Amazon’s upgraded digital assistant powered by generative AI, Alexa+, has rolled out to over 100,000 users, CEO Andy Jassy said on the company’s earnings call Thursday.
While that’s a far cry from the 600 million Alexa devices out there, the company is making some progress on the rollout of Alexa+, which was first unveiled in February. At the time, Amazon said that Alexa+ would roll out in waves over the coming months.
Amazon’s new digital assistant aims to let users talk with it in a more natural style, and eventually have agentic abilities that allow it to use third-party apps on a user’s behalf. Alexa+ should be able to generate original responses on the fly, much like the voice modes in OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, rather than the predetermined responses of the old Alexa and Siri systems.
However, as The Washington Post reported at launch, the Alexa+ that’s rolling out today lacks some of the key features the company demoed in February. The report notes that, at launch, Alexa+ did not have the ability to use third party apps like GrubHub, generate a bedtime story for children, or brainstorm a gift idea. It’s unclear when those features will make it into Alexa+.
“We have a lot more functionality that we plan to add in coming months,” Jassy said on the call.
During his opening comments, Jassy claimed that Alexa+ is one of the first action-oriented AI agents for consumers. But he noted that this technology is still rather “primitive” and “inaccurate.” Currently, most multi-step AI agents have a low accuracy rate, between 30% and 60%, the Amazon CEO said. Jassy set a goal for the company’s web-browsing agent that powers Alexa+, Nova Act, to achieve 90% accuracy in this domain.
Amazon’s rollout of Alexa+ seems to be progressing faster than Apple’s rollout of its new, LLM-powered Siri. When asked about the new Siri delays on Apple’s Thursday earnings call, which occurred simultaneously wiith Amazon’s, CEO Tim Cook said the company needed “more time to complete the work.”
Along the road to supercharge legacy digital assistants with generative AI, both Apple and Amazon have reportedly run into snags and delays. Some of the biggest hiccups are around getting LLMs to use tools and integrate with other systems. Doing so allows Alexa and Siri to complete practical tasks such as setting timers and reading texts, but implementing it has proven harder than expected.
Amazon is suing the Consumer Product Safety Commission over its decision to hold the company legally responsible for faulty products on its platform, The Associated Pressreports. Amazon’s suit demands that the shipping giant be considered a “third-party logistics provider” instead of a distributor and also calls the CPSC “unconstitutionally constructed.”
The origins of the legal fight can be traced back to 2021, when the CPSC sued Amazon to force it to recall faulty carbon monoxide detectors, unsafe hair dryers and flammable children’s sleepwear. At the time, Amazon had already taken some steps to address the issue, like informing customers who purchased the products that they were hazardous and offering store credit, but the CPSC wanted the company to go further.
The CPSC move to classify Amazon as a distributor in 2024 made the company responsible for issuing recalls and refunds for products sold through its Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program. FBA lets sellers send their products to Amazon warehouses, where Amazon then handles picking, packing and shipping those products to customers, along with things like customer service and returns. Amazon takes issue with its classification as a distributor because it doesn’t own or make the faulty products the CPSC is concerned with — it sees itself as more of a hands-on FedEx.
Besides wanting to be reclassified and not held responsible for issuing more refunds, Amazon also has problems with the CPSC itself. The CPSC’s commissioners are appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and serve for seven years, unless they’re removed for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” Amazon feels the commission’s relative invulnerability is unconstitutional and makes them “judge, jury, and prosecutor” in proceedings.
Amazon’s made similar claims about the National Labor Review Board, the organization in charge of protecting workers’ right to unionize. The timing of these complaints is key. The Trump administration is not particularly interested in maintaining any government organization empowered to regulate business, and it seems likely it will side with Amazon in disempowering the CPSC, one way or another.
Amazon will discontinue its app store for Android on August 20 this year. The company sent a notice to developers indicating that they will no longer be able to submit new apps to the store.
The company said on a support page that it will also discontinue its Coins digital currency, which could be used to purchase games and apps on the app store.
“Starting August 20, 2025, you will no longer have access to the Amazon Appstore on your Android device. We will also be discontinuing the Amazon Coins program on August 20, 2025,” the company said on a support page.
Amazon said that it will refund any coins that users hold as of August 20.
The company added that the app store will still be functional on its own devices, such as Fire TV and Fire Tablet.
