While its competitors in mobile apps Apple and Google have reached settlements with the Federal Trade Commission, Amazon has decided that it will not roll over. No, the tech company is going to fight the FTC’s lawsuit against it rather than settle, and filed a brief last week making the case that this is all the darn parents’ fault. Sort of. [More]
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Jeff Bezos Wedding His Companies With Preinstalled Washington Post App On New Kindle Fire
By 10.7.14
Back when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought himself the Washington Post, many wondered how/if he’d connect his online retail company with the newspaper (and of course, web site, since this is 2014), or just keep them both in his property pen. It seems he’s ready to introduce these two as a couple, by joining them together in Amazon’s next Kindle Fire tablets. [More]
Amazon, Apple Include Disclaimer Warning Viewers Of “Ethnic And Racial Prejudices” In ‘Tom And Jerry’
By 10.3.14
The moment when an elderly relative of yours uses a word that is completely unacceptable in today’s society (and was back then as well) that elicits an automatic cringe is likely a familiar, uncomfortable thing we’ve all experienced. So for all those watching a cartoon cat and mouse chase each other, smack each other around and generally taunt each other in the 1940s and 1950s, Apple and Amazon want to warn viewers that Tom and Jerry might say some questionable things, just like your Great Uncle George used to. [More]
Should Amazon Warehouse Workers Be Paid To Wait For Security Checks?
By 10.3.14
It makes sense that people who work in Amazon warehouses have to go through security screenings when they leave work: the job is not very well paid and consists of boxing up an unfathomable variety of items at a fast pace. The Supreme Court will decide whether the workers’ employer––temp agencies that supply the warehouse workforce––should pay them for time waiting in line for screenings. [More]
Pepsi To Start Selling Naturally Sweetened Soda — But Only On Amazon
By 10.1.14
Latching onto a double dose consumer trends, Pepsi will start selling naturally sweetened sodas, free of the artificial kind many people are eschewing these days, but the only way to buy the drinks is going to be online in an exclusive deal with Amazon. [More]
Famous, Non-Hachette Authors Join Protest Over Amazon Feud, Seek Anti-Trust Investigation
By 9.29.14
The ongoing feud between Amazon and book publisher Hachette is drawing out the big names such as Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie and other well-known, highly successful authors. So what sets these authors apart from those already pushing for Amazon to end its standoff with the publisher regarding e-book sales? Well, none of them are actually Hachette-published authors and they signal a new push for federal regulators to investigate Amazon for its allegedly shady e-book pricing tactics. [More]
Amazon Building Warehouses Everywhere, Hopes Christmas Gifts Actually Arrive By Christmas
By 9.26.14
Holiday time is shopping time in America, and millions of families turn to Amazon to get their gifts. But last year, Santa’s sleigh had some trouble getting where it needed to be on time: last-minute buying, bad weather, and snafus at UPS and FedEx meant plenty of presents were still in transit when kids went looking under the tree in the morning. Some Christmas delivery miracles occurred, but Amazon still had to issue plenty of apologies, refunds, discounts, and Prime extensions. But Amazon is determined not to see a repeat in 2014, if their year of planning and building pans out. [More]
USPS Wants To Leave Groceries, Other Stuff On Your Doorstep At 4 A.M.
By 9.26.14
Earlier this month it was announced that the U.S. Postal Service was testing out how badly it could screw up the delivery of Amazon Fresh grocery shipments in the San Francisco area. But a recent regulatory filing shows that USPS has hopes of bringing its laid-back, carefree delivery approach to groceries and other items all around the country. [More]
Amazon Testing One-Button Ordering Device For Connected Homes
By 9.24.14
These days, everything from your TV to your light bulbs to your front door deadbolt to your crock pot can be connected to the Internet, so why not one button that lets you instantly order replacements and supplies for these devices? [More]
Minnesotans Only Have A Week Of “Tax-Free” Shopping Left On Amazon
By 9.23.14
You can now add Minnesota to the growing list of states where Amazon will be collecting sales tax from customers after a surprise announcement on Monday that, starting Oct. 1, shoppers in the state will start seeing the tax added to their purchases. [More]
Limited Re-Release Of Coca-Cola’s Surge Sells Out Within Hours On Amazon
By 9.15.14
Do you remember Surge? Caffeine addicts of a certain age will know exactly what we’re referring to, but younger readers may only know the product’s name from online campaigns to bring it back. Now that the product’s biggest fans are young adults with disposable income and credit cards, Coca-Cola has brought the beverage back into production, sold exclusively on Amazon. The first batch sold out within hours. [More]
Nearly 1,100 Authors Say Amazon Feud With Publisher Has Hurt Sales By Up To 90%
By 9.15.14
A month after more than 900 authors signed a letter sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to resolve his company’s ongoing contract dispute with book publisher Hachette, an even larger group of writers has written to Bezos and members of the Amazon board of directors to explain how this standoff has hurt authors. [More]
Amazon Now Selling Fire Phone For $.99 With New Contract
By 9.8.14
It hasn’t even been two months since Amazon released its not-quite-3D Fire phone and it’s already slashed the price on the device like it’s a 3-year-old feature phone, announcing this morning that the Fire can be had for $.99 to customers willing to sign a two-year contract with AT&T. [More]
USPS To Screw Up Amazon Grocery Deliveries In San Francisco
By 9.4.14
Like that desperate, failing business-owner who keeps convincing people to give them one last shot to prove that it’s not yet time to hang it up and find something else to do, the U.S. Postal Service has somehow made a deal with Amazon to give it a shot at delivering groceries in the San Francisco area. [More]
Amazon UK Ruins Cat’s Birthday By Shipping Gift In An Envelope, Not A Box
By 9.2.14
Cats care about many things, ranging from sunbeams to food, but they don’t care very much about birthdays. They don’t seem to care whether it’s their birthday or not. However, when the creator of a line of cat-themed accessories contacted Amazon UK on the pretext that they had ruined her cat’s birthday by sending a gift in an envelope instead of a box, Amazon played along. [More]
5 Little-Known Ways To Save Money On Amazon
By 8.29.14
Online shoppers often end up buying things on Amazon by default. They have the best price, and hey, I have a Prime membership anyway! What you may not realize is that there are ways to save money even after you’ve put that package of flea pills or protein powder or new keyboard in your cart. [More]
Amazon Wants College Students To Join Prime, Offers Cash And Scholarships
By 8.28.14
Students who are heading to college can find scholarships from a wide variety of sources, but did you ever expect to see one from Amazon? The Amazon Student scholarship uses all of the usual criteria to select its winners: GPA, extracurricular activities, and test scores. It’s also only open to members of Amazon Student, the version of Amazon Prime meant to hook college students. [More]
Amazon (Not Google!) Acquires Video Game Streaming Company Twitch For $970 Million
By 8.25.14
Rumors of video game live-streaming service Twitch.tv being acquired by Google for $1 billion have been slightly exaggerated. It turns out the price of the biggest gaming live-streaming site on the internet is only $970 million, about $30 million shy of that billion-with-a-B mark. But the rumor was wrong in one huge way: it’s Amazon, not Google, spending the scratch on a streaming future. [More]
