Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is pushing to cut bureaucracy by reducing management layers, according to a recording of a recent internal all-hands meeting obtained by Business Insider. Amazon plans to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15% by March-end, a process the company says is now complete and affected a “relatively small subset of employees.”

“The way to get ahead at Amazon is not to go accumulate a giant team and fiefdom,” Jassy told employees, stressing that successful leaders “get the most done with the least amount of resources.” Jassy has established a “No Bureaucracy” email alias that has received over a thousand suggestions, leading to more than 375 changes aimed at speeding operations. “It’s a meritocracy,” Jassy said, urging employees to “move fast and act like owners.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hollywood filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch has been charged with defrauding Netflix of $11 million after allegedly misusing funds intended for an unfinished science fiction series, federal prosecutors said.

Rinsch, 47, was arrested in West Hollywood this week on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions that could result in decades of imprisonment if convicted. The FBI and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York allege Rinsch diverted funds meant for his series “Conquest” to speculate on cryptocurrency, stay in luxury hotels and purchase high-end items including five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.

Netflix had paid Rinsch $44 million between 2018 and 2019 for the science fiction project about an artificial humanlike species. Prosecutors say he then requested an additional $11 million but never completed the production. An arbitrator ruled in Netflix’s favor last year, ordering Rinsch to pay the company $11.8 million. Rinsch appeared in federal court with shackles and posted a $100,000 bond.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Also: Universal Studios Hollywood previews Fan Fest Nights bites, Alamo Drafthouse throws Snow White family parties, and more theme park news.

Apple has been hit with a federal lawsuit claiming that the company’s promotion of now-delayed Apple Intelligence features constituted false advertising and unfair competition. From a report: The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, seeks class action status and unspecified financial damages on behalf of those who purchased Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones and other devices. “Apple’s advertisements saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release,” the suit reads.

“This drove unprecedented excitement in the market, even for Apple, as the company knew it would, and as part of Apple’s ongoing effort to convince consumers to upgrade at a premium price and to distinguish itself from competitors deemed to be winning the AI-arms race. […] Contrary to Defendant’s claims of advanced AI capabilities, the Products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance. Worse yet, Defendant promoted its Products based on these overstated AI capabilities, leading consumers to believe they were purchasing a device with features that did not exist or were materially misrepresented.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After an exciting first race in Australia, find out how to watch the F1 Chinese GP online for free.

Meta is testing an AI feature that generates comment suggestions for Instagram posts. Users with access to the test see a pencil icon beside the comment field that activates “Write with Meta AI.” The system analyzes photos before offering three comment suggestions, which users can refresh for alternatives. For a photo showing someone smiling with a thumbs-up in their living room, suggested comments include “Cute living room setup” and “Love the cozy atmosphere.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The 1974 horror classic will never be topped, and neither will the 1986 horror-comedy sequel. But that doesn’t mean Hollywood won’t try again.

Measles has arrived in Kansas and is spreading swiftly in communities with very low vaccination rates. Since last week, the state has tallied 10 cases across three counties with more pending.

On March 13, health officials announced the state’s first measles case since 2018. The case was reported in Stevens County, which sits in the southwest corner of the state. As of now, it’s unclear if the case is connected to the mushrooming outbreak that began in West Texas.

That initial case in Kansas already shows potential to mushroom on its own. Stevens County contains two school districts, both of which have extremely low vaccination rates among kindergartners. By the time children enter kindergarten, they should have their two doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, which together are 97 percent effective against measles. In the 2023–2024 school year, rates of kindergartners with their two shots stood at 83 percent in the Hugoton school district and 80 percent in the Moscow school district, according to state data. Those rates are significantly below the 95 percent threshold needed to block the onward community spread of measles—one of the most infectious viruses known to humankind.

Read full article

Comments

On Wednesday, web infrastructure provider Cloudflare announced a new feature called “AI Labyrinth” that aims to combat unauthorized AI data scraping by serving fake AI-generated content to bots. The tool will attempt to thwart AI companies that crawl websites without permission to collect training data for large language models that power AI assistants like ChatGPT.

