How to encrypt your Kindle Fire HDX - CNET

Beyond just using a PIN code lock screen, Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX and HDX 8.9-inch tablets can also be secured with device encryption.

 February 26, 2014 10:47 AM PST

(Credit: Ed Rhee / CNET)

Device encryption can be a great way to keep your data secure in case it falls into the wrong hands. For many users, however, it can be overkill and there’s usually a performance hit to a device that’s been encrypted. Using a PIN code to lock the device is usually an effective deterrent and software tools like Find My iPhone and Android Device Manager can help track, lock, or wipe lost devices.

Unfortunately for Kindle Fire HDX owners, there’s no app available that’s comparable to Find My iPhone or Android Device Manager. If you want to be extra cautious with your data or if you’re using a Kindle Fire HDX in an enterprise environment, here’s how to encrypt it:

Step 1 : Make sure you have the latest version of Fire OS installed, then fully charge your Kindle Fire HDX.

Step 2 : With your Kindle Fire HDX plugged in to a wall charger, go to Settings> Security, then select Encryption.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee / CNET)

Step 3 : Tap on the “Encrypt tablet” button. If your Fire HDX isn’t fully charged or plugged in, you won’t see this option.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee / CNET)

Step 4 : If you have a PIN, you’ll need to enter it, then set an encryption password. This password is different than your lock screen PIN. It will be used only when you boot up the Kindle Fire HDX.

Step 5 : After you’ve entered your encryption password, tap the “Continue” button to begin the encryption process.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee / CNET)

Your Kindle Fire HDX will reboot, then begin encrypting. Depending on the amount of data stored on your Kindle Fire HDX, the process could take up to an hour to complete, though our test Kindle only took 12 minutes.

Keep in mind that there’s no way to decrypt your Kindle Fire HDX once it’s been encrypted. To remove the encryption, you’ll have to perform a factory reset and erase all your data. Additionally, if the wrong encryption password is entered 30 consecutive times, your Kindle Fire HDX will automatically be reset to factory defaults and your data erased.

The Kindle Fire Is Giving A Big Boost To Amazon's Revenues From Digital Media - Businessinsider India

BII

Amazon keeps expanding its reach. Video has been among Amazon’s biggest pushes recently. The company has begun creating original content for Amazon Prime Instant Video, and more recently, rumors are circulating that a streaming device to rival the Apple TV will debut from Amazon in March.

Where does this leave the Kindle Fire amid all this fast-paced media expansion?

The device has been losing market share lately, and looking less relevant to Amazon’s overall strategy.

But according to a report from BI Intelligence, the Kindle Fire is actually a critical component of Amazon’s monetization of its digital media services.

Instead of squeezing a margin from its hardware sales, Amazon generates revenue from Kindle Fire users in other ways. It encourages them to download from Amazon’s vast digital library of apps and media, view ads, and access related services like e-commerce.

In the report, we dig into available data on Amazon’s unique mobile strategy. Amazon has achieved respectable results in terms of app downloads and app revenue on Kindle Fires, and yet is often left out of mobile platform analyses that focus on Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here are some of the key takeaways on the Kindle Fire ecosystem:

• The Kindle has not managed to achieve real scale globally : The Kindle line, including e-readers, took only a 2% share of global tablet shipments in the third quarter of this year, according to BI Intelligence estimates. That share will bounce back in the fourth quarter, since Kindle sales are strongly influenced by holiday gift-giving. However, due to competition from low-priced Android tablets, Kindle isn’t likely to be more than a slice of the tablet market.
• But a massive, global consumer base isn’t everything. The Kindle ecosystem will account for 11% of Amazon’s total revenues this year , according to Morgan Stanley, including revenues from digital content streaming and downloading, app purchases, and advertising revenues.
• Amazon Prime subscriptions are another key source of Amazon revenue , and Kindle Fires encourage subscriptions because subscribers receive free unlimited video streaming and e-book borrowing. Morningstar estimates that there will be more than 10 million total Amazon Prime subscribers this year.
• The Amazon Appstore is also generating strong revenue results . Popular Kindle Fire apps are generating 59 cents of revenue for every dollar earned by top apps in the Google Play store, according to a Distimo study. Download volumes are about half those on Google Play for top app titles – impressive considering how many more Android devices are in circulation.
• Amazon’s platform is in a major global expansion phase: Earlier this year, Amazon began selling high-end Kindle Fire models in 170 countries and brought the Amazon Appstore online in 200 countries.
• Meanwhile, Amazon’s advertising programs on the Kindle Fire also generate nearly $ 200 million in ad revenue for the company, according to projections .

