WebProNews

Tag: Amazon Prime

  • Amazon May Crowdsource Package Delivery

    Amazon May Crowdsource Package Delivery

    Is Amazon developing the Uber for package delivery?

    Amazon’s shipping costs have been rising for a while now (that’s why you now pay more for Amazon Prime, for instance). Now, it appears that in an effort to reign in these swelling costs, Amazon is thinking about crowdsourcing the delivery process.

    The Wall Street Journal is citing the omnipresent “sources familiar with the matter” who claim that Amazon is currently developing an app that would let regular people (as opposed to carriers like UPS and FedEx) deliver packages.

    From the WSJ:

    Amazon would enlist brick-and-mortar retailers in urban areas to store the packages, likely renting space from them or paying a per-package fee, the people said. Amazon’s timing for the service, known internally as “On My Way,” couldn’t be learned, and it is possible the company won’t move ahead, the people said.

    In theory, anyone could pick up a package and take it with them “on their way”.

    If Amazon wants to turn the country into its delivery force, there are plenty of hurdles it’ll have to jump.

    First and most importantly, there’s safety of packages. There would have to be some sort of vetting process for carriers. How would that work? Who would be qualified to pick up packages? Would people trust the average Joe with their deliveries? Who would carry the bulk of the responsibility for any hiccups along the way?

    How much would carriers be paid? Which retailers would cooperate with Amazon’s plans to basically be auxiliary warehouses for the online giant?

    As the WSJ says, it’s early and Amazon could easily scrap the whole thing. But it sure is interesting, for sure. And maybe more plausible than drones?

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Amazon Is Dropping Crappy Reality Shows from Prime Instant Video

    Amazon Is Dropping Crappy Reality Shows from Prime Instant Video

    It could be because it wants to really go after Netflix in the original content game. It could be because it just thinks that type of TV sucks. Either way, Amazon has reportedly decided to ditch some reality programming.

    Bloomberg quotes the ubiquitous “people with knowledge on the matter” who say that Amazon is working to drop shows like Teen Mom and Mob Wives from its Prime Instant Video offerings.

    Amazon currently has a deal with Viacom, whose networks air said reality shows. Amazon is apparently looking to keep a deal in place with Viacom to still offer many if its shows – just not some of the lagging reality titles. Apparently, Amazon just has reality show fatigue:

    Viacom isn’t the only programmer grappling with shrinking audiences for reality TV. Amazon this year also declined to renew a deal with A+E Networks, which supplied “Pawn Stars” and “Storage Wars,” the people said. Some of the Viacom shows are still in production. The shrinking value of reality shows may have contributed to the $785 million charge Viacom took last quarter, said David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

    Amazon looks to be taking notes from Netflix, who ditched Viacom in 2013. “Netflix at the time said that it had little desire to pay Viacom’s fees for ‘nonexclusive bulk content.’ Netflix also said that it would be willing to pay for select titles, but not Viacom’s entire library,” says CNET.

    Through Teen Mom does really, really suck, Amazon’s move is pure business. If they don’t have to pay Viacom for Teen Mom, it can spend the money it saves on more original programming to battle Netflix, HBO, and other big-name original series-producing entities. Not only that, but reality TV ain’t what it used to be.

    Image via Teen Mom, Facebook

  • Walmart Is Going After Amazon Prime

    Walmart Is Going After Amazon Prime

    Walmart is planning to take a run at Amazon Prime by offering a fast delivery program that’s half the price.

    The news, first reported by The Information, was confirmed by a Walmart spokesperson.

    The program will roll out this summer, and will cost subscribers $50 per year. It will offer speedy shipping on over a million products – three days or less.

    From the AP:

    Ravi Jariwala, a company spokesman, said the offering is in response to increasing demands from customers who are looking for predictable and affordable shipping. It’s also part of Wal-Mart’s overall strategy to test new ways to serve customers who are increasingly researching and buying on their PCs or mobile devices and are looking for convenience.

    Walmart’s unnamed program (codenamed Tahoe at the moment) is half the price of Amazon Prime, which offers free two-day delivery and costs $99 a year.

    Of course, Amazon Prime comes with a handful of other perks – Amazon Prime Instant Video, Prime Music, and the Kindle Lending Library.

    Walmart’s offering will focus on delivery only – at first. Walmart does have a streaming video arm – Vudu – but apparently there aren’t any immediate plans to work this into the new service.

    Walmart has been trying to edge into the online shopping market for some time. Back in 2012, the company launched same-day delivery on some items in select cities. Last November, Walmart began price-matching Amazon at all of its locations – but that didn’t work out so well.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Amazon Prime Turns 10, Celebrates ‘Tens of Millions’ of Members

    Amazon Prime Turns 10, Celebrates ‘Tens of Millions’ of Members

    Wanna feel old?

    Amazon Prime, the company’s premium subscription service that offers customers free two-day shipping on millions of products, is now a decade old. Amazon debuted the service in February of 2005.

    The company is celebrating the birthday by releasing some stats about the service. Of course, Amazon is still tight-lipped on the most important stat – exactly how many total members Prime has.

    Amazon does tell us that there are over 20 million items available for Prime shipping, and that 221 different types of toothbrushes are delivered same-day. Also, Prime members could order 856 items every day for the rest of their lives a still not order every item available on Prime.

    According to Amazon, the most-watched program on Prime Instant Video is Downton Abbey.

    But the only stat that Amazon leaves purposefully vague is the total user base. Amazon will only say that Prime has “tens of millions of members”.

