Wearables are all the rage. But are you too indecisive to actually choose which product best suits your needs, or lack the time to research the hundreds of different options available? Fear no more, technology-hungry consumer, because your knight in shining armor has arrived: Amazon. [More]
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Amazon’s Phone To Reportedly Offer Mysterious “Prime Data”
By 4.25.14
Because there isn’t a business Amazon doesn’t want to involve itself in, and because it loves throwing the term Prime around, a new report claims the online retailer’s upcoming smartphone will offer “Prime Data,” though what exactly that means is a source of speculation. [More]
Who Will And Won’t Be Interested In Amazon Prime Pantry
By 4.25.14
Yesterday, Amazon finally unveiled its Prime Pantry service, which allows customers to consolidate as many grocery items as they can into one large box for home delivery. But given Prime Pantry’s selection and long delivery times, is this something that people can actually use? The answer is… maybe. [More]
Amazon Testing A Delivery Service Of Its Own
By 4.24.14
How many times have you gotten a shipping alert from Amazon and groaned when because the delivery service selected by Amazon has a history of late deliveries, or of mishandling packages, or of packages that vanish into the ether? Now Amazon is reportedly testing a system in San Francisco that takes the middle man out of the equation. [More]
Amazon Prime Members Can Now Shop For Groceries With Addition Of Pantry Service
By 4.24.14
A month after announcing its first-ever price hike to its Amazon Prime subscription service, the online retailer is finally launching Prime Pantry, a new bulk grocery shopping addition to Prime that Amazon hopes will justify that additional cost for some customers. [More]
AT&T Throwing Its Hat In The Online Video Ring With New Venture
By 4.22.14
Times used to be, the only kids on the block offering online video services were Netflix and Hulu. But slowly, ever so slowly, the smell of money to be made has been luring competitors like Amazon and Youtube and now, AT&T. The telecommunications company announced a new $500 million deal to start its own online video venture. [More]
In States With Amazon Sales Tax, People Spend Less On Amazon
By 4.22.14
Many people order things from Amazon because it’s incredibly convenient — no driving to the store; no waiting in line; no shoving into the back of your car… and in many states, no collection of sales tax. A new study tries to figure out the impact of removing that last incentive from the equation. [More]
Amazon’s Algorithm Evolves To Suggest Just The Right Stuff For Drug Deals
By 4.15.14
Listen, Amazon. There are lots of things a person might use a scale for, various things that need weighing and so forth. But if you happen to be in the market for a particular scale that happens to be popular with drug dealers, Amazon’s purchase recommendations algorithm thinks you might be in the market for say, plastic baggies and rolling papers. [More]
Amazon Offers Employees $5,000 To Quit, Doesn’t Really Want Them To Take The Money
By 4.11.14
Want to make sure your employees really love their job? Offer them a large sum of money to quit, if they pass up the dough you can be sure they’re loyal workers. Okay, it might not be foolproof, but that’s the plan at Amazon, anyway. [More]
What Is This Scary Heartbleed Bug, And Why Is Everyone Freaking Out About It?
By 4.9.14
One second everything on the Internet appears normal, and the next thing you know, everyone is talking about some security bug called “Heartbleed” that’s out to get us all. So what is it, and is it as scary of a problem as it seems to be? [More]
Consumerist’s At-Home, Hands-On Impression Of The Amazon Fire TV
By 4.7.14
Last week, Amazon unleashed its new video-streaming device the Amazon Fire TV (or fireTV, as the label reads), which the company says would be faster and easier to use than competing devices like the Google Chromecast Apple TV and the Roku products. We recently purchased one to see if it lives up to those promises (and because the Consumerist Bat Cave can never get enough streaming video). [More]
Amazon’s Dash Device: Speak Or Scan Grocery, Household Items Onto A Grocery List
By 4.7.14
In case your closet full of gadgets and gizmos isn’t quite stocked to the overflowing brim just yet, here’s another Internet connected doodad: Amazon has launched a device called the Amazon Dash that’s basically a stick you can talk into or use to scan groceries and household items to add them to your grocery list. [More]
Amazon Now Using Lockers For Return Shipping
By 4.2.14
Do you know what’s an even worse problem for online retailers than customers who never get their packages? Shipping back the items that customers did receive, but don’t want. Fortunately, Amazon has found a way around this problem: since late last year, they’ve using their lockers designed for deliveries to send products in the other direction. [More]
Amazon Finally Unveils New fireTV Streaming Thingy. What Is It?
By 4.2.14
After years of speculation, reports, and rumors that Amazon was developing some sort of set-top box, the company finally pulled back the curtain on the long-awaited development this morning. It’s called the fireTV and it does just about everything you’d expect a new streaming service to do; perhaps more if your expectations were low. But is it worth it? [More]
Amazon Denies Report Of Free Video, Music Streaming Service
By 3.28.14
The Internet has been buzzing since yesterday afternoon with all manner of speculation about what streaming video thingamajig Amazon plans to unveil next week. The report that has gotten the most traction is the one that is the least interesting — that Amazon would be launching a free, but ad-sponsored, streaming service. Most companies are fine with letting the media have fun guessing what’s behind the curtain, but Amazon apparently thought this was such a dumb idea that it felt compelled to deny the rumor. [More]
Amazon Issues Surprise Refund For Poor Video Playback
By 3.25.14
Keiko’s husband used Amazon’s streaming services to rent a movie that she wasn’t interested in seeing, and watched it on his iPad. He had no complaints about the experience, maybe because he was watching it on a relatively small screen. Yet Amazon went ahead and issued the couple a full refund anyway, just in case he might have had a problem with it. Keiko is impressed.
Amazon Begins Issuing Credits From E-Book Price-Fixing Lawsuit
By 3.25.14
While Apple is still fighting the court’s ruling that it was involved in e-book price-fixing with America’s largest book publishing companies, those publishers have all reached settlements with the various regulators, attorneys general, and others over the same allegations that they colluded to set an inflated price on e-books. Today, Amazon began issuing credit to its customers who paid too much because of the publishers’ actions. [More]
Have Fun Breaking Down This Year’s Worst Company In America Bracket
March 18, 2014
The above bracket will be updated at the end of each day of WCIA competition to reflect that day’s results.
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After going through all of your nominations, then having y’all rank the contenders and eliminate the chaff from the wheat, we’re proud to present the first round match-ups for this year’s Worst Company in America tournament! [More]
