Click to enlarge

The new design is currently in place on Amazon.com, but is still yet to launch in other countries. It will be interesting to see if users like the sleaker and more basic design.

What do you think?

• Example of How Powerful Photoshop Can Be – November 10, 2011
• Steve Jobs’ Last Project Was The iPhone 5 – October 16, 2011
• Outside Car Airbags: Easpace – September 7, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Breaking: Google Release New Search Design Worldwide – June 30, 2011

Leaked: Amazon Redesign originally appeared on: Crenk
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I am planning on writing a few articles per week on the Huffington Post, but the majority of articles will be on here.

Recently, we have had a lot of issues with the site and some functionality, but we have been working hard to fixed that and everything is slowly starting to come together. Thus, expect a lot more great articles to go live very soon.

• Huffington Post To Be Leading Independent Online News Source in UK – July 9, 2011
• Huffington Post to Launch French Edition – October 10, 2011
• Huffington Post Over One Billion Page Views Per Month – October 3, 2011
• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011

Crenk on the Huffington Post UK originally appeared on: Crenk
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Google Music beta is here and you can request your invite here (only if your in the USA).

So what is Google Music? Google Music is a very basic music locker and music player. Google music allows you to store your music library in the cloud (simply just add your mp3 files) and then play your music on both PC, MAC and Android phones. Google Music is currently free but has an upload capacity of 20,000 songs.

It seems like Google are trying to get into the music industry, but the product itself seems to have a limited shelf life. I really think music streaming of an unlimited library is the way forward. Owning your own mp3 files is very limiting and is going to cost a lot to the consumer in the long run (that is if they dont torrent the files in the first place). It seems like a music subscription service on every possible device is the way the industry is moving. I think it is going to be very difficult for the leading technology companies (Google, Microsoft, Apple) to win in this market, because they will have to get their products on all platforms through very difficult negotiations.

Google Music seems to be exactly the same as the recent Amazon Cloud Drive, so Google will need to match and beat them on price.

Overall, Google Music seems to be like a poor mans Spotify.

• Install Google Music on Ubuntu – August 30, 2011
• Listen to Your Music on the Google Music Player – August 9, 2011
• iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK – March 29, 2011
• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• How to Download Spotify App Clients for Windows and Mac – December 2, 2011

Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! originally appeared on: Crenk
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This daily deals site is something that Amazon could have utilised about 6 months ago, but now it seems like they are just way too late to the party.

• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• First Google Offer: Floyd’s Coffee in Portland – June 1, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011

MyHabit: Amazon Launch Their Own Daily Deals Private Membership Site originally appeared on: Crenk
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I received an email from Amazon when the cloud drive was launched and was given $2.00 in credit towards mp3 purchases. Intrigued by this new development (and the free music credits), I ventured to their website to check it out. I quickly found a song I wanted and clicked the buy button. It asked if I wanted to save the music to my cloud drive. “Simple enough,” I thought. Then I wouldn’t have to download it – I could just stream it. I immediately went to my new cloud drive, selected my new song (which was available immediately) and pressed play. It buffered up the song and played but I discovered it was also downloading to my computer as well. Bummer.

Next I decided to try uploading some music. I clicked “Upload to your Cloud Drive” and was prompted to download the “Amazon MP3 Uploader.” Wait a minute – so I have to use proprietary software to upload music? “That’s a bit inconvenient,” I thought, but I downloaded it anyway. After installing the software, it decided it had to scan my entire hard drive for music, which was a long and tedious process.  Once it finally loaded, it told me I had X playlists and X songs not in my cloud drive and asked if I wanted to upload it all now. I declined (as it would have been way more than 5GB of space) and chose a few albums to upload. What I found was that it killed my internet speed and I saw no way to limit the upload rate. Frustrated after about 20 minutes of sluggish internet, I killed the uploader until that night when it could run and not bother me.

In the meantime, I checked out the Android mp3 player from Amazon, wondering if it too would have to download my music before playing it. I discovered that while it can play the song through buffered memory, it still has to download; so listening while downloading isn’t a good option as the song often plays faster than it downloads (unless you’re using Wi-Fi). So once again I’m stuck waiting.

