The difference between Amazon’s Burned E-readers used to be very strict. The cheapest base model has small storage, low battery life, and a slow, low-resolution display. Meanwhile, the lavish Kindle Oasis is equipped with a sleek aluminum frame, fully adjustable lighting, a large battery, and physical buttons for turning pages.
But models have slowly begun to blend together, with the cheaper Kindles adopting premium features previously available only on Oasis. Middle floor White paper went strong in 2021, when Amazon added adjustable lighting and a USB-C port. (It’s still WIRED’s pick for best e-reader.) Finally, Amazon is pushing. Kindle Basics also.
The new Kindle has an upgraded display — the screen has a resolution of 300 ppi compared to the previous Kindle’s 197 ppi. Memory is doubled to 16 GB. The new Kindle also — finally! —Has the same USB-C port as the latest Paperwhite models. It charges in as little as two hours via USB-C.
Unfortunately, the price has started to converge. The new basic-style Kindle costs $100, which is $10 more than the previous version. Spend an extra $20 and you’ll get a version that doesn’t bombard you with ads on the lock screen.
If you’re looking for an e-reader, check out WIRED’s guide to Best Kindles and best e-book reader in general.
Here’s some more news from the world of consumer technology.
Alexa says brand
The worst thing about searching for something on Google is all the ads showing up at the top of the page. Well, now Amazon is planning the same for its Echo smart speaker.
In a blog post titled “Alexa can now help brands answer customer questions, Amazon has launched a new business strategy that allows brands to provide answers to user questions that may be related to the products the brand wants to sell. Amazon gave an example of asking Alexa how to remove pet hair from carpet. Such a query could cause a brand-backed response to appear, offering to send you links to Amazon pages that sell the brand’s products.
In Amazon’s trademark registration system, sellers will be able to view common user questions and attach their branded answers to them. Amazon says branded questions and answers will be reviewed by content moderators before Alexa can use them. Amazon insists this is not an advertisement and that brands will not be able to pay to submit replies. The company also said branded replies would be attributed to the brand that responded to them, but it didn’t elaborate on what form that disclosure would take.
The company plans to test the feature starting in October, then rolling it out across the US.
TikTok wants to become reality
Every app tries to be TikTok, but sometimes the viral video-sharing app has to catch up a bit on its own.
If you are stylish and stylish (read: young), then you certainly know about Be realistic. The popular app prompts users with a notification at a random time each day that says “It’s time to do it.” The user then has two minutes to take a photo that captures images from both the front and rear cameras. Fast and straightforward results; The point of catching those who don’t know is more incentive The “real” moments compared to the carefully staged photos you see on platforms like Instagram.
