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A group of corporate Amazon workers upset about the company’s environmental impact, recent layoffs and a return-to-office mandate is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday.
The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.
“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,900 employees had pledged to walk out around the world, with about 900 in Seattle, according to Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a climate change advocacy group founded by Amazon workers. While some plan to gather at the Amazon Spheres — a four-story structure in downtown Seattle that from the outside looks like three connected glass orbs — others will participate remotely.
Some employees have complained that Amazon has been slow to address its impact on climate change. Amazon, which relies on fossil fuels to power the planes, trucks and vans that ship packages all over the world, has an enormous carbon footprint. Amazon workers have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices.
In an annual statement to investors, Amazon said it aims to deploy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030 and reach net-zero carbon by 2040. But walkout organizers contend the company must do more and commit to zero emissions by 2030.
“While we all would like to get there tomorrow, for companies like ours who consume a lot of power, and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish,” Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.
Glasser said there has also been a good energy on the company’s South Lake Union campus and at its other urban centers since more employees returned to the office. More than 20,000 workers, however, signed a petition urging Amazon to reconsider the return-to-office mandate.
“As it pertains to the specific topics this group of employees is raising,” Glasser said, “we’ve explained our thinking in different forums over the past few months and will continue to do so.”
In a February memo, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company made its decision to return corporate employees to the office at least three days a week after observing what worked during the pandemic. Among other things, he said senior leadership watched how staff performed and talked to leaders at other companies. He said they concluded employees tended to be more engaged in person and collaborate more easily.
In a note asking Amazon employees to pledge their participation in the walkout, organizers said Amazon “must return autonomy to its teams, who know their employees and customers best, to make the best decision on remote, in-person, or hybrid work, and to its employees to choose a team which enables them to work the way they work best.”
The walkout follows widespread cost-cutting at Amazon, where layoffs have affected workers in advertising, human resources, gaming, stores, devices and Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing division. The company has cut 27,000 jobs since November.
Like other tech companies, including Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet, Amazon ramped up hiring during the pandemic to meet the demand from homebound Americans who were increasingly shopping online to keep themselves safe from the virus.
Amazon’s workforce, in warehouses and offices, doubled to more than 1.6 million people in about two years. But demand slowed as the worst of the pandemic eased. The company began pausing or canceling its warehouse expansion plans last year.
Amid growing anxiety over the potential for a recession, Amazon in the past few months shut down a subsidiary that’s been selling fabrics for nearly 30 years, shuttered Amazon Care, its hybrid virtual, in-home care service, and closed Amazon Smile, a philanthropic program.
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Thinking about switching from cable to a streaming platform? Cutting the cord is a lot easier than you might think and can save you more on your monthly bill than certain basic cable plans.
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For TV lovers who want to make the leap to streaming, we’re breaking down some of the best platforms for live TV. Check below for a roundup of streaming options that range from $25 a month up to $150 a month. The services recommended below offer month-to-month subscription plans that can be canceled at any time.
From Fubo to Peacock: Best Streaming Services for Live TV
Though major league streamers like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Paramount+ produce mostly on-demand content, YouTube TV, Sling TV and Philo, and DirectTV Stream are some of the more affordable options for live content.
If you’re on a tight budget, Philo TV is the cheapest among the plans on our list at $25/month after a one-week free trial. Stream 70+ channels including MTV, BET, A&E, Food Network, Discovery, Hallmark, ID, Nickelodeon, OWN, AMC, IFC, Lifetime, WeTV, HGTV, Comedy Central, Hallmark, TLC, TV One, OWN and the Paramount Network. Philo also comes with unlimited DVR and like all other streamers, you can watch content from any compatible device.
Philo TV
$25/month after 7-day free trial
When it comes to sports, it can be tricky finding an affordable streamer that offers your favorite games and other sporting events along with other channels. Thankfully, Fubo has a bit of everything.
Sports fans can stream NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL games along with NASCAR, MLS, MMA, tennis, soccer, boxing, golf, college sports and more on Fubo. Plans start at $76 a month (after the free trial) to access over 156 channels and 100+ sporting events. Watch ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS, along with MLB Network, Golf TV, NBA League Pass and other sports-only channels in addition to MTV, ESPN, VH1, E!, FX, MSNBC, TLC, MGM+, Paramount Network, TV Land, TRVL channel, USA, Bravo, Telemundo and more.
