Today, Amazon is nixing reviews for free products except through its Vine program. In other stories, Hulu drops its subscription price, an adorable robotic dog, an extension to turn off those auto-playing videos and more. In deals, savings on Halloween costumes, a sewing machine, Angry Birds: The Movie and more.

Daily Links for Tuesday, October 4,  2016:

Amazon is cracking down on biased customer reviews (The Verge) No more reviews in exchange for free stuff. This rule does not apply to books.

Hulu drops subscription price to $6 per month… sort of (Lilputing) This is a good deal if you don’t mind the commercials. But I have to tell you, I use the commercial free option and think it is worth every penny.

Hasbro expands robotic pet line with darling golden retriever (Digital Journal) What a great idea! A lot of seniors want a pet but can’t care for them.

This Chrome extension mutes all tabs unless you whitelist them (PC World) I don’t know about you, but I loathe auto-playing videos….

Yahoo reportedly gave US government access to all users’ emails (Engadget) As if the massive data breach was not enough, let’s create a tool so the government can browse private emails at its leisure.

Meerkat Reawakens as ‘Houseparty’, a Multi-Participant Live-Stream App (Social Media Today) Just yesterday, Meerkat was over. Now, it’s reborn with a new name.

Deals of the Day:

Amazon’s selection of Kindle Daily Deals includes Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson.

In Today’s Deals, 50% off Halloween costumes, a SINGER Heavy Duty Extra-High Sewing Speed Sewing Machine, Angry Birds: The Movie, and Corel VideoStudio Ultimate X9 software.

The Echo is now available in white. There is also an All-New Echo Dot (2nd Generation) which will be available in both black and white and retails for $49.99. The Dot is also being offering in a “Buy 5, get 1 free” six-pack and a ““Buy 10, get 2 free” twelve-pack”. The new Echo Dot will be released on October 20, 2016.

The Barnes and Noble Nook Daily Find is Insistence of Vision: Stories by David Brin (science fiction). The Romance Daily Find is Seeing Stars (The Celebrity Series, #1) by J. Sterling.

Barnes and Noble also has a selection of NOOK Books Under $2.99.

Kobo’s Daily Deal is Until Friday Night (Field Party Book 1) by Abbi Glines. The Extra Daily Deal is How To Be a Good Wife
A Novel by Emma Chapman.

Also, a selection of titles called Romance On The Ice for $4.99 or Less until October Until October 31st.

There is also a selection of Great Reads Under $5 and Bargain Reads in Fiction, in Mystery and other genres. The Kobo Aura One (and the Aura Edition 2 e-readers are now available for order at the Kobo store. (The Aura One is out of stock until October 14, 2016.)

iTunes’ Weekly Bestsellers Under $4 includes Green Earth by Kim Stanley Robinson. (This is the climate change themed trilogy updated and abridged into a single novel.)

Google Books has a selection of Hot Deals.

(A note on Daily Deals: All prices current at the time of posting and subject to change. Most items marked Daily Deals are good for only the day posted.

Many large promotions have discount pricing that is set by the publisher. This usually means that titles can be found at a discount price across most platforms (with iTunes sometimes being the exception). If you have a favorite retailer you like to patronize, check the title on that website. There is a good chance that they will be matching the sale price.)

---

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news. I also post other, different links of interest on Twitter, Facebook, and on the Google Plus eBook Evangelist Page.