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Tag: Amazon

  • Amazon’s ‘Hand of God’, ‘Red Oaks’ Get Full Seasons

    Amazon’s ‘Hand of God’, ‘Red Oaks’ Get Full Seasons

    In late August, Amazon debuted five new pilots for Amazon Prime users’ viewing pleasure: The Cosmopolitans, Really, Hysteria, Hand of God, and Red Oaks. Today, Amazon is announcing that two of those shows have survived the pilot round and have been greenlit for full series productions

    It’s the latter two – Hand of God and Red Oaks. Hand of God is the television debut of director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, World War Z). It stars Sons of Anarchy‘s Ron Perlman as Judge Pernell Harris, “a hard-living, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side, who suffers a mental breakdown and goes on a vigilante quest to find the rapist who tore his family apart.”

    Red Oaks is produced by director Steven Soderbergh. It stars Craig Roberts (Submarine), Paul Reiser, Richard Kind, and Jennifer Grey, and is being directed by David Gordon Green of Eastbound & Down acclaim. “A coming-of-age comedy set in the “go-go” 80s that is equal parts hijinks and heartfelt, Red Oaks is about enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end—and the future begins,” says Amazon Studios. It revolves around an assistant tennis pro at a country club, and its “colorful” cast of characters.

    Like with all other Amazon pilot seasons, customer feedback helped determine which pilots got picked up.

    “We are excited to get working on full seasons of Hand of God and Red Oaks,” said Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios. “These shows come from some of the most talented creators in the business. Customers loved the pilot episodes and we can’t wait to hear what they think of the entire series.”

    Amazon, who’s been battling for a while now to gain any ground on Netflix in the original content from streaming providers race, made a significant leap forward last week with the debut of Transparent. It’s receiving rave reviews. Amazon’s also set to premiere the second season of its first-ever original series, Alpha House, on October 24.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube screenshot

  • Alpha House Season 2 Premieres October 24

    Alpha House Season 2 Premieres October 24

    Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau’s comedy Alpha House has just received a premiere date for its second season.

    According to Amazon, its first original series will return for season two on October 24. The show, which stars John Goodman as a Republican Senator sharing a Washington D.C. house with other senators, also stars Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy.

    Here’s how Amazon describes the second season:

    Delivering hilarious insider insights from the master of political satire, the new season of Alpha House finds the Senators maneuvering the hallways of Capitol Hill with a looming midterm election and an unclear political future. Republican Senators Biggs (Goodman), Bettencourt (Johnson) and Laffer (Malloy), having survived bruising primaries, are facing strong Democratic challengers and will use every trick in the book to woo voters on the road to re-election. Meanwhile, Senator Guzman (Consuelos) prepares for a 2016 bid for the presidency, a pursuit that will bring him into possible competition with one of his roommates

    Amazon is promising some pretty high-profile guest stars for season two, including Bill Murray, Penn Jillette, Andy Cohen, Matt Lauer, John McCain, Wolf Blitzer, Rachel Maddow, and George Stephanopoulos.

    “Our cast members hit their stride in season two,” said Trudeau. “Alpha House is blessed with actors who can find three laughs for every one on the page, and a crew that rivals any in episodic television. It’s been a privilege to come to work.”

    The satire boasts mostly favorable but mixed reviews. It first premiered on Amazon Prime Instant Video last April.

    This Alpha House announcement comes hot on the heels of the big debut of Amazon’s flagship original series, Transparent.

    Image via Amazon, YouTube screenshot

  • Amazon Completes Twitch Acquisition

    Amazon Completes Twitch Acquisition

    Last month, Amazon announced its intent to acquire Twitch, the popular live video platform for gamers. That acquisition was completed on Thursday, records show.

    You can see the SEC filing here (via ZDnet), which says: “On September 25, 2014, Amazon.com, Inc. completed its acquisition of Twitch Interactive, Inc.”

    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said upon the company’s initial announcement, ““Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month – from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old. Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.”

    Twitch CEO Emmett Shear added, “Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming. Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world.”

    The price of the acquisition was $970 million. Prior to the deal, Google had been in talks to acquire Twitch, but reportedly backed out for fear of potential anti-competitive concerns.

    Image via Twitch

  • Transparent, Amazon’s New Series, Is Now Available

    Amazon’s newest original series – one that’s been receiving a good amount of buzz – has landed on Amazon Prime Instant Video for your streaming pleasure.

    Transparent, starring Jeffrey Tambor, is a half-hour “novelistic” series that explores the lives of a family and its transgender patriarch. It’s written, directed, and produced by Jill Soloway (Six Feet Under, Afternoon Delight).

