Best Music Apps for the Kindle HD

Pandora for Kindle Fire HD

The Pandora Radio app allows users to enter song titles / artists and then have various Pandora "stations" play back music similar to the user's tastes. Users often find new artists and genres to listen to that they might not have been aware. The Pandora library comprises almost a million songs. Listeners can rate how well they liked the songs that Pandora plays for them, which allows Pandora to refine the user's musical selections. Users can purchase songs / entire albums while they are listening, can bookmark songs as well as create their own personalized radio stations right from their Kindle tablet. The free app is supported by ads.

Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pandora-Media/dp/B005V1N71W/

Spotify for Kindle

The Spotify app allows users to stream music directly from their Kindle Fire HD tablet while searching for particular musical interests using song titles, artists, album title, record label or genre. Upon initiation of a Spotify account, a free six month subscription is authorized and provides the user with unlimited access during that time. At the end of the trial period, music play is restricted to ten hours per month, and only roughly two and a half hours per week. During those ten hours the listener is subjected to ads. An unlimited listening subscription is available, allowing users access to music whenever they choose, without ads. The premium Spotify service allows people to stream music at a higher bit rate without any ads. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Spotify-Kindle-Tablet-Edition/dp/B008RBZA4A/

TuneIn Radio

This app pulls in lots of radio stations from all around the globe as well as internet stations. This radio app scours every continent on the planet and finds all kinds of radio programs (music, sports, news, current events). In total, TuneIn offers more than 50,000 radio stations and 1.2 million on-demand streams. Sure, the Pandora App is great for discovering new music, but TuneIn streams not only music stations, but talk radio as well. The TuneIn Radio Pro app allows users to record any of the station's radio programs, kind of like a Kindle DVR for radio. This makes it convenient to play the programs back at a later time. One caveat: change the Apps settings so that it does not enable shake mode for changing the stations. Otherwise you’ll be activating your Kindle HD at odd times. Standard Download of this app is available for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/TuneIn-Radio/dp/B004GYY714/ The Pro App Costs $.99.

Slacker Radio

Slacker is an ad supported radio app allowing listeners to appreciate music the song lists of some of the world's most best DJs. It’s kind of a toss up whether people will like this service better than Pandora. But while the service is good, the Kindle Fire version of the Slacker Radio app is plagued with buffering and connectivity problems. So, sadly, until these issues get resolved, I recommend sticking with Pandora. You can download the free app to test it out yourself: http://www.amazon.com/Slacker-Inc-Radio/dp/B004SV7744/

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Best Alarm Clock for Kindle HD

My Alarm Clock Free by Apalon

This app will turn your Kindle HD into a full fledged alarm clock. It will make your Kindle function as an alarm clock even when the app isn't running. That has numerous alarms, from traditional buzzers to music. It also has sleep timers that are great for naps, as well as a weather function. The app also lets users control the brightness of the screen. It works in either portrait or landscape modes for ease of use. Features include:

1. Dimming feature: change the screen brightness so that it doesn't blind you after a good night's sleep
2. Weather information: check live local conditions and temperature
3. Sleep Timer: fall asleep to white noise
4. Night stand mode: turn your device into a gorgeous bedside clock
5. Multiple alarm support
6. Background alarm support: alarm will ring even if the app is not running

Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Apalon-My-Alarm-Clock-Free/dp/B009ZZDNT6/

Alarm Clock Xtreme

This alarm clock for the Kindle Fire HD has a gentle wake function whereby the volume is gradually raised. This makes it less jarring when the alarm wakes you. You can also program it such that it makes you solve a math problem before going back to snooze. I guess it's almost automatic that people hit the snooze button on their alarms. The Alarm Clock Extreme makes it a little bit harder, so perhaps one of these times you’ll just get up after solving the math problem instead of going back to sleep. The alarm clock includes the following features: unlimited alarms, repeating alarms, music alarm, random song alarm, gentle alarm volume ramp up, math to snooze/disable, shake to snooze/disable, minimum speed to disable, nap alarm with countdown timer, large snooze button, snooze 1-60 min, decrease snooze duration after each snooze, max number snoozes, auto-snooze, auto-dismiss, option to keep screen locked keeping the phone safe in your pocket. http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Labs-Alarm-Clock-Xtreme/dp/B004VMUS9G/

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Best Health & Fitness Apps for the Kindle Fire HD

Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal

The Calorie Counter app makes it easy to see nutritional information. You can share your weight progress and workout statistics to others through Facebook and Twitter. This is a great way to stay fit: made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, and broadcaster wait to your friends on social networks so that they will keep you accountable to your resolution.

The app is cured towards helping people lose weight. It provides the caloric information for thousands of different foods. To help you lose weight, it helps you keep track of your daily food intake. It also has a database of exercises that allows you to easily enter how many calories you have burned as you make progress towards your weight loss goals. It really is a complete weight loss app for the Kindle Fire, as all your reports will be online along with a list of your goals and charts showing your progress. All this helps to keep you motivated. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Calorie-Counter-Diet-Tracker-MyFitnessPal/

Ultimate Food Value Diary

This food value app allows you to quickly scan in the foods you are eating to see how much calories they are adding to your waistline. The app is not only good for grocery foods but also for restaurant items. It's designed to help people track their weight loss and keep a strict diet.