    Amazon recently revealed that Prime membership grew 53% last year (50% in the US), despite the fact the company jacked up the price in March of 2014.

    In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s VP of Prime Greg Greely refused to reveal more specific user figures for Prime, saying only that,

    “We’re not letting out the numbers. Lots of competitors would love to know that. It’s continuing to be a very important part of our business.”

    Amazon finally turned a profit last quarter after multiple quarters of loss. It’s safe to say that Prime is an integral part of the business. Amazon doesn’t really make money on the Prime subscriptions itself – but Amazon has confirmed that Prime members spend way more than non-Prime members on the site.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Amazon Prime Grew 53% Last Year Despite Price Hike

    Amazon Prime Grew 53% Last Year Despite Price Hike

    According to Amazon, membership to its premium subscription service, Amazon Prime, saw no ill-effects from the rather significant price hike it received last spring.

    Worldwide Prime membership grew 53% in 2014, and US membership grew 50%, said CEO Jeff Bezos in Thursday’s earnings call. Bezos wouldn’t reveal exactly how many subscribers Amazon Prime has, but did say that it was in the “tens of millions”.

    And Amazon invested a lot into Prime in 2014.

    “Prime is a one-of-a-kind, all-you-can-eat, physical-digital hybrid,” Bezos said in a statement. “In 2014 alone we paid billions of dollars for Prime shipping and invested $1.3 billion in Prime Instant Video. We’ll continue to work hard for our Prime members.”

    That $1.3 billion spent on its streaming video service is about a third of what Netflix recently reported spending ($3.8 billion).

    In March of 2014, Amazon increased the price of a year-long Prime membership to $99, up $20 from the $79 it cost for many years. Amazon cited rising costs for fuel and transportation, as well as increased usage among Prime members as the reason for the price change.

    For months before the price hike Amazon said it was considering the move, and even suggested that the price could go as high as $119 per year.

    But with a 50% increase in US membership, it appears that the price hike didn’t stop Amazon Prime’s growth in its tracks. Who knows what that growth would have been without the price increase, however?

    Amazon reported earnings of $214 for this past quarter, making it the first time in three quarters that the company turned a profit.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • You Can Get Amazon Prime for Just $72 This Saturday

    You Can Get Amazon Prime for Just $72 This Saturday

    If you’ve been holding out on buying a subscription to Amazon Prime, the time has come. It’s probably not going to get much cheaper than it’ll be this Saturday (1/24).

    Amazon has announced that for one day only, new Prime members can sign up for $72. That’ll cover a year.

    You’ll be saving $27, as the service usually costs $99 per year.

    This promotional price is actually lower than the old Amazon Prime rate – $79 – which stood for years. Amazon increased the price of Prime last March, citing rising costs for fuel and transportation, as well as increased usage among Prime members.

    Prime’s perks include free two-day shipping, access to Prime Instant Video, the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, and free cloud photo storage. Amazon dangled another carrot last summer, adding a streaming music service to the package.

    Why is Amazon doing this and why $72? Apparently, it’s a celebration of Amazon Studios’ original series Transparent and its big win at the 72nd annual Golden Globes.

    As part of this ‘celebration’, you can also stream the entire first season of Transparent for free on Saturday – no Prime membership required.

    Image via Amazon

  • What’s on Amazon Prime but Not on Netflix? There’s a Page for That

    What’s on Amazon Prime but Not on Netflix? There’s a Page for That

    FYI

    Amazon has a dedicated page called Prime Member Exclusives: Not on Netflix that lists every movie and TV show you can stream via Amazon Prime Instant Video, but not on Netflix. So, if you have both services and are looking to find something new to watch that’s not on Netflix, there you go.

    The page is not exactly advertised and a similar function isn’t available on the Amazon Prime Instant Video app, but it’s there. Apparently, there are plenty of people who don’t know that this list exists. A post on reddit suggesting that “Amazon Prime Movies should have a category called ‘Not on Netflix’ for people who have both services” has quickly climbed to the front page in the past few hours. Of course, the top comment is someone linking to the exclusives page and saying It does.

    For people who have both services, it’s a pretty useful tool. As of right now, there are 307 titles to peruse.

    Most of the top picks are Amazon originals and HBO shows, as HBO content is one of the big advantages Amazon Prime Instant Video has over Netflix.

    So, there you go. A quick, easy way to see what Amazon Prime can offer you that Netflix can’t. Carry on.

  • Here Are 13 New Pilots You Can Watch Now on Amazon

    Here Are 13 New Pilots You Can Watch Now on Amazon

    It’s time for another round of new pilots from Amazon Studios.

    The company has just made available 13 new pilots (seven for adults and six for kids). Here’s what’s now available via Amazon Instant Video:

    Cocked

    Created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan – TV series), Cocked stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who left his family in rural Virginia twenty years before and vowed never to go back. After some unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to leave the big city and return home to help his family’s gun business—one of the oldest in the country. But no good deed goes unpunished. Older brother Grady Paxson, played by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), who’s a bachelor, playboy and gun aficionado, isn’t so happy to have him back, and Richard’s liberal wife and two opinionated teenage children are horrified by the world they have been thrown into. Hilarity, epic fights and emotional breakdowns ensue. Cocked also stars Brian Dennehy (The Good Wife) as Wade Paxson, Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as Hannah Paxson, and Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as Tabby Paxson. The hour-long dark comedy pilot is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Skull Island), and Erwin Stoff (Unbroken), Shaw, and Baum are Executive Producers.

