The last few years have been fairly bursting with TV shows and movies adapted from popular games. And even more are coming down the pipeline. If you ask some fans, many of these shows have strayed too far away from their original source material, so it might be nice to hear that the producers of Amazon’s God of War TV show aim to stay “incredibly true” to its original source material: the games.
While it had been reported early this year, it wasn’t until last week that Amazon officially confirmed it was developing a TV show based on the popular and long-running God of War franchise. The PlayStation series features Kratos, a god-like Spartan warrior, running around the world killing everything. Recent games have aged him up and given him a son, changing the tone of the series and helping make it more popular than ever. And now, in an interview with Collider, Amazon Studios Head of TV Vernon Sanders explained that the upcoming streaming show will be “incredibly true to the source material” which he says has a “real emotional core.”
“We know that there’s such a passionate fanbase for God of War,” Sanders told Collider. “But the thing that we’re always looking for is whether there is a real emotional core, if there’s a real narrative story, and I think [that’s] part of what makes God of War so special.”
The Amazon TV boss continued, explaining that the newer games, while being “giant epic” adventures are still focused on telling a story about “fathers and sons, and families.” He thinks this will appeal to everyone, even people who haven’t played the games.
“So what [showrunners] Rafe Judkins and Mark Fergus and [writer] Hawk Ostby have come up with for the first season, and for the series, I think, is both incredibly true to the source material, and also compelling on its own,” explained Sanders. “So we think it’s going to be huge.”
Paramount / Xbox
Recent video game adaptations, like Resident Evil on Netflix and Halo on Paramount+, have been heavily criticized online by fans for veering too far from the original source material the shows are supposedly inspired by. And while I do hesitate to agree with angry fans online and I think adaptations should be allowed to make changes, it’s hard not to get a bit annoyed by how often the Master Chief takes off his helmet in the new Halo show. And as Sanders points out, Amazon has a good track record with adaptations that fans like, listing The Boys and Invincible as examples of how to do adaptations correctly.
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Of course, talk is cheap, and making TV shows is hard. It’s always nice to say you’ll stay true to a video game’s storyline and narrative, but it’s much harder to do when so many of the games being adapted into TV shows are mainly 20 hours of combat with about four hours of cutscenes and script. But hey, maybe God of War on Amazon Prime and The Last of Us on HBO Max will be fantastic and true to their source material. Apparently, The Last of Us is actually the greatest story ever told in a video game. Seems like that should make for a few good episodes of prestige TV?
The Department of Justice said on Monday that two men have been charged in a scheme that involved hacking Ring security cameras outside homes, drawing and sometimes taunting police, and then broadcasting the antics on social media.
Bloomberg / Contributor I Getty ImagesRing cameras.
Amazon bought security company Ring in 2018, and the product quickly became one of the company’s “signature” security products for the home, per The Guardian. Ring offers products like doorbells, security cameras and home security systems, with relevant data and controls accessible through the company’s app.
Critics and researchers say the Ring cameras are used to surveil gig economy drivers and delivery people and that they give law enforcement too much power to survey everyday life.
It’s unclear what the men’s motivation was. The two charged are Kya Christian Nelson, who is 21, from Racine, Wisconsin and “currently incarcerated in Kentucky in an unrelated case,” per the DOJ, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, who is 20 and from Charlotte, North Carolina.
In this case, the two men used the Ring cameras to do something known as “swatting,” where one pretends there is an emergency to draw a large group of police or other first responders.
The pair would hack people’s Yahoo email accounts, then their Ring accounts, find their addresses, call law enforcement to the home with a bogus story, and then stream police’s response to the call. Often, they would harass the first responders at the same time using Ring device capabilities.
For example, “A hoax telephone call was placed to the West Covina [California] Police Department purporting to originate from the victim’s residence and posing as a minor child reporting her parents drinking and shooting guns inside the residence of the victim’s parents,” the Justice Department wrote.
The pair conducted this scheme a dozen times across the country in a one-week span, the department noted. The two men were indicted by a grand jury. Nelson faces two counts of accessing a computer without permission and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Nelson and McCarty each face one count of conspiring to access computers without permission.
The conspiracy and computer charges have a maximum sentence of five years each, and identity theft has a required sentence of two years. The case is also being investigated by The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It’s no secret that Venus Williams is a multi-hyphenate—talented at all sorts of things beyond the sport where she made her name. The icon has style to spare, resulting in business extensions that bring her good taste to others, including EleVEN by Venus Williams, the line she launched in 2012 after getting an associate degree in fashion design (true story!).
