Looking for the perfect gift for the ebook fan in your life, but don't want to go the general gift card route? Amazon is working on title-specific ebook gift cards in their home state of Washington.
In fact, the company started putting kiosks featuring individual titles as well as access to Kindle Unlimited in drug stores going back to October. However, the initiative seems to have gone largely unnoticed until now.
The setup looks very much like the gift card displays you see at your local grocery store or places like Target while the cards themselves come printed with story summaries and a quote from an Amazon summary.
Titles include The Martian, What to Expect When You're Expecting, Lean In, Grey, Inferno, and many more that are often purchased as gifts for other people. Right now, Amazon has only set up the kiosks in 61 Bartell Drugs stores and no further plans have been announced.
Amazon has yet to make a big deal out of the cards at this point, but does have a help page for the products up and running. One interesting bit of news on the page is that, even if someone gives a gift card for, say, The Martian and you've already read it or have no interest, you can trade it in for credit on Amazon to spend on whatever you want, not just an alternative ebook. Along similar lines, if your Martian gift card is for $ 14.99 and the book winds up going on sale, you get the difference in credit.
EReaders don't yet have a single dominant device like iPods were to MP3 players, but Amazon's Kindle line might be the closest thing. Now, Amazon is trying to give its eReader of choice a leg-up in an unfamiliar market: brick-and-mortar stores.
Never one to test the borders of online and offline commerce, Amazon has begun running pop-up kiosks for Kindle eBooks in convenience stores around the Seattle area,
It only takes up a couple square feet, a small fraction of the size of Amazon's first real bookstore in Seattle, but the company has been quietly making another foray into physical retail — offering individual ebook gift cards for sale under a pilot program at Bartell Drugs in Washington state.
The pilot was launched in October, in time for the holiday shopping season, but it flew largely under the radar until now. Amazon has long offered general gift cards in many retail locations, like other digital merchants, but the move to offer cards for specific ebooks is a new move for the company.
Details of the 61-store test were confirmed last week by Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader news site, and I found one of the "Kindle eBooks" kiosks tucked between displays of Valentine's Day candy at my local Bartell Drugs store in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood this weekend.
Perhaps tellingly, even though the kiosk was well-positioned toward the front of the store, none of the three employees I spoke with initially knew what I was talking about when I asked if they sold individual Kindle ebook gift cards. (Initially they told me they didn't.)
But I ended up spotting it on my own, and bought a couple cards to test the service.
The top row of the kiosk features cards for three- and six-month Kindle Unlimited memberships, for $ 29.99 and $ 49.99 each. Below those are cards featuring the covers of 20 individual ebooks, best-sellers across both fiction and nonfiction, ranging from "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" to Dan Brown's "Inferno" and "The Martian" by Andy Weir.
On the back of each ebook card is a quote from an Amazon customer review and a summary of the book, along with an area for writing a message to the recipient and instructions for redeeming the book by scratching off the claim code and going to a dedicated Amazon url to enter it.
Purchasing the card at the Bartell Drugs register automatically activates it for use, as with a standard gift card.
Here's the most interesting part: Any of the cards can also be treated as a regular Amazon gift card, if your gift recipient doesn't like the book you chose for them, or already owns the title you picked. In other words, it offers the personalization of a hand-picked gift with the flexibility of a regular gift card — another example of Amazon blending the best of physical and digital retail.
The card promises that you'll always get "the lowest online price, plus the balance." For example, I purchased a card for "The Martian" for $ 14.99 at the store, but the price online was $ 8.99, and when I redeemed the book, the difference was automatically added to my gift card balance.
After deciding that I really didn't want a 3-month Kindle Unlimited membership (I previously tested the subscription service and found that I didn't use it as much as I planned) I was able to add the entire $ 29.99 balance from that card to my gift card balance. Everything worked smoothly.
This is the latest example of Amazon testing out new initiatives in physical retail, but as noted by the Digital Reader's Hoffelder, the company is not the first to try this concept. Most other e-book sellers who've gone down this path haven't seen much success.
Whether it turns out to be worthwhile for Amazon remains to be seen. Even during the checkout process, the concept was clearly a novelty to the Bartell Drugs employees at my local store, perhaps indicating that they haven't been selling a lot since the October launch.
We've contacted Amazon for more details on the pilot, and to see if it will be expanded to additional stores and regions.
A man has been fined after traffic police spotted him driving but not watching the road – because he was reading his Kindle.
And police in the area have revealed that he’s not the first to drive so carelessly.
The unnamed motorist came to police attention when he was driving on Highway 149 in Eagan, Minnesota.
He was pulled over and asked what he was looking at when he wasn’t watching the road, according to Fox 9 .
Read more: Driver accused of watching film on mobile phone while behind the wheel in footage captured by furious cyclist
The dashcam footage from the officer’s car showed the policeman asking the driver what he was looking at.
Behind the wheel: The unnamed driver was pulled over when an officer spotted him not looking at the road
“I was reading,” the driver replied.
“What were you reading?” the officer asked.
“A James Patterson book," he responded, naming the American thriller writer.
