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Amazon unveils new Alexa tablets with Alexa+ and Google Play Store access

Posted on October 8, 2026 by faz_business

Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new lineup of Alexa tablets that feature personalized intelligence from its Alexa+ AI assistant and full access to the Google Play Store. The lineup includes three models: Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Amazon Alexa Tablet 11, and Amazon Alexa Tablet 8.

The tech giant says each tablet features an aluminum unibody design, high-resolution displays, and runs on Android. Plus, with access to the Google Play Store at launch, users will be able to download millions of apps, including YouTube, Netflix, Gmail, and more.

Until now, Amazon’s tablets have run Fire OS and ship with its own app store. With these new tablets, however, Amazon is taking a different approach to reach a wider audience. An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that these are an all-new product line with new hardware and a new OS, rather than a rebrand of Fire Tablets.

The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro measures 6.5 mm thick and is engineered for “perfect balance,” Amazon explained in a press release. It houses a 12-inch, 280 PPI display, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 3:2 aspect ratio for more usable screen space, which the company says is perfect for reading, watching, or working. It comes in two display options: a standard display and a Nanomatte display with anti-glare.

Amazon says the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro delivers nearly three times the processing performance and nine times the graphics performance of any tablet it has shipped before. The company says the tablet can easily handle everything from multi-window multitasking and graphics-intensive gaming to 4K streaming. It features Dolby Atmos speakers, Wi-Fi 6E, and 16 hours of video playback.

The company also announced the Alexa Tablet Pro Pen and Pro Keyboard, which Amazon says are designed to turn the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro into a full workstation.

The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at $499.99, while the Nanomatte model starts at $549.99. The tablet comes in Graphite.

The new tablets are launching with built-in access to Alexa+. Users will be able to say “Alexa” or tap the “Ask Alexa” button to get answers to questions, control their smart home, and more. With On-Screen Intelligence, users will be able to ask Alexa to look at what’s on screen to receive contextual help. For example, while browsing a list of trails, users can ask Alexa, “Which of these hikes is best for me?”

The Alexa Tablet 11 is an 11-inch device with a 2.5K display at 276 pixels per inch, 90Hz smooth scrolling, and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The tech giant says it’s designed for streaming, gaming, reading, and browsing. It features 15 hours of video playback and dual Dolby Atmos speakers. It starts at $329.99 and comes in Graphite, Amethyst, and Matcha.

The Alexa Tablet 8 is the smallest and most portable of the three, featuring an 8.7-inch display and an all-aluminum design that weighs 329 grams. It’s designed to be held in one hand and carried anywhere for reading, browsing, and streaming on the go, Amazon says. It starts at $229.99 and comes in Graphite, Rosette, and Teal.

All of the new tablets are launching with a new Kindle reading experience. When users open the Kindle app, notifications are silenced, blue light is reduced, and battery life can last up to 20 hours.

The company also announced on Wednesday that it’s launching new Amazon Kids tablets, with 8.7-inch and 11-inch sizes available. Bundles include a tablet, a kid-proof case, and a year of Amazon Kids+, which provides access to thousands of kid-friendly books, games, videos, and apps in an ad-free environment.

There are separate versions for pre-K kids (ages 3+) and kids 6+, as younger kids get a soft bumper case in designs from franchises like Paw Patrol and Barbie, while older kids get a slim hard case with a built-in kickstand.

All three Amazon Alexa Tablets and the Amazon Kids Tablets will go on sale October 14, 2026, in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. They’ll launch in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain on October 19, while the Amazon Kids Tablets will also be available in Japan starting October 14.

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I found 6 Labor Day kitchen deals that really cook

Posted on September 3, 2026 by faz_business

Kitchen appliance sales can get silly fast. Half the time, you’re looking at a supposedly huge discount on something that seems to be permanently on sale anyway. I went through Amazon and Best Buy’s Labor Day deals and pulled out six that actually caught my attention, from cheap coffee gear to a full-size air fryer oven.

Ninja Prestige Smart XL Air Fryer & Countertop Oven

The Ninja Prestige Smart XL is the big-ticket pick here, but Best Buy is making the price much easier to swallow. It’s $249.99, down from a comparison value of $429.99, and it’s explicitly labeled a Labor Day Deal. We’ve previously highlighted its roomy two-rack design and versatility, and I’d look at this one if you want something capable of replacing several smaller countertop appliances.

bella PRO 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker

This is the kind of deal I like because there’s very little to overthink. Best Buy has the bella PRO for $29.99 instead of $59.99, and it’s marked as a Labor Day Deal. It’s a straightforward 12-cup programmable coffee maker, so if your morning routine doesn’t need an app, a touchscreen, or a minor engineering degree, this does the job.

