Robotics Trends To Watch In 2026

2025 has been a breakout year in robotics and we expect that growth to be even stronger in 2026! 

China leads a massive robotic surge with growth expected to reach new levels in 2026. More than 82% of the 300+ global robotics investment deals in the first half of 2025 occurred in China, with total financing topping at least 20B yuan (~$2.7 B). State-backed funds have earmarked some 70B yuan (about $9.7B) for humanoids and robot initiatives, while pushing robotics into public spaces. Companies like Unitree (eyeing a $7B IPO), Agibot, and EngineAI closed massive rounds, with Unitree slashing prices to $5,900 for its R1 humanoid. Even Elon Musk has warned that in humanoids “positions two through ten could all be Chinese companies.” China now produces 70–80% of global planetary roller screws — the critical actuator component that Tesla, Figure, and 1X all depend on.

Humanoid bots go mainstream - will you see one in your house in 2026?

• Big industrial customers began running serious pilots, testing humanoids on warehouse lines, with 1X’s Neo moving into homes (but with a major caveat).
• Tesla, Figure, Agility, Apptronik, and 1X shifted focus from viral clips to reliability, safety, and per-hour economics in real customer environments. Tesla is set to begin mass production of their Tesla Optimus by the end of next year
• Tooling, components, and software platforms around humanoids matured, from actuators and battery packs to “generalist” control and vision models.
• China turned humanoids into industrial policy, dangling pilots to push domestic players toward large-scale deployment by the end of the decade.
• Analysts are estimating the market will be worth more than $5 trillion by 2050

Robotaxis hit real streets with mixed results! 2026 we expect fewer Uber and Lyft drivers and more driverless cars.

• Waymo began weaving freeway driving into routes across Phoenix, San Francisco, and LA, stretching its service to San Jose with 24/7 airport pickup.
• Amazon’s robotaxi subsidiary Zoox launched its custom vehicles in Las Vegas — no steering wheel, no pedals, just two rows of seats for 4 passengers.
• Tesla just started testing empty robotaxis on Austin streets this past weekend, with no safety monitor in the passenger seat.
• China’s Baidu and Uber announced plans to deploy thousands of Apollo Go vehicles on Uber’s platform, while Pony AI rolled out 1K robotaxis in Shenzhen.
• Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said robotaxis are a "trillion-dollar-plus" industry and expects to see the company to have cars 10-plus markets by next year.

The rise of the warehouse bot saw Warehouse bots becoming the main characters of robotics in 2025. 

• Amazon blew past 1M deployed robots marking the shift from simple mobile robots to integrated AI-powered workcells.
• Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) now account for 45% of warehouse deployments, with e-commerce driving half of new installations through 2030.
• Beijing went all in, openly targeting hundreds of thousands of deployed units by 2030 while running 1.8M industrial robots on factory floors.
• Agility’s Digit moved 100K totes at a GXO facility while humanoids from Apptronik and others tackled “last-meter” tasks that wheeled bots can't handle.

Industry Diversification: Robotics adoption is expanding beyond traditional automotive and electronics manufacturing into sectors facing labor shortages or high-risk conditions.

• Construction: Robots are increasingly used for surveying, inspection, demolition, and precise tasks like drilling and bricklaying, reducing human exposure to hazardous conditions.
• Healthcare and Pharma: Automation is used for logistics, dispensing medications, performing minimally invasive surgeries, and assisting with patient rehabilitation through soft exoskeletons.
• Retail and Hospitality: Robots are appearing as shelf-scanning inventory managers, automated baristas, and hotel assistants.

In 2026, the emphasis is going to be on human-robot collaboration and the integration of robots into daily life as intelligent partners rather than mere replacements. Growth and expansion of AI and the integration it is already making into everyday life will be key. So to will regulations and governmental guidelines and oversight. We've already seen some drawback on autonomous cars with state legislators weighing in on regulations for autonomous vehicles. We fully expect more regulations and safety nets related to bots taking over the workforce and/or entering our daily lives. 

What Is Amazon's All New AI Powered Alexa+ and Who Can Use It?

You may have heard that Amazon just unveiled Alexa+. The company's much anticipated next-generation digital assistant completely rebuilt with generative AI technology. What does that mean you may ask, and what does it mean for current Amazon Alexa device owners? We'll try to break that down for you below!

The basic details:

• Alexa+ can connect and leverage multiple LLMs, including Amazon's Nova and Anthropic's Claude, choosing the best model for each task at hand.
• The revamped assistant can perform complex agentic tasks like booking reservations, ordering groceries, purchasing concert tickets, and more.
• Other features include document analysis, remembering user preferences, maintaining conversation context, and integration with hundreds of services.
• It will cost $19.99 monthly but comes free with Amazon Prime membership, with early access rolling out in the U.S. next month.

Amazon is rethinking the way Alexa works with what they are calling “experts”—groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions that accomplish specific types of tasks for customers along several different connected devices. For instance, Alexa+ expands on the way you can control your smart home with products from Philips Hue, Roborock, and more. Voice controls for things like smart lighting, thermostats and other devices are said to be more natural. So, if you’re speaking in half-formed thoughts, using colloquial expressions, or exploring complex ideas, Alexa+ will reportedly understand what you mean, and respond with a natural vibe and feeling sort of like you are interacting with a person rather than Alexa's computerized response system.

