Kindle

Last summer, Amazon introduced its Kindle Unlimited subscription ebook service, something that gives users access to hundreds of thousands of books for a flat rate via their Kindle. The benefits are obvious, and those who consumer a lot of books in a month will find it helps cut down on the monthly budget. As with many other services, Amazon hasn't been open about its statistics on the subscription option, but Nielsen has stepped in to fill that void, dropping some numbers to give an idea of how the service is used.

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Amazon has introduced its new Kindle Textbook Creator, a tool that lets users create digital textbooks and related materials that include educational elements, not the least of which are flashcards. Students will then be able to access this content on the same devices other Kindle content can be accessed on, including their Fire tablets. The tool is currently in a beta stage, and as with the Kindle Direct Publishing platform, those interested are able to directly upload their content for others to enjoy.

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Ebooks aren't the only thing Amazon's Kindle ereaders can get wirelessly, with the big online retailer pushing out new features to give extra insight into tricky words along with Family Library ebook sharing. Hitting the Kindle Voyage, $79 Kindle, and Kindle Paperwhite automatically over the next few weeks, the updated firmware enables Word Wise among other new tech, floating definitions over trickier words so that children and non-native-speakers can get a head-start on understanding without having to tap through to the regular dictionary.

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Suddenly, and without much of the fanfare the actual dispute had, Amazon and Hachette have settled their differences. The two companies announced Thursday morning they’ve signed a new multi-year contract which will (naturally) see Hachette-published books on Amazon. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but both parties were complimentary of the agreement. In Amazon’s original complaint, they said their aim was to keep eBook pricing low. In announcing the deal, Amazon executive David Naggar noted “financial incentives” for Hachette to deliver on low-priced eBooks.

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The team behind Scribd want to make their service as accessible as possible. To do this, they've seen it necessary to expand beyond the Kindle - to move past the Amazon environment. To do this, they've decided, they'll need to open their platform to Audiobooks. According to Scribd, this $1 billion a year market is just ripe for expansion - 30,000 audiobooks are on the way to their service right this minute. This will be the single largest unlimited-access offering of e-books and audiobooks available in the world today.

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With the mid-size tablet genre being redefined, Amazon has stepped in with their latest, an 8.9-inch HDX version of the Fire tablet. Taking square aim at the iPad mini and Air, as well as the Nexus 9, this tablet brings a familiar set of specs and viewing experience. Depending on what you want from your tablet, though, the Fire HDX 8.9 might be right for you. To see just how much has improved, and whether or not you should give it a hard look, we took it for a test run.

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It's not looking especially good at Amazon right this minute for investors. While operating loss was $25 million USD in Amazon's Q3 of 2013, this quarter (one year later), they've reported operating loss at $544 million. Net loss, on the other hand, was $41 million at this time last year and $437 million this quarter. On a more positive side, Amazon introduced several new products this quarter and increased net sales 20% to $20.58 billion this quarter compared to $17.09 billion one year ago. It may be time for a fire sale, nonetheless.

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In the market for a new ereader? Amazon's hoping you'll opt for a Kindle Voyage, with the 300dpi digital book we reviewed yesterday beginning to ship to pre-order customers, alongside its new tablet siblings, the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and the Fire HD Kids Edition. Voyage is, as we ourselves found, certainly Amazon's best E Ink Kindle to-date, but that technology also comes with a hefty price tag attached.

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The ebook didn’t kill the paperback, and Amazon is counting on the fact that not only hasn’t the tablet killed the ereader, but that there’s still room for a premium model in the shape of the Kindle Voyage. Fronted by an incredible e-paper display, Amazon’s smartest screen illumination system to-date, and a bevy of software enhancements focused on readers, it’s certainly shaping up to be a great home for your digital 50 Shades. In a world of free Kindle apps and $249 iPads, however, the Kindle Voyage needs to do more than just pack in the pixels in order to justify its existence.

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If Amazon Jeff Bezos has his way, you’ll be ensconced in his media empire soon enough. A new report suggests The Washington Post, which Bezos recently purchased, will make a home on the Amazon Kindle. Via a proprietary app, the printed word will come to the best eReading platform around.

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Readers know all about the Kindle. A mainstay of eReading for quite some time, the e-ink tablet may have lost some ground to others, but it still has bite. How much is left in the tank? We find out!

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With the Fire HD 6 we see Amazon approach the standard paperback book size device. But this device is not aimed at reading alone, it’s aimed at every kind of Amazon-based media. It is, after all, an Amazon-centric device, and therefor should be purchased only by those willing to work with Amazon’s collection of digital stores.

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