I’ve been a customer since 1999, and rely on it for everything from grass seed to birthday gifts. There are Echo speakers dotted throughout my home, Ring cameras inside and out, a Fire TV set-top box in the living room and an ageing Kindle e-reader by my bedside. I submitted a data subject access request,… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Amazon
Kids don’t trust Alexa to give the right answer
Picture this: You’re playing a game of trivia with friends. The question is, “How many bones are in the human hand?” Your friend answers 27. You decide to ask Alexa, the smart speaker sitting in the living room, to verify the number. Alexa says, “26.” Everyone agrees that even though your friend’s guess was close,… Read more »
How the tiny town of Roundup, Montana, became a hub in Amazon’s supply chain
On any given day, thousands of packages from Walmarts, Targets, and stores around the country travel north along a two-lane road out of Billings, Montana — past the Tumbleweed Saloon, past cows grazing on empty rangeland, past the Busy Bee Cafe and stands of short pines — to the town of Roundup, where they will be… Read more »
Amazon profits hit by rising shipping costs
Amazon delivered another quarter of sales growth above 20%, but a spike in shipping costs cut the firm’s bottom line. Shares dropped sharply in after-hours trade after the e-commerce giant said profits fell by about 25% to $2.1bn in the three months to 30 September. The firm said it spent nearly $10bn (£7.78bn) on shipping… Read more »
Amazon reportedly employs thousands of people to listen to your Alexa conversations
Not only is Alexa listening when you speak to an Echo smart speaker, an Amazon employee is potentially listening, too.Amazon (AMZN) employs a global team that transcribes the voice commands captured after the wake word is detected and feeds them back into the software to help improve Alexa’s grasp of human speech so it can respond more efficiently in the… Read more »
Vendor Risk Management – the Importance of Vendor Vetting
Most of us wouldn’t trust just anyone to watch our children, home, or pets, right? And we typically don’t hire just anyone who applies for employment, do we? What about the guy living out of his van offering low cost tax prep? Probably not your first choice this tax season. It’s our instinct to take… Read more »
Amazon wristbands could track workers’ hand movements
Amazon recently won patents for wristbands that could be used as part of an inventory system, communicating with equipment in warehouses and nudging employees via vibrations if, for example, they were about to place items in the wrong bins. But in a world where the legal limits on gathering and using people’s data remain largely undefined,… Read more »
Amazon Scout robots take to pavements in Washington State
Amazon is experimenting with delivery robots, starting with a little truck called Scout which is taking to the pavements in Washington State. Six of the autonomous electric trucks will deliver parcels “at walking pace” round Snohomish County. The robots will only operate during the day and will be accompanied by an Amazon employee initially. It… Read more »
How Alexa knows the difference between a breaking window and a wine glass
For Amazon, getting Alexa’s new security-guard feature to work meant literally breaking a lot of windows. In December, the company started inviting Amazon Echo users to try out Alexa Guard, a new setting that turns the smart speakers into home security devices. It listens for suspicious sounds when you’re away and sends a smartphone alert if it detects, say,… Read more »
France to go it alone on digital tax
France has said it will introduce its own tax on big technology firms from 1 January after EU-wide efforts stalled. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he expected it to bring in €500m (£450m) in 2019. France, along with Germany, had been pushing for the European Commission to agree measures by the end of… Read more »
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