580 posts tagged with amazon.
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No One Buys Books
Elle Griffin's report on the testimony from the Justice Department's 2021 antitrust lawsuit to block the merger of Penguin Random House with Simon and Schuster reveals a disheartening truth: practically nobody buys books. [more inside]
"so many tech demos end up hiding an ugly truth deep down"
Amazon Go, "a new kind of corner store," that company's futuristic storefront where you installed an app on your phone, and could shop for things just by picking them up off of shelves and walking out the door with them, is being shut down. Some random internet person called "Matt Haughey" described his experience with the store, and how it wasn't nearly as magical as it seemed: as it turned out it was a kind of technological sleight-of-hand, instead of using RFIDs and weight-sensing shelves and other techno-devices, they just had a whole lot of people watching cameras. Another random person on Mastodon points out the whole-lot-of-people part was probably a bunch of subsistence contractors in other countries. A third random person notes, even doing that, the store concept couldn't be made to work. Meanwhile the important gigantic hovering electronic head of Jeff Bezos floats above us all, unmoving but watching, silently.
EU opens non-compliance investigations on Apple, Alphabet, Meta, etc...
The European Commission opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act into Alphabet's rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple's rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta's 'pay or consent model, as well as Amazon self-preferencing own branded products in searches -- all in violation of the requirements of the DMA. [more inside]
Happy DMA enforcement to those who celebrate
Enforcement of the Digital Markets Act began today in Europe. The Verge covers how various big "gatekeeper" tech companies have adjusted or augmented the services they provide in Europe, and in some cases globally, to comply with the law, which among other things, mandates new requirements for data portability and sharing between services owned by different companies, and limits on sharing data between services owned by the same company. This new regulation targets six tech giants, all of which have publicized at least some of their plans and intentions to adjust their offerings to align with the new law in public statements (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft). But as the deadline to comply has approached there's also been a fair amount of sniping, as well as some questionable decisions and outages possibly caused by last-minute DMA-related updates to services. [more inside]
Fat profits are one of the telltale signs of an illegal monopoly
The amount of profit that Amazon makes from third-party sellers, as opposed to AWS or some other division, might sound like a technical distinction, but it’s essential to the case against the company. The FTC alleges that Amazon’s low-price image is a mirage: According to the FTC, the company actually keeps prices higher than they would be in a competitive market—not just on Amazon but across the internet—squeezing consumers and small businesses in the process. from Amazon’s Big Secret [The Atlantic; ungated]
They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
Amazon Sued Over Prime Video Ads. A class-Action Complaint Accuses Tech Giant of ‘Immoral, Unethical, Oppressive, Unscrupulous’ Conduct. [more inside]
I cannot post this link it goes against OpenAI Use Policy
From Futurism: New product listings are appearing on Amazon that appear to be AI-generated, with names like "I'm sorry but I cannot fulfill this request it goes against OpenAI use policy. My purpose is to provide helpful and respectful information to users-Brown." "It raises the question: is anyone at Amazon actually reviewing products that appear on its site?" [more inside]
Venturing into the great unknown in a ship shaped like a massive dick
Bobby Fingers goes large scale and builds a headboat* of Jeff Bezos. Of course the build is completely over the top, utilizing a giant CNC robot, large hand crafted eyeballs, several musical numbers and they even travel abroad to get a hair transplant. [more inside]
"She knew who the leaders were."
How Jane McAlevey Transformed the Labor Movement Jane McAlevey has spent her career helping workers win big. Her books have been an inspiration to a new generation of workers seeking to organize, like the Amazon Workers Union, and existing unions like United Teachers Los Angeles. Now, "the renowned organizer and theorist has a terminal-cancer diagnosis. But she has long been fighting the clock." (archive link) [more inside]
US FTC and states file antitrust suit against Amazon retail operations
The US Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen state attorneys general have filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant has unlawfully leveraged its market dominance to stamp out would-be competitors.
Finally a killer AI
“There are hundreds of poisonous fungi in North America and several that are deadly, They can look similar to popular edible species. A poor description in a book can mislead someone to eat a poisonous mushroom.” - AI generated mushroom foraging books are spreading on Amazon, placing the public at risk.
1948, 1971 ... 2024?
There's no sign that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes will let up anytime soon, as Hollywood creatives ratchet up the rhetoric by calling for the breakup of the studios on antitrust grounds. As Matt Stoller reports, this makes strange bedfellows: "Most of the public noise during this period of chaos is coming from the more labor oriented activist-types, but behind the scenes, the serious financiers and producers are worried as well, because the ability to actually make money by making and distributing films and TV shows is falling apart."
“Companies may need to be ready to defend themselves.”