It’s landed on Amazon by way of The Drop, and the current range—available to shop only through the end of the year—is defined by both fashion-forward workout pieces and items that you can wear with jeans on the weekend. It’s not hard to imagine that it’s in line with how Williams dresses, with a schedule and lifestyle that requires pieces that work for all sorts of situations.
See the seven pieces that caught our eye below.
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EleVen by Venus Williams
Weekender Knit Pullover
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EleVen by Venus Williams
Iconic Sports Bra
3
EleVen by Venus Williams
Eleven Legacy 7/8 Leggings
4
EleVen by Venus Williams
Courtside Jacket
5
EleVen by Venus Williams
Ace Tank
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EleVen by Venus Williams
Ace Leggings
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EleVen by Venus Williams
Super Fly Skirt Skort
Leah Melby Clinton Leah Melby Clinton is a writer, editor, and serious shopper who loves discovering new labels, detailing the best ways to build a wardrobe, and interviewing interesting people.
Amazon has entered into an agreement with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. for the energy company to build 19 renewable natural gas stations nationwide. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. recently announced the opening of another renewable natural gas (RNG) fueling station that will provide an anticipated 1.4 million gallons of clean fuel annually for Amazon and other truck fleets in the greater Chicago area.
Located at 300 Southcreek Parkway, the Romeoville station is intended to support the retailer in its adoption of RNG, a sustainable fuel produced from organic waste, which has been given an average carbon rating of -317 by the California Air Resources Board and is helping fleets to further their carbon reduction and fiscal goals.
The station will initially fuel more than 100 Amazon trucks and is designed with sufficient fueling capacity to accommodate several hundred more trucks. Amazon heavy-duty trucks have already fueled at more than 86 existing Clean Energy stations around the country and under the agreement announced last year, another 17 new Clean Energy-owned stations are slated to follow Romeoville, with several expected to open early next year.
A replacement for diesel
By dispensing 1.4 million gallons of RNG annually instead of diesel, the Romeoville station will reduce carbon emissions by 15,219 MT metric tons, Clean Energy said.
The Romeoville station spans 8.2 acres and includes multiple public access fast-fill dispensers for easy in-and-out fueling of RNG; time-fill posts for up to 152 trucks, allowing for cost-effective fueling and the most advanced technology transmitting real-time data to customers; and 153 parking places for drivers’ personal vehicles. Beginning today, this multi-million-dollar station gives the thousands of heavy-duty trucking fleets that operate throughout the busy Chicago area the ability to fuel with a clean, renewable, and sustainable fuel.
Clean Energy is also investing in the production of renewable natural gas with partners, TotalEnergies and bp, at dairies throughout the Midwest. The RNG produced at these dairies and others around the country will flow into the Romeoville station and Clean Energy’s nationwide fueling infrastructure.
The RNG digesters at dairies allow their owners to solve the problem of fugitive methane while realizing an additional revenue stream.
When it comes to innovation and trends, K-beauty—that enduring nickname for skincare products with South Korean roots—is always ahead of the curve. By focusing on healthy, hydrated, and luminous skin, Korean beauty formulations tend to combine ancient and cutting-edge ingredients within a realm of gentle yet effective masks, moisturizers, serums, and more. Searching for the complexion of your dreams? K-beauty is a good place to start.
For a long time it took a bit of legwork to get your hands on a lot of these mythical finds, but Amazon’s made it easier with the launch of its dedicated K-Beauty store. Stocked with all sorts of products promising bright, dewy, flawless-looking skin, it’s a playground for both in-the-know beauty lovers and those just starting to experiment with constructing a personal regimen.
Below, eight of our current favorites.
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CNP Laboratory
Invisible Peeling Booster
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DERMALOGY by NEOGENLAB
Real Ferment Micro Collection
3
AMOREPACIFIC
Treatment Enzyme Cleansing Foam
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TONYMOLY
Plump-kin Retinol Eye Cream
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Too Cool For School
Rules Of Mastic IX Enhancer Recovery Balm
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belif
Aqua Bomb Cleansing Balm
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THEFACESHOP
Rice Ceramide Moisturizing Cream
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THEFACESHOP
Real Nature Face Mask, 10 Pieces
Laura Lajiness Kaupke Laura Lajiness Kaupke is a freelance writer and editor covering fashion, accessories, and lifestyle topics, including beauty, home, fitness, and travel.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It’s no secret that small businesses face challenges on a daily basis. Current supply chain woes need all levels of attention as problems arrive in every shape and size. Small businesses are seeking many – often any – opportunities to help keep their lights on and doors open.
mavo | Shutterstock
The gap between businesses thriving, surviving, and boarding-up windows is a fine line.