    Mad Dogs

    Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill), and Executive Produced by Cole, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Marney Hochman (Last Resort), Andy Harries (DCI Banks), Suzanne Mackie (All in Good Time), and Charles McDougall (The Mindy Project). Based on the hit UK series, Mad Dogs follows the twisted reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends—a mixture of single, married and recently divorced—who are all at different crossroads in their lives. Celebrating the early retirement of an old friend at his gorgeous Belize villa, grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder. Mad Dogs is a twisted tale of friendship put to the ultimate test. As an inconceivable chain of events unfolds, cracks within the group widen before the friends realize that the only people they can trust are each other, the last people they want to be relying on. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Cobi, Billy Zane (Twin Peaks) as Milo, Romany Malco (Weeds) as Gus, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Lex, and Ben Chaplin (World without End) as Joel. Mad Dogs is directed by McDougall and is being co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.

    The Man in the High Castle

    Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), The Man in the High Castle provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. The hour-long dramatic pilot stars Alexa Davalos (Mob City) as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) as Joe Blake, Rupert Evans (The Village) as Frank Frink, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat Legacy) as Tagomi, Joel De La Fuente (Hemlock Grove) as Inspector Kido, Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour) as John Smith and DJ Qualls (Z Nation) as Ed McCarthy. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), both serving as Executive Producers. Also executive producing are Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free Productions (The Good Wife, The Andromeda Strain), and Executive Producers Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute of Headline Pictures (The Invisible Woman). In addition, Isa Dick Hackett will executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce on behalf of Electric Shepherd (The Adjustment Bureau). Christopher Tricarico (May in the Summer) is also Executive Producer.

    Point of Honor

    At the start of the Civil War, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. At battle against his northern brethren and his best friend and brother-in-law Robert Sumner (played by Christopher O’Shea, Baby Daddy), John leaves his three strong-willed sisters at home to run the plantation that is now without a free labor source. The choice to protect the life they have always known and defend the moral high ground will pit the family against one another and test their strength, courage and love. An hour-long drama shot entirely on-location in historic Virginia, Point of Honor also stars Annabelle Stephenson (Revenge) as Kate Rhodes, Riley Voelkel (The Newsroom) as Lorelei Rhodes, Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School) as Estella Rhodes, Patrick Heusinger (Revolution) as Colonel Palmer Kane, Luke Benward (Ravenswood) as Garland Rhodes, Adrienne Warren (Black Box) as Abby, Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road) as Elijah, and James Harvey Ward (Low Winter Sun) as Cutler. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Wallace, and Executive Produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City). Point of Honor is being co-produced with ABC Signature Studios.

    Half-hour shows:

    Down Dog

    Blessed with good looks, a winning smile, hippie parents and a Southern California upbringing, life has been relatively easy thus far for Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). In his late 30′s, having coasted through romances with countless women and various random jobs, he now teaches yoga to the trophy wives, hot moms and aspiring celebrities of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. And he’s damn good at it. But when Logan and his current girlfriend, a successful and attractive older woman named Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds) who happens to be the owner of the yoga studio, break up, life starts to get more complicated. Down Dog also stars Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother), Will Greenberg (Halt and Catch Fire), Andrea Savage (The Life and Times of Tim), Amir Talai (American Dad), Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

    Salem Rogers

    In this half-hour comedy, Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. Intent on recreating her glamorous lifestyle and modeling success, she tracks down Agatha (played by Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live), her former assistant who has since built a career as an author of self-help books to help her win back the spotlight. Salem Rogers also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Brad Morris (Playing House), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Toks Olagundoye (The Neighbors), Brad Morris (Cougar Town) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). The pilot is written by newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, Executive Produced by Will Graham (The Onion News Network) and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Salem Rogers was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

    Docu-series:

    The New Yorker Presents

    America’s most award-winning magazine comes to life in this half hour docu-series pilot. The New Yorker Presents is a completely unique viewing experience that features Tony-Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy. Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is Executive Producer, joined by Dave Snyder (Death Row Stories) and Dawn Ostroff (The Fashion Fund). The pilot is co-produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions.

    Amazon has also dropped six new kids pilots – Buddy: Tech Detective, Sara Solves It , The Stinky & Dirty Show, Niko and the Sword of Light, Table 58, and Just Add Magic.

    “We look forward to seeing our customers’ response to the year’s first pilot season,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled about these projects and the great talent and passion behind them.”

    As always, user feedback will help Amazon determine which shows to greenlight for full series runs. So, if you want to see more of something, make sure you’re loud about it. You have four weeks.

    Image via Amazon Studios

  • Amazon’s New Pilots Will Debut on January 15

    Amazon’s New Pilots Will Debut on January 15

    Amazon has just announced that its new season of pilots, which includes 13 new shows, will debut on January 15.

    The new set of hopefuls was first announced back in November.

    Here are the seven pilots you’ll be able to stream next week:

    Cocked

    Created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan – TV series), Cocked stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who left his family in rural Virginia twenty years before and vowed never to go back. After some unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to leave the big city and return home to help his family’s gun business—one of the oldest in the country. But no good deed goes unpunished. Older brother Grady Paxson, played by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), who’s a bachelor, playboy and gun aficionado, isn’t so happy to have him back, and Richard’s liberal wife and two opinionated teenage children are horrified by the world they have been thrown into. Hilarity, epic fights and emotional breakdowns ensue. Cocked also stars Brian Dennehy (The Good Wife) as Wade Paxson, Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as Hannah Paxson, and Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as Tabby Paxson. The hour-long dark comedy pilot is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Skull Island), and Erwin Stoff (Unbroken), Shaw, and Baum are Executive Producers.

