Technology just keeps getting better
Many of us are aware that Amazon is finally coming to Singapore (yes to cheaper shipping costs!). While purchasing products from Amazon’s main site is not entirely rocket science, there are some products and services that Amazon offers that only dedicated Amazon fans know about.
1. AMAZON DATA TRUCK
What do you do when you want to store your big data that is way too big? Meet the Amazon Web Service (AWS) Snowmobile, a humongous truck with a container that can store up to 100 petabytes (that is a whopping 19 zeros, in case you are wondering) of data. The snowmobile attaches directly to the data centre with network fiber and power to move information to AWS. Designed to address industries involved in scientific data collections, satellite imagery and movie vaults, just to name a few, it can handle transfers at a maximum rate of 1TB/Second, which means the truck will take a minimum of 10 days to be filled. Even so, it is much faster than the conventional way of transferring the data to cloud storage. In the introductory video, Amazon gave the example of moving an exabyte of data using a 10Gbps connection. It would take about 26 years, as compared to the six months it takes when using the AWS snowmobile.
2. PRIME AIR DRONE DELIVERY
Waiting for up to a week for your online goodies to be delivered will soon be a thing of the past. Amazon already offers 1-hour delivery in some major cities. But, it wants to reduce this time and make deliveries in almost real-time affair by using drones. This means within 30 minutes of ordering, your parcel will be at your doorstep. Drone delivery is already on trial in the UK with a larger scale trial in the works.
3. AMAZON HANDMADE
Recently, Amazon launched Amazon Handmade, which is set to provide some serious competition to similar site Etsy. Amazon Handmade features products that are handcrafted by artisans. You can find anything from fine jewellery from Uganda to distressed leather laptop cases at this site.
4. AMAZON LAUNCHPAD
What started off as an idea to start a kickstarter-like crowdfunding project for startups gave way to Amazon Launchpad- a marketplace for products made by startups. These startups are treated like any other vendor, whereby Amazon buys their products at the warehouse level. But, in addition to that, these startups are given additional exposure via custom pages and a dedicated site to showcase their products. Amazon gets access to some of the hottest startups and the Launchpad members get exposure to millions of Amazon users – a win-win situation.
5. AMAZON MECHANICAL TURK
Amazon Mechanical Turk is, essentially, a marketplace for work that requires ‘human intelligence’, which includes tasks like finding for a specific image or copying text from a picture to a business card. This service gives users access to a readily available workforce online and gives people who want to make a quick buck find jobs online. Other examples from the site include identifying the singer of a certain song, writing product descriptions and choosing an appropriate photo for a storefront.
6. AMAZON INSPIRE
Amazon Inspire is a great resource-based platform for teachers. It gives teachers access to tens of thousands of free lesson plans, instructional materials and materials and worksheets which are downloadable and edited according to the students’ needs. The site for Amazon Inspire also mirrors the e-retailer’s product purchase site, with search tools, ratings for each resource and user reviews, making it extremely user-friendly.
7. AMAZON ECHO
With seven microphones for listening and a 360º and omnidirectional audio grille for speaking, Amazon echo has a great audio system which works extremely well, whether you are across the table or across multiple rooms.These speakers are very quick in understanding your commands and responding to them and can respond to either “Alexa” and “Amazon”. From ordering pizza delivery, and setting your alarm to turning on your home appliances, Amazon Echo really can, quite literally, do anything that you want it to.
Amazon Echo is the virtual personal assistant you didn’t know you need in your life. But, you gotta be quick! These babies are hugely popular and sell out as soon as they are on sale.