The incredible challenges over the last few years brought rapid innovation and adoption of new technologies to supply chains, which has helped small businesses purchase essential supplies to keep operations up and running.
Small businesses make up the fabric of local communities and keep main streets populated and vibrant. Big business also plays a role in developing technology and solutions on a scale that reflects the scale of the challenge – in this case, global supply issues creating challenges at every level of business.
When it comes to the challenges that small businesses continue to face with remote work and ongoing supply chain disruption, there is an opportunity for small businesses to partner with other small and local businesses to help survive the economic climate, while also supporting their local community.
Strength in numbers
One of the first steps is to help small and local businesses connect with one another. This is where new technology and innovation help the local business community get in touch, with a mutually beneficial purpose: to buy from each other.
Innovation from digital purchasing solutions helps small businesses make a greater impact on the local community. Current technology can help direct the purchase of products and supplies to (other) small businesses in the local community
All businesses have a unique story to tell. Ask any business owner and they’re sure to award your curiosity with their tales of success and hardship.
Survival of the smartest
Many people are familiar with the words “Smart TV” or “Smart Phone”, while less people know “SMART” stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. SMART objects and processes have gained awareness where they were once considered inanimate.
Not only have advances in technology brought new efficiencies to the purchasing process for small businesses, but the benefits of innovation and digital procurement solutions have introduced a variety of fresh ideas and approaches from this resulting innovation.
Using digital procurement solutions not only enables small businesses to more easily pinpoint cost savings, reveal opportunities, and turn insights into action, but business leaders get time back to invest in organizational strategy and business growth.
Small businesses can leverage the power of machine learning technology and use these solutions to find and purchase business products from other small and local businesses. In turn, this helps their small business community and local economy.
Exclusive pricing and products
Digital procurement solutions simplify the buying process, helping small businesses easily purchase business-relevant products while shifting spend to support other small and local businesses.
Businesses can shop from hundreds of thousands of sellers, buy products in bulk, and access quantity discounts on supplies, which starts with the purchases of two or more of the same products.
The purchasing platform does the work of finding, retaining, and nurturing suppliers. Businesses can then create buying policies to prefer sellers based on criteria that match the company’s values and goals, choosing suppliers with certifications for diversity, local businesses, and more sustainable products.
Simplify and organize purchases
Organizational purchasing goals can be proactively measured by tracking purchases of products from certified local businesses and can also be filtered by certification, zip code, city, and state.
Once small businesses can locate and purchase products from other small and local businesses, the process becomes simple and repeatable. This allows small business owners to introduce more organization to their purchasing, while also benefiting from a more simplified purchasing process, overall.
Small businesses can now easily separate work from personal purchases, automate buying and shipping preferences, create out-of-the-box reports, and streamline the entire procurement process.
From building to booming:
Current innovations in purchasing can help identify purchasing behavior, discover new products and sellers, and measure progress toward purchasing goals. Small businesses can continue to focus on building and growing, along with pinpointing opportunities for savings, while also helping support other businesses in their communities.
Whether your small business is a recent startup or a quickly-growing organization, digital procurement solutions help make running your small business easier while connecting you with other small businesses. As a collective, you can keep lights on throughout both your digital and physical “Main Street” which, in turn, benefits your own small business.
If you’re reading this, you probably haven’t finished your holiday gift shopping yet, and that’s okay. Life is busy, and you might have a lot of people to shop for, so don’t be too hard on yourself. That said, you should probably go ahead and check all of the names off of your list so that you can enjoy the holiday season sans gift-giving stress.
Luckily, you still have plenty of time to shop for gifts at Amazon and Nordstrom, as they offer some of the fastest shipping on the internet. (And we love them for it.) They also have tons of gifts to choose from, but some overwhelmed shoppers would say that there are too many. That’s where I come in. I’ve been keeping track of the best Amazon and Nordstrom gifts for weeks, and I’m ready to share.
Read on to shop my favorite crowd-pleasing gifts while there’s still ample time to receive them and get them to your loved ones.
shares were moving higher late Monday after the company posted better-than-expected financial results for its latest quarter. The enterprise software giant continued to see success in shifting more of its business to the cloud during the period.
“Simply put, we had an outstanding quarter,” Oracle CEO Safra Catz said on a call with analysts. “More and more customers are recognizing our second generation infrastructure cloud as being better architected for higher performance, better security and unmatched reliability” than other cloud providers.