    Mad Dogs

    Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill), and Executive Produced by Cole, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Marney Hochman (Last Resort), Andy Harries (DCI Banks), Suzanne Mackie (All in Good Time), and Charles McDougall (The Mindy Project). Based on the hit UK series, Mad Dogs follows the twisted reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends—a mixture of single, married and recently divorced—who are all at different crossroads in their lives. Celebrating the early retirement of an old friend at his gorgeous Belize villa, grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder. Mad Dogs is a twisted tale of friendship put to the ultimate test. As an inconceivable chain of events unfolds, cracks within the group widen before the friends realize that the only people they can trust are each other, the last people they want to be relying on. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Cobi, Billy Zane (Twin Peaks) as Milo, Romany Malco (Weeds) as Gus, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Lex, and Ben Chaplin (World without End) as Joel. Mad Dogs is directed by McDougall and is being co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.

    The Man in the High Castle

    Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), The Man in the High Castle provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. The hour-long dramatic pilot stars Alexa Davalos (Mob City) as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) as Joe Blake, Rupert Evans (The Village) as Frank Frink, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat Legacy) as Tagomi, Joel De La Fuente (Hemlock Grove) as Inspector Kido, Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour) as John Smith and DJ Qualls (Z Nation) as Ed McCarthy. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), both serving as Executive Producers. Also executive producing are Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free Productions (The Good Wife, The Andromeda Strain), and Executive Producers Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute of Headline Pictures (The Invisible Woman). In addition, Isa Dick Hackett will executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce on behalf of Electric Shepherd (The Adjustment Bureau). Christopher Tricarico (May in the Summer) is also Executive Producer.

    Point of Honor

    At the start of the Civil War, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. At battle against his northern brethren and his best friend and brother-in-law Robert Sumner (played by Christopher O’Shea, Baby Daddy), John leaves his three strong-willed sisters at home to run the plantation that is now without a free labor source. The choice to protect the life they have always known and defend the moral high ground will pit the family against one another and test their strength, courage and love. An hour-long drama shot entirely on-location in historic Virginia, Point of Honor also stars Annabelle Stephenson (Revenge) as Kate Rhodes, Riley Voelkel (The Newsroom) as Lorelei Rhodes, Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School) as Estella Rhodes, Patrick Heusinger (Revolution) as Colonel Palmer Kane, Luke Benward (Ravenswood) as Garland Rhodes, Adrienne Warren (Black Box) as Abby, Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road) as Elijah, and James Harvey Ward (Low Winter Sun) as Cutler. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Wallace, and Executive Produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City). Point of Honor is being co-produced with ABC Signature Studios.

    Half-hour shows:

    Down Dog

    Blessed with good looks, a winning smile, hippie parents and a Southern California upbringing, life has been relatively easy thus far for Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). In his late 30′s, having coasted through romances with countless women and various random jobs, he now teaches yoga to the trophy wives, hot moms and aspiring celebrities of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. And he’s damn good at it. But when Logan and his current girlfriend, a successful and attractive older woman named Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds) who happens to be the owner of the yoga studio, break up, life starts to get more complicated. Down Dog also stars Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother), Will Greenberg (Halt and Catch Fire), Andrea Savage (The Life and Times of Tim), Amir Talai (American Dad), Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

    Salem Rogers

    In this half-hour comedy, Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. Intent on recreating her glamorous lifestyle and modeling success, she tracks down Agatha (played by Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live), her former assistant who has since built a career as an author of self-help books to help her win back the spotlight. Salem Rogers also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Brad Morris (Playing House), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Toks Olagundoye (The Neighbors), Brad Morris (Cougar Town) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). The pilot is written by newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, Executive Produced by Will Graham (The Onion News Network) and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Salem Rogers was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

    Docu-series:

    The New Yorker Presents

    America’s most award-winning magazine comes to life in this half hour docu-series pilot. The New Yorker Presents is a completely unique viewing experience that features Tony-Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy. Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is Executive Producer, joined by Dave Snyder (Death Row Stories) and Dawn Ostroff (The Fashion Fund). The pilot is co-produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions.

    Amazon will also premiere six new kids pilots at that time – Buddy: Tech Detective, Sara Solves It , The Stinky & Dirty Show, Niko and the Sword of Light, Table 58, and Just Add Magic.

    As always, only the strong will survive. Amazon will take feedback from viewers to help them determine which pilots should be given a full series order.

  • Amazon: Prime And Free Shipping Saved People Over $2 Billion Over The Holidays

    Amazon: Prime And Free Shipping Saved People Over $2 Billion Over The Holidays

    This has been Amazon’s 20th holiday shopping season, if you can believe that. The company announced that it also saw record growth for Amazon Prime memberships. Over 10 million new members tried Prime for the first time, and Amazon’s Prime and Free Shipping offerings saved customers over $2 billion in shipping fees this holiday season, according to the company.

    “We are excited to welcome more than ten million new members to Amazon Prime this holiday season, who benefited from unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on their holiday gifts. Prime members can also borrow more than 700,000 books, listen to one million songs and hundreds of playlists, save unlimited photos and watch tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes including the Golden Globe nominated show from Amazon Studios, Transparent,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. “We are working hard to make Prime even better and expanding the recently launched Prime Now to additional cities in 2015.”

