Tag: #amazon

  • Binge-watch these movies, seasons this holiday week

    Binge-watch these movies, seasons this holiday week

    The first day of Eid-ul-Azha went flying by and I am sure all of you have your hearts and stomachs filled with warmth and love from being around your dear ones. Eid is one occasion when families and friends gather together and this becomes a great excuse to watch all the movies and seasons you have on your list.

    Here are a few recommendations.

    1: Ms Marvel

    Streaming on Disney+, Ms Marvel has already captivated audiences with a fine storyline, characters, and our own Pakistani stars featuring in it.

    Poster of Ms Marvel

    Fawad Khan has finally made an appearance in the fifth episode of Ms Marvel. Fawad plays a man from the pre-partition era. Pakistani actors Mehwish Hayat, Samina Ahmed, and Nimra Bucha are also playing important characters in the Marvel series.

    2: The Umbrella Academy:

    Packed with action, drama, science, fantasy, and a touch of superhero elements, the latest episodes of The Umbrella Academy are trending. Get some popcorn and binge-watch the season on Netflix.

    The Umbrella Academy poster

    3: Peaky Blinders:

    The Shelby brothers are back on Netflix with their latest season. This historical fiction and crime drama is back with Tommy Shelby, a dangerous man, who leads the Peaky Blinders and the show has massively great reviews.

    The Shelby brothers

    4: Man vs Bee:

    A homeless man looking for work is mistaken by a businesswoman for her new housesitter.

    Man vs Bee

    Rowan Atkinson is at his usual best with his comic timing in the British comedy streaming television miniseries.

    5: Modern Love:

    A co-production of Amazon Studios and the New York Times, this anthology series explores love in all of its complicated and beautiful forms, as well as its effects on the human connection. Each episode brings to life a different story that has been inspired by the newspaper’s popular Modern Love column.

    Modern Love poster

    6: Fleabag

    A dry-witted woman, known only as Fleabag, has no filter as she navigates life and love in London while trying to cope with tragedy. The angry, grief-riddled woman tries to heal while rejecting anyone who tries to help her, but Fleabag continues to keep up her bravado through it all. Catch Fleagbag on Amazon Prime with a pack of caramel popcorn and you will stay hooked.

    Poster of Fleabag

    7: Catastrophe

    During a business trip in London, an American named Rob meets Sharon, an Irish teacher with whom he shares incredible chemistry. While the two plan to have some fun with no strings attached, things go awry when Sharon learns she is pregnant. The unexpected news inspires the recent acquaintances to try and make it as a couple, despite nonstop complications that include hailing from different countries and a pregnancy that is not without risks. Get hooked to Catastrophe on Amazon Prime.

    Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan play a couple dealing with the stresses of marriage in the Amazon Prime series Catastrophe. Delaney and Horgan also co-created and co-wrote the series.
  • Netflix loses 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022, projects deeper losses in Q2

    Netflix loses 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022, projects deeper losses in Q2

    Netflix lost 200,000 clientele in the most recent quarter, a significant loss for the streaming titan which has enjoyed exponential user growth over the previous decade. The company revealed that it fell far short of its own low estimates of 2.5 million new users by the start of 2022.

    Except for the Asia Pacific market, where it witnessed a net gain of almost 1 million customers, the streaming giant lost users in nearly every region.

    Netflix lost roughly 640,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada in the first quarter, a higher decline than its prior subscriber loss in the region last year, and 300,000 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and 350,000 in Latin America.

    The decline is projected to continue into the second quarter when Netflix expects to lose another 2 million customers.

    Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings stated in a pre-recorded interview that the company will look into creating an ad-supported tier in the “next year or two” – a move that Netflix officials had previously opposed.

    “Those who have followed Netflix know that I have been a vocal opponent of advertising complexity and a strong supporter of subscription simplicity. But, as much as I enjoy that, I prefer consumer choice, and letting consumers who want a lower price and are tolerant of advertisements to obtain what they want makes a lot of sense,” Hastings added. “Think of us as being fairly open to delivering even lower costs as a consumer choice with advertising”.

