Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

For many products — TVs and the iPod, for example — the leap to color displays represented an evolutionary change. But color was just part of the big leap that Amazon made with the Kindle Fire, moving from a reading appliance to a converged device. There was no couching it as “a reader’s tablet”, the positioning Barnes & Noble had sought with the Nook, even though Amazon now claims that it has the “best content ecosystem.” Still, as discussed two weeks ago in Switched On, Amazon still managed to fly well under Apple’s radar with an inexpensive, smaller tablet, one that broke a “magic” price point of $200.

Continue reading Switched On: Low flame

Filed under: Tablets

Switched On: Low flame originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon’s roster of fresh Kindle Fire slates won’t just be delivering content for your entertainment, they’ll also be serving up ads. That’s right, each of the new tablets will greet users with “Special Offers” on their lock screens like some of the firm’s other e-readers, which matches previous rumors nicely. While the low-end Kindle and Paperwhite devices come in both subsidized and ad-free flavors, its tablet brethren aren’t getting the same treatment. Also, there’s no word if you’ll be able to avoid gracing the advertisements with your eyeballs in exchange for some additional cash once you have the hardware in hand. Alongside messages from other companies, the folks in Seattle promise to offer a $5 credit for both the Amazon MP3 and Instant Video Stores.

Filed under: Tablets

Every new Kindle Fire model is ad-subsidized with lock screen ‘Special Offers’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon surprised us by announcing a 4G LTE Kindle Fire today, along with the AT&T data plan: $50 a year gets you 250MB per month, 20GB cloud storage, and a $10 appstore credit. $30 more will get you 3GB, and $50 more will get you 5GB. More »

Given it’s been so important to our development, it’s no surprise mankind has a love affair with fire. Deep down we’re all arsonists in our own little way: lighting candles, stoking campfires, or curling up near a fireplace. We all love watching things bur—right, guys? right—and that desire can be kept in check with this Nerone cityscape fireplace that’s a better alternative to wanton acts of arson. More »

Normally you’d do everything you can to rid your home of moths, lest they leave your clothes and other fabrics riddled with holes. But this over-sized facsimile is actually being sold as a stylish alternative to run-of-the-mill smoke detectors that you won’t mind having perched to your ceilings. More »