The company didn’t immediately respond to questions about the decision to discontinue the store.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached a settlement with Amazon about alleged hazardous workplace conditions at ten of the tech giant’s facilities. Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon will pay a penalty of $145,000 and must implement “corporate-wide ergonomic measures” to reduce the risk of worker injuries. OSHA will also continue inspecting the facilities for the next two years. On the government side of the agreement, OSHA is withdrawing nine of its ten ergonomic citations against the company.
Ergonomic injuries are also known as musculoskeletal disorders. These can include sprains and strains experienced on the job.
A rep from the Department of Labor told ABC News that this settlement is the “largest of its kind” and “will resolve all outstanding ergonomic litigation” against Amazon. However, it will not impact a separate investigation into Amazon allegedly concealing workplace injuries that is currently underway at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Amazon has denied those charges.
Amazon’s workforce also made news this week as strikes began at multiple facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York. Members of the Teamsters union organized the effort, with several union chapters voting to take action against the company. The Teamsters had called on Amazon to negotiate around working conditions, wages and benefits, asking the company to agree to bargaining dates for a contract by December 15. Local journalists from Hell Gate captured footage of the first day of strikes in Queens, NY, showing a peaceful picket line being broken by local police, who reportedly erected barricades to allow contractors to enter and leave the Amazon distribution center.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a from the organization. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Workers at two of Amazon’s warehouses in New York City are set to go on strike after the company failed to come to the bargaining table by a December 15 deadline. Unionized workers at the JFK8 facility on Staten Island and DBK4 depot in Queens voted “overwhelmingly” to authorize strikes in protest against “Amazon’s illegal refusal to recognize their union and negotiate a contract addressing the company’s low wages and dangerous working conditions,” according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Engadget has contacted the Teamsters and Amazon Labor Union (ALU) for more details about the strikes.
“Our members are ready to do whatever it takes to get a contract,” Connor Spence, president of ALU-IBT Local 1, said in a statement. “While Amazon continues to disrespect us by refusing to listen to our concerns, our movement is only growing stronger.”
As for DBK4 — which the Teamsters say is Amazon’s biggest delivery station in NYC — workers there voted almost unanimously for strike authorization. Meanwhile, workers at the DIL7 delivery depot in Skokie, Illinois, also voted “overwhelmingly” to approve a strike. The Teamsters represent hundreds of workers at that station as well. “Amazon is one of the biggest companies on Earth, but we are struggling to pay our bills,” Riley Holzworth, a DIL7 worker, said in a statement.
Amazon has lodged legal challenges against the union election win at JFK8, but it has been unsuccessful in its efforts to overturn results thus far. The company has appealed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that certified the union. As ABC News reports, workers claim that Amazon is using the challenges as a tactic to illegally delay union contract talks.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards told ABC News. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges.”
News of the impending strike comes just after a Senate committee released a report regarding an investigation into safety at Amazon facilities. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions claimed the company ignored internal research indicating that there was a high level of injury rates at its warehouses.
Are you ready for the holiday travels and the long hours on your phone that accompany them? Whether you’re using your device for directions or entertainment, it’s a pain when you’re phone just dies. Try to avoid this by picking up one of our choices for best power banks and portable chargers, like Anker’s 200W Prime Power Bank — our favorite premium power bank.
Anker’s Prime Power Bank with a 100W charging base is currently available for $110, down from $185. This 41 percent off deal brings the power bank and charging base back down to a record-low price. To start from the bottom, its charging base has a USB port and two USB-C ports. You can use them while the base is plugged in and juicing up the power bank. As for the power bank, it can charge a MacBook Air once and an iPhone 14 or Galaxy S23 3.4 times. The power bank’s sleek screen shows how much battery the Anker device still holds.
Anker
If you’re only really interested in the power bank then you can get it for a lot cheaper. The Anker Prime Power Bank is available on its own for just $78 — a 40 percent discount. This deal is also a record-low price for the device and offers all the same perks just sans-base.
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At its re:Invent 2024 conference in Las Vegas, Amazon on Sunday announced a somewhat unusual new service for Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers: Data Transfer Terminal, a set of physical locations where customers can plug in their storage devices to upload data to the AWS cloud.
