The Kindle Fire is Amazon’s digital strategy incarnate. When it launched a year ago, the Fire seemed almost rushed. It looked like RIM’s failed Playbook tablet and it worked, at best, like the low cost tablet it was. But, in the end, it was the best device ever made to access Amazon’s own content. It delivered a seamless read experience, a compelling video collection, and enough apps to keep… → Read More
The Digital Reader has done some clever sleuthing to find a filing by Amazon’s shell company, Harpers LLC. The filing shows a fairly large, 10-inch 4:3 screen device that should launch in the fall.
You can see the filing here. → Read More
With the announcement that the Kindle Fire has grabbed 54.4% of the Android Tablet market, it’s clear to see that Amazon’s Trojan Horse strategy paid off. As I wrote back in December, the Fire is Amazon’s way of making all of their offerings “real.” Movies, books, and games were Amazon’s core competency back when all of that stuff was on disks and on paper and that core competency is repurposed… → Read More
Amazon used to be able to sell the Kindle based on its readability in sunlight. That’s a fair comparison to make and the old advertising featured little more than people being happy reading. To wit: → Read More
A number of prominent folks have been ripping into the Kindle Fire lately, claiming that it is slow, exhibits poor UX choices, and that consumers are returning them en masse. Heck, even the affable Marco Arment writes “If I didn’t need the Fire for Instapaper testing, I’d return it.”
Tough crowd.
But there’s another narrative that says this is a secret success. Analysts estimate that… → Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Danny Sullivan, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — lauded Amazon’s entry into the mobile media universe with the Fire. We were unanimous in our praise for the impact the device will have on the tablet scene, with a price within reach of a whole new audience that has found the iPad resistable and Android tablets even less or more, whichever is… → Read More
The Kindle Fire is the device we were all waiting for and when it arrived it did not disappoint. The Fire is a 7-inch media device that plays well with all of Amazon’s media services including the book store, the video store, and the music store. It includes a web browser and supports Amazon’s own Amazon App Store, a branch of the Android App Store that focuses on apps optimized for this device. → Read More
Watch this space because beginning at 10am Eastern/7am Pacific we will be live from the Amazon event in New York City. What are we expecting? The Fire, of course – Amazon’s newest Kindle that will come with a full-color, touch-sensitive screen and perhaps a few other tricks including Prime ebook subscriptions and a more robust and compelling Amazon app store. We’ll update this post during the… → Read More
The never ending story between Apple Japan and the local government may have finally come to an end. Following months of disputes whether overheating first generation iPod nanos pose a security risk (some iPods caused fire) or not, Apple last month announced it will put up a special warning message on its Japanese company site and offer to replace batteries in all models affected for free. → Read More
As we reported last week, Apple Japan had to admit to the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) that its local subsidiary failed to report 34 mostly minor accidents involving the iPod nano. Big A has a somewhat problematic history with the Japanese government, mostly because of overheating iPods. → Read More
If you’re Apple and manufacture and sell hundreds of millions of electronic devices over the years, accidents are unavoidable. But according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Apple’s local subsidiary failed to report 34 mostly minor accidents involving the iPod nano (first generation). → Read More
We told you about the IoSafe Solo before, but here’s the new SSD version. IoSafe invited us to a secret location off the strip to show us the new IoSafe Solo SSD, the first “disaster proof” SSD drive. Sorry for the length of the video, but they set the drive on fire, sprayed it with a fire hose, dropped it from 20 feet up out of a backhoe bucket, and then drove over it. And then… → Read More
A small butane lighter that’s the size and shape of a cigarette. That’s what this is. It even looks like a cigarette! Buy a new pack of cigarettes, take one out, light it with this lighter, then put the lighter BACK IN THE PACK!!! That way, you’ll always have a lighter with you but you won’t have to give up precious pocket space. → Read More
Fire hazard, smire hazard. A class action lawsuit accuses Apple of negligence vis-à-vis the MacSafe power adapter. The suit, filed in San Jose, says that faulty MasSafe design can lead frayed wires and general calamity, which can cause fires. → Read More
I don’t have the time, patience, carpentry skills, open space, or wherewithal to build my own trebuchet but after seeing Mark Winkler’s “Mongo the Trebuchet” launch a flaming ball of fire across an open field under the cover of darkness, I suddenly have the urge to go to Home Depot with a quick stop at the local Fireball Emporium (or wherever they sell fireballs). → Read More
Here’s the perfect complement to the USB flash drive with built-in bottle opener we told you about a few weeks ago. It’s a Zippo-style lighter with 8GB of storage and a USB connection — because you can never have lighter fluid too close to your computer. It costs $60, which might seem a bit steep, but if you’re still smoking in this day and age, you’ve no doubt gotten… → Read More