The Legal Assault on Corporate Diversity Efforts Has Begun [WSJ gift link] "Employment lawyers say it is likely a matter of time before one of these cases reaches the Supreme Court." Last month, a group of GOP state attorneys general sent a letter to Fortune 100 companies warning them against "race-based preferences in hiring, promotions and contracting." [gift link] The Democratic Attorneys General Association responded with their own letter "pushing back against claims that common efforts to diversify workplaces violate state or federal discrimination laws." [more inside]
The stench of death emanates from Jeff’s balls
Corpse flower blooming at Amazon Spheres in Seattle The rare flowers can be up to 9 foot tall and stink of carrion in order to attract pollinators and bloom for 48 hours. More from United States Botanic Garden.
Ancient giants
Ancient giants "An epic quest to reach the tallest known tree in the Amazon"
Gear Patrol to acquire DPReview
The unhappy news that Amazon would be shutting down the digital-photography website DPReview can be replaced with the happy news that Gear Patrol has acquired it. It looks like DPReview will continue intact.
The Nile is the world’s longest river? The Amazon would like a word.
Guinness World Records, Britannica and the U.S. government agree: The longest river in the world is the mighty Nile — the “father of African rivers,” Britannica says. But in Brazil, home to the powerful Amazon River, which cleaves South America more than slithers across it, the Nile’s standing is slightly lower. “Second biggest river in the world,” scoffs Portuguese-speaking Wikipedia. “The Amazon is the most extensive in the world,” declares the educational website Brazil School. (archive.today link)
what it means to be too big, Black, and brilliant for this world
I'm A Virgo [Official Trailer] “Through its depiction of Cootie — an awkward but endlessly curious and kindhearted young man Jerome inhabits with a boyish charm — and his parents, whose strict rules are a reflection of their love for him, I’m a Virgo is very explicitly telling a tale about what it means to be (or to raise) children whose Blackness and brilliance makes them too “big” for the world. Cootie’s gigantism is the way that Black children are robbed of their childhoods because of how other people perceive them to be older than they actually are and more deserving of punishment. Cootie’s gigantism is the boundless potential for greatness parents see in their Black children knowing full well that the society they’re living in isn’t designed to help them maximize it but, rather, to stifle it. It’s also a rather direct way of unpacking how, even when Black people manage to play the game successfully and reach the upper echelons of fame and fortune, the specter of racism by way of dehumanization is never all that far away.” [via: The Verge]
Volcano on Venus
A Martian glacier, rockets, asteroid samples, moons, and more rockets. From the fiery Sun to the search for alien civilizations, here's an update on humanity's exploration of space.
Sol
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured video of an immense solar flare followed by a solar tornado. [more inside]
Sol
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured video of an immense solar flare followed by a solar tornado. [more inside]
Amazon is shutting down DPReview.com after 25 years
Amazon will be shutting down DPReview, the trusted and comprehensive camera reviews website, as part of the 18,000 job cuts it announced in January, and right on the heels of an announcement of an additional 9000 layoffs. [more inside]
Enshittification
The heroic age of the tech giants is over
In his recently rebooted newsletter The Amazon Chronicles, Tim Carmody (previously) is exploring how Amazon and the other tech giants have moved from a "heroic" phase focused on growth and championing the liberatory value of their products to maintaining profitability above all else: The ideal for a tech company in 2023 is either docile humans ready to consume what they've been given, or better still, no humans at all.
It Takes the Urination of Millions to Hold Us Back
“It wasn’t that I had left the plane it was that the plane left me.”
Today will be different. Enough water will come.
"How The Forest Dies: The Amazon is going dry. In one parched corner, a desperate wait for water is only just beginning." A sobering portrait of the human cost of deforestation of the Amazon, from the Washington Post. [more inside]
You've Been Played
Every week brings word of another company bringing gamification to the workplace, whether it’s Amazon workers in India competing to deliver packages in order to score “runs” in a thirty-day, cricket-themed Delivery Premier League for rewards like smartphones and motorbikes, or United Airlines’ short-lived experiment to help staff “build excitement and a sense of accomplishment” by swapping their bonus with a lottery — available only for those with perfect attendance records, of course. In You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All, MetaFilter's own Adrian Hon examines how "points, badges, and leaderboards are creeping into every aspect of modern life as tools for profit and coercion." [more inside]
Boss behavior and policing delivery drivers
At the Digital Doorstep: How Customers Use Doorbell Cameras to Manage Delivery Workers. We wanted to understand how residents use and monitor these cameras, but more importantly, we wanted to know their impact on low-wage delivery workers who are routinely observed and recorded over the course of their daily work. How does this form of surveillance change labor conditions?
Did you know our filthy abattoir offers tours? Book your place today!
