A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Amazon is essential, but vulnerable; (10:35) pandemic politics in Britain; (18:15) and the United Nations after 75 years.
Tag Archives: Amazon
Health: “Amazon Care” Virtual Medical Service Smartphone App Launches
From a Becker’s Hospital Review release (02/19/2020):
Amazon’s virtual medical clinic that offers in-person follow-ups is now available to Amazon employees in Seattle.
Five things to know:
1. The virtual medical service, called Amazon Care, went live via the company’s employee benefits portal on Feb. 18. It is available to Amazon employees who work at the company’s headquarters and their dependents.
2. Amazon Care offers employees virtual medical consultations with physicians and nurse practitioners. Patients can use the app to schedule a follow-up visit in their home or office.
3. Medications prescribed via Amazon Care can be delivered to a patient’s home.
4. “Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.
5. Amazon first shared information about Amazon Care in September, noting that it planned to pilot the service in Seattle.
Technology: “Amazon Empire” (Frontline Video)
An inside look at how Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos built one of the largest and most influential economic forces in the world — and the cost of Amazon’s convenience.
Jeff Bezos is not only the richest man in the world, he has built a business that is without precedent in the history of American capitalism. His power to shape everything from the future of work to the future of commerce to the future of technology is unrivaled. As politicians and regulators around the world start to consider the global impact of Amazon — and how to rein in Bezos’ power — FRONTLINE investigates how he executed a plan to build one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world.
2020 Super Bowl: Amazon Releases Very Funny “Before Alexa” Ad (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9t2rFmTVE
What did we do #BeforeAlexa? Watch now and vote for your favorite ad on Ad Meter!
Entertainment: “Top Ten TV Shows Of 2019” (AdWeek)
From an AdWeek online article:
But while there is more great TV than ever before, the number of top-tier programs actually declined in 2018, making the task of assembling a Top 10 TV shows list easier than usual since so few shows stood out from the pack. That changed for the better in 2019, resulting in a Top 10 lineup that features only one returning series from 2018’s list. (Also, some of last year’s best shows, like Better Call Saul and Atlanta, didn’t air new episodes in 2019.)
1. Fleabag (Amazon)
2. Succession (HBO)
3. Watchmen (HBO)
4. Russian Doll (Netflix)
5. Chernobyl (HBO)
6. When They See Us (Netflix)
7. Better Things (FX)
8. Unbelievable (Netflix)
9. Barry (HBO)
10. The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Top New Sci-Fi Shows: “The Expanse – Season 4” Is “Real World Space Physics” (Science Magazine)
From a Science Magazine online article:
On 13 December, Amazon Prime will air the fourth season of The Expanse, a hardboiled space drama renowned for its working-class characters and real-world space physics. Showrunner Naren Shankar is part of the reason the science checks out. The veteran writer and producer for programs such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Farscape, and the police procedural CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, has a doctorate in applied physics and electrical engineering.
When I got the script for the The Expanse, the pilot, I was, like, “Wow, this is a very different kind of a show.” Because they embraced all of the things that most science fiction shows run away from: the fact that you don’t have weight unless your ship is accelerating, the fact that communication in space is not instantaneous.
Shankar chatted with Science about why he feels it’s important to have a realistic sci-fi show, and how television work is like the scientific peer-review process.
To read full interview: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/how-real-world-science-sets-expanse-apart-other-sci-fi-shows?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=600792821&et_cid=3113276
Online Shopping: “Amazon, Target, Walmart – The One-Day Shipping Battle” (WSJ Podcast)
Wall Street Journal corporate bureau chief Marcelo Prince explains the competition between retailers Amazon, Target and Walmart to provide one-day shipping to customers during the holiday season.
Health Care: Amazon Alexa “Medicine Tracker” Reminds People To Take And Refill Prescriptions
From a Becker’s Hospital review news release:
Any customer with an active prescription and an Alexa-enabled device will be able to access the medication management skill on the device, a Giant Eagle spokesperson told CNBC. Rachel Jiang, who leads the Amazon Alexa health and wellness team, said the company began developing the skill after noticing that customers were using the devices to create medication reminders.
Beyond a simple reminder, the skill also offers more information about medication regimens and can be used to order refills. When the skill is installed, Alexa, which was confirmed earlier this year to be HIPAA-compliant, will prompt users to set up a profile and passcode, which must be delivered each time Alexa is asked a question about a medication.
Amazon and Pittsburgh-based supermarket and pharmacy chain Giant Eagle have formed a partnership that will allow Amazon Echo devices to offer Giant Eagle pharmacy patients medication reminders, CNBC reports.
Future Of Housing: Are Prefab Homes Delivered (Free) By Amazon An Answer To The Affordable Housing Shortage?
From a CityLab.com online article:
Is there a future for Amazon’s mail-order housing market? There is now a wide range of DIY home kits from multiple third-party sellers available on the site, ranging from bare-bones cabinettes to a two-story container house and even a pre-fab modular home for $105,000. They’ve enjoyed a deluge of media coverage, and curious Amazon users are peppering manufacturers with questions. And the market is certainly ready: With solo living on the rise and a deepening nationwide housing shortage, demand for smaller, cheaper places to live is sure to grow in the coming years.
North America’s affordable housing shortage could serve as the same economic rationale for Amazon’s mail-order house business. As housing prices skyrocket in places like Los Angeles and Boston and developable urban land becomes increasingly scarce, an affordable build-your-own-house kit could be just the fix for many households. (And since the company is often blamed for boosting real-estate prices in Seattle and now Northern Virginia, it might be karmically appropriate for Amazon to get in on the solution side to the affordable housing crisis.)
Amazon listing for Allwood Eagle Point house:
To read more click on the following link: https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2019/08/tiny-house-order-amazon-kit-diy-how-much-cost-zoning/596350/?utm_source=newsletter&silverid=%25%25RECIPIENT_ID%25%25&utm_campaign=citylab-daily-newsletter&utm_medium=email
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