News from Amazon’s Kindle event and more

The New Kindle Fire is ready to compete (and pretty cool in it’s own right)

Here is today’s top technology news.

• Without a doubt, the biggest happenings of the day occurred at Amazon’s Kindle event. Amazon unveiled the updated Kindle Fire, the Fire HD 7″ + 8.9″ versions, and a new Kindle reader. The whole line of Amazon products (or services as they consider them) were updated, with important changes for the consumer. The new Kindle Fires will have dual-core processors, more ram, and higher definition displays (including 1920×1200 for the HD versions). As well, they have included MIMO technology which they claim will make it perform better than the iPad 3 (the New iPad). Another interesting addition is the dual Wi-Fi antenna system, designed to increase network performance and speeds as well. A new pricing system has been announce, $169 for the Kindle Fire 7″, $199 for the Kindle Fire 7″ HD, and $299 for the Kindle Fire 8.9″ HD. These prices will strongly compete with the Google Nexus 7. Amazon has also update the Kindle e-reader, with an amazing new screen, backlight and faster processing. The e-reader will sell for $119 for Wi-Fi only and $169 for the 3G version. A 4G LTE version for AT&T will retail for $499, with special Amazon data pricing ($50 a year for 250MB/month). Via Phandroid, here, Gizmodo, here.
• The reports of worker abuse at Samsung factories have grown – is is reported that six more factories have been found to have terrible problems with worker abuse and underage employment. Via Gizmodo, more here.
• ICS is now on 20% of Android devices – Google has revealed that their 10 month old operating system can now be found on 20% of Android devices in the wild. With over 480M devices, this is close to 100M devices, but still not enough. Likewise, only 1% have Jelly Bean (July’s release). Via Slashgear, more here.
• Grooveshark swaps app for HTML5 – Grooveshark is ditching their apps for HTML5. HTML5 is gaining speed among app developers and Grooveshark is moving that way. Via Engadget, more here.
• LinkedIn unveils redesigned pages for companies – the largest business-oriented social network is changing itself to be more business friendly. Many corporations pay LinkedIn for their business-specific capabilities, using it as a recruiting tool, LinkedIn must keep advancing if they wish to keep making money. Via TechCrunch, more here.
• Sharp mortgages self just to keep going – Sharp has taken out over $2B in short term loans recently to keep active. As one of the largest providers of screen technology (including for the iDevices), Sharp does have value, it will be interesting to see how they can try to rebound from this. Via Engadget, more here.
• South Korean regulators looking into Samsung monopoly – Apple just cannot keep themselves out of the courts. Now, they are asking South Korea to look into antitrust allegations against the Samsung corporation. Samsung is a HUGE component provider for Apple, so I am unsure why Apple keeps prodding them. With Apple’s often examined supply-chain issues, it is confusing why they would ever risk increasing supply-chain difficulties (when they are preparing for a huge release). Via 9to5Mac, more here.
• According to Microsoft, users prefer Bing search results to Google – in a blind study, Microsoft found that users preferred Bing’s results to the search giant’s. Via Bing, more here.

This post by RyanKamauff was first published at CTOvision.com.

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