• Big Tech was hit with $3.5B fines over three years, Surfshark found
• Many were fined for using personal data unlawfully
• Enforceability remains a key challenge

Major tech companies have already been hit by fines totalling $3.5 billion for using vast amounts of users’ personal data to train their AI models, raising hopes that the days of AI operating in a regulatory vacuum might be coming to an end.

The figures come from Surfshark, one of the best VPNs on the market, which recently analysed 10 AI-related sanctions imposed on the usual suspects — Anthropic, Meta, Google, Clearview, Apple, Amazon, and OpenAI — between 2022 and 2026.

Disturbingly, nine out of ten fines were imposed for using users’ personal data — including biometric data, copyright-protected content, facial images, and children's voice recordings — without user consent or legal authorisation.

AI violations: which company misused our data the most?

According to Surfshark’s study, Clearview AI was the first, in 2022, to be fined a total of around $46 million for collecting facial images for its facial recognition database.

But the pace picked up in 2024, with five new separate fines imposed on Google, OpenAI, Meta, Clearview, and Amazon.

The size of the fines has also increased substantially, signalling a positive shift from regulatory warnings to severe financial consequences. In 2024, Meta was fined $1.4 billion for collecting users’ biometric data without consent, followed by Anthropic in 2025 with a record $1.5 billion for training its AI models using pirated books.

On a different note, the $250 million fine imposed on Apple in 2026 for AI misleading marketing practices might signal that current AI advertisement tactics might also soon become a thing of the past.

"This could be only the beginning," says Dr. Luis Costa, research lead at Surfshark. "The overarching trend suggests that accountability is catching up with innovation, and the industry must re-evaluate both how it builds AI and how it markets it."

While regulations and authorities seem to be starting to catch up and match their punishments with Big Tech's wrongdoings, the findings continue to raise serious questions about the risks users face when using these AI platforms.

"Firstly, the scale of unauthorised data collection is unprecedented: 90 per cent of AI-related fines imposed since 2022 relate to the use of data without the necessary consent," Costa explains.

"Second, this harvesting often targets highly sensitive, unchangeable data, as seen in Meta’s $1.4 billion biometric settlement and Amazon’s fine over children’s voice recordings," he adds.

It also remains alarming that many companies fail to adequately inform the public about how their sensitive data is used, leaving consumers oblivious to the fact that their personal information is permanently baked into commercial AI models.

Better enforceability is needed

Additionally, while these fines may seem exorbitant, it is worrying that the financial impact of such punishments rarely acts as a deterrent to these large technology companies, whose market capitalisation runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In its research, Proton previously found that the $7.8 billion in privacy and competition fines imposed on Big Tech in 2025 could be collectively paid by these firms in less than a month.

However, Costa argues that the issue is more complex and regulators might be working toward targeted changes. "First, regulators are escalating the financial stakes, shifting toward massive penalties like Anthropic's $1.5 billion and Meta's $1.4 billion settlements."

Additionally, a major challenge right now is actually enforceability — particularly as some companies have already been exploiting loopholes to avoid paying fines. Clearview AI, for example, managed to avoid paying $105 million in fines imposed by four different European regulatory authorities by arguing that it did not fall within European jurisdiction.

"Even if these early fines are manageable for tech giants, their real value lies in establishing the firm legal precedents that will govern how AI must operate in the future," Costa concludes.

• Alexa+ has turned a little scary in one household
• A simple counting task enabled a creepy voice
• Some other users are reporting similar bugs in the AI

If you're already worried about the potential dangers of AI chatbots, this one probably isn't for you: an Amazon Echo user has reported Alexa+ "breathing and making guttural sounds" while engaged in the supposedly innocent task of counting to 40 (in Spanish).

There's video evidence on Reddit (via Android Authority), and it's pretty spooky to listen to — so only click the play button if you're sure you want to hear a disembodied AI-generated voice that sounds somewhat possessed.

According to the user who posted the video, they asked Alexa+ to count up to 40, which prompted the strange sounds. It's not an ideal response, especially as there were two five-year-old kids listening who just wanted a simple countdown.

Apparently, the original poster was then able to get the same thing happening on a separate Amazon Echo in another room. "Needless to say, the Alexas in my house are now unplugged and I've reported the whole thing to Amazon," they report.

A little bit too expressive

My Alexa started breathing and making guttural sounds while counting my kids to sleep. I have it on video. from r/amazonecho

While it's possible that some kind of user error or AI fakery has produced this video, it's odd that it would happen on two different devices — and there's at least one other user in the Reddit thread saying they've experienced something similar.

It's almost certainly down to a bug in Alexa+: the new and upgraded AI assistant is intended to be more conversational and more expressive, and in this case it seems to have gone too far (in the same way that AI chatbots can introduce hallucinations and tangents when writing out text).

When pushed, Alexa+ itself said that "something in my environment" must have caused the glitch, though it's not clear what that something might be. Perhaps it's the ghost of Alexa past, which Alexa+ has now replaced.

The Reddit reactions describe the speaker as "haunted", "terrifying", and in need of an exorcism, though the fix is likely to be no more complicated than a tweak to the Alexa+ AI model from Amazon's side.

I'm always on the lookout for a tablet deal, and this Amazon Prime Day, I've been seriously considering picking up a discounted Amazon Fire Max 11 to add to my collection. However, after seeing the price of the Lenovo Idea Tab, which has been slashed to just £159.99 (was £219.99) in a new deal, I just can't justify the buy.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

The Lenovo Idea Tab is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6300, which is comparable in performance to the MediaTek chip that powers the Fire Max 11. It's a much newer model with a higher resolution 2.5K 90Hz screen, plus superior Dolby Atmos stereo speakers to make streaming even more enjoyable.

It's got double the RAM for smoother multitasking, and even comes bundled with a compatible stylus pen and case. It's an absolute no-brainer when the discounted Fire Max 11 is still much more expensive at £189.99 (was £289.99).

Today's best Fire Max 11 alternative deal

Another big advantage of the Lenovo Idea Tab is its operating system. The Fire Max 11 runs on Amazon's Fire OS 8, which is based on the now rather ancient Android 11. It's a locked-down OS that basically restricts you to Amazon's limited app store unless you have the technical skills to sideload your own apps.

The Lenovo Idea Tab runs Android 15 with Lenovo's sleek ZUI skin, giving you unrestricted access to all your favorite apps, games, and streaming services.

Don't worry about the build quality either. The Idea Tab has a premium-feeling aluminium alloy frame and a smooth metal back. Having gone hands-on with the tablet in the past, I know firsthand that it feels much more expensive than the budget-friendly price would suggest.

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders are starting this week, and it's the perfect time to have a look at your console gaming setup, be it PS5 or Xbox Series X or S, and think about any upgrades you might want to make. It'll be the perfect way to ensure your setup is up to date with new gear that you're used to by the time the game arrives on your doorstep.

Be it upgrading your console to get the best performance, embracing a new display to make Vice City shine, getting a premium controller to ensure you have every action at your fingertips, or taking a step up audibly to ensure you get can hear all the sounds, there's likely to be something worth mulling over before GTA 6 comes in November.

As a result, I've taken it upon myself to suggest some brilliant products in key console setup areas that will make a difference to your GTA 6 experience, while also fielding some suggestions from the rest of our TechRadar experts. You'll find US and UK prices for each below, and if you're not in those regions, you can head to the bottom and find a list of the best prices available in your region as presented by our price-finding tech. If you're looking for an early retailer page to sit on for the game itself, then the below ones are worth bookmarking, too.

• US GTA 6 pre-order retailer search links: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Target | GameStop
• UK GTA 6 pre-order retailer search links: Amazon | Currys | Argos | Very | EE | ShopTo | The Game Collection | John Lewis

Consider a beefy console

Yep, it'll be a big purchase to consider at any time of the year, but if you're going to be a GTA 6 player who wants the best possible experience with the game and be able to have all the bells and whistles it can offer, then it might be time to consider some more horsepower.

In terms of those rocking a last-gen console still (a PS4 or Xbox One) then this should be of great interest, and if you're already a regular PS5 owner or a Series S owner, then making the jump up to the PS5 Pro or Series X, respectively, might ensure you get the most out of GTA 6's likely graphical and technical prowess.

This is even more the case if you own a 120Hz-capable TV or monitor, as that'll help you get even more out of such a machine, especially the PS5 Pro.

Let the game shine

GTA 6 is likely to be a visual marvel of the video game medium, trumping almost all other video game worlds, environments, and aesthetics (well, nearly all, surely) and what better way to make sure you catch every detail and enjoy every colour, stripe, and crack in the sidewalk than by upgrading to a new and superior display.

The LG C5 is our single pick for those looking to go big for a Grand Theft Auto 6 big screen experience, as it has the best feature set, image processing, and picture detail for the price right now. It offers extraordinary bang-for-buck value, especially in the face of the newer C6 being out now.

For those looking for a monitor, the Alienware AW32255QF is a 4K curved beauty that is perfect for both PS5 and Xbox players, offering all the connectivity and specs you need, while also giving you a brilliant QD-OLED panel with a gorgeous curve to pull you into games.

Feel the burn

If you want to have all the tools and weapons available to you at all times in GTA 6 and want the utmost level of versatility and 'at your fingertips' control for GTA 6, then going for a better controller, one that offers more than the standard offerings, is a brilliant move.

It's an easy choice for both consoles for me, here, with Sony's DualSense Edge, especially when on offer, giving PS5 players a familiar and effortless way to upgrade their controller, while those on Xbox should definitely go for the Asus ROG Raikiri II, which is perhaps the very best third-party Xbox controller going.

Hear every detail of Vice City

Upgrading your audio by going with a fantastic set of quality earcups from a trusted brand is one of the most tangible ways to improve your gaming experience in one fell swoop — and without having to do any huge sweeping changes to a set up.

The Audeze Maxwell 2, with its fantastic planar-magnetic drivers, is my favorite gaming headset for pure audio quality right now, and it will be perfect for anyone looking to hear every detail in Vice City.

It also comes in PlayStation and Xbox-facing variants so it's a cross-platform recommendation, and you'll find links for both below.

Give it room to breath on console

Rumors have abounded about the potential file size of Rockstar's next behemoth, and if even some of them come partially close, some extra storage space is likely to be very welcome indeed! However, we've all seen the price rises happening, so it's a bit of a struggle finding great value for money in any kind of memory right now. I've picked out the best prices on some great value offerings below though.

By far the best solution on PS5 — and perhaps even more acutely for those rocking a launch PS5 with its smaller hard drive — is an internal SSD. As for Xbox, there's only really one storage device to recommend, and that's the bespoke model for Series X or S that's made by Seagate or WD_Black — I've recommended the WD_Black variant below as it's always better value for money.

• Check Point Research warns Prime Day (June 23–26, 2026) is fueling a surge in malicious Amazon‑themed domains
• 6,843 domains registered Dec–May; nearly 10% flagged malicious/suspicious, with June showing 1 in 13 domains risky
• Shoppers urged to avoid Google searches for Amazon, verify URLs, and treat “too good to be true” deals with caution

Thousands of new domains were registered in the weeks and months leading up to Amazon Prime Day, most of which are malicious and created to steal consumer data and possibly money. This is according to a new report from Check Point Research (CPR), in which the security outfit warns about Prime Day being the perfect storm for every cybercriminal.

Amazon’s Prime Day is set to take place between June 23 and 26, 2026. During these four days, thousands of retailers in 25 countries will offer great deals on their goods and services, creating one of the biggest retail events on the planet. Consequently, they’ll also be creating one of the biggest cyberattack events on the planet, as well:

“Major retail moments bring together the three ingredients’ attackers exploit most: a globally trusted brand, time-limited urgency, and massive purchase intent at scale,” CPR warns, adding that phishing emails, fake websites, fraudulent offers, and account takeover attempts all surge during this period.

How to defend against Prime Day scams

For events such as this one, crooks prepare months in advance. CPR found that between December 2025 and May 2026, there were 6,843 new Amazon-themed domains registered worldwide, most of which were set up in April (1,446). May 2026 added another 1,267 domains.

Obviously, not all of them will be malicious, but CPR said that almost one in ten (9.2%) were already classified as either malicious or suspicious, and in the first week of June, one in every thirteen was labeled the same way.

“This pattern reflects a broader build-up of malicious infrastructure ahead of the event, with multiple Amazon-themed domains designed to exploit brand trust, urgency, and high purchase intent at scale,” the researchers warned.

To stay safe this Amazon Prime Day, always double-check the website you’re visiting, always go to Amazon's legitimate domain (https://www.amazon.com/) rather than relying on Google search results, and remember - if something is too good to be true, it most likely is.

Andy Jassy has enjoyed a long-running and successful career in the technology industry, being a part of the Amazon family for many years – including serving as CEO of AWS for nearly 20 years – before taking over from Jeff Bezos in 2021. In business and life, he believes, there are no shortcuts to success.

Getting hands-on

Jassy coined this turn of phrase when describing AWS in 2017, speaking with CNBC. The company was one of the fastest-growing hyperscalers at a time when the public cloud was becoming a critical part of the technology ecosystem.

Speaking to the success of AWS, Jassy said newer competitors on the market may be able to replicate the technology that the organization offers, but that the years of operational experience accrued made it dominant.

In that vein, Jassy suggested that AWS had been through experiences in dealing with customers that all hyperscalers would have to overcome – and there was no way to answer those questions without going through those same tribulations.

Putting in the hard yards

Compression algorithms are incredibly useful, especially in the age of big data and especially data-hungry large language models (LLMs).

Compression algorithms were the revolutionary tech at the heart of the 2013 HBO show Silicon Valley, and since then many companies have sought to ease the burden, including Google with its TurboQuant algorithm.

As Jassy suggested, however, experience in life and business doesn't work in the same way as data. The quote is perhaps more relevant today than it was then, in light of organizations around the world shedding entry-level jobs.

With businesses cutting the talent pipelines that could have led to years-long careers – much like Jassy's several decades at AWS – it may worsen not just the skills crisis but also create large experience gaps in the business world in the decades to come.

• Amazon is investigating three employees over comments made at a council meeting
• The employees spoke during a discussion on a one year moratorium on data center construction
• Amazon said that it "may or may not take action based on what we find.”

Amazon is investigating a group of employees who attended council meetings discussing a year-long moratorium on planned data center constructions.

Five employees, who work as engineers, criticized the “all-costs-justified AI build out” that has caused data center construction projects to spread rapidly across the US.

Since attending then, three engineers were invited to separate meetings with Amazon’s human resources to investigate their testimony at the meetings, according to a complaint filed with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.

Amazon investigates employees critical of data center buildout

In their separate meetings with HR, the employees were warned that the investigation could lead to disciplinary action, ranging up to termination.

The complaint states that employees were made to feel “intimidated and uncertain in their future employment”.

The complaint further stated that, “Amazon was monitoring their political advocacy before the Seattle City Council and was seeking to identify additional employees who had engaged in political activities.”

Under Seattle Law, personal characteristics such as political ideology, race, religion and age cannot be used for discriminatory purposes by companies against their employees.

Speaking to CNBC, Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said that the employees may have been speaking as representatives of Amazon, rather than as private citizens, adding that those speaking as Amazon representatives must follow certain procedures.

“We believe it’s important to apply our policies consistently so, just as we would with anyone else, we’re investigating whether there was a violation of our policies and may or may not take action based on what we find,” Callahan said in a statement.

Darius Irani, one of the employees involved in the council hearings, said in a statement “All I did was testify because I believe it’s critical that the government regulates data centers and AI. Workers need to be involved in these conversations.”

