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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Overstock.com says it will match Amazon's book prices – from now on

Following a promotion in which the site sold books at 10 percent off Amazon's prices, Overstock.com says it will now match Amazon prices for books. And it's not a temporary measure. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Condé Nast launches Amazon subscription service

Condé Nast and Amazon have struck a deal in which the online giant will begin managing print and digital subscriptions for Condé titles, the companies said on Tuesday.The program, called All Access, is meant to simplify the subscription process by sending potential subscribers from the... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New US TV book club features Bone Season

US show "Today: is launching a new book club for the first time in more than ten years. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Condé Nast Inks Big Deal With Amazon

Condé Nast has announced a big deal with Amazon that will let people buy and renew print and digital subscriptions to its magazines on the e-commerce giant. The new service, which Amazon is billing as the first of its kind with a publisher, also enables customers to get immediate access to their... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Condé Nast Cuts Deal With Amazon To Turn Magazine Subscriptions Into An All–Access Business

Condé Nast has struck a deal with Amazon that will give the Vogue, Vanity Fair, and New Yorker publisher access to 200 million potential new subscribers who are already spending money shopping on Amazon, according to a Reuters exclusive. The deal, the first of its kind, will allow Condé Nast to... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon lockers blamed in indie closure

Two bookshops have announced they are due to close this summer due to rising competition from the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seth Godin on Why “Vilifying Amazon…Makes No Sense”

Seth Godin traces the ups and downs of the independent bookstore since WWII, while proclaiming that today is "a golden age for books," crediting Amazon. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon imprint holds author conference

Amazon imprint Thomas & Mercer is flying authors out to a party and conference in Seattle... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook reveals 20m mobile users in June

Facebook has published UK-specific user data, broken down for the first time into daily and monthly, and total and mobile user numbers. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2013-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle for Android app updated with library sorting, keeps a watchful eye on remaining read time

Amazon's Android-flavored reading app is offering up a couple more of its own e-reader's features for those with Google-fied devices. Just like folks with Kindles have already encountered, the Kindle for Android app now keeps tabs on time remaining in both chapter and book should pace be of... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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American Booksellers to Fight Amazon Through Negative Publicity

The ABA's CEO sent an open letter to independent booksellers encouraging them to publicize Amazon as a company "detrimental" to the book business and buyers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Busy Negotiating First Russian Ebook Contracts

Amazon has contracted Rosman to supply its first ebook titles for sale in Russia. For now, the retailer is concentrating on digital in lieu of establishing a Russian print supply chain. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will Amazon and Washington Post Work Together? Who Knows?!

While the media industry reels from the news that Jeff Bezos purchasing the Washington Post, it's still anyone's guess as to what the Amazon founder plans to do with the paper. An even more intriguing question is, will Amazon and the Post even mingle? Or steer clear of each other? Bezos, it's... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Engadget's laptop buyer's guide: summer 2013 edition

At last: the laptop buyer's guide we wanted to write three months ago. You see, when it came time to publish our spring edition, Intel was on the cusp of releasing its fourth-generation Core processors, which meant almost everything we were recommending was destined for a refresh. So we... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Marneur acquires Mel Sherratt

Amazon Publishing senior acquisitions editor Emily Marneur has made her first two acquisitions... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple fires back, calls DOJ ebook remedies 'draconian and punitive'

In a filing on Friday, Apple Inc. fired back against a series of measures proposed by federal attorneys that would restrict the company's ability to strike electronic-book deals.     Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fresh workforce controversy for Amazon

Amazon has faced fresh allegations about its treatment of workers after an investigation of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon jobs are 'a great example of what's possible,' says Obama as more indie booksellers object

President Obama appeared as scheduled at a Chattanooga, Tenn., Amazon warehouse and praised the business, causing even more independent booksellers to express their displeasure with his endorsement. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nook and Amazon in 99p frontlist offer

A Nook promotion of "Hot Summer Books" is selling ebooks of frontlist titles from... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are Overstock.com and Amazon in a price war?

Overstock.com is offering 'tens of thousands' of books at '10 percent off Amazon's book prices.' Now Amazon has reduced the prices of many of its bestsellers by as much as 50 to 65 percent. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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