• Food, Exercise and Daily allowance calculators
• Accurate and detailed daily tracking with healthy checks and daily notes.
• Online database with 180+ Restaurants , over 500,000 food items and 1 million barcodes.
• Barcode scanning to get values instantly (requires camera)

The app costs $3 and is available at http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Food-Value-Diary-Edition/dp/B004UMLBCA/

WebMD for Kindle Tablet

The WebMD app helps you identify the precise nature of whatever physical ailment, pain or perceived symptoms you are experiencing. The app makes it easy research what exactly your condition is. The app helps users understand causes and treatments of the displayed condition. In addition, it can supply use and interaction information for prescribed and over the counter drugs (a pill recognition tool is part of the app, so you know just what you are consuming). These safeguards are instrumental in keeping you and your family safe from any potential concerns that may cause medical issues that would commonly go undetected. First aid advice is also provided by the app. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/WebMD-LLC-Kindle-Tablet-Edition/dp/B008AZGWYK/

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Best Movie Apps for the Kindle Fire HD

Those with an Amazon Prime account can watch unlimited streaming movies from the Amazon prime library on their Kindle Fire HD. But whether you have Amazon Prime or not, there are some very good movie at that you'll want to have on your Kindle.

Redbox for Kindle HD

Using the Redbox app is a treat as it allows you to reserve movies online at your favorite red box location. The Redbox app also allows users to locate kiosks wherever they may be in your city or neighborhood. You can also get directions to the nearest Redbox kiosk. Additionally, you can browse the available titles every kiosk contains. Up to 5 titles can be reserved at a time. This is a very useful app that has actually been optimized for the Kindle Fire HD and doesn't contain any annoying ads. The app is available at http://www.amazon.com/Redbox/dp/B006P57MUK/

Hulu Plus (Kindle Fire Edition)

Hulu Plus gives users viewing priveleges to movies as well as popular tv shows. Hulu particularly excels with classic TV shows, especially those that were on NBC. Hulu Plus is a paid monthly subscription that gives users even more content compared to the Hulu free plan. The kids content is great. The Hulu Kids section highlighting our ad-free kids content. Corresponding Kids Lock feature allows parents to restrict access to Kids-only content on their devices. Shows include SpongeBob SquarePants, Kung Fu Panda, Caillou and many others. There is one serious downside if you are looking to view specific content on Hulu Plus for the Kindle Fire HD: a large portion of the Hulu catalog is still not yet licensed to view on any device, including the Kindle Fire, which includes the paid subscription service. If you're considering a subscription to Hulu Plus for use with the Kindle Fire HD, realize that the shows might be allowed to be viewed via PC/Web only. Download the free Hulu app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hulu-Plus-Kindle-Fire-Edition/dp/B0066TUXU6/

Movies by Flixster

The Flixster app will give you all the information you need on current release as well as DVD films. You can find a theatre near you via searching by theatre name, movie title or GPS search. You can also purchase tickets directly from your device.

• View high quality trailers for theater and DVD movie releases.
• Peruse local theaters listings by proximity, or theater name, and view theater locations on a map.
• Read user ratings and critic reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, a well-trusted film review aggregator.

Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Flixster-Movies-by/dp/B004HXHVZ8/

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Cooking Apps for the Kindle HD

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner

Allrecipes.com has created the perfect app for anyone who has stood in front of their refrigerator and wondered how to cook a meal from any of the ingredients you have on hand. Users enter in the ingredients that they have and the app returns all the recipes that use those ingredients. Users can also shake their tablets or smart phones in order to get unique meal ideas from its spinner function. There are a variety of categories, from appetizers, entrees to desserts. Just be sure to choose a recipe with a reasonable cook time, especially important for those on a tight schedule. You can also search recipes by dietary restrictions (sugar restrictions, low sodium, low-fat, vegetarian and gluten free. There is also functionality to allow users to collect and share recipes through Facebook, Twitter as well as email. Keep in mind that there are things that the Pro Version for iPhone / Android can do that the free version for Kindle Fire cannot do: Access to your recipe box. Access to every recipe on the Allrecipes website. Access to your shopping list. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Allrecipes-com-Dinner-Spinner-for-Android/dp/B004VOJT0I/

The $2.99 Pro version adds the following capabilities

• The ability to add recipes to your shopping list.
• Fuller access to the Allrecipes website, including your recipe box.
• The option of scanning groceries in order to get recipe ideas.
• No ads.

The pro version of Allrecipes is available at http://www.amazon.com/Allrecipes-com-Allrecipes-Dinner-Spinner-Pro/dp/B007SN9TKE/

ChefTap Recipe App for Kindle

Have you and him to a log or website that is a nice recipe but you didn't take it down because it wasn’t easy to save? With ChefTap, you can now automatically import any recipe off the Internet no matter where it is.

