Amazon.com

Next up: Amazon sides with Blu-ray

For those who came in late, Blu-ray has won the format war.

On Wednesday, online retailer Amazon.com became the latest to declare its support for the victorious high-definition technology, announcing that it "will more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its Web site." The company will not, however, discontinue its sales of HD DVD products.

"The high-definition landscape is rapidly changing, and consumers are looking for guidance on how to make the best high-definition buying decisions," Peter Faricy, Amazon's vice president of movies and music, said in a statement from the company. &… Read more

Amazon opens testing for in-cloud database

Update 2:20 p.m. PST: I added some more details and a reaction.

Amazon.com has begun publicly testing a third element to its online computing services: a database capability called SimpleDB.

The new Web service joins two others the online retailer launched in 2006 that anyone can pay to use: computing horsepower called the Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) and data storage called Simple Storage Service (S3). SimpleDB works in conjunction with those services, letting customers store, modify, and query data, the company said Friday.

"Amazon SimpleDB provides quick, efficient storage and retrieval of your data to support … Read more

Is IMDb expanding into social networking for music?

The folks over at Trademork have uncovered a trademark filed by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for the name "SoundUnwound." In the description, IMDb lists the potential future service as:

"Providing information regarding, and in the nature of, social networking services; online social networking services designed for people with a common desire to meet other people with similar interests; Social networking services for music enthusiasts."

While IMDb is currently limited to movies, TV shows, and other visual mediums, it's also expanded into a resume service as well as offering video games. The company is owned … Read more

Newsweek hearts Kindle

Steven Levy's Newsweek cover story The Future of Reading was so unabashedly reverential toward the new Kindle reader that I had to check twice to make sure the article wasn't a paid product placement. Though the official product review only took up three-quarters of a page, there's no mistaking the impression that the seven-page spread is about Amazon's Kindle and its potential as the electronic device that will "leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. That's shorthand for a revolution (already in progress) that will change the way readers read, writers writer, and publishers publish." Other devices such as the Sony Reader and One Laptop Per Child XO laptop receive very brief mentions.… Read more

Defensively shopping at amazon.com

A few days ago, I wrote about my experience using the new Amazon MP3 Download store. Perhaps the most important point I raised was that it was possible to purchase songs without having to enter an Amazon userid/password, let alone a credit card number. I have purchased many things from Amazon over a number of years and this was a first for me.

Two days after my posting, fellow computer griper Ed Foster, of Gripe to Ed fame, wrote about the issue of logging off Amazon.com in more detail. See Amazon Makes You Lie to Log Off.

Ed'… Read more

Amazon's MP3 Download store--a book report

Many people love iTunes, but installing the software on a Windows computer that you depend on is a mistake, from a Defensive Computing standpoint. I say this for two reasons. For one, iTunes is a large complex program and installing any such program is risky, Windows being what it is. In addition, iTunes includes QuickTime, which has been fraught with security bugs. And personally speaking, the fact that I must use iTunes to play music purchased from Apple, rules the whole system out for me.

So, when I heard about Amazon's new MP3 Download store selling normal, ordinary, plain … Read more

Look out, PayPal: Amazon has a new payment service

The days of PayPal's dominance over casual payments online are changing rapidly. A little over a year ago, Google unveiled its Checkout service, which has become an increasingly popular way to purchase items from various online retailers using a single account. Today, Amazon.com is unveiling its own payment program that lets Amazon.com users purchase items or services using their Amazon.com account credentials and billing information.

The new program is called "Flexible Payment Service", or FPS, and is launching with an invite-only API for developers who want to integrate the new payment service. What does … Read more

Seattle gets groceries from the Amazon(.com)

Amazon.com has a new online grocery service for Seattle residents called Amazon Fresh. Users can pick from an selection of grocery items and have them delivered to their home, or one of the local "pickup centers." The home delivery options come in two flavors--a predawn delivery in a temperature-controlled crate, and a scheduled in-person delivery within a one-hour time slot of your choice. The service is in part the next step to Amazon's "Food and Grocery" section, which contains nearly everything except foods that require refrigeration.

Online grocery shopping is not a new phenomenon. … Read more

Amazon.com (iPhone App)

Yes, we've finally reached the point when you can have it all or at least get it all, even when away from your computer. With Amazon.com on your iPhone, anything you might want is only a few swipes of your finger away. Can't remember the name of that book? Want to show the sales clerk which camera you're talking about? Want to buy a Nintendo Wii while riding the bus? Amazon.com for iPhone has got you covered.

iPhone link: http://awasteofpixels.com/iphoneapps/amazon/amazon.php

Web site link: http://awasteofpixels.com/iphoneapps/