The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use.

In full, the report:

• Contextualizes how Kindles stack up in terms of global and US market share
• Outlines the various revenue sources Amazon has developed around the Kindle Fire line
• Compares Amazon’s Appstore to the Google Play store in terms of revenue
• Examines the positive feedback loop between Amazon Kindle Fire usage and Amazon Prime subscriptions
• Looks at how Amazon is expanding internationally to continue propelling Amazon Kindle Fire uptake and thus creating new opportunities to monetize users

For full access to the report on The Amazon Kindle Ecosystem sign up for a free trial subscription today.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Join the discussion with Business Insider

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, libellous, slanderous or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Let’s work together to keep the conversation civil.

Amazon knocks 20% off all Kindle Fire tablets until 4 March - CNET UK

If you’ve been umming and ahhing over whether to buy a Kindle Fire tablet, this latest Amazon sale could sway you. Until 4 March, the retailer is slashing the price of all its tablets by 20 per cent. It does these kinds of sales quite often, but this is the biggest price cut yet.

That means the Kindle Fire HDX will set you back ? 159.20 instead of the usual ? 199, the HDX 8.9 is ? 263.20 instead of ? 329, the Fire HD is ? 95.20 instead of ? 119, and the Fire HD 8.9 is now ? 127.20 instead of ? 159.

Buy any of the above, and you’ll get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, which includes Amazon Prime Instant Video, which launches today. This gives you 15,000 films and TV shows to watch, including Alpha House – the first production by Amazon Studios – which stars John Goodman.

The price of Prime has gone up, which Amazon is less keen to publicise. It’s now ? 79 for a year instead of ? 49 – that price includes the cost of Prime Instant Video. There’s no way to opt out of Amazon’s new movies and TV service. I’ve seen a few people on Twitter saying they’re quitting Prime because of the new high price.

The sale price of the Kindle Fire HDX makes it ? 40 cheaper than Google’s Nexus 7, but as the saying goes, look before you leap. The HDX is a nice piece of kit, but its software is sadly hobbled here in the UK, giving you far fewer features than the competition.

Will you be splashing out on a new tablet in Amazon’s sale? What do you think of it putting up the price of Amazon Prime? Is it a good deal for both services? Or a shameless attempt to push its new streaming offering? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.

Amazon Launches Its Kindle Fire HDX Tablets In China - The Next Web

Amazon has launched its Kindle Fire HDX – the latest version of its Kindle tablet – in China, as the company seeks to build on its recent success, which includes topping the Android tablet marketplace.

Amazon finally brought its Kindle devices to China in June last year, after plenty of rumors and repeated delays. This time round, Chinese customers haven’t had to wait that long for the Kindle Fire HDX to land in the country – Amazon announced it only in September last year.

The tablets, which come in 7 – and 8.9-inch sizes, are being featured prominently on Amazon’s Chinese website now.

The 7-inch tablet Kindle Fire HDX is retailing from CNY1, 699 ($ ??278) while the 8.9-inch one costs upwards of CNY2, 999 ($ ??491). Comparatively, in the US, the 7-inch model starts at $ 229 while the 8.9-inch variant costs upwards of $ 349.

The Kindle Fire HDX tablets run an updated version of Amazon’s Fire operating system and are powered by a 2GHz quad-core processor from Qualcomm. The screen is a beyond-HD display, with a pixel density of 323 ppi for the smaller version and 339 ppi for the 8.9-inch version. The tablets also boast 100 percent sRGB color accuracy and dynamic image contrast.

In addition to being around one-third lighter than their predecessors – Amazon says that at just 374 grams, the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX is the lightest large-screen tablet – the new devices have an ‘all-day’ battery . In real terms, Amazon says that should give up to 11 hours of mixed use and 17 hours of reading time.

Amazon has also introduced the upgraded version of its Kindle Fire HD in China today – which features a faster processor with an HD display and a new lighter and slimmer design, similar to the Kindle Fire HDX. This lower-cost variant retails from CNY1, 099 ($ ??178).