Have you ever felt lost in the Amazon fashion vortex? It’s an exciting place with thousands of products, reviews, and ratings, and an onslaught of familiar designers and newly discovered brand names may come swirling into your cart haphazardly. Well, I have, and this is one of the reasons that ratings, TikTok reviews, and editor picks hold value when it comes to such an overarching retailer.
I consistently save relevant “review TikToks” for Amazon products and scroll the top-rated fashion pieces to take mental market inventory. And as I shop for a living, I can apply this expertise to the pieces people are loving.
Below, I’ve edited the best-selling Amazon fashion pieces that are well reviewed and editor endorsed. So all you have to do is shop!
TikTok’s powerful algorithm has proven to be a successful demonstration of purchasing power — from launching successful businesses to reportedly driving shortages of various foods used in recipes that go viral on the app.
TikTok also has an integration with Shopify and an e-commerce platform for sellers called TikTok shop.
Now, Amazon wants in on the short-form content action. The company announced Thursday via the Wall Street Journal that it was introducing a pilot version of a short-form video app geared towards product discovery called, Inspire.
The app will be available to certain customers in early December and is expected to open up to more customers in the U.S. within the next several months, the company told WSJ.
“Video-based content really helps [customers] to understand the product more,” said Oliver Messenger, director of shopping at Amazon, per WSJ.
The feature will be available on Amazon’s shopping app, which, after selecting from an array of interests (like skincare or pets), will become more personalized over time based on how users interact with the products, Messenger told the outlet. (TikTok has a notoriously addictive, personalized algorithm.)
Amazon has reportedly been testing this product since August, per WSJ, and it follows other major companies that have struggled to compete with TikTok — and went on to make a similar product — including Meta Platforms, which introduced its own short-form video platform on Instagram, called Reels.
TikTok has maintained its strength even amid a difficult environment for its peers, with layoffs at companies from Meta Platforms to Twitter to Amazon. The company is reportedly still hiring, despite reports of an intense culture. It is also facing increased regulatory scrutiny.
According to TechCrunch, Amazon is already working with its influencers to create content for the app.
Inspire. Courtesy Amazon.
“We invent every day to make shopping easy and fun. Inspire is our new shopping experience that connects Amazon customers with shoppable content created by other customers, the latest influencers, and a wide range of brands,” Messenger added to Entrepreneur via email.
Tech companies including Amazon, Chime, FIS, Plaid, Stripe and Zilch have announced staffing cuts as economic uncertainty presents risks for the new year. 2023 will encompass “another year of below-potential growth and labor market rebalancing to solve much but not all of the underlying inflation problem,” according to Goldman Sachs’ 2023 U.S. Economic Outlook: Approaching […]
Beauty experts, they’re just like us! Well, kind of. Of course, most of us don’t possess the professional know-how when it comes to prepping a celebrity for a red carpet sparkling with flashbulbs or assessing the health of a person’s complexion, but many of us do have one thing in common with the industry’s best makeup and skincare experts: Amazon! Despite having access to quite literally any product in the world, over the years I’ve discovered that even the most prestigious experts still count on plenty of products you can snap up during your next Amazon shopping binge.
In case you’re curious for some actual examples, I reached out to facialist Candace Marino, makeup artist Jamie Dorman and board-certified dermatologist Ellen Marmur for their signature Amazon shopping picks. Marino did add the caveat that she always recommends continuing to support small businesses, too, but if you’re looking for Amazon content, exclusively, right now, she still has your back with tons of great beauty picks. Keep scrolling! Everything beauty experts would snap up right this second is just below, plus quotes explaining why they feel they’re superior.
Amazon is offering a new program where users can receive $2 a month in Amazon funds if users allow the company to track information about how they see various Amazon and third-party ads on the site, per Insider.
KAZUHIRO NOGI / Contributor I Getty ImagesAn Amazon Fulfillent Center in Japan.
The program is called “Ad Verification.”
The company also offers $10 a month in Amazon balances or charitable donations if you upload 10 receipts for purchases made on sites that are not Amazon, per the company’s page on the program called the Amazon Shopper Panel. It’s unclear if the $2 would be disbursed the same way.
The idea is that it will help customers get more personalized recommendations. The Q&A says that Amazon will use the data “to help advertisers understand the relationship between ads and product purchases at an aggregate level” but will not share it with “third parties.”
The program is “an opt-in, invitation-only program” where you can “earn monthly rewards by sharing receipts from purchases made outside of Amazon.com, completing short surveys, and enabling ad verification for the ads they see from Amazon’s own advertising or third-party businesses that advertise through Amazon Ads,” as the company puts it.