Ultimately, I was able to get the music I wanted uploaded and then downloaded again (to my phone). Now that I have done so, I can simply open the Amazon cloud player and quickly hear what I want (slightly faster than searching my hard drive and includes better filtering options). So was the hassle worth it?

Pros:

• Music can save directly to the cloud (optional). This allows me to download my new music at my convenience and on whatever computer or mobile device I wish to listen to it on.
• I no longer have to use a USB flash drive or external to move music around.
• Creating a playlist is simple
• Music can be viewed by songs, albums, artists, or genres.
• In addition to music, the cloud drive can also store documents, pictures and videos
• Music can be listened to through a web browser or via a mobile device using Amazon’s MP3 app.
• 5GB free storage space

Cons:

• Uploading and downloading again is time consuming
• No upload speed limiter makes for doing anything else while uploading nearly impossible (and I have a 15MB connection)
• Must use proprietary software to upload music
• Must buy an annual subscription if you want more than 5GB of storage at $1/GB.
• No true streaming – music has to be downloaded to each device you wish to listen on

Overall, I would say Amazon has a potentially great thing going on here. If they simply added the ability to stream without downloading, I would give the Amazon Cloud Player and Drive 5/5 stars. As it is now, and considering their hefty fees for storage in excess of 5GB, I give it 3.5/5 stars. It’s a great concept, but could use a few tweaks to make it the best.

• iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK – March 29, 2011
• Waterproof MP3 Player – June 26, 2010
• Download Music from MySpace with Grab That File! – May 19, 2010
• Cincopa Cloud Stores & Streams Your Media – February 20, 2010
• Album Art to Complete Your Collection – February 10, 2010

Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? originally appeared on: Crenk
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Nokia has just launched the E7 in the USA. US consumers can now purchase the E7 from all good Nokia retailers. The E7 was released in Europe back in February, but it was held back for US consumers.

The E7 features:

• Symbian
• 4 inch screen
• AMOLED display 640 x 360 pixel resolution.
• Quadband GSM radio
• Wifi, Bluetooth
• 16GB of onboard storage
• 8mp camera
• 720p video recording
• dual-LED flash

The E7 is available from Amazon.com for $649, or Nokia USA for $679.

[Via Phone Scoop]

• Preview of the New Symbian Anna OS – May 12, 2011
• iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK – March 29, 2011
• Nokia Giving Away Free Nokia E7 Windows Phone Handsets To Developers – February 22, 2011
• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• Nokia Lumia 900 Preview – January 23, 2012

Nokia E7 Has Finally Launched in the USA: Buy From Amazon Now originally appeared on: Crenk
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It has been reported by AIM (Association of Independent Music) that iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, make up 94.4% of all indie digital revenues in the UK. Thus, the other services arent really worth worrying about at the moment.

Alison Wenham, head of the UK-based consortium, pointed to a lopsided logjam. “There are now a series of monopolies and it is jolly hard for anyone else to get a slice of the market”.

In the US there is still no Spotify presence and it seems as though eMusic is the third largest player, but Im sure they will change when Spotify finally enter the US this year.

via RouteNote

• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011
• Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? – April 29, 2011
• Nokia E7 Has Finally Launched in the USA: Buy From Amazon Now – April 8, 2011
• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• How to Download Spotify App Clients for Windows and Mac – December 2, 2011

iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK originally appeared on: Crenk
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Dragon Age II is a single player role-playing game (RPG) for play on the PC. Epic sequel to the BioWare developed 2009 Game of the Year, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II continues the adventure with a new hero, Hawke, and utilizes the choices made by the player to affect a story that spans ten years worth of time in-game. Additional game features include: the ability to choose your character’s class and sex, a new cinematic in-game experience, a nonlinear narrative and the ability to import saved information from earlier Dragon Age games.