    In case you missed it, Prime Now is a new delivery service, which the company launched in New York, enabling customers to get one-hour delivery. In terms of making Prime better, Amazon has certainly been focused on that a lot over the past year, frequently adding various perks.

    “Customers continue to save money shopping on Amazon,” said Jeff Wilke, Senior Vice President, Amazon.com. “This holiday season, Amazon shoppers saved billions through free shipping, and even more through our low prices. We are especially excited that 10 million new customers tried Amazon Prime for the first time.”

    Amazon shipped to 185 countries this holiday season. About 60% of customers used a mobile device, with more turning to mobile the closer to the holidays it got.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Prime Now Brings One-Hour Delivery To NY

    Amazon Prime Now Brings One-Hour Delivery To NY

    Amazon announced the launch of a new delivery service called Prime Now. It’s launching in New York City (specifically select areas of Manhattan) for now, and offers one-hour delivery on items through a mobile app.

    Actually, Prime members will still have to pay $7.99 for one-hour (or less) delivery, but it also offers two-hour delivery for free. The Prime Now options are only available between the hours of 6AM and midnight (seven days a week). The app lets you track the courier’s location.

    We recently learned that Amazon was using bike messengers for package delivery. Well, that was for this:

    Prime Now is yet another perk for Amazon Prime members (these seem to be increasing by the week), and can be used on “tens of thousands” of items including things like paper towels, shampoo, books, toys and batteries.

    “There are times when you can’t make it to the store and other times when you simply don’t want to go. There are so many reasons to skip the trip and now Prime members in Manhattan can get the items they need delivered in an hour or less,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations. “We’ve long felt that Amazon Prime is the best deal in the history of shopping and now it has gotten even better. Prime members in Manhattan are going to love this service and we cannot wait to roll out Prime Now to additional cities in 2015.”

    Amazon is using its new Manhattan building as a hub for Prime Now orders, though only part of the building is being used for this.

    The Prime Now app is available on iOS and Android to Prime members. Users will be notified when the service becomes available in their area.

    In California, Amazon has also been testing taxi delivery, but it’s unclear if that’s directly related to Prime Now.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Extends Free Shipping Deadline for XMas Delivery

    Amazon Extends Free Shipping Deadline for XMas Delivery

    If you’re a procrastinating holiday shopper (and most of us are), you’ll be happy to know that Amazon has extended its deadline for free shipping to arrive before Christmas.

    You’ll need to place your order by December 19 to get your stuff by Dec 24. This gives customers an extra day as compared to last year.

    If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can push it all the way to Dec 22 and still have your order by Dec 24.

    And for folks living in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC, same-day shipping will allow you to place your order at 10am local time on Dec 24 and still have it delivered by that evening.

    Amazon is simply trying to match one of its biggest competitors this year. Walmart recently announced that it would guarantee Christmas Eve delivery for orders placed by Dec 19.

    This is simply a case of companies doing battle at the benefit of the customer. But beware, as Dec 19 will sneak up on you before you know it (it’s this Friday).

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Amazon Releases 4K Ultra HD Video Content

    Amazon Releases 4K Ultra HD Video Content

    Amazon announced that it has added 4K Ultra HD video to Amazon Instant Video. And guess what. It’s not only for Prime members! I’ll bet you didn’t see that coming. Of course Prime members do still get the perk of not having to pay extra for the quality.

    Amazon’s Ultra HD movies and TV shows are accessible through the Amazon Instant Video app on compatible Ultra HD smart TVs from LG, Samsung and Sony.

    Among the included television titles are the second season of Alpha House, Transparent, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Orphan Black, and the upcoming Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch , Hand of God, The After and Red Oaks. The seven new pilots from Amazon Studios—Cocked, Down Dog, Mad Dogs, Man in the High Castle, Point of Honor, Salem Rogers and The New Yorker Presents—will also be offered in Ultra HD. Movie titles include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Funny Girl, Hitch and Philadelphia. Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek LIVE! is also available.

    “We want to deliver the best entertainment experience, and offering Ultra HD movies and TV shows raises the bar on quality and innovation that customers have come to expect from Amazon,” said Michael Paull, Vice President of Amazon Digital Video. “We’re also excited that Ultra HD is the latest benefit of the Amazon Prime membership, giving members instant access to great movies and TV shows in a premium picture resolution at no additional cost.”

    Movies available for purchase in 4K include After Earth, American Hustle, Captain Phillips , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Elysium, Godzilla, Hancock, Moneyball, The Mask of Zorro, The Monuments Men, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Da Vinci Code, The Patriot, Think Like a Man Too, This Is the End, etc.

    Image via Amazon

  • Rumors Of Ad-Supported Amazon Video Return

    Rumors Of Ad-Supported Amazon Video Return

    A new report from The New York Post claims that Amazon is readying an ad-supported streaming video service, which would be separate from Amazon Prime Video.

    It seems like most of Amazon’s newer offerings are ultimately ways to get people to sign up for Prime, so the move does seem a bit out of character. However, The Post’s sources say it is still ultimately a bid by the company to lure people to eventually pay for Prime.

    That actually makes a great deal of sense. Think about listening to the free, ad-supported version of Spotify. If you’ve ever used Premium, it’s hard to go back. Amazon could be counting on a similar mentality.

    This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Amazon considering such a service. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that the company was considering an ad-supported streaming video and music video service that would be free of subscription costs.

    Amazon, however, told Variety, “We’re often experimenting with new things, but we have no plans to offer a free streaming-media service.”

