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91
What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Iz must be importent nows.
« Last post by R. C. on March 13, 2024, 05:17:19 AM »
From the 'Zon

"Congratulations! You've been selected to participate in KDP's beta for audiobooks. Starting today, you have the option to produce audiobook versions of eligible eBook titles using virtual voice narration. After publication, audiobooks will be live within 72 hours and distributed where Audible titles are sold. Today, just 4% of KDP eBooks have an audiobook available. Audiobooks with virtual voice can support authors in bringing new stories to customers on Amazon, Audible, and Alexa."

Wasn't there a thread about the "virtual voice narration"?

R.C.
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Slow load times on Amazon-related websites
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on February 29, 2024, 02:56:03 AM »
Pings look normal. But if I'm understanding the test correctly, it checks for a response. It doesn't measure whether the page loads correctly or not, right?

I tried testing using GTMetrics, and the homepage took around seven seconds to be interactive, twelve to load completely. That's on one try, so it's better than what I was getting in that sense, but that seems excessively long. When Amazon was working well for me, it was certainly loading faster than that.

If it is some kind of ISP issue, other people will probably notice it as well. I'll keep checking. But as I've said, there's no hint for trouble with anything non-Amazon.

Now I have to go doublecheck some bizarre problems on my own website.
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Slow load times on Amazon-related websites
« Last post by TimothyEllis on February 29, 2024, 12:30:14 AM »
Amazon is working perfectly for me.

But I've been seeing Facebook being flaky lately.

Quote
It seems as if this could be Amazon needing to allocate itself more server capacity, or perhaps Amazon is trying to initiate something new and having glitches.

More likely there is an interruption between your ISP and the Amazon server you normally access.

Have you tried pinging Amazon to see what the response times are?
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Slow load times on Amazon-related websites
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on February 29, 2024, 12:23:48 AM »
Is anyone else noticing weirdly slow loading of Amazon pages or pages failing to load completely?

Before anyone asked, I recently switched to fiber-optic internet, and non-Amazon sites load with the expected speed. The problem I'm seeing is specific to Amazon.

This morning, it took me three tries to get the KDP dashboard to load properly. Accessing Amazon.com took only one try but was interrupted by an error message. Loading Amazon ads took two tries. And that's the best I've seen in a while. I either get a blank page or an incompletely loaded page and have to try again.

In addition, Amazon's Kindle for PC app refuses to connect or synch most of the time. I've had luck when my machine, which is relatively new, boots up. Otherwise, if I buy a new book and want to read it right away, I need to restart my computer in order to download it. (The downloads, when they do occur, are lightning fast.)

It seems as if this could be Amazon needing to allocate itself more server capacity, or perhaps Amazon is trying to initiate something new and having glitches.
 
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: is the book world turning against Goodreads?
« Last post by Lynn on February 20, 2024, 02:41:22 PM »
Quote from: APP on February 18, 2024, 02:33:50 AM
Another reason for authors to stay away from Goodreads.

‘God forbid that a dog should die’: when Goodreads reviews go bad
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/17/god-forbid-that-a-dog-should-die-when-goodreads-reviews-go-bad

Good article. :D Personally, I often don't even remember that Goodreads exists.
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: is the book world turning against Goodreads?
« Last post by APP on February 18, 2024, 02:33:50 AM »
Another reason for authors to stay away from Goodreads.

‘God forbid that a dog should die’: when Goodreads reviews go bad
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/17/god-forbid-that-a-dog-should-die-when-goodreads-reviews-go-bad
97
What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Amazon announces AI shopping assistant called Rufus
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on February 06, 2024, 11:13:56 PM »
Quote from: PJ Post on February 05, 2024, 02:16:43 AM
It's the first of many.

But if it fixes Amazon's search engine so I can actually find what I'm looking for instead of pages and pages of unrelated sponsored products, I think I'm good with it - think.
That would be nice. However, I think the likelihood of Amazon making it easier to avoid sponsored products in searches is minimal. I think it's more likely the AI will give the illusion of properly curating search results while just providing a face for the currently faceless algorithms.

That said, I don't think Amazon goes out of its way to serve us with irrelevant ads. My suspicion is that a lot of the ads have inappropriate keyword or product identifications. Amazon could do more to reject those perhaps, but that's a problem, like miscategorizing, that is sometimes the fault of the author.
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Amazon announces AI shopping assistant called Rufus
« Last post by Jeff Tanyard on February 06, 2024, 07:06:23 AM »
I'll be disappointed if Amazon's new AI doesn't look like George Carlin and play the guitar.


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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Amazon announces AI shopping assistant called Rufus
« Last post by TimothyEllis on February 05, 2024, 02:23:02 AM »
Quote from: PJ Post on February 05, 2024, 02:16:43 AM
But if it fixes Amazon's search engine so I can actually find what I'm looking for instead of pages and pages of unrelated sponsored products, I think I'm good with it - think.

It's much more likely to be a more ad based presenter.

Or in other words, much much worse than the search engine.

It will present what it wants to sell, not what people ask for.

Call me cynical, but I expect it to be a step backwards as far as finding things is concerned.

For example, I'd be asking it for new releases in SF&F TODAY, and expecting to get Dune.
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What are Amazon doing now? [Public] / Re: Amazon announces AI shopping assistant called Rufus
« Last post by PJ Post on February 05, 2024, 02:16:43 AM »
It's the first of many.

But if it fixes Amazon's search engine so I can actually find what I'm looking for instead of pages and pages of unrelated sponsored products, I think I'm good with it - think.
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