Gadgets: Amazon cuts price, upgrades tablets

Amazon has cut the price of its Fire HD 8 tablet by $10, with an upgraded model that will be available next month for $80.

The company also announced a new version of the 7-inch Fire tablet, which will keep its $50 price tag. It also introduced two new versions of its tablet for children — a $100 update to its Fire 7 Kids Edition and brand-new $130 Fire HD 8 Kids Edition — and a limited promotion that will slice 20 percent off for anyone who buys at least three Fire devices at once.

The price cut comes as Amazon and other manufacturers try to settle on the right price for a tablet. Amazon also seems to know that you aren't sure if you can justify buying a new tablet. It's trying to make them cheap enough that you might not care.

The new Fire 7 boasts a thinner and lighter design, eight hours of battery life and improved Wi-Fi connectivity. The Fire 8 HD has 12 hours of battery life and either 16 GB or 32 GB of storage that can also be expanded to 256 GB.

The children's tablets do not have Alexa but both come with a year's subscription to Amazon's parental control software, FreeTime Unlimited.

WASHINGTON POST

The Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium Portable Power Station isn't a gasoline-powered generator; it uses lithium batteries to provide hours, or days, of power.

Inside you will find a 1,428-watt-hour lithium-ion battery pack with a life expectancy of 500 charge cycles. The battery is replaceable when it wears out.

Why would you use it? Camping, a motor home, a musician who needs power for an amp without handy access to power, just to name a few.

Plus, the old weather standby.

You can charge the Yeti 1400 from a normal electrical outlet, which takes 25 hours, or from solar panels. Goal Zero sells several types of solar panels or you can use other brands with an adapter.

The pros are its size, the fact it is quiet and clean and its many charging options.