Officer Aaron Machtemes, spokesperson for Eagan Police , said: "The nicest guy, obviously not the smartest thing to do while driving. Very dangerous. But he kind of got it, knew he made a mistake and the officer went back and ended up giving him a citation."
Machtemes added that phones are a common reason for similar offences, adding "they look down for two seconds, that’s when the person ahead of them hits the brakes and there’s an accident”.
In terms of other road offences, he added that: "Just recently, as of today, I heard of a lady with big curls in her hair and as she’s driving she’s taking her curls out with her knees up on the wheel.”
There are thousands of e-books on the Amazon Kindle Store that have content errors. This can be as simple as a series of spelling mistakes or the book might have formatting issues. Starting February 3, 2016 Amazon will begin showing customers a warning message on the Kindle store detail pages of books that contain several validated quality issues. The warning message will be removed as soon as Amazon received an updated file from self-published authors or publishing companies.
Amazon has two stages of the warning system that will go live within a few short weeks. If an e-book only contains a few spelling mistakes, but is still readable, a simple warning message will appear on the details page of that specific title. It will make the average book buyer aware that there are some issues. If the book has bad formatting issues, and basically renders it unreadable Amazon will suppress it and the book listing will be removed.
Amazon is currently in the process of emailing anyone who has submitted e-books to the Kindle Store whose e-books contain multiple errors. The errors are reported by people who have either downloaded the title for free or paid for it. Currently, the only way users can report content issues is if you have an e-ink based reader, such as the Kindle Paperwhite or the Voyage. There are no reporting options for content errors on the Amazon Fire tablets or the Kindle e-reading apps for Android and iOS.
The timing of Amazon rolling on this new warning message on e-books that have multiple content errors is very interesting. A few days ago I broke the story about how e-reader companies should be doing more to inform users if e-books have content errors and within a few days of publication, Amazon announces a new system.
Hopefully Apple, Barnes and Noble, Google and Kobo also take steps to address e-books that have content issues. Currently none of these companies have any type of reporting system, nor do they email publishers if an e-book contains formatting errors.
Michael Kozlowski (5819 Posts)
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send Michael Kozlowski an email to michael@goodereader.com
Late last year, Amazon's Alexa voice service developer preview was out for third-party users. Looks like, the company has decided to spruce it up further and add the reading ability. Yes, Alexa can now read out loud your Kindle books.
Amazon's Help and Customer Service now shows 'Read Kindle Books with Alexa.' This means you can ask Alexa to read eligible books from your library. This is a free service, unlike the previous Audible audio book service that paid.
"Alexa reads Kindle books eligible for Text-to-Speech (an experimental reading technology that allows supported Amazon devices to read Kindle books aloud). To find eligible books in the Alexa app, open the left navigation panel and then select Kindle Books > Books Alexa can read," the company writes.
Once you ask Alexa to read a Kindle book, it picks up from where you left off in the book on another compatible Amazon device or reading app. Moreover, to go to different chapters in a Kindle book, one can select the Now Playing bar in the Alexa app and then select Queue, and then select a chapter from the list.
"Alexa reads books purchased from the Kindle Store, borrowed from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library or Kindle Unlimited, or shared with you in your Family Library. Alexa reads your Kindle books with the same text-to-speech technology used for Wikipedia articles, news articles, and calendar events," the company further explains.
Christmas may have come and gone, but retailers such as Amazon are offering tablets for amazing prices. The Kindle Fire is one example, with Amazon offering the device for as cheap as $ 49.99 two weeks after the Christmas holiday has passed.
AutooMobile reports not only the Kindle Fire at an unbelievably low price, but also its sister device the Kindle Fire HD at $ 79.99. In addition, the Apple iPad Mini 2 is being offered for $ 199.
Amazon's Kindle Fire devices are on the market for stunningly low prices two weeks after Christmas, with some models as low as $ 49.99. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
With the deep discounts, one may wonder whether devices like the Kindle Fire are any good. TechRepublic looked at the internals of the device being offered for $ 49.99 and said it has many features the original Kindle Fire offered and more.
"Its dimensions are nearly identical to the original Kindle Fire, but it weighs slightly less and has a more rounded back cover. It also has a lot of features the older tablet didn't have, such as cameras, a microphone, and a microSD card slot. That microSD slot's important because, like the original Kindle Fire, this tablet only has 8GB of internal storage and more than 2GB of that is used for the operating system."
The main difference between the Kindle Fire and the more expensive Kindle Fire HD is screen resolution, with the non-HD Kindle Fires offering only a 1024×600-pixel resolution.
"And the front panel isn't made with Gorilla Glass, so it's not as durable as many other tablets on the market," TechRepublic reported.
TechRepublic went further in its exploration of the devices and actually opened a Kindle Fire, where it found a smaller battery with "less capacity."
"It also has a single speaker, compared to the early Fire's stereo setup," the site added. "The circuit board has been redesigned to allow room for the new cameras, volume buttons, and the microSD card slot."