The program is only available to people in the U.S. and UK.
The launch of the Ad Verification side comes as Amazon’s stock is down some 44% since the start of the year and reportedly has conducted layoffs. As the outlet noted, other companies have attempted such arrangements before from Google’s Screenwise in 2012 to Facebook’s VPN app tracker in 2016, but both winded down due to privacy concerns.
But Mark Weinstein, a privacy hawk and founder of the social media network, MeWe, wasn’t impressed.
“First of all, they’re not paying enough. Your data is worth way more than this,” Weinstein told Entrepreneur.
He said he thought it was worth about $20 a month.
For context, Weinstein offered armchair math on a similar company: Meta, for example, said it has 2.96 billion monthly active users in its most recent quarterly earnings report. If you divide its current market capitalization, ($304.33 billion) into that you get about $102.7 a user. That divided by 12 is about $9 per user per month, he notes.
It would be harder to parse out those numbers with Amazon, however, since the company doesn’t report things like how many people make purchases at the company’s site each month.
Still, Weinstein said it is likely Amazon’s customers spend “a lot more” and thus generate more per head than the average Meta user.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told Insider that the only people who can get the reward of $2 have to be invited. This appears to also be true of the $10 reward.
“Interested customers who did not receive an invitation can download the app to join the waitlist and will be notified via email when space becomes available,” the Shopper Panel site says.
Meanwhile, Weinstein said he would not advise people to sign up for the program because data breaches at major companies have become all too common. He pointed to Amazon’s breach in October, which left an Amazon Prime server with users’ personal data that was not password-protected — and the company’s new push into healthcare.
Amazon says it will get rid of sensitive user data “such as prescription information from drug store receipts.”
Wired discussed earlier this month that privacy advocates were concerned about Amazon getting into healthcare, particularly as far as data. Amazon acquired OneMedical, a healthcare tech company, earlier this year.
In late May, Amazon opened its first clothing store in a sprawling suburban mall outside Los Angeles. Like most physical retailers these days, Amazon Style, as it’s called, aims to bring a little something extra to the brick-and-mortar experience, as some might do with plush coffee bars or rotating art installations.
Amazon Style, though, has technology. Each clothing tag comes equipped with a QR code shoppers can scan to see more details about the garment, like sizing, colors and customer ratings. Rather than wrangle an armful of jeans into a fitting room, customers can curate a list of pieces the’d like to try on or rather purchase directly. Clothes bought online can be shipped in-store, where shoppers can try them on and begin the process over again.
It’s hard to argue with the convenience — but even more appealing, maybe, are those QR codes themselves, which supply consumers with a sea of information at their fingertips.
Retail analysts have been teasing digital product tags for years. London-based trend-forecasting agency WGSN, for one, began discussing them back in 2015, predicting they would hit the mass market by 2024. Amazon Style is the most widespread implementation to date, but slowly, fashion is catching on: Mulberry announced this summer it would be adding what’s called “near-field communication” (NFC) tags to all of its products by 2025, beginning with the pre-owned bags in its internal resale program.
Digital tags offer a whole host of benefits, from curbing counterfeiting to, in a perfect world, supporting transparency all throughout the product’s lifecycle. Yet this is technology that has to be implemented correctly, and with a commitment to use it in the long-term. In today’s supply chain turmoil, this may be easier said than done — but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.
According to WGSN, there are two types of digital product tags that will reshape the retail landscape in the near future: radio-frequency identification, or RFIDs, which use radio frequencies to track and identify objects and will be a key tool for retailers’ back-of-house operations, like inventory tracking and real-time product location; and digital IDs, into which both Amazon Style and Mulberry’s efforts fall.
“We’ll see digital IDs really start to hit mainstream over the next few years, giving consumers highly detailed information about an item, from where the product has been and how it was manufactured, by simply scanning a QR code,” says Candice Medeiros, a strategist for WGSN Insight. “This could reshape current-day models and offer consumers more peace of mind.”
Inside the Amazon Style clothing store at The Americana at Brand mall in Glendale, Calif.
Photo: Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
Consider Mulberry, which is rolling out its own NFC-enabled tags — powered by Product Cloud software platform Eon — as we speak. Its take on digital IDs enables customers to access a personalized digital guide about their item, featuring content and services around authentication, repair and resale. This, Mulberry believes, will create a direct and ongoing connection between the label and its customers for the entire lifecycle of the product.
“We take great pride in creating objects that are made to last, to be loved and passed onto the next generation,” said Mulberry’s CEO Thierry Andretta, in a statement. “Through the digital ID, Mulberry can offer customers increased transparency into the unique journeys of our products, deliver services such as lifetime repair, buy-back and resale, and ensure that every bag can have multiple lives.”