So how’s it work, exactly? From the AWS management console, customers can reserve a time slot, optionally assign process and data transfer specialists from their organization, and visit a Data Transfer Terminal location to upload their data.
“On your reserved date and time, [you’ll] visit the location and confirm access with the building reception,” Channy Yun, a principal developer advocate at AWS, explained in a blog post. “[You’ll then be] escorted by building staff to the floor and your reserved room of the Data Transfer Terminal location […] Don’t be surprised if there are no AWS signs in the building or room. This is for security reasons to keep your work location as secret as possible.”
The initial Data Transfer Terminal locations have been opened in New York City and Los Angeles, and more will be added in the future. Each location is equipped with a patch panel, fiber optic cable, and a PC for monitoring data transfer jobs.
A pilot AWS Data Transfer Terminal location. Image Credits:AWS
Now, why would someone want to lug all their hard drives to a building and sit around and wait for the upload to finish? Well, Amazon claims that Data Transfer Terminal delivers fast upload speeds (up to 400Gbps) via a secure, “high throughput” connection.
You’ll have to pay for the privilege, though. Amazon charges “per port hour” for usage of ports in Data Transfer Terminal locations during a reservation — even when no data is being transferred.
“At a minimum, you’ll be charged per port hour for the number of hours reserved,” reads an Amazon support page. “You’ll be charged for port hours for each port you use and/or request as part of your reservation.”
Per-port charges are $300 for “U.S. to U.S.” data transfers (i.e., uploads to a U.S.-based AWS data center) and $500 for “U.S. to EU” transfers (uploads to an EU region). Amazon doesn’t list the prices for transfers to the rest of the globe.
Amazon has some excellent Black Friday deals on our picks for best smart speakers. There’s a range of Amazon products on sale, including the Echo Pop, which is available for $18, down from $40. The 55 percent discount brings the Amazon Echo Pop to a record-low price.
Amazon launched the Echo Pop in May 2023 as a new entry-level option for Alexa-powered devices. It features a 1.95-inch front-facing speaker which could work well in a small room like a study or a dorm room. It uses Amazon’s AZ2 Neural Edge processor to allow for on-device tasks and lets you do all the standard commands with Alexa. Plus, you can get it in four colors: Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal.
Amazon
The Pop isn’t the only Echo device on sale ahead of Black Friday. Right now, you can get the fifth-generation Echo Dot for $23, down from $50 — a 44 percent discount. The Echo Spot is also on sale, dropping to $45 from $80 and the fourth-generation Echo is $55, down from $100.
Amazon is closing down Freevee, its free ad-supported video on demand service. This platform was home to original programming as well as more than from the Prime Video roster. Freevee will be phased out over the coming weeks, and its content will become available as part of Prime Video. The ad-supported tier of Prime Video is included as part of Amazon’s Prime membership for $15 a month.
“To deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out Freevee branding,” an Amazon spokesperson told . “There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST channels – all available on Prime Video.”
The free viewing platform went through several rebrands since its original launch as IMDb Freedive in January 2019. It its final phase as Freevee in April 2022.
TV sales are as predictable as the changing seasons, with prices steadily dropping on multiple brands and models this time of year. As Black Friday has become more of a monthlong free-for-all than a weekend event, you’ll find many of the best TV deals available now, making it the perfect time to complete your big purchase. Below are some of my very favorites and top performers at a wide variety of price points for your perusal. And don’t forget to check out our Black Friday buying tips and curated gift guides as you check off your shopping list.
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TV Deals
Samsung S90D
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
LG’s C4 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is perennially named one of the best TVs you can buy, for good reason, and it’s now at the lowest price we’ve seen all year. You’ll get the stunning contrast and perfect black levels of a top OLED display, rich and naturalistic colors, sparkling clear picture processing, and solid brightness with support for Dolby Vision HDR. LG’s smart interface is quirky but lightning-fast, and the Magic Remote works like a Nintendo Wii remote for versatile control. Extras like four fully-loaded HDMI 2.1 inputs to serve up the top gaming features make the C4 feel like a flagship TV at second-tier pricing.
