Free Fire tablet with 6 month subscription to Texture

 Free Fire tablet with 6 month subscription to Texture

Way back in 2007 when the Kindle was first released (at a price of about $400), people were wondering if Amazon would give away a Kindle with some kind of purchase of books.

Well, this current promotion is a bit similar, although there have been significant changes since. This limited time offer gets you a

free Fire tablet with 6 month subscription to Texture

What’s Texture?

It’s primarily an all you can read magazine service, with over 175 magazines, including many of the best known ones (People, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Essence, Rolling Stone, Vegetarian Times…).

These are not going to work on a Kindle EBR (E-Book Reader), but would work on the Fire tablet you would get with it.

Six months is $89.95…if you don’t cancel, there will be an automatic renewal.

Seems like a nice thing to have around…even if you aren’t supplying a doctor’s waiting room. 😉

Here’s Amazon’s top level summary of the deal:

—

To receive the Buy Texture Premium Subscription, Get One Free Fire 7” Tablet with Special Offers (8 GB or 16 GB) offer, follow the instructions below:

• Purchase and activate a qualifying 6-month subscription to Texture Premium on Amazon.com.
• If you do not cancel your 6-month Texture Premium subscription in the 7 day period following your purchase, you will receive a promotional code via email directly from Texture approximately 8 days after your purchase. Customers who cancel their subscriptions within 7 days of purchase are not eligible to receive the promotional code. Important: You must have activated your subscription to receive your promotional code.
• Add a Fire 7″ tablet with Special Offers (either 8 GB or 16 GB) to your order by selecting “1” in the “Qty” dropdown on the product information page when adding to your Shopping Cart. Select options on the configuration page and click “Add to Cart.” Add your promotional code at checkout and a discount in the amount of one free Fire tablet with Special Offers will be applied.

---

This is while supplies last, and I don’t know how long the deal will be available. I’m guessing this is USA only.

Interestingly, Amazon isn’t doing the deal, Texture is. So, this doesn’t suggest a free Kindle with a

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

six month subscription…but if it does well, it might inspire Amazon. 🙂

If you’ve thought about trying a tablet or e-Magazines, this is an opportunity for you. If you just want another tablet, maybe for a family member, this works for that, too.  😉

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

A Day in the Life of a Kindleer 2016

A Day in the Life of a Kindleer 2016

This is one in a series of posts which I write about once a year. I do this primarily to give my readers some ideas they might use to get more out of their devices. I also think it’s interesting to go back and look at the previous ones, to see how much things have changed…last year, it wasn’t that much,  but this year there are a lot of changes. In part, that’s because of the Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)…actually the whole family of Echo devices. I didn’t have one last time I wrote one of these…I now use three typically every weekday. Also, my Fire Phone (now discontinued) died…I replaced it with a Galaxy s7 Edge. That didn’t just affect my phone use…having the Play Store has meant that I’m not using the Amazon Appstore as much. Okay, let’s start a typical weekday in the Life of a Kindleer.

I usually wake up between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM. That’s not with an alarm or anything…it’s just when I naturally wake up. I usually try to be asleep at 9:00 PM (although tonight it will be a bit later, due to writing this). That means I get five to six hours sleep a night. I’ve talked to my doctor about it twice (it’s been going on for more than a year), but based on the fact that I haven’t really seen a decrease in how well I function and I’m not falling asleep during the day, we’re not worried about it.

I no longer use my now discontinued Kindle Fire HDX as my nightstand clock: I use my Galaxy S7, which can display a clock while the phone is asleep, and that takes very little power…usually about 3% of the battery charge lasting my whole sleep cycle. It also gets dim in a smart way, which works for me.

I go in the bathroom and open the

CNN Breaking US & World News (at AmazonSmile)

on KHDX. I want to be clear, my KFHDX is still a great device for me! I’ve bought the current generation of Fire tablet as well, but I like my KFHDX better…partially, that’s the interface.

I can “flip stories” from CNN into my

free Flipboard magazines

and e-mail them to people I know. I do that quite often.

I usually get through the Home section before I’m going to move into the family room.

