Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon powers a variety of websites on the internet, including several popular services like Netflix and Instagram. However, it looks like Amazon is digging deeper into partnerships, as it’s rumored that the e-tailer giant and the Central Intelligence Agency have made a deal for Amazon to provide cloud services to the government organization.

According to FCW, Amazon won a cloud-computing contract with the CIA that’s worth up to $600 million over a 10-year period. According to the report, the new cloud service will help the CIA “keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA’s previous cloud efforts.”

However, it’s not exactly clear what the CIA has planned for the new cloud system, but it seems that the CIA is mostly focused on becoming more efficient with newer technologies, and it seems like the new service will work just like most other cloud service, except it’ll be on heavy lockdown by the CIA, allowing only authorized users to access confidential files from any device.

While there’s no concrete confirmations on the deal between the two organizations, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the CIA ended up moving into the 21st century with a better cloud storage implementation, especially with Amazon behind the wheel. Neither Amazon or the CIA were willing to comment on the situation.

[via Gizmodo]

Amazon rumored to be building private cloud service for CIA is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When Amazon introduced its Kindle Fire HD, it changed the Android tablet landscape as it offered a great low-cost tablet. We thought there was enough good news for the Kindle Fire HD when Amazon announced it would be receiving a price drop, but today, we’re hearing some reports of a new extremely budget-friendly 7-inch Kindle Fire HD may be in the works.

When we say “extremely budget-friendly,” don’t start thinking it’ll be available for free as we know that’s probably what you consider to be something that’s extremely budget-friendly. Instead, the rumored 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is expected to sell for $99 and is also expected to go up against the iPad Mini 2 as both are expected to be released later this year. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: US Department Of Defense Reportedly Planning On Buying 650,000 iOS Devices, Latest Leak Previews What May Be Google Play Version 4.0,

Amazon seems to want to shake things up in the tablet sector, as it’s rumored that the e-tailer giant will be releasing a $99 Kindle Fire HD 7-inch tablet at some point. Currently, you can get a 7-inch Kindle Fire HD for only $199, which comes with 16GB of storage, but cutting that price down by half seems like quiet the feat.

According to TechCrunch, the sub-$100 tablet will come with a Texas Instruments processor and will feature a 1280×600 resolution display, so it looks like it won’t have anything too revolutionary, but we shouldn’t be expecting anything ground-breaking anyway, except for maybe the price, but as far as components are concerned, expect a bottom-of-the-barrel type of device.

Of course, you can grab a regular Kindle Fire for just $159, so a $99 Kindle Fire tablet seems pretty realistic. None of the major companies have outed a $99 tablet yet, so Amazon being first to the punch could be great news for the company. However, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the tablet will sell at a loss.

Then again, $99 Android tablets already exist, but they’re mostly from generic brands, and they feature components and specs that aren’t too desirable to most people anyway. However, if Amazon could pull off a decent tablet at $99, it could be the start of something greater for prospective tablet buyers, and with the company’s large and lucrative ecosystem, taking a loss on tablet sales wouldn’t be a big deal.

UPDATE: We received word directly from Amazon that there are no plans for such a tablet: “It’s not happening — we are already at the lowest price points possible for that hardware.”

[via TechCrunch]

Amazon Kindle Fire HD tipped for $99 model [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that some of our games require an always-on connection, but it looks like rumors of the next-gen Xbox having an always-on requirement could turn out to be true after all. According to website VGLeaks, they seem to have obtained a set of screenshots which takes them through the Xbox “Durango” dev kit installation process, revealing the always-on requirement, along with the possibility that the next-gen Xbox might do away with the need for playing games from the disc, instead opting to install the game fully onto the console’s hard drive and reading it from there instead.

This seems to be in line with the rumors that the next-gen Xbox might not be so friendly with gamers who buy used games, especially since the always-on requirement will have an activation system that will “lock” the games purchased to a single account/console. Of course since these are only rumors, it’s hard to say if they’re real or if the screenshots are photoshopped, but what do you guys think? Do any of these rumors put you off from possibly purchasing Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox console?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Final Fantasy 15 Rumored To Be In The Works, Could Be A PlayStation 4 Exclusive, PlayStation 4 And Xbox 720 Could See A Release By November,

The CIA has reportedly signed a massive cloud computing deal with Amazon, worth up to $600 million over the next 10 years. More »