The subscription includes 1,000 hours of DVR space and family share to simultaneously stream on up to 10 screens at home and two outside of your home internet network.
Want more channels? Subscribe to Fubo Elite and stream 224 channels for $84.99/month or join Fubo Premier to access 233 channels for $94.99/month (and free Showtime). Fubo’s Spanish Only plan is $24.99/month to stream 52 channels, 250 hours of cloud DVD and up to two screens.
Fubo TV
$74.99
On the scale of affordability, Sling TV rivals Philo as streaming plans start at $30 for your first month ($40 after). Sling’s Orange plan includes 31 channels — Bravo, ID, AMC, BET, ESPN, TLC, A&E, BET, TNT, TCM, FX, E!, Freeform, HLN, HGTV, etc. — 50 hours of DVR storage and one device stream. The Blue plan unlocks access to 42 channels, three device streams and 50 hours of DVR. The Orange and Blue plan comes with 48 channels for $50 a month.
Sling TV
$30 $40 25% off% OFF
Hulu is one of the oldest platforms in the streaming realm (subscribe for $2/month for three months) and one of the more affordable. Hulu + Live TV is $69.99 a month for 75+ channels and Hulu’s on-demand streaming library where you’ll find exclusives like The Kardashians, ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Kourtney & Travis, White Men Can’t Jump, How I Met Your Father, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Clearing and Only Murders in the Building. Hulu + Live TV also includes ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, NTVM BETM ESPN, ID, HGTV, Own, USA, TRVL channel, Oxygen, FX, Freeform and more; along with access to Disney+ and ESPN+.
DirectTV Stream plans start at $64.99/month to stream 75+ live channels and DVR recordings. Subscribe to the Premier plan and stream 150+ live channels, plus free Max, Showtime and Starz. The Choice and Ultimate plans range from $85-$110 per month for up to 140+ channels.
Streamers That Offer Live Channels
One of the perks of Peacock is that you’ll get a good mixture of live and on-demand content for $4.99/ month for ad-supported streaming but Peacock Premium subscribers can enjoy live access to NBC and commercial-free streaming for $9.99/month. Peacock gives you next-day access to current NBC programs; Premier League, WWE, Sunday Night Football, Indy 500 and other sporting events; plus movies, beloved TV shows (including Yellowstone) and original series such as Bel-Air, Poker Face, Bupkis, Ms. Davis and episode of Bravo shows like Vandperpump Rules and Below Deck.
Peacock Premium
$9.99/month
Prime Video has live CBS stations, depending on your streaming plan. Add Paramount+ to your Prime channels (or subscribe separately) to access your local CBS channel along with hit shows, movies, soccer and other sports.
Paramount+ Premium
$9.99/month after free 7-day trial
Some of the shows and movies currently streaming on Paramount+ include Fatal Attraction, The Family Stone, Rabbit Hole, School Spirits, Star Trek: Picard, 1923, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown, Seal Team, Star Trek Discovery, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Why Women Kill, Scream VI, Dungeons & Dragons and 80 for Brady.
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When we think of Alexa services, our first thought probably goes to the classic Echo Dot, but no longer do these devices have to be confined to our homes. Amazon has released the latest edition of the Echo Auto for $54.99, which brings Alexa on the road, allowing you to go completely hands-free in the car.
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Whether you’re looking for directions or want to stream the Foo Fighters‘ newest single “Under You” before their album comes out, the second-generation Echo Auto has got you covered. It brings all the capabilities of the Alexa you know and love in your home and makes them mobile. Now you won’t have to be at home to indulge in her vast knowledge — especially when it comes to giving you directions to that concert venue.
What makes this one different from its previous variation? Well, this time around, Amazon made the second generation a slimmer design for an easier mounting process to your dashboard. There’s also a five-mic built in that’ll allow Alexa to pick up your voice over the sound of the AC, radio and other road noises. And, for the days you forget to pack your portable charger, the Echo Auto comes with a fast car charger to juice up your phone on the go.
You’ll still be able to enjoy the classic capabilities, too, such as streaming your favorite playlists whether it’s through Apple Music, Amazon Music or Spotify. You can also use it to call for roadside assistance: Just say “Alexa, call roadside assistance” and you’ll be connected to an Amazon agent who can request help on your behalf. You can also control your other compatible smart home devices and call and message — all while you’re driving.
Make sure to snag one of these handy devices before your next road trip to enjoy an easier driving experience.
