# Kindle e-ink device users forced to upgrade or no internet.



## drmike (Mar 22, 2016)

If you are using the older Kindle (Amazon) e-readers there is a deadline today.


Amazon is forcing updates to be installed on your device(s) or it will cease to connect to the internet.


Full info here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-6?nodeId=201994710&qid=1458317761


----------



## graeme (Mar 22, 2016)

What does the upgrade change or fix that they are so anxious to get everyone to participate?


----------



## rds100 (Mar 22, 2016)

Probably either some OpenSSL bug or that recent libc getaddrinfo vulnerability.


----------



## drmike (Mar 22, 2016)

Bezos probably needs to hotload more malware onto the readers.  Quarterly profits yo'.


----------



## Tyler (Mar 22, 2016)

drmike said:


> Quarterly profits yo'.



Bezos is known among innovative CEO's for being one of the only CEO's of such an innovative firm with such low profits. Take a look at this graph: 




For years he has told investors to believe in him and that he would turn huge profits in the future.


----------



## drmike (Mar 22, 2016)

Tyler said:


> Bezos is known among innovative CEO's for being one of the only CEO's of such an innovative firm with such low profits. Take a look at this graph:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Bezos remains a f'n bum.  Profits of Amazon vs. the destruction they create for brick and mortar are out of control.


Yeah I am no fan at all.  Their website sucks, still, their tablets and OS makes me want to buy Microsoft stuff just to attempt to say something sucks as much.


Amazing they are door shutting on people with e-ink using those devices most likely to read various books.  Whole iOT curse of sorts again.


----------



## DomainBop (Mar 22, 2016)

> The update for the original Kindle is only 12KB in size, and according to the techie who unpacked the update it only makes a small change to a single folder (/opt/usr/java/lib/security/cacerts).  source


----------



## graeme (Mar 23, 2016)

It is not terribly useful plotting revenues and net profit on the same scale when margins are low.

In any case Amazon's profits are low because they are investing in growth. What is their free cash flow like?



drmike said:


> ezos remains a f'n bum.  Profits of Amazon vs. the destruction they create for brick and mortar are out of control.



That is how free markets are supposed to work. People who supply what consumers do not want are supposed to do under. We do not need the number of bricks and mortar shops we have any more than we need the number of candles people did before electric (or gas!) lighting.

I say this as someone who:


Finds Amazon's dominance of ebook sales terrifying

Thinks Amazon is a threat to competitive markets in many areas

Hates using AWS


but putting bricks and mortar shops out of business is not a bad thing.


----------



## drmike (Mar 23, 2016)

graeme said:


> That is how free markets are supposed to work. People who supply what consumers do not want are supposed to do under. We do not need the number of bricks and mortar shops we have any more than we need the number of candles people did before electric (or gas!) lighting.
> 
> I say this as someone who:
> 
> ...



Amazon like many of these tech-tarded companies is very problematic. 


Amazon has been and continues to siphon money from unrelated business to go fund another than wrecks everyone and drives 'competition' out of business.  What they did to the book industry was horrendous and I've always liked indy bookstores.  Where I am, I can't find a single indy book seller probably in 20+ miles.


That's my core issue.  There is no sacred cow with these types.  They'll go dump a billion or some large enough chunk of money to basically go pave over a whole industry.  Such isn't smart, it's anti-competitive and in the long term we'll regret that we were enamoured by their quick shipping and often low enough pricing. Regret just like enough eventually reach about the monstrosity China dump called Walmart.


As far as number of brick and mortar stores we need.  It depends on where you are.  In the well to do suburbs in the States there are a ton of useless as businesses that I can't understand how they survive.  Every third one I swear is a front for criminal activity, because money isn't coming in the front door legit.


When you get out of the hipster centers and burbs, the number of brick and mortar places is approaching zero.  It's quite bad in many places, even real population centers (small cities).  Lots has been wrote over the years about food deserts in regular to low income areas.  Even in big cities lack of options for grocery, sometimes lacking even one choice, is how things will be wider soon enough.  When disinvestment in retail happens to point of no groceries and food, inevitably all other retail there will go extinct (except the common vices - cigarettes, soda, lottery, etc.).


Mind you, I am on fence about retail in general.  I shun mass produced goods as much as I can, but lack of hand crafted without great time waste usually online.  I am disappointed regularly when I have to go out to find something out of the ordinary.  Often am unable to find it in my store zone and pushed to buy out of necessity online.  Then there is that issue with retail prices being entirely too much for cheap commodity crap.


I miss the days when we had more decent retaiers of and in the local towns.


----------



## graeme (Mar 23, 2016)

drmike said:


> Amazon has been and continues to siphon money from unrelated business to go fund another than wrecks everyone and drives 'competition' out of business.  What they did to the book industry was horrendous and I've always liked indy bookstores.



I find it hard to believe that they siphoned money from another business to wreck book retailers, because they started doing it before they had any other business.



drmike said:


> They'll go dump a billion or some large enough chunk of money to basically go pave over a whole industry



Where they are doing that, I agree with you: it is anti-competitive. Have you looked at Amazon in enough detail to identify which businesses they are doing this in?

I do not think that is what is happening to retail in general: bricks and mortar is just becoming uncompetitive, and it not just Amazon that is benefiting from it - online retail is growing. It is even happening in countries where Amazon does not operate and the online retailers are startups. Most retailers of any size, anywhere, sell online.


----------

