Degrees from Facebook or Google University? Amazon Expanding Private Label Offerings for Prime Members
Posted: May 16, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Britain, Challenger institutions, Facebook, Google, Happy Belly, Mama Bear, Perishables, Private Label, UK, Universities, Wickedly Prime Leave a commentBritain is looking at changes to their university system that would allow companies like Google and Facebook to set up their own academic institutions in the country that could award degrees. Thenextweb.com reports that neither of those companies has indicated that they would be interested in doing so, but government ministers in the UK think ‘challenger institutions’ set up by companies including Facebook, Google and others would ensure that they have ‘suitably skilled workers’ moving into the future.
Amazon will soon expand its lineup of private-label goods to include perishable food items — offering nuts, spices, vitamins, tea, coffee, baby food and other products under new Amazon brands such as Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime and Mama Bear, according to geekwire.com. The products will only be available for purchase by Amazon Prime members. It’s another perk for prime members, and another profit center for Amazon…private label brands frequently bring in higher profits to companies than name brands.
Apple Music Getting Much-Needed Makeover; Flexible Brighter e-Paper May Be Coming
Posted: May 4, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Apple Music, Connect, e-paper, Graphene, Guangzhou OED Technologies, Kindle, WWDC 1 CommentApple will show a revamp of it’s Apple Music streaming service at WWDC in June, according to a Bloomberg report picked up by macrumors.com. The interface will allegedly be more intuitive and easier to use. The service has grown to more than 13 million subscribers in the past year, but has also taken considerable criticism on it’s clunkiness and artists have griped that the social aspect….Connect….has failed miserably.
A Chinese company has figured out a way to use graphene to make e-paper that’s brighter and more flexible that the present screen material. Geek.com reports that the company- Guangzhou OED Technologies- already markets e-paper displays under the O-paper brand. They are promising that production will start yet this year, so the next generation Kindles from Amazon in 2017 may be not only much more readable, but ‘bendy,’ or there could even possibly be a roll up e-paper device.
Lobbying for Self-driving Cars Takes Quantum Leap; Amazon Prime Now SF Launch With New Guarantee
Posted: April 26, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Ford, Google, Lyft, NHTSA, One hour restaurant delivery, Price guarantee, Prime Now, San Francisco, Self Driving Cars, Uber, Volvo Leave a commentA gigantic lobbying group has just been formed to press regulators to allow for self-driving cars. Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft, and Volvo are all involved. It’s called the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, according to theverge.com, and is headed by David Strickland, a former NHTSA administrator. They will press the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to come up with a clear set of federal standards by this summer.
Amazon has added San Francisco as the 8th city for its Prime Now one hour restaurant delivery service. With over 4000 restaurants packed into 49 square miles, San Francisco may be the restaurant capital of the world, and Amazon has thrown in a new feature…for all markets with Prime Now…a price guarantee. Geekwire.com says if you find a lower price on the restaurant’s in-person menu within 24 hours, you’ll get a refund. 33 zip codes in the City by the Bay will get the service, and there are 117 restaurants to choose from. If you want to try it out, it’s FREE during launch. Regular price for One Hour Prime Now is usually $7.99.
Facebook’s Crazy 360 Degree Camera; New Kindle Out; Apple Owns Teens
Posted: April 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 20 months standby, Amazon, Apple, F8, Facebook, iOS, Kindle, Oasis, Surround 360, Teens, Wearables Leave a commentAt F8, Facebook revealed the “Surround 360”, a 17-lens 3D VR camera yesterday that looks like a UFO on a stick and requires almost no post-production work. They won’t make or be selling the Surround 360. Techcrunch.com says that later this summer Facebook will put the hardware designs and video stitching algorithms on Github. All the parts can by bought online for $30,000.
As expected, Amazon has launched a brighter, smaller, thinner Kindle Oasis for $290, with a leather case increasing battery life to 20 months standby time, It has a funky bump on one side Amazon says helps make it easier to hold with one hand like a book. Theverge.com says it’s available for pre-order today, and ships April 27th.