Shop the Amazon Echo Auto below. And for more product recommendations, check out our breakdown of the Ring Dash Cam, a car purse holder that will make your life easier and a roundup of record players and turntables.
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Echo Auto (2nd Gen, 2022 release)
$54.99
The three major label groups have been in talks with the big music streaming services to find a way to get them to remove recordings with AI-generated vocals created to sound like popular artists, Billboard has learned. The idea under discussion with Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music would operate much like the one laid out by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act but would cite violations of rights of publicity, rather than copyright, according to sources at all three majors. Unlike the DMCA, however, this arrangement appears to be voluntary.
The 1998 DMCA gives online services that use, store or transmit copyrighted works a “safe harbor” from secondary liability for copyright infringement as long as they abide by a notice-and-takedown system that allows rightsholders to ask them to remove copyrighted content. That law would not apply to most AI-generated soundalike tracks because they do not infringe protected elements of copyrighted recordings or compositions but rather a trademark or a right of publicity, the protection celebrities may be able to receive to protect their names and likenesses from unauthorized commercial exploitation.
Songs that imitate the voices of big-name talent have become a trend over the past month, reaching widespread attention in mid-April when the track “Heart on My Sleeve,” which apparently used AI to mimic the style and tone of vocals by Drake and The Weeknd, was uploaded to streaming services and then swiftly removed. (The song did not credit those artists, although they were referred to in social media posts about it.)
Citing rights of publicity can be more complicated than copyright, because they are matters of state law in the U.S., backed by limited legal precedent. Rights vary by state, protections for deceased artists vary even more widely, and the use of soundalike vocals for creative purposes may in some cases be protected as free speech. Further complicating matters, these rights almost always belong to artists, not labels, which would presumably file notices on their behalf with authorization. Right now, however, this is the most obvious legal argument with which to keep AI-generated soundalikes off major streaming platforms.
In an April 26 earnings call, UMG CEO and chairman Lucian Grainge seemed to signal this approach to investors. “The recent explosive development in generative AI will… create rights issues with respect to existing copyright law, in the US and other countries, as well as laws governing trademark, name and likeness, voice impersonation, and right of publicity,” he said. “Further, we have provisions in our commercial contracts that provide additional protections.” It is not clear if takedowns issued by the majors would rely on these provisions, state law, goodwill, or some combination.
Some executives have raised concerns that AI soundalikes that imitate the voices of popular artists could result in consumer confusion. Still, a few artists like Grimes and Holly Herndon have embraced the technology, training their own AI voice models and making them available to the public.
Meanwhile, companies like Uberduck, Supertone, Lingyin Engine, and Covers.ai are marketing models with which to replicate voices. Covers.ai, which launched last week, has said that it received over 100,000 sign-ups in anticipation. Tencent Music Entertainment executives announced in November that with the company’s Lingyin Engine they had created and released over 1,000 songs containing synthetic AI voices already, one of which amassed 100 million streams.
This stance taken by the leading streaming services counters a recent announcement from the blockchain-based music platform Audius, which announced that artists can now “opt-in” to allow AI-generated works on their artist page. To organize this new music and avoid confusion, Audius would create a separate tab on the artists’ page especially for user-generated content.
Representatives for Universal, Sony, Warner, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music did not respond to requests for comment.
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Thousands of television and movie writers in Hollywood are now on strike against major studios including Apple and Amazon, demanding improved wages and better regulations against the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting.
According to reports, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted unanimously early Tuesday morning (May 2) to strike. This decision came down after ongoing negotiations with the major Hollywood studios collapsed without reaching a new deal in advance of the old deal expiring at midnight on Monday (May 1). Picketing is expected to begin later on Tuesday.
The strike against the 350 streaming services and studios – which include Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony – is the first since 2007. “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement Monday night.
The WGA demands include residuals from streamers and an increase in minimum wages and contributions to the union’s health and pension plans. The union also wants stronger safeguards in place to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting, preventing the generation of content and rewriting of work already done by human writers.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers representing the studios, claimed that they were offering “generous increases in compensation” including streaming residuals in their negotiations. But they also stated that they weren’t going to compromise on requests by the WGA for “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment” claiming it would lead to writers being staffed on shows when they’re not needed.
Late-night television shows are expected to be immediately impacted, as Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon are set to stop production. Scripted dramas and soap operas will also feel an impact, leading to their cutting production short or stopping shooting entirely. Movies may be affected as well, but there has been a stockpiling of scripts by studios and networks that was initiated a while ago in case of an extended strike. The previous strike lasted 100 days into 2008, with an estimated local economic loss of $2.1 billion.