• Amazon signs agreement with Corning to procure fiber optic cables and networking components
• The move is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs in addition to the 1000 it creates at Corning's facilities in North Carolina
• Move comes as Amazon announces more than $20 billion investment into the state to create 26,000 jobs

Amazon has announced a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar agreement with Corning to supply its data center needs as it capitalizes on an AI-driven boom in demand.

The move, which creates manufacturing and construction jobs, also expands Corning's Fiber Optic Technician Training Program at Catawba Valley Community College, signaling an increased demand for technical workers in the fiber-optic industry.

Amazon has already committed to $10 billion in cloud infrastructure investments in North Carolina, investing over $20 billion in the state in projects it says have directly contributed to the creation of 26,000 jobs.

Amazon's glass obsession: bandwidth is key

The agreement comes weeks after AWS (Amazon Web Services) showcased Random Network Graph architecture, a fiber-optic network design that arranges cables in a semi-random configuration to boost bandwidth and reliability between servers.

The design considerably increases demand for fiber-optic cable and connectivity while solving one of AI's biggest challenges as models and data centers grow larger: reliable bandwidth.

Corning makes for an ideal partner for most AI data center companies looking to build out infrastructure: it is one of the world's largest fiber-optic manufacturers, is a US-based company, and offers cutting-edge fiber-optic technology all in one package. The 175-year-old glass company is up 94.72% Year-to-date (YTD) as investors continue to look for indirect beneficiaries of the AI trade amid unabated spending.

Amazon's move is not an isolated one, even as it marks a multi-billion-dollar investment in fiber optics for Corning. Nvidia has already been here first, backing the construction of 3 new optical equipment facilities and investing as much as $3.2 billion in the company's shares to finance what it says is a "10x increase" in its US-based optical connectivity manufacturing capacity.

"Amazon's investments in North Carolina have created more than 26,000 jobs across the state. This multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning continues that commitment, channeling investment into American manufacturing and creating 1,000 new jobs at their facilities near our data centers," said Matt Garman, CEO of AWS.

"We're also partnering to train North Carolinians for highly skilled roles in fiber optics and fusion splicing. These long-term investments create long-term careers and real opportunity in the communities where we operate."

• Amazon says its data centers used 0.12L/kWh in 2025 – Google used 1.15L/kWh
• Air-based cooling is used 90% of the time, keeping water only for when it's really needed
• The company has also raised the safe operating temperatures for equipment, reducing cooling needs

Amazon has revealed exactly how much its global data center operations used in 2025, and at 2.5bn gallons (the equivalent of 9.5bn litres), it is less than we might have expected.

Even though 2025 was a big year for data center expansion, Amazon says water use at facilities it directly owned fell 2% year-over-year, noting an impressive Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) of 0.12L/kWh – seven times better than the 0.84L/kWh industry average and a 52% self-improvement since 2021.

While closed-loop cooling likely drove some of this improvement, Amazon says its data centers now use outside air cooling around 90% of the time.

Amazon says data center water usage is actually decreasing

With air-based cooling doing the heavy lifting, Amazon said that evaporative cooling systems, which are considered water-intensive, are only used during the hottest weather conditions.

To offset some of the cooling requirements, the company also managed to increase the temperatures at which servers can safely operate, reducing the actual cooling needs in the first place.

Comparing itself to key hyperscaler rivals in 2024, Amazon emerged as a clear leader, consuming 0.15L/kWh. Meta came in second place at 0.19L/kWh, with Microsoft consuming twice as much (0.3L/kWh). Google fell short, at 1.15L/kWh.

Where water is required, Amazon says it's committed to expanding recycled water cooling to more than 120 US locations by the end of the decade, up from 24 sites currently. 2030 is also Amazon's target for becoming water positive – a goal it says it's 75% of the way there.

However, while the figures paint a remarkable picture of leadership, Amazon's data excludes partner locations as well as construction and manufacturing-related consumption.

"As demand for cloud computing continues to grow, so does our commitment to doing more with less—and to leave communities better than we found them," the company said in its blog post.

• Jeff Bezos says AI can bring in "multiple golden ages"
• "I think these people are just wrong”, Amazon founder says on AI naysayers
• His new firm Prometheus raises $12bn in new funding in its attempt to build an "artificial general engineer"

Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos has once again looked to play down the effects AI could have on the global job market, insisting the technology can instead bring in "multiple golden ages".

“The people who are jumping to the conclusion that the jobs are all going to go away...I think these people are just wrong,” Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest person, told the Financial Times.

“We’re in the middle of multiple golden ages right now, certainly with AI," he added, "But I think it’s true of space also, and other areas like biotech...I think you’re going to see a whole bunch of incredible miracles unfold here in the next decade.”

Everything has to do with AI

Bezos was speaking at an event for his new firm, Promotheus, which looks to use AI to revolutionize manufacturing and engineering, and recently raised $12 billion at a $41 billion valuation.

Bezos himself was a major contributor for the new funds, with the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock also investing.

“All of the things that I work on today have something to do with AI,” Bezos told the FT, noting that his Blue Origin spacecraft firm, “is a perfect example of a company that would be greatly benefited” by Prometheus’ tools.

The company is looking to build what it calls an “artificial general engineer” — services and software which would be capable of automating the design and manufacturing of complex physical systems. It see anything from jet engines to new drugs as being covered by the potential, and could therefore have a major impact on engineering jobs.

And despite widespread concerns over the impact AI is already having on human jobs, Bezos said he believes the technology will in fact create a labour shortage, which will then lead to the creation of a host of new jobs.

“At root, all civilisational wealth is driven by invention. Six thousand years ago, somebody invented the plough, and we all got wealthier,” Bezos said.

This is not the first time Bezos has looked to play up the importance of AI, and convince us of its transformational impact instead.

In May 2025, he told CNBC that naysayer around AI "are dead wrong,” noting that, “What’s really going to happen is that (AI) is going to elevate all of these people.”

Bezos also predicted AI will help boost productivity, and could even lead to deflation as the cost of goods and services falls - but that this could only happen if, “we let this technology play out and don’t hamstring it with regulation too early.”

He also rejected the idea that AI coding tools could be a threat to software engineers, stating the technology could actually help them be more productive by spotting issues and solving problems.

• Northampton and Kettering facilities represent £1bn in UK funding from Amazon
• 4,000 jobs to be created at the two sites plus hundreds of seasonal roles
• Shoreditch HQ also gets a major upgrade with third office building

Amazon has confirmed it will be investing more than £1 billion into the UK in a major show of support for the country.

The announcement includes plans to open an new fulfillment center in Northampton and a second major logistics facility in the nearby market town of Kettering, each creating 2,000 jobs to add more than 4,000 jobs in total.

But more importantly, this major job opportunity represents just one 40th of Amazon's current UK investment plan, which covers £40 billion between 2025 and 2027.

Amazon is creating thousands of jobs across the UK

Within the first year, the company already claims to have delivered on £15 billion of this funding, and the new Northampton fulfillment center is now operational and handling customer deliveries.

Operations at the facility are spread across three floors and the campus includes thousands of Hercules robots that bring products to human workers.

As for the Kettering site, scheduled to open later in 2026, Amazon says it will become the largest cross-dock facility in the UK. The site is expected to process around 20 million items every week and will create both 2,000 permanent jobs and hundreds of additional seasonal roles.

At the same time, Amazon has expanded its Shoreditch HQ campus in East London with a third office building marking its commitment to investing in the UK.

The company declared it now employs 75,000 workers across more than 100 UK sites, noting that nearly half of its entry-level recruits stated on a salary of around the £30,000 mark.

"Amazon’s investment will help people move from welfare into work, with rewarding careers and room to progress," Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden commented. "It reflects the same ambition as our Youth Guarantee, supporting young people across the country to earn or learn."

• Merch on Demand taps into Alexa for Shopping for new AI-generated designs
• Consumer-targeted upgrade works on the app or website, available with Prime shipping
• Only US customers will get it for now – Etsy and others could suffer

Amazon has launched a new feature within Alexa for Shopping that enables customers to generate their own merch designs from AI prompts, which they can then have printed on physical products like hoodies and T-shirts.

Senior Editor Jacquelyn Smith said in an announcement that users may wish to print "a group chat's funniest inside joke... shirts for an upcoming family reunion... [or] a beloved pet reimagined as a cartoon," implying the new feature is designed primarily for consumer markets.

The new AI upgrade will be powered by the company's existing Merch on Demand platform, which means Amazon is behind the manufacturing, fulfillment, shipping and customer service.

Alexa for Shopping and Merch on Demand deliver custom merch via Prime

Available on the app, customers can tap the Alexa icon or search for 'customize' to describe an idea, refine with follow-up prompts and order the merch immediately. It's also available on the website for PC users.

With the new tool, Amazon directly targets other on-demand print platforms like Printful, Shutterfly, Etsy and more, and democratizes access to custom merch with all the benefits of Amazon, like fast Prime shipping.

This comes shortly after the company rolled out Alexa for Shopping, which upgrades the previous Rufus assistant with newer Alexa+ capabilities for an overall slicker experience.

Smith noted that the current product range, which is mostly apparel-dominated, includes T-shirts, V-necks, long-sleeve shirts, polo shirts, quarter zips, jerseys, hoodies, sweatshirts, tank tops and raglans. Tumblers and water bottles are also available.

And as with any new feature, US customers will be the first to benefit. Amazon did not mention any plans to expand to other geographies at this point.

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft: Two-minute review

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft delivers everything you could want from an e-reader (mostly). Amazon packed this device with all of the key features of its other Kindles, but unfortunately, it commands a much higher price as a result.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft nails all the e-reader basics, and that chunky upcharge brings some color into the mix so you can experience comics and the like. You also get a fancy pen to annotate and take notes. Those features function well overall, but they're not perfect.

Despite combining the “Scribe” and “Colorsoft” portions in the Kindle, you actually can't use them in tandem. You can't annotate or take any notes when you're reading comics or manga, which is ironic considering this is meant to be an all-in-one solution.

However, the 11-inch display is large enough to mimic the size of some graphic novels. That means you have plenty of room to take notes, too. The screen also captures images in strong detail.

So, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is a great e-reader, but unless it's on sale, I'd only recommend it to folks in a higher tax bracket.

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: price and availability

• From $629 / £569 / AU$999
• Launched in the US and UK on December 10, 2025
• Launching in Australia on June 10, 2026

No. I simply cannot recommend the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft to the average Kindle user. It’s just too damn expensive. Adding color and a pen to your Kindle is a luxury that I would only recommend to those invested in Amazon’s eBook ecosystem or someone with significant disposable income.

At its starting price with 32GB of storage, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft costs $629 / £569 / AU$999 (it will launch in Australia on June 10). For 64GB of storage, that price jumps up to $679 / £629 / AU$1,099. As someone who just wants to read a book, that makes my wallet cry. But keep in mind that this is the peak premium Kindle device.

You can break down the features of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft into three categories — Kindle, Scribe, and Colorsoft — and it's quite simple to pick apart its value proposition as a result. The Kindle is just your traditional Paperwhite device for $159 / £159 / AU$199, and then the Colorsoft adds a splash of color to that for $249 / £269 / AU$399, and finally, you’ve got the Scribe for $399 / £379 / AU$649, which is like the Paperwhite, except you can write on it. Combine all that, and you get the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

If, for some reason, you need all three features packed into one device, then obviously, your only option in the Kindle ecosystem is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. But focusing on one key feature will save you some decent coin, so I recommend doing just that before committing such a princely sum to this all-in-one device. Not to mention, there are cheaper color e-readers out there, like the Kobo Libra Colour ($219 / £199 / AU$359).

• Value score: 3 / 5

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: Specs

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: design

• Slightly less portable, but more reading room
• Pen placement is awkward

The 11-inch Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is almost as big as some of the taller graphic novels I have on my shelf, which seems appropriate considering its purpose. It does make it somewhat more difficult to carry around than the 7-inch Kindle Colorsoft, but it feels more authentic. And despite the larger 189 x 245mm body, it weighs only 400g and is 5.4mm thick, so it’s still more portable than some hardcover books.

As far as the overall design goes, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft looks exactly how you imagine a Kindle would look, except without that chunky bottom bezel. The bezels are still large enough for your hands to grip the device without getting in the way of the screen.

I reviewed the Graphite model with the white pen, but you can get the Fig colorway, which also comes with a Fig-colored pen. I usually don’t say this about tech, but I think I prefer the black model, only because the Fig colorway might be a little distracting while reading.

At the bottom, you’ll find the USB Type-C port for charging, and the power button is located on the top-right side. Just below that is the space where the pen attaches.

If you’re thinking that the pen might get in the way while attached to the right side, you’d be correct. It’s a silly design choice, especially when the pen is small enough (155 x 8.8mm) to easily fit on top of the Kindle.

Overall, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is sleek and inoffensive. It’s thin and light, albeit a bit harder to carry around than previous models, but who doesn’t want a little more reading and writing space? However, I am frustrated by the pen placement.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: display

• There’s color, but it’s not colorful
• Text and images are sharp

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft covers the black-and-white spectrum at 300 ppi and adds a splash of color at 150 ppi. There isn’t much the 11-inch display could do to elevate the average book reading experience, but it didn’t have to. Text looked clear and crisp, and the 36 white LEDs and 34 amber LEDs made it so I had a more comfortable reading experience depending on the setting I was in.

Like with other e-ink displays, the LEDs do create a layer of color (white or amber) that warps the image on the screen a little bit. With black text, it’s perfectly fine, as the difference is negligible. However, when introducing color, it’s more noticeable.

The problem is that, while it’s nice to have color, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is just not as colorful as I’d like it to be. I read “Hellblazer Vol. 1,” and when John Constantine heads to Africa, there are supposed to be these bright and bold pink and yellow hues, but they are muted on the Scribe Colorsoft’s screen. Even when set to “Vivid” mode, the color doesn’t pop. Honestly, this is to be expected from an e-ink display. But it doesn’t change the fact that you won’t get the same experience as looking at a real graphic novel. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that we can experience color at all, but at this wild asking price, it’s definitely not worth it for the color alone.

• Display score: 4 / 5

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: performance

• Relatively smooth
• The response times you expect

You’re not looking at a racehorse here; this is a little pony, and that's OK. You don’t need all the performance in the world to run an e-reader.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is relatively smooth across the board but still suffers from slightly slow response times during navigation. This isn’t a huge turn-off, since most of the experience comes down to turning a page. I did have to restart my Kindle once because it simply refused to connect to Wi-Fi no matter how many times I tried, but it resolved itself afterwards.

When doing more involved things like annotating or taking notes, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft kept up with all of my movements and demands with little issue. Zooming in around the pages also looked and felt smooth, although there’s still a slight awkward delay for the image to refresh, as I could clearly see the ghost of an image from the previous screen.

• User experience score: 4 / 5

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: software

• Surprisingly fast performance on E Ink
• Smooth zooming, whether color or black and white

All of the important bits of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, or any e-reader, come down to the software experience. I am generally happy with what this Kindle provides, and it’s not that much different from other e-readers.

You’ve got the essentials that allow you to adjust the layout, font, spacing, etc. There are little things like the “Popular highlights” and “About this book” info, which are neat. Then there’s Word Wise, which defines unfamiliar words but also still needs a lot of work — it identifies overly simple words even at its lowest setting instead of exclusively honing in on the university-level vocabulary that most people would struggle with.

One of my personal favorite software features is being able to isolate comic panels. Double-tapping on a comic panel will make it full screen, and then you can flip through the following panels with ease. When it gets to a new page, it’ll show you the full page and then break down each panel at full screen. This is super cool because you don’t have to zoom in to get a closer look at what’s happening. However, it’s not perfect. I noticed an issue when reading “Attack on Titan” where, when there are two panels and text sprawled across them, sometimes the Kindle won’t combine the panels, and it cuts off the text.