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Indeed, Mulberry is intently focused on sustainability. A member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Fashion Task Force, Mulberry aims to achieve net-zero status by 2035. In 2021, as part of its 50th anniversary, the house announced its Made to Last Manifesto, an ambitious commitment to transform the business to a regenerative and circular model, encompassing the entire supply chain, by 2030.
Circularity, however, is fashion’s big white whale, the largest global logistics challenge the world over. Can digital tags help it get there?
Natasha Franck, Eon’s founder and CEO, created the platform in 2017 to help solve the most systemic barriers to sustainable business models in fashion retail. It became immediately clear, she recalls, that the underlying enabler to a truly sustainable — i.e., circular — industry was product identity: How could we turn physical products into intelligent assets that brands could monetize, increasing the profitability, intelligence and sustainability of each and every physical product?
“Today within fashion, brands are capturing a fraction of the value they possibly could from each product, and that’s why we’re seeing this tip of brands moving to uniquely ID each and every item for its entire lifecycle,” says Franck. “In a few months time, we’ll be looking back and thinking, Wow, I can’t believe that once upon a time, products didn’t have identities.”
Eon’s technology works fairly intuitively: When consumers are done with their Alexa satchel, they can tap their smartphone on the piece’s RFID tag and be presented with a range of resale options via the brand’s in-house Mulberry Exchange; that bag’s new owner will have access to the item’s past lives, including how it was authenticated or if and how it was repaired. This, Franck explains, will help foster a new kind of relationship between brands and their customers. Right now, this is entirely transactional, ending at the point of sale. But digital IDs like Mulberry’s shift that interaction into something more intimate, rooted in ongoing, personalized service for that customer and that customer only.
Digital tags have use cases beyond commerce. Adrich, a smart-label platform that’s considered the world’s first consumption tracker, monitors product usage in real-time to enable timely replenishments of consumer packaged goods, from body wash to olive oil. With Adrich’s technology, product labels are able to understand that a bottle of hand soap, say, runs out after 20 pumps, reordering you a new bottle after 15.
“The technology has evolved at the same time the use case has evolved,” says Al Sambar, a general partner at XRC Labs, a New York City-based venture-capital fund and startup accelerator focused on retail technology that invested in Adrich earlier this year. “Say you’re inside your closet and you realize your denim looks faded and you want to reorder a new pair — wouldn’t it be nice if you had a code that could automatically make reordering available?”
It would be nice. So much so that, for shoppers, digital tags may soon make the leap from a nicety to something of an expectation. In fact, WGSN forecasts that on-demand expectations are set to increase, making it essential for retailers to invest in tools that give consumers more transparency around the location and detail of their merchandise. And amid ongoing supply chain disruptions, forged by the pandemic and geopolitical tensions, this technology is well on its way to becoming foundational for retail resiliency. The numbers don’t lie: New data from Adobe finds that consumers have seen over 60 billion out-of-stock messages in 2022 alone — a 235% increase compared to 2019.
“That’s done massive damage to consumer trust and loyalty,” says Medeiros. “Going forward, it will be important for retailers to invest in end-to-end inventory optimization.”
Aside from warehouses and fulfillment centers, RFIDs can be placed on cargo containers, which can ensure more precise visibility of their material flow. For mass retailers that have heavier fulfillment needs, Medeiros finds that these digital tags are helping to smooth unpredictable obstacles in the supply chain, as much as in consumers’ everyday wardrobes.
“In times of hardship, innovation thrives, and while a lot of this technology is not new, digital tags are providing tangible, real-time relief across the retail sector,” she says. “What’s great about these tools is that they take everyday touch-points and elevate the customer journey while also empowering them.”
Between restocking my more “boring” wardrobe basics and adding household products to my cart, it’s easy to forget that there are some surprisingly stylish items among Amazon’s never-ending product offerings. I might have let many of these hidden gems go unnoticed in the past, but I’ve been spending more time scrolling through the retailer’s site in lieu of an IRL shopping trip, and, well, discovering these affordable fashion items has been the upside.
Okay, so Amazon’s fashion section is hardly new or noteworthy (we’ve been publishing our edits of everything from coats to dresses for a while now), but the following 22 sweaters, jeans, sunglasses, bags, and more were hand-selected by yours truly for being exceptionally stylish for how affordable they are.
