Facebook Freshens Pages; Google Plans New Line of Nest Cams; EV Maker Rivian Snags More Cash; Amazon Buys Jets

Facebook has freshened Pages, which is used by celebrities, businesses, politicians and other public figures to interact with their fans and customers. The cleaner design will lose the total number of likes, and make the profile picture more prominent. It also will be easier for the owners to switch from their public page and personal page. A new feature will allow people to host a Q&A on their page. 

Nest Cam models are showing up out of stock, and we previously reported that the FCC has a filing for a new device, thought to be a new Nest Hub. Now, Google has revealed it is planning a “new lineup of security cameras for 2021.” With the partnership they made last Summer with ADT, expect them to offer a new security solution where professional techs will “sell and install devices like Nest Cameras and Nest Hub Max.” We could see the new Google Smart Display and the new cams in the next couple months. 

Electric pickup startup Rivian is about to nail down new financing that will bring its valuation up to $25 billion. Bloomberg notes that Ford (which is an earlier investor in Rivian) is only valued at $33 billion! It seems like a crazy valuation for a company that has yet to release a product, but bear in mind that Amazon has an order of 100,000 electric vans from the company. 

Amazon has been bulking up on logistics for years, even leasing a fleet of jets in 2016 and a hub for them. Now, according to theverge.com, they have bought 11 used Boeing 767-300 jets from Delta and WestJet. This will bring their air fleet up to 85 planes by 2022. Amazon already delivers over half the packages in the US, and is seeking to free themselves of the need to use FedEx and UPS…doing it all themselves. Amazon does say it will continue to rely on third-party carriers to operate the new aircraft.