Amazon outages linked to rapid AI integration were discussed in a recent internal meeting. AI glitches in algorithms managing infrastructure caused disruptions (e.g., issues viewing product details, Freevee streaming). While Amazon is aggressively using AI, sources say the speed is creating instability. The company is focused on reliability amidst growing AI competition. Amazon declined to comment specifically but affirmed commitment to customer experience
Amazon introduces 'Ask this Book,' an AI-powered feature on the Kindle iOS app that allows readers to ask questions about the book they are reading and receive spoiler-free answers. The article also details the 'Recaps' feature for book series, providing a quick refresher on storylines and characters. 'Ask this Book' will expand to Kindle devices and Android OS next year.
Amazon has rolled out new features for the Kindle, changing how highlights, notes, and dictionary definitions work on 11th- and 12th-generation devices.
* **Highlighting:** A new "A" button appears when highlighting text, directly highlighting the selection. The note function is now accessed immediately after highlighting, opening the keyboard for input.
* **Dictionary:** The dictionary lookup is now initiated by a "LOOKUP" button next to the highlight "A" button. Dictionary options (dictionary, Wikipedia, Translate, Search) are adaptive and positioned at the bottom of the screen to avoid covering text.
* **Figures in Non-Fiction/Textbooks:** Clicking on references like "fig-21" now displays the corresponding figure in a box on the screen.
* **Bookmarks:** Bookmarking now requires a *hold* on the top right of the screen instead of a single tap, preventing accidental bookmarks.
* **Highlighting:** A new "A" button appears when highlighting text, directly highlighting the selection. The note function is now accessed immediately after highlighting, opening the keyboard for input.
* **Dictionary:** The dictionary lookup is now initiated by a "LOOKUP" button next to the highlight "A" button. Dictionary options (dictionary, Wikipedia, Translate, Search) are adaptive and positioned at the bottom of the screen to avoid covering text.
* **Figures in Non-Fiction/Textbooks:** Clicking on references like "fig-21" now displays the corresponding figure in a box on the screen.
* **Bookmarks:** Bookmarking now requires a *hold* on the top right of the screen instead of a single tap, preventing accidental bookmarks.
Amazon has released Kiro, an AI-powered IDE designed for "vibe coding" that focuses on bringing prototypes into production with features like specs and hooks. It's powered by Claude 4 Sonnet and aims to apply software engineering best practices to the vibe-coding workflow.
AI pioneer Andrej Karpathy proposes an AI application that could enhance the e-book reading experience with interactive features. Amazon is reportedly looking for an applied scientist to improve Kindle's reading and publishing experience using AI.
The article discusses the author's experience with Amazon's FriendlyCrawler, which overloaded the author's website by crawling at a very high interval. The author criticizes the crawler's disregard for robots.txt and provides solutions for blocking such traffic using CloudFlare.
Amazon has launched the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, the first color version of its e-reader. The device features E Ink's Kaleido technology, is priced at $279.99, and is set to ship starting October 30th.
Amazon's AI shopping assistant Rufus helps customers make informed decisions by answering shopping-related questions using a custom language model and innovative techniques in generative AI.
Learn about the new Amazon time series model, which you can use to forecast energy usage, traffic congestion, and weather.
