The sloppy way in which Amazon lists products matched with Microsoft's confusing Xbox naming scheme made for a perfect storm this week. The Xbox Series X was released on pre-order, pushing the console to the number one "gainers in sales rank over the past 24 hours" spot in the "Video Games" category. Not far behind that, in the number 4 spot, was the Xbox One X.
Amazon has denied taking on Peloton with a cut-price exercise bike under its Prime brand, scolding fitness tech-maker Echelon for implying otherwise. The Echelon EX-Prime Smart Connect Bike was priced at $499 on Amazon, and pitched as a collaboration between Echelon and the retailer to bring connected fitness features to a much lower price point.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed or outright cancelled a lot of events over the summer, with one of the most notable delays being that of Amazon's Prime Day. Prime Day usually happens summer with a lot of fanfare behind it, but this year, Amazon opted to delay the event, noting that it still had plans to host Prime Day at some point later that its typical mid-July timing. As it turns out, Prime Day might be quickly approaching, with Amazon apparently planning to hold it in October.
Amazon Sidewalk, its hyper-local neighborhood network system set to launch later this year, will work with Tile and Echo speakers the retailer has confirmed today. Previewed in 2019, Sidewalk promises a distributed alternative to regular WiFi networks, in which smart home devices like Ring cameras double as hubs for local communications.
Earlier this week, Sony unveiled the prices for its upcoming PlayStation 5 console with preorders going live soon after. Many consumers found the price agreeable and were quick to preorder the console, but now there's some bad news to go alongside them: delays. Amazon has fired off an email to many customers who preordered the next-generation console through its platform, warning that shipments may be delayed beyond the console's release date.
Amazon has confirmed the date for its annual fall "Devices & Services" event, with the online-only launch taking place on September 24. It's expected to see the debut of Amazon's latest Alexa-powered hardware range ahead of the holidays, and which, if past events are anything to go by, will probably include both smart speaker mainstays of the line-up together with some more unusual options.
Smart assistants and smart speakers have introduced new ways of making our busy lives less frantic but, until recently, they have been more about single-action commands. Routines, scenes, and other similar features have started rolling out to truly offer some automation, bundling related actions together for a specific theme or time. These are definitely useful but only if you actually know how to create them in the first place. Amazon is helping remove the guesswork by making it dead easy to share Alexa Routines around.
Amazon has announced the opening of a Fresh grocery store in California, one that features a variety of smart technologies designed to improve the shopping experience. The store is, as you'd expect from a grocery store, a place where the public can purchase food, household items, and similar products. Amazon has tied its Alexa and Prime services into its business plan, as well.
Earlier this month, Walmart introduced its own subscription service called Walmart Plus (officially known as Walmart+). The service takes on Amazon Prime, offering similar pricing to give subscribers unlimited free grocery deliveries, among other things. Walmart+ officially opened to signups this week, meaning you can now create an account, claim the free trial period, and then sign up on a monthly or annual basis if you want to keep using it.
Amazon has always made versions of its Android-powered Fire tablets that are designed for younger users that came with a service that gave parents some control over those devices. Amazon's branding, which revolved around the name "FreeTime", hasn't always been on point and could easily be mistaken for some other feature. Starting today, Amazon FreeTime is being called Amazon Kids and it is getting a few more features to make that rebranding worthwhile.
Back in May, we heard that a TV show based on Joe Exotic, the subject of popular Netflix documentary Tiger King, was being shopped around with Nicolas Cage attached for the starring role. Fast-forward a few months and it has been confirmed that Amazon Studios has nabbed the series for the company's Prime Video streaming service. As expected, the show will be scripted.
Despite living in a mostly digital age, there always comes a time when we end up having to print something. It isn't always a smooth and uneventful experience, especially when you discover only then and there that you don't have enough ink left in the first place. If would definitely be grand if you could simply command your printer to do that for you. If you have an Amazon Echo, you now can, well, sort of.