Amazon launches ‘Prime Air’ with a cargo plane, not a drone

The first time we heard about Prime Air it was emblazoned on drones Jeff Bezos showed off for 60 Minutes in 2013. Now Amazon is revealing the logo on a flying machine that operates on a much larger scale. Amazon One is just one of its 11 dedicated planes, and the Boeing 767-300 will be flying this weekend at a Seattle airshow. The company says that maintaining its own air cargo network — the planes are leased from shipping partners, with plans to expand to 40 over the next couple of years — will help it keep shipping speeds up.

While we’re still waiting to hear more about those delivery drones, Amazon has made several moves to take control over other steps in the delivery process. The mega-retailer is getting involved in oceanic freight shipping, and rolled out thousands of Amazon-branded semi-trailers at the end of last year, around the same time rumors that it would lease jets started popping up. Those

Source: Amazon

Nucleus is an Alexa-enabled touchscreen intercom

Most people have smartphones and tablets (sometimes, in multiples) these days and don’t actually need an intercom. But if you’re looking for one and want something more feature-packed than your typical walkie-talkie-like variants, you may want to check out Nucleus. It’s a touchscreen tablet/intercom that comes integrated with Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa and its many voice commands. You know how you can ask Alexa through Amazon Echo to add eggs to your grocery list, tell you the weather forecast or play Prime Music/iHeartRadio/TuneIn? Well, you can do all those with Nucleus, as well.

The company was able to integrate Alexa into its product after Amazon opened it up to developers and device makers last year. But the voice assistant isn’t the device’s only feature. You can use Nucleus not just to talk to people in your own home, but also to video call other households who have the device. Say, your elderly grandparents who just can’t remember how to work Skype. Nucleus also has accompanying Android and iOS apps that you can use to access it when you’re out. For instance, you can fire up the app to check on your kid’s room, where the intercom serves as a baby monitor.

Nucleus was first showcased at CES 2015, and its creators started accepting pre-orders late last year. It will finally be available today through Amazon and Lowe’s, which will sell it in 500 locations across the US and on its website. Take note that it might leave quite a big hole in your wallet: one will set you back $249, though you can get two for $199 each.

Source: Nucleus

Sky and Amazon team up for Roman Empire drama ‘Britannia’

There’s no grand secret as to why Sky is the dominant pay-TV provider in the UK. The movie premieres, exclusive sports programming and biggest shows from major US cable networks are what subscribers shell out the big bucks for. And to make sure it keeps the A-grade content coming, Sky has taken to cavorting with an on-demand enemy for the first time. The broadcaster and Amazon today announced they are co-producing a new drama series called Britannia, written by Jez Butterworth of Spectre/Black Mass/Edge of Tomorrow fame, and starring various people who’s names you won’t know but who’s faces you’ve probably seen in something before.

“The 10-part drama is set in 43AD as the Roman Imperial Army – determined and terrified in equal measure – returns to crush the Celtic heart of Britannia – a mysterious land ruled by wild warrior women and powerful druids who can channel the powerful forces of the underworld,” Sky’s press release reads. Strong female leads, a backdrop of turmoil and war, a dash of magic — sounds like we can expect Game of Thrones with Romans.

Britannia is currently filming and will debut at some point next year on Sky 1 in the UK and Ireland, with Amazon snagging exclusive rights for its Prime Video streaming service in the US. Two originals for the price of one and no regional competition to worry about? A perfect example of a linear TV provider and an on-demand platform coexisting happily together.

Source: Sky, Amazon

Amazon Echo now controls your August Smart Lock

Amazon’s Echo is about to become much more useful if you’ve ever worried about leaving the door unlocked. August Home is introducing an Alexa skill that gives you voice control over its Smart Lock system. If you have a first- or second-generation lock with an August Connect bridge, you can ask Alexa to both check a lock’s status and lock the door. It’s a simple addition, but it beats having to pull out your phone or walk across the house simply because you didn’t remember to lock up when you got home.

Source: August

Amazon brings its Dash grocery scanner to the UK

Now that Amazon’s grocery delivery service has launched in the UK, many of the devices that it easier to order food and household items are starting to make their way here too. The first is the Dash, a small handheld gadget that lets you add products to your basket with its barcode scanner or by simply using your voice. All that’s then needed is to open the Amazon website or mobile app and complete your order.

