Amazon opens a grocery store with no checkout line

Amazon has gone after book stores, retail chains and electronics shops. Now it’s taking on grocery stores, with a twist.

Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) unveiled in a video a new physical store on Monday that sells a mix of “grocery essentials” and ready-made meals. But the key selling point is what it doesn’t have: checkout lines.

The video shows how customers check in at the entrance of the store with a new app called Amazon Go, then grab whatever items are needed. Amazon claims it can track the items automatically through a combination of computer vision and deep learning technologies. When you’re done shopping, you just walk out.

The first store is located in Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered.

For years, there have been rumors the e-commerce company would expand its dominance from digital to physical shopping. Amazon began experimenting with physical bookstores a year ago, but Amazon Go may mark its boldest bet on bricks-and-mortar yet.

By eliminating much of the staff needed to operate a store, Amazon keeps costs lower than traditional competitors. It’s also in a strong position to bring together data on its customers shopping habits online and offline to make better suggestions in all situations.

Related: What Trump’s presidency means for Silicon Valley

However, Amazon’s move deeper into physical retail shops comes in a sensitive political climate. The company could be perceived as being a threat to some of the 3.4 million Americans who work as cashiers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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On the campaign trail, Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos for “getting away with murder tax-wise” and having “a huge antitrust problem.” Will the President-elect add “job killer” to the list of criticisms?

Amazon’s effort to launch a new kind of retail store predates the rise of Donald Trump.

“Four years ago we asked ourselves: what if we could create a shopping experience with no lines and no checkout? Could we push the boundaries of computer vision and machine learning to create a store where customers could simply take what they want and go?” the company says on an informational page about Amazon Go.

For now, Amazon is starting slow. The first store is only open to Amazon employees and will not be an option for the general public until early next year.

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The Game Awards’ YouTube Replay Has Been Muted Due to a Copyright Violation

A replay of last night’s Game Awards show is available to watch on YouTube. Unfortunately, at least for the time being, you can only do so without any sound.

The audio for the entire awards and the pre-show–more than two and a half hours’ worth–has been muted due to a copyright violation. That’s according to a message listed below the video itself, which states it contains a copyrighted audio track.

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No further specifics were shared beyond that, as is standard for this automated process. That means we don’t know what song is the source of the troubles. Due to the way YouTube’s system handles these situations, we don’t even know for sure that the copyright claim is legitimate. Music from Doom and Run the Jewels were among the musical performances aired during the show.

Standalone videos with individual segments uploaded to The Game Awards’ YouTube account still have audio.

We’ve reached out to the awards show organizers to find out more, and we’ll report back with any details we receive.

The show was a newsworthy one, not just for the awards handed out–see all the winners here–but because of new reveals for Mass Effect: Andromeda, Death Stranding, and more. You can see a recap of all the news here.

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MechWarrior 5 Brings the Series Its First Numbered Entry in 16 Years

MechWarrior has not been entirely dormant over the last decade-plus, but those hoping for a single-player numbered sequel have been waiting an awfully long time. With most of this weekend’s attention directed toward PlayStation Experience, the first-ever MechCon 2016 was home to the announcement of MechWarrior 5.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is the full title, and it’s in development at Piranha Games, the same studio responsible for MechWarrior Online. However, Piranha says a separate team will handle the development of Mercenaries while the Online team will continue its development of that game.

"Our main goal with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is to provide fans with a standalone, story-driven single-player experience that allows for a great amount of flexibility in terms of player choice, built on a foundation of the intense, tactical mech combat the franchise is known for," said Piranha president Russ Bullock.

"Along with the release of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries in 2018, we’re going to continue supporting our existing MechWarrior Online game and its fanbase with new updates and regular content releases. MWO is now in its fifth year of development and operation, and there’s still a lot of really cool stuff planned for it."

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Mercenaries runs on Unreal Engine 4 and promises to offer an "immersive, career-based Mercenary campaign driven by player choice." Here’s how Piranha briefly sets up the story, which starts out in the year 3015: "[P]layers will adopt the role of a green MechWarrior mercenary thrust into combat as the Third Succession War continues to fracture the Inner Sphere; the vast region of colonized space surrounding Earth. Victory, prestige, and profit will not only require skill on the battlefield, but in the maintenance and enhancement of your BattleMechs."

You can check out the first gameplay demo in the video above along with a handful of screenshots. It’s due out in 2018 for PC–no other platforms were mentioned.