Amazon said Alexa+ is designed to take action and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices. You'll be able to use your favorite apps to do things more directly like make reservations or appointments with OpenTable and Vagaro; explore discographies and play music from providers including Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and iHeartRadio; order groceries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market, or delivery from Grubhub and Uber Eats. You'll even get reminders for things like tickets going on sale on Ticketmaster; or alerts from Ring and other security devices if someone is approaching your house.

The new Alexa+ is designed to be highly personalized and adaptable to your life. Alexa learns from your shopping, listening, and viewing habits, as well as your shipping and payment information. But Alexa's capabilities extend beyond this: you can enhance her usefulness by providing personal details. Teach her family recipes, important dates, facts, and dietary preferences, and she can apply that information to better assist you. Imagine planning a family meal; Alexa can remember that you love pizza, your daughter is vegetarian, and your partner requires gluten-free food, and use that knowledge to recommend appropriate recipes or dining options.

What devices can customers use Alexa+ on and when can we get it?

According to their release statement Amazon has said Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks during an early access period, and subsequently in waves over the coming months. Priority will be given to Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners in the early access period. Unfortunately for those of us with older generation Echo devices like Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Amazon Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, and Echo Spot 1st Gen, we won't be seeing the upgrade at this time and will be limited to the original Alexa. You'll also be able to try Alexa+ on your web browser, the Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs, and Fire tablets. You can check-out the new Alexa+ page for more details and to sign-up to be notified when Alexa+ is available for you.

Will AI Monetization Stifle Innovation?

Nearly a full month into 2024, and it's evident that this year is poised to be the "Year of AI," with virtually every aspect of our lives touched by AI in some form or another. However, as we witness the rapid development and subsequent market integration of AI, potential drawbacks are emerging. The two most significant hurdles seem to originate directly from tech giants.

AI Consolidation

Towards the end of 2023, major tech players such as Amazon, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google made significant moves to expand their AI portfolios, consolidating smaller companies under the umbrella of their massive enterprises. For instance, Amazon invested $4 billion in the startup Anthropic, while Google secured a $2 billion stake of its own. While these moves provide startups with the capital needed for growth, they often result in the acquiring companies exerting too much control over the projects, hindering their progress.

The desire to quickly monetize and grow a company, followed by potentially selling off the team's hard work, often leads to issues down the road. Companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google tend to absorb acquired ideas and software, which may either get shelved, completely reimagined, or fall by the wayside as companies explore other, potentially more cost-effective options.

While some acquisitions have led to great innovations, such as Apple incorporating features like Siri from the 30+ AI startups it acquired over the last decade, other instances, like Google shuttering numerous programs, showcase the potential pitfalls of consolidation.

AI as a Service and Pay-Walling

While consolidation poses challenges to development, the more significant concern lies in the tendency to place AI tools behind paywalls or offer them as subscription services. Companies naturally seek to monetize their AI tools swiftly and effectively. For instance, Microsoft already offers its AI tool Copilot as a subscription service, and Amazon reportedly plans to introduce a paid Alexa service, "Alexa Plus," featuring premium features.

Running these programs, developing infrastructure, and staying ahead in terms of development are costly endeavors for large companies. While pay-walling premium features is not a novel approach, consumers generally resist being forced to pay for tools they are already using. In the realm of new technology and the push for expanded integration and adoption, subscriptions may not be the most effective means to align consumers with corporate plans. If consumers push back against adoption, some otherwise promising companies might face setbacks.

Big Tech Control Playing Big Brother

One area I haven't really discussed is big tech and government level control. We are already seeing governments around the world  looking at regulations and attempts at controlling or slowing AI adoption. Historically speaking rapid progression of technology hasn't been the best thing. We've made some big mistakes over the years. Generally big tech has played big brother of sorts and held back quick rapid releases of new technology. Hint there are things they have now you still won't see for yrs because of costs Where this control and controlled slow releases may be warranted. The down side is if we attempt to slow adoption in one area we inevitably kill off competition and innovation in another!

If government regulation is overly strict it puts undue pressure on start-up companies and keeps them from the market. If they aren't strict enough then we see top tier companies effectively being the key-holders and keeping innovation out (or in). We end up putting in place too many barriers and true innovators suffer the consequences!

My Conclusion

From my background in the tech sector and the work I've done over the years I see the term AI as much more of a marketing term right now than anything else. People overlook that Siri, Alexa, Google Search ect are all essentially AI. For me personally I think the term as we currently use it Artificial Intelligence, really is a misnomer. I think Augmented Intelligence is far closer to what we currently have rather than the average person thinks of AI  (which is mostly a theatrical movie style computer driven intelligence).

I feel that if we see our current systems going to SaaS (subscriber or pay-to-use) we'll see consumer blow-back and companies will have to rethink their programs. I believe people are already starting to wake up to over utilization of the AI label and the market saturation of the term! My hope is companies keep an even keel on this and let the tech progress naturally. Hopefully smaller companies and individual developers are lost in the shuffle!

AI Regulations and Why Companies Welcome Them

As the adoption of AI, more directly generative AI, we see more companies calling on the government to step in and step up with regulations. For some this seems counterintuitive. Why would an AI company seek regulation in their own industry that would slow down adoption of their tools right? There are two schools of thought on this.

• Companies are truly concerned that their tools are being used for nefarious activities (scams, hacking cheating ect)
• Companies are concerned that the pace of the market means they will become irrelevant before they can make a market impact

As much as we'd like to think that tech companies are altruistic. Historically speaking, this hasn't been the case. So while some of their calls to action might be rooted in a desire to steer things down the 'right path' it is more likely that they are worried about their massive investment and potential returns.

