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Prime Day Is Coming! What Did Amazon Plan For July 12th?

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Prime Day 2 comes July 12th.

July 12th, 2016 will bring Amazon’s second Prime Day and many empty bank accounts.

On Sunday, July 12th, 2015, Amazon had its first ever Prime Day. The event catered exclusively to Amazon Prime clients, and it featured discounts on many products. When initially announced, Amazon openly stated that they did not know if Prime Day was going to become a yearly tradition or if it would be a one-time event.

Amazon Prime Trial Registrations were at their all time highest. Amazon chose to not disclose any numbers, but they did say that they had over ten times more Amazon Prime Trial Registrations than they initially anticipated.

In regards to the sales numbers, themselves Amazon declared that Prime Day saw more sales than the previous Black Friday.The Internet, however, did not receive the selection with too much enthusiasm and throughout the day Facebook and Twitter exploded with complaints about the too few number of products put on discount.

Since Amazon’s initial expectations had been met ten times over, Prime Day returns on Tuesday, July 12th, 2016. Amazon said that they have been listening to a lot of feedback and that they have been making efforts to put as much of it into play.

Amazon Prime Day 2: The Primening

Amazon said that this would be their biggest event to date. Even skeptics got a little bit hyped.

Since it is still called Prime Day, Amazon users will still be required to have Amazon Prime membership. The membership costs $100 per year, however, any user can register for a 30-day trial period beforehand which will give them full membership benefits. An active credit or debit card does need to be linked to the account, but it will not be charged for the registration.

Users who used their 30-day trial last year will have to either get a full membership, get just one month of membership since that is now an option, or just make a new user and register with for the 30-day trial period like that. For the latter option, another debit or credit card will be required.

On July 12th, Amazon Prime users in the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain will be able to browse through all the deals that Prime Day features.

It is worth mentioning that Amazon planned flash sales for the United States with a refresh time between them as short as five minutes. Midnight Pacific Time will be the start of Prime Day in the US.

Photograph Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Amazon Unveils First Devices that Can Automatically Shop for New Supplies

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Amazon released yesterday a feature that allows some hom appliances and electronic devices to automatically shop for new supplies.

On Thursday, Amazon rolled out a  feature that allows some home appliances and electronic devices to automatically shop for new supplies.

On Tuesday, Amazon unveiled first devices that can automatically shop for new supplies whenever their human users forget about it. The line includes Brother printers that can place online orders for ink on the e-commerce giant’s site and GE washers that can keep track of the remaining detergent and order more when levels are low.

Another device that uses the smart technology is a blood glucose tracker from Gmate SMART. But not all devices are compatible with the new technology called Amazon Dash Replenishment. Only some Brother Printers and GE washing machine are.

Still, some customers might have already bought compatible appliances or electronics, but they weren’t able to access the feature until Tuesday when Amazon activated the DASH Replenishment system across its platform.

Customers who own a compatible device can activate the technology through an app or the company’s site (it largely depends on how the producer configured access to the feature.)

Amazon said that printers would be able to resupply themselves starting Tuesday, while other appliances and gadgets would be ready for the new system by the end of the month. Brother printer owners who wish their devices to automatically re-order ink or toner will be able to activate the feature via the Japanese manufacturer’s website.

Freshly bought printers, on the other hand, would feature the sign-up requirement in the printer’s installation instructions.

Yet, the idea of a printer that self-replenishes is not new. Hewlett Packard and Epson have been experimenting with the idea in the last years as well. For instance, HP provides a service called Instant Ink, while its competitor sells a line of printers with refillable ink tanks.

But the Brother printers do not reorder ink and toner from the producer, but from Amazon’s site. Brother recently said that it has 45 printers that can order their own ink through the e-giant’s platform.

GE washing machines are more advanced. They can tell how much detergent to use on a single load, they can disperse the detergent automatically, and order for more whenever it reaches a critical level. Still, the machines will base their decisions on their owner’s preferences which are stored in a mobile app.

The blood glucose monitor will be connected to a smartphone and order supplies such as testing strips whenever necessary.

Though only three companies currently produce devices compatible with Amazon’s new API, the e-commerce site said that any other manufacturers who wish to implement the system in their devices should contact its team.

Image Source: Flickr

Is Segway Going out of Business?

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"Is Segway Going out of Business?"

The incident at Amazon could prove to be a bad sign for Segway.

All seems to go rather well for Segway but, looking at the most recent events, we ask ourselves the following question: is Segway going out of business?

This year proved to be quite in good taste for those who love gadgets. Remember “Back to the Future”, the movies with Michael J. Fox and the crazy professor who creates a time machine? Then you also remember that cool board Fox was riding during his trip to the future. Well, this year Segway released a board closely resembling the sweet ride that Fox used during his incursion into the future.

Recently, according to some report, it would seem that the pseudo-hoverboard was proved to be less than reliable when it comes to fire safety. As of now, Amazon has decided to remove all offers regarding the critically-acclaimed hoverboards. The main reason behind Amazon’s bold move it that during the routine power charging, one of the hoverboard’s batteries exploded, leading the company to question whether these marvels are safe for use or not.

It would seem that Amazon’s decision to ban the hoverboard was strengthened by numerous other outside events. For example, London’s Metropolitan Police has labeled the 2-wheeled device as unsafe, and, therefore, ban the use of it on the sidewalks.

More on the faulty Segway pieces. Many speculate that the faulty pieces from Amazon were actually cheap copies of the concept, sold by other companies under the price of the market. The Swagway model, Segway’s flagship in terms of hoverboards can be found in reputable shops with prices ranging from 450 to 900 dollars a piece.

After the incident, Amazon decided to send back all hoverboard products to Segway’s manufacturing plant. Moreover, officials from Amazon declared that in order for the product to be put up on display again, Segway must come up with some sort of credentials, that are capable of demonstrating that the devices will pose no future risk in terms of fire safety.

Given the incident which occurred at Amazon, many airports from around the United States and Great Britain, made the decision of banning the devices from planes, invoking fire hazard all the way.

Whether this is or is not the end for Segway, that we cannot say for certain. But it would seem that the incident that occurred at Amazon might have delivered a staggering blow to Segway’s image. For now, the technicians at Segway must do all they can to convince other that the devices are safe for use.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

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