Outin Nano Portable Electric Espresso Machine

The Outin Nano is easily the strangest pick here, but that’s also why I like it. Best Buy has the Space Gray model for $109.99, down from $149.99, with a Labor Day Deal badge. It’s battery-powered and portable, so this makes a lot more sense for travel, camping, or the office than for someone building a serious home espresso setup.

Instant Pot Pro Plus 6-Quart

The Instant Pot Pro Plus is still one of those appliances that can justify taking up permanent counter space. Amazon has it for $169.95 instead of $229.99, which takes about $60 off. Our Instant Pot Pro Plus review found plenty to like about its versatility and usability improvements, and the ability to replace several one-purpose appliances remains its biggest appeal.

Ninja Blast Max Portable Blender

The Ninja Blast Max is down to $69.95 from $99.99 at Amazon, where it’s currently marked as a limited-time deal. I wouldn’t buy this expecting countertop-blender performance, but that’s not really the point. It’s rechargeable, compact, and built for smoothies or protein shakes when you don’t want to drag out a full-size blender or hunt for an outlet.

Cuisinart TOA-70NAS Air Fryer Toaster Oven

The Cuisinart TOA-70NAS is the one I’d choose if the Ninja Prestige feels like too much appliance. Amazon has it for $158.40 instead of $219.95, so you’re saving about 28%. We’ve covered this Cuisinart air fryer toaster oven before, and it still handles the everyday air-fryer and toaster-oven basics at roughly $90 less than the Ninja.

Warner Bros. lawsuit accuses Amazon of illegally poaching executives

Posted on July 26, 2026 by faz_business

Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit this week accusing Amazon of interference with contractual relations, breach of contract, and unfair competition.

As reported by Deadline, the lawsuit alleges Amazon has been “hurriedly seeking to pirate away a number of contracted employees,” including Pia Barlow, an HBO Max marketing executive who recently joined Amazon MGM Studios. Warner Bros. (whose pending acquisition by Paramount has been paused for at least a few months) said Barlow’s employment contract was “not set to expire until October 31, 2027.”

“In blatant disregard of established California law, Amazon has gone rogue by attempting to induce Plaintiffs’ employees with term employment agreements to breach those agreements with impunity, backed up with the ready assurance that Amazon will defend and indemnify them should they be held to account for their blatantly unlawful acts,” Warner Bros. said.

The company also accused Amazon of seeking to “tortiously induce another WBD employee to breach their term employment agreement, which was not set to expire until December 2027,” although that executive (believed to be HBO programming executive Francesca Orsi) ultimately stayed at Warner Bros.

Deadline noted that this lawsuit is likely to renew debates about whether term employment agreements are actually enforceable under California law.

Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment.

Amazon drops Ring’s Indoor Cam Plus bundle from $80 to just $45

Posted on June 13, 2026 by faz_business

Ring Indoor Cam Plus with Window and Door Sensor Press Image

What you get is a plug-in indoor 2K camera and a window or door contact sensor in one package. The camera records in Retinal 2K video and supports up to 6x Enhanced Zoom, so you can get a closer look at what is happening in a room. It also features advanced motion detection and customizable motion zones, helping you focus alerts on the areas that matter most.

For talking to people at home, there is a two-way talk with noise cancelation. You also get a remote-activated siren and improved color viewing in low light. The included sensor sends real-time alerts when a door or window opens and does not require a base station when using Amazon Sidewalk.

Setup is also pretty quick. The camera requires a standard outlet and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, and the estimated installation time is 5 to 10 minutes. The sensor runs on two included CR2032 batteries, with up to three years of battery life. For Prime Day, getting both pieces together at this price looks like a strong value.

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Volkswagen becomes Rivian’s top shareholder, displacing Amazon

Posted on May 5, 2026 by faz_business

Volkswagen has pushed Amazon out of the top spot to become Rivian’s largest shareholder, new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show.

VW Group’s increasing equity stake in Rivian, which has grown from 8.6% to 15.9% in less than two years, is tied to a joint venture with the EV startup. The Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture — officially formed in November 2024 — is focused on the development of electrical architecture and software.

And that stake will continue to grow, as long as Rivian continues to meet its end of the deal.

VW has committed to invest $5.8 billion into Rivian, capital that is unlocked as certain milestones are reached. The German automaker kicked off the deal with an initial $1 billion investment, followed by another $1 billion in mid-2025.

Rivian received another $1 billion last month after completing winter testing of the VW ID.EVERY1, a small four-door hatchback that will be the first vehicle under the joint venture to be equipped with its software and electrical architecture.

The latest SEC documents, filed Monday, show that VW Group now owns 209.7 million shares of Rivian stock.

