Fine: if the Federal Aviation Administration won’t let Amazon prepare for the robot apocalypse by testing its delivery drones near the company’s Seattle headquarters, the company will take its new toys and play with them elsewhere. Namely, in India. The Times of India reports that the e-commerce giant plans to test the service near its current warehouses in Mumbai and Bangalore. [More]
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OnTrac Still Marking Packages Delivered Ahead Of Time
By 8.18.14
Amazon is in the business of selling you everything and getting it to your doorstep quickly. What stands in their way? The regional delivery services it partners with to get Prime packages to their customers in certain regions of the country. While the tracking information claimed that Diana’s package was delivered to her house in the early afternoon, it wasn’t. However, it did arrive at the same time as the replacement that Amazon sent. [More]
Amazon Launches Card Reader, Payment System To Compete With Square, PayPal
By 8.13.14
Amazon continued its push to appeal to small and medium businesses Wednesday with the launch of Amazon Local Register, a mobile point-of-sale service to challenge mobile payment companies like PayPal, Intuit and Square. [More]
Amazon Picks Fight With Disney, Stops Pre-Orders Of Studio’s DVDs, Blu-Rays
By 8.11.14
Add another big media name to Amazon’s “enemy” list. Already this year, the online retail giant has picked fights with book biggie Hachette and home video superpower Warner, refusing to take pre-orders for these companies’ highly expected new releases while battling it out in boardrooms over a few pennies on the wholesale price. Now Amazon is using the same tactic to fight an even bigger media monster — Disney. [More]
909 Authors Write Amazon Asking It To Call Off E-Book Feud With Hachette
By 8.8.14
The battle royale continues between Amazon and book publisher Hachette, and more than 900 authors are joining the fight. [More]
Barnes & Noble, Google Partner To Take On Amazon With Same-Day Book Shipping
By 8.7.14
The spirit of competition has a tendency to create odd bedfellows. Or so seems to be the case for Barnes & Noble and Google, whose partnership to offer same-day shipping could prove to be a formidable rival to Amazon. [More]
Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery To 6 Markets, Including NYC, Dallas, D.C.
By 8.6.14
After trying out same-day delivery in a handful of markets primarily on the West Coast, Amazon has announced its first large-scale expansion of “Get It Today” purchasing. Customers along the I-95 corridor from D.C. to Boston — along with people in Indianapolis and Dallas — have the option of getting some items the same day they are ordered. [More]
Walmart Website To Get Amazon-Like Overhaul
By 8.4.14
For years, logged-in Amazon users have gone to the e-tailer’s homepage and been greeted with all manner of personalized recommendations based on previous purchases, ratings, and searches. Meanwhile, visitors to Walmart.com got… whatever Walmart wanted to put on its homepage. Now the nation’s largest retailer has hopes to out-Amazon Amazon with the rollout of personalized recommendations. [More]
Amazon Launches Marketplace Selling 3D Products Printed On-Demand
By 7.28.14
Don’t have a 3D printer? Neither does anyone else, seeing as it’s one of those new technologies that hasn’t made the leap to being a product the average person can afford. In the meantime, Amazon has decided to fill that gap by launching an online marketplace offering customizable 3D printed products. [More]
Witnesses Report Drone Allegedly Crashed Into Space Needle, Police Find No Evidence Of Actual Impact
By 7.25.14
Maybe he was just practicing for future drone deliveries? Okay, probably not, but an Amazon employee visiting from out of town allegedly crashed his personal hobby drone into the Space Needle earlier this week. [More]
Amazon Still Not Interested In Reuniting Lost Kindles With Owners
By 7.24.14
Two years ago, we tried to reunite a Kindle left behind on a plane with its owner, and we didn’t succeed. The reader who found it didn’t trust the airport lost and found, and Amazon wasn’t any help. Even though Amazon knows full well who each Kindle belongs to, with their e-mail address and even their credit cards and billing addresses. That doesn’t matter, though. When Steve called about a Kindle that he found, Amazon told him to throw it away. [More]
Amazon Opens New Massive Warehouses Just For Sorting Packages
By 7.21.14
Amazon has almost 100 warehouses all over the world for storing and packing their merchandise that hasn’t been sold yet, but in recent months, the company has opened some new facilities. They’re a different kind of warehouse, called sortation centers. Yes, “sortation” is a word. Truckloads of packages that are boxed up and ready to ship come in, and pallets full of packages already sorted by zip code come out. [More]
Amazon Unveils Subscription E-Book Service For $10/Month
By 7.18.14
After accidentally posting info about the service to its site earlier this week, Amazon has officially unveiled “Kindle Unlimited,” a $9.99/month subscription service that offers users access to a library of e-books. [More]
Apple May Refund $400 Million To E-Book Customers (Or Maybe Nothing At All)
By 7.16.14
A year after a federal court ruled against Apple in the e-book price-fixing lawsuit brought by the Justice Dept., court documents reveal the terms of a second settlement that would close the books on state and civil claims tied to the price-fixing issue. But since the deal is contingent on Apple’s pending appeal of the DOJ case, the company could pay out as much as $400 million in refunds or as little as zilch. [More]
Court Allows Company To Ask Amazon To Identify Negative Reviewers
By 7.14.14
While courts have held that companies have to prove an online review is libelous before it can be forcibly deleted, there is still a question about whether anonymous review-writers have a right to remain unnamed. A federal judge in Washington state recently decided that one company can request that Amazon provide information about users who left questionable reviews about the plaintiff’s products. [More]
Amazon Asks FAA For Permission To Blacken The Skies With Delivery Drones
By 7.11.14
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration laid down a speed bump in the road toward the impending robot apocalypse, clarifying that package-delivery drones like the ones being planned by Amazon and others are currently illegal. But, much like a locked door or a cinderblock wall will not stop a T-1000, a bit of bureaucracy will not stop Amazon from its destiny of creating Skynet Amazon Prime Air. [More]
Amazon Takes Away All Discounts In France Under New Law, Charges A Penny For Shipping
By 7.11.14
Book lovers looking for a tidy discount in France won’t be finding anything of the sort, at least not from Amazon: In accordance with a new law in that country, the e-commerce Goliath has ditched all discounts and is charging a penny for shipping, because it’s not allowed to send books for free. [More]
Amazon Tosses Jumble Of Household Staples In Massive Box, Hopes For The Best
By 7.10.14
“Is that $120 in formula tossed in willy-billy with a bag of dog food?,” writes reader Cheryl. “Yes, yes it is.” Of course it is. We get that Amazon has a lot of boxes to ship on a daily basis, but she did sort of expect her giant order of household staples like kibble and granola bars to arrive not arrive loose in a large box, crushing some items. [More]
