Rivian's hotly-anticipated electric pickup truck, the R1T, won't arrive in time for late 2020 deliveries, the startup has confirmed, with coronavirus precautions meaning would-be drivers will have to wait a little longer. Announced in late 2018, the Rivian R1T - and its R1S SUV sibling - uses a brand new "skateboard" platform that the automaker intended to build in a factory in Normal, Illinois.
In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Amazon has announced that it is temporarily extending its return policy in multiple countries, giving consumers a wider time frame for returning items they don't need or want. The change will be retroactively applied to orders made as far back as March 1, according to the Internet retailer, which has been struggling to keep up with the huge surge in demand for its service.
Amazon may be forced to delay its Prime Day event this year over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has caused a massive uptick in orders through its service. The company went on a hiring spree to keep up with the demand last month, also temporarily increasing pay rates for both warehouse workers and grocery packers. Amid all of that, the company had to pause its Prime Pantry service due to an overwhelming number of orders.
Many people are being advised or even forced to stay indoors but that doesn't mean you can be lax about home security. Keeping tabs on what happens indoors, especially at night, can sometimes be just as important as knowing what goes on outdoors. Fortunately, indoor cameras are often less sophisticated and less expensive than outdoor ones. Especially when you take into account the latest Blink Mini camera from Amazon, offering many basic features at the fraction of a price of its rivals.
Gaming is huge business and the COVID-19 situation has boosted that even further. Even without the coronavirus, however, analysts have predicted that the gaming industry revenue this year will be double the recording and box office markets combined. As such, it's really no surprise that almost anyone and everyone wants a piece of that pie. And, of course, Amazon is setting out to conquer that market as well in more ways than one.
More and more people are turning to digital videos, be it streaming, rental, or outright purchase, during these times of being copped up indoors. That is naturally a prime opportunity for distributors and services to advertise certain features, including free offers, and get more subscribers. Those don't necessarily translate to an exponential rise in profits, especially if they have to pay some "tax" to platform owners like Google and Apple. Almost out of the blue, Apple is now relaxing its much-criticized 30% cut from certain video apps, allowing those apps to keep 100% of the subscriptions, at least for now.
Earlier this month, Sling TV launched a new free tier called 'Stay in & SLING' targeted at people who don't subscribe to the service, but who are currently stuck at home and seeking new streaming services to watch. The service offers a variety of free channels and on-demand content, including news content and a bunch of older and lesser-known series. Some of that content is now integrated with Fire TV's 'Live' tab.
If you're looking for something to do while you're stuck inside, it might be worth heading over to Amazon. The company is holding a buy two, get one free sale on some video games and board games, and for video games at least, there are a few recent releases to choose from.
Amazon is offering its own warehouse workers a pay increase to $19 an hour as an incentive to get them to work with its Whole Foods grocery business, a new leak claims. The move is said to be the result of a big increase in online grocery orders, something that has become very popular amid the ongoing quarantine. The leaked Amazon message reportedly states there has been 'a mass increase' in Prime Now grocery orders.
Different tech companies have had their own ways to respond to the pandemic gripping the entire world but Amazon may be the one with the largest coverage as far as services and products go. From deliveries to entertainment to smart devices, the retail giant is busy not just responding to the crisis but also responding to criticisms and allegations. Its latest action to respond to the call of the times is to equip Alexa and its line of smart speakers and displays with information and content to keep people connected to the outside world even when stuck at home.
Several Amazon employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at shipment and/or fulfillment centers in the United States. Amazon seems to be enacting quarantine measures for these employees and asking that employees who had any "close contact" with their infected co-workers to self-quarantine for 14 days. There have also been notable delays in shipments of non-essential items in the last couple of weeks due to COVID-19 and the fallout.
Amazon has made a bunch of children's programming available to stream for free, meaning you no longer need an Amazon Prime Video subscription to watch it. The content is a mixture of third-party and original shows from Amazon, including well-known offerings like Peppa Pig and Arthur, as well as newer things Just Add Magic and Pete the Cat.