Showing posts with label black friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black friday. Show all posts

Friday, November 27, 2015

Special Black Friday special on Kindles, Fire TV devices and Amazon Echo. Additional 30% off any PRINT book. Note on Voice-dictation (speech-to-text) for HDX models for later blog article today. UPDATE 2


Amazon Kindle and Fire Devices on special sale, Black Friday (See Update 2: 30% off PRINT book.

  The special pricing on the Black Friday Amazon Devices page tends to be available until Nov 28, said to be 11:59 pm that day, tho' some have later ending dates.   Some will become available again only during lightning deals for the following "CyberMonday week" and for as long as the items are in stock).

  Clicking on the small-version images of Amazon's special sales page for its devices today will get you to the larger, much more readable page at Amazon.

The special device deals today include e-Readers, tablets, as well as Fire TV box and Fire Stick.

  Highlights

  Fire TV devices
Fire TV Stick, normally $39.99, is nearly 40% off at $24.99.

Fire TV Box (more fully-featured), normally $99.99 is 25% off at $75.99 and that's a rare price for this.

  Here's Amazon's Yr 2015 FireTV-comparison table


  Kindle e-Readers and tablets
The basic Kindle e-Ink e-Reader is almost 40% off at $49.99.

You can save $15 on the new Fire tablet, which has been, Amazon says, "the #1 best-selling product" on Amazon.com since launch.  Normally, $50, it's $34.99 today.

  Once more: the sometimes confusing lineup of Kindles and how to decide
  which ones would work best for you

  Here's a set of links that should help clarify the differences between models and allow easier comparison of features and prices:

  • Amazon's Tablet Comparison table
  • Amazon's Comparison table for the e-Ink Kindle eReaders
  • Paperwhite 3 vs Paperwhite 1: photos
  * Yr 2015 lineup: Details
        plus a quick-text listing or table of the various models:
  • Which Kindles Where? (Models available)


The previous blog article was on how the 8 days of Black Friday would work and the coming CyberMonday Week starting Nov. 30 will see similar multiple sales events.

GENERAL Black Friday pages for the US, UK, and Canada


UPDATE 2: Additional 30% off ANY Print Book 11/26-11/29 (thru' Sunday)
I got word of this and forgot, and it's not easily findable on the Amazon pages:
' Shopping Alert: Amazon Books announced it's offering shoppers an extra 30% discount on any print title beginning on Thanksgiving Day.  Shoppers must enter "HOLIDAY30" at checkout between Thursday (11/26) and Sunday (11/29) to receive the discount. '

[Amazon adds that the Amazon Book editors recently announced their Best Books of 2015 and that if any of you are looking for gifting options to use this 30% off on, take a look at the Editors’ Holiday Gift Picks.]

I'll end this here, since Thanksgiving and other events kept me from getting this out last night.

  I'm also working today on another blog article, to be completed this weekend, on how to dictate emails (voice dictation) and notes to Evernote and other apps on the Kindle HDX models.

  I've tested what works and doesn't in the way of punctuation and certain formats it understands (currency and time). This works very well for me on the 8.9" HDX that I have and for a friend's 7" HDX.

UPDATED, after initial posting:
EDITED: According to Amazon help pages on Language and Keyboard options:
  "For Kindle Fire HDX (3rd Generation), Fire HD (4th Generation), or Fire HDX 8.9 (4th Generation) devices, tap the microphone icon on your keyboard to use your voice to dictate text instead of typing."

  This means that the current HD6 and HD7 "Fire" tablets do have the Voice-dictation-to-text feature.

One more thing
  I'll also include, in that later blog article today, an example from a very effective voice-recorder app (NOT voice-to-text but an audio file) that I bought ($3), which is clearer than others I'd tried earlier, and is even said by commenters to be very good for recording singing.

  This is of course for Kindle tablets that use a microphone, although I saw that someone who bought earbuds with a mic attached was able to do the simple recording of voice to an audio file, which they can save and send or keep in a library.



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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Thursday, November 19, 2015

How the 8 days of Black Friday sales will work ... Long listing of examples of top deals ... Paperwhite 3 vs Paperwhite 1 photos ... New Handmade store ... Martha Stewart American Made store ...Isis: Inside the Army of Terror + an online article in 3 parts, based on an interview with an ISIS spy. Updated 11/20.


WHY?
While watching the news this week, I heard CNN Contributor Michael Weiss on a panel discussing ISIS and the Paris attacks and found his flow of details about the middle east situation more informative than the usual and looked him up to find he co-authored the New York Times bestseller "Isis: Inside the Army of Terror," which gets good reviews.  The one complaint I saw was that there are a lot of acronyms involved and they're hard to remember when explained only once.

  I thought that was true also of his 3-part series online, "Confessions of an Isis Spy," based on days of interviews with a "man claiming to be a member of the so-called Islamic State’s security services" who provided details on the inner workings of the group.

  The Kindle book has the "X-Ray" feature enabled, which means that if you see an acronym on a page and want to remember what it represents, you can tap on 'X-Ray' (menu option), then tap on "Terms," to get a definition plus links to each time the word or acronym is mentioned, along with applicable text on those pages.  This is probably my favorite Kindle book feature when reading non-fiction.

  It's a terrible subject, but I want to try to understand it where that's possible, and I thought others might too.

Yes, it's that time of the year again...
8 Days of ~Black Friday~ begin Friday Jan. 20 (tomorrow)
Here are the Black Friday links again that were given earlier for the "Countdown" period:

  Black Friday pages for the US, UK, and Canada

  The sometimes confusing lineup of Kindles and how to decide
  which ones would work best for you

  Since some will be interested in the sales on Kindle e-Ink eReaders or Amazon's Fire tablets, here's a set of links that should help clarify the differences between models and allow easier comparison of features and prices:

  • Amazon's Tablet Comparison table
  • Amazon's Comparison table for the e-Ink Kindle eReaders
  • Paperwhite 3 vs Paperwhite 1: photos
  • Yr 2015 lineup: Details
  • Which Kindles Where? (Models available)

  IN THE MEANTIME, today (Nov 19), the Fire Tablet 10 (10.1" HD display, 16GB) is on sale "for a limited time" for $199.99 (normally $229.99).

I'll include, at the bottom of this blog article, Amazon's very long list of examples of specific products that will be on sale.

  SIDE NOTE: In addition, Amazon has launched its new HANDMADE products store.
  • Handmade at Amazon
  • Martha Stewart American Made

  That's right. Martha Stewart left EBay for Amazon, and her new store opens today.  Amazon's announcement explains that the new Handmade store
"spotlights local artisans that are personally selected by Martha Stewart and the editors of Martha Stewart Living.  On Handmade at Amazon, artisans selling in the Martha Stewart American Made store will be identified in their artisan profile page with the official Martha Stewart American Made badge.  To start, hundreds of unique handcrafted items are offered from artisans that have earned the Martha Stewart American Made distinction."