The AI movement/generation is very quickly becoming what the DOT-COM era was. Startups are hitting amazing valuations and being gobbled up by the big boys in tech. Amazon recently spent 4b investing in AI Startup Anthropic. While Google, NVIDIA, Apple and others are not far behind. If AI continues to evolve at the pace it is now, many of those investment could be outdated and loose overall value well before they produce something that is marketable.

As a comparison Siri was first released in 2011, Alexa in 2014 and both are precursors to the large language models we see rapidly advancing today. It too more than a decade for their widespread adoption. Whereas ChatGPT broke into the market this past year and set off a firestorm and created a free for all in the market and development space. So while we are seeing companies actively petition for some government oversight, what we aren't seeing is those very same companies exhibiting a measure of self control!

 

Related Articles

https://epic.org/the-state-of-state-ai-laws-2023/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02491-y

https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/11/the-ftc-is-setting-its-sights-on-generative-ai/

Amazon Prime Adds Prime Wardrobe With Free "Try Before You Buy” Option

Amazon is expanding their Prime offerings yet again. This time with a new option dubbed Prime Wardrobe a service that will allow you to checkout fashion choices from Amazon fashion. The finest point, and likely the best selling, is that the service will come with a “try before you buy” option allowing you have items shipped to you to try on before you are billed!

Amazon says the service will offer plenty of choices with over 1 million items on Amazon Fashion including popular brands like Levi’s, Adidas, Hugo Boss, and Calvin Klein. With“try before you buy” the company ships your selected items for you to try on, and then you send whatever you don’t want right back to Amazon, for free. You only pay for the items you keep, and Amazon will sweeten the deal by offering discounts based on the number of pieces you choose to hang on to, with up to 20% off.

Prime Wardrobe is still in a testing phase, so isn't yet available to the public. Customers can get more information on the service and ask to receive an email when it launches here.

Amazon Free Shipping Threshold Lowered Back to $25

If like me, you hate to pay for shipping on anything you buy, then Amazon has just made your day. The company has, very quietly, dropped their threshold for "Free Super Saver Shipping" back to the original $25 it was back in the good old days. Prime One-Day Delivery will still be eligible on orders over $35.

Even though Amazon has reached record profits over the years, competition for your buying dollar has reached new heights. Numerous other online retailers offering $35 free shipping thresholds, including Target, Jet.com and Walmart, which recently introduced free two-day shipping on orders over $35.

The new minimum shows Amazon competing for shoppers who don’t pay $99-a-year for Amazon Prime, which includes free two-day shipping on millions of items as well as access to music and video. These customers are the Seattle-based company’s most loyal shoppers. Amazon will make non-Prime shoppers wait 5 to 8 business days for free shipping on more than 50 million items.

All this geek can say is kudos to those companies out there that keep the competition going! Lower prices are almost always a plus for us consumers.

Ticketmaster May See Some Real Competition Thanks to Amazon Tickets Expansion

We've all felt the pain of buying of having to buy tickets to our favorite concerts, shows and sporting events through Ticketmaster. Whether it be site issues, like constant crashes or lagging, or just the pain to our wallets from what most (like me) feel are trumped up convenience fees! Unfortunate as it is Ticketmaster holds a rather tight reign on the market. Thankfully we may soon see some real competition, and from a company that could set off some big waves!

According to reports from Ars Technica and Recode Amazon is looking to expand their Amazon Tickets Service, which until now has been a UK exclusive! The reports cite a number of job listings for Amazon Tickets positions based in Seattle, Washington found on the company's employment website. One such listing for a "Technical Program Manager, Amazon Tickets" offers the following job description:

Amazon Tickets is a start-up business with a vision of becoming Earth’s most customer-centric ticketing company, a place where event-goers can come to find and discover any ticket they might want to buy online. Amazon launched the Tickets business in the UK in 2015 and today offers customers the ability to purchase tickets to music, theater, and comedy events at great prices with a convenient purchase experience and world-class and customer support. As we grow our team to support our rapid expansion we are looking for talented individuals to join us in delighting customers and having some fun along the way.

If you are looking for opportunities to grow, and want to have fun while making history – join us!

Another listing discovered by Recode opens the door to an even more promising venture dubbed Prime Tickets. According to the report Amazon's hiring efforts are part of a new initiative to “position Amazon Tickets as the world’s premier destination for purchasing tickets.” According to the job listings Prime Tickets would integrate ticket sales into the Prime membership program, though details of how that would play out are yet unknown.

Prime Tickets, now that could be a real game changer! Exactly how Amazon could make it work is unclear, but as Ars Technica points out, it's possible that Prime Tickets could offer discounted tickets to Prime members if the service is indeed tied to the annual $99 membership.

Amazon first launched Amazon Tickets in the U.K. last year to sell tickets to concerts featuring artists like Elton John and theater performances such as “Wicked” and “The Book of Mormon.” Part of the company’s pitch has been that it displays ticket fees up front, and customers can easily pay with the payment method they have on file with Amazon. Expansion into other major markets means that Amazon has clearly had some success with the program. However, expansion into the US could be a bit more difficult, especially in terms of offering any sort of discount.

