• On Eve Of The Kindle Fire Launch, Amazon Posts A Strange “NYC Test” Video To YouTube

    Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

    MG Siegler is a general partner at CrunchFund and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009. His focus is on Apple. Prior to TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in... → Learn More

    Screen Shot 2011-09-27 at 11.53.02 PM
    Screen Shot 2011-09-27 at 11.53.02 PM

    It may just be a simple mistake, but it’s an interesting mistake nonetheless.

    Earlier tonight, Amazon’s Kindle YouTube page was updated with a new video. The name? “NYC Test“. Considering Amazon is holding a press conference tomorrow morning in New York City to unveil their new Kindle tablet, obviously, this is worth noting. But what’s odd is the content of the video itself.

    My first thought was that there is quite a bit of fire — perhaps pointing to the Kindle Fire name we first reported yesterday. But there is also no shot of any type of tablet device whatsoever, as Piotr Kowalcyk, who spotted the video, notices. And the video is full of Hollywood stars. And it’s completely silent.

    Weird, right?

    Turns out, the video is a two-year-old compilation made by a production house called PasterCITY Digital for Red Digital Cinema Camera Company. The video shows off the capabilities of the Red One camera, a super-high-definition camera that supports resolutions of 4,096 by 2,304 pixels — way beyond standard HD.

    So what is the video doing on Amazon’s Kindle YouTube page with the name “NYC Test”? Hard to say. But if I had to guess, I would say that they may show this video tomorrow during the press conference to show off the capabilities of the Kindle Fire. And that actually may be a bit more than a guess. Why? Because RIM showed me the same video when demoing the BlackBerry PlayBook a few months ago. We know the two devices are very similar from a hardware perspective. RIM wanted to show off the the PlayBook could power these Red videos exported to a big screen. Maybe Amazon will show off the same thing.

    We’ll find out in a few hours. For now, find the video below (at least until it’s taken down):


    Company: Amazon
    Website: amazon.com
    Launch Date: 1994
    IPO: NASDAQ:AMZN

    Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon’s...

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