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Nicki Minaj is teaming up with 50 Cent as the star and executive producer of a new animated series that he’s producing for Amazon.
According to reports, the “Anaconda” rapper will be the main star in Lady Danger, a new animated series that will make its debut on Amazon’s Freevee network. The series is based on the Dark Horse comic book series by Alex de Campi. The series will be executive produced by 50 Cent through his G-Unit Film & TV company, as well as Minaj. He announced the news through his Instagram account on Wednesday (April 12th), writing: “What you doing today, we working @nickiminaj South Side you already know what it is…I don’t miss.” The news was also shared by Nicki Minaj through her social media accounts as well.
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The series, set in the year 2075, follows a government field agent who stumbles upon a dangerous secret and winds up being left for dead by her team. She’s then resurrected as “an afro futuristic ass-kicking Agent of B.O.O.T.I (Bureau of Organized Terrorism Intervention)” known as Lady Danger. She goes on to fight multiple villains endangering the Earth and its population while keeping her true identity a secret.
Starburns Industries is in charge of the animation, and the series will be written by Carlton Jordan and Crystle Roberson who are also executive producers. The others in that role in the series are Brian Sher, and Paul Young & Mike Griffin of Make Good Content. There are no other details released about the project as of yet.
This series is another in the realm of animation for Nicki Minaj, who previously voiced the character Suglite on Cartoon Network’s acclaimed series Steven Universe. She also had a role in The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Ice Age: Continental Drift in addition to a guest spot on The Cleveland Show. As for 50 Cent, the news makes it another media project under his belt. In addition to his Power series which he developed at Starz under a previous deal as well as the BMF series, he’s also reportedly working on a new original series with Paramount Plus and Lionsgate Television entitled Vice City.
Lizzo and Amazon Studios have reached an extension on the singer’s first-look deal after the scorching success of her Emmy Award-winning show Watch Out for the Big Grrrls. Produced by Lizzo’s production company, Lizzo Bangers, and Amazon Studios, Watch Out for the Big Grrls notched three Emmys in categories including directing and picture editing and became the first streaming series to win the outstanding competition program category.
“Lizzo is one of the most exciting, creative, joyful artists in the industry, and the impact of her Emmy award-winning series Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls exceeded our every expectation,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon and MGM Studios. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Lizzo and can’t wait for our global Prime Video audience to experience what’s next.”
“I’m thrilled to continue this partnership with the Amazon team after an incredible experience on season one of Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” said Lizzo. “I’ve witnessed lives change through this show, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue making space for even more Big Grrrls around the world to shine and break down barriers across this industry.”
After a successful first season, Lizzo is now searching for women who can sing and dance onstage. Those interested in applying can sign up here for casting. Along with nabbing Emmys, Watch Out for the Big Grrrls also received a fistful of wins at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards, Costume Designers Guild Awards, Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards, NAACP Image Awards and Producers Guild Awards.
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Amazon has unveiled a new class of its popular Fire TVs, including the retail giant’s most affordable Fire TV yet, plus three new sizes of the Fire TV Omni QLED series.
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The cheapest among the collection of new releases is the Fire TV 2-Series, which is available in 32-inch and 40-inch, and starts at just $199.99.
“We knew we could build a better experience for the living room,” Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services said in a news release on March 22. “Televisions are the fastest growing segment in the Fire TV business. When customers love something, we double down.”
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Introducing Amazon Fire TV 32″ 2-Series 720p HD smart TV, stream live TV without cable
$199.99
The 32-inch Fire TV 2-Series is equipped with 720p resolution while the 40-inch features 1080p resolution. Both TVs include support for HDR 10, HLG, Dolby Digital Audio and an Alexa Voice Remote but if you’re looking a higher resolution, Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series TVs are now available in 43-inch, 50-inch and 55-inch screens and range in price from $449 to $599.
Amazon’s Omni QLED TVs feature Fire TV Ambient Experience and 4K Quantum Dot Technology to deliver an immersive cinematic experience with built-in, far-field microphones, so that you can easily access Alexa from anywhere in the room.
Use voice control to open and operate apps hands free, discover new shows, manage playback and control the Ambient Experience to display calendars, reminders, Sticky Notes and more.
