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Amazon lets you attach other video services to your Prime account
Those rumors of Amazon letting you attach other video services to your Prime subscription? They're true. The internet giant just kicked off the Streaming Partners Program, an alliance that makes it easier for you to sign up to multiple video services. So long as you have that Prime subscription, you only need your one Amazon account to handle everything. The option even gives you a multi-service watch list and integration with other Prime features, like ASAP playback, voice search and X-Ray. You also receive a discount on pricing, such as the $9 per month you'll pay for early launch partners Showtime and Starz.
'Top Gear' returns in May 2016 without Clarkson
While Clarkson, May and Hammond develop a new motoring show for Amazon, the BBC is working on its biggest Top Gear reboot in years. Presenter Chris Evans (no, not Captain America) is taking over Clarkson's role and revealed last weekend exactly when the first episode will be airing. Well, sort of. During the BBC's live Saturday Kitchen show he said it would be broadcast on Sunday, May 5th. Which would be fine, if May 5th wasn't actually a Thursday. Whoops. The Guardian seems to have cleared up the issue though, clarifying that filming will finish on May 5th before the first episode airs on May 8th.
Amazon starts streaming Prime music and videos on JetBlue
Back in May, Amazon said it would bring Prime Music and Instant Video to select JetBlue flights. Fast forward to today, over six months since the original announcement, and the retailer is finally turning this feature on for Amazon Prime customers. If you're a subscriber who's flying in one of JetBlue's Fly-Fi-ready planes, you can stream tunes, movies and TV shows at no extra cost thanks to the airline's newly developed internet service. The experience itself is built into the Fly-Fi hub, letting you easily access your Prime media library on laptops, iOS and Android smartphones or tablets and, naturally, Amazon's Fire devices. Amazon says this is already working on most of JetBlue's Fly-Fi fleet, with the full rollout expected to be completed by November 26th.
Amazon expands same-day Prime deliveries to more of the UK
Amazon only just launched its free, same-day delivery option for Prime members a few weeks ago, but already it's expanding the convenience to other parts of the UK. Previously available in Greater London and certain Berkshire and Hertfordshire postcodes, Prime Same Day has today spread to Birmingham, Bristol, Dudley, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Walsall and Wolverhampton in England, as well as the Scottish locales of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Amazon briefly slashes Prime to £59 ahead of Black Friday
With Black Friday and Christmas on the horizon, Amazon knows that countless Brits would appreciate next-day deliveries and other Prime-associated perks. As a result, the retailer is making it a little cheaper than usual to sign up for an annual membership -- £59, rather than £79. It's a sizeable price-drop, although the deal only runs until Wednesday (November 18th). So if you want in, better act fast. For that price you'll gain access to Amazon's ancillary services, including Prime Video (its Netflix equivalent), Prime Music (its Spotify equivalent) and unlimited photo storage through Cloud Drive. Even if you're an infrequent Amazon shopper, this could make one of its "all-in" 12-month subscriptions worthwhile. It also means you can try some of its more experimental delivery services, like Amazon Pantry and Prime Now, for when your cupboards are bare and it's too cold to brave a trip to the shops.
Amazon's 12 new pilots include animated, spy and biopic series
It's Amazon pilot season, which means there are a bunch of new shows you can stream via Prime Instant Video for free -- well, their first episodes anyway. The selection includes a handful of animated shows, one of which brings the Teletubbies to mind (The Numberlys) and another that targets young adults (Everstar). There's also a Western tale of revenge (Edge), a bio-series of an early feminist (Z), a story of five female journalists in the '60s based on a non-fiction book (Good Girls Revolt) and a dramedy about a spy sent to Iran to prevent a nuclear war (Patriot). As always, Amazon will take your opinions into account when deciding which of the twelve gets turned into full-blown Originals and which get tossed into the pile of forgotten pilots.