• Share a Pinterest pinboard with ChefTap and it will import all of the recipes on that pinboard.
• Import recipes from any web site or blog.
• Automatically import your entire recipe box from either Epicurious or Allrecipes.com.
• Scan your bookmarks for recipes and import them.
• Create your own categories like 'dinner', 'vegetarian', 'cocktails' or 'gluten-free' so you can stay organized.

Get it free at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006WQ9NJU/

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Best Restaurant and City Info Apps for Kindle Fire

Yelp App for Kindle & Android

Yelp is great for searching for great restaurants, shops and even local events while on the go with your Kindle. The app will also show you related Yelp Deals that can be redeemed right from your Kindle tablet. The Yelp App for Android / Kindle features:

• An easy to use search to locate places to eat, shop, as well as entertainment.
• Use your device's camera to identify landmarks and get instant Yelp listings.
• Check in to let your friends know where you're hanging out.

One drawback of using the app is that you need a Yelp account for it to function. The app is available for free at http://www.amazon.com/Yelp/dp/B004SZ3RU8/

Urbanspoon app from Wanderspot

Urbanspoon offers a genuinely fun way to decide where you are going to eat. It includes a restaurant slot machine, where you can shake your smartphone / tablet and the app will randomly select a restaurant given your criteria. The app provides ratings, popularity and pricing of restaurants. You can even check table availability and even make reservations directly from your Android Tablet or Kindle Fire HD tablet. Whether you want to eat at a Chinese, Middle Eastern, Italian or Mexican restaurant, you can read reviews from other restaurant customers. Once users choose a restaurant, they can map it directly using the app. You can even post your own review after enjoying a meal. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wanderspot-Urbanspoon/dp/B004SZ3IRA/

Open?

The Open? app gives you store hours as well as addresses and other information for local companies all across the US. You can search by store name, by category or centered on your GPS location, the app will show you the closest stores. You can become a storehours scout yourself and make money with the entry of each store at www.istorehours.com. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/1337-UGC-GmbH-Open/dp/B008RVHRT6/

OpenTable

With OpenTable, you can make free restaurant reservations at more than 15,000 OpenTable-enabled restaurants in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Just join Open Table and make your reservations, it is free and very easy to use. Find restaurants nearest to your current location with real-time table availability Manage upcoming reservations and browse previous reservations Earn Dining Rewards Points redeemable for Dining Cheques good at any OpenTable restaurant You can reserve tables, without calling. OpenTable is my favorite restaurant app, but I hesitate to recommend it here because it works better on smartphones than on tablets currently. The Android app is available at http://www.amazon.com/OpenTable/dp/B004SJSGA0/, but user experience may not be great for the app on the Kindle Fire.

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The Best Book Apps for the Kindle

Free Kindle Books and Tips by Gagler Enterprises, LLC

Amazon regularly offers free e-books for the Kindle, but the trick is keeping track of these offers. The Free Kindle Books and Tips app offers links users can click on to get free book offers directly from Amazon. The app also aggregates these free Kindle book notices from a number of other websites and resources. Although bestsellers will never appear on this app, you'll still be able to add lots of new Kindle e-books to your collection for free. The app also provides tips for operating the device, and free Kindle book listings. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Free-Kindle-Books-and-Tips/dp/B007MRQOXQ/

Kindle Buffet ... A Menu of the Best Free Kindle Books, Fresh Daily by Weber Books

The Kindle Buffet only metaphorically delivers food to its users in the form of free Kindle books. The app lists all sorts of books, from cooking, travel, business and other nonfiction to fiction and romance e-books. Readers can skip the tedious process of scanning websites for free books, and instead let the Kindle Buffet deliver them right to your Kindle. The app also offers a catalog listing Kindle accessories. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Buffet-books-fresh-daily/dp/B008Z1NATY/

Goodreads

Goodreads gives readers access to in-depth reviews together while integrating its useful online reading community. In short, it serves the book lover’s fondness for “good reads.” Many people use Goodreads as an integral process in deciding whether to read a potential book. The app allows readers to add books to their own virtual bookshelf and share them with millions of members of the Goodreads community. These users often provide insightful reviews that usually go well beyond the reviews that Amazon provides. The app also provides the ability to share book links through Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and email. You can even add status updates and page number updates for books you are currently reading. (By clicking on the “Updates” section, you can see what your friends are reading and what rating they have applied (1 to 5 stars) and you can also update others on your own reading progress).The social aspect of the Goodreads app can't be underestimated. You can share books with friends as well as strangers and even join online book clubs as well as book readings in your city. For physical books, the app uses either an optional the Kindle’s camera as a barcode scanner, so you can simply scan the ISBN for any book (whether you’re at home or at a bookstore, or a friend’s house – so that you can add it to your "to-read" list. Download this app for free at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Goodreads/dp/B005AKD836/

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