Jay Peters
Amazon is reportedly making a reasoning AI model.
Business Insider reports that it’s “tentatively scheduled to launch by June” and would have Nova branding.
Amazon
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.
David Pierce
After nearly 20 years at Microsoft, Panay was ready to dive in.
Nilay Patel
Jess Weatherbed
This town is sick of Amazon’s droning.
Wired reports that Amazon has reduced the number of drone flights under its Prime Air delivery service in College Station, Texas, and is looking to relocate its hub within the city following noise complaints from nearby residents.
Correction, March 3rd: This post originally included a video that said Amazon’s drones exceed 71db of noise. The video was a “simulation” created by a resident, measuring a chainsaw. Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson did not provide dB readings for the drones in question, but pointed to CNBC’s reporting of a separate city test of the drone that found it within the 47-61 dB range. Since then, Amazon introduced the MK30, which reduced the perceived volume by half, the company says.
Sheena Vasani and Brandon Widder
The new voice assistant has been a long time coming, but it won’t get here all at once.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Emma Roth
Amazon’s Wondery podcast studio is laying off workers.
In a statement to Reuters, Amazon spokesperson Alice Zou said the layoffs impact a “small number of roles” without offering any specifics. Amazon acquired Wondery in 2020, which has produced podcasts like New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce and Dr. Death.
Amazon's Wondery podcast unit trims jobs
[reuters.com]
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Alexa Plus is much easier to chat with.
I grabbed a few minutes with the new Alexa at Amazon’s event and was impressed. Gone is the need for “Alexa speak.” Instead, I created a morning wake-up routine just by talking about what I wanted, and controlled several smart home devices without knowing their names or locations.
Of all the new features Amazon announced for the voice assistant, talking to Alexa and having it reliably understand you is easily the biggest improvement.
David Pierce
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Todd Haselton
We can’t try Alexa Plus ourselves in the demo area.
We’re down on the demo floor now, and we were hoping to try out the new AI-powered assistant. There are six rooms, one with a Fire TV and the rest with Echo Show 21 screens. But all the demos are being run by Amazon reps.
Brandon Widder
Alexa engagement continues to grow.
That’s according to Amazon’s new devices and service chief Panos Panay, who just took the stage at Amazon’s big Alexa event in New York City.
The engagement metrics he’s referencing are a little unclear, but he says customers used Amazon’s virtual assistant 20 percent more in 2024 than they did in 2023.
Image: Chris Welch / The Verge
Todd Haselton, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy and 1 more
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
We’re on the ground at Amazon’s event.
The show is set to start at 10AM ET. We’re in a (chilly) line outside, waiting to get live blogging. Follow along for all the big announcements.
Image: Jen Tuohy / The Verge
A smarter Alexa, new Echo hardware, and a lot of Panos Panay. We’re pumped!
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Amazon might have spent another $1 billion for James Bond.
Money was the obviously part of what convinced Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to give Amazon complete creative control over the James Bond franchise after years of telling the studio to kick rocks. None of the involved parties have disclosed exactly how much cash it took to secure the deal, but Deadline is pretty sure 007 wound up costing Amazon a cool $1 billion — that’s in addition to the $8.5 billion Amazon already spent acquiring MGM.
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Jess Weatherbed
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Andrew Liszewski
Jay Peters
A death knell for Chime.
Amazon announced today that it’s ending support for its Amazon Chime service for business calls and meetings. The company is no longer accepting new customers for Chime, and you won’t be able to host meetings after February 20th, 2026.
Update on Support for Amazon Chime | Amazon Web Services
[aws.amazon.com]
Richard Lawler
“Trump’s share of a $10 million settlement Elon Musk’s X agreed to this week is expected to go to him directly.”
That’s just one line in this Wall Street Journal article detailing money flowing to the presidential family via crypto or other means. Another section highlights Melania Trump’s documentary pitch to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez during their December visit preceding Amazon’s $40 million deal that reportedly nearly tripled the next-closest offer.
But if you wondered how that January 6th Twitter lawsuit got settled, we have an answer:
The settlement talks with X began after the election and were more informal, with both Trump and Musk personally involved in hammering out the $10 million number, people familiar with the matter said.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
The toaster-shaped vehicle made safe if conservative decisions and offered a relatively comfortable ride through Las Vegas.
Abigail Bassett
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Amazon MGM’s Masters Of The Universe just keeps getting more real.
It is still kind of hard to believe that Amazon MGM is producing a live-action Masters of the Universe movie starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as Skeletor. But it’s true, and Deadine reports that Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Vikings: Valhalla) have signed on to play The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and Fisto, respectively.
Andrew J. Hawkins