    “I could not be more excited to share Transparent with the world today,” said Soloway. “In many ways, the Pfefferman’s story is one I’ve wanted to tell for many years and I’m so grateful to Amazon and my incredibly talented cast and crew for allowing me to fulfill this creative dream.”

    Amazon describes it as such:

    The series stars Tambor as Maura, who has spent her life as Mort—the Pfefferman family patriarch. When she reintroduces herself to her family, everyone’s secrets finally start to come out. This includes her ex-wife Shelly (played by Light), and their children—meandering Ali (played by Hoffmann), record producer Josh (played by Duplass), and sexually conflicted Sarah (played by Landecker). Each family member spins in a different direction as they begin to figure out who they are going to become.

    Alongside Mozart in the Jungle and The Outlaws, Transparent was one of three comedy pilots greenlit last October. The series has opened to glowing reviews. The Washington Post calls it “the best streaming-network pilot since Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.”

    The Philadelphia Daily News says,

    “Transparent is either the best new series most people are unlikely to see or the best excuse Amazon can give you for signing up for a month’s free trial.”

    And that’s surely music to Amazon’s ears. Kind of. Amazon Studios has been pumping out pilots and a handful of full series for a couple of years now, trying to establish itself as an original content destination like Netflix – but has yet to achieve the overall success of a show like Orange Is the New Black or House of Cards. For Amazon, it’s great to have a series that could possibly be its flagship, but that whole “most people are unlikely to see” bit reveals a truth to Amazon’s original series.

    All 10 episodes are available right now on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

  • Fire TV Price Cut to Just $84 by Amazon

    Fire TV Price Cut to Just $84 by Amazon

    Amazon this week cut the price of its Fire TV streaming media player by $15. The device now costs just $84 and will remain at that price for a limited time.

    The Fire TV is Amazon’s entry into the streaming video market. It is the online retailer’s effort to be the gateway into living rooms for video and music streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Streaming.

    Normally, price cuts on Amazon devices signal the impending announcement of next-generation versions of those devices. The Fire TV, however, was only just released back in April. The device is so new that some big streaming apps such as Spotify have only recently begun to show up on Amazon’s streaming box.

    Amazon earlier this month did announce several new upgrades for their hardware offerings. The announcement included new versions of the Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HD, and the Kindle. Amazon also debuted the Kindle Voyage (the new high-end for Amazon e-readers) and the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition. The Fire TV was not included in the announcement, though that doesn’t necessarily mean a new version of the streaming box isn’t coming soon.

    Another possible reason for the price cut could be that the Fire TV is not meeting Amazon’s sales expectations. Unlike the Amazon Kindle, which pioneered the seven-inch tablet segment, the Fire TV was released into an already-crowded market. Products such as the Roku and the Apple TV are still the leaders of the streaming box product segment, and it will take more than some weird Gary Busey commercials to displace them.

    Even if the Fire TV is underperforming, it doesn’t look as if Amazon will be giving up on it. The company just this week announced that it will be investing an additional $55 million in its hardware initiatives. Amazon is expected to expand its hardware staff by 27 percent over the next five years. The company is also reportedly testing Wi-Fi-enabled home devices meant, of course, to make buying products over Amazon even easier.

  • Amazon To Expand Hardware Unit, Get Into Home Devices

    Amazon will reportedly invest $55 million in its Lab126 hardware unit’s operations in Sunnyvale and Cupertino, and expand its staff by 3,757 people or 27 percent by 2019.

    That is according to a report from Reuters, which cites a “little-known government document” and people familiar with the matter, indicating that by doing so, Amazon will get $1.2 million in tax breaks, and will create home devices.

    Such devices, in fact, are reportedly already being tested by the company. Reuters reports:

    Amazon is testing a simple wi-fi device that could be placed in the kitchen or a closet, allowing customers to order products like detergent by pressing a button, one of the people said. Lab126 is also interested in wearable devices, the other person said. Both sources stressed that such devices may never come to market.

    …

    In a statement, Amazon said Lab126 was moving “incredibly quickly” and cited the company’s 2014 devices, including the Fire phone, Fire set-top box and several new tablets and e-readers.

    Amazon’s first Fire phone hasn’t exactly been met with a great deal of enthusiasm, but clearly that’s not deterring the company from focusing more heavily on devices. The new tablets and e-readers were just announced last week.

    Investors have grown impatient with Amazon’s financial performance as the company continues to sink money into experimental projects. It doesn’t look like the company will be backing away from that strategy anytime soon.

    Image via Google Play

  • Amazon Lets You Add To Your Wishlist With A Twitter Hashtag

    Amazon Lets You Add To Your Wishlist With A Twitter Hashtag

    Amazon announced #AmazonWishList, which enables users to add items to their Amazon Wish List right from Twitter. If you see a Tweet with an Amazon product link in it, you can just add that hashtag to a reply, and the product will automatically be added to your Wish List.

