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 is today delivering on the April promise of Adaptive Display, according to Engadget. The feature increases the size of things like text and menus while scaling the artwork proportionally. Users can choose from large or larger.
One user even reported an AWS bill of $1.5 trillion, as reported by The Guardian. Scary!
AWS blames the root cause of the problem as “an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem.” Amazon says that the billing estimates “do not reflect actual usage and charges,” and affected don’t have to take any action right now.
[Business Insider]
Developer Josh Pigford created a “Knockoff” browser extension that detects alphabet-soup brands — like LUENX, EHEYCIGA, and YXYL — that have become ubiquitous on Amazon. It hides, dims, or labels these listings in your search results based on your preferences.
Knockoff is available for Google Chrome and Firefox.
Neon was one of the only studios that seemed interested in picking up Luca Guadagnino’s biographical drama about Sam Altman after Amazon suddenly decided not to distribute the movie. And now, Neon is reportedly “in advanced talks” for a deal that could get the project into theaters.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Courtroom Chaos — Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger follows the Snoop Dogg-themed courtroom game that launched last year on Luna, and they’re both part of Amazon’s new plan for games.
This new game adds a single-player mode and a mode where AI Arnold can help you settle bets with friends.
BEAD was a once-in-a-generation chance to fix the digital divide — then turned into a gift for tech moguls.
The redesign, which is a huge improvement, was announced at CES this past January and has been slowly rolling out across devices. It’s now on Ember TVs, the Fire TV 4K Select, and Fire TV Cube. Partner TVs from Hisense recently got the update, with additional manufacturers’ TVs being added later this summer.
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After speaking up for regulation on data centers, Seattle activists say they were called into meetings with HR.
Among the moratorium’s fiercest supporters were Amazon employees, who joined others to testify in support of the policy in multiple Seattle city council hearings.
Jeff Bezos’ Leo service had an FCC deadline of July 30th to launch half of its planned 3,232-satellite constellation. To date it’s only launched 331. The waiver comes with conditions meant to incentivize Amazon to move quickly, which would be a lot easier if Bezos’ semi-reusable New Glenn rocket hadn’t exploded and destroyed its only launchpad.
There are over 330 Leo satellites already in orbit, but the 36 planned for the next Arianespace mission is still smaller than the 48 satellites Amazon was planning to launch on a Blue Origin rocket that exploded during testing last week. This batch of satellites will launch from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on June 17th.
Prime members in the US will have the chance to watch Spider-Man: Brand New Day in select theaters on July 29th, two days before the movie is widely released stateside. Tickets will be available here, and you can sign up to be notified when they go on sale.
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That’s Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO, commenting on New Glenn’s return to service after last week’s spectacular explosion that seriously damaged LC-36 — the rocket’s only launchpad. If the timeline holds it would be on the optimistic side of estimates and good news for NASA and Amazon who need the partially reusable, heavy-lift launch vehicle operational to meet their respective targets of returning to the Moon and competing with Starlink.
Following online backlash, Jorge Gutierrez announced that he will no longer be making the AI series Punky Duck:
My intent was to showcase artists, both new and seasoned, both inside and outside the studios, driving this new tech. My sincerest apology to those I upset. I promise to do better moving forward. Thank you for your patience with me. I will try harder.
Punky Duck was one of three animated AI series set to appear on Prime Video as part of Amazon’s GenAI Creators’ Fund.
Recently grounded after issues with its third mission, the New Glenn rocket intended to launch the NG-4 mission has suffered an “anomaly,” exploding at Cape Canaveral during a hotfire test just after 9PM ET.
Blue Origin said, “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
That’s what Amazon exec Dave Treadwell told employees after the company shuttered an internal leaderboard tracking which staff members use AI the most, the Financial Times reports:
The decision came after the tool led some workers to assign AI agents — autonomous bots that can take actions on behalf of users — to carry out needless tasks in an apparent attempt to climb the rankings.
As computing becomes more expensive, employee “toxenmaxxing” reportedly increased costs at Amazon.
Amazon MGM Studios greenlit three shows as part of its GenAI Creators’ Fund, which gives producers access to the company’s AI filmmaking platform. The projects include Cupcake & Friends from BuzzFeed Studios; Love, Diana Music Hunters from former Nickelodeon exec Albie Hecht; and Punky Duck from animator Jorge R. Gutierrez.
All three shows will debut on Prime Video “at a future date.”
The ecommerce giant is now selling access to the tech behind its Alexa for Shopping assistant, giving other retailers — like Kate Spade — abilty to build their own AI shopping chatbot. Amazon says its AI shopping interface can offer personalized recommendations with images and pricing, as well as answer store policy questions.