Amazon, a longtime backer and customer, holds 12.28% of Rivian. Amazon was an early backer of Rivian, investing $700 million into the company when it was still a privately held upstart. The company disclosed in 2021, ahead of Rivian’s IPO, that it held a 20% stake in Rivian. Amazon is not only an investor in Rivian; it’s also a customer. In September 2019, Rivian entered into an agreement with Amazon to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans.

Other top shareholders include Oryx Global with an 8.6% share, and Vanguard with 5.1%. Rivian founder and chief executive RJ Scaringe holds a roughly 1.1% stake in the company.

Volkswagen’s deal with Rivian came at a critical moment for the EV maker as it poured millions of dollars into R&D and pushed to bring its R2 from the design studio to the assembly line. Rivian started production of the R2 in April and is expected to begin delivering the mid-sized SUV to customers in the coming weeks.

If successful, the VW-Rivian joint venture could lead to future tech licensing deals with other companies or new categories. For instance, the joint venture with VW excludes AI and autonomy, two areas that Rivian has focused considerable capital towards in recent years. Rivian plowed $1.7 billion on R&D in 2025, up from $1.6 billion in 2024, the company’s annual filing shows. Much of that has been directed towards its autonomy efforts — so much that it has prompted the company to push its profitability goal past 2027.

In a filing that detailed Rivian’s new partnership with Uber, Rivian disclosed it doesn’t expect to be EBITDA positive next year because of its R&D spending.

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An Amazon warehouse worker died on the job at Oregon facility

Posted on April 14, 2026 by faz_business

An Amazon employee at the Troutdale, Oregon warehouse passed away at work last week, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

According to a report from the Western Edge, an independent investigative outlet covering the Pacific Northwest, the worker collapsed on the floor at the PDX9 warehouse and lay dead as employees continued to work around him.

“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our team, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their loved ones during this difficult time,” Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson told TechCrunch. “We’ve been in touch with his family and have provided resources to support them. For employees at our PDX9 facility, we’ve provided onsite grief counselors and additional support. We’re thankful for the work of the Multnomah County Sherrif’s Department and local emergency medical services.”

On a Reddit forum for Amazon fulfillment center workers, several people claiming to work at PDX9 said that the building had been especially hot after soundproof curtains were installed, which limited airflow. They speculated that the heat could have contributed to the employee’s death, as it would compound the physical demands of fulfillment center work. According to the Western Edge, some employees noticed that the building was cooler when they returned to work the next day.

Amazon, however, said that Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined the incident to be non-work related. Employees were sent home early and were paid for the remainder of their shift; the night shift was cancelled, and employees scheduled to work were paid as well, according to the company.

The PDX9 warehouse has a reputation for having harsh working conditions; in 2018, an investigation from Reveal, an investigative journalism outlet, found that 26% of employees at the warehouse had sustained injuries. A report based on 2024 OSHA data showed that the company’s fulfillment centers report serious injuries at a rate more than two times the warehouse industry average.

Amazon’s fulfillment centers have been subject to several probes by federal agencies and prosecutors over warehouse safety, with investigators alleging that the company manipulated data and failed to properly document workplace injuries. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting an ongoing investigation into workplace safety at Amazon warehouses.

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October 13-15, 2026

Amazon told TechCrunch that the company has seen a 43% reduction in its global recordable incident rate since 2019 — a metric that tracks any work-related injury requiring more than basic first aid. The company said it has invested more than $2.5 billion in safety improvements since 2019, including hundreds of millions of dollars in 2026 alone.

Amazon hits sellers with ‘fuel surcharge’ as Iran war roils global energy markets

Posted on April 3, 2026 by faz_business

The war in Iran has hammered global oil markets, with gas prices in the U.S. spiking significantly. Amid the rise in transportation costs, Amazon has instituted a new 3.5% fuel surcharge for sellers that use its distribution network. The policy has the potential to inflict significant new costs on the untold merchants that rely on the e-commerce giant to sell their products.

Amazon told TechCrunch that the surcharge would be in place for the foreseeable future, although the company said it will continue to evaluate a potential policy shift as market conditions evolve. The news was originally reported by Bloomberg.

“Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry,” a spokesperson said. “We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.” The spokesperson added that the surcharge was “meaningfully lower than surcharges applied by other major carriers.”

The new policy will take effect on April 17 and will impact sellers who use the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon service, Bloomberg writes. Fulfillment by Amazon, commonly known as FBA, allows companies to send their products to Amazon’s warehouses, where they are packed and shipped to buyers. Amazon doesn’t disclose how many merchants use FBA, but the program underpins the vast majority of third-party sales on its platform.

Amazon first instituted this type of surcharge in 2022 — which, not so coincidentally, was the last time crude oil traded over $100 a barrel. What was happening in 2022? Russia had just invaded Ukraine, sending energy markets haywire. Today, the war in Iran — spurred by the Trump administration and the Israeli government’s assassination of the nation’s Supreme Leader — has similarly rocked markets.