Amazon's one-hour deliveries expand to San Francisco, San Antonio
Amazon continues to expand its Prime Now one-hour deliveries. The online retailer has announced that the service is now available in San Jose, San Francisco and other places around the Bay Area, including Mountain View and Cupertino -- Google and Apple's home, respectively. Prime Now's also hitting San Antonio, which joins Austin, Dallas and, most recently, Houston as the Texan cities where Amazon's ultra-fast delivery offering is live. In case you're not familiar with Now, it lets Prime members receive select orders in less than 60 minutes for a $7.99 fee, with an app that's available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. Or, if you're not in a rush to get the items, they can be at your doorstep in about two hours free of charge.
Amazon Flex is really an Uber for high-speed deliveries
When word got out about Amazon Flex, it wasn't clear exactly how it worked. Was it a pick-it-up-yourself service? Not really, as it turns out. The online retailer has finally taken the wraps off of Flex, and it's ultimately an Uber-like service that has on-demand contractors delivering your Prime Now orders. Like with ridesharing, couriers have to bring their own car and install an app on their phone that notifies them of gigs -- the difference, of course, is that they're transporting packages instead of people. Recruits make between $18 to $25 per hour, and they can work as much as they want.
Amazon discounts Prime subscriptions to celebrate its Emmy wins
If you haven't heard, Amazon original series Transparent won five Emmys over the weekend, including Jeffrey Tambor nabbing Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. To properly celebrate, the online retailer is discounting the cost of Prime for new members this Friday. From 12:00 AM ET to 11:59 PM PT, signing up for the annual subscription will set you back $67 instead of the usual $99. Of course, opting for Prime gets you access to Transparent (season 2 starts in December) and other movies and TV shows in addition to music streaming, free two-day shipping and more. [Image credit: Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]
Amazon Prime subscriptions include six months of The Washington Post
Amazon Prime members can add one more perk to the list of items that the annual subscription gets them. The online retailer announced today that Prime now includes six months of unlimited access to The Washington Post Digital Edition which usually costs $10/month. After the trial period is up, members are still privy to a reduced rate of $4/month. It should come as no surprise that the retailer and the newspaper are in cahoots as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the media outlet in 2013. What's more, Bezos & Co. have been keen on offering access to The Washington Post in the past, bundling it with Kindle Fire tablets. [Image credit: David Ryder/Getty Images]
Amazon expands Prime Now one-hour deliveries to Birmingham
Londoners have been taking advantage of Amazon's Prime Now one-hour delivery service for a little over a month now, and it's time to afford others the same convenience. Today, Amazon has launched the speedy one-hour delivery option in Birmingham and surrounding areas, including Lichfield, Cannock and Tamworth. Expanding to other UK cities by the end of the year, Prime Now offers delivery on over 20,000 products within an hour for a £7 charge, or free same-day delivery within a two-hour window of your choice. You have to be an Amazon Prime member, of course, and all orders need to be placed through the Prime Now Android/iOS app -- and to grease the wheels a little, Amazon is offering £20 off your first Prime Now order of £50 or above with the checkout code BIRMINGHAM. If you recall, Amazon's rumoured to be bringing its Prime Fresh grocery-delivery service to London in the very near future, and considering today's launch, perhaps we already know where that would be headed next.
Amazon limits Prime sharing benefits to one other adult (updated)
For a long while, Amazon would let you share some of your Prime perks with four other people of any age -- handy if your roommates need to get an order in a hurry. However, it looks like the internet shopping pioneer is clamping down. A quiet rule change on July 31st has limited Prime sharing to one other adult as part of an "Amazon Household." Moreover, that other grown-up has to use the original member's credit card (update: not really true, see below). That's fine if you're sharing it with a significant other, but lousy for anyone else.
YouTubers will be the stars of its subscription service
Google's bringing a paid-for subscription service to YouTube next year, but don't expect the company to sign a deal with a TV studio for some exclusive content. Instead, the site is going to see if its wide stable of home-grown talent will provide enough of a draw for you to fork over several bucks from your paycheck each month. According to Bloomberg, almost all of YouTube's biggest names, including PewDiePie and Smosh have already signed up to be a part of the new offering when it goes live.