    .According to CFO Spencer Neumann, the streamer will also draw back some of its content investment over the next two years in order to boost revenue growth. During the pre-recorded interview, Neumann added, “We’re cutting back on some of our spend increases across both content and non-content expenditure and we’re trying to be wise and sensible about it, reining in some of that expenditure increase to match the realities of the business’s revenue growth”.

    Due to the company’s poor performance in Q4 and lowered estimates for the first quarter, Wall Street had low expectations for Netflix going into Tuesday’s earnings. Netflix’s move to cease service in Russia, where the streamer claims to have 700,000 customers, was also expected to have an impact on subscriber growth.

    Read more: Samsung Galaxy S23 to launch with high capacity battery, inspired by electric vehicles

    Netflix said in its shareholder letter that it would have added 500,000 customers in the first quarter if the losses in Russia were not taken into account.

    However, Netflix attributed its slowing growth in Q1 to a number of issues, including account sharing, the pandemic’s prolonged disruption, and, once again, greater competition from competing streamers.

    Netflix revealed in a shareholder letter on Tuesday that more than 100 million of its 222 million paid subscriptions were pooled with viewers outside of paying customers, with 30 million shared accounts in the US and Canada alone.

  • Video of bear stealing Amazon package from porch goes viral

    Video of bear stealing Amazon package from porch goes viral

    A woman in the United States posted a video on social media showing a bear stealing her parcel from Amazon.

    Kristin Levine of Bristol shared a home surveillance video on Facebook on Monday, showing the bear sauntering across her driveway with the package in its mouth.

    “Yea so if anyone sees an Amazon package in the Chippens Hill area with my name on it…feel free to bring it back?” Levine wrote in her post.

    Read More: Video of rare pink dolphin goes viral

    Levine told NBC she received an alert from her security system about five minutes after Amazon delivered the package on the door and was “taken aback because I wasn’t expecting anyone else in my driveway.”

    The bear, she said, ended up dropping off the parcel in a neighbour’s yard. It was apparently not interested in the contents: several rolls of toilet paper, she said.

    “It was hysterical like I said, I knew nothing in there was going to be irreplaceable so it was a fun afternoon for sure,” Levine said.

  • Video of rare pink dolphin goes viral

    Video of rare pink dolphin goes viral

    A video of a Pink dolphin is doing the rounds on social media.

    A Twitter user shared a video that shows a rare pink dolphin swimming across the ocean.

    https://twitter.com/solocuriosos_/status/1427737140520235008?s=20

    According to the website of National Geographic channel, these pink dolphins are found in the Amazon River of South America.

    The website states that it is due to the albinism that occurs when cells that normally make the pigment melanin, responsible for skin, hair, and eye colour, fail to produce it at normal levels, or at all.

    This is usually because of a mutation in one of several genes.

  • PM Khan’s advisor Dawood hails launch of Facebook Marketplace in Pakistan

    PM Khan’s advisor Dawood hails launch of Facebook Marketplace in Pakistan

    Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Trade and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has commended the launch of Facebook Marketplace in Pakistan.

    He said that the opportunity could prove to be a lifeline for small enterprises as well as women entrepreneurs during Covid-19.

    Dawood, in a series of tweets said, “I am happy to see that, after Amazon, Facebook has recently launched market place for Pakistan.” Dawood was of the view that the launch will encourage small enterprises and entrepreneurs in Pakistan to sell online.

    “Such opportunities during Covid-19 could be a lifeline for micro-enterprises,” said Dawood.

    Facebook Marketplace is a digital platform where users can arrange to buy, sell and trade items with other people in their area using their Facebook ID.

    Over the years, Pakistan has seen a rapid rise in the growth of ecommerce. Back in May, Amazon added Pakistan to its sellers’ list, which means that local Pakistani sellers can now list and use Amazon’s platform to sell globally, a massive boost to the country’s e-commerce landscape.

    Meanwhile, Dawood added that that the launch of the platform will also help women entrepreneurs and that it is a first step towards eCommerce.

  • Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    A Dutch teenager who became the world’s youngest space traveller told billionaire Jeff Bezos on the space flight that he had never ordered anything from Amazon.com.

    An 18-year-old physics student, Oliver Daemen, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk – the oldest person to go to space on a 10-minute space trip.

    Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.

    “I told Jeff, like, I’ve actually never bought something from Amazon,” Daemen told Reuters in an interview on Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “And he was like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a long time ago I heard someone say that’.”