Iran is strategically located along the northern border of the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow but critical shipping lane for global oil supplies through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes — and the country has sought to block shipping lanes there, a move that has majorly impacted energy prices throughout the world.

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October 13-15, 2026

Amazon acquires Rivr, maker of a stair-climbing delivery robot

Posted on March 20, 2026 by faz_business

Rivr, a Zurich-based autonomous robotics startup known for its stair-climbing delivery robot, has been acquired by Amazon in a deal that signals the e-commerce giant’s interest in doorstep delivery. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Co-founder and CEO Marko Bjelonic, who once described the four-legged wheeled robot to TechCrunch as a “dog on roller skates,” shared the acquisition news on LinkedIn. The Information was first to report the deal.

Bjelonic said in his LinkedIn post that the acquisition will “accelerate our vision of building General Physical AI through doorstep delivery, bringing robotics and AI closer to real-world deployment at scale,” meaning, in plain terms, that Amazon’s resources should help Rivr get its robots onto more doorsteps, faster.

Last year, Rivr launched a pilot program in Austin with Veho, a package delivery company. Bjelonic said, at the time, he hoped to learn from the partnership with Veho and eventually scale to 100 bots by 2026. It’s unclear if the company was ever able to reach that milestone.

TechCrunch has reached out to Rivr for comment.

Rivr got the attention of Amazon long before its pilot program. The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund and Bezos Expeditions invested in Rivr as part of a $22.2 million seed round that closed in 2024, according to PitchBook. The startup, which had raised a total of $25 million, was last valued at $100 million.

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October 13-15, 2026

Big tech companies agree to not ruin your electric bill with AI data centers

Posted on March 5, 2026 by faz_business

Today the White House announced that several major players in tech and AI have agreed to steps that will keep electricity costs from rising due to data centers. Under this Ratepayer Protection Pledge, companies are agreeing to practices that are intended to protect residents from seeing higher electricity costs as more and more businesses create power-hungry data centers. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI have all apparently signed on. A few of the participants — Amazon, Google and Meta — had conveniently timed press releases patting themselves on the back for their participation and touting whatever other policies they have for mitigating the negative impacts of data center construction.

The main provisions of the federal pledge have tech companies agreeing to “build, bring, or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands, paying the full cost of those resources.” It also claims they will pay for any needed power infrastructure upgrades and operate under separate rate structures for power that will see payments made whether or not the business uses that electricity.

The pledge doesn’t appear to be any form of binding agreement and there’s no discussion of enforcement or a penalty for companies that don’t honor the stipulated provisions. It also doesn’t address any of the other impacts data centers and AI development might be having, either on local communities, on other utilities and resources, or on access to critical computing elements like RAM.

Prime Video’s AI recap feature messed up so badly that Amazon removed it

Posted on December 12, 2025 by faz_business

Amazon has quietly removed its recently launched feature, AI-generated video recaps, after it bungled key story details of the Fallout series on Prime Video. The feature was supposed to make catching up on the next season easier by analyzing plot points and turning them into a short video narrated by an AI voice. Instead, it got basic facts wrong, confusing both longtime fans and people just discovering the show.

Where the AI recaps went wrong

Fallout’s season one recap was where viewers first noticed something was off. The AI confidently claimed that one of The Ghoul’s flashbacks took place in 1950s, even though the scene is actually set in the year 2077. As GamesRadar pointed out, the narrator also misstated a major character moment by saying The Ghoul gave Lucy a choice to die or leave with him. The real situation is far more nuanced since Lucy could either join him or stay behind and face a possible attack from the Brotherhood of Steel.

Fallout on Prime added a season 1 recap but don’t bother watching it, it’s AI slop that gets several details wrong like the flashbacks being set in the 1950s and “Cooper offers Lucy a choice in the finale: die, or join him” phrased as if he’d be the one to kill her 😭 pic.twitter.com/zHLvN988w5

— lucks eterna ☘️ (@lucks_eterna) November 24, 2025

Earlier, Amazon deployed these AI-powered recaps across several series, including The Rig, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Upload, and Bosch. Now, the feature has disappeared from all of them, and Amazon has not yet commented on when or whether the feature will return. This news arrives as Amazon tests other viewing upgrades on Prime Video, such as an Alexa feature that allows you to skip directly to any scene you describe.

The idea behind these recaps made sense in theory. They were supposed to save viewers time and offer a quick refresher before starting a new season. For now, Prime Video is left with a reminder of how messy generative AI can be when it tries to explain a world as detailed as Fallout. Amazon might bring the feature back after fixing it, yet this misstep highlights how far AI still is from delivering dependable story recaps. Until Amazon gets its recap system back on track, you can check out what is new on Prime Video this month or pick from its lineup of top-rated movies.