Amazon says that Dash is available for free between today and August 28th, as long as you complete two Amazon Fresh orders. It you don’t, it’ll cost £35. It operates much like a dictaphone, storing your orders as you speak into its built-in microphone, while its LED scanner helps add items that either aren’t recognised or hard to describe.

With the Dash scanner now available, it’ll probably only be a matter of time until Amazon brings its super-simple Dash Button across the pond. The Dash buttons are small plastic, er, buttons that are pre-programmed to order a certain brand name item. In the US, over 100 brands — including Huggies, Energizer, Red Bull, Starbucks Samsung — are already on board, but you can bet the retailer is already in talks with UK-centric companies.

Source: Amazon UK

Amazon announces category just for Kickstarter projects

Looking for a crowd-sourced gadget, but don’t actually want to run the risk of backing a Kickstarter? Good news: Amazon just launched a hub for completed, successful Kickstarter products. The product category lives on Amazon’s Launchpad page — a digital store for start-ups that sell crowdfunded and first run products on consignment. Kickstarter projects have always been present on Launchpad, but now they have there very own category and landing page.

In all, Amazon says it’s featuring about 300 Kickstarter projects, including technology, cooking accessories, independently published books and more. This means it has well known Kickstarter successes like the Oculus Rift or Pebble smartwatches, but also features a penny-portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a mud-powered fuel cell kit and a coffee cup shaped like a horn. At the end of the the day, it’s just another way you can buy stuff on Amazon — but if you never backed a Kickstarter project before, it’s a good way to catch up on some of the platform’s most successful projects.

Source: Amazon (1), (2)

Amazon launches one-hour Prime Now deliveries in Scotland

After spending the past year expanding its super-fast delivery service across England, Amazon’s finally taking Prime Now north of the border. The online retail giant announced today that it has begun offering one-hour deliveries on over 15,000 products to Prime subscribers in Glasgow, as well as free two-hour deliveries in Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Cumbernauld.

Although Glasgow is Scotland’s first Prime Now city, Glaswegians, along with customers in Edinburgh have enjoyed Amazon’s Prime Same Day service since November 2015. To mark the occasion, Amazon is offering £5 off everyone’s first Prime Now order with the code PRIMENOW5 and it’ll also throw in a 2-litre bottle of Irn-Bru Sugar Free. We’ve checked with Amazon UK’s Stereotype Dept. and there’s currently no word on whether battered Mars bars and haggis will also be included.

Source: Amazon UK

Amazon teams up with the UK to make drone delivery a reality

Amazon has found a staunch ally in the British government in its quest to use drones for delivery. This new partnership with the UK gives the company a chance to test its drones the way it can’t in the US. For one, the UK is allowing Amazon to deploy beyond line of sight tests in both rural and suburban areas. In the US, Amazon can only fly drones if they’re within the pilot’s line of sight, which makes it impossible to deliver parcels to farther locations. The e-commerce company will also use this opportunity to make sure its UAVs’ sensors can identify and avoid obstacles and to deploy operations wherein one person controls multiple highly automated drones.

Despite the looser rules, the test flights will still be limited to an altitude of 400 feet and aren’t allowed to operate near airports. They will also concentrate on ferrying packages weighing five pounds and below. Amazon says the experiments they’ll perform across the pond will give them a better understanding of how the flying machines can be used safely for Prime Air. Further, it will help them identify and conjure up the rules and safety regulations needed to “move the drone industry forward.”

Source: Amazon

You can soon call on Amazon to bring you lunch in a hurry

Amazon isn’t satisfied with bringing you same-day delivery and student loans. It also wants to enter the food delivery business.

Having quietly begun testing a special lunch delivery service in Seattle, Amazon is rolling out Daily Dish. It’s meant to compete directly with Peach, a similar service founded by former Amazon employees that launched back in January 2014.

Amazon’s Daily Dish service is an exclusive meant only for Prime members, and it will be accessible via the Prime Now app. A text message will be sent out at 9:30 a.m. (local time) and users will be able to select from a series of rotating dishes to be delivered to their workplace. Orders that come in before 11 a.m. via the Prime Now app will arrive between 12 and 12:30 p.m.

This isn’t a new type of service for Amazon in that it already participates in food delivery via the Amazon Restaurants service, but it does offer a new perk for Prime members to have lunch handled for them in an expedient manner.

The service is set to expand to other cities in the future, but is only available currently in Seattle.

Via: GeekWire