Linked List: September 28, 2011

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Funny, I simply assumed that Silk’s front-end rendering engine was WebKit. The thought that they might use something else or roll a brand-new one never even entered my mind.

Chris Espinosa on Amazon Silk ★

Chris Espinosa ponders some of the strategic implications of Silk’s cloud-backed architecture:

Fire isn’t a noun, it’s a verb, and it’s what Amazon has done in the targeted direction of Google. This is the first shot in the new war for replacing the Internet with a privatized merchant data-aggregation network.

They don’t need to store or track your personal browsing history. Just the aggregate data alone is a potential gold mine.

Introducing Amazon Silk ★

Amazon explains its radically re-imagined web browser. Fascinating. Here’s Amazon’s FAQ for Silk, and the terms and conditions page is an interesting read regarding the significant privacy implications.

Samsung Doesn’t Copy Apple ★

See, in their voice recorder app, they put the record button on the right, and the list button on the left.

‘What a Day for Android’ ★

MG Siegler:

What a day for Android. It was just pushed behind the scenes as the thing that powers that awesome, cheap Amazon Kindle tablet. And made into that thing you pay Microsoft to use.

Q: How many times does the word “Android” appear on Amazon’s Kindle Fire page?

A: Once, in the following sentence: “Additional email apps are available in our Amazon Appstore for Android.” It’s a Kindle tablet, not an Android tablet.

Samsung Signs Android Agreement With Microsoft ★

Microsoft PR:

Microsoft announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., to cross-license the patent portfolios of both companies, providing broad coverage for each company’s products. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform. In addition, the companies agreed to cooperate in the development and marketing of Windows Phone.

True or false: Microsoft profits more from Android than does Google.

Ryan Block on the Kindle Fire’s Resemblance to the PlayBook ★

Ryan Block called it, two days ago:

From there, Amazon’s team determined they could build a tablet without the help and experience of Lab 126, so they turned to Quanta, which helped them “shortcut” the development process by using the PlayBook as their hardware template. Of course, it’s never quite that simple, and as I’m told Amazon ran into trouble, and eventually sacrifices were made (like using a slower processor).

Although Amazon did refresh the ID of their PlayBook derivative, I’m told that this first tablet of theirs is “supposed to be pretty poor” and is a “stopgap” in order to get a tablet out the door for the 2011 holiday season — which doesn’t exactly leave the best taste in my mouth.

My question, though: if it’s based on or even just very much similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook, why is the Kindle Fire only $199 and the PlayBook started at $499?

Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet ★

7-inches, $199, custom Android interface.