Another cool feature is being able to simulate page turns, which I love in theory, but it doesn’t look the best in practice. The problem is that it’s a fade-in and -out effect instead of an actual flipping animation. It looks a bit more natural when reading a book because it’s a quick fade between texts, but it’s a much uglier transition with comics because there’s a lot of ghosting happening. It looks like it fades in chunks, and it was visually unsatisfying to the point where I turned it off.

To highlight the “Scribe” portion of this Kindle, the notetaking and markup process is rather smooth. The pen is equipped with an eraser on the back and a shortcut button on its side (defaulted to highlight). When reading a standard book, there are two important icons, one on the left and right. The leftmost icon is for all of your pen settings to customize the look, change between highlighters and erasers, and even insert notes and canvases between the text.

The right side of the screen is where you take your notes; it can expand and either split the screen with the text or hover over it, and wherever you write notes, it’ll attach a note symbol next to the closest text. That’s pretty intuitive, since you can change the layout of the book, so naturally it would move the space of your notes. You can even expand the size of notes to take up the full page if you want, so there’s plenty of room to write.

There are a lot of features for folks interested in the “Scribe” portion of things, and they operate pretty seamlessly overall. There’s even a workspace section where you can take full notes unrelated to what you’re reading. In that workspace, there are two AI features, one of which can summarize your notes, and the other can “Refine writing,” which basically transforms your notes into a text font that you can customize.

The only absent feature I noticed is that you can’t take any notes in comics. That means no drawings, notetaking, or even highlighting.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft review: battery

• Light readers can go for weeks
• Heavy readers can go for days

According to Amazon, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft can survive for eight weeks if you're reading for 30 minutes at just under half brightness. I'll save you the math: that's 28 hours of reading time. For light readers, you could probably stretch that for a few weeks. Heavier readers will likely kill that battery in a few days.

I spent several weeks with the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, reading roughly an hour every day, and I didn't need to reach for a charger until toward the end of the month. That gives credit to Amazon’s battery life claim.

The reading time you experience will vary heavily based on the brightness of your screen. If you're someone who reads at close to zero brightness, you're going to get a lot more longevity out of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

Unfortunately, the battery does not charge fast. When I first got it, the battery was completely drained, and I had to wait quite a while before the Kindle showed any signs of life. It'll make you think it's broken, so I do not recommend letting it die.

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should I buy the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft

• Review test period = four weeks
• Testing included = books, comics, manga

I spent a month bouncing around between books, comics, and manga. I read “The House Witch,” “The Time of Contempt,” “Hellblazer Vol. 1,” and “Attack on Titan,” most of which were available on Prime Reading. I spent roughly an hour a day reading. Logging into my Amazon account and getting them on the device was easy. Downloading comics and manga takes a little longer than books, but not significantly so.

For the “Scribe” portion of the review, I highlighted portions of dialogue and wrote little notes to myself to come back to later because the text was either written impeccably well or it was just a funny line. I also drew canvases between the text — just silly doodles right in the middle of the book.

First reviewed: May 2026

• A full-screen Fire TV pop-up ad has been spotted during start-up, which you have to dismiss
• manually
• It's currently promoting the new Fire TV mobile app redesign
• Amazon could use this as an opportunity to sell to third-party advertisers

The odd ad crops up across Fire TVs devices now and then, and users have pretty much got used to them, but now full-screen pop-ups have started to appear during the start-up process.

When users turn on their devices, one of the first things that now appears is a Fire TV system pop-up, which blocks the main home screen on both Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks. The most frustrating part is that you have to acknowledge it and close it manually before you can use your device.

It was first spotted by AFTVnews, who say this is the first time Amazon has shown pop-ups that take over your entire screen. As it stands, the pop-up is only displaying an ad for Amazon’s Fire TV app which received a big design overhaul back in February.

As mentioned, Fire TV users are no strangers to ads. Ads are splattered across the Fire TV home screen and in standby screensavers when the device isn't being used, as well as in content on ad-supported tiers for streaming services like Prime Video.

In addition to product and brand ads, Fire TV devices display the odd pop-up when it’s system-related, whether that’s to notify you of software updates or inform you when it’s failed to pair a remote, for example.

Those types of ads are understandable, because they give you valuable information about any changes happening with your device. However, issuing full-screen pop-ups that you’re forced to acknowledge could be taking it a step too far for users who want to stream content and access apps without ads interrupting the experience.

This has sparked a concern, especially regarding the direction Amazon could take with this new advertising format — and it could even open the doors for the tech giant to start promoting products from third-party advertisers.

Is Amazon repeating history?

When it comes to spotlighting new Fire TV upgrades like the mobile app redesign, it makes sense. Amazon has rolled out a number of upgrades to Fire TV devices this year so far, which also includes a fresh layout and new streaming channels. But how long will it take for Amazon to throw brand ads in your face as soon as you turn on your TV?

As mentioned in the AFTVnews report, Amazon has used displaying formats in the past to advertise its own content and device-related information, and then gone on to sell these slots to third-party advertisers, filling its Fire TV interface with ads promoting brands that aren’t Amazon-related.

While the latest Fire TV pop-up remains system-related for now, that’s not to say Amazon won’t repeat history and see this as an opportunity to generate more revenue from advertising. The last thing viewers want is ads blocking their home screen before they've even decided what they want to watch.

• Motorola's Smart Feed app appears to be adding affiliate codes to purchases through the Amazon app
• This means Motorola, or whoever the code is linked to, would get a kickback for your purchases
• But there's evidence that this behavior might not have been intended

Something very strange — and sketchy — seems to be happening on some Motorola phones, as devices appear to have been caught adding affiliate codes to orders placed through the Amazon app.

The behavior was first spotted by a Reddit user with a Motorola Razr Ultra (2025), with Motorola’s pre-installed Smart Feed app appearing to be the culprit. 9to5Google has since replicated the behavior using a Razr Fold, and the site also claims that this oddity doesn’t happen on older versions of Motorola’s Smart Feed app, so it has only started with the latest update.

It also didn’t occur when 9to5Google used a Moto G Stylus (2026) running the latest version of Smart Feed, so seemingly, only certain phones are affected.

But it’s troubling behavior regardless, as this basically means that any time you order something from the Amazon app, Motorola will quietly get an affiliate fee, despite having nothing to do with you placing the order.

Oddly, this seems to only happen if you open the Amazon app from the app drawer, rather than from its home screen icon, but you can see evidence of it happening because the Chrome browser will flash up for a split second to inject the affiliate link.

You can see this happening in 9to5Google’s video below, which first shows the Amazon app being opened from the home screen and then from the app drawer.

This is reminiscent of the scandal previously faced by Honey — PayPal’s Chrome extension that promised to automatically apply the best discount codes to online purchases, but which would also attach its own referral links to the purchase to get a kickback, even removing other referral links that you might have attempted to use.

It gets weirder

But in Motorola’s case, things appear weirder than the company simply trying to take a cut of your Amazon purchases, because 9to5Google also found that the Chrome site that flashes up when you launch Amazon is ‘kira-abboud.com,’ which seems to be a reference to fashion influencer Kira Abboud.

But why on Earth would Motorola use an affiliate link tied to a fashion influencer? And on top of that, the actual affiliate code that’s generated doesn’t appear to match up with any that have been shared by Abboud. So it may well be that this wasn’t an intentional act by either Motorola or Abboud.

Regardless, Motorola users understandably aren’t happy, taking to Reddit to say things like “this is really sketchy” and describing this quirk as “outright malware”.

Hopefully, Motorola will clear things up soon, but in the meantime, you can disable Smart Feed to prevent this behavior. To do so, head to Settings > Apps, then search for Smart Feed and tap ‘Disable’.

• Jeff Bezos says AI doom-mongerers are "dead wrong"
• Amazon founder says using AI will lead to greater productivity
• Bezos praises Trump, but says "I'm on the side of America"

Jeff Bezos has slammed opponents to the increasing usage of AI in the workplace, saying the technology could actually assist workers across the world and unlock extra productivity for all.

Speaking to CNBC's Alan Sorkin, the Amazon founder turned wannabe socialite looked to play down growing fears that AI technology will gut the job market, particularly for younger workers.

“I think those people are dead wrong,” Bezos said. “What’s really going to happen is that (AI) is going to elevate all of these people.”

"Higher level" work

Bezos, whose former company is one of the largest AI adopters in the world, instead predicted the technology will help boost productivity, and could even lead to deflation as the cost of goods and services falls - but clarified this could only happen if, “we let this technology play out and don’t hamstring it with regulation too early.”

He also rejected the idea that AI coding tools could be a threat to software engineers, stating the technology could actually help them be more productive by spotting issues and solving problems.

“It’s just that the work is going to be done at a higher level,” Bezos said. “It’s going to be done with a bulldozer instead of a shovel, and that’s going to be a good thing.”

In a wide-ranging interview at his Blue Origin spacecraft headquarters, Bezos also touched on tax issues, President Trump and economic policies across the US.

“The top 1% of taxpayers pay about 40% of all the tax revenue, and the bottom half pay 3%,” Bezos said. “I don’t think it should be 3%. I think it should be zero.”

Despite leaving Amazon in 2021, Bezos is still handsomely paid by the company - in April 2026, it noted he received an $81,400 salary - a figure which hasn't changed since 1998, although he also received $1.6 million in security and travel expenses. Bezos, of course, also owns around 8% of Amazon, with his shares estimated to be worth in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

“People sometimes say that, you know, I don’t pay taxes. Not true. I pay billions of dollars in taxes,” Bezos told CNBC, pushing back on critics saying he doesn't pull his weight, and also claiming that making him pay more wouldn't solve anything.

“You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens. I promise you.”

Bezos also told Sorkin he believes President Donald Trump is “a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term,” but noted he had also spoken to predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

“We need our business leaders to provide input into the administration, regardless of who the president is,” he said.

“I’m on the side of America,” he added. “And that’s where business leaders should be.”

• Alexa+ can now quickly create custom AI podcasts for you
• Meanwhile, Spotify is labeling podcasts made by AI
• An increasing number of new podcasts are AI-generated

We're now well past the stage where AI models can create convincing audio podcasts, run by convincing AI hosts — and there are a couple of developments this week that are going to add to and fight back against the growing deluge of AI podcasts (also known as 'podslop', if you're not a fan).

First up, Amazon has given Alexa+ new powers to create custom podcasts based on your prompts. Whether you want a dive into Roman history, a round-up of the best new music releases, sports previews or anything else, Alexa+ can serve up a podcast-style audio exploration in just a few minutes.

I'm not a fan myself of AI podcasts — more on that later — but I have to give credit to Amazon for actually partnering with real news organizations, including Reuters and the Washington Post, to produce this audio. Publishers and creators actually getting paid as AI scrapes and repackages their work? Whatever next?

This is US only for now, and as I'm in the UK I haven't been able to try it, but the examples Amazon has provided seem solid enough: the podcasts are similar in style and tone to what we've already heard from apps such as NotebookLM.

Wait just a moment, AI

As Amazon pushes AI podcasts forward, Spotify is putting the brakes on — or at least, making it easier to spot these pods. Following on from its AI verification scheme for music, launched earlier this month, Spotify is now using the same badges on podcast content.

You'll start to see light green badges that say 'Verified by Spotify' on them, used for podcasts where Spotify has confirmed who the hosts and publishers behind the show are. The idea is to protect listeners against fake content that may be misleading or dangerous, Spotify says, while also helping creators maintain their audience.

"It signals that the show has been reviewed against Spotify’s standards for authenticity and trust, helping listeners understand who they’re hearing while giving creators a clear, credible way to establish their identity on our platform," explains Spotify, adding that listener activity and audience authenticity are taken into account too.

A recent survey suggested some 39% of new podcasts are AI-generated, and I'm glad to see Spotify helping us to sort the real stuff out. I'd much rather listen to something with real personality and knowledge behind it, rather than a machine-made amalgamation of scraped content polished up into a generic, flat audio episode.

• Amazon's next Kindle lineup could come with user-replaceable batteries
• The company could also start selling its own replacement kits
• Support for older Kindles is ending on May 20, and users have started jailbreaking their devices

Amazon could be hiding something up its sleeve, and its next lineup of Kindle e-readers could be getting an upgrade every bookworm would be thankful for — replaceable batteries.

In the MobileReads forum, a handful of users sparked a discussion that pointed to messages found in Amazon’s Kindle 5.19.4 firmware update referring to user-replaceable batteries, as well as replacement kits and instructional guides. The firmware was then pulled, but eagle-eyed users managed to share it before it disappeared.

Though it’s speculation for now, one user in the forum shared they believe that “it is very likely”, who also shared the following messages found in the firmware release:

“This battery cannot be recognized and may not perform as expected. Charging has been limited to protect your device.”

“To return your device to its original performance specifications, we recommend installing a battery that complies with Amazon specifications.”

“Go to Settings > Device Options > Battery for battery troubleshooting guidance and support.”

“Scan the QR code below to purchase a battery replacement kit and view instructions for replacement.”

The move would align with a new EU regulation that will enforce tighter requirements on consumer electronics. As of February 2027, gadgets such as smartphones and tablets will need to have easy-to-repair batteries that don’t require specific tools, making it easier for users to replace certain hardware parts themselves.

In addition to replaceable batteries, it’s likely that Amazon’s next Kindle range could come with design upgrades to make switching out batteries easier. Most older models are sealed with adhesive, making it difficult for users to pry open their e-readers, while some Kindle batteries are glued into the device.

It would be a welcome upgrade for avid e-readers everywhere, but whether it’s enough to make up for shutting down support for pre-2012 models is another question.

Is Amazon doing this because it has to?

From May 20, Kindle devices released prior to 2012 will lose support meaning that, while you’ll still be able to read books already downloaded to your device, you’ll no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download additional books on them after that date. Not only that, but the company also unveiled it would be pulling the plug on its Send to Kindle function — which allows you to wirelessly transfer ebooks you bought elsewhere, as well as documents and other files, to your Kindle.

To say this upset owners of these models would be underplaying the response it got from avid readers, but despite Amazon’s attempt to force users to needlessly upgrade to pricier devices, the jailbreaking bug has hit bookworms everywhere. With Amazon’s cease of support looming, users on Reddit aren’t being quiet about how they’re modifying their devices to download third-party apps such as KOReader to continue purchasing books and for most, it’s the best thing they’ve ever done.

You should note that jailbreaking your device isn’t recommended, and it comes with a handful of risks. For starters, it could lead to bugs, battery life deficiency, and other performance issues, and then there’s the matter of piracy. But for those who are dead set on avoiding having to upgrade their device, it’s become a common practice, as has sideloading books.

Amazon hasn’t been giving readers much of what they want, but now that replaceable batteries could be its next hardware upgrade, perhaps this will redeem the series of poor choices it's made lately.

• Amazon wants 80% of its developers to be using AI every single week
• The company is even tracking AI token usage via internal leaderboards
• Unwilling workers are using AI where it's not necessary just to inflate figures

Some Amazon employees are reportedly using the company's internal agentic AI platform, MeshClaw, to automate unnecessary or trivial parts of their work simply to boost internal AI usage metrics.

This comes as company workers are being pressured from above to use more AI – Amazon wants four in five of its developers to be using the tech weekly, and has since started tracking AI token consumption on internal leaderboards.

With workers adoption still relatively slow, many have turned to behavior described as 'tokenmaxxing' to artificially inflate their AI usage metrics, the Financial Times has reported.

Amazon workers are pretending to use AI more than they are

MeshClaw is one of the company's internal systems designed to support the adoption of AI, allowing employees to create their own AI agents to navigate software, coding, emails and other regular workflows.