Tours of Amazon Fulfilment centers are live in 8 countries. You just have to answer a few questions: How much do you know about Amazon? How do you feel about ordering from Amazon? How do you feel about Amazon as an Employer? [more inside]
That PTSD-stricken Elf is one missed meal away from completely losing it
Pajiba: "I think J. R. R. Tolkien, enemy of industrialization and pointless waste, would find Musk more unbearable than Elon finds his characters."
BoLS: "No, casting a white actor as Black Panther is not the same as casting a Black actor as a non-canonical Elf created just for a TV series."
FanFare is also discussing The Rings of Power!
BoLS: "No, casting a white actor as Black Panther is not the same as casting a Black actor as a non-canonical Elf created just for a TV series."
FanFare is also discussing The Rings of Power!
Consumers want it free and yesterday, but they also changed their mind.
We’ve had people buy say a Pista pump and take [out] the leather gasket, rubber chuck seal, piston glide ring, gauge… all the internal replacement parts that you can buy separately, and then put it back together and return. The owner of a 107-year old, made-in-USA bike pump company discusses how the Amazon marketplace, blatant fraud, changing customer expectations, and social media have forced them to change their previously generous return policy. They are far from the first.
Stargate SG-1 Turns 25!
The unexpected TV spin-off of a box office sleeper hit helped to create a new renaissance in science fiction on cable television. The future of Stargate could be looking brighter as word of a pilot script from one of the original SG-1 producers is being pitched to the franchise's new owner, Amazon. Also, look back at the third SG-1 film that was never made and check out members of the cast performing a script written by an AI.
Optimized for Netscape Navigator.
Why none of Cory Doctorow books are available on Audible. A brief history of audiobooks, and a criticism of DRM, Amazon and Audible. A post which Doctorow has also turned into a free audiobook, titled Why None of My Books Are Available on Audible
And Why Amazon Owes Me $3,218.55 through Amazon's ACX platform. ACX facilitates scamming authors, like Doctorow, who avoid or reject Audible's platform. [more inside]
Lepp allots herself precisely 49 days to write and self-edit a book.
The United States of Amazon: Same day treatment only for Prime members
Amazon said it had reached a $3.9 billion deal to acquire One Medical, a network of primary care clinics. As monopoly capitalism grows unchecked, Amazon's seriously dystopian forays into healthcare make the prospect of Medicare for All basically impossible. With access to incredible amounts of consumer data, the privacy implications are grim.
Brave heart and courteous tongue will carry thee far through the jungle
A week ago veteran journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous Peoples expert Bruno Pereira went missing, now presumed executed in the far west of the Brazilian Amazon.
The two men had previously visted the Javari Valley in 2018 with photographer Gary Carlton.
Andrew Fishman posts a draft version of Dom's selection of his favorite reporting.
The two men had previously visted the Javari Valley in 2018 with photographer Gary Carlton.
Andrew Fishman posts a draft version of Dom's selection of his favorite reporting.
The ‘Form’ Element Created the Modern Web. Was It a Big Mistake?
No one ever knows what they’re unleashing. They don’t even know there’s a leash.
I’ve been given a time machine. Would I send a Terminator back to the web standards meetings circa 1994 to eliminate the element? I don’t know. If anything could defeat a Terminator, it’s attending a web standards meeting.
A little HTML widget gave us all-powerful Amazon and Facebook. There's no closing Pandora's text box now.
Look, he made us some Content
Bezos III (Gregorian Chant) /
Living in the Future /
Is it gonna end? YES When? NEVER /
I Just Want to Feel Good /
JEANS™ /
Maybe I'll Feel Better /
Five years /
Trying to be funny /
UV teeth /
[What have we done to our children?] /
The best-case scenario is Joe Biden /
S P I D E R 🕷️ /
"It's very upsetting that The Future is in front of Now." /
This Isn't a Joke /
[Never go outside again] /
How to make a peanut butter sandwich /
"Our doing isn't done and our done-ing isn't did." /
"The unspeakable fear of never hitting the wall." /
I'm sticking with ✨Jeffrey✨ /
"MY PHONE MAKES ME SAD, AWWW." /
All Eyes on Me (Early Demo) /
"It's only a problem if you go outside." /
"The thing that I'm writing about *is* an ending." /
Goodbye (alternate ending) /
The Chicken /
A sneak peek at the ICU /
I don't know what's happening /
>> One year after the original virtuosic special premiered on Netflix, Bo Burnham returns with THE INSIDE OUTTAKES, a kaleidoscopic, stream-of-consciousness retrospective consisting of over an hour of new songs, new vignettes, fake ads, behind the scenes clips, musical outtakes, confessional pieces, perfectionist tableaus and so much more (including something from yours truly). [more inside]
Changing the perspective of Amazonian archaeology
'Mind blowing’ ancient settlements uncovered in the Amazon via Nature.