Headline image via Spencer Platt / Getty Images

This Day in Blogging History: Libraries and Makerspaces; Authors Guild vs ... - Boing Boing

Cory Doctorow at 1:00 pm Tue, Feb 25, 2014

One year ago today
Libraries and Makerspaces: a match made in heaven: Every discussion of libraries in the age of austerity always includes at least one blowhard who opines, “What do we need libraries for? We’ve got the Internet now! “

Five years ago today
Authors’ Guild vs. reality: Kindles and read-aloud: Time and again, the Author’s Guild has shown itself to be the epitome of a venal special interest group, the kind of grasping, foolish posturers that make the public cynically assume that the profession it represents is a racket , not a trade. This is, after all, the same gang of weirdos who opposed the used book trade going online.

Ten years ago today
Universal crackpot spam solution rebuttal: () Spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses; () Mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected; ( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money

How to Use Kindle MatchBook - LAPTOP Magazine (blog)

Kindle Matchbook is a way to bridge the gap between the nostalgia of a physical book and the flexibility of e-books. While few things beat cracking open a good book and turning the page, like many old forms of entertainment, they don’t always make sense in the modern world. Kindle Matchbook is a program that allows Amazon customers who purchased physical books to be given a discount on the e-book version of the same title. The prices range from $ 2.99 to free.

It doesn’t work with all book purchases as only certain publishers and authors have chosen to take part in the program. As it stands, Amazon states on their website that there are “thousands of qualifying books” so it may only be useful in some cases.

A nice perk of Matchbook is that it is retroactive, so if you have purchased books from Amazon since 1999 you may already be eligible for some discounts. It’s easy enough to find out if you’re eligible by searching Amazon’s site. Click on the yellow button labelled “Find your Kindle Matchbook titles”. This will prompt you to sign in to your Amazon Account.

After signing in, you will be told if any of your past purchases are eligible for Kindle Matchbook. From the same page you may also browse all Kindle Matchbook titles by scrolling down and clicking the see more link.

The link will take you too a page displaying Kindle Matchbook titles and from there you may use the search at the top to see if the book you want qualifies.

After using the Kindle Matchbook discount to also purchase the e-book version, the title will be tied to your Amazon account and accessible from any device you use read Kindle books. Kindle Matchbook is a nice way to get more value from your book purchases and modernize some of your old library.

• 7 Brands That Deserve More Respect
• Amazon Kindle Fire HDX vs. Google Nexus 7: Which Tablet Is Better?
• Best Cases for Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch

Recommended by

How to Use Kindle MatchBook - LAPTOP Magazine (blog)

Kindle Matchbook is a way to bridge the gap between the nostalgia of a physical book and the flexibility of e-books. While few things beat cracking open a good book and turning the page, like many old forms of entertainment, they don’t always make sense in the modern world. Kindle Matchbook is a program that allows Amazon customers who purchased physical books to be given a discount on the e-book version of the same title. The prices range from $ 2.99 to free.

It doesn’t work with all book purchases as only certain publishers and authors have chosen to take part in the program. As it stands, Amazon states on their website that there are “thousands of qualifying books” so it may only be useful in some cases.

A nice perk of Matchbook is that it is retroactive, so if you have purchased books from Amazon since 1999 you may already be eligible for some discounts. It’s easy enough to find out if you’re eligible by searching Amazon’s site. Click on the yellow button labelled “Find your Kindle Matchbook titles”. This will prompt you to sign in to your Amazon Account.

After signing in, you will be told if any of your past purchases are eligible for Kindle Matchbook. From the same page you may also browse all Kindle Matchbook titles by scrolling down and clicking the see more link.

The link will take you too a page displaying Kindle Matchbook titles and from there you may use the search at the top to see if the book you want qualifies.

After using the Kindle Matchbook discount to also purchase the e-book version, the title will be tied to your Amazon account and accessible from any device you use read Kindle books. Kindle Matchbook is a nice way to get more value from your book purchases and modernize some of your old library.

• 7 Brands That Deserve More Respect
• Amazon Kindle Fire HDX vs. Google Nexus 7: Which Tablet Is Better?
• Best Cases for Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch

Recommended by