Amazon

Amazon Follow Follow Once a modest online seller of books, Amazon is now one of the largest companies in the world, and its former CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the world’s most wealthy person. We track developments, both of Bezos and Amazon, its growth as a video producer, the popular Prime service, as well as its own hardware, which includes the Amazon Kindle e-reader, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, and Amazon Fire TV streaming boxes. Play Let’s talk about Ring, lost dogs, and the surveillance state The security camera maker’s Search Party feature, advertised during the Super Bowl, has sparked a surveillance backlash. Nilay Patel Feb 16 Ring’s Flock breakup doesn’t fix its real problem Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Feb 14 J Quote Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Feb 13 Link Flock is “pausing further exploration of a potential partnership with Ring.” After Ring announced that it had canceled integration with Flock Safety, the law enforcement technology company criticized for connections to ICE (a claim it denies ) has released it’s own statement and blog post : Over the past several months, Flock and Ring explored whether their respective platforms could responsibly complement one another in support of public safety. Throughout those discussions, Flock engaged extensively with customers, public officials, and community stakeholders to understand expectations around accountability, transparency, and lawful use. Based on that engagement, Flock and Ring have chosen to cancel the planned integration. Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Feb 12 Spider-Noir looks like a hard-boiled thriller in first trailer Charles Pulliam-Moore Feb 12 Amazon’s Send to Alexa Plus makes the Kindle Scribe feel more like a productivity device Sheena Vasani Feb 12 R Richard Lawler Feb 11 Link Sen. Markey calls on Amazon to “discontinue” Ring monitoring features. Ring’s Super Bowl ad focused on how its cameras could be networked to find a missing dog , but for a lot of people, it highlighted the surveillance power hiding in those devices. Now Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has sent a letter to Amazon saying, “Get this creepy technology away from our homes.” You can read it in full here , but here’s a snippet: Here are the brands bringing ads to ChatGPT Emma Roth Feb 11 R Richard Lawler Feb 9 Link Ring advertised its neighborhood surveillance network. The Search Party ad showed Jamie Siminoff’s vision of what connected cameras can do, and it seems to suggest they will only use that power to find lost dogs. T Instagram Terrence O'Brien Feb 8 Link Watch an Amazon delivery drone crash into an apartment building in Texas. Amazon’s drones have had a… let’s say , rocky history . On Wednesday, one hit the side of a building in Richardson, Texas, before falling to the ground in smoke. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and damage to the building was minimal , according to Amazon. Former Tumblr head Jeff D’Onofrio steps in as acting CEO at The Washington Post Terrence O'Brien Feb 7 There isn’t even a cynical explanation for Jeff Bezos destroying The Washington Post Tina Nguyen Feb 6 The Alexa app is so bad I’m using Siri again Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Feb 6 S Youtube Stevie Bonifield Feb 6 Link Alexa Plus tries to kill Chris Hemsworth in Amazon’s Super Bowl ad. Hemsworth’s latest action scene isn’t in an Avengers movie, but a stand-off with Amazon’s AI assistant , which he fears is planning elaborate ways to kill him. Maybe Ultron is still fresh in the Thor actor’s mind. It’s far from the only ad for AI in this year’s Super Bowl . E External Link Emma Roth Feb 5 Link Amazon plans to spend $200 billion in 2026. CEO Andy Jassy told investors that the investment will go toward accomodating the “very high demand” for AI workloads on AWS. Amazon reported earning $213.39 billion in the last quarter of 2025, with AWS making up $35.58 billion. Amazon Says It Will Spend $200 Billion This Year on AI Build-Out [ Bloomberg ] J External Link Jess Weatherbed Feb 5 Link Content creators are now driving The Grand Tour. While Top Gear has spent years trying to replace Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond with mainstream celebrities, Amazon is instead appeasing British broadcasting execs’ obsession with online content creators. The Grand Tour season 7 presenters are viral trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, who run the Throttle House YouTube channel. Amazon Turns To Content Creators Including Viral Trainspotter Francis Bourgeois For Next Trio Of ‘Grand Tour’ Presenters [ Deadline ] R External Link Richard Lawler Feb 5 Link Jeff Bezos used to be proud of the Washington Post. At NiemenLab , Laura Hazard Owen shows how Jeff Bezos’ statements have changed since purchasing it in 2013 . From curiosity at the start and “genuine” but corny bits like #democracydiesindarknes s, to the abandoned endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024 and last year’s cancellation-driving changes . Today, sweeping layoffs of 300-plus sliced its sports desk, international reporters, tech