    The Post says its sources “confirmed that it’s a definite go”.

    I guess we’ll see.

    Amazon is also said to be readying a travel service, and it just signed a 17-year lease for a building across the street from the Empire State Building for a brick-and-mortar store and distribution center.

    Amazon this week began shipping its new streaming device the Fire TV Stick. It also debuted a new kids show.

    Image via Amazon

  • Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Amazon’s New Live-Action Kids Show, Now Available

    Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Amazon’s New Live-Action Kids Show, Now Available

    Amazon’s first live-action kids series aimed at older kids (those aged six to 11) is now available to stream – the first six episodes at least.

    Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, the project of first-time writer David Anaxogorias, launches today. Anaxagorias is a preschool teacher and submitted his show idea to Amazon Studios through its “open-door pilot submissions process”. His show is the first to be greenlit.

    “I have much to be thankful for this year and I’m especially grateful that after months of intense work, we can now share Gortimer with the world,” said Anaxagoras. “I couldn’t be more proud of our marvelous cast and crew who managed to tap into that Normal Street magic again and again with each new episode.”

    According to Amazon, “the series is a coming-of-age tale of friendship that centers around Gortimer and the bond with his two best friends Ranger and Mel, as they chronicle their adventures on Normal Street – an ordinary suburban neighborhood that has a hint of something unexpected just beneath the surface.

    This isn’t Amazon’s first original live-action kids show (Annedroids), but it’s the first one aimed at kids 6 – 11. The protagonist in the series in 13.

    Image via Amazon Studios

  • Mozart in the Jungle Hits Amazon December 23

    Mozart in the Jungle Hits Amazon December 23

    Amazon Studios’ new comedy show, Mozart in the Jungle, has just received an official premiere date – December 23.

    Amazon will release all 10 episodes of the first season at once on Amazon Prime. Mozart in the Jungle was first greenlit alongside Amazon’s Transparent – which has received rave reviews since its premiere in September.

    Mozart in the Jungle stars Gael Garcia Bernal, Saffron Burrows, Hannah Dunne, Lola Kirke, and Peter Vack. It’s executive producers are Roman Coppola. Jason Schwartzman, Paul Weitz, and John Strauss. The show also boasts a bunch of guest stars including Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters, Debra Monk, Wallace Shawn, and John Hodgman.

    Here’s Amazon’s official description:

    Based on the critically acclaimed memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs & Classical Music by Blair Tindall, Mozart in the Jungle is seen through the eyes of a young oboist, Hailey (Kirke), who tries to navigate through the egos and eccentricities of a world renowned orchestra, and new conductor Rodrigo (Bernal), an enfant terrible whose passion for music threatens the plans of the orchestra’s old guard. That old guard is represented by Thomas (McDowell), the reluctantly outgoing conductor, and Gloria (Peters), the chairwoman of the board, who wonder what they have wrought by bringing Rodrigo into the fold. The musicians themselves, a colorful family of disparate personalities, are struggling to deal with this new regime. Along with her friends Alex (played by Vack), a dancer on the brink of success, Cynthia (Burrows), a worldly cellist, and Lizzie (played by Dunne), a world class partier, Hailey searches for what it means to dedicate your life to music.

    “Our customers will be immersed in a provocative and compelling world,” said Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios. “Jason, Roman, Paul and John have brilliantly tapped into this microcosm brought to life by an unparalleled ensemble cast.”

    Last week, Amazon announced the first set of pilots for 2015 – for hour-long shows, two half-hour shows, and a docu-series.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube

  • Amazon Won’t Charge Prime Members For Ultra HD

    Amazon Won’t Charge Prime Members For Ultra HD

    Amazon confirmed this week that it will not charge Prime members for Ultra HD content.

    Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Amazon announced it would make Ultra HD content available this year. The company sent us this statement from Michael Paull, VP of Amazon Digital Video:

    “We want to be the best entertainment destination for customers. We’re confident that offering Ultra HD content, whether it’s a TV series or a film, will help create the ultimate viewing experience and can’t wait to start making it available this year. We’ve already announced that the Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek To Cheek LIVE! concert will be available in the premium resolution as well as Amazon Original Series including Transparent, Alpha House and the upcoming Mozart in the Jungle series, and we’re excited to unveil even more titles that Prime members and customers can watch in Ultra HD later this year and into next year. Amazon Prime members will have access to a great selection of Ultra HD content on Prime Instant Video at no additional cost.”

    “Customers are excited about the future of 4K and the next evolution of high resolution video. We’re working with consumer electronics leaders and Hollywood studios to make that a reality,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Digital Video and Music for Amazon in January. “There are a number of elements that need to work together to create a true 4K experience for customers—you need great content and compatible devices but you also need a service that can deliver that content to your devices so that it plays beautifully—we’re excited about making that a reality.”

    At the time, Amazon had announced partnerships with Samsung, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and others to offer 4K Ultra HD content.

    Rival Netflix also announced this year that its originals would all be available in 4K. It has since made Breaking Bad available in Ultra HD as well.

    Beyond its contribution to Ultra HD content, Amazon’s news represents part of its strategy to give Prime members more and more features. At some point, it’s going to be hard for many consumers to justify not becoming a member.

    This week, Amazon also announced its first set of pilots for 2015.