But workers are now said to be optimizing their usage to maximize token counts rather than useful outcomes, ultimately leading to unnecessary AI calls that are increasing Amazon's compute costs without delivering true ROI.

And it's not just Amazon looking to drive AI adoption internally, with Meta, Microsoft and other companies also reportedly gamifying uptake with internal leaderboards.

However, a recent study by engineering analytics firm Jellyfish (via Business Insider) reveals that, while the heaviest AI users consumed around 10x more tokens than average, they only achieved a 2x increase in productivity.

Conversely, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview with the All-In Podcast he would be "deeply alarmed" if workers like software engineers or AI researchers didn't use half their annual salary's worth of AI tokens annually – that's $250,000 in tokens for a $500,000 worker.

• Prime Video is expanding it Clips vertical video feed for mobile
• It's designed to help you discover new titles, and you can also share them with others
• Clips is coming to select US users first, with a wider rollout expected for the summer

The TikTokification of the best streaming services is officially happening, and Prime Video is the latest platform to hop on the vertical video feed bandwagon, following suit to Netflix and Disney+.

Launching to select users in the US on iOS, Android, and Fire tablets first, Clips (which is also the name of Netflix’s video feed) is Prime Video’s latest viewing experience for mobile, a short-form video feed that’s designed to give you recommendations for your next binge watch. Prime Video first rolled out Clips with NBA highlights, and now the platform is expanding it to movies and shows.

Just like the algorithm you get with TikTok, your Clips feed uses your viewing history as the basis for offering new entertainment suggestions, putting discovery at the forefront. With the magic of a simple tap, Clips will open in full-screen mode and from there the scrolling begins. Not only can you view snippets of movies and shows from Prime Video’s catalog, you can watch the full thing directly from Clips, rent and buy titles, save to your watchlist, and share with others via messaging platforms or social media.

While Clips isn’t a completely new feature for Prime Video, it’s still a huge addition to its mobile app, and one that the streaming giant is very excited about. “As a first-stop entertainment destination, Prime Video offers customers a vast selection of premium content, and we want to make it as easy and seamless as possible for them to discover what's most relevant," said Brian Griffin, director of global application experiences at Prime Video, who added the following:

"Clips gives customers a whole new way to browse with short, personalized snippets tailored to their interests. Whether they have a few minutes to scroll or are looking for something to watch when they have more time, entertainment is just a tap away”.

At least the platform is hopeful for its new mobile experience, but that said, it doesn’t mean that subscribers are going to embrace another vertical video feed taking over their streaming apps — and it all started with Netflix.

Back in May 2025, Netflix announced it was testing vertical video feeds for mobile, not because it wanted to become a social media app, but because short-form video is the most common form of video consumption among viewers today. Just last week the streaming service unveiled its own Clips feed, and not everyone is welcoming it with open arms.

When you think about it, it’s quite counterintuitive. Users revert to Netflix and other platforms to lose themselves in the drama of a good movie or show to escape doomscrolling, and now Netflix is putting that temptation right back into their hands. As a means of discovery I can see it having its benefits, especially if you’re an incredibly indecisive viewer, but at the same time it unlocks a new lethal rabbit hole for you to fall into — one Netflix subscriber on Reddit exasperatedly called to ‘kill it with fire’, while others jumped on to voice their dislike for the feature in the same thread.

Amazon has also shared that it’s already planning to expand Clips, and the video feed will become fully available across these devices later this summer.

• Amazon DSP marketers can run personalized campaigns with data from LinkedIn
• LinkedIn CTV Ads are more effective than other CTV and linear TV ads
• Amazon Ads and LinkedIn revenues are climbing

LinkedIn has made programmatic buying for CTV Ads available through Amazon DSP, which means that B2B-focused streaming TV campaigns can now be run within existing Amazon DSP workflows rather than having to buy though LinkedIn's Campaign Manager.

The Microsoft-owned platform boasted its CTV Ads reach B2B audiences 2.2x better than other CTV platforms, and 4.3x more effectively than linear TV.

The new Amazon partnership means marketers can access precise LinkedIn targeting like job title, industry and seniority to reach the right buyers.

LinkedIn and Amazon expand personalized B2B advertising

"This collaboration with Amazon DSP expands how advertisers can buy LinkedIn CTV Ads, while still reaching the buyers that matter most to deliver measurable business outcomes at scale," LinkedIn Senior Director David Roter explained.

The partnership is designed to help advertisers reach business decision-makers wherever they are, extending LinkedIn targeting beyond news feeds, and it's available now for advertisers in the US.

As for Amazon, it saw a 22% year-over-year rise in quarterly ad revenue during its most recent three-month period, totalling $17.2 billion. LinkedIn revenue also rose 12% last quarter – its highest rate of growth seen in 15 quarters.

More broadly, LinkedIn is going in heavy on marketing lately. The Amazon announcement comes weeks after the platform pushed creators, noting that four in five (82%) B2B marketers working with creators agree influencers are essential for delivering ROI. The company also underscored the growing role that video plays in marketing.

"By combining LinkedIn's audiences with the scale and impact of streaming TV inventory, advertisers now have the opportunity to reach B2B audiences through their Amazon DSP buys," Amazon Ads Omnichannel Supply Director Chris Conetta added.

• HBO Max now requires Fire OS 6 or later on Fire TV devices
• Some Fire OS 5 devices were sold as recently as 2020
• Fire OS has been superseded by Vega OS on newer devices

If you have a Fire TV device from 2020 or earlier you may lose access to the HBO Max app — it only affects you if your device is running Fire OS 5, but that's still estimated to be "millions" of people, potentially.

The news comes via AFTVnews, which spotted that the HBO Max app support page has been updated and details Fire OS 6 as the oldest supported version of Amazon's TV OS.

That's bad news if you have the older OS, because while Amazon does deliver software updates to existing hardware, it almost never upgrades the version of the operating system.

AFTVnews notes that "this likely leaves millions of Fire TV devices still in use with no way to access one of the most popular streaming services."

That means if you've got one of the affected devices and you're looking forward to whichever Game of Thrones spin-off is coming next, it's time to buy a newer model.

What does HBO Max say about Fire TVs?

HBO isn't the only streamer to stop supporting older Fire TV devices. Netflix ended support for first-gen Fire TV devices in 2025 because the streamer now relies on video formats those devices don't support.

You can see the list of HBO Max supported devices here, and under Amazon Fire TV it says "Amazon Fire TV devices with Fire OS 6 or later [or] Vega OS 1 or later. This includes Fire TV Stick devices, Fire TV Cube, Echo Show devices, and Smart TVs with Fire TV built in."

Fire OS 5 is on Fire TV products sold between 2015 and 2020, including the second generation Fire TV stick. That was a massive seller, so HBO dropping support is going to affect a lot of people's devices.

From Amazon's perspective, upgrading the OS on older devices isn't always the best policy: newer OSes are built for newer hardware, and that can mean problems bringing new versions to devices they weren't built for.

And having people buy new models doesn't just enable Amazon to sell you a new Fire Stick running its new and preffered Vega OS: it also means moving people to a version of the product that can't be used for sideloading or dodgy free streaming.

At the time of publishing, deals on newer Fire TV devices (or Roku devices, if you're feeling a little burned by Fire TV) aren't widespread, but they're common, so keep your eyes open if you need an upgrade.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

• The Xteink X4 ereader has gone viral for its compact size
• It's 4.3 inches, weighs under 80 grams and can be attached to Qi2-compatible smartphones
• It's the first non-Amazon ereader to make the top 10 list

Amazon has been the reigning champion of the best ereaders and its range of Kindle devices continue to dominate the market — but this viral mini ereader has taken social media and bookworms by storm.

The Xteink X4 is the latest gadget that users online can’t get enough of, and it’s all because of its compact size. Coming in at 4.3 inches and weighing 2.72 ounces (which is just under 78 grams), the Xteink X4 is small enough to fit comfortably in your pocket and can even be attached to Qi2-compatible smartphones such as newer iPhone models and Google Pixel phones.

Besides offering the features of a regularly-sized ereader but in compact form, its reasonable $70 price mark is another big selling point — a decent budget option compared to newer Kindle models which can be quite the investment. But following its popularity surge thanks to its online hype, it’s become a new rival for Amazon’s own ereader brand, and it could ring alarm bells for the retail juggernaut.

In a rare turn of events the Xteink X4 has ushered its way into Amazon’s top 10 best-selling ereaders, making it the first non-Amazon device to make the list. It currently sits in the number six spot, surpassing the Kindle Colorsoft and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, the former which still takes one of the top spots in our list of the best Kindles.

Despite the positives, reviews of its software have been a bit of a mixed bag as Trusted Reviews puts it, with some owners highlighting that its software offerings can be quite basic. But even then, this isn’t a massive setback that’s pushing away prospective owners, and it still offers an adequate casual reading experience, which could be even more of a threat to Kindle devices — especially given Amazon’s latest Kindle crackdown.

Just a few weeks ago Amazon announced it would be pulling the plug on older devices despite them still being used, which frustrated users believe is a way for the company to get you to needlessly upgrade to a new and thus pricier Kindle. The decision affects Kindle devices released in 2012 and before, meaning that as of May 20, you’ll no longer be able to purchase or download new books to your device, but you’ll still have access to read content that’s already downloaded.

• You don't have to be an Amazon seller to use ASCS
• ASCS and AWS have a lot in common, and this could be a good thing
• GPS tracking, photo on delivery, 80,000+ trailers and more are all available

Amazon has launched Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) business, opening up its logistics network to external businesses for the first time.

Through the new business, companies can use Amazon's existing network of warehouses and transportation services to store, move and deliver goods across the entire supply chain.

The company explained the ASCS business came about after it sought to solve an internal problem – to bring quick deliveries to its own customers – and now it wants to make that available to everyone.

Amazon Supply Chain Services is Amazon's answer to FedEx, UPS

Amazon likened the creation of ASCS to the inception of AWS – the cloud company initially launched to serve Amazon before being sold globally. Now, AWS is generally considered the biggest market share holder across cloud.

Just like other shipping companies, ASCS customers don't need to sell on Amazon to be able to use ASCS – Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle Outfitters have already signed up as early customers.

The company boasted of its 80,000+ trailers, 24,000+ shipping containers and 100+ partner-operated aircraft to support global logistics, as well as years of work strategically placing fulfilment warehouses to optimize last-mile delivery.

"With the launch of ASCS, we’re confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability, and speed that we’ve built for Amazon customers," ASCS VP Peter Larsen commented.

The ASCS website highlights other perks, including GPS-powered tracking, photo on delivery and easy returns.

Company shares rose around 2% following the announcement, while FedEx and UPS shares dipped slightly at the same time.

• The FCC has relaxed low-orbit satellite restrictions
• It works out to a 7x capacity increase for internet satellites
• The move is welcomed by SpaceX and Amazon

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has delivered some good news to Elon Musk's Starlink and other satellite internet providers, by removing several key restrictions on how much energy satellites can transmit to and receive from ground stations.

Technically, these are the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) rules set in the 1990s, as PC Mag reports. In simple terms, it means Starlink and others will be able to operate a much denser array of satellites for providing services to customers.

We're talking as much as a sevenfold increase in satellite network capacity, which should mean a connection that's more reliable and faster. However, it's going to take a while before satellite companies will be able to take advantage.

"This is a major step toward enhancing the satellite broadband experience for millions of Americans by enabling faster speeds, lower costs, and greater reliability," says the FCC. "This change could also unlock more than $2 billion in economic benefits for the American people and up to seven-fold more capacity for space-based broadband services."

Sharing spectrum

The rules were introduced to prevent radio signal interference between satellites in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) — also known as low-Earth orbit — from affecting geostationary satellites (GSO) higher in orbit. Now, both NGSO and GSO satellites will be able to share more of the communications spectrum.

It's a change that's been welcomed by Starlink's David Goldman, as well as Brian Huseman, a Vice President at Amazon — another company looking to build out a network of internet-providing satellites with Amazon Leo.

As Gizmodo reports, Viasat is one of the GSO satellite companies that has warned that the move could potentially lead to more interference without proper regulation. Viasat has also raised concerns about Starlink getting a monopoly on this particular market.

The view of the FCC is that modern satellites are designed to share spectrum more effectively than they did in the past, and the 1990s rules no longer apply. Starlink, owned by SpaceX, will no doubt be keen to get its next batch of satellites launched.

• AWS revenue grew 28% – it's now a fifth of Amazon's total revenue
• Industry partnerships and in-house chips are impressing customers
• Capex will remain high during the "early years" of the AI boom

Amazon revenues are up 17% year-over-year to $181.5 billion, largely driven by a 28% year-over-year growth in AWS revenue to $37.6 billion, with the cloud business now accounting for around one-fifth of the company's entire income.

In fact, this is the fastest growth rate in 15 quarters (nearly four years), and AWS' significant upward momentum was largely driven by continued enterprise spend on AI, with the business' AI services already at around $15 billion in annual revenue run rate.

Ongoing partnerships with the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI, including yesterday's announcement of an expanded partnership with OpenAI, only serve to strengthen AWS' position in the cloud market.

AWS revenues continue to skyrocket

Despite a consistently high income, Amazon still plans to spend plenty of cash. Q1 capex hit as much as $44 billion, with the company planning around $200 billion throughout fiscal 2026 as it continues to invest in AI data centers.

"It’s very unusual for business to grow this fast on a base this large," CEO Andy Jassy said on the earnings call. "The last time we saw growth at this clip, AWS was roughly half the size." Compared with three years after AWS launched, when it had a $58 million revenue run rate, the business is now around 260x larger.

He described it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to support long-term revenue, with this heavy upfront investment likely to pay off in the long run. A continued push to develop in-house chips is also designed to cut costs by reducing the reliance on Nvidia.

"The faster AWS grows, the more short-term capex we’ll spend," Jassy added, acknowledging that "free cash flow is challenged" in the "early years" and during times of high growth.

Looking ahead, the company predicts a further 16-19% increase in total revenue next quarter, though quite how much AWS will grow is yet to be seen.

• Microsoft lost its exclusivity as a cloud partner yesterday – today, AWS gets major OpenAI upgrade
• GPT-5.5 and other models, including Codex, will be available for Amazon Bedrock customers
• Available in limited preview for now, this is just the "beginning of a deeper collaboration"

A day after OpenAI revealed Microsoft would no longer be its exclusive cloud partner (but that it would still be a priority partner), the ChatGPT maker has announced a new deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

As part of the deal, GPT and other related models will be available on AWS via Amazon Bedrock for the first time, and the Codex agent can also be integrated into AWS environments.

This expansion comes weeks after Amazon announced a "multi-year strategic partnership" with OpenAI, which would see it invest $50 billion into the company.

OpenAI and AWS deepen their partnership

Under that deal, OpenAI would consume 2GW of Trainium capacity through AWS infrastructure, and the two companies would develop custom models together to power Amazon’s customer-facing applications. This eight-year agreement itself was an extension on a former agreement, worth a combined $138 billion.

The latest development puts OpenAI models straight into Bedrock alongside alternatives from Anthropic, Meta, Mistral, Cohere, Amazon and "other leading providers." It includes OpenAI's "best frontier model," GPT‑5.5.

By putting OpenAI's models straight into Bedrock, it means customers still have access to AWS enterprise features like IAM access controls, private networking, encryption, guardrails and AWS CloudTrail logging.

Amazon is especially pleased to be integrating Codex, noting its four million weekly users, noting its availability with the Codex CLI, the Codex desktop app and Visual Studio Code extension.

Codex on Bedrock, as well as the availability of OpenAI models and Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI, are all available in limited preview for now.

