Amazon: Jeff Bezos was hacked on WhatsApp by Saudi Arabia Prince

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and the world's richest man, had his WhatsApp account hacked. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the Prince of Saudi Arabia used a stolen video file, transmitted during a conversation with the billionaire, to access the account. Many personal and professional data would have been stolen.



This is a totally incredible story. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world's richest man with $ 115 billion in his pocket, had his WhatsApp account hacked. And not by anyone. As the Guardian newspaper reported in a punched investigation, Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammend Ben Salmane is believed to be directly involved in the operation.

The case dates from May 2018. Jeff Bezos and the Prince of Saudi Arabia converse amicably on the instant messaging application. The two men met a few weeks earlier on his majesty's trip to Los Angeles. During their exchanges, the prince sends a video to Jeff Bezos in which was hidden malware. According to The Guardian, computer experts hired by the businessman were able to trace the hacking trail, to Mohammed Ben Salmane's laptop.

When the video file was opened, the malware was able to get onto Jeff Bezos' laptop and steal a large amount of personal and professional data, without going into the exact details. What happened to this data and how was it used? It remains a mystery, for the moment.

Murder, sex and blackmail

Jeff Bezos does not suspect that his cell phone has been hacked. Meanwhile, a pro-Trump newspaper, the National Enquirer, posts intimate texts from Amazon boss and his lover. What will earn him a very expensive divorce with his wife Mckenzie Bezos. The billionaire then decides to launch an investigation to understand how the tabloid could end up in possession of such information. This is how Saudi piracy was discovered.

It’s at this very moment that the affair takes on the appearance of spy films. In summary, the National Enquirer, President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia were collaborating in a vast blackmail operation targeting the CEO of Amazon. It is common knowledge that Donald Trump and his son have had excellent relationships with the Saudi royal family, remnants of their careers in international trade. So why Jeff Bezos in particular? Because the business man is none other than the owner of The Washington Post newspaper.

A prestigious newspaper for which worked Adnan Khashoggi, journalist brutally murdered in obscure circumstances in Saudi Arabia. Following the murder, the Post's editors mobilized to uncover the truth and repeatedly highlighted the alleged Saudi government responsibility for the assassination.

In fact, for Andrew Miller, expert on Middle East issues and national security adviser to the Obama administration, this hacking was only intended to put pressure on Jeff Bezos, so that he ordered journalists to the Washington Post to stop their investigation. After the Guardian article appeared, Saudi Arabia responded quickly.

"Recent media reports suggesting that the Kingdom is behind a hacking of Mr. Jeff Bezos' phone are preposterous. We request an investigation into these allegations so that we can know all the facts, "said the Saudi Embassy in the United States on its official Twitter account.

Source : The Guardian

Amazon laid the foundation stone for its Cincinnati airport project

Jeff Bezos was on hand Tuesday to officially launch the work of this terminal to become a relay point for Prime Air. Estimated at $ 1.5 billion, the project will be delivered in 2021, and must allow Amazon to honor its promise to deliver its premium subscribers in one day.

 

 

Jeff Bezos rolled up his sleeves. On the occasion of the inauguration of the airport hub project launched by Amazon in Cincinnati, the richest man on the planet donned a hard hat and set up an excavator to start the work.

In the pipes since 2017, this terminal estimated at 1.5 billion dollars must see the light of day by 2021. According to Associated Press, the giant of the e-commerce signed two years ago a lease of a duration of 50 years with airport managers, for an area equivalent to 360 hectares.

 

What to deploy 24 parking spaces for the cargo aircraft of the Prime Air division of the group. Eventually, Amazon intends to ship 32 of its aircraft, for a total of 64 daily flights. Cincinnati, an unfortunate candidate at the reception of the new headquarters of the group, also finds its account in the operation. The Seattle giant is committed to creating 2,000 jobs in a region where it is already well established.

 

Halve delivery times

Since it has not yet been able to launch its drones deliverers of packages in the sky, Amazon currently operates a fleet of 40 aircraft in the American sky. The group announced last December want to add 10 aircraft for its Prime Air division; it is expected to open another airport terminal in 2019, near Fort Worth, Texas. Objective: to be able to keep promises of delivery time, especially with its premium subscribers.

 

In February, the group promised its premium subscribers delivery in one day (instead of two currently). "This hub (at CVG) will allow us to deliver parcels to customers more quickly. It's a big investment. We are going to upgrade the Prime deliveries from two days to one day, and this center will help us achieve this, "said Jeff Bezos on the sidelines of the inauguration.

The delivery service is a cornerstone of the group's business model. In 2018 alone, shipping costs reached $ 27.5 billion, or nearly 16 percent of Amazon's online sales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon: In search of the city optimized to build its second headquarters for $ 5 billion

       

Amazon Inc announced Thursday that it will build a second US $ 5 billion headquarters in North America where competition between cities and countries will begin to offer incentives and tax cuts that could bring in 50,000 new jobs.

The world's largest e-commerce company said it plans to build a headquarters in Seattle. One of the qualities that the city must have, he pointed to the availability of more than one million people with international airport, and good education and mass transport.

Amazon said land incentives to reduce fees would be a key part of the decision, and local governments have shown they will do their best to secure jobs and investment. The Wisconsin legislature recently voted to give the Taiwanese company a $ 3 billion stimulus package to build a $ 10 billion LCD plant in the state, for example.