Japanese media are reporting today the government is investigating a possible battery defect in the iPod Nano, sold by Apple Japan. Apparently, one iPod Nano (model MA005) scorched a Japanese traditional “tatami” mat (made of woven soft rush straw) in January. Another model, the MA099, singed nearby paper in August. Both incidents took place in Tokyo but even though the devices were… → Read More
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that a three-alarm fire started at Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters last night. The fire apparently may have somehow started under one of the building’s air conditioning units located on the second floor. Luckily, the fire was able to be contained in about an hour and nobody was hurt. It was called in at about 10:00 last night – around 60… → Read More
I have a friend who uses a wheelchair every day. He’s quite nimble with it and in fact races wheelchairs and is a known athlete, despite the lack of legs. He’s also got a pretty good sense of humor, that’s why I’m going to show him this all-terrain powered flame-throwing wheelchair. It’s a prototype, though we’re not sure who would ever put this into real… → Read More
You’ll forgive the pandering headline, I hope. It would be easy to make jokes about how everone knows the Xbox 360 is prone to overheating, but that would be gauche. Instead, just the facts: an Xbox 360 in Arkansas caught fire and nearly burned down a house. The kicker is the owners weren’t home, it wasn’t being played when the fire started. Microsoft did recall power cords from… → Read More
A fire at LG Chem in South Korea on March 3rd has contributed to a worldwide notebook battery shortage, according to Reuters. Asustek is expected to be hardest hit, as the shortage “could affect up to 40 percent of second-quarter shipments” from Taiwan’s second-largest PC maker. A Dell spokesperson acknowledged the shortage today and has blamed it for recent replacement battery… → Read More
This sounds kind of dubious but apparently an Atlanta man named Danny Williams was walking in an airport and his iPod Nano started to flame up. A “glossy piece of paper” protected him from life-threatening burns. Apple is being good sports about it and is offering him a new iPod after Willams went to the local news station with the story. The reporter got no quote from Apple, probably… → Read More
“Woe is me.” That has to be Sony’s motto of late because they’ve been attempting to put one fire out after another, literally. This time around it isn’t Dell that got burned, but Toshiba. In late May a Toshiba notebook caught fire and the culprit was a Sony battery, again. After an investigation it was found that the battery had a short circuit resulting in a fire crotch and I’m not… → Read More
Who’s ready for another round of exploding laptop batteries? I’m sure everyone remembers that whole scandal last year where Sony laptop batteries were exploding left and right, leading to recalls and plenty of awkward moments for Sony. Well reports out of Japan suggest that one of the Sony batteries part of the Toshiba’s recall program caught fire back in April. Allegedly this… → Read More
Take The Grill on the Road My Lap! My Lap! My Lap Is On Fire! Sony Unveils PS3 Eye, World Keeps Spinning These Gamer Babes Will Curb Stomp You Samsung and US Army Team Up For Mobile WiMAX Tomfoolery → Read More
I don’t know about you, but the last time I actually bothered to check a smoke alarm in my home, the battery had died long ago. Usually I just blow it off or go out and buy another battery, but what if a fire struck during the grace period between batteries? A lot of us tend to ignore fire safety and DuPont knows this, so they’ve created a smoke alarm that never needs batteries ever… → Read More
Ouch! I almost burned my hand typing up this post. You see, the KRZR is so hot, that Motorola just had to introduce a new color that could capture the heat. So behold the creatively titled KRZR Fire. This guy comes with a delicious red paint job that reminds me of a fire engine mixed with some holiday cheer. Not only is it bright red on the outside, but also the color drips into the cracks on the… → Read More
OK, so this thing is pretty ridiculous. One industrious geek used Maglite parts with an Osram Sylvania bulb at 80 times its regular luminosity powered by twelve 1200mV NiMH batteries to achieve total paper combustion. It’s too bad those unfortunate boys in Lord of the Flies didn’t have one of these. Piggy (that’s what we call Vince)! Custom Flashlight Starts Fires, Blinds… → Read More
Head on over to Lenovo’s handy idenfication page to figure out if your shiz is going to fizzle all over your pants or not. IBM and Lenovo sold these Sony batteries in systems listed below between February 2005 and September 2006. Customers who bought one of the following systems may have a battery subject to this recall: * ThinkPad R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e) * ThinkPad T Series (T43… → Read More
Thanks, no doubt, to all the warnings about burning laptop batteries on the internet, a man knew exactly what to do with his HP notebook decided to catch a little fuego. We wouldn’t recommend following what he did, but as soon as he saw smoke he pulled out the battery and threw it outside into the parking lot. His quick thinking saved his laptop from total destruction, but still left burns… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