Price: $59.95 now only $39.99 (33% off). Buy Here at Amazon

• Need For Speed: The Run: Trailer and Real Life Locations – September 29, 2011
• Medal of Honor Reviews Havent Been Exactly Steller – October 13, 2010
• Classic Nintendo Gaming In Your Hands – November 17, 2009
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Amazing Black Friday Deal – November 25, 2011
• Monopoly Infographic: Peelin’ Lucky – September 27, 2011

Amazon Deal of the Day: Dragon Age 2 – All Platforms originally appeared on: Crenk
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The blog post announcing the launch, written by Amazon’s Jeff Barr, talks about baking and recipes and the difference between a cook and a baker. I guess today if you use Amazon Web Services, you can become a baker.

Becoming a baker means, “you can create an entire stack with one function call.” You setup a template of services and then when you run the job, Amazon will create and setup everything to your recipe. The recipe can include pretty much all of Amazon Web Services offerings including EC2, load balancers, Simple DB, SQS (Simple Queue Service), SNS (Simple Notification Service), etc. The template is written in JSON.

The blog post provides a sample template which “bakes” a WordPress setup on Amazon Web Services. It appears that if your goal is to run WordPress on Amazon, you could use their template, make your specific changes, and be up and running in minutes.

Jeff has another blog post showing how the CloudFormation process works within the admin console. Some of the sample templates include: Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, PHP Hello World and Rails Hello World applications.

• Dropbox Rejects Acquistion from Apple for $800 Million – September 12, 2011
• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Why Mobile Apps Need Cloud Support – June 29, 2011
• The Cloud in the Classroom – May 23, 2011

Amazon Launches CloudFormation For Simple Provisioning originally appeared on: Crenk
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• Integrated WiFi Connectivity
• NetCast™ Entertainment Access
• Blu-ray and DVD disc playback
• 2 HDMI Inputs
• Silk Dome Speaker Technology

Price: $499.99 now only $249.00. Buy from Amazon here.

• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• LG Hosting LG Optimus 3D Gaming Launch on August 24th – August 18, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Verizon Launch Three New Smartphones: LG Revolution, HTC Trophy and Motorola Droid X2 – May 26, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011

Amazon Deal of the Day: LG LHB535 1100-Watt Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System originally appeared on: Crenk
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A leaked screenshot of a new Amazon Video product has been released. Amazon has recently acquired LoveFilm in the UK and it now seems as though they want to take on Netflix head on.

It seems as though Amazon plans to offer an unlimited video streaming service. Amazon is yet to confirm anything, it seems pretty clear what the company has in the works is making streamed content an add-on to its existing Amazon Prime service, which provides free two-day shipping on any products consumers buy from Amazon.

It could be a hugely compelling alternative to Netflix for a number of reasons. First, the $79 it costs to be a part of Amazon Prime is cheaper than $95 Netflix subscribers have to shell out. Amazon also has pockets deep enough to match Netflix on content spending, and may even be able to provide content Netflix doesn’t have.

• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011
• MyHabit: Amazon Launch Their Own Daily Deals Private Membership Site – May 5, 2011
• Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? – April 29, 2011

Amazon Launching a Netflix-like Unlimited Video Streaming Service originally appeared on: Crenk
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It seems like a lot of gadget manufacturers are focusing on bringing out new models as fast as possible, without even building up stock in the meantime. The latest is Amazon and their Kindle product. The Amazon Kindle is expected to launch a third generation in September, which already seems to be on back-order.

The third generation Kindle was planned to be released on August 27th, with both a Wifi and 3G version. Currently, both WiFi and 3G versions of the new Kindle are now listed as “temporarily sold out” with new orders not likely to ship until September 4. If these pre-orders continue to come in in excess of Amazon’s manufacturing capacity, we may even see that date slip farther back.

Is this the right practice? Or should these gadget manufacturers be focusing on building up stock and then announcing pre-orders. Its of course very difficult to expect what demand a certain product is going to have, but this becomes a lot easier when it is the third generation of a specific product.

