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Amazon launches their own Mac App Store
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Hot Deals, Software,
Following up on the Lady Gaga album sale earlier this week, Amazon continues their digital download battle against Apple with the launch of their own Mac app download store. They've got quite a variety of available titles (though, not as much as the Mac App Store of course,) which include big games like Civilization V, productivity suites like Microsoft Office, and a bunch of others. Right now they are offering Airport Mania for free, and your first paid download will be $5 off. We like it.
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Amazon sells Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ album for 99 cents in battle with iTunes
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Music,
Lady Gaga's Born This Way album is one of the biggest album releases of the year, and digital stores like iTunes and Amazon MP3 certainly know that her fans are more than willing to pay full price for the offering. However, possibly more interesting than the album itself, is the price different between the two aforementioned stores. iTunes has the album for the typical $12 (or $16 for the Bonus Track Version,) and we are sure they'll sell a ton of them at that price. In addition, you can buy individual tracks from the album on iTunes for $1.29. However, budget-minded shoppers might want to jump over to Amazon, where they are selling the entire Born This Way album for 99 cents. Yes, for less than the price of one track on iTunes, you can get the entire 14 track album on Amazon. In addition, an Amazon purchase also allows you to store the album on Amazon Cloud Drive, makes it accessible from Amazon Cloud Player, and gives you 20GB of space on the service as well.
Amazon MP3 purchases can be automatically synced to your iTunes library as well, so really, why would anyone buy this one from the iTunes Store?
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| Born This Way on Amazon
Apple says that “App Store” does not imply a store for buying apps
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software,
According to Apple, an "app store" is not a store for apps. Right. Apple warns, the phrase "app store" is not generic and can only be used to describe their App Store, which is their...um, app store?
"Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words 'app store' together denote a store for apps," Apple said in a Thursday filing with a California district court.
Apple has been fighting several tech giants on this point lately. In March, Apple sued Amazon over its Amazon Appstore, arguing that Apple has the exclusive rights to the phrase because of its iTunes App Store. Apple has targeted Microsoft on similar grounds.
Last month, Amazon responded to the suit, arguing that the term "app store" is generic and that Apple should not be allowed to use it exclusively. Amazon cited the American Dialect Society, which recently voted "app" as the Word of the Year for 2010, noting "that although the word 'has been around for ages,' it 'really exploded in the last 12 months,' with the arrival of 'app stores' for a wide spectrum of operating systems for phones and computers.' Indeed the words 'app store' are commonly used among many businesses in the app store market," Amazon argued.
Apple is not buying it, at least not publicly. "Apple denies that the words 'app store' are commonly used among many businesses to describe mobile software download services and further denies that the term 'app store market' is used to describe the market for mobile software download services," the company reiterated in response to Amazon's filing.
Click to continue reading Apple says that “App Store” does not imply a store for buying apps
Apple signs up EMI Music to be part of cloud music service
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Music,
Apple has reportedly secured a licensing agreement with EMI Music, adding to an earlier deal with Warner Music Group in its alleged efforts to launch a cloud-based music locker for iTunes users.
If the CNET report is true, Apple only needs to close deals with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group now before it secures unprecedented, legitimate access to music from all "Big Four" labels.
In March, Amazon launched its cloud music locker without such rights and faced threats of legal action; it is now reportedly in talks with the labels to secure licensing agreements. Google launched Google Music at its Google I/O event a couple weeks ago.
In April, CNET reported that Apple had inked a deal with Warner Music and "at least one of the remaining three" major music labels. Apple has not officially acknowledged the development of a cloud-based music storage service, but speculation is rife after reports "confirming" the development with unnamed sources. Furthermore, the company recently built a massive data center in North Carolina, reportedly meant to host a video streaming service.
Click to continue reading Apple signs up EMI Music to be part of cloud music service
Amazon working on two Android tablets, codenamed “Coyote” and “Hollywood”?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors,
Rumors that Amazon well be releasing a Kindle tablet are looking a bit more clear, with a report saying that the company is actually working on two different tablets, according to Boy Genius Report.
An entry-level tablet codenamed Coyote will be powered by Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 mobile platform, while a more powerful device codenamed Hollywood will sport Nvidia's upcoming quad-core "Kal-El" chip, the website reported Monday, citing a "tipster."
The source did not provide screen-size details, according to BGR.
The processor details put the theoretical release of the rumored Hollywood tablet at no earlier than the second half of 2011. Nvidia's Kal-El upgrade to its Tegra lineup isn't expected to be released until then.
