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.
Amazon has agreed to license Nokia technologies for its video streaming services and devices, resolving a lawsuit initiated back in 2023 by the former mobile phone giant. Apple, Oppo, Reddit, HTC, RIM, Withings, Viewsonic... you name it, have all gone through this in one way or another.
[globenewswire.com]
Former Microsoft and now Amazon exec Panos Panay announced that Amazon has added the photo library feature everyone was asking for: shopping links. The image storage service’s search uses image recognition to analyze your photos and surface products it thinks you’re searching for, then pop up a lens icon over them so you can buy them on Amazon.
It’s unclear from the help page whether turning off the Tag Photos feature will shut this down if you’d like to opt out -- we’ve contacted Amazon for more info.
Amazon has introduced a new Kindle feature letting you tap the back and sides of the e-reader to turn pages and scroll lists.
It was initially thought to be limited to only the Colorsoft and 12th-generation Paperwhite, but Amazon spokesperson Connor Rice has confirmed to The Verge that you’ll specifically need the pricier $199.99 Paperwhite Signature Edition or the Colorsoft to get the feature. The $159.99 basic 12th-generation Paperwhite doesn’t have it.
The Alexa Fund, which has invested in companies like Ring and Ecobee, is broadening its scope to include more AI-powered technology. In addition to investing in the AI startup NinjaTech, the company has also announced investments in Hedra, an AI video generation platform; Ario, an AI assistant for parents; and HeyBoss, an AI website design tool.
[developer.amazon.com]
Now, instead of having to go to every platform individually to ensure their product works with each platform, manufacturers can submit their Matter-certified devices to the Connectivity Standards Alliance Interop Lab and get approved for all four smart home platforms in one go.
This should hopefully speed up the process of getting Matter devices onto shelves.
[developer.amazon.com]
On March 28th, Amazon will disable an optional privacy setting that kept your voice recordings local on some Alexa-powered smart speakers.
Here’s a rundown on the changes and what you can do about it if you own an Echo Dot (4th gen) speaker, Echo Show 10, or Echo Show 15 smart display.
Panos Panay told Bloomberg they’re re-engineering Alexa devices for Alexa Plus with new designs and materials, new silicon with edge processing, and better sound. There will also be a new “signature” tier, with the first devices arriving this fall.
He confirmed upgrades to Echo Frames and Echo Buds are coming and hinted at AR glasses and a new “wrist-worn device.” He didn’t rule out a home robot or a smartphone but said they’re focusing on gadgets “that matter the most.”
[bloomberg.com]
We were promised multimodal, natural language, AI-powered everything. We got nothing of the sort.
Associate editor and columnist Ruth Marcus has left the Post after it refused to publish a column “respectfully dissenting” from owner Jeff Bezos’ new limits on opinion coverage, reports The New York Times’ Ben Mullin and Semafor’s Max Tani. Marcus writes that the new policy “threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable.” It’s also reportedly lost the Post at least 75,000 subscribers.
Season 1-7 of Donald Trump’s competition reality TV series will be available to stream starting today until April 27th via Amazon’s video platform, which is also paying $40 million to license Melania Trump’s documentary after Jeff Bezos started sucking up to the President.
Producer Mark Burnett says The Apprentice is “one of the best shows” he ever created. “The charismatic onscreen presence of President Donald J. Trump made it a bona fide hit. Now, thanks to Prime Video, a whole new audience will experience a new season every Monday.”
If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you can claim games like Saints Row: The Third Remastered, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Deus Ex: Invisible War, and The Forgotten City this month as part of your subscription.
Amazon has a full list of games available in a blog post.
