Amazon's sinister new gadget makes Alexa speakers look tame
The wristbands — which cost $50 — record everything you say, even when you're talking to yourself, and sync with your phone via Bluetooth.
Powered by AI models from Anthropic, Google and Meta, Bee turns your day into a searchable database, creating personalized to-do lists and even tracking how many times you swear.
Unlike Amazon's Alexa devices — which are meant to listen only after a 'wake word' — Bee's bracelets are always on unless switched off, giving them access to far more user data to train AI models.
Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo said she was 'excited' to be joining Amazon and to bring 'truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers.'
'When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you,' she wrote on LinkedIn.
The deal, still pending closure, comes as wearable AI gadgets flood the market.
Meta is pushing its Ray-Ban AI glasses and Google has launched Gemini-powered earbuds.
Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo said she was 'excited' to be joining Amazon
Amazon's latest acquisition marks a shift forward from its Echo and Alexa products
Because Bee is always listening, it can collect far more data per user — feeding the constant stream of information needed to train large language models.
A spokesperson for Amazon told the Daily Mail that a deal had been signed with Bee but that the agreement is yet to close.
Alongside the proliferation of new gadgets the rise of AI has already led to increased automation and consequent layoffs.
Microsoft will eliminate thousand of positions this month as it makes deeper investments in the tech.
Amazon and Ford's CEOs have also said they're planning on slashing staff to use more generative models.
Once-dominant Intel also announced plans to cut around 2,400 jobs.
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Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Investors cautiously welcome US-Europe trade deal
NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) - Investors cautiously embraced news of a trade deal Sunday between the U.S. and European Union, a move that is expected to bring clarity for companies and some certainty to markets ahead of Friday's tariffs deadline. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the United States has struck a framework trade deal with Europe. The deal includes a 15% tariff on EU goods entering the U.S. and significant EU purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. "It's really in line with the Japan deal, and I assume investors will view it positively as they viewed the Japan deal," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lance Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey. Optimism over easing trade tensions broadly helped push U.S. stocks to record highs last week and lifted European shares to their highest since early June. Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping global tariffs sent stocks plunging in the immediate aftermath, due to spiking fears about a recession that have since faded. Hopes for a deal with Europe were reinforced by Trump striking a trade agreement with Japan on July 23. Still, investors have been bracing for increased volatility heading into August 1, which the U.S. has set as a deadline for raising levies on a broad swath of trading partners. "The two obvious reactions that you would expect are upside in the euro and upside in equity futures. I don't think equities in particular needed much of an excuse to rally and now they've got one," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone in London. The announcement came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Scotland for talks with Trump to push a hard-fought deal over the line. In the agreement with Japan, the country's auto sector, which accounts for more than a quarter of its U.S. exports, will see existing tariffs cut to 15% from levies totaling 27.5% previously.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Trump announces 'very powerful deal' with the EU
Published: Updated: President Donald Trump announced he had reached a 'very powerful' trade deal with the European Union that would lower barriers to U.S. exports and bring new European investments into the U.S. Trump called it 'a very powerful deal' as well as 'a very big deal. It's the biggest of all the deals.' He also called it 'the biggest deal ever made.' Speaking from his Turnberry golf course, Trump said European Union countries would purchase $750 billion of energy from the U.S. and provide an additional $600 billion in U.S. investments. 'All of the countries will be opened up to trade with the United States at zero tariff, and they're agreeing to purchase a vast amount of military equipment,' Trump added. 'We don't know what that number is.' It came after Trump inveighed against 'one-sided' trade with Europe as he sat down at his Turnberry golf course with the EU Commission president, while raging against windmills and saying there were prospects for reaching a deal imminently. 'We wanted to rebalance the trade relations,' said EU Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen, confirming the agreement while sitting alongside Trump. Trump flashed his anger when a reporter asked if turmoil over the Jeffrey Epstein story had contributed to the rush to get the deal done. 'Oh, you've got to be kidding. No – had nothing to do with it. Only you would make that. That had nothing to do with it,' Trump responded. Both leaders made nice – after the 'Liberation Day' tariffs Trump rolled out in April threatened to cleave the powerful allies. Trump had more recently threatened a 30 percent tariff on the EU – providing an incentive to negotiate it down. Trump, upon arriving here in Scotland, said the powerful trade bloc must 'buy down' the number. 'Basically the European market is open,' said von der Leyen. 'It's 450 million people, so it's a good deal. It's a huge deal. Was tough negotiations. I knew it at the beginning, and it was indeed very tough, but we came to a good conclusion from both sides,' she said. The number comports with what had already been floated. 'We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else' would be 15 percent, said Trump. The agreement – with details still to be revealed – comes after Trump announced other agreements with Japan and other nations, while firing off a series of trade 'letters' announcing new tariffs he is imposing on other nations. Japan, too, would face a 15 percent rate on its auto exports to the U.S. After many economists warned that Trump's tariffs could break the alliance, the two leaders proclaimed new cooperation after they had agreed to broad terms. 'This deal will bring us very close together actually. It's a partnership in a sense,' Trump said. The progress came about an hour after Trump complained about the trade relationship. 'It's been a very one-sided transaction – very unfair to the United States,' he complained alongside von der Leyen, keeping her hands in her lap and her expressions muted. 'It's been a very, very one-sided deal, and it shouldn't be,' Trump fumed. He said a deal, if it can be reached, would be the biggest deal 'ever struck by anybody.' 'This is the biggest deal. People don't realize – this is bigger than any other deal. And it could happen – should happen,' he said. Fielding questions at a press event that put the 'working' in what his team calls a 'working visit,' Trump went off on a number of topics. His attacks quickly changed to wind turbines he said obstruct the view from his Scottish golf course. 'It ruins the landscape. It kills the birds. They're noisy,' Trump complained. He said what he terms windmills in Massachusetts were 'driving them loco – driving them crazy.' 'Today I'm playing the best course, I think, in the world: Turnberry ... And I look over the horizon and I see nine windmills. I say isn't that a shame,' he said. On immigration, another tension point, Trump said: 'We've sealed our borders. We have nobody coming in ... I think they're going to end up in the same place. You might as well go there quicker.' Von der Leyen shared his assessment on the chance of reaching an agreement, putting it at 50 percent. Trump got asked at one point if he could do better than 15 percent – the amount of a tariff on European imports that has been floated as a potential final number in an agreement. 'Better meaning lower? No,' Trump said flatly. But the former German politician showed some give in her own remarks and kept her composure even as Trump tore into European policies on trade, energy, and immigration.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Donald Trump announces trade agreement with the European Union
Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with the European Union. The agreement will cut tariff rates on imports from the EU to 15 per cent. Conversely, US exports to the EU will become tariff-free under the new arrangement. Trump made the announcement alongside European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Further details regarding the agreement were not immediately released by the White House.
