Amazon Web Services announced a new tool today that gives app developers the ability to add push notifications to apps in the Amazon App Store, iTunes and Google Play.

Amazon is calling it the “Amazon Simple Notification Service or Amazon SNS,” but essentially it is like other app push messaging, as it allows developers to send a notification to users in order to get them to come back to an app. Developers can use the functionality for free, sending up to a million push messages a month for free. Beyond that Amazon will charge developers $.50 for every million messages published, and $.50 for every million messages delivered. In other words, $1.00 total per million messages after the first million.

“Many customers tell us they build and maintain their own mobile push services, even though they find this approach expensive, complex and error-prone,” stated Raju Gulabani, Vice President of Database Services, AWS. “Amazon SNS with Mobile Push takes these concerns off the table with one simple cross-platform API, a flat low price and a free tier that means many customers won’t pay anything until their applications achieve scale.”

Jeff Bezos‘ purchase of The Washington Post shocked the publishing industry this week and one of the big questions that people are asking is whether or not the paper will survive in the print medium under the management of such a digitally-focused owner.

Bezos expressed his ideas of the future of reading in the new documentary film Out of Print. ”If you look at technology over the last 20 years, most of our connected devices, whether it be, you know, a smartphone, or a laptop, these are very good for reading news articles, email messages, blog posts,” he said in the film. “We humans do more than what is convenient and easy for us and so I think there has been a shift over the past 20 or so years away from long-form reading, from book-length reading, and toward short-form reading.”

The film, directed by Vivienne Roumani and executive produced by Aryeh Bourkoff, also includes interviews with publishing industry experts including best-selling novelist Scott Turow and Harvard Librarian Robert Darnton.

Do you think print will survive under Bezos’ direction?

Amazon is now letting developers submit URLs for HTML5 web apps and mobile websites to the Amazon Appstore and distribute mobile web content without using third party software or doing any native app development.

Like other Amazon apps, these HTML5 apps support Amazon logins and have A/B testing tools. Developers can even create in-app purchases within these apps through Amazon’s API, which lets them add sales of digital goods within their apps.

“We’ve heard from developers that making their web apps available for mobile devices is hard because many times it means rewriting their app, which takes extra time and often requires third party tools,” stated Mike George, VP of Amazon Appstore, Games and Cloud Drive. “By launching support for HTML5 web apps in the Mobile App Distribution Program, we’re giving web developers the tools they need and all the benefits that native apps already enjoy in the Amazon Appstore and on Kindle Fire. This opens up new possibilities—starting with faster discovery, access to tools for increased monetization, and the ability to reach new customers for greater exposure.”

Follow this link for more details on how to develop and distribute apps through Amazon.

When the news broke that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will acquire the Washington Post, people from around the publishing industry speculated about what it could mean for publishing and journalism.

Over at Thin Reads, Howard Polskin wondered if the new acquisition could boost Kindle Singles production at the storied newspaper. Check it out:

The Washington Post is already in the e-book single business with projects on Osama Bin Laden, President Obama and a compilation of Watergate-related story by Woodward and Bernstein. It seems like the ingredients are all there for The Washington Post to emerge as a bigger player in the fledgling e-book single market under the direction of Bezos.  If that happens – and it’s a big if at this point – here’s how both players could benefit.

From books to women’s apparel to apps, Amazon seems to want to sell anything they can get their hands on to sell. The latest development is Amazon Art, a new marketplace for fine art.

Amazon’s market includes access to more than 40,000 works of art from 150 different galleries/dealers and 4,500 different artists. This includes works from Paddle8 in New York, Holden Luntz in Miami, McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco, Modernbook in San Francisco and Catherine Person Gallery in Seattle.

You can shop by artist or by format be it drawings, photography or paintings. You can also browse by subject such as architecture, animals, people, still life. Additionally there are style and price categories, and works can come framed or unframed. Here is more about what’s for sale from the press release:

Customers can browse unique works of art, including photographs from Clifford Ross starting at $200, popular fine art like Andy Warhol’s “Sachiko” for $45,000, historic artwork from Claude Monet including, “L’Enfant a la tasse, portrait de Jean Monet” for $1.45 million and works from iconic artists such as Norman Rockwell’s “Willie Gillis: Package from Home” for $4.85 million.