I turn off the lights in the bathroom (I see quite well in the dark, apparently related to my color vision deficiency…colorblindness) and head out. Oh, and I’ve already turned on the light in the family room using the Wink app. I have it on my Fire, but I use the Galaxy S7…that’s easier, so I don’t have to leave the CNN app.

One of our dogs will have still been in the bed, as is my Significant Other (who doesn’t get up as early as I do). That dog will follow me.

The other dog, and we don’t know why, has decided to sleep in the family room rather than in bed with us. We think maybe Patty is protecting the house out there…or maybe Elf claimed the bed somehow. They get along very well, but I could see that happening. We  are always amused when Patty is sleeping on a blanket on the couch, and Elf comes up and very deliberately pulls the blanket out from under her. 🙂

Once I get out there, I take the dogs outside with me for a bit (only Elf usually comes with me…Patty wakes up more slowly). They get a snack, and I get a bag of almonds. I’ll switch to reading the KGO News App on my phone…for some reason, it’s stopped working on my Fire. I’ll play around with that, but given that the Fire is a discontinued model, I might not get it going again.

Then, exercise…and I can read on my Fire while I do quite a bit of it (by setting the device on a shelf at eye level). I exercise, on average, over two hours a day, including walking…it’s a baseline of ninety minutes of my own routine, sort of like calisthenics. I have a chronic condition which affects what I can do, but I seem to have a pretty effective fitness routine. I used to use the

Review: MyFitnessPal

as I’ve reported here, and I lost about 40 pounds…but I don’t use it any more. It seems to have taught me what I need to know. I’m not perfect on fitness, but in pretty good shape at this point…and have been for a couple of years.

When I do exercise where I can’t read CNN or

Flipboard (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

any more, I fire up (so to speak) the

Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

in the family room, and listen on Bluetooth headphones while I do exercise which takes up more room. That’s typically CBSN, the CBS news app.

Flipboard, CNN, and the Fire TV will have gotten me through exercise and breakfast…and my SO will be waking up.

We still use Comcast, so I’ll switch to CNN on cable. I like that better than the news app, which will eventually run out of stories.

Next, our

Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

in the family room is part of the plan for the day. I’m typically asking for the weather, although I may do other things, too.

Back in the bedroom/bathroom, I use our

Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote (at AmazonSmile*)

and our

Echo Dot (at AmazonSmile*)

I usually watch the Popular on YouTube feature on the YouTube app (I like to stay up to date on pop culture).

I take our

Amazon Tap (at AmazonSmile*)

to work. The first time I did it, it was sort of an experiment…but I ended up using it a lot. I may listen to music, or something like the Kindle Chronicles podcast. I also use it to set alarms, among other things.

In the car, I listen to text-to-speech on my KFHDX, through my car’s audio system.

On a break or at lunch, I may sight read a book on my KFHDX.

 I use the Tap and my tablet throughout the workday.

Once I’m home, I also use the Echo to turn and off lights.

At home, I sight read on two devices: a

Kindle Paperwhite (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

and a

Kindle Voyage (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

I read the latter in bed before going to sleep. I’m loop reading the original 14 Oz books on that device. By that mean I read it until I finish it, then start over. I’m trying to go to sleep, so it doesn’t hurt to read something familiar. 🙂

So, I’d say the Echo family is a big change since last year. They have become a significant part of my day.

I think those are the key things. I also may

• use the shopping list feature on the Echos
• read Entertainment Weekly on my Fire
• read The Fortean Times in the 3rd party Zinio app on my Fie tablet
• use some other apps

Well, I hope that helps! If you have any questions, or want  to share your Amazon device day with me and my readers, feel free to do so by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Do readers have to worry about a war on porn?

Do readers have to worry about a war on porn?

Reading is freedom.

You can go anywhere, be anyone, do anything…if you have a book.

In a grey area, I will tend to be on the side of greater freedom of expression.

I want people to be able to march and speak in support of ideas I find absolutely antithetical to my personal morality…there are things I support that would have gotten people thrown into prison or tortured for supporting a century or more ago.

When there was a concerted effort to suppress comic books, as well documented in

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

there were people who thought it served public morality to keep comics away from children. There were literally public bonfires to burn them. It’s one reason why some older comics are so valuable today.

Certainly, there were people who classified them the way that some people classify pornography today.