    “Twitter offers Amazon customers a great environment for inspiration and discovery,” said John Yurcisin, Director of Social at Amazon. “#AmazonWishList makes it easy for people to quickly add holiday gifts, décor or entertaining items tweeted by interesting people, friends, or brands on Twitter to their Amazon Wish List, allowing customers to simply save items to their Wish List and keep on Tweeting.”

    While Twitter itself is dabbling in e-commerce, Amazon has been ahead of the curve in some aspects. This launch follows one in May that saw Amazon letting customers add items to their cart with the #AmazonCart hashtag.

    Amazon explains, “Building on the recent launch of #AmazonCart, customers who have already connected their Twitter and Amazon.com accounts will be notified with a reply Tweet from @MyAmazon as well as an email from Amazon when the item is successfully added to their Wish List. Customers who have not connected their Twitter and Amazon.com accounts will receive a reply Tweet asking them to connect their accounts to enable the new feature.”

    You can go to amazon.com/social to edit connection preferences.

    Amazon says that last year, fifty items were added to Wish Lists every second, with one in three customers using the feature. The addition of the hashtag functionality should only serve to build those numbers up.

    Twitter announced its own “Buy” button earlier this month, though it’s still in the testing phase.

    Image via Twitter

  • Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited Service Hits The UK

    Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited in the United States in July. It’s basically like a Netflix for reading. Subscribers pay $9.99 a month for unlimited access to over 600,000 eBooks and thousands of audio books, which can be read or listened to on any device.

    The service is now available in the United Kingdom:

    We haven’t seen an official announcement from Amazon about the launch, but Engadget spotted it, and you can access it here.

    “With Kindle Unlimited, you won’t have to think twice before you try a new author or genre—you can just start reading and listening,” said Russ Grandinetti, Senior Vice President, Kindle upon the service’s U.S. launch. “In addition to offering over 600,000 eBooks, Kindle Unlimited is also by far the most cost-effective way to enjoy audiobooks and eBooks together. With thousands of Whispersync for Voice-enabled audiobooks to choose from, you can easily switch between reading and listening to a book, allowing the story to continue even when your eyes are busy. We hope you take advantage of the 30-day free trial and try it for yourself.”

    When it launched in the U.S., Amazon offered subscribers a free three-month Audible membership. I don’t see mention of this on the U.K. landing page, but it does offer a 30-day free trial.

    While you can use the service with any device, Amazon unveiled a slew of new Kindle and Fire devices last week.

    Image via Amazon

  • Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Kindle Voyage, Kindle For Kids, Kindle With More Storage: Ready For October Release

    Amazon is unleashing a litany of new and improved models of its Kindle tablet and e-reader line. For those interested in some pre-Black Friday holiday deals, the models are set to go on sale in October.

    “Are phablets killing tablets?” wrote Anna Attkisson of Tom’s Guide, “Amazon is definitely not jumping on that bandwagon.” The amount of updates corresponds with a new Fire OS (4.0), which lets families share across accounts. Attkisson further outlined the differences in the products: Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 ($379) is the most advanced, while the Kindle Fire HD 6, HD 7 ($99) is for those looking for a deal. Meanwhile, Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition ($149) brings the Kindle to the kid family side of things, and it comes with free replacement for two years.

    Amazon will also throw in a year of FreeTime Unlimited with the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition. Adults will probably want to look into the adult version of Unlimited for themselves, which has its own monthly fee:

    According to the L.A. Times, Amazon is also updating their generic Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite for lower cost and more storage. They are also releasing a Kindle Voyage, which is designed for the book lover in mind, who also likes 3G cellular connectivity.

    When it comes to the fanciest item for the lowest cost, the Kindle Fire HD is probably your best bet. As Business Insider put it, “If $99 feels dirt-cheap for this tablet, it’s because it is.”

    “We make money when customers use these devices, not when they buy them,” an Amazon representative told them, “We sell at break-even prices.”

    But when it comes to power no matter the cost, Amazon is pretty proud of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. “The team has packed an incredible amount of technology and innovation into the new Fire HDX-an incredible HDX display,” Amazon’s chief executive Jeff Bezos told MVC, “A powerful quad-core processor, a 70% faster graphics engine, exceptional audio, and faster Wi-Fi-and it’s still startlingly light. Fire HDX combines excellent hardware with exclusive features from Fire OS4 including Firefly, the Mayday button, Family Library, ASAP and more.”

  • Amazon Buys .Buy Domain for $4.6 Million

    Amazon Buys .Buy Domain for $4.6 Million

    In yeah that makes a lot of sense news, Amazon has reportedly purchased the highly-coveted new .buy top level domain, and apparently the company beat out Google in the process.