AWS described the latest news as just the "beginning of a deeper collaboration," and with Microsoft's exclusivity off the table, it could be the start of many more for OpenAI too.

The budget TV market is becoming an increasingly competitive space, with more companies entering every year. Whereas QLED was the go-to tech for the budget TV hunter several years ago, companies such as TCL and Hisense have made mini-LED much more affordable in recent times. In fact, both TCL and Hisense’s ultra-competitive mini-LEDs featured among our picks for the best TVs in 2025.

Back in 2023, when mini-LED hadn’t quite nailed the quality-for-the-money balance it has now, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED (2023) was one of the better budget TVs I’d seen, and was a good option despite mini-LED competition. Since then, Amazon has released a new generation of Fire TVs, now known as Ember TVs, including the Omni QLED’s successor, the Amazon Ember Omni QLED (2025), and the Amazon Ember 4-series (2025).

When we tested the Amazon Omni QLED (2025), we described it as an “average TV” as although it's reasonable value for the money, the aforementioned budget mini-LEDs provide better bang for your buck. We haven’t fully tested the 4-series (2025) yet, but we do have both models in our labs. So, I decided to compare them side-by-side: will the 4-series prove to be a budget gem?

Brightness and bright scenes

Starting with some brightness measurements, the QLED produced a measured 510 nits peak HDR brightness and 510 nits HDR fullscreen brightness in Filmmaker Mode, and 598 nits peak and 528 nits fullscreen HDR brightness in Standard. The fullscreen number is decent, beating the OLED average of roughly 150-300 nits. The 4 series, with its LED panel, could only muster 340 nits peak and fullscreen HDR brightness in Filmmaker Mode, and 356 nits peak and fullscreen HDR brightness in Standard.

How did this translate into real-world scenes? Simply put, the QLED was better at handling bright scenes. Scenes of snow from the Spears & Munsil demo footage looked decent on the QLED with some nice bright whites, but the 4 series struggled to handle the bright scenes, showing signs of clipping and detail loss. This happened in both the 1,000 nits, the standard footage, and 600 nits reels, the dimmest HDR footage on the disc.

Another issue I found was settling on a picture mode for both TVs. Filmmaker Mode was more vibrant on the QLED, perfect for the whites, but it was bordering on too bright. Movie Dark was more controlled, but lacked detail. The same was true with the 4 series, though for pure white, Movie Dark was better.

With other brighter scenes from the footage, such as sunlight reflecting off a red-colored canyon, the 4 series struggled to deliver the brightness you’d find on more premium TVs, even budget mini-LEDs like the TCL QM6K/TCL C6K. The QLED was the better for bright scenes, though it too did have a tendency to overexert its brightness at times.

Colors

As you’d expect, the Omni QLED demonstrated the better color reproduction of the two TVs here. Using the market scene from The Sound of Music, which contains punchy reds and oranges from the fruits on the stall, the QLED delivered more pop and vibrancy in its colors compared to the 4 series, thanks to its QLED panel. The 4 series still had some nice punch, but colors did look a little flat in places.

As with the white scenes from before, I found myself struggling to settle on a picture mode. While Movie Dark arguably suited the QLED more, everything felt too dim and neutral, taking away the impact of the colors from the scene. Filmmaker Mode is clearly pushing the brightness and saturation of the colors, but I felt like it needed it.

One crucial setting to change on the QLED in Filmmaker was Local Dimming. Changing this from Off to Low made a big difference, making the picture look more accurate.

As the 4-series does not have a full array backlight like the QLED, there was no local dimming option to change. The default Filmmaker Mode was best for this scene, as the 4 series’ Movie modes, both Dark and Bright, looked far too washed out, despite the latter modes working better for all white scenes of snow.

One color where the 4-series did look better was green. Although dimmer and more toned down compared to the QLED, greens looked more natural in any scenes in the mountains, such as the Do Re Mi scene, on the 4 series. Still, if you’re looking for more striking colors, the QLED is the better choice.

Contrast and dark scenes

Thanks to the Omni QLED’s full array dimming, it performed better with darker and high contrast scenes than the 4 series. Several scenes from Alien: Romulus, such as shots of space and bright lights contrasting with dark hallways, look better on the QLED. Its blacks are fairly deep and rich, though can look raised at times, and its brightness delivers decent impact with peak areas, shown with stars in space and on the sun on the horizon as the group leaves the Jackson’s Star mining colony.

The 4-series does an OK job at delivering Alien: Romulus’ high-contrast scenes, with some solid brightness in peak areas, I found that some scenes had raised blacks which took a gray tone (in more fullscreen areas) and black crush (in smaller areas like the corners of a hallway).

As the 4 series doesn’t have any dimming however, there was the usual backlight clouding issue you’ll find with LED panels, creating a blue haze over the whole screen which was pronounced in darker scenes. Underneath the haze, I thought the picture looked decent at times for a budget model, but the clouding is a distraction, made worse in pitch black viewing.

The Batman really showed off the 4-series’ lack of local dimming, with the clouding effect shown in Alien: Romulus even more obvious here. The Omni QLED did a better job handling the darker scenes, again showing solid contrast, but blacks were still raised. Movie Dark was arguably more accurate, but I picked the brighter Filmmaker Mode to make it easier to see.

The real choice

The 55-inch Amazon Omni QLED (2025) I tested retails for around $589.99 / £749.99 full price, but you’ll regularly see it drop to $489.99 / £499.99, while the 55-inch Amazon 4-series retails for around $459.99 / £549.99, but again this has dropped to $279.99 / £359.99 during sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day. These sales events are really the only time you should be buying these TVs, as those prices are a better reflection of their value.

While there is a big price gap of $200 / £140 price gap between the two (at their best price), I would still choose the Omni QLED over the 4-series. Not only does it support Dolby Vision (which the 4-series doesn’t), it has better picture quality and more features.

If, however you can stretch your budget, it’s worth looking at the budget mini-LEDs I mentioned at the start of this article. The TCL QM6K (C6K in the UK) 55-inch has hit $399.99 / £499 before and for the money, it’s among the best gaming TVs at this price and delivers much better picture quality thanks to its mini-LED panel and backlight. You can even find the more step-up models at bargain prices during the same sales events.

These two TVs do the best they can with the tech they’re given, and if I had to choose one, it would be the QLED. The 4 series is a decent enough TV if you set it up right, but the QLED is the better model for the money overall. If you want the best bang for your buck, however, I'd be looking at cheap mini-LEDs.

• The new Amazon streaming stick stops sideloading
• A message to this effect is popping up on its online listing
• This is part of Amazon's rollout of its own Vega OS

Alongside a revamp for the Fire TV OS interface, Amazon announced a new Fire TV Stick HD earlier this week, that's slimmer than its predecessor — and it's now been confirmed that sideloading won't be allowed on the new device.

As spotted by Cord Cutters News, the product listing on Amazon has this to say: "For enhanced security, this device prevents sideloading or installing apps from unknown sources. Only apps from the Amazon Appstore are available for download."

The message doesn't seem to show up for everyone, but it's definitely there in some cases. Of course, when Amazon says "for enhanced security", it means for the purposes of preventing any dodgy and legally suspect apps from being loaded up.

However, this is also going to affect users who liked to customize and hack their Amazon streaming devices in a variety of other, perfectly legal ways: think custom launchers, local media streaming, and smart home tools, for example.

The future is Vega OS

Part of the way Amazon has locked down its latest streaming stick is by using its own, proprietary Vega OS rather than an adapted version of Android. That gives Amazon much more control over what's possible on the software.

This was all announced last year, but it wasn't clear just how speedy the rollout would be, or which specific devices would be affected. We can safely assume that this 'no sideloading' rule will apply to all Amazon devices going forward.

In fact, as Ars Technica highlights, Vega OS and the same sideloading restrictions apply to the Fire TV Stick 4K Select that came out in October as well — and we noted at the time that you wouldn't be able to sideload apps on it.

Amazon has made sure that the majority of the best streaming apps work on Vega OS and on its new streaming devices, including Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, and Apple TV. Beyond official entertainment apps though, your options are limited.

There are a lot of tech stories that get published every day on TechRadar, and we'll forgive you for not getting around to reading all of them — though we're very grateful if you do (and our daily newsletter might be perfect for you as well).

If you're in need of a catch up on what's been happening since this time last week, then our ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) round-up is here to help. It features the biggest stories from the week, summarized in an easy-to-digest format.

With new LG TVs, cameras from DJI and GoPro, Fire TV sticks, and more to discuss, it's once again been quite a week in technology — here's what went down.

7. We got our first taste of Spider-Man: Brand New Day

We've already seen a trailer, but the first extended clip of Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been shared at CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas, and there's lots to dig into. Besides what it tells us about the upcoming Spidey flick (arriving in theaters on Friday, July 31), it also hints at some retconning that could have an impact on the next two Avengers movies.

This is mostly just speculation until we get to see the movie for ourselves, but everything is now perfectly set up for the return of Tom Holland as the superhero web slinger. At the same CinemaCon 2026 event, we've also been treated to two excellent new posters for the movie — check both of them out via the link below and tell us which one you prefer.

• Read the full story: Spider-Man: Brand New Day's first big clip has been revealed at CinemaCon 2026 — and I think it's teasing us over how it'll set up Marvel's next two Avengers movies

6. There was a new twist in the US foreign router ban

The US administration recently banned the launch of any new routers manufactured in foreign countries — ostensibly over national security concerns. One of the companies expected to be affected by the ban was Netgear, but this week we got news that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be giving Netgear routers a pass.

Netgear has told us that it did submit an application for an exemption based on the FCC guidelines, which take into account the future plans of a company as well as current manufacturing processes, and that may be what made the difference here. Whatever the details in the small print, this remains a somewhat confusing ruling by the FCC.

• Read the full story: Netgear routers seemingly won’t be banned in the US after all — and this just proves the ban was never about security

5. Amazon gave us a slimmer Fire TV Stick

There was a lot of Amazon Fire TV news this week: not only did we get a slimmer version of the dependable Fire TV Stick HD streaming device, there's an interface revamp coming for all Fire TV devices. The updated layout is apparently going to help users to find content faster, with improved category selections one of the incoming software improvements.

Alongside the interface refresh, Amazon is also pushing out Fire TV channels, which will be free and ad-supported. These channels are going to be rolling out internationally at the end of the month, and cover genres such as news, comedy, cooking, and travel. These updates are substantial enough for rivals such as Roku and Google to take note.

• Read the full story: Own a Fire TV device? You're getting a free update soon, with refreshed layout and new streaming channels — and Amazon's also launching a slimmer Fire TV Stick

4. We tried 'the most beautiful phone of 2026'

Oppo has something to say to those who think smartphone design has peaked, and it's saying it in the form of the Find X9 Ultra. We've spent some time with the handset, which is inspired by the fantastic Hasselblad X2D camera in terms of its aesthetics, and this could genuinely end up being the most beautiful phone of 2026 (and quite a few other years as well).

There's going to be a full reveal of the phone next week, but for now we can confirm that the Oppo Find X9 Ultra comes with twin 200MP cameras and 10x optical zoom, and we're confident that the inside of the phone will be just as good as the outside. Stay tuned to TechRadar for more details over the next few days, including pricing and availability.

• Read the full story: The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is inspired by my favorite Hasselblad camera — and I think it's the most beautiful phone of 2026 so far

3. The DJI Osmo Pocket 4 finally landed

After months of rumors and speculation, the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 has finally landed, and this looks to be a serious upgrade over the Pocket 3 that preceded it. We've listed seven key upgrades that make the latest model worth a look, whether you're looking to upgrade from an existing device or wanting to get started with a vlogging camera for the first time.

The upgrades here include a new 4K sensor for better photos and video, improved color handling, a new slo-mo mode (up to 8x in full 4K), and subject tracking. We've got some welcome design tweaks to talk about too, while there's a higher capacity battery compared to the Pocket 3 that should ensure more recording time between charges.

• Read the full story: DJI Pocket 4 vs DJI Pocket 3 — 7 upgrades for the next best-selling vlogging camera

2. GoPro launched its epic Mission action cams

GoPro has been rather quiet of late, but that changed this week, when we got three new models from the camera company. These models are firmly aimed at serious videographers and photographers, too — the Mission 1 Pro ILS supports a Micro Four Thirds lens mount, which means it's compatible with hundreds of existing lenses.

That model is joined by the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro models. All three cameras feature a new 1-inch 50MP sensor and are capable of recording 8K video, and while we're still waiting for details on pricing, we do know pre-orders are opening up on May 21. Check out the three new models for yourself and let us know your thoughts — is GoPro back?

• Read the full story: GoPros get their biggest upgrade for 20 years with trio of 'professional' Mission 1 8K action cams — and one even supports hundreds of pro camera lenses

1. We tested LG's new flagship OLED TV

For many years LG has topped our list of the best OLED TVs on the market – or been very close to the top – and so expectations were high for the LG G6 that's leading the charge for the electronics maker in 2026. Having spent three weeks in the company of the television, we can confirm that it sets a new high bar when it comes to viewing experiences.

The LG G5 remains an excellent TV, but the LG G6 has somehow managed to improve on its predecessor in terms of picture quality, reflection reduction, gaming performance, color reproduction, and performance in brightly lit rooms. Have a read through our review and see if this could be the significant television upgrade you've been waiting for.

• Read the full story: I reviewed the LG G6 for 3 weeks, and it's a fantastic OLED TV that's the new best option for brighter rooms

I’m bad at interior design. So bad, in fact, that I affectionately refer to my apartment as ‘the clown house’ due to its total lack of a cohesive color scheme. It’s definitely due for a refresh — so I turned to Alexa+ to help me create something more tasteful.

A few weeks ago, Amazon rolled out Alexa+ in the UK. The AI-powered virtual assistant made its debut in the US last year, but the company had taken its time localizing Alexa+ for British users. Not only does it recognize and use British slang (which is sometimes unintentionally funny considering its rather posh accent), it also links to services and sites that people use in the UK —and since it's designed to be an 'ambient assistant' for your home, it seemed like a natural choice for decorating advice.

I was lucky enough to get early access to the British version of Alexa+, so after getting to know her a bit (and teasing her about her accent, which she took with good humor) I asked her to suggest ways to make the clown house look a little bit less goofy.

With certain devices (such as the latest Amazon Echo Show smart displays), Alexa+ can take a picture of the room as a starting point, but if you’re using different hardware or want help with another room, you can just describe what it looks like and the assistant will understand. There was a brief moment when I accidentally gave Alexa the impression that I had a strange bedroom with only three walls, but that was probably a poor explanation on my part (the fourth wall is painted a different color).

I started with my spare bedroom/study, which is where I keep my Echo Show speaker, and is the place most in need to help. Paint always looks brighter and bolder on a wall than in a tin, and I ended up with a small room painted quite an alarming shade of swimming pool blue. With two bikes mounted on the walls, two desks, and a bookshelf, it’s quite an assault on the eyes.

Alexa+ gently suggested toning things down with a sage green to “make those bikes look like intentional art rather than storage solutions” and “create a calmer workspace for your computers without clashing with your existing setup”.

She even generated some swatches when I asked to see some examples of sage green paint, though she was unable to recommend one in particular, explaining that she couldn’t see or recall images that she had created before. Nonetheless, it was very useful, and she even offered to message it to my phone for future reference.

Floor to ceiling

Next I described the hallway, and was impressed that she factored in my smart home devices when making suggestions about flooring:

“A light colored runner would help enormously,” she suggested when I described my narrow hallway with its black laminate flooring and no natural light. “Maybe cream or soft beige to tie in with those bedroom curtains as we discussed, And since your robot vacuum can handle it, you won’t have to worry about maintenance!”