From Amazon's Black Friday week announcement:
'...new deals [will be] added as often as every five minutes for eight straight days" at the Black Friday page.
 " Customers will have access to 10 coveted Deals of the Day starting at midnight on Thanksgiving, and up to 10 more on Black Friday. Customers can also shop limited-time Lightning Deals on thousands of sought-after products per day throughout the eight days of deals.

Plus, Prime members will get 30-minutes early access to the majority of these Lightning Deals.
[This means some of the best deals could be gone before the non-Prime members get a look at them.

HOWEVER, Amazon will recognize 30 day Free Trials of Prime (UK prime here) during the 8 days of Black Friday, and there is the option to cancel the free trial after that.]
This year, Amazon will introduce more than 150 hand-picked Lightning Deals on everything from electronics to kitchen gadgets only through the Amazon Mobile Shopping App available on Android, iOS, and Fire OS.

  These deals can be found on the “App Only Deals” tab and will be released daily from 3 pm PT to 11 pm PT starting Thanksgiving through Wednesday, December 9. In addition, Prime members in 20 metro areas can use the dedicated Prime Now mobile app to enjoy free two-hour delivery on select Deals of the Day throughout the holiday season.

 . . . This year, [Amazon adds the feature]  “Watch A Deal” which allows holiday shoppers to pick the deals they’re most excited about and receive a notification to their mobile device when the deal is live. With this new feature, Amazon customers can effortlessly take advantage of deals throughout the day and while on-the-go.

Steve Shure, Vice President, Amazon Consumer Marketing [added]: “...with App Only Deals, customers will have plenty of options when it comes to scoring great deals from Amazon.”

Following are examples of some of the top deals that will be available at various times between November 20 and Black Friday at [Amazon's Black Friday page, U.S.].

Electronics:
Kindle Paperwhite, $99.99
$30 off Kindle and Kindle for Kids Bundle
Fire, $34.99
Fire Kids Edition, $84.99
$25 off Amazon Fire TV
$15 off Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote
Up to 45% off select Samsung and LG TVs, including Samsung 32” 1080p LED TV for $177.99, LG 49” 1080p LED TV for less than $370, and Samsung 75” 1080p Smart LED TV for less than $2,000
Top-selling 60” 4K LED TV, $799.99
TCL 55” Roku Smart LED TV, $348
Hisense 55” 4K Smart LED TV, $448 (App Only Deal)
50” 1080p LED TV, $149.99 (App Only Deal)
40” 1080p LED TV, $145
TCL 32” Roku Smart LED TV, $125
32” LED TV, $75
Acer Home Theater Projector, $299.99
VIZIO 38” 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar, $79.99
$49 off SONOS 2-Room Streaming Music Starter Set
Save 40% on Polk Audio Omni S2 Wireless Speaker
Up to 25% off Denon HEOS 1 Wireless Speakers
50% off Sony Extra Bass Bluetooth Headphones
Save more than 50% on Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition Over-Ear Headphones in Black (Amazon Exclusive)
More than 50% off top-selling point-and-shoot camera
Jawbone UP3, $99
Save $100 on an Intel-Powered Dell 2-in-1 Laptop
ASUS 15” laptop, $129
Up to 40% off select Acer desktops, monitors, chromebooks, and tablets
Save more than 20% on select Samsung Galaxy Tablets
Save up to 70% on select SanDisk memory cards and USB flash drives
Top-selling mobile printer for less than $100&

Baby, Toys & Pets:
Save 30% or more on select Graco Car Seats and Strollers
Up to 60% off select Disney apparel, toys, and more
Save 50% on select best-selling wooden preschool toys
40% off select Fisher-Price Musical Instruments
Up to 50% off select toys from favorite brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and more
Save 50% on select construction toys from K’NEX, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys
Up to 50% off select Lionel Train Sets, including Polar Express
50% off select wearable technology products and robotic toys for kids
45% off UDI R/C Falcon Drone with HD Camera
LEGO Star Wars Stormtrooper Figurine Alarm Clock, $15.99
Up to 60% off select Nylabone dog treats and chew toys
Save more than 50% on select Outward Hound dog toys
Up to 50% off select PetSafe pet products 

Home & Kitchen:
Save $50 on Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit
Save up to $200 on select Dyson vacuums
Save 40% on Silhouette Cameo Starter Bundle
$25 off with select DEWALT purchases of $100 or more
$20 off select orders of $100 or more in Porter-Cable tools
DEWALT 18-Volt Compact Drill/Driver Kit with Two Batteries, $89
More than 45% off Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Ultra LED Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit
Up to 60% off select products from FoodSaver, Oster, Krups, Nespresso, T-fal, Wilton, and more
More than 55% off select Imprint Cumulus Comfort Mats
More than 50% off select Instant Pot Programmable Pressure Cookers
Save up to 40% on select cookware from Circulon and Rachael Ray
More than 40% off Rabbit 6-Piece Wine Tool Kit
Save 20% on Soma Sustainable Carafe and Plant-Based Water Filter, available through the new Amazon Launchpad program for startups 
Sports & Travel:
34% off Skywalker 15-Feet Jump N’ Dunk Trampolines
Insta-Bed Raised Air Mattress with Never Flat Pump - Queen, $87.99
BARSKA Starwatcher 400x70mm Refractor Telescope, $49.50
30% off Reebok Professional Deck Workout Bench
25% off Nautilus T614 Treadmill
STIGA Triumph Table Tennis Table, $299.99
25% off select Timbuk2 Command Messenger Bags
25% off select Under Armour fleece
adidas Originals Men’s Sport Essentials Tee, $19.99
Save up to 50% on select adidas footwear for men, women, and kids
Save 70% or more on Samsonite Two-Piece Spinner Sets
Up to 45% off RV and camping supplies, including select products from Camco and Valterra
Up to 55% off select Automotive D-I-Y items
Fashion & Beauty:
Up to 70% off select clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, and watches for men, women, and kids
30% off select clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, and watches with promotional code 30BLACKFRI
Up to 70% off select diamond jewelry gifts
Up to 50% off select luxury watches for women
Select Levi’s Jeans for men, $39.99 or less
45% off select New Balance shoes for men, women, and kids
50% off select Steve Madden shoes for men
50% off select Steve Madden and Madden Girl shoes for women and kids
50% off select Stride Rite shoes and more for kids
Select baby and kids’ coats, fleece, hats, and more, $14.99 or less
Save up to $30 on Oral Care, including Oral-B electric toothbrushes
Up to 25% off select skin care products, including Dove, Olay, and more

Books, Music & Video Games:
80% off Transformers: The Covenant of Primus
Save more than 50% on Deathstroke Volume 1 Book and Mask Set
Save on more than 10 autographed CDs, including Kenny Rogers, Megadeth, and more (Amazon Exclusive)
Save 15% or more on select vinyl records
Save $20 on Need for Speed
Save $30 on Rock Band 4 Wireless Guitar Bundle
$50 off Xbox One Consoles
$50 off PlayStation 4 Uncharted Bundle
$25 off Metal Gear Solid V
Hundreds of PC download deals up to 70% off

All prices available at select times and while supplies last.

