Hasta La Gadget!

It appears that Amazon may be feeling the heat of the Nexus 7 wave – or perhaps even the oncoming Apple iPad mini – as they place essentially their entire Kindle collection on sale for back-to-school. Though many of the sales have halted here on the morning after a super-sale weekend, Amazon did have the Kindle DX up for 29% off (that’s $110!) and cases, speaker docks, sleeves of all kinds, and more. This could mean several things, but what we’re banking on is this: a whole new model – or models – coming on quick.

With several manufacturers hoping to stay on top in the 7-inch and reader categories here in the right-before-school season, Amazon is certainly feeling the strain of sticking with essentially one model for an extended period with the Kindle Fire. Because of this, they’ve prepped bargains for release here (as Gizmodo notes, starting last Friday) that appear to be emptying out their shelves for the very near future where they’ll be filled back up with new equipment. What will Amazon bring to the table?

We must assume that the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Touch 3G, also appearing to be low in stock in several stores across the nation – or completely sold out – will be turned out along with the DX and the Kindle Fire. Rumors thus far have pointed toward a Kindle Fire 10-inch tablet as well as slightly more advanced displays for e-readers of all types and models.

Over a Barnes & Noble you’ll find that the price cuts continue to their own models of tablets, these and Amazon’s also likely partly due to their cut from Target stores across the nation – though that tip now seems less solid as the big red chain continues to sell some models online. The 8GB Nook Tablet is now available for $20 off its normal price while the Nook Color remains its discounted price – since the Tablet was released – at $149.

A new Amazon tablet in the Kindle Fire line would likely continue with the rather-low prices as the Nexus 7 from Google cuts out the bottom of the price environment, while e-reader devices have been tipped as remaining essentially the same prices that they’re at now. We’ll know more soon!

[via CSM]

Amazon clearing tablet inventory is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well, Barnes and Noble seems to be in a giving mood today. The company revealed earlier this morning that eager customers can nab themselves a 16GB Nook Tablet for $199 — $50 off its original price. Meanwhile, the 8GB Nook Tablet now goes for $179 (down from $199), and aging Nook Color can how be had for the relatively low price of $149.

As for why Barnes and Noble has suddenly decided to slash prices — well, there are a few reasons why the move makes plenty of sense.

We’re already knee-deep in August for one, which means the back-to-school buying frenzy is starting to heat up considerably. Students (with parents in tow, naturally) will be trawling their local big box stores and online retailers for gadgets to accompany them to school, and a little price break makes the Nook lineup just a bit more palatable.

Perhaps more important here is the issue of competition. B&N’s line of e-readers are right up there with Kindle series, but its Nook Tablets have plenty of strong rivals to contend with and a lower price tag couldn’t hurt. After a bit of a rough start, Google’s impressive little Nexus 7 is endearing itself to those watching the low-cost tablet space, and it shouldn’t be long before Amazon releases something new to stymie its rival. In fact, recent rumblings indicate that Amazon may make its move sooner rather than later.

Barnes and Noble isn’t the only e-reader peddler that has recently futzed with product pricing — Amazon slashed the price of its aging (and hefty) Kindle DX earlier this week, and astute observers were quick to point out that models like the Kindle Touch 3G were curiously unavailable from the online retailer.

Gizmodo took the news as potential proof that Amazon was trying to burn through existing inventory ahead of a long-rumored Kindle announcement they believe will take place next week. While multiple sources have pointed to a new Kindle unveiling in the third quarter, I’m not quite convinced the timing is right just yet — each previous crop of Kindles were on the market for over a year before its successors were revealed. Amazon’s most recent Kindle announcement was also preceded by an invitation that went out to the press a week prior to the event, and so far as I know nothing like that has hit anyone’s inbox yet.

That’s not to say Amazon won’t make a move next week, but I’m not quite onboard with the notion yet. Then again, I wouldn’t mind being wrong this time — my 2nd generation Kindle is getting a bit long in the tooth.

If you want to know if Amazon’s new Kindles are coming out—and what they’ll be—don’t listen to analysts or supply chains or, yes, blogs. One trip to Amazon today will tell you nearly everything you need to know about when, and what, Amazon’s about to unleash on the world. More »

Good news to all audiophiles out there. Amazon has just announced that its Amazon Cloud Player is now available on any Sonos Wireless HiFi System. So if you’ve got a pretty neat collection of songs from your favorite artists on Amazon’s Cloud, then you can now play that funky music on any Sonos Wireless HiFi System. Amazon Cloud Player for Sonos allows users to play, search, and control your music using the Sonos app for iOS and Android.

To begin, you’ll need to register your Sonos system first to begin using Cloud Player and install the Sonos controller on your device. But if you haven’t tried any of Sonos’s awesome speakers, you can always do your shopping via Amazon. “Our goal is to enable customers to enjoy all their music, wherever they are, and on any device. Launching on Sonos today is an important part of that strategy, as our customers have been asking us to add Sonos to the list of compatible Cloud Player devices ever since we first launched Cloud Player,” said Steve Boom, vice president of Digital Music for Amazon.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Amazon tightens security after hacking scandal, Amazon launches Amazon Game Studios, releases first title called “Living Classics” on Facebook,

Sonos can now stream music directly from your Amazon Cloud Player account, giving the wireless mesh whole-house audio system another source option for digital tracks. Cloud Player supports uploads of a user’s existing music, as well as keeping in a copy of all MP3s bought from Amazon itself, removing the requirement to download them and store them on a local NAS or computer on your home network.

That means those users who want music not provided by Spotify, Pandora or other on-demand services already supported by Sonos can now still be accessed without needing to have some form of local storage powered on. If you’ve been frustrated by, say, Spotify’s shortage of classical or obscure disco music, then this could make a neat difference to your energy bill.

Up to 250 imported songs can be uploaded with a free account, with more space if you don’t mind paying. The Cloud Player system also supports Android and iOS devices, including Amazon’s own Kindle Fire.

You’ll need to register your Sonos system with Amazon in order to access Cloud Player content; you can do that here. The new source should show up as an “Amazon Cloud Player” option in the Music part of the Sonos controller app.

Sonos gets Amazon Cloud Player streaming is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.