A talking white board? Alexa for Business extends to non-Echo devices for workplace environments As part of its continuing effort to make the intelligent voice assistant Alexa available everywhere, Amazon has announced that third-party… Read More
Amazon invests in $50M funding round for German smart thermostat startup tado Amazon has made another smart home investment, this time backing a German smart thermostat company called tado. The $50 million… Read More
Bezos and other Amazon execs back Colorado Republican’s Senate re-election campaign Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and other executives donated thousands of dollars to the re-election campaign of Sen. Cory Gardner, a… Read More
Amid signs of a sagging stock market, can Microsoft and Amazon earnings turn the tide? After years of gains, the stock market is starting to show signs of a broader slowdown, at least in the… Read More
Amazon adds to Business Prime benefits, including new credit card and faster shipping Amazon is adding some new perks for its Business Prime program, headlined by a new credit card offered with American… Read More
Amazon ramps up lobbying to record levels ahead of HQ2 announcement Amazon has been steadily increasing its lobbying budget and taking a more central position on the national political stage while… Read More
Amazon Web Services pitched ICE on using its Rekognition face-recognition cloud service Amazon Web Services pitched the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on using its Rekognition video analysis service, which it… Read More
Led by ex-Amazon advertising leader, Gradient raises $3.5M to help brands optimize presence on Amazon Bobby Figueroa knows what brands should do to optimize their presence on Amazon’s marketplace, perhaps better than almost anyone. The product… Read More
Crowds pack Amazon Spheres for a whiff and glimpse of ultra-rare blooming of corpse flower A giant flower that takes seven years to bloom and smells like rotting flesh was Seattle’s hottest ticket on Saturday… Read More
The buzz is building for Amazon’s HQ2 The buzz is building for Amazon’s highly-touted HQ2, the company’s ambitious plan to build a secondary headquarters that could rival… Read More
TLDR: LA Clippers & Steve Ballmer unveil augmented reality NBA experience Thanks to ReachNow, this show was shot on location at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer… Read More
Grab hires Amazon vet Mark Porter as CTO of ride-hailing operation at growing Seattle R&D center Grab’s presence in Seattle continues to grow as the Southeast Asia ride-hailing giant today announced the hiring of Amazon veteran… Read More
Anonymous employee calls on Amazon Web Services to stop selling face-recognition technology to police departments More than 450 Amazon employees have now signed a letter originally addressed to CEO Jeff Bezos and other senior executives… Read More
Instacart valuation hits $7.6B after $600M round; Amazon removes Instacart branding at Whole Foods Instacart’s valuation just spiked to $7.6 billion as the grocery delivery giant announced a fresh $600 million investment round on… Read More
Amazon unveils refreshed $130 Kindle Paperwhite, a new waterproof version of its top-selling e-reader Amazon today unveiled an updated version of its most popular Kindle e-reader, a sign that the tech giant continues to… Read More
Leading urbanist Richard Florida is convinced Amazon HQ2 won’t go to a suburb Oddsmakers and analysts are betting on Northern Virginia to take home the much-ballyhooed prize of Amazon HQ2. But Richard Florida,… Read More
Jeff Bezos defends big tech working with Department of Defense, one week after Google drops out of Pentagon contract Don’t expect Amazon to follow Google’s lead when it comes to working with the U.S. Department of Defense. Amazon CEO… Read More
Sears files for bankruptcy, vows to emerge leaner to compete in the age of Amazon and e-commerce Sears, the department store giant that has been referred to as the “Amazon of its time” by many, declared bankruptcy… Read More
Amazon launches new ‘As Seen on Shark Tank’ online store for 70+ shark-backed products Amazon has opened an online store specifically for products backed by investors from the CNBC show “Shark Tank,” through its… Read More
Amazon donates $2M to create fund to help immediate needs of Seattle school students Amazon is announcing a $2 million grant to help Seattle school students. But the focus isn’t the latest shiny education… Read More
Review: Amazon’s Twitch NFL live stream shows potential future of live sports online Amazon is using Twitch and its Thursday Night Football live streams to test new gamification features that might change the… Read More
Amazon hires top UW computer science prof as new robotics director, a year after he arrived from CMU Amazon is tapping one of the world’s leading human-robot interaction experts to help manage a robotics operation that has become… Read More
TLDR: Microsoft partners with Indian cricket legend on smart bat Today’s featured stories Microsoft partners with Indian cricket legend to develop a smart bat that tracks live analytics Alexa and… Read More
USPS wants to raise rates for Amazon last-mile delivery 9-12% amid pressure from Trump to increase revenue The United States Postal Service plans to raise rates for the Parcel Select service used by Amazon, FedEx, and UPS… Read More
Alexa and Cortana can now control Xbox devices as new ‘skill’ for digital assistants rolls out broadly Amazon’s virtual brain Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana can now turn on Xbox devices, launch games, take screenshots and more under… Read More
Plug-and-pray no more: Amazon’s new smart plug for Alexa is a gift from the smart-home gods “New plug named First plug found. To control it, say ‘Alexa, turn on First plug.’ “ My jaw dropped when… Read More
TLDR: IRL Glasses block out TV & computer screens Today’s featured stories Want to live ‘in real life’ and block out screens? These glasses on Kickstarter may do the… Read More
Amazon, Microsoft and Google stocks hammered in historically rough trading day Tech stocks had their worst day in years, as a mass sell-off caused major drops for some of the world’s… Read More
Voice tech localization startup Jargon wins GeekWire-Ubiquity prize at Amazon’s Alexa Accelerator It’s been a whirlwind past few months for the entrepreneurs behind Jargon, but Tuesday evening marked a high note after… Read More
Amazon assures Bernie Sanders that warehouse worker pay will increase despite loss of stock awards and bonuses Amazon sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders assuring him that the company’s new $15 minimum wage and pay… Read More