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Amazon's additional Kindle book deals for November ... Black Friday page has Countdown (current) deals ... Amazon Local coupons-feature ends Dec. 18 ... More on e-book pricing situation ... Free Kindle books for November. Updated.




Some Amazon changes

Amazon is ending, on December 18, its Amazon Local feature and app for locally-focused coupons.  Amazon Local was launched in 2011 with the help of Living Social.

  According to MarketWatch, ...the site and app will cease offering deals on Dec. 18, and the daily email featuring deals ceased Friday, though deals that customers have purchased or buy through Dec. 18 will be honored after that date."

  BusinessFinanceNews adds:
... [Amazon] also [had] bought stake in ... “LivingSocial” for $200 million.  [Living Social] ... recently cut its workforce by 20% and shifted its focus to long-term deals.  Amazon has 30% stake in the company, which was once valued [at] $1 billion.  It fell $242 million by 2014 end.  According to GeekWire, Amazon recorded a $169 million write down on the investment.

  'From October 30, 2015 until December 18, 2015, you can continue to purchase deals at Amazon Local as usual,' Amazon announced.  'All purchased vouchers will not be affected by this change and remain valid according to their terms.'

Special Kindle Daily Deal page offering: Up to 85% off selected Kindle books for November
  Amazon's own daily deals remain, of course, and the current "Kindle Daily Deal page" is also featuring a big special for the holidays.  As seen in the article image, Amazon's offering Kindle books at "up to 85% off" -- this is similar to its (now removed) "Big Deal").


REGULAR Monthly Kindle books offered at between $.99 to $3.99 [Updated to correct amounts]
This is the ongoing MONTHLY Kindle books deal of books offered at $.99 to $3.99.  The image and book links in this paragraph will take you to this particular monthly feature for November 2015's Kindle books, a feature which differs from the Special Kindle Deal page offer seen above that's for November as well.

  Amazon had a good quarter report with a big boost in sales and, possibly in connection with the premise of the article I saw last month in Observer, they're offering more deals than before on Kindle books.

  Side Note: E-book pricing and sales:
  The title of the Observer article (which references a Wall Street Journal article) is "Do E-Books Earn More Money at Lower Prices?" and it points out that while the large publishers who re-negotiated contracts that allow them to set the prices, the WSJ reports that they "reported declining e-book revenue in their latest reporting periods.
  "The new business model for e-books is having a significant impact on what [the big] publishers report," said one publishing executive.  "There’s no question that publishers’ net receipts have gone down."

  The Observer mentions that "more writers are producing more books and making more money than ever before. A lot of that increase has occurred outside major publishers, though."  And they remind us of Amazon's rare look "into its data around prices and e-book sales.  The Amazon Books Team posted on the Kindle Forum, writing:"
"For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99.

  So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99.  Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000.  Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000."
.
REMINDER -- NOVEMBER'S FREE Kindle books
November'sfree Kindle books (contemporary or non-classics)
    October 2015  November 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

A reminder: On the first 2-3 days of the month, the current month's free Kindle books listing will have many that are chapters for a book, or shorter works, and some Not-"family-safe" content that can creep in there when Amazon is asleep.  In that case, check the previous month's free Kindle books offerings ("October"), which is sorted by most-recently published first.


BLACK FRIDAY PAGE starts up again, quietly
Black Friday (US, UK, and Canada) is already back, in the form "Countdown to Black Friday," with some special deals daily until the usual official launch day.  In the UK and Canada, it's more subtle, but the "Black Friday" page shows current deals that will be changing.


Here's a bit more on Amazon Flex that I meant to include earlier in the previous article.  A cousin in San Francisco had a very similar positive experience to the one described below in this Geekwire article
  Re the Under-1-hr free delivery for Prime members from restaurants
"After I placed my order, I could watch my delivery rider making his way across town on a real-time map. I received an automated text message about two minutes before he arrived."
. . .
"It wasn’t until after he left that it dawned on me the impressive feat Amazon had accomplished. It usually takes about 20 minutes for a restaurant to prepare a carryout order, and the restaurant I chose is about a 12 minute ride from my apartment — up an infamous hill. That leaves just 5 minutes of wiggle room for my order to be able to show up within 37 minutes like it did."



Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Quick Alert for special deal on one print book, starting tonight, at 9pm PST (no e-books or Audible)


Special sale starting tonight

I received an email alert that "...With Black Friday two days away, Amazon has announced another great deal starting at 9pm PST tonight where customers using the promo code HOLIDAY30 will receive an additional 30% off of purchase for one book, not including eBooks or Audible Audiobooks. The offer is available for a limited time and starts at 9PM Pacific Standard Time tonight.

For additional information (starting at 9pm) and a full list of Amazon Black Friday deals, visit www.amazon.com/blackfriday.

IF we can apply this to any print book, that would be a good deal, but we won't know until 9pm PST, which is fairlylate for Easterners.



Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Alert: Black Friday Amazon device deals include UNlocked GSM Fire Phone including add'l 1 yr of PRIME, for $199 total, not locked into any cellphone services provider ... plus Kindle device deals thru' wkend or Cyber Monday


In case you didn't see these yet, there are some unusual deals for the next few days.

Received an alert from Tom Semple, who drew my attention to the unusual offering of an UNLOCKED model of the Amazon Fire Phone, which includes 1 year of Prime (for new membership or additional year for Prime members).
  (List price $449 - States taxes are based on the $199 price, per Tom Semple's exploring.

  This is especially good (and economical, as unlocked phone prices go) for those who did not want to be locked into using AT&T.

  He also saw that "Amazon Amazon helpfully enumerates all of the 'compatible' GSM carriers" but that he will just use its WiFi capability with the features, which is how I use my old Samsung Galaxy 2 phone, which is older and now like a very small tablet for me that saves my cellphone battery when WiFi is available.

The 99 cent deal that goes with a specific 2-yr data plan is still a current one.