Watch and stream more than 1 million movies, documentaries and TV episodes from Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, Disney+, Prime Video and other streamers including Prime Video exclusives such as Daisy Jones & The Six, Swarm, Reggie, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, Class of ’07, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Boys, Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Reacher and tons of other content, stream music, watch videos on YouTube and more.
Amazon’s new Fire TV Omni QLED TVs will be released on May 11. Click the buy button below to pre-order.
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All-new Amazon Fire TV 43″ Omni QLED Series 4K UHD smart TV, Dolby Vision IQ, hands-free with Alexa (Pre-order)
$449.99
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Ben Affleck and Amazon Studios highly-anciticpated film, Air is a few weeks from hitting theaters across the board and to hype up the film’s release, Amazon will be embarking on a multi-city consumer experience to both promote the film and help people have a good time.
Variety is reporting that the studio will be teaming up with sneaker culture icon, Jason Markk to host said multi-city consumer tour promptly named “Fresh Air” which aims to bring sneakerheads together and celebrate the culture that’s been basically ruined by resellers, backdooring employees, and sneakerbots (yes, we salty over here). With the help of guerrilla teams, the “Fresh Air” teams are set to turn big time cities like New York, LA and Chicago into sneakerhead havens where we get to express our love of the sneaker culture while getting some sneaker products at the same time.
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Free to the public, the “Fresh Air” activation allows attendees to celebrate self-expression through fashion as they share their sneaker stories while getting a complimentary shoe cleaning, with premium care products from Jason Markk and staff on site to offer advice on keeping their shoes in pristine condition. In addition to their freshly cleaned kicks, attendees will also walk away with an “Air” and Jason Markk sneaker duster bag.
If Amazon really loved us sneakerheads they’d give us chances to get out hands on some Air Jordan 1 “Lost and Found,”‘s. Lord knows Jeff Bezos can afford to lace the entire sneaker community with a pair from city to city. Just sayin.’
Still this is a pretty cool initiative as we’re sure sneakerheads will be putting their best laced foot forward when the “Fresh Air” team hits their hood in the coming weeks. Heck, they’ll even be posting up at Jason Markk’s flagship store in L.A. Should be interesting to see how this sneaker community promo tour plays out.
Are you looking forward to the “Fresh Air” team hitting your city? Will you be catching Air when it premiers on April 5th? Let us know in the comment section below.
Amazon plans to eliminate 9,000 more jobs in the next few weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff on Monday.
The job cuts would mark the second largest round of layoffs in the company’s history, adding to the 18,000 employees the tech giant said it would lay off in January. The company’s workforce doubled during the pandemic, however, in the midst of a hiring surge across almost the entire tech sector.
Tech companies have announced tens of thousands of job cuts this year.
In the memo, Jassy said the second phase of the company’s annual planning process completed this month led to the additional job cuts. He said Amazon will still hire in some strategic areas.
“Some may ask why we didn’t announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we’ve made them so people had the information as soon as possible,” Jassy said.
The job cuts announced Monday will hit profitable areas for the company including its cloud computing unit AWS and its burgeoning advertising business. Twitch, the gaming platform Amazon owns, will also see some layoffs as well as Amazon’s PXT organizations, which handle human resources and other functions.
Prior layoffs had also hit PXT, the company’s stores division, which encompasses its e-commerce business as well as company’s brick-and-mortar stores such as Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and other departments such as the one that runs the virtual assistant Alexa.
Earlier this month, the company said it would pause construction on its headquarters building in northern Virginia, though the first phase of that project will open this June with 8,000 employees.
Like other tech companies, including Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet, Amazon ramped up hiring during the pandemic to meet the demand from homebound Americans that were increasingly buying stuff online to keep themselves safe from the virus.
Amazon’s workforce, in warehouses and offices, doubled to more than 1.6 million people in about two years. But demand slowed as the worst of the pandemic eased. The company began pausing or cancelling its warehouse expansion plans last year.
Amid growing anxiety over the potential for a recession, Amazon in the past few months shut down a subsidiary that’s been selling fabrics for nearly 30 years and shuttered its hybrid virtual, in-home care service Amazon Care among other cost-cutting moves.
Jassy said Monday given the uncertain economy and the “uncertainty that exists in the near future,” the company has chosen to be more streamlined.
He said the teams that will be impacted by the latest round of layoffs are not done making final decisions on which roles will be eliminated. The company plans to finalize those decisions by mid to late April and notify those who will be laid off.