Live Nation (Ticketmaster's parent company) already holds a very dominant position here in the US. Which also means they hold a lot of bargaining power with venues and artits, mostly due to special deals that artists and venues strike up with ticket companies, and even some credit card companies that offer priority seating or special pricing for cardholders. Amazon would have to convince them to alter those agreements and open the door to competition, which won't be easy. If anyone can do it though it would be a company like Amazon that has more than 300 million active users and more than 50 million active Amazon Prime users.

Most of the Tickets job postings were updated within the past week, but there's no word on when a US-based Amazon Tickets could debut, or if in fact it will ever truly come to fruition. I can only hope at this point!

Amazon Video Adds Additional Offline Viewing Support With Download to SD Card Option

Great news for you geeks that love having the ability to watch movies and videos while offline. Amazon Video has added an option for offline viewing that will also allow you to free up space on your Android phone or tablet. This new download to SD card feature is available for both purchased video and Prime Video. Videos can be downloads to an SD card on a per-item basis, or the card can also be selected as a default destination for downloads allowing you to avoid downloading and saving items to your device.

Amazon's announcement comes on the heels of reports that Netflix will soon add the much requested  feature for offline viewing of their own movies and titles. While Amazon Prime customers have enjoyed the benefits of offline viewing for some time, this new feature will simply open up more options and more space for them to take more videos with them on the go.

One of the big advantages of Amazon’s streaming service versus competitors like Netflix and Hulu is the ability to download movies and TV shows. Prime members have access to many free movies and TV shows, while non-Prime members can rent and buy titles to stream or download.

Historically speaking, Netflix has been rather stringent on their options and has done a lot of work to avoid allowing customers offline access. Somewhat quizzically, Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt in late 2015 even went so far as to claim that Netflix doesn’t offer the feature because it doesn’t represent a “very compelling proposition.”

“I think it’s something that lots of people ask for,” Hunt explained further stating “we’ll see if it’s something lots of people will use. Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It’s not going to be instant. You have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I’m just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it’s worth providing that level of complexity.”

In order to use the new feature you'll need to grab the latest version of the Amazon Video app by visiting the Play Store. Once you give this new feature a whirl let us know what you think in the comments below!

E-Book Buyers Check Your Accounts For Your Credits Today

Good news e-book buyers, if you purchased e-books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 you may be entitled to a free credit on your account thanks to the long awaited payments of a price-fixing settlement that has been years in the making!

At the heart of this issue is an antitrust lawsuit that was filed against Apple and several book publishers dating back several years. In the lawsuit and subsequent settlement  Apple and publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster agreed to refund customers over $400 million dollars for their role in an alleged e-book price-fixing scheme.

Beginning Tuesday the credits were being deposited directly into the e-book buyer’s accounts or mailed as checks. Readers who qualified will get a $6.93 credit for every e-book they bought that was a New York Times bestseller, and a $1.57 credit for other e-books, according to Hagens Berman, the law firm that brought the original suit.

For Amazon customers that believe they have purchased a qualifying e-book, you will be automatically receiving credits in your account. All you need to do is sign in to your Amazon.com account and click on this link to see how much you got.

“Eligible customers do not need to do anything to receive these credits. If you are eligible, we have already calculated your credit for you and added it to your Amazon account,” according to Amazon’s webpage explaining the settlement.

For more details on the lawsuit the attorneys have set up a web site answering questions for e-book buyers about whether they are eligible for any of the settlement money.Just a note, you should act quickly to check on and use your credits as the settlement credits will only be valid through June 24, 2017. After that date, they will expire by order of the court overseeing the settlements.

New FAA Drone Rules May Ground Commercial Delivery Plans

Several companies like Amazon have been keeping a close watch on the FAA and hopes were high that they would easy some of their restrictions that would allow for new services like Amazon Prime Air delivery to take effect. Unfortunately the FAA decided to keep in place many of their temporary restrictions that will severely hinder, if not totally ground, any company's plans to create a viable drone air delivery program.

With the newly released rules, scheduled to take effect in late August, the FAA outlined the official restrictions that will apply to thousands of companies that wish to use drones as a part of their commercial ventures. While the new rules did relax a few licensing requirements and allowed for a few new changes such as twilight hours of flight. They kept in place the line of sight requirement which will have a major impact on how companies utilize drones. This rules requires that operators or observers maintain sight of the drone at all times. Something that will likely make it prohibitive for large scale delivery services to take off.

The FAA's 624-page rulebook allows commercial drones weighing up to 55 pounds to fly during daylight hours and lower than 400 feet in the air, or higher if within 400 feet of a taller building or tower. The aircraft must remain within sight of the operator or an observer who is in communication with the operator. The operators must be at least 16 years old and pass an aeronautics test every 24 months for a certificate and a background check by the Transportation Security Administration.

The FAA is offering a process to waive some restrictions if an operator proves the proposed flight will be conducted safely under a waiver. The FAA will make an online portal available to apply for these waivers in the months ahead.

“With this new rule, we are taking a careful and deliberate approach that balances the need to deploy this new technology with the FAA’s mission to protect public safety,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “But this is just our first step. We’re already working on additional rules that will expand the range of operations.”

More details on Part 107 and the announcement can be found on the FAA's website.

Amazon Prime Same Day Delivery Adds 11 New Cities Now Covers 27 In All

Thanks to a plethora of features Amazon Prime membership has been growing at an astonishing rate. According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, membership grew 51% last year – including 47% growth in the U.S. and even faster internationally – and there are now tens of millions of members worldwide.

