amazon

Amazon has reportedly talked with mobile operators about a plan to cut cellphone service costs for Amazon Prime subscribers. The deal could mean customers getting service for $10 a month or even being a "free" part of the Prime subscription. ... Bloomberg broke the story, citing inside sources. Amazon says it doesn't currently have plans to add wireless to Prime but didn't deny having had talks. (Source: bloomberg.com ) According to the report, Amazon is currently speaking to T-Mobile and Verizon, along with Dish Network which is trying to establish itself in the cellphone industry. Amazon is ... (view more)

Amazon has agreed to pay a total of $30 million in penalties for privacy violations related to its Ring and Alexa devices, according to an announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The penalties consist of $25 million for allegedly ... retaining children's data without deletion and $5.8 million for failing to limit employee and contractor access to Ring security videos. (Source: cnet.com ) The settlements do not require Amazon to make any admission of legal wrongdoing. (Source: theguardian.com ) Amazon Accused of Retaining Kid's Data The FTC accused Amazon of preventing parents from ... (view more)

A company that manipulated Amazon listings to deceive customers has been fined $600,000. It's the first time the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has punished a business for "review hijacking." The Bountiful Company sells a range of nutritional ... supplements. According to the FTC it listed more than 1,000 products on Amazon. (Source: ftc.gov ) One of the tactics it used took advantage of the way Amazon groups "variation" products. This is meant to cover situations such as an identical t-shirt that's available in multiple colors, or a medicine that's available in different size bottles. ... (view more)

Amazon has unveiled home devices for receiving its satellite broadband service. It hopes to offer service by late next year but hasn't yet revealed pricing. Satellite Internet is one of the major ways tech firms are attempting to solve the problem ... of high-speed Internet access in rural areas. Installing fiber cable there doesn't usually make financial sense to profit-driven businesses because there aren't enough potential customers to justify the cost of installing it and/or paying for the parts to install it in non-densely populated areas. Such locations are also often outside the range of ... (view more)

Amazon has apologized after its digital assistant Alexa told a 10-year old to connect a coin to a power socket. While there's a simple explanation, it raises even more questions. The girl's mother said she had previously been watching YouTube videos ... with a variety of safe physical challenges, then used voice control to ask an Alexa-enabled device for a "challenge to do." To the mother's shock, the device replied "The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs." Fortunately the mother heard the reply, though she says ... (view more)

Mysterious algorithms could harm online shoppers by aiding collusion according to a newly-published paper. Because the effects are personalized, it could be tricky to prove wrongdoing. The claims come in a researched paper published by the United ... Kingdom's Competition ... (view more)

A judge says Amazon must hand over recordings from an Echo smart speaker to assist with a stabbing case that left two women dead. It's the first time such a court order has been made without a defendant's permission. The New Hampshire case involved ... two women's bodies being discovered under a porch. A man who knew the boyfriend of one of the victims has been charged with two counts of first degree murder, and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say there is probable cause that the device could contain potential evidence which could include "audio recordings of the attack and events that ... (view more)

A consumer group says Amazon sellers are bribing people to post bogus reviews on Amazon's websites. But it also suggests some reviewers may also be getting ripped off. The claims come from "Which?", a British organization similar to Consumer ... Reports. It tested five sellers who had posted in Facebook groups designed to recruit people to buy and review Amazon products. The groups involve sellers suggesting products which people can then buy and review, after which the seller will refund their purchase cost. Which? staff did so for five products and then posted what it called a fair ... (view more)

Amazon has patented a system for listening to devices in order to better target advertising to users. But it says it doesn't use the feature in its gadgets. The patent dates back to an initial application in 2011, but the most recent version was not ... approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office until last November and has only recently been made public. The basis of the patent is 'sniffer' technology, though that's used as an analogy to reflect the idea that the devices wouldn't permanently capture and store what people were saying. Instead they would use trigger words. Saying 'Like' Would ... (view more)

Users of some Amazon gadgets will have to look elsewhere for YouTube videos, after Google announced it will block the site from the devices. It's a tit-for-tat response to Amazon refusing to stock some Google hardware products. YouTube will be ... blocked from January 1st, 2018 on Amazon Fire TV devices, which include both table-top boxes and HDMI sticks. There's also an immediate block on YouTube on the Echo Show, which is a variant of the 'smart speaker' range that includes a screen. Google had already blocked YouTube on the Echo Show once but Amazon found a workaround. That workaround has now ... (view more)