Hasta La Gadget!

PayPal is one of the easiest and most used methods out there for making payments online. Online merchants integrate PayPal into their web stores allowing customers to pay from their accounts, though most web stores require customers to first create a user ID, which basically means there’s yet another username and password for the customer to remember. Amazon has launched a service that not only fixes this problem, but takes PayPal head on for the online payment business. Online merchants can integrate Amazon’s “Login and Pay” service into their web stores and allow customers to make payments through the credentials stored in their Amazon account.

This effectively eliminates the need for customers to sign up for an account on the merchant’s web store just for the purpose of checking out. They’ll just need to enter their Amazon credentials and make payments for whatever they’ve purchased from that merchant, since their Amazon account is already configured to make payments, they’ll never be required to fill out credit or debit card information on the merchant’s website. Its an ambitious service that aims to tackle PayPal, and with more than 215 million active customer accounts on Amazon, it just might be able to make a dent. The service is free for customers, but merchants will have to pay. Instead of paying a monthly fee or a number of other charges, merchants will only pay once a customer makes a purchase on their web store and they’ll receive fraud protection that likes of which is implement on amazon.com. A number of merchants have already teamed up to use Amazon’s new service, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly it grows with other online merchants, of all sizes.

Amazon Launches ‘Login And Pay’ Service, Takes PayPal Head On original content from Ubergizmo.

Amazon has been churning out LCD-based Kindle tablets for the past two years, and there’s no question that the company has improved from the original, BlackBerry PlayBook-style Kindle Fire. But with the Fire HDX, is there enough of an improvement to upgrade from the Kindle Fire HD?

That’s the question John Biggs and I investigate on this latest episode of Fly Or Die.

John, as a real-life Kindle fanboy, feels that this is the very best Fire that Amazon has to offer. The specs have been bumped considerably, with a 1920×1200 display at 323ppi, a 2.2-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, and up to 64GB of internal storage under the hood.

Biggs also reported in his review that battery life is improved, while camera functionality has some strange issues.

But for me, I’m not sure that a slightly better display is worth the upgrade, considering that the Fire HD already has a hi-res screen. The form factor is nice, as the new model is thinner and lighter, but again the improvements aren’t convincing enough for me to advocate throwing down $300 on a tablet limited to Amazon content if you already have one.

Of course, Amazon is a strong competitor in the tablet market against Apple, and the HDX will most certainly sell well. Plus, at the end of the day, the decision is yours.

This article was written on October 03, 2011 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

AT&T Starts Sending Warnings About Throttling
The top 5% of data consumers on the AT&T network are starting to get warnings (via SMS) saying that they may have their transfer speed reduced. Users will apparently get multiple notices as a warning so that you can try to cutback on usage.

Microsoft Makes Changes to Zune Music Pass
Effective today the Zune Music Pass will drop in price from $14.99 to $9.99, but you’ll also lose your ability to permanently save off those 10 MP3s to your own library each month.

BlackBerry PlayBook Starts at $299 Now
As of last week retailers have been slashing the price of the BlackBery PlayBook down to $299 for the 16GB model, which is $200 less than it was prior to Amazon’s tablet announcement.

Amazon’s New Kindle Lineup
Last week was pretty big for Amazon as they unveiled their new lineup of Kindle devices, which range in price from $79 for the basic E Ink display up to $199 for the 7-inch color tablet powered by Android.

Firefox 7 Offers Improved Performance
The new Firefox 7 supposedly manages memory much more efficiently and overall makes the browser much more responsive.

Windows Phone Mango Getting Pushed to Devices
Microsoft started pushing Windows Phone 7.5 Mango to devices last week, which has some new features like Internet Sharing (think WiFi hotspot).

Apple Sends Invites for October 4th iPhone Media Event
Tomorrow Apple will be holding a media event where the focus will be on iPhone-related news.

New Delicious Owners Roll Out Changes to Site
The people who bought the Delicious bookmarking service earlier in the year have released their first set of changes, which for me has taken away some of the usefulness I found in it (such as the advanced sorting options).

View a Digital Version of the Dead Sea Scrolls Online
The Israel Museum has posted the 2,000 year old Dead Sea Scrolls online and is powered by Google technologies. They are very high resolution which means you can zoom in to see every little crack in the document.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Google’s OnTheFly Mobile App Compares Flight Prices
Frequent flyers can appreciate the mobile OnTheFly Android and iOS App by Google which will let you compare prices between airlines as well as view ticket cost trends.

Get Email or RSS Alerts When New Episodes of Your Favorite TV Shows Air
MyTVrss is a free service that can send you an email or provide an RSS feed to alert you when a new episode of your favorite television show is airing.

Use the Kindle Flowchart to Find the Right Kindle for You
Now that there are several different Kindle devices to choose from you’ll need to think through which one is right for you. This flowchart basically serves as a comparison of the different devices to guide you with your decision.

Make Free VoIP Calls With magicJack iOS App
Most of you have probably heard about using a magicJack for landline phone calls, but now the service is also offering a solution for iOS users at absolutely no cost.

Turn Your Windows 7 Machine into a WiFi Router
Maryfi is a free app for Windows 7 that will let WiFi clients share the computer’s Internet connection.

–Downloads–

• Bullzip PDF Printer 7.2.0.1320 ^Beta [Homepage] [Mirror]
• CCleaner 3.11.1541 [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Capture .NET Professional 11.4.4285 [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Dropbox 1.2.39 ^Experimental [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Firefox 7.0.1 [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Firefox 8.0 ^{Beta 1} [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Google Chrome 16.0.891.0 ^Beta [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Notepad++ 5.9.4 ^RC [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Opera 12.00.1076 ^Beta [Homepage] [Mirror]
• PDF-XChange Viewer 2.5.199 [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Skype 5.5.0.119 [Homepage] [Mirror]
• Thunderbird 7.0 [Homepage] [Mirror]

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

So this is what CrunchWeek is like without adult supervision.

Leena Rao and Colleen Taylor, the show’s two regular hosts, were both out of town this week, but there was still plenty of news for TechCrunch writers — specifically Greg Kumparak, Alex Wilhelm, and me — to talk about. We weighed in on the anticipation around Twitter’s IPO filing (and what was revealed in its S-1 filing), the shutdown of anonymous Bitcoin marketplace Silk Road, and reports that Amazon is developing its own smartphones (one of them with a whopping four cameras).

By the way, apologies for the occasional bursts of random background noise. I blame the gremlins hiding in the TCTV studio.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is working on a set-top box that will be ready in time for the holidays. And surprise, surprise, the lynchpin of this rumor is that Amazon has some major content deals in the works.

Read more…