    Domain Name Wire reports that Amazon bought the .buy domain for $4,588,888. Other companies in the running in ICANN’s auction were Google and Famous Four Media.

    Google also lost out on another domain it was vying for – .VIP. That sold for just of $3 Million to Minds + Machines, a top level domain reseller.

    ICANN’s auction also had .tech up for bid – and it sold for the highest price, $6,760,000. Domain Name Wire suggests that this is probably either a record for a top level domain acquisition or pretty close to a record high.

    It is expected that these new domains will open up later this year.

    Considering a majority of Amazon’s business involves people buying stuff, .buy must’ve seemed like a no-brainer for the company. It’s likely that Amazon will register the most lucrative .buy names, and sell the rest for premium bucks. At least that’s what I’d do.

    Though Amazon now owns .buy, there’s one gTLD the company won’t have the rights to. In July of 2013, ICANN nixed Amazon’s attempt to own the .amazon domain.

    Domain Name Wire via The Next Web

  • Amazon Announces A Bunch Of New Kindle Devices

    Amazon Announces A Bunch Of New Kindle Devices

    Amazon made a whole bunch of Kindle-related announcements late on Wednesday, including some new devices and a new OS.

    New Kindles

    First off, Amazon unveiled its seventh-generation Kindle, the Kindle Voyage. Amazon calls this its “most advanced Kindle ever”. Well, I would hope so. “Not as advanced as the last one” doesn’t sound nearly as appealing. The display is brighter, has higher resolution, and higher contrast. It also has “reimagined” page turns. It costs $199.

    The company says, “Kindle Voyage features an all-new design, with a beautiful flush glass front and a magnesium back, so it is strong, thin, and light. At just 7.6 mm thin and weighing less than 6.4 ounces, Kindle Voyage is the thinnest device we’ve ever built, making it even easier to hold with one hand and read for hours.”

    It has an adaptive, smarter front light, which is 39% brighter, and is available with free 3G. There’s also a new oragami-style cover design.

    The company also unveiled a new $79 Kindle, which includes a 20% faster processor, twice the storage of its predecessor, and a new touch interface.

    Both devices are now available for pre-order.

    The new Kindle family consists of the Kindle, the previously announced Kindle Paperwhite, and the Kindle Voyage. But that’s not including the Kindle Fire line, which brings us to the next announcements.

    New Fires

    Amazon also announced it’s most powerful tablet to date, the new Fire HD, apparently dropping the “Kindle” from the branding. It features a quad-core processor, front and rear-facing cameras, an HD display, and five color choices. It also comes in two sizes – 6” for $99 and 7” for $139.

    CEO Jeff Bezos says the device is the “most powerful tablet under $100.”

    Here’s the feature rundown from the announcement:

    High-definition display—Crisp and vivid with over 1 million pixels (252 ppi for 6”, 216 ppi for 7”), now brighter than the previous generation Kindle Fire HD, with vibrant colors and whiter whites.

    Ultrafast quad-core processor—Running at up to 1.5 GHz, the quad-core processor has 3x the graphics performance of the Samsung Tab 4—Fire HD can run even the most graphically intensive games.

    Front and rear-facing cameras—Video chat with friends and family with the front facing camera; take photos or capture videos in 1080

    Pocketable design—Small and portable so it fits in a pocket or purse and is easy to hold with one hand.

    Incredible reliability—With a Gorilla Glass display and a design that is engineered for best-in-class reliability, you don’t have to worry about Fire HD breaking. Many other tablets cut corners on reliability—in lab testing they are anywhere from 2x to 20x more likely than Fire HD to break if dropped. Even the iPad mini is 2x more likely to break.

    Five fun colors—Fire HD is available in black, white, cobalt, magenta, and citron.

    Profiles give everyone a personalized experience—With Profiles, each family member gets their own profile, including individual email, Facebook and Twitter accounts, page in the book, spot in a movie, and game levels.

    Family Library—Never again worry about whose account has the Prime membership or who bought that book you want to read. Family Library links your Amazon account to that of your spouse or partner so you can easily share apps, games, audiobooks, books, and Prime Instant Video content within your household without changing accounts. Family Library lets families share their content while using a single Fire tablet with different profiles, or also across multiple devices, including Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire phone, and Amazon Fire TV, as well as on all of the other most popular devices and platforms with the free Kindle, Audible, and Amazon Instant Video apps. Family Library will be coming soon as part of a free, over-the-air software update.

    ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction)—Customers loved it on Amazon Fire TV, so now available on tablets by popular demand, ASAP predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and prepares them for instant playback before you even hit play, so they start instantly.