The urban centres are the first to be discovered in the region, challenging archaeological dogma. Mysterious mounds in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin were once the site of ancient urban settlements. Using a remote-sensing technology to map the terrain from the air, scientists found that, starting about 1,500 years ago, ancient Amazonians built and lived in densely populated centres, featuring 22-metre-tall earthen pyramids, that were encircled by kilometres of elevated roadways. Some background Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest.
The urban centres are the first to be discovered in the region, challenging archaeological dogma. Mysterious mounds in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin were once the site of ancient urban settlements. Using a remote-sensing technology to map the terrain from the air, scientists found that, starting about 1,500 years ago, ancient Amazonians built and lived in densely populated centres, featuring 22-metre-tall earthen pyramids, that were encircled by kilometres of elevated roadways. Some background Amazon ecology: Footprints in the forest.
Swag as Praxis
Can Labor Unionists Be Style Icons? John Elward has been documenting the stylishness of union workers on his Twitter account DrippedOutTradeUnionists and argues that "Drip can be very much an organizing tactic". [more inside]
Union Tingle!
Chuck Tingle has released a new pro-union book, UNIONIZED IN THE BUTT AND NOW EVERYONE IS SAFER, HAPPIER, AND BETTER PAID. The book is free and only an available on Patreon. In lieu of payment, Tingle encourages readers to donate to the Amazon Labor Union Solidarity Fund.
How to lose thousands on Amazon
The new get rich quick scam: passive income on Amazon. [SL Atlantic] Scams, the gift that keeps on grifting!
From the article: “ Within six months, McDowell and Bjork had spent nearly $40,000, with almost nothing to show for it. So they auctioned off what inventory they could, paid Amazon to destroy the rest, and got out of the business. “It’s not a passive income; [it’s] a ton of work,” McDowell told me. “We lost all our savings—everything we had.””
Time To Reacquaint Ourselves With The Cast Of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel [Fanfare] just debuted its fourth season, its first since late 2019! The 92nd Street Y got many of the cast members together for a conversation about the new season! [1h, Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Michale Zegen, Caroline Aaron, Luke Kirby]
The last frontier of human resistance
Nearly 15 years after the first flyover, the uncontacted peoples of the Envira River land near the Peru-Brazil border, long endangered, find themselves under existential threat. Following the President Bolsonaro's brazen deregulation, intimidation of advocates, and appointment of a missionary to a key indigenous agency, the normally reclusive tribes have responded to deforestation pressure on their ancestral lands by sending desperate envoys to nearby villages -- first contacts that expose them not just to the COVID pandemic, but a whole raft of modern diseases they have no defense against. But even under risk of genocide, the people of these beleaguered tribes continue to help defend the critically important Amazon rainforest from external attack. [more inside]
If you list a book as published in 1602, it's in a different aisle.
SLNYT: What Happened to Amazon’s Bookstore? The state of Amazon today.
For much of Amazon’s history, people thought of it as a retailer.
Amazon’s Toll Road A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) a nonprofit organization and advocacy group with a focus on sustainable community development. [more inside]
Amazon's Dark Secret: It Has Failed to Protect Your Data
The Wheel Of Time – Official Teaser Trailer
The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time premiere on Amazon Prime Video starting on Nov. 19, with new episodes dropping each Friday through the season finale on Dec. 24. [more inside]
Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos - Video Essay
2.5 Hr SLYT. This video essay discusses intimately how we interact with social media, memes, and how it influences society and politics.
Could I interest you in everything about "Inside"?
Bo Burnham started out as a geeky kid writing parody songs in his room, but the success of his work on YouTube soon launched him into a career in comedy, where he quickly won the respect of comics thrice his age. Three innovative specials and one acclaimed coming-of-age film later, Bo seemed to disappear from the scene for years... only to return in spring 2021 with INSIDE [trailer], a striking one-man/one-room pandemic comedy masterpiece, inventively cinematic in style, which devolves from clever social media parody to incisive sociopolitical critique to dystopian internet horror to a heartbreaking elegy for a dying world as it parallels his own emotional breakdown. Two months later, with six Emmy nominations and a nationwide theatrical release this weekend, there's plenty of Content to chew on -- a full track breakdown, lyrics, commentary, analysis, and beyond. Want it? Good. There's [more inside]
Mystery seeds
The truth behind the Amazon mystery seeds “ If someone had wanted to invent a surreal provocation designed to unnerve Americans in the summer of 2020, it’s difficult to conceive of a better one than a deluge of unsolicited Chinese seeds.”