reporters (including its Amazon reporter), and others. Former EIC Marty Baron called it one of “the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.” “Something I will be most proud of when I’m 90”: How Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post, and what’s changed [ Nieman Lab ] Fallout’s season 2 finale left plenty unanswered as it expanded in scope Andrew Webster Feb 4 E External Link Emma Roth Feb 4 Link AT&T is working with Amazon’s Starlink competitor to expand its network. The partnership will allow AT&T to use Amazon Leo — the ecommerce giant’s low Earth orbit satellite network — to deliver fixed broadband services to businesses. Amazon launched its gigabit-speed Leo Ultra antenna last November, but it’s only available for commercial use for now. AT&T, AWS, and Amazon Leo Collaborate to Accelerate Modernization of Nation's Connectivity Infrastructure [ Business Wire ] Amazon rolls out Alexa Plus nationwide and launches a new free tier Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Feb 4 Amazon’s desk-friendly Echo Show 8 is down to its lowest price ever Sheena Vasani Feb 2 Now anyone can tap Ring doorbells to search for lost dogs Terrence O'Brien Feb 2 A Youtube Andrew Webster Jan 29 Link An introduction to the wasteland. Ahead of the finale for Fallout season 2 next week, Amazon has started dropping episodes of the first season on YouTube so you can get a taste of the post-apocalyptic series for free. That finale, meanwhile, will be available a little early, streaming at 9PM ET on February 3rd . J Jay Peters Jan 28 Link The head of Amazon Game Studios is leaving. Amazon announced in October that it would be ditching MMOs and cranking out party games , and now Hartmann is departing, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports . We spoke with Hartmann in 2021 about Amazon’s gaming strategy at the time; things have changed since then . T Thomas Ricker Jan 28 Link Amazon shutters palm reading tech for retail. The closure of its physical Amazon Go and Fresh stores also brings an end to the Amazon One palm ID service by June 3rd for retail locations, including over 500 Whole Foods stores , with all biometric data deleted. Amazon One will continue to function at healthcare facilities “until further notice.” Image: Amazon T Quote Thomas Ricker Jan 28 Link Amazon is cutting another 16,000 jobs. The previously-rumored cuts follow an accidental calendar invite sent last night. They come after 14,000 corporate jobs were cut in October, attributed partially to advances in AI. This latest round of layoffs is less than 5 percent of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate workforce. We’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now. Amazon shutters all of its physical Go and Fresh stores Stevie Bonifield Jan 27 Amazon will pay customers $309 million to settle ‘no hassle returns’ lawsuit Emma Roth Jan 27 T External Link Terrence O'Brien Jan 25 Link Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, and AMD CEO Lisa Su are at the White House for a VIP screening of the Melania doc. If you’re wondering what kind of access a gold-and-Gorilla-Glass statue , a $1 million donation , and endless fawning buys you, well, it gets a special advanced screening of a state-sanctioned propaganda documentary film about the First Lady. Okay, it buys more than that , this is just a nice bonus. White House Holding VIP ‘Melania’ Screening Ahead of Doc Premiere With Mike Tyson, Tim Cook, Andy Jassy and More (Exclusive) [ The Hollywood Reporter ] Ring can verify videos now, but that might not help you with most AI fakes Jay Peters Jan 23 J External Link Jay Peters Jan 22 Link Amazon could lay off “thousands” of employees next week. They could start as early as Tuesday, Reuters reports . The cuts would follow Amazon laying off 14,000 corporate jobs last October . Exclusive: Amazon plans thousands more corporate job cuts next week, sources say [ Reuters ] Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Plus is on sale for just $18 right now Brandon Widder Jan 22 C Charles Pulliam-Moore Jan 22 Link Who, exactly, is asking for more He-Man in 2026? The new trailer for Amazon MGM’s live-action Masters of the Universe film starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as Skeletor raises a few questions, like, why does this exist? Who is it for? Will anyone actually see the movie when it hits theaters on June 5th? Blue Origin’s Starlink rival TeraWave promises 6-terabit satellite internet Richard Lawler Jan 21 Here are the best Kindle deals right now Brandon Widder and Sheena Vasani Jan 21 Amazon’s CEO says tariffs are starting to ‘creep into’ pricing Emma Roth Jan 20 The best alternatives to Spotify for listening to music Barbara Krasnoff Jan 15 Amazon’s New World: Aeternum MMO will shut down next year Jay Peters Jan 15 Amazon is buying copper harvested by bacteria for its data centers Stevie Bonifield Jan 15 Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are paying up for ‘enterprise’ access to Wikipedia Emma Roth Jan 15 Most Popular Most Popular Apple’s doing something on March 4th Why are Epstein’s emails full of equals signs? 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