AWS wants to rule the world

AWS, once a nice little side hustle for Amazon’s eCommerce business, has grown over the years into a behemoth that’s on a $27 billion run rate, one that’s still growing at around 45 percent a year. That’s a highly successful business by any measure, but as I listened to AWS executives last week at their AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, I didn’t hear a group that was content to sit still and let the growth speak for itself. Instead, I heard one that wants to dominate every area of enterprise computing.

Congress still wants answers from Amazon about its facial recognition tech

Eight Democratic members of Congress asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for more information about the company's facial recognition software, which has already been used by some police forces. In a letter dated Thursday, the lawmakers expressed concern that the Recognition software wasn't yet accurate enough to be used by law enforcement. 

Amazon says Cyber Monday, Black Friday broke sales records

Amazon said Cyber Monday and Black Friday were the biggest shopping days in its history.  The online retail giant didn't disclose sales figures, but it said customers ordered more than 180 million items during the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, adding that the latter was its biggest single shopping day ever.

Amazon warehouse workers in Europe stage ‘we are not robots’ protests

Amazon  warehouse workers in several countries in Europe are protesting over what they claim are inhuman working conditions which treat people like robots. It’s the latest in a series of worker actions this year. They’ve timed the latest protest for Black Friday, one of the busiest annual shopping days online as retailers slash prices and heavily promote deals to try to spark a seasonal buying rush.

Amazon bids for Disney's 22 regional sports networks, including YES Network, sources say

Amazon is bidding for all of the 22 regional sports TV networks that Disney acquired from Twenty-First Century Fox. The e-commerce giant's bid includes the New York-based YES Network, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC. It is bidding for the New York network along with an unknown sovereign wealth fund and the Yankees, the sources said. YES may be sold separately from the other networks.

Amazon exposed customer names and emails in a 'technical error'

Amazon exposed some customers' names and emails due to a "technical error," according to emails the company sent to affected customers. Several people shared screenshots of the emails online Wednesday morning. BetaNews first reported the incident.

Alexa will tell you where you can vote and give real-time election updates

In the days leading up to the US midterm elections on November 6th, Amazon’s Alexa will be able to tell users information about voter registration deadlines, polling information, and give real-time election results. Following the election, Alexa will also be able to give more details on the outcome, including how many seats each party gained, and information on specific candidates.

Amazon is having a spooky bad October

After a long winning streak, Amazon is having a rough month. The company’s stock slid 6.3% on Oct. 29, following a 7.8% drop ahead of the weekend on Oct. 26. The plunge came after Amazon released third-quarter earnings on Oct. 25 that indicated its most important businesses were all slowing down.

Amazon Has Pulled Its Ads From Bloomberg Over China Hack Story

Amazon pulled its fourth-quarter advertisements from Bloomberg’s website, a move some within the media giant think is retribution for Bloomberg’s controversial storyalleging that Chinese spies hacked into the online retailer’s servers. According to a source in a position to know, Amazon’s digital media buyer, Initiative, informed Bloomberg’s sales staff on Oct. 16 that it would cancel its ad buys for the fourth quarter due to budget cuts. Internally, the source said, the staff received that decision, made only eight days after a previous communication with Initiative confirming that the ads would run, as a direct response to Amazon’s displeasure over the Oct. 4 story. (Amazon announced Thursday that its marketing expenses for Q3 2018 were $3.3 billion, up more than $800 million from the year before.)

Amazon plunges 10% on revenue and guidance miss

Amazon's third-quarter earnings beat Street estimates, but its revenue and fourth-quarter outlook fell short of expectations, causing the stock to plunge in extended trading. The company gave fourth-quarter revenue guidance in the range of $66.5 billion and $72.5 billion, well-below consensus of $73.79 billion. The fourth quarter is the biggest and most important sales period for Amazon because of the holidays.