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What the Ring camera hacks say about security, privacy and technology

by Todd Bishop on December 14, 2019December 14, 2019 at 11:36 amComment

The hacking of multiple Ring cameras this week brought the sometimes abstract world of tech security and privacy into stark relief, as hackers watched and harassed families and children in their… Read More

News Brief

Amazon is delivering half of its own packages, reducing reliance on third-parties, analysts find

News Brief

Despite Amazon’s legal challenge, Microsoft reportedly moving forward with JEDI hiring push

Tech industry’s password problems come home to roost with Ring security camera hacks

by Christopher Budd on December 12, 2019December 15, 2019 at 10:00 pmComment

After a series of high-profile hacks involving in-home Ring security cameras, some people are finding that devices they bought to increase their sense of security at home are doing just… Read More

Be cool, Alexa … actor Samuel L. Jackson now voices the weather and more for Amazon

by Kurt Schlosser on December 12, 2019December 12, 2019 at 11:17 am1 Comment

“I’m in the cloud, baby!” Only Samuel L. Jackson, the longtime Hollywood star with a distinct voice and vocabulary, could introduce himself through a smart speaker in such a way.… Read More

Hackers infiltrate Ring cameras in Florida and Tennessee and harass children

by Nat Levy on December 12, 2019December 12, 2019 at 3:55 pm 5 Comments

Hackers accessed Ring security cameras in Florida and Tennessee over the last few days and communicated with children, raising questions about the safety of the devices made by the Amazon… Read More

New employer satisfaction data hints at techlash’s impact and Microsoft’s exception

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 11, 2019December 11, 2019 at 10:53 am1 Comment

It’s been a tough year for tech, and the barrage of negative headlines dogging the industry may be hitting companies in one of their most sensitive spots: recruiting. Glassdoor’s new… Read More

Company reportedly exposed 752,000 birth certificate applications stored on Amazon Web Services

by Nat Levy on December 10, 2019December 10, 2019 at 8:22 amComment

A company that lets users get copies of their birth and death certificates exposed more than 752,000 application documents it had stored in an Amazon Web Services cloud bucket. U.K.-based… Read More

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Amazon accuses Trump of using Pentagon cloud contract for ‘his own personal and political ends’

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 at 1:29 pm1 Comment

A newly unsealed court document reveals more details about Amazon’s strategy to get the Defense Department to overturn its award of a major cloud contract to rival Microsoft. The U.S.… Read More

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‘Do you want a strong national defense or don’t you?’ Bezos defends big tech’s government work

by Nat Levy on December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 at 9:45 am 2 Comments

Big tech should continue to play a key role in national defense, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said, painting the work as integral to protecting democracy. Tech giants have experienced internal… Read More

Podcast

Cloud Wars: Why Amazon is escalating its battle against Microsoft in enterprise tech

by Todd Bishop on December 7, 2019December 14, 2019 at 11:39 amComment

The leaders of Amazon’s cloud division made a few things clear this week at the Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference in Las Vegas: AWS has broad ambitions in the $3.7… Read More

Amazon touts ‘technical superiority’ over Microsoft as it seeks to reopen JEDI bidding in newly unsealed court filing

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 at 2:17 pmComment

Amazon is asking a federal judge to block the Defense Department from enlisting Microsoft for a contentious and lucrative cloud project, according to court filings unsealed this week in the… Read More

Amazon experiencing shipping delays amid busy holiday season and shift to one-day delivery

by Nat Levy on December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 at 11:31 am 7 Comments

Amazon is experiencing some shipping delays as the busy holiday season continues to heat up. As first reported by Recode, Amazon cited winter storms as well as increased demand as… Read More

Amazon expands Bezos’ elite ‘S-team,’ adding 6 execs from emerging branches of the company

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 5, 2019December 6, 2019 at 8:26 am1 Comment

Amazon’s executive suite, nicknamed the “S-team,” is adding six new members as the company doubles down on emerging fields such as advertising and fashion. The company notified employees internally and… Read More

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NFL partners with Amazon Web Services to improve player safety and ‘shape the future of football’

by Taylor Soper on December 5, 2019December 6, 2019 at 1:46 pmComment

The National Football League is turning to Amazon’s cloud technologies as it looks to improve the safety of its players. The NFL and Amazon Web Services today announced a new… Read More

AWS antitrust? How Amazon’s cloud unit would defend against an expanded FTC inquiry

by Todd Bishop on December 5, 2019December 5, 2019 at 8:14 amComment

LAS VEGAS — Kicking off the Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference earlier this week, AWS CEO Andy Jassy offered an expansive view of the market the cloud giant is pursuing.… Read More

The buzz at AWS re:Invent: What tech leaders are talking about at Amazon’s big cloud confab

by Todd Bishop on December 4, 2019December 4, 2019 at 2:21 pmComment

LAS VEGAS — S. “Soma” Somasegar has a unique perspective on Amazon Web Services, as the former leader of Microsoft’s Developer Division, and now as a managing director at Seattle-based… Read More

Amazon introduces portable Echo smart speaker in India with 11 hours of battery life

by Nat Levy on December 4, 2019December 5, 2019 at 7:42 amComment

Amazon added a new portable Echo device to its lineup of smart speakers, but for now it is only available in India. The new Echo Input Portable Smart Speaker Edition… Read More

Amazon cloud boss targets Microsoft’s core business, eyes $3.7 trillion enterprise IT market

by Todd Bishop on December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 at 5:29 pm 2 Comments

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy put the company’s neighboring tech giant directly in his sights here Tuesday morning, criticizing Microsoft’s licensing practices and making it clear… Read More