For decades, it’s been a marketing truism that if you get buyers when they’re teens, you can often keep them for life. Apple seems to be doing this…they did it with the original Macs in schools, and now with iOS and wearables. According to a Piper Jaffray survey picked up by appleinsider.com, only 12% of teens had a smartwatch. Of those, 71% were Apple’s. 69% of teens owned an iPhone, and 64% an iPad. The iPad percentage is up slightly…analyst Gene Munster says probably with the introduction of the 9.7 inch iPad Pro that can use a Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil. Parents…keep your wallet handy!
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ AR Headsets; Amazon & Microsoft Look to Mapping for Self-Driving Cars
Posted: April 7, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, AR, Audi, Autonomous cars, BMW, Contact Lenses, Digital Mapping, Google, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nokia, Novartis, Samsung, VR Leave a commentHaving just recently had a conversation with a couple of friends in tech about how everyone is excited about virtual and augmented reality, but no one all that much about wearing big, bulky headsets, this caught my eye immediately…and it may be catching your eyes sooner, not later, and immersing them in VR and AR. Cnet.com reports Samsung has gotten a patent for smart contact lenses that will house a camera, movement sensors, transmitter, and display unit. They work in conjunction with a smartphone. You can look at photos and videos from the phone through the lenses. Google is also working along with medical provider Novartis on some smart contacts, albeit ones centering around health. Shrinking VR and AR down to contacts and earbuds? Now THAT’s something that can really take virtual reality mass market!
According to a report, both Amazon and Microsoft are close to getting involved with Here, the digital mapping business for autonomous vehicles. Here was started by Nokia, but bought by a group of German car makers….Mercedes, BMW, & Audi. Theverge.com says a board member at Daimler-parent of Mercedes-confirmed that both Amazon and Microsoft were interested in providing cloud computing capabilities for the mounds of data being gathered by Here’s sensors for autonomous vehicles.
Rent a Charger at Your Coffee Spot; Roku Shows New Quad Core Streaming Stick; New Kindle Rolls Out Next Week
Posted: April 5, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Anker, Ankerbox, Kindle, Portable battery pack rentals, quad core, Roku, Streaming stick Leave a commentA division of Battery charger maker Anker is preparing to roll out Ankerboxes that rent out portable battery packs to charge your mobile devices in a couple hundred bars, restaurants, cafes, and gyms in Seattle, with 500 planned by May. As with bike sharing services, you download an app, go to an Ankerbox in the establishment or an a portable kiosk, charge up, then return the drained battery pack to any location. It’s 30 minutes of free charging when you rent a charger— a buck 99 a day if you keep it over a day. Even if you don’t return the charger or lose it, you never pay over 30 dollars. The little chargers can give 3 full charges, with two 3350 mAh power cells in each one. Look for them April 15th in Seattle, and in other cities later this year.
Roku has dropped a new quad core streaming stick, and at just $49.99. TechCrunch.com reports that the processor bump should make the software feel much speedier than before, and it also allows for private listening through headphones plugged into your smartphone…or via wireless Bluetooth cans. Roku says the entry level sticks are the fastest growing segment of the streaming market. They also have a ‘hotel and dorm room connect’ feature, that makes it easier to connect to WiFi with an authentication page.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Tweeted yesterday that a new top line Kindle will be shown next week. No date or details, but we’ll have those when they’re available. The verge.com notes that Amazon usually doesn’t announce products until they’re ready to go.
It’s All About the Money- Apple Pay Not Catching On; Amazon Taking on PayPal
Posted: April 4, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, Apple, Apple Pay, Login and Pay with Amazon Leave a commentSome people in the tech media are noticing how Apple hasn’t said much…if anything…about Apple Pay. The nextweb.com points out that Apple Pay has been out for 8 months in Europe now, and longer in the US, and not a peep from Cupertino about how many users, transactions, etc. the site got some information from Transport for London, and since Apple Pay is the only smartphone pay app available there right now, calculated it’s less than half of one percent of those transactions. Part of the problem may be availability, not the people don’t want to use it. Personally, the only places I go that have Apple Pay are Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread. I’ve always been an early adapter, but it seems that after a year and a half, more places would offer it. It may be a lot slower road to contactless payments than everybody thought.
