Kindle

Amazon has a problem with pornography.

The company created technology to filter smut from its library of video and print offerings and it also pays humans to do the same thing. In spite of that, Kindle users can still download e-books with the same sort of raunchy images and titles normally seen in nudie mags sold at liquor store newsstands.

That's because these salacious e-books are self-published, spawned from sources with names like Camera Erotica Publications and ErotiPics. Some of the milder titles include "The Dirty Blonde 2," which comes with a self-prescribed adults-only warning, a weak … Read more

Read any good books lately? I know, e-book prices can make it tough to indulge your love of the printed word. That's why I'm jazzed to see that the folks at StoryBundle have cobbled together another great batch of books for whatever price you want to pay.

It's true! The Indie Fantasy Bundle includes six full-length novels (actually, eight, as two of the selections include the first two books in their respective series), and you get to decide how much you want to pay.

As you might suspect from the "indie" designation, these aren't … Read more

The online retail giant this morning warned iOS users not to download the latest update to its Kindle app because of a glitch that wiped an existing customer's entire library from the device. However, Amazon had released another update by this afternoon that resolved the issue.

After downloading the initial update, existing Kindle users were logged out of their accounts, and everything they had downloaded was deleted from their devices. They also lost bookmarks and other settings, according to angry comments on iTunes. Users then had to log back in … Read more

Editor's note: This contest is now closed.

Been staying up nights pining for a tablet of your very own? Here is your chance. Cast your vote below and be entered to win* one of five Geek Squad-certified refurbished Kindle Fires provided by our friends at Best Buy.

If you already have a Kindle Fire, then we know you are mostly using it to check out the latest in tech using the oh-so-cool CNET app, but we are curious to know what else you are using it for. Enter below for a chance to win one for a friend or … Read more

Tablets are great and all, but if you're mostly into reading, it's hard to beat an e-reader. Eye-friendly screens, ultra-light designs, amazing battery life -- the perks go on and on.

And let's not forget price. Amazon's entry-level Kindle is now down to $69. But here's an even more wallet-friendly option: Best Buy has the Kobo Mini e-reader for $59.99 shipped (plus sales tax). That's for the white model; the black one literally sold out while I was writing this post.

So that's only a $10 difference, right? And when you factor … Read more

Come May, Kindle Fires users can pocket virtual coins to spend on their favorite apps.

Announced today, Amazon Coins is a new type of virtual currency developed by the retail giant. The coins will be used to purchase Kindle Fire games, apps, and in-app items from the Amazon Appstore.

To kick off the currency in May, Amazon will offer shoppers tens of millions of dollars of free Amazon Coins to spend on Kindle Fire apps. The company will also let customers buy more coins directly through their Amazon accounts.

Amazon sees the currency as a boon for developers, as it … Read more

I'm a magazine junkie. And these days I tend to read a lot of mags on my iPad, especially now that I can get most of my favorite periodicals (Men's Health, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, etc.) in tablet form.

Just one problem: Few, if any, magazine apps let you print. What's the big deal about that? Well, suppose you're perusing the digital pages of Bon Appetit and want a hard copy of one of the recipes? Or you've found a cool project in Family Handyman and need a shopping list to take to the hardware store? … Read more

As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it's not going away.

Android tablet shipments totaled about 30 million in the fourth quarter, IDC reported today. And that number (total market) jumps to 50 million if you throw in Apple's iPad.

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul," an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft's tablet debut into perspective.

In fact, that's probably about as positive a statement that can … Read more

Have you decided to ditch DVDs and Blu-rays to instead buy movies and TV shows only in a pure digital format?

There are certainly advantages to that. But one of the biggest downsides of going all digital is that how you can view your content is largely dependent on the service you purchased it from.

Digital video providers In this column, I look at how "trapped" video content purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Xbox and Google Play may be. The first four video marketplaces were listed yesterday by NPD as among the top ways people purchase digital video. … Read more