The listing from Amazon for Black Friday and extended through the weekend

Black Friday deals for Amazon devices beginning tomorrow. These deals will extend through the holiday weekend. Deals include 

·          Kindle for just $49  (11/27-11/29
·         New Bundle : 6 months of Kindle Unlimited plus a Kindle for $79;
          also available for Kindle Paperwhite for $129 (11/27-11/29)
·         $119 Kindle Paperwhite for $99 (11/27-11/29
·         $99 Fire HD 6 for $79 (11/27-11/29
·         $139 Fire HD 7 for $109 (11/27-12/1
·         Fire phone is now available unlocked with a no contract price of $199 through Cyber Monday
          (11/25-12/1

Amazon's details and wording are below:


Kindle (deal running 11/27-11/29)
All-new Kindle - featuring a touchscreen display, a 20% faster processor, and twice the storage. Kindle e-readers are lightweight and easy to hold, measure battery life in weeks, not hours, and allow for reading with no glare even in bright sunlight. 
Kindle Paperwhite (deal running 11/27-11/29)
Kindle Paperwhite is one of Amazon’s most popular Kindles, with a touchscreen that has no screen glare in bright sunlight, a battery that lasts for weeks, not hours, and a built-in light that allows you to read without eyestrain.
Kindle Unlimited/Kindle Bundle (deal running 11/27-11/29)
Better together: Get the $79 Kindle and 6-months of Kindle Unlimited for just $79 or Kindle Paperwhite and 6-months of Kindle Unlimited for just $129. Kindle Unlimited offers unlimited reading from over 700,000 books, including best sellers like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Landing page:
Fire HD (Fire HD 6 deal running 11/27-11/29; Fire HD 7 deal running 11/27-12/1)
The new Fire HD tablets are available in both 6” and 7” and five color choices - black, white, cobalt, magenta, and citron. The new Fire HD, features a quad-core processor, front and rear-facing cameras, an HD display and a world-class ecosystem of exclusive features, services, and content.
Fire phone (deal running 11/25-12/1)
The Fire phone is now available unlocked.  The unlocked Fire phone works with GSM carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Cricket and for a limited time only is only $199. Fire phone includes a full year of Amazon Prime membership for access to Amazon’s vast digital ecosystem and unlimited photo cloud storage as well as exclusive features like Mayday, Second Screen and X-Ray.

Since this is an alert, will get this off.

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Kindle Tips: CyberMonday + many other holiday book deals - 30% off (up to $10) any Print book until midnight tonight, Dec 1 (Sunday). December's Monthly Kindle Books for $3.99 or less. Also, a section for $1.99 deals. Free non-classics by publication date + discounted-book alerts

Today, the leading offer of 30% off any one printed book for "CyberMonday" is good ONLY through TONIGHT at 11:59 PM, Sunday, December 1.

  Note that this holiday special is for printed books only and is limited to $10 off the highest priced book you order in a single purchase of books going at the same time to one address, using the coupon "BOOKDEAL" at checkout.

  Here are some of the "Terms and Conditions," with the most important details that I've boldfaced:

  * To use this promotion, you must enter "BOOKDEAL" at checkout under the
        "Gift cards & promotional codes" section to receive 30% off any ONE (1) book,
        with a maximum discount of $10 off.
  * The offer will only apply to the highest priced book in your order.
  * This offer is only valid on print books. Excludes Kindle eBooks and Audible Audiobooks.
  * The promotion is valid for a limited time only, from November 27, 2013 at 9pm PST
        to December 1, 2013 at 11:59pm PST.
  * Offer only applies to products sold and shipped by Amazon.com.
  * Limit one promotional code per customer and account.
  * The maximum benefit you may receive from this offer is $10.
  * Offer good while supplies last.
  * Offer is non-transferable and may not be resold.
  * This promotion may not be combined with other offers, including promotional certificates.
  * Items must be purchased in a single order and shipped at the same speed
        to a single address
.
  * Void where prohibited.
  * Shipping charges may apply to discounted and free promotional items.
  * Offer does not apply to Amazon Gift Cards.


BELOW the 30% off any printed book offer on the Cyber Monday page are several other Book Deals, which include Kindle books.  This includes a display of upcoming times for specific books.

And then right now there's "Cyber Monday Week's" Kindle books as well.  Amazon has the ongoing Kindle Daily Deals page linked, for some reason, as Cyber Monday Week, so I'm using that daily deal link, because that's what it is at the moment.

  In the meantime, they have a "Black Friday" special showing as a "Daily Deal" -- an offer of discount pricing on 25 Cinematic Books, presumably just for today, Sunday, Dec. 1.  This same link may show you, tomorrow, different books as Cyber Monday specials.


And now for the regular Monthly Kindle Deals

DECEMBER 2013's Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK page below.)

I often highlight this monthly deal at or near the beginning of the month for those who don't know about it or might not remember.

For those who want to quickly look first at only the ones that are star-rated at 4 or above, I ran across Amazon's page for exactly tha.

  On the main monthly Kindle book deals page, separate categories are highlighted, using Amazon's usual horizontally-scrolling pick-lists, for the following topics highlighted on the main page. They link to "See all" at the bottom of each horizontally-scrolled category row [ I'm adding direct links to the full category listings ]:

  1. Editors' Picks used to be one of the categories, but I don't see that this nonth.
  2. History and by Avg Customer Rating
  3. Biography and Memoirs and by Avg Customer Rating
  4. Literary Fiction Deals and by Avg Customer Rating
  5. Religion and Spirituality and by Avg Customer Rating

This main monthly deals page also has, on the right, two vertically-scrolling categories:
  1. Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense highlighted + more in the linked full list w/ sorting options)
      Here's that fuller listing by Avg Customer Rating
  2. Romance and by Avg Customer Rating.

THEN, at the bottom of the new main monthly Kindle book-deals page, they offer the FULL current monthly listing, defaulting to sorting by "New and Popular" and there are 119 in all, currently, but the number may vary.

  Here is a direct link to that Full-listing (US), sorted by "New and Popular" for the month (and probably for any month, so
    it's a good one to bookmark if you just want to jump to that) and
    you can choose another sort option for this full listing, such as
        Avg Customer Rating or by Price: Low to High

These newer options do make it easier to find books of interest to you.

  The pricing for December's group of Kindle books ranges from $0.99 to $3.99, as is usual for this monthly deal.

  What you'll see on this special monthly-deals page (UK version is here) are new for December 2013.

(US Link: amzn.to/mkbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)


FREE KINDLE BOOKS (Non-classics) for December (and November)
I've updated the "Temporarily-free books -- Non-classics" search results to show free contemporary Kindle books for DECEMBER, sorted by publication-date, as of Dec. 1, 2013.  There are only a few shown on the first day or two of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month.  On the first few days of the month, most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entire-family-safe titles may show up.

  Here, also, are the current Search results for still free Kindle non-classics, by publication date during the last month (November).


The ongoing Kindle Daily Deal page
for any given day usually shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount than usual) on cases for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on cases for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets


If that's not enough, there are the Goldbox and Lightning Deals, especially active currently.



Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
US:
New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169
Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB - $229/269/309
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB - $379/429/479
- with 4G added: $479/529/579
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB - 1st Gen $229
- 32GB w/ no special-offers: $314
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi+3G - $189
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free web
Kindle DX - $379 $169 (*Temp* price)
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite2 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire Basic HD 8/16GB, UK
 from £119
Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB, UK
from £199. 4G/3G
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB, UK - from £329. 4G/3G

CANADA - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite 2 - $139
Kindle Paperwhite 2, 3G - $209
KFire HD Yr 2012 7" $214,  8.9" $244.
Yr 2013 KFires: HD Gen2, HDX line

*OTHER Int'l pages*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Paperwhite 2 WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $209
KFire HD Yr 2012: 7" $214,  8.9" $244
Yr 2013: HD Gen2 + HDX line

Australia Kindlestore
France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Japan - Amazon Japan


  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Amazon's storewide Black Friday Weekend and CyberMonday Week deals. Kindle 9.7" DX e-Ink eReader at $169. Office Suite Pro for Kindle Fire / Android on sale ($0.99 this minute). Adobe's unusual Black Friday deal on Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5. Excellent guide to Lightroom 5 for 35% off. Photography guide books at up to 50% off. Amazon's "sneak preview" of home and personal deals for CyberMonday Week. - Update2



Black Friday Deals
 While Amazon has been having the usual early Black Friday activity, it all started in earnest after midnight last night, everywhere.
  The links for Amazon: Amazon's Black Friday deals US, (UK also, as well as Canada)

There'll be new deals every 10 minutes, according to the business wires.

For Kindle Fire tablet users, Office Suite Professional, is $0.99 at the moment -- it's normally $14.99 at the Amazon Appstore,
  It'll be available at varying prices during the week, their press material says.

  The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" has a limited subset of this productivity on the tablet.

A lower price agaih on the large, 9.7" Kindle DX e-Ink eReader again
We have a very quiet new reduction this week (originally said, 4 days ago, to be "for a limited time" but that statement is missing now -- yet, it shows both the $239 price (which prevailed the last 6 months until the recent change to $199) and the $169 which was said to be a limited-time offer.  That's probably so, judging by the two prices under the Kindle eReader family header for that model currently.

  The Kindle DX Graphite e-Ink eReader had been $239 for awhile after the price was lowered from $299 for the resuscitated e-Ink giant, and for a few days it was $189 before going back to $239 on Oct 15.  $199 seemed to be the new price on Nov 13 rather than a temporary number but they've lowered it this week while keeping the $239 tag on it as well.

This 9.7" e-Ink Kindle eReader, with more text on a 'page' and larger fonts that look as if they are etched onto the screen, had made a sudden re-appearance on Amazon's e-Ink family header in May 2013, at $299 (formerly $379 when new).

  You can see detailed information on what this device is like in the blog article from May 31 about the larger e-Ink eReader many have hoped would remain available.

I see no other Kindle items mentioned though, though I imagine they will have an older model on sale briefly during one of their "Goldbox" or "Lightning" deals that will be changing very quickly this week.


Adobe's Creative Cloud program for Photoshop and Lightroom
Before I list items for which Amazon plans to offer some heavy discounts during "Black Friday Week" (not detailed on their page this way but itemized on a press release), I want to draw attention to three Sales items (two of the three are not Amazon-related) for the Photography buffs in your fanily or circle, as the Adobe deal is an unusual deal for those who have never bought Photoshop before because it was unaffordable, and the other is a guide to Adobe's Lightroom 5. /
  The guide is an excellent (and beautiful) tutorial to the ultra flexible and powerful Lightroom 5 software that Adobe developed for customers working with just photographic images (no Illustrator, Dreammaker or designer features) and which is therefore less pricey due to its more concentrated focus.

First, Adobe has had a deal (for a little over a week now) which ends at midnight on Monday Dec. 2.  Their more than controversial Creative Cloud program had changed Adobe's distribution method from Package Sales to Subscription Plans, with subscription pricing that was rightly met with tremendous hostility from the photography-inclined, as it was too costly and, as with car rentals, you don't keep the car if you stop leasing it.

  The current and final boxed edition of Photoshop is Version 6.  They will support updates for new cameras and bug fixes but won't be adding new features.  Instead they now offer 'CC' (Creative Cloud) versions of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustratork and 36 or so other Adobe programs.  In an attempt o mollify the photographer mobs, in September they made a special-priced subscription of $19.95/month for Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 users who had previously purchased Photoshop 3 or later versions.  But that was still too high for software you don't keep if you stop your subscription and also for those who have avoided Photoshop due to its overly high pricing (for example, the now older Photoshop 6 Box package is $700).

As of last week and until Monday night at 11:59pm, ANYone (whether or not you previously purchased an expensive Photoshp package) will be able to join the "Creative Cloud" program and have unlimited access to full Photoshop and updates as well as to Lightroom 5 -- for $9.99 per month for the first full year  Remember that the last Photoshop box package is still $700 to purchase and its software updates have cost $130 to $150 or so each time.

To learn more about this or to take Adobe up on this very unusual limited offer, here's the article that alerted me to the $10/mo offer and and here's the Adobe's info and sign-up page with a link to their FAQ on this.  They've told two workshop leaders (Scott Kelby and Michael Frye) that they don't plan to raise the pricing the 2nd year but one can't rely on that.
  Update There are some assurances given on Adobe's site in its blogs with a Question & Answer area:
"By Julieanne Kost - 12:14 PM on November 21, 2013
The difference is that this is a limited time offer for those who do not have a copy of Photoshop CS3 or newer.
For both offers, Photoshop. $9.99 is *the* price – not a first year promo – so the price won’t go up to $19.99 after a year.  All the memberships carry that disclaimer because we can’t say the price won’t ever go up in the future to account for things like inflation.  We also can’t say the price won’t go down in the future either.  For example, Lightroom’s price was cut in half between Lightroom 3 and 4 – and Photoshop’s price has gone both up and down over its 23 year history."

That Adobe thread is interesting reading and answers a lot of questions people have had on their special temporary deal, including whether people can switch their previous subscription plans to the lower one or not (the answer is yes).

http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2013/11/photoshop-photography-program.html
  It looks as if previous owners of Creative Suite 3 or above have until December 31 to take the deal, while others have a deadline of December 2.
  Kelby, the prolific photography book author and Photoshop adherent, points out, impatiently, misinformation about the deal


  Here's info on the Black Friday special for Michael Frye's excellent Step by Step guide to Lightroom 5 in PDF format.  He's a wonderful photographer who writes some of the best, easy to follow tutorials around.  Normally his guide to Lightroom 5 is $14.95 but it's 9.95 until Monday night, Dec. 2.

  Anazon also has a sale on photography and camera guides.  Most of the discounts are on printed versions, at up to 50% off.


Amazon's deals will come every 10 minutes during Cybermonday week
  These start Sunday night st midnight, running for 7 days and including "50% off select top toys and 50% off a 46-inch Samsung LED HDTV."  This immediately follows Black Friday (links at the top), and the Black Friday pages have CyberMonday links on them, as the idea is to of course Sell, and all the stores are aggressively doing that.  Watching this on TV, I wouldn't know we are in the middle of a slow economy.