Kal-El promises a significant boost to Tegra. The System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for mobile devices like tablets and smartphones boasts a 1.5GHz, quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 central processor and a 12-core Nvidia graphics processor that's purported to deliver five times the performance of the GeForce GPUs in the Tegra 2 SoC.
Click to continue reading Amazon working on two Android tablets, codenamed “Coyote” and “Hollywood”?
Amazon has the 32 GB iPod touch for 18% off!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Music,
For about the next 30 minutes, Amazon's featured Gold Box deal is the 3rd gen 32 GB iPod touch. They're selling it for 18% off, which makes it $244.99, and shipping is free. Hurry if you want in!
Read More | iPod touch deal
Is Amazon preparing to launch an Android-powered Kindle tablet?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Handhelds, Rumors,
Is Amazon preparing to launch an Android tablet? Peter Rojas of gdgt thinks so, and the time does seem right for a refresh to the company's Kindle e-reader; the last time the product got a major upgrade was two years ago. And, as Rojas points out, there's a wealth of circumstantial evidence that points toward Amazon readying a tablet.
Apple has thoroughly dominated the tablet market since the iPad first went on sale about a year ago. The company sold more than 14 million iPads last year, and analysts project that Apple will move as many as 60 million iPad 2s in 2011 (though first-quarter sales were down). Although there was buzz that the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, or the BlackBerry PlayBook might present some competition for Apple's wildly popular tablet, no company has yet been able to produce a tablet worthy of taking on the mighty iPad. Amazon might be the most likely candidate.
Click to continue reading Is Amazon preparing to launch an Android-powered Kindle tablet?
Amazon introduces Kindle Lending Library
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
Amazon announced Wednesday that Kindle users will soon be able to borrow e-books from their local libraries via the e-book reader and its related apps.
The Kindle Lending Library will launch later this year, and will allow Kindle customers to borrow books from more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S. The offer will apply to all generations of Kindle e-books and Kindle reading apps.
Unlike physical library books, users will be able to make notes in the margins of their borrowed e-books. When they "return" it, those notes will not be visible to the next borrower, but if the customer checks the book out again or decides to buy it, their notes will remain intact.
"We're doing a little something extra here," Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."
A Kindle spokeswoman said the borrowed books will be in Kindle format.
Click to continue reading Amazon introduces Kindle Lending Library
Amazon is stealing Android from Google
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Features, Google, Software,
I have been watching Amazon's recent moves involving Android with great fascination. Two weeks ago, it launched the Amazon Appstore that focuses on Android apps, and last week it announced a cloud-based music service with a special version just for Android. Although Google has its own Android Marketplace, Amazon is bringing a more structured store to Android with room for users comments and reviews—a key step to vetting the apps it carries.
This is a very strategic move by Amazon, and it could actually bring some sanity and consistency to the Android development community and all Android users. At the moment, Google's approach to creating Android is scattered. There are so many versions of this OS floating around that the OEMs who license Android are increasingly frustrated with Google's lack of discipline in laying out a consistent roadmap for Android that they can follow.
At first, Google said it would have one version of Android for smartphones and another for tablets. Now it says that it will merge both versions into a product codenamed Ice Cream and that it most likely will be the same OS used on Google TVs in the future as well. Initially, vendors could only use one version for devices with up to 7 inch screens and another one for screens larger then 7 inches but less then 11 inches.
Click to continue reading Amazon is stealing Android from Google
Will Amazon Cloud Player be successful?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Music,
Amazon needs a way to hold on to its music customers in a post-CD era, and tightly integrating its new cloud music service with Amazon MP3 purchases might help it do that, but the concept of a "music locker" is not exactly the most innovative approach and could face licensing issues, according to analysts.
Earlier this week Amazon unveiled a new cloud-based music service that provides users with up to 5GB of free, online music storage, and 20GB of free access for a year if they purchase an album via Amazon MP3. Beyond that, it's $20.
"Amazon needs to establish a strong post-CD role for its music customers, [and] this smartly positioned locker service is an important first step in building that future role," Mark Mulligan, a Forrester research analyst, wrote in a blog post.
Mulligan cautioned, however, that Amazon Cloud Player is not exactly revolutionary. "As logical a next step in the digital music market as locker services might be, they're not an innovation in the music product. They're simply giving people access to the music they have on the devices they own."
Click to continue reading Will Amazon Cloud Player be successful?
