Amazon

France is pushing ahead on its own plans for a so-called GAFA tax – one that would impose a 3% tax on tech companies with worldwide revenues of more than €750M ($842M). The tax is named after four of the target companies: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.

Other European countries are in discussions about doing the same across the EU, but have not yet reached agreement on how best to proceed …

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Apple’s AirPods are set to gain a new competitor sometime this year. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Amazon is preparing its first pair of wireless earbuds that integrate the Alexa voice assistant.

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Update: Amazon Echo customers in UK & Ireland can now use Apple Music. Open the Alexa app and go to Settings -> Music -> Link New Service to get started.

Following the Apple Music launch on Amazon Echo speakers in the US, Apple Music is now available on the Amazon Fire TV as well. The Apple Music skill can now integrate with Alexa on Fire TV, so you can ask your TV to play Apple Music with your voice.

Moreover, Amazon announced that it is now expanding Apple Music on Amazon Echo to more countries. The service will be available to Echo owners in the United Kingdom ‘in the coming weeks’.

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Amazon has shared a big update today on its progress with getting its Echo smart speakers and other Alexa enabled devices into the hands of consumers via The Verge. This holiday season has been a big success for the company’s AI and it has now sold over 100 million Alexa devices.

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Pick up a new Amazon Echo recently or just feel like you haven’t mastered Alexa yet? Alexa has a number of useful features on Amazon Echo smart speakers and displays that you may not have discovered yet. These are 10 of my favorite Alexa features that work with Amazon Echo:

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Amazon’s quirky new Echo Wall Clock has arrived. While it’s primarily just a $29 analog wall clock, there’s something charming about its analog and digital balance. Echo Wall Clock doesn’t have Alexa built-in. You need a nearby Echo speaker with Alexa to use it, then it becomes a smart analog clock with a few fun and useful features despite small build quality concerns.

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We learned earlier this month that Apple and Amazon struck a deal that will see iPhones and iPads officially sold on the online marketplace, and now the first listings for iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and other Apple products are starting to go live. The move puts Apple products in front of more customers just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday when the most holiday shopping happens.

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A deal struck between Apple and Amazon will hurt independent Apple resellers, and likely put many of them out of business, according to recent reports.

Most Apple products sold on Amazon are through third-party resellers. Although ‘Apple’ is shown as the company, the retailer is often a small, independent seller …

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I was recently in Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, and I visited the Microsoft store, the Apple store, and a pop-up Amazon shop. As I wandered through all three of them, I began to ponder the state of each company when I look ahead to the next generation of consumer technology. As I walked through each of them, this thought kept popping into my head: do Apple products warrant their premium price? Are Apple products a premium experience, or is it all about the Apple brand?

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Amazon is rolling out a new Alexa feature for Echo speakers that intelligently reduces the voice assistant’s volume when you whisper a command. The new ‘whisper mode’ feature should prevent unexpectedly loud responses in quiet situations and instead use a gentler voice.

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Earlier this month, we noted of the increasingly close raise between Apple and Amazon to become the first trillion company. In a new poll shared by CNBC this week, however, investors are overwhelming leaning towards Amazon in winning that race…

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It’s long been expected that Apple would be the first company ever to achieve a market cap of a trillion dollars, but of late there has been increasing speculation that Amazon may get there first …

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While Apple is only getting started with its Screen Time feature in iOS 12, both Amazon and Facebook are expanding their kid focused apps.

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Apple’s search for a major new campus has been going on for some time, with a wide range of potentially suitable locations to choose from.

It’s been reported that Apple may have shortlisted two locations, in Northern Virginia and North Carolina, with the latter said to be the favorite, thanks to generous tax incentives. Apple has chosen a very different approach to Amazon’s search for its new campus, and WSJ piece today suggests there are pros & cons to each …

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This morning, retailer Jet officially announced that it has joined the Apple authorized reseller program. For the Walmart-acquired retailer, this has substantial ramifications, particularly in its ongoing battle with Amazon. This amounts to a huge score for Jet against the online giant, as it will be offering the breadth of Apple products while Amazon only offers a handful of listings.

Along with today’s news, the retailer is offering a handful of deals to kick off Jet’s partnership with Apple. Full details below.

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A survey reported over the weekend said that Apple lags behind Amazon and Google in having the most positive impact on society.

The original report was rather light on detail – it seems the survey didn’t ask people the reasons for their choices. That’s problematic because I suspect most people answered from their own selfish viewpoint rather than from a societal perspective …

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Six months ago, Amazon launched a new Amazon Key service to allow its delivery staff to unlock your front door and leave packages inside your home while you’re out. It’s today following that up with a variation that will allow access to the trunk of your parked car …

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A Higher Loyalty, the memoir/exposé written by former FBI director James Comey, is now available for pre-order on iPhone and iPad, ahead of its official publication date tomorrow.

In the book –subtitled Truth, lies and leadership – Comey likens President Trump to a ‘mob boss’ who is ‘untethered to the truth’ and morally unfit to be president. But he also doesn’t hold back about Apple’s decision not to help the FBI in the San Bernardino shooting, describing it as ‘appalling’ …

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