I’m talking, at this point, about legal, consensual, adults only participating explicitly sexual material. Not coerced, not children, nothing like that.

That’s why it is chilling to me when I see efforts to suppress pornography.

Lately, there have been stepped up efforts in that area.

One of the political parties recently said that pornography was a public health crisis. During a public health crisis of certain kinds, people can be involuntarily quarantined. It’s a powerful terminology, not just a literary review.

Starbucks and McDonalds are talking about blocking pornography on their Wi-Fi networks that customers use in the stores.

Now, understand: that doesn’t mean that I want a child being able to see porn on someone’s tablet. You should have to keep it not visible (or audible) to other patrons…and I think that’s true regardless of what you are watching. A lot of parents don’t want their kids watching violent content. The same could be said for some political material. There are privacy screens you can put on a monitor, which makes it virtually invisible to people not directly behind it…we used that in medical areas where I work to protect patients’ medical information.

That’s where some people might right away see a divide. Pornography doesn’t typically refer to the written word, it usually means something visual. However, there is no reason why it can’t, and books have been banned or restricted because of their words.

I know some people probably think I’m a prude. I don’t write the word d*mn in this blog without the asterisk…and I don’t use language like that in my real life either. I don’t have a problem quoting someone else who has used it. I don’t have a problem with reading sexually explicit content, although I like to know it will be in the book. That’s why I warn people…it should be up to you if you read it.

Not up to a store or a political party.

That’s my opinion, but what do you think? Feel free to let me and my readers know by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Imagine sharing a book with 829 other…children

Imagine sharing a book with 829 other…children

When I was a child, I was fortunate in that I had books which were my own.

In fact, although it was true for some things like encyclopedias, I don’t remember sharing books with my three siblings, unless we specifically “loaned” one of our books to someone else.

I feel like I always had books that were mine in my room. I still have some of those self same copies in our library.

I’m guessing some of my readers had that same situation.

Having books was empowering.

Now, picture living in a poor neighborhood.

Your  parents want you to be able to read books. Through a lucky break, you have $5 to spend. Let’s say you won a writing contest at school.

Your parents would take you to your neighborhood bookstore…but there isn’t one.

Your local food market, not really a grocery store, doesn’t carry books.

There is exactly one place you can get books…the dollar store.

They are mostly cheap reprints of public domain books that will likely fall apart in a year (or “remaindered books” that didn’t sell).

You remember seeing a copy of Treasure Island there last time your family bought a box of cereal.

When you get there, though, it’s gone.

There isn’t a single children’s book available.

A recent study by New York University, reported in this

New York University article

found that in Anacostia,, a poorer area of Washington D.C. there was one children’s book available to purchase per 830 children.

The study also found that even “borderline” poverty communities had many more books than those with high poverty rates…and middle class neighborhoods had many, many more books.

As a former brick-and-mortar bookstore owner, I can tell you that books are expensive to sell…especially cheap versions. You are paying rent for the space under that book, and it isn’t a small amount of space.

Books can also be service intensive (which also costs money). When you are buying a  jar of pickles, you have a pretty good idea what you are getting. You don’t need a clerk’s help.

Books are different. It can easily take ten minutes to sell one book.

Now, there are three things that might be alternatives to having books for sale in your neighborhood.

One is your public library. That can work…but there aren’t a lot of public libraries in poor neighborhoods, and they have limited number of books…you might be on a waiting list. You may also need an address in order to check out books, and not everybody has one. You might be able to get books from your public school library, but again, it might not have many copies. As part of an educational project, I spent some of my childhood school days in a public school in Ocean Hill-Brownsville in New York, which is a poor neighborhood. There weren’t a lot of books available for kids there.

Another is buying over the internet…but you probably need a credit card (or debit card) for that, you need that address…and you need a safe place to receive mail.

The third one? E-books.

Yes, you need something on which to read them…a phone, and EBR (E-Book Reader), a tablet, a computer.

Access to those may be more available than you think.

You might be reading public domain e-books on a computer in a public library, but it’s somewhat of an option.

Non-public domain e-books can usually only be checked out by a limited number of patrons at a time.

E-books are of the better options…but I have to say, the study was discouraging.