Cloudflare, founded in 2009, is probably best known as a company that provides infrastructure and security services for websites, particularly protection against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other malicious traffic.

Instead of simply blocking bots, Cloudflare’s new system lures them into a “maze” of realistic-looking but irrelevant pages, wasting the crawler’s computing resources. The approach is a notable shift from the standard block-and-defend strategy used by most website protection services. Cloudflare says blocking bots sometimes backfires because it alerts the crawler’s operators that they’ve been detected.

Read full article

Comments

Amazon is suing the Consumer Product Safety Commission over its decision to hold the company legally responsible for faulty products on its platform, The Associated Press reports. Amazon’s suit demands that the shipping giant be considered a “third-party logistics provider” instead of a distributor and also calls the CPSC “unconstitutionally constructed.”

The origins of the legal fight can be traced back to 2021, when the CPSC sued Amazon to force it to recall faulty carbon monoxide detectors, unsafe hair dryers and flammable children’s sleepwear. At the time, Amazon had already taken some steps to address the issue, like informing customers who purchased the products that they were hazardous and offering store credit, but the CPSC wanted the company to go further.

The CPSC move to classify Amazon as a distributor in 2024 made the company responsible for issuing recalls and refunds for products sold through its Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program. FBA lets sellers send their products to Amazon warehouses, where Amazon then handles picking, packing and shipping those products to customers, along with things like customer service and returns. Amazon takes issue with its classification as a distributor because it doesn’t own or make the faulty products the CPSC is concerned with — it sees itself as more of a hands-on FedEx.

Besides wanting to be reclassified and not held responsible for issuing more refunds, Amazon also has problems with the CPSC itself. The CPSC’s commissioners are appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and serve for seven years, unless they’re removed for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” Amazon feels the commission’s relative invulnerability is unconstitutional and makes them “judge, jury, and prosecutor” in proceedings.

Amazon’s made similar claims about the National Labor Review Board, the organization in charge of protecting workers’ right to unionize. The timing of these complaints is key. The Trump administration is not particularly interested in maintaining any government organization empowered to regulate business, and it seems likely it will side with Amazon in disempowering the CPSC, one way or another.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-wants-the-consumer-product-safety-commission-deemed-unconstitutional-211037804.html?src=rss

Everyone’s loving Batman and Shadow’s immediate kinship, but it’s not the viral panel of their first confrontation that’s the best part of their dynamic duo.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

You can think of the Galaxy Buds series as Android’s version of the AirPods. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 are the open-ear version of the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, both of which came out last summer. Right now, you can get the Galaxy Buds 3 for $99.99 (originally $179.99) directly from the Samsung website when choosing “no” under the Samsung trade-in credit. This is the lowest price these earbuds have been since their recent release, according to price-tracking tools.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3

Compatibility Android: Galaxy Wearable app, iOS: Bluetooth, Battery: 24H/30H (ANC off), Water: IP57

$99.99
at Samsung

$179.99
Save $80.00

$99.99
at Samsung

$179.99
Save $80.00

The Galaxy Buds 3 are feature-heavy. They have ear-detection sensors, so they automatically pause and resume as you take them on and off. They have 360 audio, which is an immersive sound feature that is similar to a surround-sound effect. The IP57 rating means they can handle sustained streams of water well. If you have a Samsung phone, you’ll get automatic pairing and switching from Samsung devices, but the coolest feature is the Galaxy AI-based translation, which can translate spoken words between two parties or videos from your phone.

Open earbuds are great for people who don’t like sticking buds inside their ears and/or like to be aware of their surroundings even when listening to their media. The tradeoff is weaker bass and more sound bleeding. However, the audio quality on them are still impressive, and the ANC on them performs surprisingly well for ANC earbuds, according to PCMag’s review.

For under $100, these are a great value for Android or Apple users, but if you’re a Samsung user, you get a much better user experience and bang for your buck. But if you want better ANC and don’t mind an in-ear design, get the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro for $209.99 (originally $249.99).