Amazon's investment plan also gives new influence to politicians as President Donald Trump criticized the firm as "a major blow" to retailers, costing jobs in cities and countries. The Wisconsin-Foxconn plant will be in the neighborhood of Paul Ryan House, the US House of Representatives.

Windows 10: Alexa Updates to Make Your PC an Amazon Echo Speaker

Amazon rolls out a new Alexa app update for Windows 10. The voice assistant becomes fully hands-free. In other words, it is now possible to trigger Alexa with a voice command, something that was not possible until now. With this new feature, Windows 10 PCs can further act as an Amazon Echo speaker.



All that the user has to do now is to say "Alexa", followed by his question or order. It does not matter if the Alexa app is open or not, whether in the background or in the foreground. The voice command will work independently.

Alexa for Windows 10 becomes 100% hands-free

So far, those who prefer to use the voice assistant of Amazon at the expense of Cortana, the default voice assistant of Windows 10 had to open the application. It's not really practical to enjoy in a comfortable way. Now, Alexa works as a real default wizard in Windows 10, with the ability to invoke it in any condition as you would with a real speaker connected Amazon Echo.

As a reminder, Alexa was added to the Microsoft Store in November 2018 as a result of a partnership between Amazon and Microsoft. The two companies have agreed to co-locate their assistants Alexa and Cortana, both on Windows 10 PCs and connected speakers Echo.

Microsoft that we know to impose its own solutions has died to be more open for his home voice assistant. In the next 19H1 of Windows 10, Cortana will also detach from the search bar, which will allow users to disable the wizard without losing the use of the search.


Finally, the new update of the Alexa for Windows 10 also adds support for Pandora. Users can launch their favorite stations. To take advantage of this latest version of Alexa, you have nothing to do. Amazon explains that the application will update automatically. Those who do not want to wait can however go to the Microsoft Store and download the latest version, if it is already available at their level.

Spotify launches voice-activated ads: how does it work?

Spotify, the current leader in music streaming, tests ads that respond to voice commands. When the ad is shown, the service leaves you with the choice of accessing the proposed content, whether it be playlists or podcasts, with a short sentence. Users of Google Home or Amazon Echo will not be disoriented! We explain to you how it works.



Spotify is currently testing ads with a voice command from a small portion of US users (Android and iOS), report our fellow Variety. As a first step, these interactive ads will only be used for playlists and other Spotify content. In the long term, brands will also benefit. Ax has already registered his own ad.

Spotify tests commercials to control with your voice

How exactly is it? During the announcement, simply say "Play Now" or "Read Now" to let the advertisement leave room for the proposed content, in this case a playlist or a Spotify podcast. If you say anything else, the ad will unfold as usual.

"We believe that voice, across all platforms, is a critical growth driver, especially for music and audio content," said Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, to the group's investors. "We are investing in this area and we are testing ways to explore and refine our offering," says the manager. Unsurprisingly, the streaming service was inspired by the success of Google Home, Amazon Echo or HomePod smart speakers. These connected speakers have changed the relationship of Internet users with music, says the group.

To take advantage of these voice announcements, or to disable them, you must go to the Settings menu in the "Voice Activated Announcements" section. For the moment, we do not know when these interactive ads will be offered on a larger scale.

Amazon believes that its employees will not be replaced by robots before "at least 10 years"

Amazon is known for being in the forefront of automating its warehouses. But until when will we still find human employees in the establishments of the firm? According to Scott Anderson, director of the robotics branch of Amazon, explains that the technology is not ready, and that the changeover will not take place before "at least 10 years". Which does not seem so far away. Behind the scenes, the firm is actively developing the technologies needed to automate the entire logistics chain.



Amazon's robotics leader, Scott Anderson, was offering a hand-held tour of his Baltimore warehouse to a handful of US journalists - a visit that focused on beating the myth that Amazon would be "on the run." point "to replace all employees of its warehouses by machines. Scott Anderson has confirmed that the firm is exploring various technologies to automate package management from the vendor to the customer. But the technology is not yet ready: "in the current form, the technology is very limited. Technology is far from an automated workstation that we would need, "said the head of Reuters.

Amazon does not yet have the technology to replace its employees with robots

And to add: "Imagine bananas. I want firm bananas, but others prefer them ripe. How do you make a robot make the right choice? ". Scott Anderson says that fresh food warehouses, in particular, are still reluctant to any kind of robotization. Amazon is starting to use robots in its warehouses - those that store more classic objects like lamps, bluetooth speakers, etc. - but still massively relies on manpower: Amazon manages 110 warehouses in the United States, 45 sorting centers and about 50 delivery points. In total, this represents 125,000 full-time jobs.

The latter are not immediately threatened by the firm's robotic ambitions - which has just made same-day delivery free for Premium subscribers in the United States and which targets a 4-hour delay between the order and the time when the item leaves the warehouse. According to Scott Anderson, this will be achieved by optimizing transportation and delivery, rather than by productivity adjustments in the warehouses. Even if the workforce working at Amazon is not directly threatened by robotization, the situation could change in a few years. Scott Anderson has notably launched the technology puts Amazon "at least 10 years" of a complete robotization.

A "medium term" horizon, more than "long term" that seems to indicate that even if Amazon does not yet have the technological means, it will certainly be one of the first companies to replace its employees with machines. What do you think ? Share your opinion in the comments.