I gave away a Kindle through this blog a while back (with readers helping select a child to get it), and I’ve donated one, and both of those felt great! However, that doesn’t make much of a difference.

Hm…maybe I’ll do a giveaway of a subscription to

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

That would let a child read books like Harry Potter…and I could certainly do a month of that pretty easily (although they would need an e-mail address). I’ll think about that one.

Shopping using AmazonSmile and designated a children’s literacy promoting organization as the beneficiary of the half a percent of the money you spend donation from Amazon.

Still, we have to be grateful for the opportunities we’ve had. The divide of book availability based on income levels appears to be widening, at least in terms of physical books. I do think e-books can help…but I can’t help being sad about it and wanting to do what I can to help.

What do you think? Did you have your own books as a child? Do you have a favorite charity that gives books to underprivileged children? Do you think my giving KU subscriptions makes sense? Feel free to let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

How to save almost $100 on Kindle Unlimited today…and it’s not obvious

How to save almost $100 on Kindle Unlimited today…and it’s not obvious

—

Hello, Here’s a copy of the chat transcript you requested: Initial Question: How do I get the 40% off on Kindle Unlimited as part of Prime Day (being a Prime member)?

10:15 AM PDT Chinmay(Amazon): Hello, my name is Chinmay. I’m here to help you today. Firstly, I’d like to thank you for being a Prime member. 10:16 AM PDT Chinmay: As I understand that you want to purchase the kindle unlimited subscription with discount. Right? <snip> 10:18 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Correct. <snip> 10:19 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Yes, that’s right. An Amazon press release said KU would be 40% for Prime members today, but I’m not seeing that reflected online. Sorry, for 40% off, not 40%. 🙂 10:21 AM PDT Chinmay: Thanks for waiting. 10:21 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Sure! 10:22 AM PDT Chinmay: Please click on the link below to purchase the subscription with discount https://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/gift_landing (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) [NOTE: I’m using a different link than they sent me] 10:23 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: That doesn’t show the discount, though…24 months shows as $239.76, which is still $9.99 per month. 10:23 AM PDT Chinmay: The discount will automatically get applied to 24 months of subscription. 10:24 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Oh…that will show up at checkout? May I share that link with other people? Is that good for all day today (through midnight Pacific)? 10:24 AM PDT Chinmay: Yes, sure. it will apply to check out. 10:24 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Perfect, thanks! 10:24 AM PDT Chinmay: You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you? 10:25 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Nope, that’s it! 10:25 AM PDT Chinmay: My pleasure helping you today. We are always here to help you. To close this window, please click the “end chat” link. Have a great day!! 10:25 AM PDT Bufo Calvin: Love Amazon, Prime, and the customer service! 🙂 10:25 AM PDT Chinmay: Please do not forget to click on END CHAT. Bye!!

Thank you.

—

Note that this was set up as buying it as a gift, but I put in the e-mail address under which we currently are KU members, and it worked just fine.

The discount did not show until the very final step, just before payment. It had offered me another discount before that with a new credit card, but that was irrelevant and I ignored it.

At checkout, it showed a “Prime Savings” of $95.90, making two months of KU $143.86…about $5.99 a month instead of the normal $9.99 a month. We did this during last year’s Prime Day, so  that works. 🙂

Check the price before you finalize the order…this may be only for the USA, and I think it’s only for 24 months.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

 

Prime Day preview…and how to find out about more

Prime Day preview…and how to find out about more

Tick…tick…tick…ka-ching!

Prime Day (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

is about seven and a half hours away as I write this (starting at midnight Pacific time Monday night/Tuesday morning).

We now know some of the deals, which I’ll highlight shortly.

There will also be many we don’t know about yet. You’ll be able to find out about them at that Prime Day link, but that does mean you have to go there.

If you are like I will be, you are more likely to be near your SmartPhone or tablet than near your (home) computer tomorrow.

The first thing to do is make sure that you have the free Amazon shopping app

Amazon for Tablets (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

which is also available through Google Play and the Apple Appstore.

Amazon recommends that you go into the settings for your app, which are usually not in the app itself, but in the Settings on your phone. On my Galaxy S7 Edge, it’s: Applications – Application Manager – tap the Amazon Shopping App – Notifications – Allow Notifications – More. Check that you have notifications turned on for Your Recommendations and for Your Watched & Waitlisted Deals.

