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Weekend Reading: Watchmen, Ploog, Gibbons, and Gary Friedrich
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
It's the weekend time again and since we're between the end of football season and baseball season, at least in the U.S., it must be comic book season. Let's take a look.
Author Joe Konrath is a very smart man on the subjects of book publishing, Amazon, and the future of the written word business. He makes a great case in a post called Amazon Will Destroy You.
Tom McLean at Bags And Boards looks at both sides of the Before Watchmen argument and comes up with some smart thoughts worthy of attention.
J. M. DeMatteis runs a very nice appreciation of his sometime collaborator Mike Ploog.
Cartoonist Lew Stringer uncovers an old Dave Gibbons strip you might not be familiar with.
This is an old link, but it’s a nice profile of gag cartoonist Bob Vojtko.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Watchmen, Ploog, Gibbons, and Gary Friedrich
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Amazon signs Viacom for Prime instant streaming
Posted by John Ball Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment, Movies,
Good news for everyone owning a Kindle Fire and subscribed to Amazon Prime (as well as owners of any other media streaming device with Prime compatibility,) as Amazon has announced that it will now offer its subscribers increased instant streaming of videos to supported devices. The press release states that users will be able to stream TV shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo.
All of this is made possible due to Amazon recently making a deal with Viacom, bringing the total number of available streaming offerings to over 15,000, all of which are supported on over 300 devices. Between Netflix, the Redbox-Verizon deal, and Amazon Prime, the streaming video subscription space is heating up!
Amazon planning to open a brick and mortar store in Seattle
Posted by Andrey Malskiy Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Rumors,
Here at Gear Live, we have a love affiar with Amazon. They've got our credit card numbers, our accounts are Prime, and the Kindles flow like wine. However, unless you choose overnight shipping, you still have to wait for the items you purchased. It's a small price ot pay for the convenience, but for some, instant gratifiction is what's missing. That may even be changing with Amazon, as the company will be venturing into the brick and mortar store business.
Those lucky enough to live in the Seattle area (that's us!) may soon be seeing an Amazon store popping up at a local mall. Amazon is exploring the idea, kind of a trial and error run, to see if they have a profitable market in physical stores. Amazon wants to provide an Apple-like store experience for consumers who want to buy a Kindle, for example. This is a brilliant move on Amazon’s part, as the Kindle currently is not under its full control in retail, being left to the whims of a retail associate at Target or Best Buy who likely don't know much about it.
Kindle Fire 6.2.2 firmware update brings full-screen Silk browsing, optimizations
With the Kindle Fire being one of the biggest tablets to rival the iPad this holiday season, it is no surprise that we are seeing an update so soon into the New Year. The Kindle Fire update 6.2.2 brings full screen browsing to the Silk broser, as well as a handful of performance tweaks to the Amazon device. Of course, as it is with all software updates, some minor bugs in the software were also fixed. If you are one of the many that have rooted their Fire, you might also want to note that your increased user ability will be taken away. This update can be applied over the air or by visiting the official Kindle Fire site to manually download the update right now, and if you don't have one, you can pick up the Kindle Fire for $199.
Just got a new Apple device? Get AppleCare!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Hot Deals, PC / Laptop,
We know a ton of you got some new Apple gear over the past few days, and we want to make sure you protect those items appropriately. Whether it's a new iPad 2, iPhone 4, MacBook Air, or even an old-school iPhone 3GS, we thought it would be prudent of us to recommend you get AppleCare for the devices you’ve acquired. Here’s the trick though—don’t buy AppleCare from Apple. If you buy it from Amazon, you can get up to 30% off of the price that Apple will charge you for the same 3-year warranty. Even better, when you go to resell your Apple hardware, if you have an AppleCare Protection Plan attached to it, you get a higher resale value. We’ve compiled a list of the different AppleCare Protection Plans available for the entire line of Apple hardware, check it out:
Apple Mobile Devices:
- AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad
- AppleCare Protection Plan for all versions of iPhone
- AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod touch/classic
- AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod nano and iPod shuffle
Apple Mac Computers:
- AppleCare Protection Plan - Mac Laptops 13-inches and below
- AppleCare Protection Plan - Mac Laptops 15-inches and above
- AppleCare Protection Plan - iMac
- AppleCare Protection Plan - Mac Pro
- AppleCare Protection Plan - Mac Mini
Amazon Kindle Fire 6.2.1 update review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Product Reviews, Software,
Amazon has released its newest update for the Kindle Fire and it has some tweaks many users will find welcome, and one tweak power users will hate.
I've been using my Kindle Fire since it came out, and while I'm still waiting for CyanogenMod9 to come out and let me actually put Ice Cream Sandwich on my Kindle Fire, I've been relatively happy with the performance.
The main interface tweak added to the Kindle Fire is the ability to remove items from the carousel on the home page. This is a small but useful way to keep your most commonly used apps organized and, if necessary, make sure other users don't see whatever naughty things you might have been perusing.
That's the only change to the main screen; you still can't organize your apps into categories or customize your menu beyond adding and removing items from favorites and the carousel. I use my Kindle Fire for several different things, and it would be great to organize my apps by categories like Online Content, Books, Network Tools, and Games. The Fire still has Amazon's default seven tabs and single app list organized alphabetically or by date.
Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle Fire 6.2.1 update review
Amazon set to release bug-killing Kindle Fire update in under 2 weeks
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Software,
The Kindle Fire ($199 on Amazon) is undoubtedly a success in terms of the sheer amount of sales that the tablet has seen since its launch. However, many customers have complained about the various small issues that, when added up, can make for a frustrating experience. Things like unresponsive touch gestures, and lagginess in the UI. The good news is that Amazon's been listening, and its set to release the first over-the-air update for the Kindle Fire in under two weeks to address many of these issues.
Kindle Fire is the most successful product we’ve ever launched – we’ve already sold millions of units and we’re building more to meet the strong demand. As with all of our products, we continue to make them better for customers with regular software updates – in fact, in less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire that will improve performance, touch navigation, and give customers the option to choose what items display on the carousel.
Sounds good to us. In the past, Amazon hasn't really been the best in terms of Kindle software updates, but the Fire is a full-on tablet, and thusly people expect more out of it than they do its e-Ink couterparts. Anything you're hoping gets fixed in the update?
Click to continue reading Amazon set to release bug-killing Kindle Fire update in under 2 weeks
Amazon Cyber Monday Deals Week
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet,
Amazon is following up its Black Friday deals week with Cyber Monday Deals Week. All week long Amazon will be featuring soem killer deals in its Cyber Monday section, and we're already seeing some nice discounts, particularly on video games and consumer electronics. Be sure to check it out if you've stull got some shopping to do!
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Black Friday 2011: Amazon is now live!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Wearables, Hot Deals, Music, PC / Laptop, Video Games,
The Amazon Black Friday 2011 sale is now live, and they've got tons of deals that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your warm home - seriously, why would you wanna brave the lines and the cold if you can get a similar deal on Amazon? The nice thing is that Amazon seems to have been keeping tabs on other retail stores, and has matched many of the Black Friday deals that are already out there. Go check out Amazon now to get in on the good stuff.
Deal: Kinect sensor with Fruit Ninja Kinect, Gunstringer, Kinect Adventures
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Microsoft, Video Games,
Amazon has a great deal on the Kinect going today. While supplies last, you can get the Kinect sensor with three games included for $125 - that's $25 less than Kinect sells for without the extra games. The titles are Kinect Adventures, Fruit Ninja Kinect, and The Gunstringer. Go and grab it now!