While the Kindle Fire has been a resounding success for Amazon, bringing in consistent revenue with its app store, eBooks, and movies and television shows available for purchase (and free viewing through Prime memberships), the company has not always found success under the "Fire" brand.
As BGR noted, the Fire Phone was a rare dud for Amazon that is hardly remembered even by most diehard Kindle Fire fans.
"However, Amazon screwed up literally everything about the Fire Phone: It was loaded with gimmicky features that weren't compelling to most smartphone users, it was priced at $ 199 on contract, and it was an exclusive to AT&T," BGR reported. It went on to note that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos "made an overly expensive machine jam-packed with his own dream features that were appealing to himself and just about nobody else."
Amazon CEO Jeff Bazos had a rare dud with the Fire Phone, which failed to make waves in the smartphone market. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The result of the Fire Phone's failure in the market has been an exit from the smartphone business by Amazon, which focuses instead on research and development of the company's proven success in the tablet business and exploring other concept devices, such as Amazon Echo. Echo, like Siri, responds to voice commands, but is built into a sound system rather than a phone.
Amazon has also focused on Fire TV, which has allowed the company to take streaming television off the tablet and instead blast it onto the big screen. Amazon Prime members can view original content for free, as well as many popular television programs and movies. Others are available for purchase or rental, while services like Netflix and Hulu are offered on the device, as well, positioning Amazon to continue competing with Apple in every arena except the smartphone market – a market where Apple has not only thrived, but dominated its competition.
Interested in the internals of the Kindle Fire? Watch the video above to see what the Kindle Fire tablet looks like deconstructed.
Christmas may have come and gone, but retailers such as Amazon are offering tablets for amazing prices. The Kindle Fire is one example, with Amazon offering the device for as cheap as $ 49.99 two weeks after the Christmas holiday has passed.
AutooMobile reports not only the Kindle Fire at an unbelievably low price, but also its sister device the Kindle Fire HD at $ 79.99. In addition, the Apple iPad Mini 2 is being offered for $ 199.
Amazon's Kindle Fire devices are on the market for stunningly low prices two weeks after Christmas, with some models as low as $ 49.99. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
With the deep discounts, one may wonder whether devices like the Kindle Fire are any good. TechRepublic looked at the internals of the device being offered for $ 49.99 and said it has many features the original Kindle Fire offered and more.
"Its dimensions are nearly identical to the original Kindle Fire, but it weighs slightly less and has a more rounded back cover. It also has a lot of features the older tablet didn't have, such as cameras, a microphone, and a microSD card slot. That microSD slot's important because, like the original Kindle Fire, this tablet only has 8GB of internal storage and more than 2GB of that is used for the operating system."
The main difference between the Kindle Fire and the more expensive Kindle Fire HD is screen resolution, with the non-HD Kindle Fires offering only a 1024×600-pixel resolution.
"And the front panel isn't made with Gorilla Glass, so it's not as durable as many other tablets on the market," TechRepublic reported.
TechRepublic went further in its exploration of the devices and actually opened a Kindle Fire, where it found a smaller battery with "less capacity."
"It also has a single speaker, compared to the early Fire's stereo setup," the site added. "The circuit board has been redesigned to allow room for the new cameras, volume buttons, and the microSD card slot."
While the Kindle Fire has been a resounding success for Amazon, bringing in consistent revenue with its app store, eBooks, and movies and television shows available for purchase (and free viewing through Prime memberships), the company has not always found success under the "Fire" brand.
As BGR noted, the Fire Phone was a rare dud for Amazon that is hardly remembered even by most diehard Kindle Fire fans.
"However, Amazon screwed up literally everything about the Fire Phone: It was loaded with gimmicky features that weren't compelling to most smartphone users, it was priced at $ 199 on contract, and it was an exclusive to AT&T," BGR reported. It went on to note that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos "made an overly expensive machine jam-packed with his own dream features that were appealing to himself and just about nobody else."
Amazon CEO Jeff Bazos had a rare dud with the Fire Phone, which failed to make waves in the smartphone market. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The result of the Fire Phone's failure in the market has been an exit from the smartphone business by Amazon, which focuses instead on research and development of the company's proven success in the tablet business and exploring other concept devices, such as Amazon Echo. Echo, like Siri, responds to voice commands, but is built into a sound system rather than a phone.
Amazon has also focused on Fire TV, which has allowed the company to take streaming television off the tablet and instead blast it onto the big screen. Amazon Prime members can view original content for free, as well as many popular television programs and movies. Others are available for purchase or rental, while services like Netflix and Hulu are offered on the device, as well, positioning Amazon to continue competing with Apple in every arena except the smartphone market – a market where Apple has not only thrived, but dominated its competition.
Interested in the internals of the Kindle Fire? Watch the video above to see what the Kindle Fire tablet looks like deconstructed.
The pilot was launched in October, in time for the holiday shopping season, but it flew largely under the radar until now. Amazon has long offered general gift cards in many retail locations, like other digital merchants, but the move to offer cards for specific ebooks is a new move for the company.
Behind the wheel: The unnamed driver was pulled over when an officer spotted him not looking at the road
