchase the 8.9-inch screen Kindle tablet for the original cost: $299 for the Wi-Fi version and $499 for the 4G version.

Amazon Kindle Vice President Dave Limp said in a press release that the company "is thrilled with customer … Read more