Amazon

Amazon sent a notice to its sellers in December advising them to use something other than FedEx Ground as a shipping method for Prime orders. The reason, according to reports given at the time, were concerns over whether FedEx could meet the needs of Prime customers during the busy holiday season. Amazon had said at the time that the change would only be temporary if FedEx could restore its faith in its ground service and now that time has come.

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With the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 both scheduled to launch at the end of this year, that means we're officially in the closing stages of this console generation. Gamers who have held off on buying a console will have their patience rewarded as we see prices drop on current-generation hardware, much like we see today with an Amazon sale on the Xbox One X.

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Sonos is suing Google, alleging that the search giant stole its multi-room speaker tech and then used its market heft to undercut it with cheap Echo models. Sonos also accused Amazon of similar abuses, but has apparently opted to only take one such case to court. The allegations - which Google and Amazon deny - come as Sonos admits it was "naive" in how it worked with the industry heavyweights.

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Amazon's Ring has launched half a dozen new products as part of its CES 2020 wares, including the Ring Access Controller Pro, smart LED light bulbs, and new solar-powered smart lighting products. The Ring Access Controller Pro is available to buy starting today, but the remainder of the devices won't hit shelves until April 1.

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Twitch is a free streaming video platform that has a 'premium experience' for people who are willing to pay. Called Twitch Prime, this premium offering is available to people who have Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscriptions, offering them access to exclusive in-game content, a free monthly channel subscription, exclusive emotes, a chat badge and, most importantly, access to free games.

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CES 2020 is set to be the place where we finally ditch this "hub" business for Smart Home devices. GE has the way forward, it would seem, with their C by GE Hubless Three-Wire Smart Switch and two Hubless Dimmer models. They're able to use smart assistant products for control without the need for a "hub" product for connection.

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Back in August, Audible was sued by a handful of major publishing houses that took issue with its then-newly introduced AI-powered captions feature. As first revealed in July, Audible wants to introduce a captions feature that shows scrolling text in a window as an audiobook plays. The feature would prove useful for users, but raised questions over whether the company has the right to reproduce and deliver the text.

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Amazon has expanded its free return policy to cover millions of items that previously wouldn't have been eligible, but only for the holiday season. The expansion makes it easier to return the gifts you don't need or want, thereby ensuring the money comes back in the form of credits that guarantees a future purchase on Amazon. You only have until the New Year to take advantage of this policy change.

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Amazon's Echo Wall Clock is getting a new variant today, and it'll be instantly familiar to anyone who has ever owned - or even seen - a Mickey Mouse watch. Amazon has partnered with Disney to release a new Mickey Mouse edition Echo Wall Clock, and just like the watches we just referenced, this one sees Mickey's arms rotating around the face to tell the time.

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Today Google, Apple, Amazon, and the Zigbee Alliance (which is comprised of various smart home companies) announced that they've all joined forces to create a new Working Group with a goal of creating a smart home standard. That standard will be called the Connected Home over IP project, and it seems to have two primarily goals.

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Following the company's own partial separation from FedEx comes a new rule for its third-party sellers: Amazon vendors are no longer allowed to ship Prime orders using FedEx's ground-based service. The company claims FedEx Ground has experienced a 'decline in performance' that may impact customers over the holiday season. The new rule may not be permanent, however, if FedEx can improve to meet Amazon's requirements.

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As order-from-home internet shopping continues to dominate the holiday gift-giving season, so too do so-called "porch pirates" traverse the streets. Fighting against their brand of evil is the man named Mark Rober. Last year, Rober introduced us to the concept he called "Glitter Bomb", an innovative tool made to punish would-be home delivery package thieves for their crimes against shoppers.

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