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
The nation's largest book publishers are facing increasing pricing pressure on the digital front as the number of cheap, self-published digital titles gain popularity with readers seeking budget-minded entertainment. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital front
Here's a clever idea from Chris Dixon: The investor and entrepreneur has turned his well-read blog into an ebook. Dixon, who runs Hunch and helps steer Founder Collective's bets when he's not blogging, has taken a couple years' worth of posts and compiled them into "Startups; Dixon's proceeds... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#couple years
Written By: Hannah Davies Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:07 The Buyers Guide website is now accepting submissions for the Autumn 2011 Adult and Childrens Buyers Guides. Eligible titles are those published between July and December 2011. The website will close to submissions on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#accepting submissions
#late submissions
#eligible titles
#friday 6th
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:44 Police intelligence analyst Elizabeth Haynes has won the first Amazon Rising Stars award of 2011. The mother-of-one, who lives in Kent, came top in a consumer-review poll asking readers which one of four Amazon-selected... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#myriad editions
#rising star
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 14:57 Bold block colours and striking symbols define a new series of Icon books designed to reach young professionals intent on self-improvement. The guides aim to present weighty subjects in such areas as cognitive behavioural... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#guides aim
#emotional intelligence
#child psychology
#self-enriching exercises
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 14:57 Bold block colours and striking symbols define a new series of Icon books designed to reach young professionals intent on self-improvement. The guides aim to present weighty subjects in such areas as cognitive behavioural... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#guides aim
#emotional intelligence
#child psychology
#self-enriching exercises
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 14/04/2011 - 16:08 Independent publisher Oneworld has acquired two titles, one looking at the latest Afghan war and the other going to the borders of scientific discovery. Commissioning editor Mike Harpley bought world English language... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#explore science
#inside story
#curtis brown
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 09:00 Amazon has emerged as the surprise underbidder on a multi-million dollar auction for a self-published author, the first time the retailer is believed to have bid on frontlist. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#self-published author
As you may have heard, the cookbook sensation of the season, if not the decade, is Modernist Cuisine, a six-volume magnum opus on contemporary cooking principles that will set you back roughly $500. Self-published by Nathan Myhrvoldthe genius founder of Microsoft's research division,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#time ago
Zite, the app that gathers content according to a users interests and behaviors to form a personalized web magazine, has run into legal issues abound from major publishers such as Washington Post, Associated Press, Getty Images, Time and Dow Jones. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#major publishers
#getty images
#dow jones
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:50 Jean M Auel's new Earth's Children title is Amazon.co.uk's most pre-ordered book of 2011. The Land of Painted Caves: Earth's Children 6 (Hodder & Stoughton), is the last in the Earth's Children series. It will be published... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#children series
#pre-ordered title
#pre-ordered book
With the recent reports from Bloomberg News that Android is one of the fastest operating systems currently on the market, it is no surprise that the system has introduced a new appstore in partnership with Amazon.com, Inc., which launched on Tuesday. "Custome Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#recent reports
#bloomberg news
Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 23/03/2011 - 07:10 Lendle, the US-based tool that allows Kindle users to lend their ebooks, has been reinstated after Amazon said that its concern related to its "Book Sync tool". The news that Amazon had locked the services out of its API caused... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#news sites
#kindle users
#twitter erupted
#ebook lending
#book sales
As convenient as they are, I've long worried about the many ways in which ebook purveyors restrict readers' rights. You can't resell the books you purchase for the Amazon Kindle, and you can't read them on most other e-readers. We also don't really own ebooks in the same way we own... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon kindle
#book publishers
Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 22/03/2011 - 16:45 Hachette Livre and the French National Library (BnF) have signed a print-on-demand agreement for the publisher to sell through bookshops out-of-copyright works from the BnFs online library Gallica. An initial 15,000 titles... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hachette livre
#physical books
#joint statement
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 09:07 Simon & Schuster has brought forward publication of its first tie-in titles to the Octonauts CBeebies television series from the summer to the end of March. The publisher had originally signed a deal with Chorion to publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#31st march
#originally signed
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 11:22 A popular science book by British neuroscientist Professor Christine Temple about the artist Pablo Picasso is the first acquisition by Jamie Joseph for Constable & Robinson's new psychology list. Joseph bought UK &... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jamie joseph
#constable robinson
#psychology list
#patrick walsh
#conville walsh
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 09/03/2011 - 09:48 Ten times as many people shop at Amazon than online at Waterstone's, a survey has revealed, while more than half of respondents bought books online. The research, carried out by the Institute of Direct Marketing,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#direct marketing
#digital marketing
#boosting sales
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 02/03/2011 - 18:05 Random House US is introducing 17,000 books to the iBookstore, several days after it announced it had moved to agency pricing. At this afternoon's Apple iPad event in San Francisco, Apple c.e.o. Steve Jobs said users have... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#random house
#agency pricing
#steve jobs
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Today, AT&T announced that, starting March 6, it will carry Amazon's Kindle reader in its retail stores nationwide. Timing is interesting, given iPad 2's imminent launch and Apple App Store subscription changes that could compel Amazon to curtail or even stop... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#buying ebooks
#web browser
#ebook publishers
#raise prices
#profits handed
#ios apps
#copyright betanews