    Daemen, who was picked after another candidate bidding $28 million for the ride cancelled at the last minute, found out he would be joining the flight while on a family holiday in Italy.

    “They called and said: ‘Are you still interested?’ and we were like ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’”

    Daemen had dreamt of space travel since he was a kid.

    “We didn’t pay even close to $28 million, but they chose me because I was the youngest and I was also a pilot and I also knew quite a lot about it already.”

    “I don’t think I realised it until I was in the rocket: ‘Wow, it’s really happening’,” he said. “It was my ultimate, ultimate goal … but I never thought it was going to be this soon.”

    The crew was given safety training before the training, but nothing very hard, said Daemen.

    “That was super cool. It’s so weird to be weightless. It was easier than I had expected. It was kind of like being in the water.”

    Daemen, who is set to start at Utrecht University in September, said he was not sure what he wanted to do later in life, but would seriously consider a career in space travel.

    Asked what it was like travelling in a rocket ship with a billionaire, he answered with a wide smile: “They were super fun and all down to earth, as funny as that may sound.”

  • 11-minute flight: Billionaire Jeff Bezos is going to space without a pilot

    Amazon billionaire, Jeff Bezos will fly to space with his brother Mark Bezos next month, on the first human spaceflight. The spacecraft are being made by his company, Blue Origin. The automated capsules with no pilot will include six passengers, including the winner of an ongoing auction taking place for a seat. After that, the remaining seats will be up for sale.

    In an Instagram video, the world’s richest person, Bezos disclosed that ever since he was five years old, he has dreamed of traveling to space.

    If the mission is successful, Bezos will leave behind Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk. and British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who are also hoping to fly to space by the end of this year.

    As per reports, the total flight time would be 11 minutes approximately. The mission is to get ahead of the Karman line known as “an imaginary boundary” which is about 62 miles above the Earth and hundred kilometers above sea level.

    Since this is the first human spaceflight, there is no guarantee that the flight is safe for passengers. However, Blue Origin has successfully launched dozens of rockets from Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas.

    Blue Origin was founded by Bezos in 2000 with the mission of cheap traveling to space and reusable launch systems.

    The news came after the announcement made by Bezos in February that he would step down as the CEO of Amazon and would focus on his other work.

  • Amazon’s entry to Pakistan expected to create thousands of jobs

    Amazon’s entry to Pakistan expected to create thousands of jobs

    Amazon has finally added Pakistan to its list of seller countries with Pakistanis now able to create accounts using Pakistani credentials and details.

    As per details, several officials including Aisha Moriani (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce), Omer Gajial (Ex-Amazon Category Development Head for Amazon North America division), and Shoaib Sarwar (deputy Consul General, Consulate General Pakistan, Los Angeles) along with the team members of NECC (National Ecommerce Council) and Badar Khushnood from Pakistan Software Houses Association have played an important role in this development.

    This is a huge milestone and will transform Pakistan’s economy as more sellers from the country will visit the platform.

    Earlier, advisor to Prime Minister (PM) Iman Khan on Commerce and Trade, Abdul Razak Dawood stressed that e-commerce has changed the business practice and that Pakistan must pay attention to it.

    Besides, after COVID-19 e-commerce practices have increased by many folds, and it is a great oppertunity for women, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs.

    On this occasion, Special Assitant to PM, Dr Shahbaz Gill said: “The contemporary government has achieved a milestone that the country had been unable to achieve for more than ten years.”

    “Pakistan will enter into the global market, and it will generate economic activity of millions, that will also create many employment opportunities, thank you, Imran Khan,” he added.

    In addition, Pakistan’s largest EdTech platform, Extreme Commerce has trained millions of people for Amazon selling and trading and complete e-commerce.

    The company has said that “The new era of e-commerce boom for Pakistan is about to start. Get your agencies ready for more business, aa you are about to get flooded with Pakistani manufacturers and brands who would need your services to take them to Amazon. Do your best, do not let the brand Pakistan down ever again, please.”

    In less than 24-48 hours, Pakistan will hopefully show up in the list of allowed countries for Amazon sellers. You…

    Posted by Extreme Commerce on Wednesday, May 5, 2021