This will give you “push” notifications to let you know when sales are happening…not all sales, not even all the sales you want, but you are likely to hear about some possible things of interest.

Amazon would also like you to set up a new Wish List and add at least one item to it…my understanding is that will also tend to inform your recommendations for those notifications. I’ve done that myself.

That’s a couple of ways to track…oh, and you might want to follow me:

Follow Bufo on Twitter

It’s going to be a lot easier for me to tweet deals I notice than to start a post here and periodically update it throughout the day. You can unfollow me afterwards, if you want. 🙂 I’d really appreciate it if you went to Amazon to buy the item from the

Prime Day (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

link here, but it’s more important to me that you get the deal. 😉

Okay, here are some interesting deals I expect to happen. That doesn’t mean that they’ll all be available for the full 24 hours, by the way…some of them might sell out quickly, although Amazon has been stressing that they are better prepared this year than last (when quite a few people on social media complained about that, and about the selection). As I often caution you, check the price before you click or tap that Buy button. Not all of the countries in which my readers reside get Prime Day, and for the ones that do, the prices will vary from Amazon site to Amazon site.

Oh, and remember that you need to be a Prime member to get these deals, but you can get the free 1-month trial (and then cancel, if you want, but I don’t think you’ll want to do that). You can sign up here:

Amazon Prime (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

• Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) for $33.33! I have this model for our guest Kindle right now (I also have a non-backlit Kindle guess can use). This is a remarkable price for this serviceable, if not top of the line, model. It would make a good gift…my Significant Other and I plan to shop for the holidays tomorrow. This one is normally $49.99 in the least expensive configuration, which is the equivalent of the $33.33 price…you could pay more if you didn’t want ads/Special Offers, for example
• Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) $50 off (should be $129.99)…we use this every day
• Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*) $30 off…should be $69.99…again, we use this streaming content device every day, our main provider of TV
• Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote (at AmazonSmile*) $15 off (should be $24.99 without the voice remote, $34.99 with it). This is the least expensive device where you can get the Alexa voice service…you can use it without the voice remote by using the free app on your phone. Definitely a great “emergency gift”, when someone shows up for whom you weren’t prepared!
• All-New Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) $30 off (should be $89.99). I love this Kindle, it’s probably my favorite one right now…and this is a wonderful price!

You can also shop directly from your Echo device. You’ll be able to get the

Fire HD 10, 10.1″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (at AmazonSmile*)

for $129, 43% off…and you get an additional $10 off your first eligible Amazon order on your Echo device over $20. There will be other good deals…check

http://www.amazon.com/alexadeals (at AmazonSmile*)

but then order them by asking Alexa. “Alexa, order…”

There will be lots more!

I also appreciate that they mention

http://www.amazon.com/bestfriends (at AmazonSmile*)

which I didn’t even now existed! It might be new. You can send pet supplies (from a list) to an organization, described in part this way: “Best Friends Animal Society is the only national animal welfare organization focused exclusively on ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters…” We will definitely look at that.

One of the other great deals will be on

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

You will be able to save up to 40% on this subser (subscription service). We are happy members and have given a membership as a gift. It’s an “all you can read” program, where you can have up to ten books out at a time from many more than a million titles, which includes some famous books (like the original James Bond books and the Harry Potter books).

This will likely be the biggest day of the year for Amazon.

It’s also expensive for Amazon. When I managed a brick-and-mortar bookstore, we really amped up our resources for the holiday season…hiring new people, including temps, for one thing. We also needed more bags. 🙂 Amazon will also have to ramp up resources for Prime Day, and then ramp up again for the holidays.

It’s well worth it for them, though, if people become Prime members or solidly stay Prime members. Prime members spend more, and they spend more on those bigger margin physical items (which I call “diapers and windshield wipers”).

I think it’s funny, but I’m genuinely excited about Prime Day…like the night before a holiday!

