With brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• Axios reports that Amazon is expected to shortly introduce new devices that will use "generative AI to jolt its middle-aged Alexa voice assistant to new life.
"Imagine saying: 'I'm going on vacation for a week. Please set my devices to make sure the house is safe and we aren't using more electricity than necessary'."
The story says that "Amazon sees the AI boom as a chance to dust off the more than half a billion devices that have Alexa built-in, and give them fresh relevance by delivering the equivalent of a voice-enabled ChatGPT … Amazon sees Alexa's presence in the home as a key advantage over rivals who focus on computers and phones.
"Many of Amazon's devices have additional sensors, including cameras and microphones, that can add context to generative AI queries."
• From CNBC:
"Bowery, a vertical farming company that grows crops indoors, is getting more shelf space at Amazon’s Whole Foods, with a deal to triple the stores stocking its salad kits. Currently, Bowery’s salad kits and a selection of greens are carried at 50 Whole Foods Market stores in the Northeast. The expansion will increase the store count to 150 Whole Foods Market locations in the North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.
Bowery first broke into the market with a variety of leafy greens, but in September of last year it began marketing ready-to-eat salad kits."
Yet another area in which Amazon and Walmart are competing, as the latter actually has invested in Plenty, another vertical farming coming, as a way to stay on the leading edge of this space.
