Amazon bringing Voice Guide and Explore by Touch features to Kindle Fires for vision-impaired users

Amazon's been attuned to the needs of its vision-impaired customers for years, first rolling out text-to-speech technology on its original Kindle e-reader years ago. Today the company revealed plans to add to that feature set in its Kindle Fire and Fire HD (7-inch) tablets with Voice Guide and Explore by Touch technology. Voice Guide's an improvement upon regular text-to-speech tech that reads aloud any action performed by users -- things like announcing app names and book titles when they're selected. Explore by Touch lets folks swipe their fingers across their Fire's display and identifies each onscreen item as their phalanges pass over them. Once aware of what app or piece of content's being touched, a simple tap opens the item. Ready for the new assisted navigation experience right now? Well, all you anxious Fire owners will have to wait, the update doesn't land until early next year.Filed under: Tablets, Software, AmazonCommentsSource: Amazon Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2012-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #feature set #reads aloud #book titles

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Retail in Seattle: In the Shadow of Amazon

On the surface, Seattle might seem like a tough area to ply the independent bookselling trade. Yet many Seattle booksellers are upbeat about the prospects ahead. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Asks Court to Fire Its External Monitor

In a letter filed yesterday, Apple attorneys asked Judge Denise Cote to fire its external monitor, Michael Bromwich. The request comes after Bromwich filed a declaration in which he detailed Apple’s resistance to his work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wattpad Grew to 18 Million Users in 2013

Wattpad, the online writing and reading community, continued its long arch of membership growth and increased social connectivity, finishing 2013 with more than 18 million registered users according to data released by the company today. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent bookstores, Amazon all report successful holiday season

Many independent bookstores reported holiday sales as good or better than last year's, while Amazon called the 2013 holiday season its best ever. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Richard Desmond appoints Barclays to explore sale of Channel 5

Process at a very early stage and follows owner taking soundings from television rivals including ITVRichard Desmond has appointed Barclays to advise on a possible sale of Channel 5, after turning the loss making Big Brother broadcaster into a profitable operation.The process is understood to be... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon 'sold close to 40m items on Cyber Monday'

Amazon has said it took orders for more than 36.8 million items worldwide on Cyber Monday (2nd... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Very Merry Christmas at Amazon

Amazon.com is calling this one of its best Christmas shopping seasons ever after more than 1 million consumers signed up for Amazon Prime, the online retailer’s free unlimited 2-day shipping deal, the week before Christmas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Petition on Amazon warehouse wages

More than 40,000 people have signed a petition calling for Amazon’s chief executive Jeff... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comixology Brings French Digital Comics to U.S., Canada

Continuing to expand its inventory of French-language comics, Comixology, the digital comics platform and marketplace, is releasing 700 French comics in the North American marketplace. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's bestselling titles of 2013 include Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini

Amazon's 2013 list of bestselling adult titles includes Brown's 'Inferno' and Hosseini's 'And the Mountains Echoed,' while Veronica Roth's 'Allegiant' tops the children's bestseller list. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle for Android adds Collections to help organize your e-library

If you've bought quite a library of Kindle books for yourself, you might have a chore scrolling through the lot to find the one you want. Thankfully for Android users, you can now organize your reading material into Collections with a new Kindle app ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mac and iOS users can now gift iBooks

Your chances of buying tangible gifts for the holidays may be fading fast, but your digital options are now wider than ever. Apple has just enabled full gift support on the iBookstore for both iOS and Mac users; you can buy someone a specific book ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holiday Gift Guide: A Photo Book for Everyone on Your List

If you're struggling with your holiday gift list, we have you cover-to-covered with our photo book holiday gift guide.     Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When will publishers wake up to the challenge of Amazon?

The books industry still underestimates the disruptive power of Jeff Bezos's awesome ambitionSo Amazon are the bad guys, again. At least according to Harper's Magazine they are. For the former Amazon employee James Marcus, Brad Stone "drops the ball" in his biography of Jeff Bezos, The... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins' Murray on 'frenemy' Amazon

HarperCollins Worldwide c.e.o. Brian Murray has described Amazon as a "frenemy", and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's new imprint StoryFront will publish short stories

The new imprint of the online bookseller has already released works by authors including William Lashner and Rebecca Adams Wright. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Wants to Be a Newspaper. Facebook Users Have Their Own Ideas.

It's tough to make everyone happy. Can Facebook reconcile its high-minded design ideals with the interests of users and publishers? Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster Fires Up “Hot Bed” Tumblr for New Adult Fiction

Simon & Schuster has launched a new social media community, The Hot Bed, to promote the "New Adult" genre complete with a "chili chart" to gauge hotness. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sunday Express critic claims he was fired over gay website images

Mark Shenton says he was accused of bringing the paper into disrepute after bosses found pictures of him on a gay websiteMark Shenton, the chief theatre critic of the Sunday Express, has claimed he was fired after executives discovered naked pictures of him on a gay website.In the daily blog he... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Buying Guide: Find the perfect ebook reader

What's the best device if you want to embrace a post-paper reading world? That all depends on whether you want a dedicated reading device or a more versatile tablet. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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