I’ll be ready to tweet. 🙂 If you see great sales and want me and my readers to know, you can comment on this post, or . me (@bufocalvin) and I may retweet it…I’ll be at my day job, but I’ll check when I can. 🙂

Have a price-cut Prime Day! 😉

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

“It’s discounted…just trust us”

“It’s discounted…just trust us”

This is a fascinating

New York Times article by David Streitfeld

The main thrust of the article?

Amazon is eliminating list prices from many product pages.

As a former retail manager, that seemed odd to me at first, especially for a discounter to do.

A number of people re-flipped the article from my free ILMK magazine at Flipboard so it has caught the attention of other people as well.

First, what are we discussing?

The “list price”, similar to the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) is what the publisher suggest that the price of a book should be in a store (or online).

Nobody is mandated to use that price…it’s possible a book never sells for the list price, although small bookstores may certainly do it.

It’s valuable as a comparative measure…if the list price of a book is $20 and one store sells it for $20 and another sells it for $16, most people will feel like they are saving $4 by shopping at the discounter (and they are, if they have already committed to buying the book, and if the cost of buying it is the same…for example, the cost of gas is the same if you are going to a physical store).

One of Amazon’s three tenets is price (the other two are selection and customer service).

I decided to take a look at the

Monthly Kindle Book Deals for $3.99 or less each (at AmazonSmile)

which I wrote about here:

Monthly Kindle Deals for $3.99 or less each: July 2016

I checked some of the tradpubbed (traditionally published books).

Interestingly, this is promoted as “up to 80% off”…but sure enough, I wasn’t seeing the list prices on the product places.

However, I could see it on the deals’ page, before I tapped on an individual title.

That means that if you get to the book, you can’t see how much Amazon could be saving you.

I think they may be experimenting with this, but how could it be a positive for them?

I suppose it could get people to stop thinking about price. That would give Amazon two advantages I could see.

If you aren’t thinking about price and list price, you aren’t thinking about the competitors.

That’s where I am with Amazon. I don’t tend to comparison shop any more: I just want to buy from Amazon. It’s so much easier…I trust them with my credit card information and shipping address. I can order right through our

Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

just using my voice.

They don’t need to entice me based on a single discount.

I’m fine with that.

I’ll shop around if I’m not satisfied with Amazon’s price, but that would be the decision not to buy something from Amazon…I think price isn’t much influencing my decision to buy something.

The other thing is that, by not having a list price shown, it would make it easier for them to raise the price in the future. You would notice if a book went from $5 below list to $3, but you might not as easily notice a book going from $6.99 to $8.99.

Now, I’m not saying that’s the plan, but to me, this is a major shift away from Amazon promoting itself on the basis of being a discounter. It moves the more towards what I’ve said they want to be…the “infrastructure of the internet”.

What do you think? Does it bother you that Amazon might not show list prices? Do you think they’ll stay with and expand this strategy? Do you think of Amazon as a discounter now, and comparison shop before you buy something? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Shop through your Echo device and get a great deal on a Tap today

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160708005141/en/

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I love my Kindle blog

New Kindle with Bluetooth audio: first impressions

New Kindle with Bluetooth audio: first impressions

Wow!

That’s my first impression of the

All-New Kindle E-reader – Black, 6″ Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

which was just released and arrived today.

It’s $79.99 right now with ad-support. I like the feel of it, even though the bevel (the area around the reading area) is going to seem big to some people.

The thing I wanted to know about right away, and tested, was the Bluetooth connectivity.

I connected it via Bluetooth to our

Amazon Tap (at AmazonSmile*)

The process was easy, even if not that intuitive (you had to hold the power button in for just so long, then put two fingers spread out on the screen).

Once it was set up (paired), voila!

It read a book to me, using text-to-speech.

Now, it’s important to note that this is working with “Voice View”…it’s also going to read out to you each button you touch, since it’s designed for those with print challenges. You hold and press a button for it to recognize it and tell you what it is, and then typically you double tap to make it happen. So, yes, it is more contacts for each action.

TTS on an EBR (or, um, from an EBR to a speaker), though? A very welcome return!

Once it was paired, it was very simple: any time I turn on Voice View, my Tap connects immediately and starts working. Turn it off, and the Tap disconnects. Note that the Voice View option is under Device Options in Settings, not under Reading Options (since it’s not just about reading, but all the menus).

The new Page Flip feature also works well.

