Monday Tipsheet: Amazon’s ‘Ridiculous’ Patent | Whole Foods ‘Panic’
“Amazon’s New Picture Patent is the Most Ridiculous Tech Patent Ever” by Eric Hal Schwartz at In the Capital. “Tech companies sometimes have a tendency to try and make the mundane seem really impressive, but it’s hard to imagine topping Amazon and its newest patent, a way of taking pictures of things against a white background.” Read more
“Bezos: 86% of deliveries are under 5 lbs (Live tweeted from appearance at kids’ school) by Emily Parkhurst at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “Bezos reportedly told the kids that 86 percent of Amazon’s deliveries are under 5 pounds, which is about what the Amazon drones can carry. Bezos reportedly indicated that Amazon’s drone program timeline is up to the Federal Aviation Administration, not Amazon.” Read more
“Target’s temporary leader rose through finance ranks” by Jennifer Bjorhus at Star-Tribune. “John Mulligan is accustomed to fielding tough questions from investors and industry analysts. And he’s as easy in person as Steinhafel can be awkward in public speaking, Target watchers say. Mulligan lives in Shoreview, and spent much of his childhood in Eau Claire, Wis., graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1988.” Read more
“Do You Know What’s Going in Your Amazon Shopping Cart?” by Serena Ng & Greg Bensinger at WSJ. “Amazon’s inventory commingling “has been causing a lot of angst” for makers of branded goods that are trying to curb unauthorized sellers of their products on the site, said Wes Shepherd, chief executive of Channel IQ…“You don’t really know whose product it is,” he said.” Read more
“Jewel-Osco stops asking about criminal history on job applications” by Ellen Jean Hirst at Chicago Tribune. “Jewel-Osco has decided to wait to ask job applicants about their criminal histories until the final stages of hiring, a practice that many other Illinois business would have to adopt if a bill pending in the legislature is approved.” Read more
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“Amazon Revokes License Of Company That Threatened To Sue Reviewer” by Adnan Farooqui at ubergizmo. “Amazon revoked the selling privileges of Mediabridge Products, it will not be able to sell its products through the online retailer until license is granted once again. Mediabridge says that it hadn’t actually sued the reviewer and that it just wanted him to take down the “untrue, damaging and disparaging statements.” Read more
“Why the Whole Foods Panic is Overdone” by Beth Kowitt at CNN Money. “Fortune spoke with Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb about the company’s most recent quarterly results. Robb believes that some of the stock’s fall is due to a failure on the company’s part to effectively communicate its strategy during its earnings call. So he laid it out for Fortune and answered some questions.” Read the interview
“FedEx’s Price Rise Is a Blessing in Disguise for Amazon” by Claire Cain Miller at NY Times. “The main reason is that standard shipping rates simply do not apply to Amazon. The company negotiates its own rates with FedEx and other shipping companies, and gets an enviable deal because of the huge volume of business it supplies. Put another way: FedEx would rather give Amazon a sizeable discount than lose Amazon as a customer altogether.” Read more
“Home Depot EVP Marvin Ellison’s Commencement Speech at Univ. of Memphis” See the video of speech
Random: “P&G slips up with neo-Nazi codes on German packaging” by Barrett J. Brunsman at Cincy Bus. Courier. “In advance of next month’s World Cup soccer matches, some Ariel boxes prominently used the number 88 on a soccer jersey to indicate that the laundry powder could be used in that many wash cycles. Unfortunately, because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, 88 is code for “Heil Hitler.” Read more
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