    Image: Amazon, YouTube

  • Amazon Announces 2015’s First Set of Pilots

    Amazon Announces 2015’s First Set of Pilots

    Amazon Studios has just announced the seven new shows that will make up its first pilot season of 2015. Set to debut early next year, the set of pilots includes hour-long shows, half-hour shows, and a docu-series.

    Without further ado, here are your new pilots:

    Hour-long pilots:

    Cocked

    Created by Sam Baum (Lie to Me) and Sam Shaw (Manhattan – TV series), Cocked stars Sam Trammell (True Blood) as Richard Paxson, a family man and corporate lap dog who left his family in rural Virginia twenty years before and vowed never to go back. After some unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to leave the big city and return home to help his family’s gun business—one of the oldest in the country. But no good deed goes unpunished. Older brother Grady Paxson, played by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), who’s a bachelor, playboy and gun aficionado, isn’t so happy to have him back, and Richard’s liberal wife and two opinionated teenage children are horrified by the world they have been thrown into. Hilarity, epic fights and emotional breakdowns ensue. Cocked also stars Brian Dennehy (The Good Wife) as Wade Paxson, Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) as Hannah Paxson, and Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) as Tabby Paxson. The hour-long dark comedy pilot is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Skull Island), and Erwin Stoff (Unbroken), Shaw, and Baum are Executive Producers.

    Mad Dogs

    Mad Dogs is a dark comedy created by Cris Cole (The Bill), and Executive Produced by Cole, Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Marney Hochman (Last Resort), Andy Harries (DCI Banks), Suzanne Mackie (All in Good Time), and Charles McDougall (The Mindy Project). Based on the hit UK series, Mad Dogs follows the twisted reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends—a mixture of single, married and recently divorced—who are all at different crossroads in their lives. Celebrating the early retirement of an old friend at his gorgeous Belize villa, grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder. Mad Dogs is a twisted tale of friendship put to the ultimate test. As an inconceivable chain of events unfolds, cracks within the group widen before the friends realize that the only people they can trust are each other, the last people they want to be relying on. The pilot stars Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Cobi, Billy Zane (Twin Peaks) as Milo, Romany Malco (Weeds) as Gus, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Lex, and Ben Chaplin (World without End) as Joel. Mad Dogs is directed by McDougall and is being co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.

    The Man in the High Castle

    Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history, The Man in the High Castle considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), The Man in the High Castle provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. The hour-long dramatic pilot stars Alexa Davalos (Mob City) as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars) as Joe Blake, Rupert Evans (The Village) as Frank Frink, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat Legacy) as Tagomi, Joel De La Fuente (Hemlock Grove) as Inspector Kido, Rufus Sewell (Eleventh Hour) as John Smith and DJ Qualls (Z Nation) as Ed McCarthy. The pilot is directed by David Semel (Madam Secretary, Heroes) and written by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), both serving as Executive Producers. Also executive producing are Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free Productions (The Good Wife, The Andromeda Strain), and Executive Producers Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute of Headline Pictures (The Invisible Woman). In addition, Isa Dick Hackett will executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce on behalf of Electric Shepherd (The Adjustment Bureau). Christopher Tricarico (May in the Summer) is also Executive Producer.

    Point of Honor

    At the start of the Civil War, a Virginia family, led by their West Point bred son, John Rhodes (played by Nathan Parsons, True Blood), makes the controversial decision to defend the South while freeing all of their slaves. At battle against his northern brethren and his best friend and brother-in-law Robert Sumner (played by Christopher O’Shea, Baby Daddy), John leaves his three strong-willed sisters at home to run the plantation that is now without a free labor source. The choice to protect the life they have always known and defend the moral high ground will pit the family against one another and test their strength, courage and love. An hour-long drama shot entirely on-location in historic Virginia, Point of Honor also stars Annabelle Stephenson (Revenge) as Kate Rhodes, Riley Voelkel (The Newsroom) as Lorelei Rhodes, Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Old School) as Estella Rhodes, Patrick Heusinger (Revolution) as Colonel Palmer Kane, Luke Benward (Ravenswood) as Garland Rhodes, Adrienne Warren (Black Box) as Abby, Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road) as Elijah, and James Harvey Ward (Low Winter Sun) as Cutler. The pilot is directed by Randall Wallace (Braveheart), written by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Wallace, and Executive Produced by Cuse, Wallace and Barry Jossen (Sex and the City). Point of Honor is being co-produced with ABC Signature Studios.

    Half-hour shows:

    Down Dog

    Blessed with good looks, a winning smile, hippie parents and a Southern California upbringing, life has been relatively easy thus far for Logan Wood (played by Josh Casaubon, I Just Want My Pants Back). In his late 30’s, having coasted through romances with countless women and various random jobs, he now teaches yoga to the trophy wives, hot moms and aspiring celebrities of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. And he’s damn good at it. But when Logan and his current girlfriend, a successful and attractive older woman named Amanda (played by Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds) who happens to be the owner of the yoga studio, break up, life starts to get more complicated. Down Dog also stars Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother), Will Greenberg (Halt and Catch Fire), Andrea Savage (The Life and Times of Tim), Amir Talai (American Dad), Kris Kristofferson (Lone Star), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). The pilot is written by Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea?), produced by Bob Cooper (RFK) and Michael Fuchs (Death in the Modern Age), and directed by Bradley Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

    Salem Rogers

    In this half-hour comedy, Leslie Bibb (About a Boy) plays Salem Rogers, an overly confident, outrageously blunt, and hard-partying former supermodel who is forced to face her past and re-enter the real world after ten years in a posh rehab center. Intent on recreating her glamorous lifestyle and modeling success, she tracks down Agatha (played by Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live), her former assistant who has since built a career as an author of self-help books to help her win back the spotlight. Salem Rogers also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Brad Morris (Playing House), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Toks Olagundoye (The Neighbors), Brad Morris (Cougar Town) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). The pilot is written by newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, Executive Produced by Will Graham (The Onion News Network) and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Salem Rogers was submitted as part of the studio’s online screenplay submission process.