• Graphite Kindle DX – Yet Another Release – July 4, 2010
• Barnes and Nobles Releases Nook Reader iPad App – May 28, 2010
• i Life Solutions: Best In Home Personalised Theatre – February 9, 2012
• Gdgt Sign Deal with Engadget and in Acquisition Talks with Cnet – October 25, 2011
• Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 Mobile Phones Coming Next Week – October 24, 2011

Amazon 3rd Generation Kindle Already on Back Order, But Not Even Released Until September originally appeared on: Crenk
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How many iterations of the Kindle do we really need? Does it really matter in a world where the iPad has reigned supremeon a variety of levels? While the Kindle reportedly does one thing really well, which is serve as an ebook reader, the Kindle fall short in many areas but it looks like another Kindle version is coming out…does graphite excite you? If you’re like me, probably not.

Still the Graphite Kindle DX, reportedly $380, combines everything you loved about past models – Whispersync book syncing, free 3G wireless, the largest selection of ebooks around, and a physical keyboard. The new graphite body may look sleek, but apparently the screen is 50% sharper then past releases.

Some of the other new features include:

• no glare
• slimmer
• faster downloads (less than 60 seconds)
• longer battery life (up to 1 wk on a single charge)
• social network connectivity

If you’re an ebook reader that does nothing else than function as an ebook reader, the new Graphite Kindle DX might be for you.

• Barnes and Nobles Releases Nook Reader iPad App – May 28, 2010
• iPad Features Are Terrible When Compared to HP TC 1100 from 2003 – September 29, 2011
• How to Make Games for the iPad – July 27, 2011
• OnLive Cloud Gaming Now Available on iPad – June 9, 2011
• Foxconn Investing $12 Billion in Brazil to Manufacture iPads and iPhones – April 15, 2011

Graphite Kindle DX – Yet Another Release originally appeared on: Crenk
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Amazon, in a reportedly $110 million dollar deal, has now officially acquired the company but nothing will change. Much like the purchase od Zappos, the company will be allowed to run as status quo, except that they will be under the Amazon.com banner. Interesting to note that both Zappos and Woot have been identified as having stellar customer service and now they fall under Amazon which is also noted as having just as good customer service.

It will be interesting to see where this marriage will go. All employees and CEO’s will remain in place, but in the past Woot has not been one to shy away from controversial products, such as handguns, as part of their deals of the day. So while their offices might be saying “Woot!” to the purchase, their audience will wait to see what types of things change, if anything, under this new regime.

• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011
• MyHabit: Amazon Launch Their Own Daily Deals Private Membership Site – May 5, 2011
• Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? – April 29, 2011

Amazon Buys Woot originally appeared on: Crenk
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The BN eReader will stand up to some stiff competition in an already saturated market, but variety is the spice of life, right?  It’ll be interesting to see how many people are swayed to this app and if habits will change from what they are already using currently.

In an excerpt from their announcement:

BN eReader for iPad is designed to offer an easy, yet sophisticated, customizable reading experience. Users can choose from multiple ways to view their library, including professionally designed themes with elegant and complementary text and page colors, as well as fonts; and instantly switch between portrait and landscape views based on personal preference. BN eReader for iPad users can further personalize their reading experience with unparalleled options: literally millions of colors for text, pages, highlights and links; eight typefaces and five text sizes; and a variety of margins and customizable spacing options.

What I see as a huge win for the app is the support of the Nook’s “LendMe” technology, which allows users to share certain eBooks with their friends. This is made easier with the integration of the iPad’s address book. The book loan is good for 14 days, which is more than enough time to introduce the reader to a new author, series, or genre which BN hopes will be enough to drive sales.

A similar app has been available on the iPhone and iTouch as of last year, but still so late to the game, I’m personally not aware of anyone using the BN app, with the majority opting to use the Amazon Kindle app instead. Do you have a preference and if so, are you a fan of the BN app?

• 2 Million iPads in 60 Days, Are You an Owner? – June 1, 2010
• TeamViewer 6 Available for Android – November 28, 2010
• Netflix App Supports iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad – August 26, 2010
• Graphite Kindle DX – Yet Another Release – July 4, 2010
• Bing Replacing Google on iPhone 4? – June 1, 2010

Barnes and Nobles Releases Nook Reader iPad App originally appeared on: Crenk
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Once you have created an account you just select what products you would like in your store, tailor the layout and colour scheme to your tastes and then click ‘Finish’. You’ll then be given HTML coding which you can copy and paste into a page on your website to embed the store. This will then act as your very own store on your website as though your developed and integrated it yourself.

