Anyone have an idea how the Special Offers work?

chas0039 · 06-09-2011, 09:34 PM

The Special Offers seem to be downloaded in bulk to the .assets sub-folder in the system folder. I have looked at the dates on the offers and there are 4 for tonight but there are also some with odd dates like 6/2. I was wondering if anyone here has figured out how the date system works to trigger these.

Can I look ahead and see what is coming or are some never triggered on my Kindle?

What happens if I delete or rename some of these or replace my own gifs?

Can I undo it and get back to normal?

Thanks guys

chas0039 · 06-10-2011, 06:10 PM

No one has any ideas?

chas0039 · 06-10-2011, 08:54 PM

Well, here is what I found so far. The dates don't seem to match up with any order for the offers being displayed; neither do the folder numbers. I found the folder for the current offer and replaced the screensvr.gif file with one of my own that matched the resolution and file size. leaving the banner and Amazon file alone. I then cycled through the on and off cycles until my gif showed up, which it did without a hitch. At that point, the Kindle deleted the entire folder with my file and the 2 others and removed the offer from the "current special offers" menu. Now as I recycle, there are just 3 screens rather than the usual 4. I re-copied the folder back into .assets but it now ignores it.

Anyone else have any ideas?

belden · 06-10-2011, 10:00 PM

Looking at the dates the ads are being downloaded, there really is no pattern I am seeing. Of the ones I have on my KSO, the oldest is the swimwear $10 for $30 with a date of 5/18. After that is the current furniture one with a date of 5/29, the gift card with a date of 6/2, the buy $10 of Kindle books get $10 with a date of 6/9, and the GPS offer with a date of 6/10. Interesting to me is the last one because based on the time stamp I was not using my Kindle at the time so I have to assume it downloaded on its own. It is also interesting because all of the others are spaced between 4 and 11 days apart but the GPS offer was just one day after the last one.

To start with, the easiest way to look for any kind of pattern is going to be to keep a record of the dates on the ads compared to when the offers go live to see how far in advance they are being stored and if there is any pattern. In the interest of learning about this, I am going to keep my wireless on all the time rather than turning it off like I had been and I am going to keep from manually hitting the sync to force a download. I'll also try to check for new offers each day and see if and when they arrive.

belden · 06-19-2011, 08:41 PM

As I said, I have left my Kindle with its wireless turned on and I have done nothing myself to initiate a connection. As of today (6/19) here is what has been updated:

6/15: $15 when spend $20 on Kindle Skins
6/16: $25 when spend $50 on camping supplies
6/18: use VISA get $10 Amazon credit
6/19: save $10 on video games

Interesting to me is that all of these have a time of between 6:26 AM and 8:10 AM, so the KSO must be "calling home" around the same time to get the new ads. Also, absolutely nothing was added between 6/10 and 6/15 but then the ads were added quite quickly over a few days after that.

One other item of note, with the exception of the Gucci/Endless ad added on 6/16 and a random "Read what we're reading" image which doesn't appear to even be an ad added on 6/18, the KSO has not downloaded ANY new ads from outside companies like VISA or Olay. Maybe this means that there will new sponsors for the new month or something.

06-09-2011, 09:34 PM	#1
chas0039 Sceptic Posts: 573 Karma: 73436 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: The Lake Device: rooted Nooks, retired. JetBook Lite, Kindle 3, 4, Kobo Nia, Libra H2O.	Anyone have an idea how the Special Offers work? The Special Offers seem to be downloaded in bulk to the .assets sub-folder in the system folder. I have looked at the dates on the offers and there are 4 for tonight but there are also some with odd dates like 6/2. I was wondering if anyone here has figured out how the date system works to trigger these. Can I look ahead and see what is coming or are some never triggered on my Kindle? What happens if I delete or rename some of these or replace my own gifs? Can I undo it and get back to normal? Thanks guys

06-10-2011, 06:10 PM	#2
chas0039 Sceptic Posts: 573 Karma: 73436 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: The Lake Device: rooted Nooks, retired. JetBook Lite, Kindle 3, 4, Kobo Nia, Libra H2O.	No one has any ideas? Last edited by chas0039; 06-10-2011 at 08:48 PM.

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06-10-2011, 08:54 PM	#3
chas0039 Sceptic Posts: 573 Karma: 73436 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: The Lake Device: rooted Nooks, retired. JetBook Lite, Kindle 3, 4, Kobo Nia, Libra H2O.	Well, here is what I found so far. The dates don't seem to match up with any order for the offers being displayed; neither do the folder numbers. I found the folder for the current offer and replaced the screensvr.gif file with one of my own that matched the resolution and file size. leaving the banner and Amazon file alone. I then cycled through the on and off cycles until my gif showed up, which it did without a hitch. At that point, the Kindle deleted the entire folder with my file and the 2 others and removed the offer from the "current special offers" menu. Now as I recycle, there are just 3 screens rather than the usual 4. I re-copied the folder back into .assets but it now ignores it. Anyone else have any ideas?

06-10-2011, 10:00 PM	#4
belden Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 250 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 2 (US)	Looking at the dates the ads are being downloaded, there really is no pattern I am seeing. Of the ones I have on my KSO, the oldest is the swimwear $10 for $30 with a date of 5/18. After that is the current furniture one with a date of 5/29, the gift card with a date of 6/2, the buy $10 of Kindle books get $10 with a date of 6/9, and the GPS offer with a date of 6/10. Interesting to me is the last one because based on the time stamp I was not using my Kindle at the time so I have to assume it downloaded on its own. It is also interesting because all of the others are spaced between 4 and 11 days apart but the GPS offer was just one day after the last one. To start with, the easiest way to look for any kind of pattern is going to be to keep a record of the dates on the ads compared to when the offers go live to see how far in advance they are being stored and if there is any pattern. In the interest of learning about this, I am going to keep my wireless on all the time rather than turning it off like I had been and I am going to keep from manually hitting the sync to force a download. I'll also try to check for new offers each day and see if and when they arrive.

06-19-2011, 08:41 PM	#5
belden Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 250 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 2 (US)	As I said, I have left my Kindle with its wireless turned on and I have done nothing myself to initiate a connection. As of today (6/19) here is what has been updated: 6/15: $15 when spend $20 on Kindle Skins 6/16: $25 when spend $50 on camping supplies 6/18: use VISA get $10 Amazon credit 6/19: save $10 on video games Interesting to me is that all of these have a time of between 6:26 AM and 8:10 AM, so the KSO must be "calling home" around the same time to get the new ads. Also, absolutely nothing was added between 6/10 and 6/15 but then the ads were added quite quickly over a few days after that. One other item of note, with the exception of the Gucci/Endless ad added on 6/16 and a random "Read what we're reading" image which doesn't appear to even be an ad added on 6/18, the KSO has not downloaded ANY new ads from outside companies like VISA or Olay. Maybe this means that there will new sponsors for the new month or something.

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