    Docu-series:

    The New Yorker Presents

    America’s most award-winning magazine comes to life in this half hour docu-series pilot. The New Yorker Presents is a completely unique viewing experience that features Tony-Award winner Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and actor Brett Gelman (Go On) in a short film based on a story by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Emmy Award-winning director Troy Miller (Arrested Development); a poem by Matthew Dickman; a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) about biologist Tyrone Hayes based on a Rachel Aviv article; and an interview with famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, conducted by The New Yorker writer Ariel Levy. Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) is Executive Producer, joined by Dave Snyder (Death Row Stories) and Dawn Ostroff (The Fashion Fund). The pilot is co-produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions.

    Like with all Amazon pilot seasons, only the strong will survive. Amazon will take feedback from viewers to help them determine which pilots should be given a full series order.

    Every pilot season from Amazon looks more impressive than the last. We know that Amazon Studios is ready up to spend big bucks on originals to compete with the likes of Netflix and HBO and 2015’s first run at it seems to suggest that the company isn’t messing around.

  • Amazon Wants To Get Other Sites’ Customers On Prime

    Amazon Wants To Get Other Sites’ Customers On Prime

    Amazon is extending Amazon Prime benefits to purchases made on other retail sites. At least that’s what it’s trying to do, and has succeeded with at least one retailer.

    Re/code reports that Amazon has been reaching out to various retailers with such a plan, which it refers to internally as Prime Pass, and that British fashion retailer AllSaints is on board. Re/code’s Jason Del Rey spoke with executives from both Amazon and AllSaints about the development, which will see shoppers on these other sites being able to take advantage of free, next-day shipping.

    AllSaints is advertising products in Amazon search results, and according to the report, Amazon charges it a small fee when a customer clicks through without taking anything from the actual sale. Del Rey notes that some retailers have declined offers from Amazon to take part in the program, and are actually turning to Amazon competitors for similar relationships.

    There’s not a lot of sharing of customer data with the initiative. The report says Amazon only gives retailers customer names and email addresses, and Amazon only sees the purchase total, and not the actual items.

    Just about every consumer-facing move Amazon makes these days is a play to get more people signed up for Prime. In fact, the company just announced that it’s giving unlimited photo storage to members. If this Prime Pass thing is able to get a significant number of retailers on board, it would certainly make Amazon Prime much more enticing to online shoppers.

    For Amazon, it could firmly implant its presence throughout the e-commerce ecosystem, which it is already such a huge part of.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Prime’s Newest Perk Is Unlimited Photo Storage

    Amazon Prime’s Newest Perk Is Unlimited Photo Storage

    Amazon Prime members have a new perk to help justify the annual fee – free, unlimited photo storage in the Amazon Cloud Drive.

    Amazon is calling it Prime Photos, and it extends the free, unlimited storage offering previously available to Fire Phone owners to any Prime customer.

    “This time of year in particular, families are capturing thousands of photos of holiday parties, family gatherings and opening presents,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President Amazon Prime. “With free unlimited photo storage, we’re providing one more reason for members to use Prime every day. Prime has always allowed members to conveniently save time and save money, and now with Prime Photos they can save memories too.”

    Prime members can uploads photos for the web, iOS, Android, desktop, and of course, Amazon hardware. Amazon touts it as a “simple, secure” way to make sure you always have your precious photos backed up – and those photos will be stored as they are uploaded, in full resolution.

    It’s important to note that this is free, unlimited photo storage. There’s no mention of videos.

    Of course, Amazon isn’t the first to offer people a ton of cloud storage for little to no cost. But, like Amazon Prime Music, it’s just another perk to sweeten the deal that is Amazon Prime.

  • Amazon’s New Live-Action Kids Shows Debuts Nov 21

    Amazon’s New Live-Action Kids Shows Debuts Nov 21

    Amazon’s newest live-action kids series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, will land on Amazon Prime Instant Video on November 21.

    The series follows Gortimer, “a kid fiercely loyal to his best friends and family, as he embarks with Ranger and Mel on magical exploits triggered by their thirst for adventure.”

    According to Amazon Studios, “the upcoming season will bring the trio together to help the unluckiest kid on Normal Street, solve a mystery before a spooky spirit turns them into ghost stories, undertake a scavenger hunt through town to find the fabled lost treasure of Normal Street, and outsmart fate after some alarming advice from a fortune teller.”

    Amazon first debuted the Gortimer pilot back in February, and it did well enough to merit a full-series order.

    “I’m so happy that Amazon has allowed me to tell this very special story of a world through the eyes of a 13-year-old where things are still a little magical,” said David Anaxagoras, the show’s creator. He’s a pre-school teacher, and this is his first writing project. “This is a dream I’ve had for a long time and the entire experience has felt natural and exciting—from my initial submission and the pilot being greenlit to working alongside talented minds pouring themselves into the project through the series’ production.”

    This isn’t Amazon’s first original live-action kids show (Annedroids), but it’s the first one aimed at kids 6 – 11. The protagonist in the series in 13.

    Image via Amazon Studios