Amazon's reportedly bringing its grocery delivery service to the UK
Amazon's made a name for itself as the online store that sells practically everything, but it's certainly not a site you visit for your weekly shop. That might change in near future, however, as according to The Times, Amazon is gearing up to launch its AmazonFresh grocery-delivery service in the UK. Amazon introduced the same-day delivery service for household essentials in the US last year, and its now thought it could premiere in London -- where Amazon launched one-hour Prime deliveries last month -- as early as September. AmazonFresh would effectively be competing with the likes of Ocado and the delivery options of several bricks-and-mortar supermarkets, but it's not quite that simple, and we doubt it'll have existing players quaking in their boots.
WSJ: Hulu's working on a premium tier with no ads
Would you kick in a few extra bucks to watch Hulu without those grating pre-roll ads, because it might become an option pretty soon. Anonymous tipsters have told the Wall Street Journal that the company is working on "Project NOAH," which stands for "NO Ads Hulu," a new pricing tier that ditches ads outright. The people familiar with the matter haven't gone into specifics, but suggest that the offering could be priced between $12 and $14 a month, a fairly big leap from the $7.99 a regular subscription costs. Then again, considering that the Showtime add-on is a further $8.99 a month, we could easily imagine a premium Hulu package that went for a round $20.
These are the Amazon UK 'Prime Day' deals you should know about
Ready for some deals? Today is Amazon's so-called "Prime Day," an exclusive 24-hour promotion for people that have signed up to Prime. Yes, it's a marketing gimmick, but if you're already paying for the service -- or have been debating a subscription recently -- there are some worthwhile gadgets being sold on the cheap. Some of the daily deals last until midnight, but in typical Amazon fashion there are also "lightning" discounts that will only be available for shorter periods. To take advantage of everything decent, you'll probably need to drop in sporadically or keep an eye on social media.
Walmart counters Amazon's 'Prime Day' with its own sale
Walmart wasn't about to let Amazon have all the fun. Not long after the online retailer announced its Prime Day sale, which is said to offer more deals than Black Friday, Walmart is saying that it will have discounts of its own online. According to USA Today, this month over 2,000 web-exclusive Rollback deals are expected to be available across multiple categories, including baby and home products as well as electronics and toys. In addition to this, Walmart's also going to reduce the free-shipping order minimum from $50 to $35 for "at least" the next 30 days -- and that's starting next Monday. This isn't the first time Walmart has tried to catch up to Amazon, though. Last year, the company started matching Amazon's prices at brick-and-mortar stores, after it became apparent that the business was losing ground to its internet rival.
Amazon previews its 'The Man in the High Castle' series tonight
We already got a look at the pilot episode from Amazon's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, but now it's time to get ready for the series. At Comic-Con Amazon is presenting the first two episodes, which you can watch live online at EW.com at 10:30ET. Even if you can't make the stream, you can still check out the full series trailer, embedded after the break, presenting an alternate history where the Allies lost World War II, or the pilot on Amazon before the show launches this fall.
Amazon Prime's first wave of HDR videos is here
Determined to watch streaming video with the maximum color range possible? You now have your chance. As promised, Amazon Prime Instant Video is now offering high dynamic range (HDR) videos to American customers. Watch the first season of Mozart in the Jungle on the right TV (currently, that means one of Samsung's SUHD models) and you should see more vivid colors as well as a greater level of detail in highlights and shadows. The move is as much about bragging rights as anything else -- Amazon is beating Netflix to the punch, and HDR doesn't automatically make everything better. It also won't help much if you're in the UK or have the 'wrong' TV. All the same, this is a big step forward for internet video quality.
Amazon to launch 'Catastrophe' comedy series on Facebook
Amazon is slated to debut British comedy Catastrophe in the US on June 15th, but you won't find the pilot episode on Prime. Instead of bringing the series straight to its video platform, the e-commerce company will post the 30-minute pilot on its Facebook page. In fact, viewers in the country can exclusively watch it on the social network for 48 hours (and for free!), starting on Monday, 7PM Eastern time. This might be the first time Amazon has taken this particular approach. It typically gives viewers free access to the first episode on Prime, so they can leave feedback and help the company decide which titles to pick up.
