from the year-of-the-Linux-*insert-shiny-thing* dept.
Amazon has been working on an in-house replacement for its Android-based Fire OS, codenamed "Vega" and built for easier app development, according to reporting from Janko Roettgers at Lowpass.
Based on job listings, multiple sources, forum posts, and unguarded LinkedIn boasts, Roettgers writes that Amazon has been working on Vega since at least 2019, is mostly done with the core development, and is now focused on an SDK and developer outreach. Vega would replace the Fire OS that is installed on Fire TV sticks and televisions, Kindle Fire tablets, and other Amazon devices. Vega, based on "a flavor of Linux," uses the popular JavaScript-based React Native as an application framework. This could simplify development for Fire devices alongside other React-ready platforms, including smartphones, desktops, and other smart TVs.
[...]
While an Android base provides a relatively familiar entry for developers that already have Android apps, rebuilding the AOSP project—meant to support a wealth of different devices and carrying years of technical debt—seemingly became frustrating enough for Amazon to push toward an in-house solution.
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Later this week, Amazon is closing a small loophole that allowed purchasers of Kindle books to download those files to a computer and transfer them via USB. Originally intended to extend e-book access to owners of very old Kindles without Wi-Fi connectivity, the feature has also made it easier for people to download and store copies of the e-books they've bought, reducing the risk that Amazon might make changes to their text or remove them from the Kindle store entirely.
The "Download & transfer via USB" option on Amazon's site is going away this Wednesday, February 26.
[...]
If you're trying to download your Kindle purchases to your PC and Mac before the deadline, you'll need to have a somewhat older Kindle or Fire device attached to your account.
[...]
Jason Snell at Sixcolors highlighted a possible timesaver for people with large libraries: a command-line tool called the Amazon Kindle eBook Bulk Downloader that can grab all your files automatically rather than doing one at a time.
[...]
Obviously, "people who want to download these files so they can strip their DRM" are not of concern to Amazon, but we contacted the company to ask if it has an official recommendation for people who are still using older Kindles and want to download Amazon-purchased books for legitimate reasons. An Amazon representative only responded with a statement telling us the other ways that customers could get Amazon books onto their Kindle devices."Customers can continue reading books previously downloaded on their Kindle device, and access new content through the Kindle app, Kindle for web, as well as directly through Kindle devices with Wi-Fi capability," the spokesperson told Ars.
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(Score: 5, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday November 15 2023, @06:47AM (2 children)
I've pivoted away from Amazon gear a long time ago myself.
For me, Amazon usually means:
- Ultra-cheap Amazon in-house brands: cheap Chinese knockoffs of good product from good third-party sellers whose business Amazon want to steal - avoid
- "Serious" Amazon-branded stuff: spyware - avoid
- Randomly-generated brand names: cheap Chinese shit - avoid
- Anything else worth buying makes Bezos richer and feeds the wage-slavery machine at the fulfillment center and in delivery trucks - avoid
TL;DR: Amazon: avoid
(Score: 5, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday November 15 2023, @01:12PM
Just buy it from AliExpress directly like they do. They're not offering much of a service when they sell knockoffs for 80% of retail, when you can order the same thing from aliexpress for 20% of retail.
I'm thinking mostly of dev board knockoffs and breakout boards. You can pay someone on amazon $25 to order it from Adafruit and get it next week, or directly pay Adafruit $20 and get it next week, or pay someone on Amazon to order a knockoff from Aliexpress for $18 and get it in a couple days, or pay Aliexpress $4 and get it in a couple weeks worst case.
Generally I choose the latter.
The problem with Amazon is if you pay $25 its worse than ebay where you no longer tell if what you'll get is new or used or 'real' or gray market or total knockoff or fake -n- broken. You're more likely to get what you thought you ordered if you buy from Adafruit or Aliexpress.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 15 2023, @02:55PM
I'll second that, Rosco. As a Vine reviewer, I see an awful lot of those randomly generated brand names. I don't remember the exact details, but I was offered some children's toy, with a brand name that began with "lethal". My immediate thought was "hmmm, lethal children's toys, what could possibly go wrong?" And, cheap Chinese knockoffs. I write some horrible reviews of those things. Of course, I have to restrain myself to conform to Amazon's silly rules.
Unfortunately, Amazon's position as a leading retailer is pretty secure. I don't see how they can possibly be dislodged any time soon. We can only hope that they start making the mistakes that demoted Sears from a leading retailer to obscurity.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday November 15 2023, @10:08AM
If they manage to kill sideloading, Fire TV sticks and tablets will lose a lot of fans. These products can be bad for various reasons, but they are cheap and can be bent [aftvnews.com] to your will [xdaforums.com].
@turgid
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday November 15 2023, @01:19PM (1 child)
Everyone I know who has one, has "that one app" they can't do without, so this will torpedo sales.
Why buy a kindle that won't run your one app, if you can buy any other tablet on the market that runs kindle?
My guess is, since they don't want to torpedo sales, this means they're silently planning on discontinuing the kindle app on android, iOS, etc. Otherwise nobody would buy a Fire tablet, if literally every other tablet on the market is superior.
Of course this is almost the textbook definition of monopolistic product-tying, but Amazon seems immune to prosecution, so maybe they'll do it anyway.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday November 16 2023, @07:28AM
Well, if it's linux, and lets you do normal linux things, there's a workaround...
https://www.howtogeek.com/760044/how-to-run-android-apps-on-linux/ [howtogeek.com]
[I have no idea how well this works.]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Wednesday November 15 2023, @06:19PM
Amazon must have thought that the Fire tablets were too good, and therefore it was time to kill them. I bought Fire tablets for my family because they were relatively inexpensive and I could install the Google Play Store on them to get access to all the Android apps and games. Take that away, and the value of the Fire tablets plummets to near-zero. Limiting ourselves to Amazon's paltry app store is a no-go.