Speaking of separating you from your money faster and easier, Amazon just announced the spread of its payments service, Amazon Payments, to more third party websites. They have dubbed it the Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, and the online giant is working to help e-commerce platform providers and other developers integrate with Amazon Payments for use at checkout. Amazon already offered ‘Login and Pay with Amazon’ to individual merchants. Payments allows merchants to tap into Amazon’s already gigantic user base, and eliminate the need for these customers to create a separate username and password on the merchant’s website. By making checkout quicker, it presumably increases sales.
Amazon Hosted Secret Robotics Meeting; GM Starts Pre-Production of All Electric Bolt
Posted: March 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Amazon, Bolt, Electric Car, General Motors, Model 3, Robotics, Tesla Leave a commentThis week in Palm Springs, Amazon hosted an invitation only conference for experts on AI, robotics, and space exploration. Geekwire.com reports the people from Toyota, Rethink Robotics, MIT, UC-Berkeley and others were present. Amazon not only has a big interest in robots….they have over 30,000 of them working in their warehouses, made by Kiva…a company they acquired in 2012.
General Motors has begun pre-production on the all-electric Chevy Bolt, just ahead of the showing Tesla plans for their Model 3. Both vehicles are intended for a mass market, with price tags under 30 grand. Thenextweb.com notes that pre-Production may mean GM isn’t far from full production, so the Bolt could possibly be out in the Fall as a 2017 model…at least 6 months ahead of the smaller sized Tesla Model 3.
Galaxy S7 Costs Samsung About What the S5 Did; Amazon Applies for Pay By Selfie Patent
Posted: March 14, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S7, Pay By Selfie, Qualcomm, Samsung, Snapdragon 820 Leave a commentCosts are dropping for high end smartphone components apparently. 9to5google.com reports that an IHS teardown shows it costs Samsung about $255 to make the new Galaxy S7. That’s in the same range as the S5 cost 2 years ago. The priciest item? The Qualcomm quad core Snapdragon 820 processor at $62. In the US, the S7 sells for $670 unsubsidized, so Samsung pulls in $415 each on them. Of course, they have to cover marketing, R&D, software development, etc, so that’s not all pure gravy.
Amazon has filed a patent application for a process that lets people pay by selfie, instead of keying in their password. According to recode.net, it’s a companion patent for one Amazon has on tech to verify a user by photo or video. Amazon believes this will encourage customers to buy when they’re out and about, or chatting with friends….you do that right? ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got to buy this thing right now from Amazon?’ All joking aside, it actually should be a simpler and safer way to log in than remembering a password.
Amazon Gets Planes for Logistics; Ear Echoes for Bio-Identification
Posted: March 9, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Amazon Fulfillment Services, Biometrics, Boeing 767, Earbuds, Earhole Echo, FedEx, Keycard, Logistics, NEC, UPS Leave a commentWe have reported that Amazon was looking to go full tilt into logistics, cutting out UPS and FedEx to a great degree, and how they were working to acquire planes. Now, zdnet.com reports that they’ve inked a deal with Air Transport Services Group to lease 20 Boeing 767 freighters to expedite order deliveries for Amazon Fulfillment Services. ATSG will operate the planes, along with ABX Air and Air Transport International. It’s a 5 year deal, and Amazon has rights to acquire just under 20% of ATSG over that period.
Biometrics seem to be a pretty rock solid method of identifying a person…unless it’s a James Bond movie, no one is going to poach your eyeball for an iris scan in real life. Here’s one that goes even deeper…NEC has developed an earpiece with a tiny speaker and microphone that detects the unique echo in your earhole. Geek.com says the device looks and works like a regular earbud you listen to music through. When identification is needed, it sends a series of sounds, the mic detects them and they’re compared to an earlier recording. It takes less than a second. NEC expects to have the tech out commercially by 2018. In addition to transactions, it could even replace the venerable key card you use to get around in the building at work!
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