Bezos on eBooks: Amazon is ‘now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting’

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Amazon.com posted a 45 percent decline in quarterly profits this afternoon, but Jeff Bezos says one of the company’s biggest benefits is paying off, as digital books and the company’s Kindle business show significantly greater momentum than traditional books. “We’re now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting,” said Bezos in the company’s earnings news release…. Read More…

Touting a ‘post-editorial world,’ Wikia raises cash from Amazon and others

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Wikia, which operates a platform that powers more than 200,000 community-powered Web sites, has raised more than $10 million from Amazon.com, Bessemer Ventures Partners and Institutional Venture Partners. Formed by Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley in 2006, Wikia is profitable and growing, with more than 70 million unique visitors and 1 billion page views per month. It counts… Read More…

LivingSocial CEO responds to Amazon report: We’re not in as bad of shape as you might think

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Amazon.com reported a third quarter loss of $274 million on Thursday, with the online retailer tossing some of the blame on its investment in the daily deals site LivingSocial. According to Amazon, more than half of its losses for the quarter, roughly $169 million, were tied to the Groupon rival. LivingSocial — which boasts a… Read More…

Explosion destroys home of Amazon.com Vice President

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The Laurelhurst home of Amazon.com Vice President of Product Management Adam Selipsky exploded in flames today, sending one of the construction workers who was working on the home to Harborview Medical Center. The explosion occurred at 4 p.m., and some neighbors described the blast as feeling like an earthquake. Selipsky has worked at Amazon for… Read More…

Amazon buying Seattle HQ from Paul Allen for $1.16B

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This just in: Amazon.com is purchasing its existing Seattle headquarters campus in South Lake Union from Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. for more than $1.1 billion, according to a regulatory filing just made public. From the filing … The Company entered into purchase and sale agreements to acquire 11 buildings comprising 1.8 million square feet of… Read More…

Barnes & Noble drops ‘GlowLight’ Nook to $119, takes a few jabs at Amazon

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Barnes & Noble reduced the price of its Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight e-reader to $119 this morning, matching the entry-level price of the competing Kindle Paperwhite on the eve of the ship date for the new Amazon e-reader. In the news release announcing the move, Barnes & Noble calls out Amazon on multiple points,… Read More…

Amazon.com to bolster gaming on Kindle Fire with newly-launched GameCircle

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The Kindle Fire isn’t really known as a powerful gaming device. But Amazon.com is looking to change that perception with the launch of GameCircle, a new tool designed for developers to easily add features such as leaderboards and achievements (think trophies, treasures, badges, awards, etc.) Another new addition is a syncing function that allows game… Read More…

Jeff Bezos in a tux? Amazon tries to find its fit in fashion

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Here’s something we’ve never seen before. From khakis and door desks to a tuxedo on the red carpet, the transformation of Jeff Bezos from geek to fashionista is complete, apparently. In a week when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was criticized for wearing a hoodie on Wall Street, the Amazon founder was on the other end of… Read More…

Green space and glass: Amazon’s vision for its new downtown Seattle campus

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  Architects for Amazon.com have submitted new drawings that show, in much greater detail, the company’s plans for three new office towers on the northern edge of downtown Seattle, with big glassy buildings connected by courtyards and greenspaces. The drawings, included in a public filing on the city’s website, give a sense for the the tone… Read More…