    Amazon-exclusive features—X-Ray, Second Screen, Amazon FreeTime, Prime Instant Video Downloads, and more.
    Dolby Digital Plus Audio—The standard in high-end audio. Fire HD delivers crisp and clear sound without distortion.
    All-day battery life—Delivers up to 8 hours of reading, listening to music, watching video, and browsing the web.

    Stay connected and productive—Fast web browsing, email and calendar support, plus a new pre-loaded WPS Office app lets you create, edit, and view Office documents.

    World’s best content ecosystem—Over 33 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, and Android apps and games—including Facebook, Netflix, iHeartRadio, Twitter, Angry Birds Stella, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, and more—with free, unlimited cloud storage for all Amazon content.

    There are also new accessories for the device, including a new protective cover and a series of adapters.

    Then there’s the Fire HDX, which is powered by a quad-core 2.5 GHz processor and a 70% faster graphics engine. The display features Dynamic Light Control which automatically adjusts the color. It’s also the first tablet with Dolby Atmos audio.

    Here’s the feature rundown on this one:

    Powerful 2.5 GHz processor with a 70% faster graphics engine for exceptional speed and fluidity, especially for graphically-intensive games.

    Exclusive HDX display with incredible pixel density (339 ppi) and perfect 100% sRGB color accuracy—now with Dynamic Light Control, which makes the pages of a book more closely resemble a real piece of paper in different lighting conditions.

    Startlingly light design—20% lighter than iPad Air.

    Exclusive new audio—twice as loud as iPad Air, with crisp, clear sound and no distortion; plus Fire HDX is the first tablet with Dolby Atmos.

    Fastest Wi-Fi, with support for 802.11ac MIMO which delivers up to 4x the peak bandwidth.

    Available with ultrafast 4G LTE wireless.

    New Fire Keyboard is the thinnest and lightest full-featured tablet keyboard, with a trackpad to make productivity and navigation easier than ever.

    Powered by the latest version of Fire OS—Fire OS 4 “Sangria”—with hundreds of new and upgraded features, platform updates, and Amazon-exclusive services.

    Family Library lets all members of your household access your apps, games, audiobooks, books, and Prime Instant Video content, even if they use a different Amazon account.

    Free, unlimited cloud storage for photos taken with new Fire tablets, automatically backed-up wirelessly.

    Front-facing HD camera makes it easy to stay in touch with Skype; 8MP rear-facing camera allows for high-resolution photos and 1080p HD video, and includes an LED flash, Electronic Image Stabilization, and a wide-aperture f/2.2 lens. The Camera application also allows customers to capture panoramas, lenticulars, and HDR recommended shots, and the film strip gives access to recent photos and videos, along with the ability to view, edit, share, and delete right from the camera.

    Firefly lets you quickly identify printed web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, plus over 100 million items, including movies, TV episodes, songs, and products.

    ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and buffers them for playback before you even hit play, so videos start instantly.

    The Mayday button delivers revolutionary live tech support—one touch connects you to an Amazon expert who can guide you remotely through any feature—24×7, 365 days a year, and it’s free. Nearly 75% of Fire HDX and Fire phone customer questions now come via the Mayday button.

    Then there’s the Fire HD Kids Edition, which includes a two-year guarantee, so they’ll replace if if the kid breaks it. It also has a free year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which gives kids access to 5,000 books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games.

    It has a quad-core processor, an HD display, front- and rear-facing cameras, Dolby Digital audio, and access to Amazon’s movies, TV shows, songs, books, and Android apps and games.

    It costs $149 for a 6” and $189 for a 7”.

    New Operating System

    Finally, Amazon introduced its new operating system – Fire OS 4 Sangria, which comes pre-loaded on the new Fire HD and Fire HDX tablets, and will be available as a free, over-the-air update for all 3rd generation Fire tablets.

    “When we think about Fire OS, we start with what matters to customers—ease of use and performance,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Amazon Devices. “Fire OS 4 improves in both of these areas, and deeply integrates software, content, and the Cloud to deliver services that are only available from Amazon, including Family Library, Firefly, and free cloud storage for photos.”

    It’s based on Android KitKat.

    Pre-orders are available for all the new devices.

    Images via Amazon

  • Google’s Chromecast Gets Support From More Apps

    Google’s Chromecast Gets Support From More Apps

    Google announced a handful of apps that have added Chromecast support, including WATCH Disney, WATCH Disney Junior, WATCH Disney XD, Twitch, iHeartRadio, and DramaFever.

    The Disney apps will give users access to titles like Girl Meets World, Doc McStuffins, and Star Wars Rebels. They do, however, require a login from a supported TV provider, and there are some (like Time Warner Cable) missing from the list.