Jeff Bezos, the founder & CEO of Amazon, has purchased the award-winning newspaper The Washington Post for $250 million, according to reports.

“Everyone at the Post Company and everyone in our family has always been proud of The Washington Post — of the newspaper we publish and of the people who write and produce it,” said Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company in a statement. “I, along with Katharine Weymouth and our board of directors, decided to sell only after years of familiar newspaper-industry challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner who would be better for the Post (after a transaction that would be in the best interest of our shareholders). Jeff Bezos’ proven technology and business genius, his long-term approach and his personal decency make him a uniquely good new owner for the Post.”

Graham will continue to serve as CEO of the company, which will continue to publish both print and online content. (Via The Washington Post).

Amazon Instant Video is getting an Emmy award for its recommendation engine.  The National Academy of Television Arts & Science has bestowed onto Amazon the 2013 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for its personalized video recommendation engines recognizing the algorithms that help video discovery based on genre, past purchases and similar customers’ preferences.

“Our goal is to give customers the best possible movie and TV watching experience. That means both enabling customers to find exactly what they’re looking for and helping them discover new TV shows and movies in a personalized way,” stated Bill Carr, vice president of music and video at Amazon. “We’ve made it effortless to discover new content they’ll love, and we will continue to innovate on behalf of our customers to make it even easier and more enjoyable to explore all of the great movies and TV shows on Amazon.”

The online video sites have gained the attention of The National Academy of Television Arts & Science. Netflix also got its first Emmy this year for its original series.

Amazon Publishing has formed a new licensing partnership with RosettaBooks for the books of Kurt Vonnegut for its fan fiction publishing platform Kindle Worlds.

Amazon launched Kindle Worlds last month. Through the platform, fans can write, publish and sell works of fan fiction based on select books and characters. Amazon already has the licenses for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and Vampire Diaries, as well as for select titles from comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment and authors Hugh Howey, Barry Eisler, Blake Crouch and Neal Stephenson. The Vonnegut license is expected to go live this month, at which point Amazon will begin accepting submissions for works under this license.

“Since the launch of Kindle Worlds a month ago, we’ve published over 120 stories and the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive,” stated Philip Patrick, director of business development and publisher of Kindle Worlds. “To include the work of an American literary icon in Kindle Worlds is a thrill for us and a golden opportunity for Vonnegut fans everywhere.” Read more

Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet is now available from Amazon. The 32GB edition is listed at $268.98.

The 7-inch Android-powered tablet with a high resolution screen with a max resolution of 1920*1200 pixels, higher than Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. The new Google tablet has 2GB of RAM, weighs 10.2 oz. In addition, it features a 1.2MP front facing fixed focus camera and a 5MP rear facing camera. The device also features stereo speakers with surround sound. Here is more from the product listing:

Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and packs a serious punch. With a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM, everything runs faster. Plus, high-performance rendering ensures 3D graphics are smooth and dynamic.

Amazon is shipping the device today, a few days earlier than the product’s slated release date of July 30th.

Amazon’s net sales increased 22% to $15.70 billion in the second quarter of 2013, as compared to $12.83 billion which the company earned in net sales during the second quarter 2012. Today, the company reported its financial results for its second quarter which ended June 30, 2013.

Kindle sales is helping drive the company’s growth. “This past quarter, our top 10 selling items worldwide were all digital products – Kindles, Kindle Fire HDs, accessories and digital content,” Jeff Bezos, founder/CEO of Amazon, explained in a statement.

Amazon pointed out a number of highlights during the quarter including expanding its digital content libraries for books, films and apps. In addition, during the quarter Amazon expanded the Amazon Appstore globally, making it available to millions of customers in almost 200 countries. Amazon also introduced Amazon Coins, a digital currency that consumers can purchase in bulk at a discount and then use them to purchase apps, games and in-apps.