DigiTimes is reporting that Amazon is planning to release both a 7-inch successor to the Kindle Fire and a 10.1-inch variant later this year, going back on previous reports of an 8.9-inch model. Both models are said to be scheduled for the second half of 2012, and represent a shift away from traditional e-readers - DigiTimes' sources claim the company has reduced its orders from E Ink, which reported a 62% drop in year-on-year revenue last month. Of course, with the site seemingly disowning its previous speculation on a new Kindle Fire it's difficult to know what to believe, but given the success Amazon has had with its first entry into the t …

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Amazon just announced that it sold more than a million Kindle devices per week throughout December - that includes the Kindle, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Fire tablet. As usual for Amazon, no specific numbers were given, but the company says the Fire remains its best-selling and most-wished-for item, marking some 13 weeks that the Android-powered seven-inch tablet has held the top spot. The other Kindles didn't do so badly either: the Kindle Touch and basic Kindle were the second and third best-selling products in December, respectively. Amazon's foray into self-publishing also continues to yield success, as the number one and number four best- …

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Well, what do you know, there's another update for the Kindle Fire. Users are reporting that they're getting the 6.2.1 update now, and, as Amazon promised two weeks ago, it improves Silk browser performance and lets users customize which items go on the front page carousel - but (unsurprisingly) kills root access as well. There also appears to be a new setting, which, when turned on, requires that the user enter a password to enable Wi-Fi, hopefully keeping kids with itchy One-Click trigger-fingers at bay. The download's not available yet at the Kindle Fire update page, so you'll have to hope you're one of the lucky few who gets picked for th …

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Blogger Nate Hoffelder has claimed that Amazon's replacement to the Mobi 7 ebook format, the HTML5-powered Kindle Format 8 (KF8), may already be used in Kindle Fire-exclusive graphic novels and magazines. The blogger cites an unnamed source, and says that a beta version of the new format is being tested by a select group of publishers. Apparently he's got a copy of the beta and some supporting guidelines, and after working with the software to convert an ePub to KF8, he said he's a "little surprised how well they transferred over." Unfortunately, it sounds like KF8 won't be getting the full HTML5 experience: in addition to using proprietary t …

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Having teased us last week with photos of CyanogenMod 7 running on the Kindle Fire, xda-developers user JackpotClavin has now released the ROM along with a customised version of ClockWorkMod (that doesn't need volume buttons to navigate) and installation instructions. It's still very much an alpha build, with no sound or hardware acceleration, however most other aspects of the tablet including Wi-Fi and the touchscreen are supported. Users are finding ways around other issues including choppy YouTube playback, and are saying that the overall experience is far smoother than Amazon's take on Android.

CM7 brings the stock Android 2.3 experien …

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Amazon's Kindle Fire was rooted on the 16th of this month, which two weeks later has led to the inevitable CyanogenMod ROM. JackpotClavin over on the xda forums has a couple of images proving that CM7 works on the Fire, though it's still very early days. Wi-Fi is operational, but the tablet's touchscreen controller is interpreting input incorrectly, which is rather slowing down testing on what else might or might not work. You can keep track of this ROM's progress at the source link below, though do keep in mind that switching from Amazon's custom Android OS to CM7 will deprive you from the slate's biggest selling point: the integrated Amazon …

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Amazon's not talking specifics, but the company just issued a breathless press release calling Black Friday the "best ever for the Kindle family" while noting that the Kindle Fire has remained the "bestselling product across all of Amazon since its introduction 8 weeks ago," on September 28th.

Amazon, a company that never talks about exact Kindle sales figures, says that it sold "millions" of the new Kindle family even before Black Friday. And this past Friday, Amazon says it sold four times as many Kindles as it did on Black Friday 2010, "and last year was a great year."

The release does offer some context in lieu of actual numbers. Target, …

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The Kindle Fire - it's just a BlackBerry PlayBook with a big Kindle logo imprinted on its back, right? To help you answer that burning question, iFixit has taken Amazon's brand new Android tablet into the lab and subjected it to the usual teardown treatment. The first major difference between the Fire and the PlayBook is in the port selection: Amazon offers just a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroUSB port that doubles up as both a data connector and power intake. There's also a power button sitting next to them and that's all the intrigue you'll find on the outside. No volume controls like on the PlayBook or any other portable device.

Inside, …

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