She even suggested using an anti-slip rug mat underneath, or possibly carpet tape, and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t immediately try to shuffle me off to Amazon to buy some.

If an AI was capable of cringing, I think Alexa+ would have done it when I described my bedroom: "Blimey, that's quite the red theme you've got going!" she remarked, not unfairly. "Sounds like you're living in a proper crimson sanctuary there."

Once I’d clarified that the crimson sanctuary was in fact a normally-shaped room (which she called “a proper four-wall bedroom situation”), she suggested swapping the red for dusty lilac or more sage green, “with soft neutrals or warm gray as your base”.

If I wanted to keep my red accent wall (yes, I know) she suggested fitting some cream curtains to break up the intensity: "The key is creating breathing space so the room feels cozy rather than overwhelming."

She also recommended plants that can survive without natural light for my bedroom, and suggested adding copper accessories in my green living room. It all made sense, and since I’m a fan of green, I wouldn’t have a problem with spreading it throughout the whole apartment.

Picture this...

I was a little skeptical about how well the decorating conversation would work, but it was a rather lovely chat, and I came away with some genuinely good ideas (as well as my sage green swatches).

Sadly when I tried the same experiment more recently, the experience wasn’t quite as colorful. When I asked for some examples of a color, Alexa+ told me she’s unable to generate images, and offered to tell me where I can buy paint instead.

Although our initial conversation was definitely quirky, it was a lot of fun, and this turn of events was a tad disappointing. Hopefully Alexa+ will rediscover her eye for color soon.

• Amazon has been hit with a new class action lawsuit for tethering old Fire TV Sticks
• It accuses the company of restricting vital software support, forcing users to upgrade
• The lawsuit also claims Amazon didn't disclose the true lifespan of Fire TV Sticks

Amazon has found itself at the center of a new class action lawsuit in the US, which claims the company has been quietly stopping software updates as a way to slow down older Fire TV Stick devices until they become unusable — all while advertising their ‘instant’ streaming features.

The lawsuit was filed by Californian plaintiff Bill Merewhuader, who accused the tech giant of ‘bricking’ its first and second generation Fire TV Stick models as a way to force users to upgrade to its more expensive options, as reported by Top Class Actions. Essentially, older models have been diminishing in functionality even though the hardware has been untouched, resulting in slow performances, lagging, and delayed responses.

What does the lawsuit allege?

In his claim, Merewhuader accounts his own experience of purchasing two second generation Fire TV Sticks in 2018. He says he started experiencing performance issues just a few years into owning them, eventually feeling forced to upgrade to a newer, more expensive model in 2024 after the devices became unusable — effectively blaming Amazon for ‘software tethering’.

This refers to a device’s usability, which relies on software updates manned by the company that releases them to ensure a high level of performance. By stopping this support, companies can cut the lifespan of a device prematurely in order to force consumers to upgrade. Merewhuader has accused Amazon of doing this to the first generation device as early as 2022, ending support for the second generation shortly after despite Amazon’s claim that software support would continue until 2024.

Additionally, Merewhuader says Amazon never disclosed information that said software support could be discontinued, as the company initially marketed the devices as ones which offer ‘instant’ entertainment across a wide variety of content from the best streaming services — which the plaintiff says was the main reason why customers purchased the devices in the first place.

Overall, the lawsuit is centered on two things. The first being the act of software tethering and the second being the fact no one was told the truth about the devices’ lifespan, which risks jeopardizing user trust. As a result, Merewhuader is looking to take his case nationwide in hopes that Amazon will compensate users in his position while tightening laws to prevent future software tethering practices.

Amazon hasn't publicly addressed the lawsuit, but we'll update this story when we know more.

• Pre-2013 Kindles will soon lose Send to Kindle support
• This follows news that they'll lose access to the Kindle Store
• The changes are set to happen on May 20

It’s fair to say that a lot of Kindle owners aren’t particularly happy with Amazon right now, as the company recently announced that pre-2013 models will no longer be supported from May 20.

The support page detailing this change initially just mentioned that these devices would no longer be able to access the Kindle Store or use Kindle Unlimited, but now — as spotted by GoodEreader — the page has been updated to say that Send to Kindle will also stop working.

Send to Kindle is a feature that lets you wirelessly transfer ebooks you bought elsewhere, as well as documents and other files, to your Kindle, but from May 20 the only way to get content onto affected Kindles will be via USB cable.

So it’s a change that makes these older models even more useless than they were previously set to become.

Unhappy readers

There haven’t been many reactions to this Send to Kindle news yet, but in the days since Amazon first announced that these older models would lose access to the Kindle Store there has been no shortage of annoyed responses to that.

On Reddit this includes things like “I hate this”, “screwing the most loyal early adopters is extremely not cool”, and “this is a revolting waste.”

Amazon is offering a 20% discount off new devices, but given that the same fate might eventually befall those too, this could end up pushing users to rival services like Kobo, or perhaps to something with direct access to multiple ebook stores, like a Viwoods or Boox device.

• Amazon has announced a significant refresh to the Fire TV interface
• It will include new streaming channels and will head to older devices too
• The company had also revealed a faster, slimmer Fire TV Stick HD

Amazon has revealed it is refreshing its Fire TV platform with a new look and new streaming channels. It also reveals a new Amazon Fire TV Stick HD.

The update, which will be coming to all older Fire TV devices such as the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, will see a new layout with a focus on getting users to their content easier. Categories have been introduced so customers can quickly access their preferred movies, TV shows, news and sports. Amazon also claims the update will make Fire TV 30% faster.

The update will also introduce Fire TV channels, a new feature that brings in free, ad-supported streaming channels covering a wide range of genres such as news, comedy, cooking and travel to name a few. These 'FAST' channels are becoming increasingly popular across some of the best TVs, with both LG (with LG Channels) and Samsung (included in Tizen) including the feature.

The Fire TV update is free and will begin rolling out to customers internationally at the end of the month, so it will vary depending on region and device as to when you'll see the new UI.

Amazon also revealed a new version of its Amazon Fire TV Stick HD. Amazon says it's 30% narrower than the previous generation's model, making it easier to fit alongside devices in other HDMI ports.

It will run off Direct Power through a TV's USB port, eliminating the need for a bulkier, external power adaptor. Amazon also says the new Stick will be 30% faster than the previous generation, too.

The new Stick HD will also receive an Adaptive Display accessibility feature that will make text and menus easier to see on screen. It will enhance smaller items such as text while simultaneously scaling up larger things like artwork.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick HD will launch for £39.99 / AU$79 (US price TBC), with pre-orders live at Amazon UK and on Amazon Australia.

A Fire TV refresh

Fire TV is featured in a wide range of devices, so it's great to see that it's getting an update in 2026. In my time using the smart TV platform, I've sometimes found it can be clunky, slow to navigate and slow to respond to commands. If this new update does indeed up the speed by 30%, that could make a huge difference.

The inclusion of FAST channels (free, ad-support streaming channels) is a welcome one, as it gives users more content they can watch without extra fees.

While I haven't seen the new Fire TV interface in-person yet, from the image above, I can see that large banner ads will still likely be a feature. This is now common across most smart TV interfaces and continues to be a bit of a frustration. I'll reserve full judgement however until I use it myself.

It will take a lot for Fire TV to de-throne the top smart TV platforms such as LG's webOS, Roku and Samsung's latest Tizen iteration (though I'm yet to test the 2026 version yet), but hopefully this refresh will do just the trick.

As for the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD, it's again nice to see an update to the HD models, as the 4K now has three different varieties available. It looks like the upgraded model will be the same price as the previous HD Stick (£39.99 in the UK) and it's likely to receive discounts during big sale events during Prime Day and Black Friday.

Amazon has re-branded its lineup of Fire TVs to Ember TVs, and the latest Ember TV entry, the Samsung Frame-rival Artline, is set to launch in the coming weeks.

Amazon released several new Fire TVs last year including new versions of the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, Amazon Fire TV 4-series and Amazon Fire TV 2-series. These TVs will be re-branded under the Ember TV name. So, expect names to read as Amazon Ember QLED, Amazon Ember 4-series and so on.

We’ve already tested the Amazon Omni QLED (2025) and while it didn’t score as highly as the 2023 model, it’s still a competent enough TV when it’s at the right price. That said, it faces very stiff competition from the likes of Hisense, TCL and Roku. The 4-series and 2-series, both of which use LED panels, are in our labs ready for testing.

Onto the next news then: the Amazon Ember Artline TV is the company’s version of the Samsung Frame. While the Samsung Frame may not offer the picture quality and features of the very best TVs, its Art Mode, where artworks are displayed in standby rather than a black screen, is extremely popular. 2,000 artworks will be available at no extra fee. There's also a 'Match The Room' feature which uses AI to find an artwork that matches the TV's surroundings.

The Artline is set to launch in a few weeks, with an estimated shipping date of May 7th. Pre-orders are live on Amazon US and Amazon UK. The 55-inch Artline is priced at $899 / £949 and the 65-inch is priced at $1,099 / £1,199. It will have a QLED panel (the same used in the 2025 Omni QLED) and matte screen to reduce glare, but will support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It will have four HDMI ports, but these will be limited to 60Hz for gaming.

In terms of smart features, the Artline will come with the refreshed Fire TV (2026) smart TV platform which aims at getting you to content faster, with the ability to browse dedicated content categories and comes with new, free channels to stream. It will also support Alexa+, a more advanced version of its Alexa smart assistant, which was first introduced in 2025, eventually landing in the UK in 2026.

First impressions of the Artline

We recently got our first look at the Artline in person and the results were…mixed. It was by no means an extensive preview, but we were shown a scene from Prime Video’s The Boys and the first thing we noticed was that the matte screen was too glossy, resulting in the demo scene being very difficult to watch.

Art itself, however, looked very nice on it. We also saw the Artline with a brown-wood design frame on it (one of 10 colors) which again looked great, made even better with the included near-flush wall mount which fit snugly and neatly to the wall. There is a chunky black section under the frame which takes away from the sleekness a little, but this does house the sensor for Omnisense, where the TV will turn on and off when movement is detected in the room.

The big talking point is the price. At $1,099/£1,199 for the 65-inch model, this is significantly pricier than a well-specced mini-LED such as the TCL QM7K/C7K which costs $799/£749 at the time of writing. These boast features of the best gaming TVs such as 4K 144Hz support and a mini-LED backlight for pictures that are brighter, with more vibrant colors and more refined contrast.

The Artline is not alone in this though, as these increasingly affordable mini-LED TVs do make them a very tempting offer, especially given their features and performance. While our first impressions of the Artline were mixed, we’ll reserve full judgement when we get it in for a test. Still, the Art TV market becomes even more crowded with TCL, Hisense and now Amazon all gunning for Samsung.

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

• Amazon's NBA stream cut out with less than a minute on the clock
• The game was offline for close to two minutes
• Amazon blames a hardware error on the outage

With less than one minute on the clock in overtime of a tight Heat vs Hornets NBA game, Amazon Prime Video’s stream cut off, leaving viewers staring at a technical difficulties message for close to two minutes.

At arguably the worst time for an outage to happen, basketball fans watching from home missed Charlotte extend its lead, but thankfully were able to tune in before the game concluded — to see Charlotte’s team eliminate Miami’s from the play-in event, blocking them from entry to the postseason playoffs tournament.

As you might expect, the outage infuriated viewers. Social media threads like this one are full of complaints that “Streaming sucks,” and another exclaims, “It shouldn’t be this hard to watch games.”

Even LeBron James was angered by the issues, “Tell me the game didn’t just cut off?!!? Am I trippin?? WTH.”

For many, the outage, plus other frustrations like commentator audio being slightly ahead of the video, and the loss of the ability to pause or quickly rewind on streaming, confirmed their fear that Amazon would be inferior to the old home viewing experience.

It also follows other live streaming woes from Netflix and its Skyscraper Live event, another example of a platform proving that its VOD doesn’t necessarily translate to a premium real-time viewing experience.

As for what caused the NBA game outage, a spokesperson for Prime Video said the problem was due to “a hardware failure in our production truck,” and that it’s conducting a “thorough internal review” into the outage.

We’ll have to wait and see if the streaming situation continues for Amazon, but hopefully, this is simply an early teething problem to resolve.

• OpenAI acknowledges Microsoft contributions to its growth, but says it's time to expand
• New partnership with AWS could unlock more enterprise customers
• Enterprises bring in 40% of OpenAI's entire revenue

OpenAI has reportedly told staff to focus on growing its relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) after a years-long primary relationship with Microsoft, which Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser described as a blocker.

"[The relationship with Microsoft] has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are – for many that's Bedrock," Dresser wrote in a memo sent to staff, praising Microsoft for being "foundational to [OpenAI's] success."

Amazon Bedrock is generally seen as a more flexible platform that's more likely widely used than Microsoft.

OpenAI looks to be reducing reliance on Microsoft

OpenAI has been actively trying to reduce its reliance on Microsoft for a number of months, first branching off to use other hyperscalers' compute and now partnering up with AWS to obtain more customers.

"Since we announced the partnership at the end of February, inbound demand from our customers for this offering has been frankly staggering," Dresser said about Amazon.

While OpenAI was heavily reliant on Microsoft in its first few years in the public eye, it hit the ground running and has grown substantially since then. The company now says it's making $2 billion a month, with enterprise customers accounting for 40% of this.

Offering up solutions to businesses that choose not to subscribe to Microsoft is virtually guaranteed to draw in significantly more revenue for the ChatGPT maker.

Dresser also made remarks about competition from Anthropic, which has been aggressively expanding Claude in recent months with a clear focus on the enterprise customer.

The revenue head accused Anthropic's strategy of being "fear, restriction, and the idea that a small group of elites should control AI."

As for what's next, we're still no closer to finding out whether OpenAI will go public, though rumors continue to circulate for such an event in 2026 or 2027.

Via CNBC

• Jeff Bezos' $81,400 salary hasn't changed since 1998
• Amazon pays out around $1.6 million in security and travel expenses for its founder
• Other Amazon execs take home $365,000 in pay, as well as millions in expenses

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos still earns a base salary of around $81,400 from the company, yars after stepping down as CEO – a figure that has remained unchanged since 1998.

Even with the relatively low salary, Bezos has never taken bonus or additional compensation from the company, which he has previously said is by choice.

His $81k salary is also deliberately low and not aligned with typical exec structures, with most of his wealth instead coming from Amazon shares, of which he owns around 8%, worth hundreds of billions.

Jeff Bezos only takes an $81k salary despite his net worth

Bezos is currently worth an estimated $250 billion, making him the third-richest individual in the world and one of many worth a similar figure – falling far short of Elon Musk's $800+ billion net worth.

However, while Bezos doesn't take the typical exec salary, he is still entitled to considerable compensation from the company's expenses funds, racking up around $1.6 million annually in security and travel costs.

"Mr. Bezos requested not to receive additional compensation and has never received annual cash compensation in excess of his current amount," Amazon’s 2026 proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reads.

Meanwhile, other Amazon execs take home a pay of $365,000, including its current CEO, Andy Jassy - although he claimed other expenses related to security and travelling.

"Due to Mr. Bezos’s substantial stock ownership, he believes he is appropriately incentivized and his interests are appropriately aligned with shareholders’ interests," the filing continues.

Amazon share prices are up around 42% in five years, currently at an all-time high of $241 and on the way up again after recent events, so the expenditure may not have much of an effect on the final accounts.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has outlined his view of the future of AI at the company, offering six "key truths" concerning what the technology can, and will do.

Laid out in a blog post accompanying his annual letter to company shareholders, Jassy shared his thoughts on what Amazon's role in the AI-powered future will be.

