Hasta La Gadget!

It’s no secret that print media is on its way out, as many regional and niche publications have had to either find a path through the digital wilderness or fold completely. We’re still not used to national publications facing that ultimatum, though, which makes Newsweek‘s fresh decision to drop its print edition after December 31st both unusual and a bellwether. Anyone still yearning for the magazine’s content after the presses stop will have to turn to the purely digital Newsweek Global or its The Daily Beast sibling, no matter how attached they are to the outlet’s 80-year history with paper. The explanation for the cutoff remains a familiar story: print readership is dying on the vine and expensive to maintain, while web and tablet adoption is growing quickly enough that Newsweek believes it can make the switch without taking a long-term financial hit. Whether or not the transition works, it’s evident the periodical knows its identity must be wrapped around an online presence — figuratively, not literally.

Filed under: Tablets, Internet

Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Individual Kindle users already have Whispernet, and Amazon has now announced another free service designed to make Kindles easier to manage for large organizations. Dubbed Whispercast, the service will let schools, businesses and other groups both distribute and manage the Kindles themselves and also distribute content to the devices. That includes the ability to control internet access on the devices (blocking the Twitter and Facebook integration, for instance), and the ability to distribute Kindle books and other documents to specific groups or classes. Amazon also says that it will “soon” include the ability to distribute apps to Kindle Fire tablets, as well an option for folks to bring their own device and add it to the network. Those interested can sign up for the service immediately at the source link below.

Continue reading Amazon debuts Whispercast service, lets organizations manage Kindles and Kindle content

Filed under: Tablets

Amazon debuts Whispercast service, lets organizations manage Kindles and Kindle content originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember when Texas Instruments revealed it was planning to dump its mobile processor business in favor of embedded systems? Israeli business sheet Calcalist is reporting that Amazon is in “advanced negotiations” to snap up that part of TI’s OMAP division, which currently supplies processors for the Kindle Fire and the Nook HD. The paper suggests the company is emulating Apple’s purchases of chip designers in order to lower the price of future hardware — which it currently sells at cost.

Filed under: Tablets, Amazon

Amazon eyeing up TI’s smartphone chip business, according to Israeli newspaper originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon has found a relatively clear day in the calendar on which to launch its excellent Kindle Paperwhite e-reader in the British Isles. The ad-supported basic model will knock you back £109, while an extra £60 will get you the 3G version. Amazon’s Lending Library service will roll-out at the same time, offering Prime members free loans from a collection of 200,000 books as part of the £49 per year subscription (which also has other perks). If you’re shopping around, don’t forget that Barnes & Noble’s equally glowing alternative is also available in the UK these days, wearing a pretty much identical price tag.

Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite coming to the UK on October 25th, starting at £109 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has grown considerably since launching in the US, and it looks like the company’s finally decided it was time to let some other countries in on the service as well. It announced today that Amazon Prime members in the UK, Germany and France would all have access to the service “later this month,” although it’s not providing a specific date just yet. As in the US, it will let folks borrow up to one book a month for free, with over 200,000 titles available to choose from (including “thousands” in the countries’ local languages). Alongside that expansion, Amazon has also announced yet another increase (of $100,000) to its Kindle Direct Publishing Select fund — which pays independent authors who include their books in the Lending Library — with an even bigger one planed for November. No word yet on any additional countries next in line.

Continue reading Amazon extending Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to the UK, Germany and France this month

Amazon extending Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to the UK, Germany and France this month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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