Prime started as Amazon’s unlimited two-day shipping option for subscribers, however over the past few yeas the service has changed significantly and morphed into an all encompassing service. The new Prime has become more of an all-you-can-eat, physical-digital hybrid with access to Prime Videos, music and more.

One of the latest perks Amazon has begun offering their Prime members is Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery. A feature that allows Prime members to place an order in the morning and receive all Same-Day orders over $35 before bedtime that very same day, seven days a week.

The service, which initially launched last year, has proved so popular that Amazon has announced today that they will be expanding the coverage area from the original 14 cities to include an additional 11 metro areas. Those areas include Charlotte, Cincinnati, Fresno, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, Stockton, and Tucson, plus new areas in Central New Jersey, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

“Prime was developed to make shopping on Amazon fast and convenient, and millions of members have used Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery to make their lives even easier,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President of Prime. “We keep making Prime better, and as our operational capabilities grow, we will continue to invent and expand delivery options that customers love.”

Running just $99 a year, Amazon Prime will offer customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 30 million items across all categories, unlimited Free Same-Day Delivery on more than a million items in the expanded 27 metro areas, and one and two-hour delivery with Prime Now on tens of thousands of items available in more than 25 metro areas. In addition members have access to unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, more than one million songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with Prime Music, early access to select Lightning Deals all year long, free secure, unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos and access to more than one million books to borrow with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Learn more about Prime FREE Same-Day at www.amazon.com/sameday.

These New Drones May Eventually Deliver Your Amazon Packages

While the FAA is still working out regulations for commercial drone usage (as well as public drone usage) Amazon has been working hard to fine tune its plans to use drones to aid in the delivery of your next Amazon Prime purchases. In a video featuring a long time geek favorite, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, Amazon shows off what we might expect to see from the company in the future!

As you can see from the video the prototype drones look like an odd combination of a helicopter and an airplane, which according to Amazon weighs in at a hefty 55 pounds. The drones are reported to be able to carry packages weighing up to 5 pounds to distances of 10 miles or more, flying under 400 feet utilizing what Amazon calls "sense and deploy" technology as well as a high degree of automation, to safely operate beyond the line of sight.

According to the updated Amazon Prime Air website the company believes they will be able to utilize the drones to "enhance the services they already provide to millions of customers by providing rapid parcel delivery" by using the unmanned aircraft to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less.

While there are currently no set regulations for commercial drone usage Amazon has been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to find mutually beneficial regulations that would not only allow Amazon but other companies to safely deploy drones for package delivery. The company says the service will launch once the company has "the regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision."

Other companies are also exploring drones as a new method of package delivery. Earlier this month, Walmart sought permission from the FAA to start drone testing, while Google reportedly revealed during an air traffic control convention in Washington, D.C., that it wants to launch a drone service in 2017.

The FAA has been working on creating reasonable regulations for not just commercial usage but public usage as well. On November 21, the FAA task force made its public drone registration recommendations, and instead of keeping track of each and every drone out there, it suggested registering the names and street addresses of the pilots (mailing address, email address, phone number and serial number of the aircraft are optional). The registration requirement will apply to any UAS less than 55 pounds (25kg) and heavier than half a pound (250 grams) and owners must be at least 13 years old. A parent or guardian can register for anyone younger than 13 years old.

Amazon Underground App Selection Triples After Just Two Months

Just two short months after its launch Amazon Underground has seen great success with the program seeing more developers joining the fold and cashing in on the revolutionary new program by offering more and more apps for customers. According to a recent statement by Amazon that success and interest has meant that the program has more than tripled the already impressive collections of free premium apps and games.

“In just the first two months since launch, we’ve tripled the free selection of apps and games in Amazon Underground and continue to add more content every day. Customers can now experience the entire world of Monument Valley for free. They’ll also receive nearly $50 in value of in-app items for reef building in Nemo’s Reef,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Appstore. “In Amazon Underground, customers have access to apps, games and in-app items, such as extra lives and levels, completely free—providing an entirely new way to enjoy their favorite apps and games.”

Amazon Underground launched in August as a new way to connect developers with customers by offering them 100% free games and apps as well as premium in-app content. The program allowed developers to offer free content by opting to earn money not from the customer directly for that content or app, but rather as a direct per-minute payment from Amazon.

This new monetization model has clearly been a success for many developers and has been a big hit with customers:

“We’ve been thrilled with the performance of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja as part of the Amazon Underground program in the month since launch,” said Shainiel Deo, CEO of Halfbrick Studios. “Thus far we have doubled the downloads and revenue from our apps in the Amazon Appstore and most interestingly, customers are engaging with our in-app purchase content within our games at an extremely high rate. Since all in-app purchases are free in Amazon Underground, they can play the games in new and exciting ways.”

“We included four of our popular titles in Amazon Underground at launch, aimed at reaching as many fans as possible in the Amazon ecosystem,” said Tero Raji, SVP of Game Business at Rovio. “In the first month since launch of these games, the Amazon Underground model has brought us up to three times more revenue compared to the same games’ user revenue in the Amazon Appstore previously.”

Amazon Underground includes all of the functionality of the regular Amazon mobile shopping app, plus an exclusive selection of 100% free apps, games, and associated in-app items, including popular games like Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, Goat Simulator, Frozen Free Fall, Looney Tunes Dash! and many more. For example, in Frozen Free Fall—an app that is free to install and usually requires in-app purchases to unlock additional levels—customers can play with unlimited lives and will receive many bonus in-app items in the Amazon Underground version of the app completely free ($31.87 value).

