Amazons first trick was selling a tablet so cheap, it was hard not to buy it, despite the shortcomings. Amazons next trick was to build a second, larger tablet, to show it could compete if not necessarily win in the big leagues. Amazons third trick — revealed Wednesday — is to blow past Apple and the Android rivals with flatter, faster tablets that are nonetheless priced insanely low. Weve long known CEO Jeff Bezos was content to sell devices at cost — but we didnt know his company would actually go out and pay for such nice tablets. Here comes Kindle Fire HDX.

Wilson Rothman / NBC NewsThe Origami cover, available in various colors and materials for both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models.”We make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices,” Bezos told NBC News Monday during an in-person product briefing where he showed off the two new tablets.

Major upgrades from last years models, the 7-inch and 8.9-inch HDX models have the highest-resolution screens currently on the market, and the fastest chips ever put in tablets. But specs arent the only step up here: new features let you send video to a smart TV or game console, enter low-power mode while reading books, download subscription movies for offline viewing — and even call for help from a live human technician if you run into trouble.

MORE:  Amazons Kindle Fire HDX tablets pose real threat to iPad dominance – NBC News.com.

All your e-books are belong to us. That sums up Amazon’s Library Lending service pretty well. Get ready to borrow all the free e-books your Kindle (or Kindle app) can handle, because the service is live, as of today.

Going to the library is something of a trip, or adventure, depending on how you look at it. Our generation doesn’t go to library because we have the Internet and we read most of our books on e-readers or through e-book apps on tablets, smartphones and laptops.

Back in April, Amazon unveiled its plan to allow Kindle and Kindle apps to borrow books from libraries. The only downside was having to actually go to a physical library.

That’s no more. Borrowing an e-book from a local library requires only a visit to its website and a working library card.

via Borrowing Kindle e-books at over 11,000 libraries begins today | DVICE.