Amazon doubles truck fleet to 20,000 to boost shipping capacity amid booming holiday sales

by Nat Levy on December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 at 7:47 am1 Comment

A record number of Amazon-branded trucks are driving up and down freeways across the U.S. this holiday season, the latest sign of the major expansion of the tech giant’s delivery… Read More

Video

What ’60 Minutes’ didn’t say about Amazon and Seattle’s homelessness crisis

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 2, 2019December 7, 2019 at 10:27 am 97 Comments

The tent cities that spring up in the shadows of some of the world’s wealthiest tech companies landed on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night after CBS News anchor Anderson Cooper… Read More

News Brief

Amazon reportedly experimenting with temporary warehouse space to speed up holiday deliveries

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Amazon unveils musical keyboard that uses AI to compose surprisingly good original songs

by Todd Bishop on December 2, 2019December 2, 2019 at 7:32 amComment

Amazon Web Services likes to spice things up at its annual AWS re:Invent conference with unexpected hardware announcements, with past surprises such as a semi-truck for transporting data, a machine-learning… Read More

What’s at stake for Amazon’s $36B cloud business at its big AWS re:Invent conference this week

by Todd Bishop on December 2, 2019December 2, 2019 at 7:32 amComment

Amazon Web Services will be able to tout some of the biggest numbers in the booming cloud industry at its annual re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week. AWS is… Read More

Holiday e-commerce spending already hitting records as Amazon and others gear up for peak shopping season

by Nat Levy on November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 at 8:24 amComment

In between parades, football games and huge meals, people turned to their phones in record numbers to shop holiday deals on Thanksgiving. E-commerce spending hit a record $4.2 billion on… Read More

We’ve been wearing Amazon’s Allbirds lookalikes: Here’s how they compare to the real thing

by Taylor Soper on November 28, 2019November 28, 2019 at 8:15 am1 Comment

Amazon’s 206 Collective Men’s Galen Wool Blend Sneakers look like Allbirds Wool Runners, for less than half the price. Comparing the Amazon shoes to Allbirds over several weeks, GeekWire’s editors… Read More

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Amazon to double seasonal hiring to record 200k workers as business continues to boom

by Todd Bishop on November 27, 2019November 28, 2019 at 8:52 amComment

Amazon plans to hire 200,000 seasonal workers this year, twice as many as last year, suggesting that it expects a strong holiday shopping season. Much of the hiring will take… Read More

Tech Moves: Microsoft vet joins Seattle office for Sweden’s Sinch; Glossier hires CTO from Amazon

by Cara Kuhlman on November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 at 8:06 amComment

— Swedish cloud communications platform Sinch named Vikram Khandpur, a 13-year Microsoft veteran, as chief product officer. He’ll be based in Seattle, where Sinch has a 20-person office and is… Read More

Video

Alexa, why so emotional? Because Amazon has created realistic new voice tones for its assistant

by Kurt Schlosser on November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 at 4:37 pmComment

If you’ve ever felt like Amazon’s Alexa was using the wrong tone with you, well, there was really no point in letting the artificial voice assistant know that. But someone… Read More

Australian shipping company Sendle opens U.S. headquarters in Seattle to help small businesses

by Nat Levy on November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 at 11:52 amComment

Sendle, an Australian shipping company that bills itself as the first carrier built specifically to help small e-commerce businesses, is setting up shop in Amazon’s backyard. The company just opened… Read More

Amazon

What the Ring camera hacks say about security, privacy and technology

Amazon is delivering half of its own packages, reducing reliance on third-parties, analysts find

Despite Amazon’s legal challenge, Microsoft reportedly moving forward with JEDI hiring push

Tech industry’s password problems come home to roost with Ring security camera hacks

Be cool, Alexa … actor Samuel L. Jackson now voices the weather and more for Amazon

Hackers infiltrate Ring cameras in Florida and Tennessee and harass children

New employer satisfaction data hints at techlash’s impact and Microsoft’s exception

‘Do you want a strong national defense or don’t you?’ Bezos defends big tech’s government work

Cloud Wars: Why Amazon is escalating its battle against Microsoft in enterprise tech

Amazon experiencing shipping delays amid busy holiday season and shift to one-day delivery

Amazon expands Bezos’ elite ‘S-team,’ adding 6 execs from emerging branches of the company

NFL partners with Amazon Web Services to improve player safety and ‘shape the future of football’

AWS antitrust? How Amazon’s cloud unit would defend against an expanded FTC inquiry

The buzz at AWS re:Invent: What tech leaders are talking about at Amazon’s big cloud confab

Amazon introduces portable Echo smart speaker in India with 11 hours of battery life

Amazon cloud boss targets Microsoft’s core business, eyes $3.7 trillion enterprise IT market

Amazon doubles truck fleet to 20,000 to boost shipping capacity amid booming holiday sales

What ’60 Minutes’ didn’t say about Amazon and Seattle’s homelessness crisis

Amazon reportedly experimenting with temporary warehouse space to speed up holiday deliveries

Amazon unveils musical keyboard that uses AI to compose surprisingly good original songs

What’s at stake for Amazon’s $36B cloud business at its big AWS re:Invent conference this week

Holiday e-commerce spending already hitting records as Amazon and others gear up for peak shopping season

We’ve been wearing Amazon’s Allbirds lookalikes: Here’s how they compare to the real thing

Amazon to double seasonal hiring to record 200k workers as business continues to boom

Tech Moves: Microsoft vet joins Seattle office for Sweden’s Sinch; Glossier hires CTO from Amazon

Alexa, why so emotional? Because Amazon has created realistic new voice tones for its assistant

Australian shipping company Sendle opens U.S. headquarters in Seattle to help small businesses

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