Amazon Underground is available on Android phones and on Fire tablets, including the all-new Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10, and Fire, the groundbreaking new tablet for under $50. To learn more about Amazon Underground, visit: www.amazon.com/underground.

Amazon's New $50 7" Fire Tablet, What You Need to Know

Amazon today introduced a new extremely budget friendly 7" Fire tablet that will offer you plenty of features as well as some of your favorite Amazon exclusives all for under $50. The new Fire tablet includes a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 7” IPS display featuring 171 ppi and 1024 x 600 resolution, which Amazon is calling the "best display on any tablet under $50", VGA front camera and 2MP rear-facing camera, 8GBs of internal storage and up to 128GB of expandable storage.

“Today, we’re taking another step in our mission to deliver premium products at non-premium prices,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “The all-new Fire features a quad-core processor, is incredibly durable, and is backed by the Amazon content ecosystem, the new Amazon Underground, and Amazon customer service with Mayday Screen Sharing. Fire sets a new bar for what customers should expect from a low cost tablet.”

In today's market it isn't impossible to find a decent working tablet for around $50. Unfortunately though you are generally talking about an off-brand tablet that may or may not have a functional app store present and will have limited to no support from the company that produces it. Amazon, on the other hand, is a big company with a pretty solid reputation and offers plenty of backing for its products.

While the $50 price tag give some users concerns that they are getting something under-whelming or under performing the 7" tablet actually packs some pretty decent specs and of course it is hard to beat the load of freebies you get from Amazon, especially if you load on an Amazon Prime membership.

Fire - Decent Features In A Quality Tablet At An Affordable Price

For just $49.99, the new Fire tablet includes some pretty decent specs:

• 7” IPS display offers 1024 x 600 resolution at 171 ppi, providing SD video playback, sorry no HD here. However, unlike other low-cost tablets that use TN displays your viewing experience should be fairly reasonable with vivid and accurate color reproduction that can be seen at all angles.
• Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM: Amazon states the Fire's processor offers 2x more processing power than Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite at less than half the price. We'd really like to have seen more RAM to be honest, but the CPU performance sounds impressive!
• VGA Front- and 2MP rear-facing camera capable of 720p video. While these do seem underwhelming they do allow you to complete the basics like video chatting with friends and family or taking photos and videos.
• 8GBs of storage and up to 128GB of expandable storage via microSD
• All-day battery life—Delivers up to 7 hours of reading, browsing the web, listening to music, and watching video. 
• Fire OS 5 “Bellini”—Includes an updated user interface that replicates the look and feel of a magazine, making browsing and searching for your content easier than ever—what you want is just one tap away; plus, Fire OS 5 includes hundreds of new and upgraded features and platform updates, plus Amazon-exclusive services. 
• 3.5 mm stereo jack and integrated speaker, Micro USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security
• Size & Weight: 7.5" x 4.5" x 0.4" (191 x 115 x 10.6 mm) at just 11.0 ounces (313 grams)

Don't Forget The Amazon Exclusive Features

The Fire Tablet will also come packed with plenty of Amazon exclusive features and is packed with plenty of freebies!

• Amazon Underground—A new one-of-a-kind app store experience where over $10,000 in apps, games and even in-app items are actually free—including extra lives, unlocked levels, unlimited add-on packs, and more. 
• Free, unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content including unlimited storage on photos you've taken with your Fire tablet
• Activity Center—For parents whose kids have outgrown Amazon FreeTime, Activity Center provides an easy way for them to see how their kids are spending time on their Fire tablet—from how much time they spend playing games, to which websites they visit. Activity Center will be available via a free, over-the-air Fire OS update in the coming months.
• Mayday Screen Sharing lets an Amazon expert guide you remotely through any feature on your screen, available 24x7, 365 days a year—for free.
• Amazon-exclusive features—ASAP, X-Ray, Second Screen, Amazon FreeTime, Family Library, Word Runner, and more.
• Access to over 38 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps, and games

We have yet to see any real world reviews of the new Fire Tablet, we expect those to come in soon, but with all these features and the great price tag we wouldn’t be surprised if the new Fire becomes a favorite among parents or students looking for a cheap alternative tablet or a gift their children. For families looking to give a Fire to everyone, Amazon is even selling a six-pack for the price of 5 tablets. At $250 for six, that’s still cheaper than many people pay for just one tablet from most other companies!

Fire will start shipping on September 30—those interested can order at www.amazon.com/fire and for those looking for a bit more real estate and want a little more screen space Amazon has also released two new 8" and 10.1" Fire tablets that will offer even more performance and still won't break the budget!

Amazon Offers Free 5600 mAh Battery Pack For New Amazon Prime Trial

For a limited time Amazon is offering up a free Amazon Basics 5600 mAh battery pack, valued at $20, just for signing up for a 30 day trial of Amazon Prime. The free deal is of course in addition to all the great perks you get from having Amazon Prime, like free streaming of all of the movies and videos available to Prime users and of course free two day shipping as well as any other Prime perks.