    Chromecast director of global content Shanna Preve writes on the Chrome blog:

    Music aficionados can now cast and blast music from the best speakers in the house with iHeartRadio. The app lets you listen to more than 1,500 live radio stations from all over the U.S. or customize your own.

    You can also join 60 million gamers on Twitch to watch and talk about video games. Get insights from both casual gamers and some of the biggest professional players competing in sold out stadiums. Cast Twitch content from the web, Android and iOS apps.

    The inclusion of Twitch is notable as it is being acquired by Amazon after Google reportedly backed out of a deal to purchase it. Amazon’s own Instant Video app doesn’t even offer Chromecast support at this point, though it did just become available for Android via the Amazon Appstore, and some newer Android devices have the ability to mirror their screens using the Chromecast.

    DramaFever, if you’re not familiar with it, gives users access to over 15,000 television episodes from international markets, including Korean dramas, Latin American telenovelas, and various Asian TV shows.

    The WATCH ABC and NPR One apps recently gained Chromecast support as well.

    Image via YouTube

  • Amazon Launches Prime Instant Video For Android

    Amazon Launches Prime Instant Video For Android

    Amazon announced today that Prime Instant Video is now available for Android for Prime members in the US, UK, and Germany. Availability comes in the form of an update to the Amazon App, which also features the standard Amazon shopping capabilities.

    “Tens of millions of our customers have installed the Amazon app on their Android phones in order to enjoy the ease and convenience of shopping Amazon on the go,” said Paul Cousineau, Director of Mobile Shopping for Amazon. “Now, the latest Amazon App for Android combines that award-winning mobile shopping experience with access to Amazon’s digital products and services, including unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost for Prime members. At Amazon, we are always innovating on behalf of our customers and we look forward to receiving their feedback on this enhanced shopping experience.”

    The company says, “Prime members can enjoy popular HBO series like The Sopranos, True Blood, and The Wire, as well as favorites like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome, and 24, on their Android phones at no additional cost to their membership. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a 30-day free trial to start receiving all of the benefits of Prime using the updated Amazon App for Android.”

    While Amazon is talking up the Prime part of things, you actually don’t have to be a Prime member to use the app for streaming video. It also works with plain old Amazon Instant Video, which you can use to download movies and television episodes without a membership.

    You do, however, have to download the video app from Amazon’s own Appstore, which requires you to change your phone’s security settings to let you do so, giving Amazon a doorway leading to your Android device for future app and game downloads.

    If you try to view a video from the Amazon app, you’ll be presented with this:

    It then gives you step-by-step instructions to “enable apps and games from Amazon” complete with a “Go To Your Phone’s Security Settings” button:

    Once you do what it says, Android informs you that you’re making your device and data more vulnerable.

    So after you get the app installed, you may want to switch that setting back.

    Image via Google Play

  • Amazon Drops Fire Phone Price To 99 Cents

    Amazon Drops Fire Phone Price To 99 Cents

    Earlier this summer, Amazon made a big splash when it unveiled its first smartphone – the Fire Phone. It revealed some truly interesting features that don’t exist on other phones.

    When the reviews came out, however, people were left far from impressed, and sales haven’t been very good based on various estimates. That’s probably why Amazon just announced that the device is now available for 99 cents (down from 199) with a two-year contract. That should help. It even still includes the free year of Prime, which even Amazon seemed to consider the biggest selling point, as it was the focus of the device’s first commercial.

    “With access to all of the Prime content, Mayday, 32GB of memory and free unlimited cloud storage for photos, plus the exclusive Dynamic Perspective and Firefly features, Fire is another example of the value Amazon delivers to customers,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Devices.

    The device is only available through AT&T in the U.S.

    Here are the positive quotes about the phone, which it says is “what Amazon Fire customers are saying”:

    “The best part of the phone is the integration with Prime – I’ve switched all of my iTunes music over to Amazon Music and have bought a few albums from my phone. The sound from the included headphones is amazing. I’ve watched some movies and read some books – all synced to my Kindle Fire HDX and the movies with my Fire TV.”

    “Mayday: I feel this truly separates this phone from every other phone in the market. It’s like having someone available 24×7 to help you out with your phone…and, there is no charge for that ‘ever.’”

    “Love it, better than the iPhone I had, Better pictures and better screen…My wife is switching from her iPhone 5 to Fire since she has checked out my FIRE.”

    “I’ve had three Kindle Fire tablets, and this Fire phone hooks seamlessly to their ecosystem of books and videos, which I use heavily in my professional work so that’s important to me.”

    “The Firefly feature is fun, and the camera takes fabulous pictures and videos.”

    “If you’re an Amazon Prime user, it can’t get better than this. The support for the Amazon ecosystem is amazing.”

    What the actual reviews were saying isn’t quite so rosy. You can read some of that here.