The last time a MechWarrior game carried a new number was MechWarrior 4: Vengeance in 2000; it saw a standalone-follow-up, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries, in 2002.

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Nikola unveils its hydrogen-powered semi-truck

It’s not just passenger vehicles that are moving away from gasoline, big rigs are also saying goodbye to fossil fuels. In Salt Lake City today the hydrogen-powered Nikola One long haul truck was unveiled. According to the truck maker, the semi will be in production and ready to transport goods in 2020.

The class 8 truck (the giant ones that transport goods) will have a range of 800 to 1,200 miles between refueling. If the company delivers on that range, the One — if running at peak efficiency — could get from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyoming on one tank of gas. And the fuel needed for that trip will be included in the 72-month leasing program that company is offering.

To solve the limited supply of hydrogen along the highways of the United States and Canada, Nikola also announced its plans to build stations to refuel its new trucks in both countries. The company will start breaking ground on the refueling stops in 2018 and they will open in 2019.

Without those hydrogen stations, it won’t matter how impressive the range of Nikola One is if it can’t be counted on to transport goods everywhere because it might run out of juice. Yet when it is on the road, the semi’s tech will be making the most of its trip.

According to CEO Trevor Milton, the truck’s navigation system will determine the most lucrative route between destinations. The dash will have a large display sort of like the one found in a Tesla.

Nikola is still determining where it’ll actually build its new trucks and says it will figure that out sometime during the first half of 2017. Once those semis are built they will be sold, serviced and warrantied by trucking company Ryder’s over 800 locations thanks to a agreement announced today.

The company also introduced the Nikola Two with the same range performance as the One but a smaller cab and more maneuverability. Like the One, it’ll be available in 2020. Both trucks will have an electric motor connected to each wheel which should help with take off thanks to torque vectoring and braking.

No word on pricing on either truck. But Milton said that information will be shared soon.

Source: Nikola

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HBO and Cinemax Come to Amazon Prime – Cable Cutting War Continues

More great news this week for cord cutters as Amazon Prime subscribers will now be able to access programming from HBO and Cinemax. HBO will be available on Prime for $14.99 a month, while the Cinemax add-on will cost $9.99 a month, Amazon said in a press release that went out on the wire today. HBO …more

The post HBO and Cinemax Come to Amazon Prime – Cable Cutting War Continues appeared first on Legit Reviews.

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Chevy beats Tesla to a sub $30,000 long-range EV

Oregon and California residents can now buy an electric car with an EPA range of 238 miles for under $30,000. Chevy’s pricing configurator for its Bolt EV is now online, and as expected, the base LT model with a 10.2-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay (or Android Auto) and a rear vision camera costs $37,495, or exactly $29,995 after the $7,500 federal tax credit. If you get the premier model with all the options (including driver assist features) it’ll cost $44,950, or $37,450 after US tax credits. As Chevy warned earlier, the DC fast charge option is $750 extra on all models.

If you live in one of the many US states which add their own EV incentives (like California, which will probably offer a $2,500 credit) you could pay as little as $27,495 for a base Bolt — well under the median price for a car in the US. With fuel savings included, the cost of ownership will be even less, especially if you have your own solar panels.

Chevy reportedly loses as much as $9,000 on every Bolt it sells, according to a Bloomberg report. However, hitting EV targets allows it to sell more of its profitable, gasoline-powered vehicles in green-centric states like California and New York. It’s also a way for GM to lure young buyers who would otherwise avoid what they see as a stodgy company. "It’s a statement about what we can do for the Chevy brand," Marketing Officer Tim Mahoney said.

However, keep the US tax credit EV manufacturing caps in mind. The Bolt has nearly the same pricing as the Tesla Model 3, so Chevy will probably sell a lot of them — possibly in the hundreds of thousands, depending on production capacity. The federal government caps the EV tax credit at 200,000 vehicles per manufacturer, including all of GM, not just Chevy. The Hybrid Volt qualifes as an EV, as does the Cadillac SVR, so total sales from GM could hit 100,000 by the end of this year.

Unless the tax credit is extended for manufacturers, it will be reduced and eventually eliminated after 200,000 sold. That will probably happen by next year for GM (and Tesla too, for anyone not already on its pre-order list). In other words, you should think about ordering a Bolt soon if you want to get the full discount. It’s available now in Oregon and California, and will arrive in other states in early 2017.

Via: Techno Buffalo

Source: Chevrolet

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