To cash in on the deal you need to sign up for a 30-day trial with an account that has never been associated with Prime!. To get started, you’ll need to visit Amazon’s promotion page (link via Android Authority) and begin the free trial. Within 72 hours, you’ll get a special email code and the directions needed to get your new battery for free. After that, you can cancel Prime at any time and it won’t affect your eligibility for the free battery, though Amazon is banking on the idea that most of trial users will end up letting their subscription renew at $99 (for an entire year’s service) after the 30-day trial ends.

Again this offer is for a limited time and Amazon has not offered details of how long that will last. So you may want to act fast.

As for the battery pack it may not sound like anything special but the reviews on the units are fairly fvorable. It is one of Amazon's specially branded items dubbed AmazonBasics. It features a 5600 mAh Portable Power Bank capable of charging smartphones, tablets and other portable devices on-the-go through a USB port. Amazon says you can use the power bank to charge popular devices like an iPhone 5 (2.6 times), Nexus (2.2 times), Galaxy S5 (1.4 times), or the Galaxy Note III (1.2 times).

Amazon's New Underground App Serves You $10,000 of Truly Free to Use Apps

Amazon has created a new none traditional way of offering customers completely free to use and play apps by doing away with all in-app purchases instead opting to pay developers directly via per-minute payments in exchange for developers nixing any fees, which means for the customer the software is entirely free to download and use.

The new service, dubbed Underground, is only accessible to Android users via an Android app that must be downloaded directly from Amazon due to Google App Store restrictions. However, according to Amazon once the app is loaded users will have direct access to more than $10,000 in free apps. Some of the titles on offer include OfficeSuite Professional 8, Goat Simulator, Frozen Free Fall, and Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions.

To checkout the app you will need to visit amazon.com/underground from your Android Phone and enter your email or mobile number to receive a link to download it. You'll also need to adjust your phones settings to allow for installation from 'unknown sources'.

To do this go to your phone settings menu, tap security or application, check the 'unknown sources' box and confirm (you may want to do the reverse once the app has installed but you'll need to allow this for each app downloaded through Amazon). Now head over to your downloads folder, by going to My Files or Files, tap on the Amazon App file (Amazon_App.apk) tap Install when prompted and you should be set!

What's the catch? You will need an Amazon account to use the app, even though they are free! Other than that so far there doesn't seem to be much of a catch here. Amazon has for years offered up free app through their “Free App of the Day” promotion, which is now gone btw.

I will say I'm not a big fan of having to use Amazon's Underground App to install all my 'freebies' as it seems like nothing more than a rebrand of Amazon's traditional appstore app. Meaning not only will you see your Underground app selections but loads of listings for physical items from Amazon’s online store, along with plenty of ads for Amazon Prime.

Due to security concerns I'm also not a major fan of having to allow installations from 'Unknown Sources' every time I want to load an app from Amazon. On my Galaxy S5 this isn't a major issue since it will ask me each time and I don't have to leave the setting open, but it still might be an issue for some!

On the plus side of things though, if you buy qualify apps even those that are free, you may be eligible for Amazon promotional credits for $1 towards MP3 purchases.

New Free Service Makes Getting Price-Drop Refunds Automatic

I have yet to meet a geek that doesn't like to save money! Of course we all know sometimes that can be easier said than done. You have to make that concerted effort to watch your favorite deal sites for the best deals, use price match policies or search out refunds. Then once you do get the best deal you get annoyed because the price drops even lower.

These days many stores have policies that offer to refund shoppers when this happens, but as most good deal seeking geeks know it can be a major hassle trying to keep track of all of your recent purchases and sale prices from those retailers in order to take advantage of price-drop refunds.

We now have a solution, a service called Paribus. The concept here is a simple one, maybe a little intrusive, but still simple nonetheless and even better it is free, well until they get you a refund and then it only cost you 25%.

Here are the basics that you need to know: When getting started you sign up to Paribus and link your email accounts that you typically do your shopping from. The service then watches for receipts that come in as you shop online, or in stores that offer receipts by email. When a new purchase is made and an invoice is emailed to you, Paribus records it in your account and monitors the price of the items you purchased. If there is a coupon you missed, or if the price of any items drops, Paribus will automatically file a claim with the store at which you purchased the items and get you a refund.

Sounds pretty simple too me! The great part is, again that there is no charge for the service. If they don't get you a refund they don't get paid! The one downside I see if any, would be allowing an outside service access to your email and invoices which might be a deal breaker for some...but hey
I like to save money so I might be willing to give it a shot.

We should note that at this time the Paribus service only works with 18 different merchants, but they’re all large retailers that are very popular especially amongst use geeks and include sites, such as Newegg, Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy.

Here’s the full list of supported merchants:

• Amazon.com
• Bloomingdale’s
• Macy’s
• Best Buy
• Sephora.com
• Newegg
• Staples
• Target
• Bonobos
• J. Crew
• Zappos.com
• Nordstrom
• Banana Republic
• Gap
• Old Navy
• Athleta
• Piperlime
• Walmart

The company says it is constantly working to add additional merchants. There’s one more important thing to note with Paribus: every merchant has different policies where price-drop refunds are concerned. That shouldn't be any issue here, in fact it should be a major plus as now you won't need to remember those policies or have to deal with anything related to customer service. Paribus should handle all that for you!

JetBlue Partners With Amazon to Offer Free In Flight Amazon Prime Video Streaming

In flight entertainment just got a big boost thanks to a new partnership between Amazon and JetBlue. Under the new pairing Amazon Prime members will be able to use their current Amazon Prime membership and Instant Video services to stream videos, music and more during their JetBlue flights.