From trendy faux-fur bucket hats to wear-everywhere jewelry staples, you’ll find some impressive pieces here that are cheap but hardly look it. And since nothing in this roundup exceeds $20, they’re easier to add to your checkout cart alongside those baking essentials and cleaning supplies I know you’re already shopping for. With that, scroll down to shop all the hidden gems in my Amazon cart.
If you’re going into the new year with a more intense shopping budget than usual, you’re not alone. I’m a designer-clothing addict, but I am planning for a lot of travels and weddings so will need to spend my money wisely this year. So far, tapping into my favorite affordable fashion sites has been such a joy because you can buy so much more and not feel guilty for your spending. We all know money can’t buy style. Being a true fashionista means that you can look your best at any price point. That’s why I’m challenging myself to explore more budget-friendly sites this year, and first up is Amazon.
There are so many great finds on Amazon, but it can be so overwhelming to simply head to the site and type into the search bar what you are looking for. There seems to be an endless number of options, and sometimes, the good things are several pages in. It’s my job to shop, so I spent several hours browsing the millions of products on the site with the hopes of being able to report back to you all on what is worth actually buying. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations, but I was so impressed by the quality of the items that ended up being winners. I’ve always known Amazon to be a trend-driven retailer, but my picks are actually items that I’ll be wearing for years to come. After I tried on 15 items, there were six true standouts that I can genuinely vouch for. Scroll on to find your favorite.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday the company does not have plans to stop selling an antisemitic film that gained notoriety recently after Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving tweeted out an Amazon link to it.
Pressure has been mounting on Amazon to discontinue sale of the film, called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” since Irving shared the link to the documentary with his millions of Twitter followers in October. The synopsis on Amazon says the film “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.”
At The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York City, Jassy said it is difficult for the company to determine what content crosses the line to where Amazon doesn’t make it available to customers.
“As a retailer of content to hundreds of millions of customers with a lot of different viewpoints, we have to allow access to those viewpoints, even if they are objectionable — objectionable and they differ from our particular viewpoints,” the Times quoted Jassy as saying.
Some cases are “more straight forward”
He said making decisions about what content to take down is “more straight forward” in some cases, such as when it “actively incites or promotes violence, or teaches people to do things like pedophilia.”
Dozens of celebrities, public figures as well as Jewish organizations and the Nets have called on the company to take down the film or add a disclaimer offering an explanation as to why the documentary and related book are problematic.
Amazon told the newspaper earlier this month that it would look into adding a disclaimer on the documentary’s main page. But that hasn’t happened.
The Seattle-based company did not reply to request for comment sent by The Associated Press earlier this month on whether it would add a disclaimer or not. Jassy, who is Jewish, said Wednesday that Amazon has employees that flag content, but scaling that more broadly could be challenging.
“The reality is that we have very expansive customer reviews,” he said. “For books with a lot of attention — especially public attention — customers do a good job monitoring other people.”
Irving was suspended by the Nets on November 3 after he refused to issue the apology that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sought for posting the link the the film. He returned after issuing an apology more than two weeks later. He missed eight games.
Nancy Chen got an inside look at the journey of an Amazon package near the company’s Seattle headquarters. Thousands of workers and robots come together to fulfill up to a million orders a day at Amazon’s flagship fulfillment center in Kent, Washington. Plus, here’s what to expect this holiday shopping season.
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Nov. 30, 2022 – Amazon is encouraging patients to “skip the waiting room” with the launch of Amazon Clinic, a virtual health care service that aims to offer treatment for nearly 2 dozen common health conditions.
Taking a step beyond a typical telehealth visit, the service promises personalized treatment with no appointments, video calls, or live chat. Patients can answer questions about their symptoms and health history to receive a treatment plan and prescription medication through a messaging platform.
The new service could fill the gap for people who want a quick answer, have history of a condition, or need to address common issues such as seasonal allergies or dandruff.
“During the pandemic, the use of telehealth accelerated throughout the country. Although face-to-face visits are returning, telehealth certainly still has a role, especially in areas with less medical care, and can enable faster diagnosis and help with tracking disease progression,” says Edwin Takahashi, MD, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic who has studied recent telehealth benefits and challenges.
“I think Amazon Clinic is an innovative approach to health care delivery,” he says. “I’m interested to see its impact in society and on patients. It’s so new that we need to see what its role will be in the future of health care.”
How It Works
To start, patients select one of the common conditions – such as acne, heartburn, or sinusitis – and then pick an online clinic that will review their case. After completing a questionnaire, patients receive a treatment plan from a U.S.-licensed health care provider, which may include a prescription or recommendations for over-the-counter treatments and self-care strategies.