Here's the sneak preview listing of the "CyberMonday" items going on sale after Midnight Sunday, from their press releases.
Electronics
Samsung 46-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV, $477.99
Samsung 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D Ultra Slim Smart LED HDTV, $1,297.99
40% off a Panasonic 47-Inch and 55-inch 1080p 240Hz Smart 3D LED HDTV (Includes 4 Pairs of 3D polarized glasses with built-in camera)
Touchscreen laptop, $199.00
Roku HD streaming media player, $39.99
Canon PowerShot point-and-shoot, save 46% off
Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR (18-55 kit) for $399
Nikon COOLPIX P520 with bag and memory card for under $300
Nikon D3200 Digital SLR Camera and 2 lens kit, under $500
Save up to $150 on select Sony Handycam camcorders
10% off select Beats and Bose headphones
57% off a Philips speaker dock for iPhone5
40% off a TomTom 6-inch GPS navigator with lifetime traffic & maps
50% off a Sony portable Bluetooth wireless speaker system
$100 Amazon.com gift card plus free SONOS BRIDGE with the purchase of a SONOS PLAYBAR
Toys

Up to 50% off select top toys
50% off Barbie 3-Story Dream Townhouse
40% off Lincoln Logs Redwood Junction - Amazon Exclusive
Razor Spark 2.0 Kick Scooter, $44.99

Pets
20% off Ruffwear dog apparel and accessories
Aquarius Glofish 180 3-1/2-gallon aquarium kit, $26.35

Home and Tools
Dyson multi floor compact canister vacuum cleaner, $179
More than 65% off select DEWALT tools
Get a $40 Amazon.com gift card with purchase of a Nest Learning Thermostat - 2nd Generation
GreenWorks 40V 16-inch DigiPro brushless chainsaw, $239.20
Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub wet/dry vacuum, $89.99
Custom Leathercraft Tool Backpack, $49.99
Fiskars Ultra Blade Power Gear Bypass Lopper for pruning- 25-Inch, $24.96
Rayovac LED flashlight, $19.99
Grill Daddy Pro grill brush, $15.98

Books, Movies and Music
Up to 50% off popular books including Guinness Book of World Records 2014
Save up to 58% on over 7,000 movies & TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray including Homeland: Season 2, Rise of the Guardians, and Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures
Save on popular CDs including Eric Church “Chief” $5.49, Imagine Dragons “Night Visions” $5.49 and Celine Dion “Loved Me Back to Life” $7.49
Over 60 superhero movies and TV shows including Superman, Smallville and more available at Amazon Instant Video, up to 60% off

Kitchen
Cuisinart 10-Piece premium grilling set, $40.95
More than 50% off select Circulon, Anolon and Cuisinart copper cookware sets
Marcato pasta machine, $59.99
Peugeot Elis U'Select electric 8-inch salt mill - Stainless Steel, $55.96
Save 15% with purchase of $50 or more on Chef’n kitchen items
Save 20% with purchase of $100 or more on Paderno World Cuisine kitchen items

Sports and Outdoors
Up to 70% off New Balance clothing
Up to 70% off ASICS running clothing
Up to 45% off Adidas golf apparel
50% off TaylorMade Burner Plus Irons
Up to 35% off top golf GPS units by GolfBuddy

Fashion
30% off $100 shoes for the family – boots, slippers and more
Up to 65% off men’s and women’s cashmere
Up to 70% off jewelry
Rubber and silicone watches, starting at $59.99

Baby
30% off Graco baby swings
20% off Philips AVENT gift set

Automotive
Up to 70% off select car floor mats
Up to 40% off select car care products
Stanley 500-amp jump starter with built-in air compressor, $60

All prices available at select times and while supplies last.



For reference, here is the Current Global Listing of available Kindle devices.


Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button
Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Back from vacation! Video review and demo of $79 Kindle Basic + a few pros and cons from me. Amazon is talking Early "Black Friday" deals



Vacation ended
Am back and will start up the free-book alerts again.  Thanks for your patience while I was in a place with very little Internet access -- not even cell phones tended to work, so it was hard to communicate even when trying to coordinate with others there.
  But it was worth it!

Back to things Kindle and Amazon - a good video review/demo on new Kindle
  Jon Rettinger at TechnoBuffalo has done a good video demo of the new $79 Kindle Basic which is smaller and lighter than even the coming Touch models because there's no physical keyboard and no touchscreen.

  In the UK, there isn't a less-expensive version with Special Offers, and this model is £89.00 there, the equivalent of $143 U.S. today (free shipping included) while the U.S. version w/o Special Offers is $109.

  Since this is WiFi only, it does not have 3G and therefore doesn't have the free (slow) 3G web browsing from almost anywhere that the Kindle 3 or "Kindle Keyboard" model has.  Both of these models are currently offered in the UK and U.S.

  Rettinger demos the VCR-style keyboard from which you select characters when you need to type a word or phrase or numbers.  It would tend to annoy ME to use it since I do a lot of searches and enjoy doing small notes while reading, but many friends insist they never care to type and they own a Kindle just to read.  Doing one keyword for a search is not difficult, but any more than that could be tedious.

  The video is in HD and you can click on the default "360p" and select "1080p" (which will stutter on most systems) or "720p," which gives a good picture for the demo.  Rettinger explains well (including the 'Special Offers' situation and gives good advice on several aspects of this Kindle.

  Bear in mind that this scaled down model has no audio, no music player, no Text to speech, and it has half the storage space and battery life of the Kindle 3 ("Kindle Keyboard") and the coming Touch models.   But the equivalent of 1400 novels and two weeks of battery life if reading 1/2 hr each day will be enough for many.

  There's no choice to get this with cellular network 3G for almost-anywhere downloading of Kindle books or free access to Wikipedia (globally), so you would rely on a local WiFi network at home, office or cafes or download to your computer and transfer Kindle books via a USB cable.

Early Black Friday Deals (already)
 Amazon is already starting Black Friday deals (UK also) since, they say, people are already on the old Black Friday deals page looking to see what might be there.

  I just checked and saw no early BF deals for today.  But their press release previews "some of the deals that will be available at various times leading up to Black Friday.  (Link: amzn.to/blackfriday-us ):
  • Fujifilm FinePix F505 Digital Camera (includes 4 GB Memory Card): $179 (list price: $399.95)
  • TomTom XXL 5-Inch Widescreen GPS Navigator: $79.99 (list price: $169.95)
  • Philips Speaker System for iPod/iPhone with LED Clock Radio: $49.99 (list price: $79.99)
  • Altec Lansing Digital Boombox: $199.99 (list price: $299.95)
  • Invicta Men's and Women's Subaqua Watches: $169.99 (list price: $995)
  • "Arrested Development: The Complete Series" (DVD): $28.99 (list price: $89.98)
  • Up to 20% off Disney Nintendo video game bundles
  • Buy two, get one free on select Electronic Arts sports video games including best-selling titles like FIFA Soccer 12, Madden NFL 12 and NHL 12
  • Sony 9-Inch LED Digital Photo Frame: $69 (list price: $139.99)
  • $20 off purchase of $100 or more on select Porter-Cable power tools and accessories
  • Up to 50% off contemporary clothing for Women, Men, Kids and Baby

I hesitated to place what is essentially a straight ad there but felt many probably would like to know what kind of deals will be available.