"No doubt, AI will fundamentally alter the customer experience. But it has also given rise to much debate," the blog post noted - so what else does Jassy have to say?

"We have never seen a technology more quickly adopted than AI"

Well, to begin - Jassy certainly doesn't believe the hype around AI is being blown out of proportion.

"Every customer experience will be reinvented by AI, and there will be a slew of new experiences only possible because of AI," he notes.

"I’ve followed the public debate on whether this technology is over-hyped, whether we’re in “a bubble,” and if the margins and ROIC will be appealing. My strong conviction, at least for Amazon, is that the answers are no, no, and yes."

Jassy goes on to state, "we have never seen a technology more quickly adopted than AI", giving the example of ChatGPT's rapid growth after the last few years, and likening it to Edison's launch of the first commercial power station in 1882, and the unseen potential this had to everyday consumers.

"AI may have comparable impact," Jassy says. "The difference is that electricity took 40 years to get where it was going. AI appears to be moving ten times faster."

"Amazon is smack in the middle of this land rush"

Luckily, Amazon (mainly through AWS) is well set to provide your business with everything you need to adopt AI.

Jassy notes the astounding growth and success of AWS, which he claims now has an AI revenue run rate of over $15 billion in Q1 2026 (nearly 260 times larger than AWS was at the same point in its lifespan)- and this is growing "rapidly".

Jassy says AWS offering broader capabilities than competitors, along with a global network meaning customer inference can remain as local as possible, and a broad and capable ecosystem of integration with non-AI services, alongside "the strongest security and operational performance of any AI and infrastructure provider".

"We spend a lot of time listening to customers, and they continue to remark about AWS’s advantaged performance as they increasingly move their AI to AWS," he notes.

"AWS could be growing even faster"

Despite the tremendous growth at AWS, Jassy (who formerly held the top job at the business), then notes how it could yet expand even further.

He notes how AWS reported 24% YoY growth with a $142 billion dollar revenue run rate in its Q4 2025, and how, even though it added 3.9GW of new power capacity in 2025, still expects to double total power capacity by the end of 2027.

"That’s a lot of absolute growth," he says, "And yet, we still have capacity constraints that yield unserved demand," noting how customers are asking for more and more compute as AI demands increase.

"Our chips business is on fire"

Since launching Graviton in 2018, AWS' chip business has expanded hugely, with the fourth generation hardware announced in December 2025.

It's clear that Jassy and Amazon as a whole see Graviton as a major revenue driver going forwards, as the company looks to offer an alternative to the status quo in the AI market, where he notes, "virtually all AI thus far has been done on Nvidia chips."

"A new shift has started," Jassy says. "We have a strong partnership with Nvidia, will always have customers who choose to run Nvidia, and we will continue to make AWS the best place to run Nvidia. However, customers want better price-performance."

He likens the state of affairs to when Intel dominated the CPU space, and notes "demand for Trainium is booming."

"Having our own hotly demanded AI chip opens up many possibilities, but perhaps none larger than the ability to lower costs for customers and secure better economics for AWS. At scale, we expect Trainium will save us tens of billions of capex dollars per year, and provide several hundred basis points of operating margin advantage versus relying on others’ chips for inference."

"The way AWS’s cash cycle works is that the faster AWS grows, the more short-term capex we’ll spend"

Jassy's truths then get into the complex financial weeds a little, as he delves into AWS' cash cycle as a way of demonstrating "how much short-term capex we'll spend".

The TL:DR of this is that having short-term capex allows AWS (and Amazon) to quickly spend and invest in the likes of "land, power, buildings, chips, servers, and networking gear", ahead of the company being able to monetize it - all of which means it can spin up future new investments quickly, ensuring (probably) more success.

Or as Jassy puts it - "We’ve been through this cycle with the first big AWS growth wave, and liked the results."

"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity"

Finally, looking forward, Jassy notes that Amazon is hopeful about the future due to the strengths of its customer base - including the recent OpenAI commitment of over $100 billion.

Intriguingly, he also mentions "several other customer agreements completed (and unannounced), or deep in process" - so we may hear more of that to come soon.

"AI is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the current growth is unprecedented and the future growth even bigger," Jassy concludes.

"AWS has a significant leadership position with the broadest functionality, strongest security and operational performance, largest share of customers and revenue, strong desire from customers to run their AI in AWS, and an opportunity to build what could be a new pillar for Amazon in chips."

Another week, another seven days of some seriously big tech news, and we're here to help you catch up on what you might have missed.

From Mac shortages to Artemis II iPhone photos, we have recaps of the seven biggest news stories of the week below for you.

When you're finished, make sure to also check out the eight new movies and TV shows you should watch this weekend.

7. Pebblebee built an excellent AirTag rival

This week, personal safety device company Pebblebee launched its new Halo tracker, a new AirTag rival but with added functionalities.

Built on that ‘what if something goes wrong’ feeling, the Halo tracker can be registered on Apple’s Find My app or Google’s Find Hub, so no additional app is required. When activated, the tracker signals a 130dB siren when activated to attract attention from passersby in the area, and will also emit a flashing strobe of light (which doubles as a 150-lumen flashlight), all while sharing your real-time location with up to five trusted contacts called your Safety Circle

It’s retailing now for $59.99/ £55.28/ AU$87.88, and each device comes with a free 12-month subscription to Pebblebee’s Alert Live plan, which is required for live location sharing.

• Read the full story: Pebblebee’s new personal tracker is an AirTag crossed with a safety siren

6. We tried DJI's robovac

The people at DJI know a lot about drones, but it turns out they’re no slouches when it comes to robot vacuums, either. We tested the new DJI Romo P, with its funky transparent case that lets you see its cleaning components while it works, and its obstacle detection and navigation blew us away.

The Romo P surpassed expectations in our vacuuming tests, too, getting right into the corners of the room, and did an admirable job mopping up messy spills on hard floors. It’s expensive, yes, but it’s one of the best robot vacuums that has ever roamed our floors, and we highly recommend it.

• Read the full story: DJI’s first foray into the pantheon of home cleaning

5. We experienced Sony RGB TV

We've been waiting for Sony's formal entry into RGB TV, and this week we got a first look at what the TV giant has dubbed True RGB. It's an eye-catching name amongst the crowded RGB TV space, with Samsung, TCL, and Hisense all already taking up space.

Our early first impressions of Sony's True RGB TV tech proved good, though, with punchy colors, high brightness, and overall impressive visuals. Sony says its first consumer TV model with True RGB will launch in Spring 2026, and Sony's RGB TV tech is a three-diode system with one red, one green, and one blue, plus a new backlight driver controlled by Sony's unique mix.

As always, Sony will strive not to skew reality and, ideally, deliver visuals that match the creator's intent.

• Read the full story: I saw Sony’s True RGB TV tech in action

4. We poured one out for Samsung Messages

We said goodbye to Samsung Messages this week, as the South Korean tech brand announced the service is shutting down in July.

The announcement came with a suggestion to switch to Google Messages, but many folks are frustrated by the change.

There's no workaround to keep access to Samsung Messages, but if you don’t like Google Messages, there are at least alternative apps you could use, including Textra SMS and Handcent Next SMS messenger.

• Read the full story: Samsung Galaxy owners rebel against being forced to switch to Google Messages

3. Amazon stopped support for some Kindles

As of May 20, Amazon will be pulling the plug on support for Kindles and Fire tablet models released before 2012. However, most of the affected devices are still widely used today (mainly the Kindle 3, Kindle 4, and the first generation Kindle Paperwhite), and it’s rubbed keen e-readers the wrong way.

When the day comes, you’ll still be able to read content that’s already downloaded on your device, but you won’t be able to purchase or download new books after the date has passed. For most users, the simplicity of a Kindle is what has kept them glued to older models instead of upgrading to Amazon’s more advanced, and therefore pricier, models. Besides, this isn’t stopping users from sideloading new books as a workaround — but how long will it be until Amazon clamps down on this, too?

• Read the full story: Amazon is pulling the plug on old Kindle devices

2. NASA shared its otherworldly iPhone snaps

The Artemis II mission has been wowing us, mere earthlings, this week with its deep-space adventures — and that included shooting what are probably the best iPhone and GoPro photos ever taken.

Two of these, showing astronauts Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman looking back towards their home planet, were shot using the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s selfie camera, no less. And outside the ship, a 12-year-old GoPro captured a mind-blowing photo of a lunar eclipse from the far side of the moon.

Our camera roll looks decidedly underwhelming by comparison. Still, it was fascinating to see NASA using some of the same dusty old camera tech – including the decade-old Nikon D5 DSLR – that we’ve been eyeing up in secondhand stores.

• Read the full story: The first iPhone 17 Pro Max photos sent back from the Artemis II mission really are out of this world

1. Mac stock ran low

Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and MacBook Neo stock has been running low across various Apple stores, and problems may persist.

You could be waiting several weeks, or even months in some cases, to receive your Mac Mini or Studio order, depending on your configuration. While Apple hasn't confirmed the rumors, many suspect the ongoing RAM crisis is to blame.

As for the MacBook Neo, the delays are instead being blamed on a weirder source: a lack of iPhone 16 Pro chips. The theory is that these chips were chosen because Apple had a stockpile of A18 Pros with a faulty CPU core; the five-core chips wouldn't work for phones but could be repurposed into Neo chips. However, the incredible popularity of the Neo may have taken Apple by surprise, leading to shortages.

• Read the full story: Mac shortages hit, and the RAM crisis is probably to blame

• Amazon S3 Files is the "first and only cloud object store" of its kind, built for AI
• It brings low-latency access without your data ever having to leave the AWS environment
• The new storage system reduces some of the layers and complexities, making AI simpler and cheaper

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced Amazon S3 Files, which it describes as the "first and only cloud object store that provides fully-featured, high-performance file system access to your data."

S3 Files is a new feature that turns S3 into a shared file system to eliminate the need to move or duplicate data between storage points, all in a bid to reduce some of the friction enterprises face when balancing data storage and AI workloads.

Key to S3 Files is the low-latency, high-performance file access, without data ever leaving the AWS environment.

Amazon S3 Files is the perfect data storage for AI workloads

"Built using Amazon EFS, S3 Files gives you the performance and simplicity of a file system with the scalability, durability, and cost-effectiveness of S3," the company wrote in a post.

Up until now, organizations have been storing their data and data lakes in S3, however file-based tools, agents and applications have been unable to access that date without either a separate file system, duplicating the data or building complex pipelines.

S3 Files essentially makes the data accessible through the file system and via S3 APIs, meaning that "thousands of compute resources can connect to the same... file system simultaneously."

Compared with rival systems, AWS now stands out for much simpler developer workflows and making both structured and unstructured data accessible. As for the broader trend, it shows Amazon reducing storage layers to make AI development faster and simpler for developers, and cheaper for customers.

"There are no data silos, no synchronization complexities, and no tradeoffs," AWS concluded.

S3 Files is already generally available across 34 of AWS' Regions.

• Kindle owners are frustrated with Amazon's decision to end support for old models
• Users say they shouldn't need to upgrade if devices are working as normal
• Sideloading is still an option, but Amazon could stop this workaround.

It’s official, Amazon is ending support for a wide array of older Kindle models as of May 20, and it’s shaken up a lot of keen e-readers to say the least.

Since users online shared that they received an email detailing the change, it garnered a slew of comments and reactions, particularly on Reddit — none of which seem to welcome Amazon’s decision to cease support. If your pre-2012 Kindle hasn’t let you down yet, I’m afraid the time for an upgrade might come sooner than you think, but you’re not the only one in this boat.

If it's not broken, don't fix it

As mentioned, all Kindle models released in 2012 and before will no longer receive support. This means that you’ll still be able to read content that’s already downloaded on your device, but you won’t be able to purchase or download new books after May 20 this year.

The reaction speaks for itself, and a vast majority of these users are quite pressed about it, especially since it will affect devices that are still widely used today — most notably the Kindle 3, Kindle 4, and the first generation Kindle Paperwhite. If there are so many users who are satisfied with how these older devices are still performing, then why the need to end support?

Some are convinced it’s a classic Amazon money-grabbing scheme, with one user questioning “Why replace something so simple like this that still works?”.

Most Kindle users in the Reddit thread have come to a collective agreement; if it’s not broken, don’t fix it (or end it in this case). For most users, the simplicity of a Kindle is what has kept them glued to older models instead of upgrading to Amazon’s more advanced, and therefore pricier, models. It's simply because advanced features aren't a huge necessity for those who just want a device for reading books.

Unlike devices such as phones, computers, and tablets that require new hardware iterations to keep up with evolving software and security updates, e-readers have a singular flagship purpose and that’s for reading. “It's a text reader, that's it, no need to turn it into a brick other than money,” one user shared, while another commented “if the device isn't broken, and can still be used, and all of the features we want and/ or need are on the devices we already own, then we shouldn't have to upgrade”.

However, despite this, there appears to be a silver lining. Yes, you won't be able to purchase and download new books to the affected devices, but this won't stop users from sideloading books from sites that aren't Amazon as a workaround.

A popular way of sideloading books onto a Kindle is by sending files and EPUBs to your Kindle email which will then appear in your device's library. One user in the Reddit thread revealed they sideload books to their Kindle "with a wire and (my) laptop", but even then, the burning question — how long this trick will still work come May 20 — is still on everyone's lips. Will sideloading be Amazon's next target?

• USPS just lost around 20% of its Amazon parcels
• Amazon is USPS's biggest customer, worth around $6 billion annually
• Amazon has continued to expand its own delivery network, opening it up to others

Amazon has struck a deal with the US Postal Service (USPS) which will see the latter lose a chunk of its business - but still come off better than previously anticipated.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal WSJ, the deal will mean USPS could still end up delivering around one billion Amazon packages a year - marking a roughly 20% decrease compared with the previously floated two-thirds reduction.

The renewed delivery agreement, pending regulatory approval, is welcome news for USPS, as Amazon is its largest customer, worth around $6 billion annually.

USPS will retain more Amazon parcels than previously thought

Amazon was considering shifting toward more of its own network for deliveries, however ultimately both its performance for high volumes of parcels and USPS's expertise in rural and last-mile delivery are equally highly valuable.

"We’re pleased to have reached a new agreement with USPS that furthers our longstanding partnership and will let us continue supporting our customers and communities together," a company spokesperson said.

As for USPS, the company has faced intense pressure in recent years, facing multibillion-dollar annual losses and placing a bit bet on Amazon as a customer. Amazon has continued to expand its own networks in that time.

For example, in April 2025, the company declared it would invest over $4 billion to expand its delivery network across rural America, effectively tripling the size of its rural delivery infrastructure by the end of 2026 and creating more than 100,000 jobs in the process.

Besides being a delivery network for its own ecommerce business, Amazon also boasted in September 2025 that more than five billion products move through its network of global logistics, domestic freight and bulk warehousing annually – all of which from independent sellers.

USPS introduced a last-mile delivery bidding process in December to help it determine the true value of the service, likely in a bid to address profitability, and it's this process that prompted Amazon to reassess its partnership with the postal agency.

• Amazon announces 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for customers in the US and nearby
• Two-stage approach introduces changes on April 17 and May 2
• It's unclear whether the company plans to remove the surcharge when possible

Amazon has confirmed the introduction of a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for sellers amid rising global fuel and shipping costs - and with sellers likely to pass on costs to buyers, it could mean your online shopping could get even more expensive.

The company said in an announcement that it has been forced to pass on these costs to sellers after absorbing them for so long.

"Similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of the actual cost increases we are experiencing," Amazon wrote.

Iran war pushes up Amazon fuel and logistics costs

Though the impacts have been widely felt for a number of weeks, Amazon is still holding off for as long as it can, introducing the 3.5% surcharge with effect from April 17.