Users can message the provider with follow-up questions after receiving the treatment plan at no additional cost for up to 14 days. Based on the information provided, the provider may also recommend seeing a health care professional in person.
For now, most conditions appear to be serviced by two clinics – HealthTap and SteadyMD – for $30 to $40. Depending on the day and time, the clinics have a listed response time of 1 hour to several hours.
What to Consider: The Benefits
The service allows users to start a visit quickly and discreetly, at whatever time works best for them, with no need to speak to anyone. Amazon promises that the health data is secure and protected by law.
Amazon Clinic also offers prescription renewals for common medications that treat asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, and migraine. The health care provider can’t prescribe new medications, change medication doses, or order lab testing, but this option may be useful for people who simply want to re-up their current regimen.
“Every telehealth provider on Amazon Clinic has gone through rigorous clinical quality and customer experience evaluations by Amazon’s clinical leadership team,” Nworah Ayogu, MD, chief medical officer and general manager for Amazon Clinic, said in an announcement.
“We believe that improving both the occasional and ongoing engagement experience is necessary to making care dramatically better,” he said. “We also believe that customers should have the agency to choose what works best for them.”
What to Consider: The Limitations
Amazon Clinic is available in 32 states, with plans to expand in coming months. Users can check the services offered in their state, the prices, and the response times by clicking on one of the common conditions. Certain health issues require a prior diagnosis, including eczema, genital herpes, and rosacea.
Amazon Clinic doesn’t accept health insurance at this time. Instead, patients pay a flat fee for the service they choose, which they can pay for by using a flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) debit card, submitting a receipt to their insurer for reimbursement, or funding out-of-pocket. (Amazon Clinic isn’t intended for those who receive coverage from federal or state health care payers, such as Medicaid and Medicare.)
The cost of medication isn’t included in the cost of the visit. Health insurance plans may cover the prescriptions, but Amazon advises talking to an insurer or pharmacy directly about any questions.
“This service provides value for some people — for young and healthy patients who want to be checked out for a low-risk, straightforward issue,” says Graham Walker, MD, an emergency doctor in San Francisco. Walker co-founded MDCalc, a virtual medical reference tool for health care providers.
“However, my main concern is that it’s not a solution for certain populations or the way that health insurance works in the U.S.,” he notes. “When the health concerns are more complex, involve other medical problems, or require new medications, it’s hard to provide a quality consultation.”
The Future of Telehealth
Doctors and health care organizations are weighing the pros and cons of telehealth as the health care industry pivots around pandemic-related changes. In November, the American Heart Association issued a new statement that highlighted telehealth as an effective option for care but pinpointed access barriers that may limit widespread use.
For instance, Takahashi and colleagues found that telehealth can reduce costs, improve access to care in rural and underserved areas, and increase care quality and patient satisfaction. At the same time, telehealth offerings are often hindered by inconsistent reimbursement, state licensing requirements, inconsistent internet access, and challenges in scheduling. Limited uptake based on age, technology expertise, and personal perceptions can also play a role – for both patients and health care professionals. Privacy and security concerns factor in as well.
“Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and the adoption of innovative technologies, the U.S. health care system is transitioning to a new era of digitally enabled care,” says Jack Resneck Jr., MD, president of the American Medical Association.
Since 2016, doctor use of technology to provide remote care has accelerated by more than five times, with 80% of doctors offering televisits or virtual visits, Resneck says , based on a recent American Medical Association survey.
“Patients have come to rely on telehealth and overwhelmingly support continued access, yet this access is jeopardized if health plans discontinue coverage or payment for telehealth or make it harder for patients to access telehealth from their established physicians who know them well and can integrate their care,” he says.
Ashley Olsen could wear anything, and I’d think it was chic, and for good reason. It usually is. One half of the design duo behind The Row, Olsen is a walking ad campaign for the brand that everyone in fashion—no matter their personal style or taste—adores. So of course, when she steps out for even the most mundane of errands, her look inspires.
This time around, she was spotted checking off to-dos in NYC in a black tailored maxi coat, puddle pants, and a colorful scarf, but it was her bag—a $3000+ rectangular shoulder bag from The Row—that reeled me in. Simple, black, and bowler-like, the bag in question is utterly timeless and selling out like crazy. As much as I’d love to be one of those people snatching up the last few available styles, though, Olsen’s bag is just slightly (read significantly) out of my budget at the moment. Luckily, after a great deal of scrolling through Amazon, I discovered an alternative that called out to me just as much, and it’s $80.
Shop my $80 alternative to Olsen’s gorgeous $3000+ The Row bag below.