I see no Kindle items though.


Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Friday, November 26, 2010

That $89 Kindle-2 Black Friday special - Amazon explains. New $100 gift card-a-day. Update.



Amazon has a "Gold Box" Forum on its Amazon-forums area for announcements and discussions on its Gold Box and "Lighting Deals" plus any other specials they have running at any time.  Amazon made the above status announcement almost 2 hours after the Special began (and ended, which was within about one second for many).

For those who can't read the graphic used at the top of this blog article, here's a quote of that announcement from that specific message thread (you may need to try this link twice for it to work to get to the forum thread).
'                   Initial post: Nov. 26, 2010 10:55 AM PST
Amazon.com Gold Box Team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

Our Kindle 2 for $89 deal is sold out.  Amazon Lightning Deals are limited time deals that can sell out very fast.  We had thousands available and unfortunately they sold out very quickly.

- The Gold Box Team '

It was all pretty confusing, as you'll see from the 465 notes up when I did the screen-capture above.
  I did buy a couple of Black Friday items in the middle of the night (when there was not much competition, I was happy to see), and learned at that time how the Kindle deal would not even be seen on the Black Friday page unless you knew what category to mark within the Lighting Deals box at the top of that page, and then it appeared after you selected the category for "Kindle" rather than "Electronics."  At about 4am I saw that the Kindle-2 deal had a countdown to be 'available' in 5 hours or so.  (People have reported having hovered over that countdown for some time before the release time.)  Then I wrote an alert at the top right of the blog so people could get to the Kindle deal more quickly, from what I'd just learned.

  You'll see the alert at the right, but I've now changed the general Black Friday week notice, and I hope their servers can handle the load much better than they did the Kindle deal early this morning when far too many people who clicked on the Kindle item as it changed to "Available" (mouses hovering over it until then) were not able to get the item added to their carts at all or if they did, it seemed to disappear because only 2 minutes were allowed to complete the deal.  There were other snafu's reported due to hung Amazon pages and customers' inexperience with the 'deals' pages as well.

  Amazon mentions 'thousands' of Kindle 2's were included, without being more specific than that, for reasons that elude me.  Their new subsidiary Woot! is more forthcoming than that and even provides statistics.  I hope they can learn from that new company.


THE NEWER "FREE $100 Gift Card"-a-Day Giveaway at Amazon Kindle Facebook, 29 remaining.
As for the Facebook alerts from its official "AMAZON KINDLE" team on Facebook, maybe a few reading might benefit from their latest offer at their Facebook "Wall", which has the following message at the top:
' Amazon Kindle
Congratulations to the first winner of the Amazon Kindle $100 Gift Card-A-Day Holiday Giveaway. http://amzn.to/gZLv8X. If you haven't entered yet, we still have 29 more FREE $100 Gift Cards to give away.  Enter for a chance to win! http://on.fb.me/f4qxqE '

And, better luck on that one !  It's their new offering to help people know about their Facebook presence, which is how many companies are interacting a bit more directly (one hopes) with the general public or the rest of their customers who are online but who don't go to the Amazon forums.
Update - I added the links to this a bit later.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The "Free 3G" Kindle 2 at $89 for Black Friday - UPDATED 11/24


Melville House Publishing reports that CNet's David Carnoy alerted the world that the Facebook page for Amazon carried this announcement about the Kindle 2 though Amazon doesn't like using the numbering system.

This would be the Kindle 2 International, as the Kindle 2 U.S. has not been carried by Amazon for awhile.  The Kindle 2 International has better screen contrast than the Kindle 2 U.S. model that I have and is quite close to the Kindle's screen contrast, by many reports and from my own experience with a friend's Kindle 2 bought in July.


' Black Friday Deal: This Friday, 11/26, you can get our previous generation Kindle for $89!

Our previous generation Kindle uses the old E Ink technology (the same E Ink as in the current Nook).   Our all-new Kindle [the Kindle 3  {UK: K3}] uses the latest generation E Ink (Pearl) for 50% percent better contrast, and is available at the everyday low price of ...$139. '

  Again, that's the Kindle 2 International that's being sold for $89, which has better screen contrast than the earlier Kindle 2 U.S. models.

  I'm surprised that they have any left.  However, the sale doesn't start until 9:00 AM on Black Friday, November 26 (see the link below).

It's definitely a limited quantity item.

  While the $149 B&W E-Ink Nook with the same screen but NO 3G wireless (WiFi only) will sell for $99 on Black Friday (at Best Buy, I think) as will the smaller Sony without wireless, the Kindle 2 is definitely a better deal for navigational ease, free 3G cellular wireless web browser, and the Text-to-Speech capability.  It doesn't have the local WiFi module but the Kindle's 3G works almost ANYwhere without your needing to find a WiFi hot spot that's also free and which doesn't require a passkey, which is why 3G models are more expensive for both the Kindle and the Nook.

  The Nook will be better for those who need to get books from the public library if their library carries a good e-book selection and they are ever in stock (some are 'out' for months).  The Sony is nice but very limited (no dictionary, no searches, no folders, no annotations, no wireless of any kind).

  Here's the Consumer Reports video review of the current higher-priced E-Ink Nook , the Kindle 2, and the Sony.
  Also, there's ABC7/Consumer Reports on 9 e-readers that include the current e-Ink nook (though with 3G, which the $99 Black Friday Nook e-Ink model doesn't have) and the Kindle 2.

  Amazon always carries a flexible 1-year warranty with instant replacements if there's a problem.  Their phone support for that is 866-321-8851.

IF YOU WANT TO GET THIS EARLY ON THE 26TH
LATE Thursday night, at midnight which will start Friday, November 26 --
  Go to U.S. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-2010

UPDATE - I said 'midnight' because many stores post their releases ahead of time.  In the Comments area, amoderngirl asked about the time differences.

Since Seattle is on Pacific Standard time, one would think it would be 9:00am PST, which would be noon on Friday. Again, I think they might well post the ad earlier. It's not likely they'd make it function to take orders earlier, but I would arrive earlier than 9:00am PST on Friday to check what's showing.  I'm reposting this at 2:16 pm Wednesday, for the updated information.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Amazon Kindle and general e-reader/ebook news 11-22-10


KINDLE TOPS BEST ALL-TIME FREE APPS FOR ANDROID

  That heading came from a Google news-lead.  As it happens, the article from Techcrunch, "Top 30 Android Apps Of All Time" is a useful list of good free and paid apps for the Android, and those of you who have Android devices or will, eventually, since they're about to flood the market, might enjoy the videos of what it's like to use each one.  The Kindle App for Android gets the #1 free Android App slot.