The program also allows you to track invoicing, customers, accounts and other such important data to see how your store is getting on and how it can be improved.

• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011
• MyHabit: Amazon Launch Their Own Daily Deals Private Membership Site – May 5, 2011
• Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? – April 29, 2011

ECwid: Create an eStore in Minutes! originally appeared on: Crenk
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The EBook Market is hotting-up very rapidly with every man and his dog looking to make a quick buck (pun intended) on this new way of reading. Amazon revolutionised eReaders but now ASUS have announced their DR-900 EReader at CeBIT today.

ASUS, who are rapidly making a name for themselves with low-end electronics such as netbooks, may well be the perfect candidate to bring EReaders down to an affordable level. This new model will have a huge touch screen (1024 x 768 pixels), WiFi with a 3G option, 4GB of internal memory and a great interface from the screenshots I’ve seen.

It will support numerous popular file formats such as PDF, TXT, ePUB and Mp3 (there is also a 3.5mm headphone jack). I think this will be a great device. We’re still waiting to hear exact prices and launch dates from ASUS. I would be surprised if it wasn’t out by late summer.

• Graphite Kindle DX – Yet Another Release – July 4, 2010
• Barnes and Nobles Releases Nook Reader iPad App – May 28, 2010
• Three New Asus Eee PCs Coming Our Way – March 3, 2010
• New Rechargeable Battery Lasts for 20 Years! – February 10, 2010
• LG Go Classic With Their New Korean CRT – January 26, 2010

ASUS Ebook Reader Official originally appeared on: Crenk
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This is good news for Ebay, Amazon and the likes.

The sale of low-end student laptops online is rising. Why pay 600 big ones in store for the latest machine when you could have last year’s model that will satisfy all your needs for a quarter of the price? After all, when at college a decent word processer and internet access is all you need.

Other items which are making big sales in the ‘back to school rush’ are backpacks, art supplies, cameras, suitcases and technical equipment specific to certain courses such as design and engineering.

Here I stand tapping out this article on my phone beside Trinity College in Dublin as I’m away from my desk this week. Students walk by me with iPhones and Macbooks preparing their dorms for their third or fourth year in college. For this year’s freshmen it’s going to be Ebay all the way – in the opinion of this Crenk reporter at least.

• Move Over Nike+, Enter Adidas miCoach – December 30, 2009
• Crenk is Getting Greatly Improved! – October 18, 2011
• Leaked: Amazon Redesign – September 5, 2011
• Crenk on the Huffington Post UK – July 22, 2011
• Racing Yacht Does an Amazingly Sharp Turn – May 30, 2011

Ebay All the Way for Students originally appeared on: Crenk
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The difference isn’t all that much with the original pricing in Vista, but still the operating system is different and I’m sure you won’t regret the money invested in this OS as you may regretted with Vista. Here’s the detailed pricing:

Retail Versions

• Windows 7 Home Premium – $199.99 – [Vista Home Premium - $249.99]
• Windows 7 Professional – $299.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate – $319.99 – [Vista Ultimate - $319.99]

Upgrade Versions

• Windows 7 Home Premium – $119.99 – [Vista Home Premium - $129.99]
• Windows 7 Professional $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate – $219.99 – [Vista Ultimate - $219.99]

But wait, there’s more. There are some more good news about pre-ordering Windows 7 and getting 50% discount over the pricing mentioned above.

Amazon and other sites are offering discounts for those that purchase their Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional versions before July 11th:

• Windows 7 Home Premium – $50.00
• Windows 7 Professional $100.00

Check Amazon Windows 7 site.

• Windows 7 OEM Pricing – September 30, 2009
• Windows 7 Pre-Order Offer: Last Day – July 11, 2009
• Organize a Launch Party and Get a Windows 7 for Free – September 5, 2009
• Windows 7 Family Pack – July 5, 2009
• Dont Just Jump Ship to Apple So Easily – September 27, 2011

Windows 7 Pricing originally appeared on: Crenk
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