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Amazon begins delivering select products via drone in Phoenix

Kyle Wiggers — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:01:03 +0000

A few months after ending its drone-based delivery program, Prime Air, in California, Amazon says that it’s begun making deliveries to select customers via drone in Phoenix, Arizona. Starting today, Amazon customers in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area have access to a drone-deliverable selection from Amazon’s catalog, including household, beauty, office, health, and tech […]

Amazon brings generative AI-powered recaps to Prime Video

Lauren Forristal — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:07:09 +0000

Instead of scouring the internet for a summary of a TV show, which often risks unintentionally revealing major plot points, Prime Video’s latest feature aims to save viewers from encountering any spoilers. Amazon announced on Monday the launch of “X-Ray Recaps,” a generative AI-powered feature that creates concise summaries of entire seasons, single episodes, and […]

Amazon acknowledges screen issues on a ‘small number’ of Kindle Colorsoft units

Brian Heater — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:06:05 +0000

After more than a decade of waiting, Amazon’s first color Kindle has stumbled out of the gate. An issue with the new display has left Colorsoft buyers leaving unfavorable reviews. At last count, the e-reader is hovering around 2.7 stars. The company confirmed the display issues that are affecting a “small number” of units in […]

Regulators deliver successive blows to Amazon and Meta’s nuclear power ambitions

Tim De Chant — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:00:21 +0000

A series of recent rulings from regulators dashed the Big Tech companies' hopes of finding a quick fix for their electricity needs.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hints at an ‘agentic’ Alexa

Kyle Wiggers — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:59:49 +0000

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday hinted at an improved, “agentic” version of the company’s Alexa assistant — one that could take actions on a user’s behalf. “I think that the next generation of these assistants and generative AI applications will be better at not just answering questions and summarizing, indexing, and aggregating data, but […]

500 Amazon employees reportedly ask AWS CEO to reverse return-to-office policy

Maxwell Zeff — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 22:16:36 +0000

More than 500 Amazon employees sent a letter on Wednesday to AWS CEO Matt Garman, urging the executive to reverse the company’s full return-to-office policy, Reuters reports. In September, Amazon asked employees to come back to the office five days a week starting in 2025. The AWS CEO previously told employees that nine out of […]

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft review: A muted approach to color

Brian Heater — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:15:00 +0000

October was an exciting month for reading devices. We got a new iPad mini, a couple of products from Boox, and this strange yet compelling iPhone e-reader adapter from Astropad. The biggest splash of all, however, came from Amazon. It’s unsurprising, as the retail giant commands around 80% of the devoted e-reader market. The past […]

Amazon brings its Rufus AI shopping assistant to more international markets

Paul Sawers — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:43:48 +0000

Amazon is extending the availability of its AI-enabled shopping assistant, Rufus, to more markets in Europe and the Americas. The e-commerce giant has been widely considered to be playing catch-up with its Big Tech brethren in the AI sphere, particularly against the backdrop of the generative AI hype these past couple of years. Rufus is […]

Amazon adds gasoline discounts for Prime members, EV charging savings to follow

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 13:38:35 +0000

Amazon is challenging Walmart+ by offering Prime members a discount on fuel to combat high gas prices. The company announced on Wednesday that Prime members will receive a 10 cents per gallon discount at around 7,000 Amoco, AM/PM, and BP gas stations across the U.S., potentially saving them about $70 annually on fuel. To access […]

Amazon indicates employees can quit if they don’t like its return-to-office mandate

Maxwell Zeff — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 01:17:28 +0000

AWS CEO Matt Garman has harsh words for remote workers: return to the office or quit. The Amazon executive recently told employees who don’t like the new five-day in-person work policy that, “there are other companies around,” presumably companies they can work for remotely, Reuters reported on Thursday. Amazon’s top boss, Andy Jassy, told employees […]

Amazon jumps on nuclear power bandwagon by investing in X-Energy and promising small reactors

Tim De Chant — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:36:30 +0000

The company revealed three deals, including an investment in a fission startup and two development agreements to add nuclear power to the grid.

Amazon revamps Kindle line with faster page turns, AI, and a new green color

Brian Heater — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle line seems to go longer and longer between updates. While e-readers aren’t quite the consumer electronics darlings they once were, the retail giant is still invested in the category. After all, according to estimates, Amazon controls more than 80% of the U.S. market. Along with the long-awaited addition of a color Kindle, Amazon […]

Amazon Kindle finally gets color

Brian Heater — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

It’s a big week in Kindle land. Along with refreshes to the base Kindle, Paperwhite, and Scribe, the company is introducing something many of us never expected in a devoted e-reader: color. Earlier this year, Amazon’s chief e-reader competitor, Kobo, introduced the $220 Libra Colour, which leverages color E Ink. The technology has thus far […]

Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi is here — and it could cost less than $30K

Cody Corrall — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 20:15:00 +0000

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re taking a closer look at Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan reveals, the “complete disarray” at Fisker HQ, and a horrifying side effect of living in our modern world: AI summaries of your breakup texts. Let’s do this. Tesla finally revealed its Cybercab robotaxi. Unveiled at the company’s […]

Amazon’s Tye Brady discusses the next generation of robotic warehouses

Brian Heater — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 13:33:00 +0000

For the last several years, the Delivering the Future event has showcased the latest technologies powering Amazon operations. Seattle’s 2023 event showcased updates to the company’s pharmacy offerings and drone deliveries. This year in Nashville, Amazon discussed AI updates to its shopping experiences and how the company is using computer vision to further trim package […]

Amazon team in charge of Just Walk Out loses three execs, gains one

Maxwell Zeff — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 23:11:51 +0000

Three Amazon executives in charge of developing new technologies for checking out of physical stores – including Just Walk Out, Dash Carts, and Amazon One – are leaving or have left the division, TechCrunch has learned. In addition, a former high-ranking advertising executive at Amazon, Colleen Aubrey, was recently put in charge of Just Walk […]

Amazon makes shopping for groceries online less confusing

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:59:40 +0000

On Wednesday, Amazon announced several new ways it plans to enhance the grocery shopping experience for Prime members. These include enabling Same-Day Delivery for both fresh groceries and Amazon.com products simultaneously, as well as introducing additional features to simplify the shopping process. Amazon aims to enhance its online grocery delivery service by allowing Prime members […]

Amazon’s new AI-powered vision tech tells drivers which packages to deliver

Brian Heater — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:22:40 +0000

Amazon announced on Wednesday the upcoming addition of new AI-powered package retrieval technology to its electric vehicle fleet. The vision-based tech is designed to help drivers prioritize packages. Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR) works by highlighting packages with either a green circle or red light, denoting which are designated for delivery at the current stop. The […]

Amazon Pharmacy to expand its same-day delivery service to 20 more US cities

Aisha Malik — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:17:15 +0000

Amazon Pharmacy is expanding its same-day delivery service to 20 more U.S. cities next year, the company announced on Wednesday. Amazon says the expansion will more than double the number of cities where customers can get same-day delivery of their medications. As part of the expansion, Amazon is opening new pharmacies that will include Amazon […]

Amazon’s new warehouses will employ 10x as many robots

Brian Heater — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:05:08 +0000

At its Delivering the Future event Wednesday, Amazon announced plans for new robot-powered delivery warehouses. The first “next-generation fulfillment center” is located in Shreveport, Louisiana. The 3-million-square-foot warehouse spans five floors, constituting the rough equivalent of 55 football fields, per the company. The site represents the culmination of Amazon’s work in robotics, which dates back […]