I was away yesterday, so today's blog article is even wordier than usual.

MORE ON EARLY BLACK FRIDAY DEALS AND THINGS TO REMEMBER
Amazon has started the "lightning deals" today.  Some prices are as low as $3 for regular DVD’s and $5 for Blu-ray DVD's. The "lightning" specials are for limited-quantity items but I've read that they can time out after 15 minutes of being in the cart, though you'll get a 10-minutes-remaining alert.

There have been questions whether Kindles might be included, but with the current state of stocking - unavailability outside the U.S. and UK for a few weeks for the Kindle 3's - that's unlikely.  Some expect that Kindle-related items (accessories) will be involved at some point.

Reminder: Bookmark these for significant sales from approximately today through the day after Thanksgiving and probably beyond to some extent:

U.S. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-2010

U.K. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-uk


E-READERS AND TABLETS: WHAT SHOULD YOU BUY?
Wilson Rothman, who writes for both Gizmodo and MSNBC has advice on which to buy and why (or why not).  His story includes the NookColor.

 He mentions that the 3G feature, costing $50 more for the Kindle 3G-WiFi model, is not needed but neglects to mention that the Kindle's 3G also includes free web-lookups (slow browsing) in 60+ countries and doesn't limit users to the bookstore as the other e-readers do.

 For those interested in that, here is the Table of 61 countries at http://amzn.to/uk-3gwebwhere which the Amazon UK site shows currently (their residents are more likely to travel often in Europe and apparently need this information more).  You can see more information on the countries in the blog article from October which incorporates the table.

  And here, for newcomers, is my article on the main differences between 3G+WiFi and WiFi-Only access that should help some who are trying to decide between the two Kindle-3  (UK: K3) models.

  Here's Rothman's summary:
' For those of you who think that this was a long-winded way for me to say "Buy a Kindle and/or an iPad," you are nearly right.  After all, they are the two most solid products on the market this holiday season, with proven value.  But for those plucky early adopters with cash to spend (if they still exist in this cramped economy), the Nook Color and Galaxy Tab represent innovations that may well evolve, even in hand, after they're purchased.  But as for the rest of the gadgets in this increasingly crowded field, I ask, why get lost in the weeds when the paved road is so easy to see? '


E-BOOKS RISING IN FAVOR FASTER THAN ANTICIPATED
The latest story on this comes from California's Richard Hart for KGO-TV.

He mentions that Andrew Savikas's e-reading habits are part of "a movement that is surprising even the most optimistic sellers of electronic books."  Savikas, VP for Digital Initiatives at O'Reilly Media, adds that in direct sales,
  "Our e-books outsell the print books by more than 10-to-1.  We're seeing an extraordinary shift in preference for digital and especially for mobile, consumption."

  The article also quotes statistics from Forrester Research and Simba Information, and "according to Consumer Reports, 10 percent of adults plan to give an e-reader as a gift this year. Only 4 percent did so in 2009."

  "In 2009, revenue from sales of e-books made up 1 percent of book sales.  This season, they will constitute 10 percent.  
  They also reference "Publishers" for the statement that "e-book revenues exploded from $105.6 million in the first part of 2009 to $304.6 million so far this year, a 290 percent growth rate" but that is a strange and meaningless comparison, as written, as it compares the FIRST part of 2009 to "so far this year" and 2010 is almost over.  That has to be an error.

  So I looked it up and found a reference that makes somewhat better sense, by Richard MacManus, at readwriteweb.com, who writes:
' eBook Sales Nearly Double, Now 9% of Total Consumer Books

A recent report from the Association of American Publishers stated that eBooks sales grew 193% between January and August 2010.  In dollar terms, eBook sales for January to August were up from $89.8 million in 2009 to $263 million in 2010.

UPDATE Stephen in Comments points out that the percent increase is not 290% as mentioned in other articles interpreting what the Association of American Publishers said and which I quoted from Hart's write-up, but that readwriteweb.com is correct in saying 193%, which happens to be almost a tripling of the numbers last year.

A "doubling" of the numbers would have been almost $179.60 million in sales rather than the $263 mllion quoted vs the $89.8 million the year before or almost 3 times what it was in the same period of 2009.

What's more, according to the Association of American Publishers, eBooks now make up 9.03% of total consumer book sales - compared to 3.31% at the close of 2009. '
The Comments area there is a real wasteland, since they accept all spammers (why can't they use a simple filter?).

 ONE comment did strike me though.  It's from Bronwyn at the interesting writers' blog Guerrillareads.com - "The online video literary magazine," who says:
' One of the most interesting things I've discovered is that in the Kindle store, the visual difference between big publishing houses, small independents and self-published books is almost invisible.  This can only help level the playing field between them in ways both readers and writers can benefit. '


KINDLE CUSTOMER SUPPORT GETS SOME KUDOS FROM AFAR
IrishTimes had featured, last week, a "good news item on online retailer Amazon.com after it replaced a reader’s broken Kindle e-reader quickly and without a quibble.  Within minutes of the item appearing in print and online we were bombarded with a chorus of “Shut up! That’s awesome” (the catchphrase of the Irish winter) from readers who wanted us to highlight their stories of Amazon’s awesomeness."
' First up was Cillian Daly. He only had his Kindle for three weeks when it suffered an unfortunate fall at the hands of his mammy. A third of the screen was damaged and it was effectively unreadable. “The next day I rang Amazon, had a pleasant conversation with tech support and within three days, I had a brand new e-reader. They even processed the refund on the shipping for the return of the broken Kindle while the unit was in transit back to them.” He was doubly pleased because he was terrified it would take weeks if not months to get a replacement due to the popularity of the device and he was set to go on holidays two weeks after the incident so all the books he’d bought for the trip would have been wasted. “However, I got an e-mail the following morning telling me my replacement had shipped. I can’t recall this kind of service from an Irish company.” Then there was Gary Hoban who had an experience with his Kindle which was “almost identical”. He points out that “in one of the e-mails passing between us, the company described itself as ‘striving to become the world’s most customer-centric company’. It’s getting there,” he writes. “Irish companies, please copy.” '

Remember to use the quick-response Kindle customer service ("Call Me") explained in an earlier article here.


FROM JUST ANOTHER APPRECIATOR OF "REAL BOOKS" (the smell of them, etc)
Almost daily, although I've almost never linked to them because the stories are so common, comes a 'testimonial' type article from someone who had been adamant about not using digital e-readers.  Since the holidays bring more people to the blog wondering why others are getting e-readers and why the e-book market is exploding, here's just one article I saw today, titled, "Ten top reasons why the Amazon Kindle is my new boyfriend."


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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