The new partnership will enable JetBlue’s free high-speed Fly-Fi broadband internet for use by Amazon Prime members, giving them access to Prime's selection of thousands of movies, TV shows and more at no additional cost. Fly-Fi will give users internet speeds they would get at home or work, thanks to the use of satellite technology. In addition, all JetBlue customers will be able to rent or purchase hundreds of thousands of titles in the Amazon Instant Video store, including new-release movies and day-after TV programming, over the free broadband internet.

“We want to provide the best digital video experience to our customers and we’re excited that, with JetBlue, we will raise the bar in airline entertainment,” said Michael Paull, Vice President of Digital Video at Amazon. “We’re thrilled that Fly-Fi technology will give Prime members and customers unlimited, on-demand access to the full catalog of titles from Amazon’s digital video library while they’re in the sky—without the need to rush to download one more episode or movie before taking off, we’re helping make airline travel more enjoyable.”

For Prime members, Amazon’s entertainment library will be built into the JetBlue Fly-Fi Hub, giving customers instant access to watch titles from Amazon on their laptops, Fire devices, iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets—no pre-flight download needed. JetBlue’s free Fly-Fi broadband internet will be available on all of JetBlue’s Airbus A321 and A320 aircraft this year, and on JetBlue’s Embraer E190 aircraft in 2016.

JetBlue's website description of Fly-Fi says its new Ka-band satellite service is "much faster than competing Ku-band satellites and older ground-to-air technology, giving you a Wi-Fi experience that feels more like what you have at home or work." The service, which is listed as still in beta, offers two tiers: Tier one is basic Internet access for free while tier 2 is the Fly-Fi Plus plan that typically costs users $9/hour and offers faster service that supports "bandwidth-heavy applications like streaming movies and large downloads."

Source: Amazon Media Room

Amazon Prime Video Finally Adds Android Tablet Support

For years now Amazon Prime Video members have lacked one serious feature, support for Android Tablets. Thanks to a recent update, that has all changed, as Amazon has finally upped its game and began supporting all Android devices big and small!

Several years ago when Amazon launched their Prime Instant video service they made the rather odd decision to offer fairly limited on-device support and even much more limited support for portable devices like Android based smartphones and tablets. However, the company has recently began working to alleviate that issue, offering minor updates to their applications. The roll-out of these updates has been a rather slow process though, with Android smartphones receiving the updated app late last summer.

Today, thanks to an update to the Amazon Prime Instant Video app (version 2.0.45.1010), Amazon is finally offering support for those users who want to stream video content to their Android tablets (via Android Police). Previously, Prime Instant Video only worked with Android phones, and more recently with Fire devices and iOS devices.

Now watch Amazon Instant Video on your Android phones and tablets. Instantly stream thousands of movies and TV episodes, including Amazon Originals, at no additional cost with your Amazon Prime membership. You can also rent or buy from our catalog of hundreds of thousands of videos, including new release movies and current TV shows. On Android phones, this app lets you watch videos from the Amazon app for Android phones, available from http://www.amazon.com/androidapp. On Android tablets, this app enables watching videos in your mobile web browser.

The functionality of the app is still fairly limited, so not much has really changed there—to find and view content users need to launch Prime Instant Video from their devices web browser, but they will then be able to watch on their tablets. Additionally the app is currently only available through Amazon's own Appstore so you will need to install it directly from there. You can find the direct link here.

FAA Proposal Seeks to Impose Regulations On Commercial Use of Drones

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today proposed a framework of new regulations for the use of drones in commercial situations. These long-awaited rules for unmanned aircraft have been highly speculated with many fearing they might bring strict requirements such as the need for a pilot's license for all users including recreational enthusiasts.

Today's regulations proposal provides a balance of what the FAA considers "routine use of certain small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in today’s aviation system" with what they are calling the flexibility to accommodate future technological innovations.

“We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

Among the proposed rules are that drones used for commercial purposes must weigh less than 55 pounds (25 kg), only be flown under 500 feet during daylight hours, at all times be flown within sight of the pilot/operator, and not have a maximum airspeed over 100 mph (87 knots). Drone pilots are required to be 17 years or older, and must be tested every two years on airspace rules in order to receive an operator certificate, a process that is said to cost less than $300.

The new rules won't govern the use of recreational drones or model airplanes. Use of those devices doesn't require FAA approval, but the agency last year provided a framework for using those devices, including only flying them within an operator's line-of-sight.

Unfortunately for companies like Amazon, that are looking to create large networks of delivery drones, the line of sight stipulation could eliminate any possibilities of their network getting off the ground. The proposed rules would require an operator to maintain visual line of sight of a small UAS. The rule would allow, but not require, an operator to work with a visual observer who would maintain constant visual contact with the aircraft. The operator would still need to be able to see the UAS with unaided vision (except for glasses).

Therefore Amazon and other companies would have to deploy large numbers of spotters in order to keep a visual check on any drones in flight.  According to the proposal the FAA is asking for public comments on whether these rules should permit operations beyond line of sight, and if so, what the appropriate limits should be.

Today's rules are simply a reference to options the FAA is exploring and are not yet set as full regulations. At this time the FAA is encouraging the public to speak up and comment on the proposed regulation. Anyone can do so for the next 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, which can be found at www.regulations.gov.

For more details on all of the proposed regulations be sure to checkout the FAA's full press release along with their additional links which provide more details on current regulation standings.