This device doesn’t have a light, so that doesn’t match up to the Paperwhite…and when the Paperwhite gets Bluetooth (as I’m sure it will), that will overshadow (so to speak) this one.

This, though, is a great first hour!

I haven’t been able to test the TTS with an e-book where the publisher has blocked access…I don’t want to buy one of those, and the sample I tried for one didn’t have the access blocked, so I’m not sure.

I have more testing to do later (Is there a way to play an audiobook/music? Does it do immersion reading, where it lights up the words as I reads them?), but I wanted to share this with you right away.

I will say that the screen doesn’t seem as responsive as my Paperwhite or Voyage…but I did really like the package graphic. 🙂

Let me know if you have specific questions…I expect to explore it more this weekend.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Good E-Reader: Amazon releasing color EBR perhaps this year

Good E-Reader: Amazon releasing color EBR perhaps this year

I am going to put this in the “strong rumor” category, even though it seems to come from one source:

Good E-Reader post by Michael Kozlowski

That’s because it’s a source I like who is writing with confidence.

According to the post, Amazon will likely release an 8″ color Kindle EBR (E-Book Reader…not a backlit tablet, like a Fire) utilizing Liquavista for the holidays this years.

There have been rumors about this almost since the Kindle was announced in November of 2007, and they picked up more when Amazon bought

Liquavista

in 2013 as related in this

Reuters article by Alistair Barr

So, does all this pent-up demand for a color Kindle mean guaranteed success?

Nope. 🙂

You see, since the Kindle was released, Amazon has also started selling

Fire tablets (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

You can get a full color Fire tablet for less than the least expensive grayscale Kindle…about $30 less.

In fact, on the

Amazon devices bestseller list at time of writing (at AmazonSmile*)

the most popular Fire tablet is more popular than the most popular Kindle EBR, which is the

All-New Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Those are both behind the

Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote (at AmazonSmile*) (#1)

and the

Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (#2)

The obvious question: why introduce a color EBR when you already have a color reading device?

Well, EBRs usually have some real advantages over backlit tablets, the two biggest ones being perhaps the much, much longer battery charge life and the ability to read it in bright sunlight. An EBR with equivalent colors to a backlit tablet, but with the performance capabilities of a Kindle, would be a big hit…provided the price was acceptable to consumers.

Aye, there’s the rub!

The ability to produce some sort of color EBR has been around for years, but nobody has done it successfully in the market.

I would buy it, partially to be able to write about it for you…but I’d also be curious about it myself!  I’m looking forward to getting the

All-New Kindle E-reader – Black, 6″ Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

which has audio via Bluetooth, restoring text-to-speech to a current model Amazon EBR. I’m expecting to write about it before Monday (should be in my hands Friday). I’m assuming new models will have that capability as well.

I haven’t bought the Oasis, because you can’t buy it without an animal leather cover at this point, as I wrote about here:

My biggest disappointment with Amazon to date

I would otherwise, despite the relatively high cost.

The Oasis is number #41 on the Amazon devices list…it had done well initially, but it looks like demand might have slackened. It’s possible that the market for a nearly $300 EBR just wasn’t that big.

That’s going to be the key for a new color Kindle, if Amazon does introduce one: the price.

If the color Kindle is close to an equivalent grayscale Kindle, I think people will pay the difference for the most part. If not…

What is “close to” specifically? I thought I’d get a sense of that from you. In this poll, assume everything else is pretty much the same (including battery charge life, which would be quite a technical accomplishment).

Again, this is only a rumor. However, Good E-Reader is more tied into the European market than I am, and Liquavista was a Dutch company, so they could have good sources on this. My intuition is that they are probably right, although not necessarily this year (even though that would be good timing, and seems more probable than waiting for next year).

What do you think? Would you care about a color EBR? What makes that attractive to you? What if the color was muted compared to a Fire tablet? What if it cut battery charge life down to, oh, a week (at an hour reading a day)? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard our new The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project! Do you have what it takes to be a Timeblazer?

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  By the way, it’s been interesting lately to see Amazon remind me to “start at AmazonSmile” if I check a link on the original Amazon site. I do buy from AmazonSmile, but I have a lot of stored links I use to check for things.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.