    Still, most seemed to agree that Amazon will likely make improvements with a future model, which could make a better impression. Let’s not consider Amazon’s efforts a failure just yet.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon CFO Thomas Szkutak To Retire

    Amazon CFO Thomas Szkutak To Retire

    Amazon announced on Wednesday that Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Szkutak will retire from the company next June. He has been CFO since joining Amazon in 2002.

    Szkutak currently oversees the controller, treasury, investor relations, tax, internal audit and facilities functions at Amazon, in addition to the financial management of its business units.

    VP of Finance Brian T. Olsavsky will succeed him Szkutak as CFO, reporting directly to CEO Jeff Bezos.

    Bezos said, “Tom’s impact over the past 12 years is evident in every part of our business. Under Tom’s stewardship, customers have benefitted from category expansion and geographical expansion, along with amazing new businesses like AWS and Kindle. The day Tom joined the company was a very lucky one for Amazon’s shareowners and customers and for all of us who’ve had the pleasure and fun of getting to work with him. We wish Tom and his family all the best in their next round of adventures.”

    Szkutak added, “It’s been a privilege for me to work with so many talented people who are continually inventing on behalf of customers, and now I look forward to spending more time with my family and other outside interests. I’ve worked very closely with Brian Olsavsky over the past 12 years and have seen firsthand how talented he is, and I have confidence that he will be a great CFO for Amazon.com.”

    Olsavsky also joined the company in 2002. He and Szkutak will work together on the transition of CFO responsibilities over the next 10 months.

    Image via Google Play

  • Amazon Opens Up Enterprise Storage Service Zocalo

    Last month, Amazon introduced a new enterprise storage service called Amazon Zocalo. Until now, it has been in limited preview, but the company just announced its general availability.

    Amazon previously described Zocalo as a “fully managed, secure enterprise storage and sharing service with strong administrative controls and feedback capabilities that improve user productivity.” Here’s a look:

    Zocalo lets customers store, share, and gather feedback on documents, spreadsheets, presenations, webpages, images, PDFs, and text files from laptops, iPads, Kindle Fires, or Android tablets.

    The offering costs $5 per user per month for 200 GB of storage per user for up to 50 users. You can see the full pricing here.

    As part of the move to general availability, Amazon also announced that AWS CloudTrail now records calls made to the Zocalo API. The API is currently internal, but Amazon says it intends to expose it in the future.

    Jeff Barr, chief evangelist for Amazon Web Services, says, “I have become a regular user of Zocalo, and also a big fan! I generally have between 5 and 10 blog post drafts under way at any given time. I write the first draft, upload it to Zocalo, and share it with the Product Manager for initial review. We iterate on the early drafts to smooth out any kinks, and then share it with a wider audience for final review. When multiple reviewers provide feedback on the same document, Zocalo’s Feedback tab lets me scan, summarize, and respond to the feedback quickly and efficiently.”

    So at least the evangelist likes it.

    When Amazon first introduced Zocalo, it also added new mobile services to improve developers’ abilities to build, deploy, and scale their apps. These included Amazon Cognito, a way to store, manage, and sync user identifies and data securely.
    More on that and Zocalo here.

    Image via YouTube

  • Amazon’s Newest Original Pilots Now Available

    Amazon’s Newest Original Pilots Now Available

    Need something to watch? Amazon has just released its five newest pilots – three comedies and two dramas.

    Here’s a quick rundown of the five new pilots:

    The Cosmopolitans is a comedy starring Adam Brody and Chloë Sevigny as part of “a group of young American expatriates in contemporary Paris searching for love and friendship.”

    Really comes to us from Broken Lizard’s (Super Troopers, Beerfest) Jay Chandrasekhar and stars alongside Scrubs‘ Sarah Chalke and Hellboy‘s Selma Blair, along with Chandrasekhar himself. Really is a half-hour dramedy about “four hard-charging suburban Chicago couples trying to grasp on to their dwindling youth.”

    Red Oaks, the last pilot Amazon announced back in July, is being produced by famed director Steven Soderbergh. It stars Craig Roberts (Submarine), Paul Reiser, Richard Kind, and Jennifer Grey, and is being directed by David Gordon Green of Eastbound & Down acclaim. “A coming-of-age comedy set in the “go-go” 80s that is equal parts hijinks and heartfelt, Red Oaks is about enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end—and the future begins,” says Amazon Studios. It revolves around an assistant tennis pro at a country club, and its “colorful” cast of characters.

    Moving on to the two hour-long dramas, Hand of God is the television debut of director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, World War Z). It stars Sons of Anarchy‘s Ron Perlman as Judge Pernell Harris, “a hard-living, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side, who suffers a mental breakdown and goes on a vigilante quest to find the rapist who tore his family apart.”

