Commerce

Amazon Kindle on eBay: $1500; Guy in Santa Suit Delivering a Wii to Your Door Christmas Day: $28,000

While one of the major quibbles with Kindle is its sure-to-darken-your-wallet $400 pricetag, apparently knowledge is priceless, since the sold-out snowspeeders have been going for up to $1500 on eBay. The average is only around $830, but that’s still kinda gross. While we’re wandering around the seedy area of the eBay neighborhood: You can also…

Pink 8GB Zune for $165 from Amazon

Amazon’s got the pink 8GB Zune on sale for $157, which translates into $165 w/ shipping. The sorta catch is that it’s from a third-party retailer, but since they’re selling through Amazon, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything shady going down. If pink’s not your party, the other colors are from Amazon itself going…

Kindle DRM Hacked (That Was Easy)

The Kindle only allows the reading of Amazon DRM-protected content. So how do you load other eBooks onto the Kindle? Just add Amazon DRM. That’s one solution hacker Igor Skochinsky has used to load Mobipocket books onto his Kindle. Using a series of scripts, he’s able to convert eBook files to Amazon’s AZW format and…

Buy One Get One HD DVDs at Amazon

On top of the still running “please go HD, we’ll give you 10 free HD DVDs” deal, Amazon’s got a buy one, get one special up now too. Some winners from the 58 flick-long list include Letters From Iwo Jima, The Departed, and Happy Feet. Mix those deals up with a cheap HD DVD player,…

Amazon Kindle Gets Third-Party Support From Fictionwise

Amazon’s Kindle e-Book device gets its first third-party content provider support in the form of Fictionwise, which adds over 15k books to Amazon’s already extensive library. Unlike first-party books, you can’t directly download the books via the Kindle. You have to first download them onto your computer and sync via USB, or email them to…

Dealzmodo: Buy One Blu-ray Movie, Get One Free

The next-gen DVD deals keep on rolling, this time with a buy one get one free deal at Amazon. Just pick out two titles from their list (which has some pretty decent movies like 300, Casino Royale, and The Fountain) and the cheaper one will be free at checkout. It’s a great deal for those…

Amazon Taking Kindle and Whispernet International?

A new rumor claims that Amazon wants to take their Kindle e-reader international. And while such a feat isn’t a big deal for most of its competition, the Kindle’s Whispernet service (a free EVDO connection allowing the downloads of books, etc from the Amazon store) will need a new partner to work across Europe (along…

Amazon vs. Wal-Mart: MP3 Store Showdown Before iTunes Final Battle

Click to viewNow that EMI and Universal have seen the light and started offering music in DRM-free MP3 format—and according to well-founded rumors, Sony and Warner are also exploring a DRM-free launch in 2008—online music stores finally have the means to get iPod-friendly and take on iTunes. As you know, iTunes only offers AAC files,…

Writeable, Color e-paper ReKindles Our Interest

Fuji Xerox has just demonstrated what may be the Holy Grail of e-paper—probably not the “E-Ink” technology found inside the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, but something similar—a prototype display that a user and write on. Three layers of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals are used (red, green and blue), meaning the display has a gel-like base.…

Keep This in Mind Before You Buy an Amazon Kindle

I’m not sure if this is a widespread problem, but just in case — if you live within any of those gaping white spots in the image above, you probably shouldn’t waste your money on the Kindle. Keep in mind that Amazon’s wireless connectivity for the device is dependent on the Sprint network and, as…

Sony Offers Up 100 Free Books With Reader Purchase

If you have not yet chosen sides in the battle between the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, the fact that Amazon’s product will not be available again until after the holidays may be one reason to pick up the Reader. The fact that the device is $100 cheaper may be yet another. If that still…

Wal-Mart Joins Amazon to Push Labels to Ditch DRM Once and For All

Even if the remaining major labels who have yet to ditch DRM are dragging their feet on the road of inevitability, major online retailers don’t feel like waiting around for them to finally do the deed. Wal-Mart has reportedly made an ultimatum of some sort to major labels demanding that they start selling their catalogs…

Pepsi and Amazon Giving Away 1 Billion MP3s

The Great Pepsi MP3 Giveaway returns, but this time with…Amazon? Yup. Starting Superbowl Sunday (Feb. 3), Pepsi’s stuffing 5 billion bottles of Coke soda with download codes, but you need five of ’em to get a free song. That’s right, there will be no casual Pepsi drinkers getting free songs on Pepsi/Amazon’s dime—which is about…

Amazon Kindle Gutted, Splayed, Violated

Readers who enjoy the Amazon Kindle e-Book reader‘s concept for letting you consume literature in electronic form—but won’t purchase one until they see what’s inside—will love this post. RapidRepair’s taken apart the Kindle bit by bit, showing you exactly what’s inside. Unless you’re a hardware engineer, seeing the internals probably don’t add much to your…

Amazon Kindle vs. Sony Reader: Sizemodo and Interface Comparison (Gallery)

During the past week, many readers have asked us to compare the physical traits of the second-gen Sony Reader and the all-new Amazon Kindle. (If you feel a bit behind, catch up by reading our full Amazon Kindle review and verdict from last Friday.) The Sony Reader is much smaller, and weighs three ounces less…

It may have launched just five days ago, but the Kindle has already sold out on Amazon. New stock arrives December 3

Amazon to Start Black Friday a Day Early With Huge Savings

Amazon just announced it’s going to jump into Black Friday early, busting out a group of computer peripherals starting tomorrow (Thanksgiving). The online store will offer additional items on Black Friday, and even more on cyber Monday. All the listed items will have free shipping unless otherwise noted, and the price you’ll pay includes savings…

10 Movies and HD DVD Player for $199 at Amazon

God bless the Black Friday, as the format war keeps raging on thanks to it: Amazon will give you 10 movies for free when you buy the $199 Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player (or the HD-A30 or the HD-A35.) And unlike some other offers with dreadful title selection, there’s good stuff to choose from in…

Why Giz Isn’t on Kindle’s RSS Feeder, and How to Get Around That

Say you bought a Kindle. If you were to search for Gizmodo in Amazon’s Kindle RSS store, you’d notice we’re not there. That’s not because we don’t like it (although I’m not saying we do like it, either). The reasons are strictly business related, which Gaby Darbyshire, Gizmodo’s business dev smart person, explained to me…

Amazon Kindle Is an Ugly Snowspeeder of Contradictions

Oh, sweet contradiction—Jeff Bezos in open letter to Author’s Guild, 2002: “When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.” Amazon Kindle Terms of Service, 2007: You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute,…