Fresh iPhone Apps for Jan. 12: Amazon Deals, EarthObserver, Kindle update

We’ve got three free apps for you today, and leading the list is a new shopping offering from Amazon that links users straight into its daily Gold Box deals, complete with the ability to buy products right out of the app. There’s also a big update to Amazon’s Kindle e-reader app, and a map app called EarthObserver that’s brimming information. They won’t cost you anything, and they’re all highly useful — check them out below.

Amazon Deals (iPhone) Free

Have you ever seen those daily Gold Box deals on Amazon? They often present some pretty great limited time deals on different kinds of products, but they only last the day. So to make it easier for us to avoid missing any of those low prices, Amazon has released an app specifically dedicated to checking up and buying Gold Box products.

The app allows you to use your Amazon account to buy the products straight from within it and is updated every day using a Wi-Fi or 3G Internet connection. Once you get it open, you can see the deal of the day, as well as lightning deals that happen each day for only a couple of hours at a time, and how long they have before they expire. See something you like, and you can also share the interesting ones with friends using Facebook, Twitter and email.

EarthObserver (iPhone, iPad) Free

There’s a wealth of information to be found in EarthObserver, a map filled with topography from around the world, including the ocean floors. You can scan through a map of the globe and zoom in using touchscreen controls, making finding what you’re looking for extremely easy, anywhere in the world.

EarthObserver includes map data from lots of different sources, including NASA, and shows you things ranging from the bottom of the ocean all the way to clouds and atmosphere. Best of all, the app and all the information that goes with it is free, so you can download it without risk and take a look around for yourself.

Kindle update (iPhone, iPad) Free

While we’re talking about Amazon’s fleet of cool apps, it’s worth it to talk about the latest update to its Kindle service. The Kindle app already allows users to purchase and download ebooks from Amazon, as well as turning your iPhone or iPad into a pretty handy e-reader for the content you’ve purchased. The new update supports even more content, and allows you to download books in the background using the iPhone 4 and iPad’s multitasking capabilities.

Even better, Kindle now has access to thousands of books that are out of copyright, which can be downloaded and read in the app for free. Kindle uses Safari to access resources like Project Gutenberg to get hold of the free books, and you’ll need to use iTunes file sharing or email to access them — but thoese are just a few extra steps to get access to a huge amount of free content.

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