    Finally, Hysteria tracks a “strange, psycho-physiological illness that manifests itself in violent fits and spasms and then begins spreading in the community through technology.”

    As always, Amazon factors user feedback into its decision to keep or trash each series. If fans like it, Amazon develops it into a full series run. If not, well, we all know what happens to uninspiring pilots.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube screenshot

  • Amazon’s ‘Transparent’ Lands September 26th

    Amazon’s ‘Transparent’ Lands September 26th

    Amazon’s next original series, Transparent, will premiere on September 26th.

    Part of a trio of comedy pilots greenlit last October (alongside Mozart in the Jungle and The Outlaws), Transparent stars Jeffrey Tambor as the transgender patriarch of a family filled with secrets.

    “The series stars Tambor as Maura, who has spent her life as Mort—the Pfefferman family patriarch. When she reintroduces herself to her family, everyone’s secrets finally start to come out. This includes her ex-wife Shelly, and their children—meandering Ali, record producer Josh, and sexually conflicted Sarah. Each family member spins in a different direction as they begin to figure out who they are going to become,” says Amazon.

    The dark comedy comes to you from Jill Soloway (Afternoon Delight, Six Feet Under), who wrote, directed, and produced.

    “We couldn’t be more pleased to offer our customers all episodes of Transparent in late September,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “Jill has an amazing ability to create deep, engaging and rich stories and characters. We think customers will enjoy this fresh, humorous, and touching series.”

    Of course, you can watch the pilot right now if you’re a Prime member. All ten episodes of the first season will land on the 26th of next month.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube screenshot

  • Amazon Is Officially Acquiring Twitch [Updated]

    Amazon Is Officially Acquiring Twitch [Updated]

    Update 3: It looks like Google backed out of the deal because of antitrust concerns. Forbes has the story.

    Update 2: And it’s official. Amazon just put out the press release. Here’s what it says:

    Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Twitch Interactive, Inc., the leading live video platform for gamers. In July, more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than 1 million broadcasters, including individual gamers, pro players, publishers, developers, media outlets, conventions and stadium-filling esports organizations.

    “Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month – from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.”

    “Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming,” said Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. “Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world.”

    Twitch launched in June 2011 to focus exclusively on live video for gamers. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by Twitch’s shareholders, Amazon will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Twitch for approximately $970 million in cash, as adjusted for the assumption of options and other items. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

    Twitch CEO Emmett Shear posted a letter about the acquisition here.

    Update: Now The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that Amazon has acquired Twitch, and that the price was over $1 billion. It says an announcement could come as soon as today.

    It’s been reported throughout the summer that Google was buying video game streaming site Twitch. Now, a new report says Amazon is actually about to acquire it.

    Back in May, Variety reported that Google was in talks to buy Twitch in an all-cash offer, and that the deal was expected to be announced imminently.

    About a month ago, VentureBeat reported that Google had reached a deal to buy the company for $1 billion, and that the company would join YouTube. “Google has signed a deal,” the report said.

    Then, earlier this month, Justin.TV, the company behind Twitch announced that it was shutting down Justin.TV itself to focus on Twitch – a move that would make sense if it were being acquired by Google.

    A big curveball has just been thrown, however, as The Information is now reporting that Amazon has swooped in, and is in late-stage talks to acquire Twitch. This is according to two people familiar with the matter, it says.

    According to one of its sources, a deal could be announced soon.

    This is certainly an interesting turn of events as Google and Amazon compete in an increasing number of spaces. Amazon is also said to be getting ready to take on Google’s AdSense with its own offering.

    Regarding the Twitch acquisition, someone is going to come away looking less credible aft

    Image via Twitch

  • Amazon Coins Expanded To Two More Countries

    Amazon Coins (not to be confused with Amazon’s recently launched store for collectable coins) is expanding into Japan and Australia.

    The virtual currency was launched last year, and the company says customers have already spent hundreds of millions of Amazon Coins. Amazon’s Mike Hines writes in a blog post:

    Now customers in Japan and Australia can use Amazon Coins on apps, games, and in-app items from their Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, and on amazon.co.jp and amazon.com.au. Customers can enjoy apps and games for less by purchasing Amazon Coins, and the more they buy, the greater the discount.

    For a limited time, every Kindle Fire owner in Japan and Australia will find 500 Yen/$5.00 AUD worth of free coins deposited into their Amazon Account. And as an additional incentive, customers can also purchase coins in bulk and receive a discount of up to 20% to spend on apps and games in the Amazon Android Appstore (regular discount is 10% off apps and games).

    Amazon Coins enable users to save up to 10% on app purchases. According to Amazon, many developers count the currency as being responsible for the majority of their revenue.

    Image via Amazon