It will be applied to fulfillment fees across Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in the US and Canada as well as to Remote Fulfillment with FBA from the US into Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

Beginning May 2, Buy with Prime in the US and Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) in the US and Canada will also be affected by the price hike.

The company also noted that the surcharge will be billed against the fulfillment cost of a product, not its sale price, thus it's not always the most expensive products that will see the greatest increase by dollar value. "On average, this equates to $0.17 per unit for US FBA," Amazon wrote.

"We will apply a 3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge to fulfillment fees—meaningfully lower than surcharges applied by other major carriers," a company spokesperson told TechRadar Pro.

"We remain committed to our selling partners’ success and to maintaining broad selection and low prices for customers."

• Delta is partnering with Amazon’s LEO for faster, satellite-powered in-flight Wi-Fi
• Installs will start in 2028 on 500 aircraft types
• United still leads for now with Starlink Wi-Fi on 340+ planes and a full rollout by 2027

Just a little over a week ago, I was cruising at 35,000 feet on a United Airlines flight equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi, and it was pretty much the closest I’ve felt to bliss while flying in economy in quite some time. But United Airlines is now getting some stiff competition from arguably its biggest rival.

Delta Air Lines has formally announced that it’s partnering with Amazon’s Leo Network — previously Project Kuiper — to bring faster, satellite-powered Wi-Fi to flights. It’s a smart investment that aligns with an ongoing trend among other airlines, including United Airlines and JetBlue.

There is a bit of a catch, though — and it’s one that requires patience. Delta Air Lines will begin installing Amazon Leo antennas on 500 aircraft starting in 2028. That’s a long way off, and the process itself can take time. United Airlines began installing Starlink connectivity in 2025 and won’t finish until 2027, when it expects availability across its entire fleet. As of now, it offers free, fast Wi-Fi on more than 340 aircraft, including its entire United Express regional fleet and several larger mainline jets.

Still, it’s an exciting move by Delta and an interesting partnership. It won’t just let you shop in the sky — even though an airline teaming up with Amazon might make you think that. Instead, it will offer a gate-to-gate experience with much faster, lower-latency Wi-Fi that will be free for Delta SkyMiles members.

How Delta will do it

The installation will involve a phased array antenna on each Delta aircraft, enabling connections to the Amazon Leo satellite network and supporting speeds of up to 1 Gbps down and 400 Mbps up.

Right now, there are about 200 Amazon Leo satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of roughly 370 miles, with more than 20 missions planned over the next year to launch additional satellites. The more satellites in orbit, the broader the coverage Amazon Leo will provide. For comparison, Starlink has over 10,000 satellites in orbit, which means more capacity for commercial flights and other connections.

And yes, that should help address congested in-flight Wi-Fi and reduce large dead zones over oceans. Delta says that the Leo-powered Wi-Fi will support connections for playing games, uploading photos or videos, streaming TV shows or movies (even live ones), and offer a much faster experience for basics like web browsing and messaging. Of course, taking calls — whether video or audio — will still be prohibited.

Delta will continue to work with Viasat and Hughes for existing Wi-Fi on many of its aircraft, and going forward, it will be a mix of those providers plus Amazon. In a release, the airline notes that “by working with multiple connectivity leaders, Delta is ensuring it equips the right aircraft with the right technology to serve customers across the globe.”

As of now, 500 aircraft are set to receive faster speeds from Leo, but time will tell if that expands to cover Delta's fleet of nearly 1,000 airplanes.

In the meantime — and arguably in the short term — if you’re after satellite-powered, free Wi-Fi, booking a ticket on United Airlines might make the most sense.

Yes, the airline is still rolling it out and currently has more than 340 aircraft equipped with the connectivity, but it expects to complete the rollout by the end of 2027, while Delta will only begin installations in 2028.

We thought it was all over for our exclusive deal, but it seems NordVPN has forgotten to pull the plug!

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The maximum gift card value on offer is $50, or equivalent but, to get these means signing up for NordVPN's most premium plan in your region. Like I say, my recommendation is to pick up a Plus plan. It's currently cheaper than a Basic plan's off-sale price, packs all of NordVPN's best features, and gets you the free $20 gift card as well as an extra four months of service.

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NordVPN has ranked as our top VPN for over two years. We also rate it as the best streaming VPN.

It's not the fastest VPN, nor does it have quite the same security pedigree as ExpressVPN, but it's a top all-rounder. When we put it against streaming services from across the globe, it performed flawlessly and delivered clearer picture quality than any provider for longer than any provider.

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After years of pronouncements that agentic AI was just around the corner, it suddenly crawled into view this year in the form of OpenClaw, a lightweight, flexible means of orchestrating agents.

And I spoke to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo at Amazon, to find out how the Alexa team is taking advantage of state-of-the-art models with Alexa+.

OpenClaw gives AI digital “hands” that can interact with your PC, the web, and other agents, the same digital tools that human workers would use. Particularly if you spring for a well-equipped Mac mini (the go-to box as macOS is OpenClaw’s original platform) or a PC with a powerful GPU, the local option can save money in the long run.

But if you’re not careful about permissions and security, configurations can expose passwords and other highly sensitive data.

OpenClaw has already spurred enhancements (like Nvidia’s Nemobot) and rivals (like Perplexity Computer and Claude Cowork Dispatch). These can cost $100 per month or more, and may be well worth it for someone seeking to automate much of a solo business or side hustle.

Yesterday’s friendliness, tomorrow’s foundation

But for mainstream consumers, their best option for using AI to just get stuff done may come via one of the most familiar names in digital assistants.

Rausch explains that Alexa has always been focused on getting things done for customers in the real world.

"There are things we've believed to be true about what we're going for with Alexa. And we definitely believe that being the world's best personal AI assistant is a worthy thing to be building for customers and that we can get a lot of magical things done. The vision for Alexa has been very consistent over time, but the technology has held us back at times from becoming the ultimate assistant."

Now, after an 18-month gestation that rebuilt Alexa’s architecture from the ground up while maintaining compatibility with 97 percent of the hundreds of millions of devices on which it runs, users are engaging with Alexa Plus two to three times more than they did with the original assistant. In an even more encouraging sign, the engagement level continues to grow over time.

For example, Amazon has seen week-over-week interactions growth in such usage staples as listening to music streams as generative AI takes discovery deep into genres. Smart home interactions--one of the few ways first-gen assistants were able to interact with the real world - are up more than 50 percent versus classic Alexa. Rausch attributes this to Alexa+’s greater understanding of intent.

“You can truly say what you want and it happens,” he said.

Unlike many in the current wave of AI start-ups serving enterprises or creating core tech for developers, Alexa has maintained its predominant consumer focus. Today, for example, you can order groceries or an Uber with Alexa+. At Amazon’s Devices and Services event last fall, the company flashed a slide packed with integration partners.

Discovery and danger zones

Rausch also shares that a good deal of the dialogue consumers are leaning into includes other kinds of discovery, asking Alexa about its new capabilities. While such dialogue is also occurring with Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, Alexa’s voice-first usage model likely leads to a more free-form exploration.

In contrast, other AI chat interfaces have taken to compartmentalizing their capabilities: create an image, help me learn, etc. (Claude’s have taken a looser approach, with an invitation to discuss “life stuff.”)

But while exploration can be rewarding, rabbit holes can lead to dark places. In the last few years, passing the once-formidable Turing Test (which posed whether a computer could convince a human that they were talking to another human) has become child’s play for today’s agents, at least in limited interactions.

Getting deep into a process with some chatbots can trigger a persistent drive to egg you on, to do one more thing. In some cases, humans have formed relationships in which they’ve got engaged to their AI chatbot. Other relationships have turned far more tragic. Social media is an attention sieve compared to what targeted AI can deliver if the business model calls for it.

Rausch acknowledges that he has seen experiences from other companies where the goal is clearly to just continue the interaction. However, while he notes that Alexa will often ask follow-ups, it is not designed to drive engagement for its own sake.

“We want to help customers get something done. That is the design plan of Alexa. All of our work cascades to getting something done,” he says.

As for guardrails to protect against AI that might become manipulative, Rausch points to Amazon’s eleven-year track record in providing safe AI and a study that shows that Alexa has been particularly resilient to distorting the truth.

While much of that was in an era where the most dangerous mistruth Alexa might tell you was about the chance of rain, Rausch touts the work that Amazon’s AI trust and safety team works to discourage isolation and emotional dependence.

He revealed to me: “One of our tenets of trust is that, when you talk to Alexa, she will help you prioritize your ‘people friends.’ Our goal is to help customers make those relationships strong."

This time, it's personal

While OpenClaw may be pushing the envelope far beyond what Alexa can do today, Rausch sees it as sharing the same design goal, but without the need to dedicate a PC, flash a Raspberry Pi, or cash in some crypto to afford more tokens.

While many OpenClaw pioneers can justify the time and expense as helping them automate a small business or work a side hustle, Alexa’s rolled-up sleeves will take on more mainstream tasks. Alexa and Gemini, for example, have recently implemented agents that work asynchronously.

Rausch cites rapidly growing interest in a Ticketmaster-monitoring task that can get an early jump on tickets in high demand.

But if Alexa+ raises the stakes on what the assistant can deliver, it also raises the stakes of what it needs to perform optimally. Last fall’s Echo updates added sensing technology to provide more context around what’s happening in the home.

And while Alexa has no smartphone platform beyond the Alexa app (yet?), Ring and Blink customers can offer it a sense not only of “seeing what I’m seeing,” but of “seeing what I’m not seeing when I’m not there.”

That said, to truly deliver the optimal level of personalization in which AI, particularly AI focused on results, Amazon will have to step up its focus on personal devices. The company took a step toward that last year with the purchase of Bee.

The company’s deceptively simple wristband allows recording of notes and meetings, but does more processing of them into next steps within its app. In addition, it’s been a while since we’ve seen new iterations of the Echo Buds and Echo Frames, both last updated in 2023. Alexa’s first decade was about being everywhere. The roadmap for the second is about getting things done anywhere.

Read more: We tested out the best AI tools you can get right now.

• Ring has released a wireless version of its premium 4K video doorbell
• It has also launched three 2K doorbells (two battery-powered and one wired)
• All the battery doorbells are compatible with a new Ring Solar Charger

Amazon has just unveiled a battery-powered 4K video doorbell for ultra-sharp images, with no wires. Like the wired version that launched last year, the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) features Retinal 4K video, 10x zoom, improved night vision, and according to Ring, "installs virtually anywhere without rewiring".

It has an extra-fast charging quick-release battery pack, and with a Ring AI Pro subscription, you'll get access to features like AI video descriptions that tell you exactly what's happening before you check the footage, and let you search for specific events rather than scrubbing through recordings. The Wired Video Doorbell Pro has a list price of $249.99 / £219.99 (about AU$360).

There are also three new 2K video doorbells in the mix. If you're looking for something wireless, you can take your pick from the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) and the Ring Battery Video Doorbell (2nd Gen), which cost $179.99 / £149.99 (about AU$260) and $99.99 / £79.99 (about AU$149) respectively.

If you already have doorbell wiring, there's also a new version of the Ring Wired Video Doorbell, which is the most affordable option at $79.99 / £59.99 (about AU$120).

Want a wireless doorbell, but worried about battery life? Ring has also launched a new solar charger, which is compatible with all of its new battery doorbells. The sensibly-named Ring Solar Charger can be mounted anywhere, with the doorbell installed on top, and is priced at $49.99 (about £38 / AU£70).

The new doorbells and charger are available to pre-order now in the US and the UK. I'm hoping to put the new models through their paces very soon to find out whether they deserve a place in TechRadar's roundup of the best video doorbells. Stay tuned for more details.

• The buyer of an RTX 5090 in India got a nasty surprise
• They paid over $3,000 for a GPU box that contained laundry detergent
• This was from a third-party seller on Amazon, and it's a timely reminder to avoid the temptation to buy expensive goods from such sources

Someone who reportedly bought an RTX 5090 GPU from Amazon in India found a pack of laundry detergent inside the box instead of the flagship graphics card, serving as a clear warning about trusting third-party marketplace sellers.

VideoCardz spotted this tale of woe on Reddit, and of course, as with all such reports, we have to take it with some seasoning – though it appears to be authentic (it's a very detailed fabrication if it's made up).

The Redditor explains how they purchased a Gigabyte RTX 5090 on Amazon in India from a third-party seller, via an order that was 'fulfilled by Amazon', a GPU that cost around $3,200 in the local currency.

As you can see from the photo provided on Reddit (check it out below), what was actually in the battered box of the graphics card was a 1kg packet of Ghadi detergent.

The buyer has an unboxing video — though unfortunately for them, it's not continuously shot, and has been the cause of some skepticism from other Redditors — but it's clear the weight of the package (at 1.56kg on the official shipping label) is way too light for a boxed RTX 5090.

Hopefully, the latter point will prove key to getting a refund processed, but at the moment we're told Amazon has refused to issue a refund.

Seemingly this person is not the only one to have been sent laundry detergent in place of an expensive graphics card, as they have uncovered other similar complaints about the same third-party seller.

Analysis: scammers are more active in these days of pricey GPUs

Regardless of whether this is true (and as noted, that seems to be the case, although of course we can't know for sure), it serves as a timely reminder that, as GPU prices spiral, don't be tempted by deals from obscure third-party marketplace sellers on Amazon or any other retailer for that matter.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. And it just isn't worth the risk of spending thousands on a pretend product, whether that's a box with a rock or a lump of metal in it (as we've seen in the past with GPUs), or detergent (a new spin on this kind of scam). You're simply flirting with the possibility of getting burned.

Taking a punt on a cheap product isn't such a big deal, of course, but I really wouldn't consider a high-value purchase from a third-party seller, as it just isn't worth the potential grief. Yes, you should always be able to get your money back, but that process could be a stressful one.

And with expensive items, it really is sensible these days to record a full unboxing video as a matter of course (showing the whole package clearly unopened to begin with — or ideally, film from the moment of delivery).

• Amazon reportedly has plans for another smartphone
• The original Fire Phone launched in 2014
• AI and shopping are said to be central to the new device

You'd be forgiven for not remembering the Amazon Fire Phone, as it launched in June 2014 and lasted just a year or so before production ceased and sales were discontinued. Well, it appears that Amazon fancies another crack at the smartphone market.

According to Reuters, a device with the codename 'Transformer' is in development at Amazon — although it's not clear from the inside sources speaking to Reuters when this phone might see the light of day or how much it could cost.

One of the main focuses of the handset is said to be AI, as you might expect given that Amazon has recently pushed out its upgraded Alexa+ AI chatbot. Shopping services are also said to be central to the phone, which again isn't a surprise.

The project is apparently being driven by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his desire to create an all-purpose, voice-controlled digital device that wouldn't look out of place on Star Trek — and it seems Amazon executives think they can succeed second time around.

A minimal second device?

All the Prime services, including Prime Music and Prime Video, would be tightly integrated into the phone, as per the report. There are also hints that on-board AI could remove some of the reliance on specific apps and a traditional app store.

We don't know too much more about the device yet, but the Reuters report suggests this isn't a phone that's guaranteed to launch at this stage. It's something that's being actively developed, apparently, but a lot depends on future strategy and financial performance.

One other tidbit suggests that the new handset has been inspired by the minimal Light Phone, which could give us some idea of the direction Amazon is thinking of going in. Maybe this will be more of a secondary device than a primary phone.

Amazon does of course already make some cheap and cheerful tablets, the Kindle e-readers, and multiple smart speakers. It's not a complete newcomer to hardware, but taking on Apple, Google, and Samsung is a tough ask even for a company of Amazon's size.