Not to be outdone, Samsung’s second-tier OLED (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is another of my favorite TVs of the year. The 65-inch model’s QD-OLED panel (the 42-, 48-, and 83-inch models use a more traditional WOLED panel) provides fabulously rich colors and a slight brightness boost over its C4 counterpart, alongside the perfect black levels and excellent picture quality from any angle that makes OLED TVs top performers. Like the C4, you’ll get HDMI 2.1 support across all four inputs and Samsung’s Game Hub lets you stream games from an impressive list of services, including Xbox. Like all Samsung TVs, the S90D doesn’t support Dolby Vision, the most common dynamic HDR format, opting for HDR10+ instead. Otherwise, it’s hard to find a flaw.
If you’re after something more budget-friendly, Hisense’s U7N QLED TV (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our pick as the best TV for most people right now, thanks to its mix of killer brightness, vivid quantum dot colors, and excellent contrast. We saw some uniformity issues in testing (aka the dirty screen effect) but it’s not noticeable in most situations, and the TV’s mini LED backlighting system is a step above regular LED TVs, with loads of dimming zones for minimal “blooming” or light wash around bright images. An intuitive Google TV interface and high-end gaming features complete the package for a TV that punches well above its price.
Hisense U8N
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Looking to bust the brightness barrier? Hisense’s 65-inch U8N TV (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is among the brightest we’ve ever tested, outshining the vast majority of LED rivals with its searing highlights and voluminous quantum dot colors. You might think all that power would make it a poor performer in the dark, but the U8N’s advanced mini LED backlighting allows for inky black levels with very little light bloom. You’ll also get top-end gaming features and a Google TV interface. The TV’s off-axis image quality and motion handling are just OK, but otherwise you’re getting a lot of the goodies found in premium TVs for far less money. Add in a good sale, and it’s hard to say no.
If affordability and convenience top your TV checklist, this balanced baseline model from Roku is an enticing choice. Roku’s simplified interface runs the show, making it easy for even the less technically inclined among us to navigate between inputs, broadcast TV, and your choice of hundreds of streaming services. The TV’s picture quality isn’t top tier, and its 60-Hz refresh rate may not appeal to avid gamers, but you do get good brightness, vibrant colors, local dimming for solid black levels without blotchy light patches, and smart support for Apple Homekit, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
Maybe you’ve been waiting to go gonzo with a mega screen this holiday season. If so, TCL’s QM7 is a tempting bargain, offering good performance at a great price in an absolutely massive screen size. I’ve only tested the 65-inch version, but the large-and-in-charge model should offer a similar overall experience, with excellent brightness and more dimming zones to provide good contrast and black levels. It’s loaded with features, including gaming extras and all major flavors of HDR, and its overall picture processing and screen uniformity are surprisingly solid for its class. My only hesitation with this TV is a settings issue I experienced where the HDR changes with SDR settings. TCL was able to fix this for me with a firmware update, and the brand says one is coming for all its TVs in December. That hindrance aside, this is a whole lot of screen real estate for a price that costs less than some premium 65-inch models. If you’re still unsure, last year’s excellent Hisense U8K (8/10, WIRED Recommends) comes in 100 inches right now for $3,000.
Another brightness champion, the Bravia 9 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) matches its next-gen LED potency with brilliant balance to create one of the most stirring performances of any TV I’ve tested. You’ll almost feel the heat of the sun or lasers cascading across the screen, while Sony’s proprietary backlighting and processing systems provide incredible contrast and clarity. You’ll get Sony’s Google TV smart interface for simple navigation, and high-end gaming features, including in-house PlayStation exclusives. The TV’s off-angle viewing is good, not great, and I wish Sony would offer HDMI 2.1 gaming support across more than just two of its four inputs, but if you’re after the best LED TV on the market at its lowest price yet, you’re welcome.
If I’d known the Bravia 7 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) would drop this low, I honestly would have given it a higher score. It seemed a bit too high at its $2,300 MSRP, but now that it’s $1,000 lower, and $400 off its original sale price, it feels like Sony’s giving these things away. My main gripe about the Bravia 7 was its notably poor performance from the side. If you’re mainly watching from straight-on, though, this is a killer performer for the money. The TV’s mini LED backlight is brilliantly bright, with dazzling colors, excellent contrast, and stunning clarity across content. Like most TVs in its class, it tacks on top gaming features (though only across two of its four HDMI inputs), and its Google TV interface adds intuitive control. At this price, this is among the best options for anyone after a bright-yet-refined TV experience.
