jeff

Bezos: Forget profits for now; we're still spending

SEATTLE -- Since its earliest days, Amazon has put investing in new business ahead of expanding its profit margins, often to shareholder chagrin.

At the company's annual meeting here today, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos repeated the mantra, and listed more than a dozen areas into which the online giant is pumping its resources.

"We are still thinking of this as day one," Bezos said of the company that first sold shares to the public 16 years ago and now has 88,000 employees and 209 million active customers. "In fact, I think the alarm clock is … Read more

Episode 37: Always On returns with Galaxy S4, Surface Pro, eye tracking and more!

Welcome to Season 4, everyone! It's only been a few weeks since we said goodbye, but it's felt like a lifetime. We've been busy planning and shooting the upcoming summer season, and seeking out the tech wonders of the world to keep the Always On train in constant motion. This season we've got it all! We'll be road-tripping in pimped-out RVs, opening up the biggest phablets of them all, road testing everything from the Chromebook Pixel to action cameras with motorcross pros, and even visiting NASA's newest space exploration vehicles. Plus a serious summer … Read more

Time Warner CEO: Video-on-demand best thing to hit premium cable

Many in the entertainment industry are afraid of television programming moving online and toward a video-on-demand model, which wrecks havoc on how companies have traditionally made money.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes isn't one of them.

"You couldn't have a more positive development," Bewkes said about VOD at an investor conference Tuesday.

VOD bolsters the viewership for hit programs, because it allows consumers to tune in whenever they want, he said. But, he added, VOD also creates a platform for introducing niche programming.

Bewkes touted HBO Go as the "best video product in the world … Read more

The 404 1264: Where we try and stay Glassy (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Public's first reaction to Google Glass summed up by SNL.

- Can you really make money online by playing competitive games?

- Busting online piracy group has led to increase -- in piracy.… Read more

Amazon's slim profits beat analyst expectations

Even as Amazon keeps spending to expand operations, its first quarter results, announced Monday, beat analysts' earnings expectations.

Net income dropped 37 percent to $82 million, or 18 cents a share. That still topped analyst expectations of 9 cents a share. Sales climbed 22 percent to $16.1 billion just a smidgen below consensus expectations of $16.2 billion.

The online retail giant is seemingly always in investment mode, and this quarter was no exception. The company acquired Goodreads, a social network for people who love books. It inked new deals for its Prime Instant Video service with A+E … Read more

Always On: Season 3 Bloopers

Whether our bountiful screw-ups come by way of gibberish, bubble baths, or fart jokes (yes, we're very mature), they seem to snowball as the months of filming pile up. While these moments of humiliation have collected dust as the season flew by, we're shamefully happy to dedicate a full episode to our blooper-ridden endeavors. Sure, we've done blooper segments in the past, but nothing quite like this.

We've got a plethora of outtakes to show you the true blood, sweat, and tears we put into the show each week. Sometimes, just putting your face in front … Read more

Always On: Best of Season 3

Well, folks, it's about that time again. That time when we head out into the world to get our hands on today's hottest gadgets and to explore the promising technologies of the future. And, of course, we'll keep an eye out for some clever ways to destroy those hottest gadgets, too. But, in the meantime, we've mustered up our favorite segments of Season 3 to make the wait for Season 4 less grueling.

First up, we head back to Mount Shasta Ski Park to watch Molly rev a snowmobile over the poor Kindle Fire, Nokia Lumia 920, … Read more

Amazon's Bezos defends heavy investments in Prime, Kindle

Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos today defended the company's stance on heavy investments in certain areas, saying it's focused on its customers, not its rivals, and that it believes its strategy is the best for the long term.

For years, Bezos has demonstrated a preference for plowing resources into initiatives to build market share but take years to generate profits. That seeming indifference to near-term profits worries Wall Street, with many expressing reservations over the years about the impact on margins. Amazon is believed to make little, if any, money on its gadgets, instead relying on customers to … Read more

Special feature: The Ken Levine interview (podcast)

Now that BioShock Infinite has been released to the masses, The 404 Show's Jeff Bakalar goes one-on-one with the mind behind the game, co-founder and creative director at Irrational Games, Ken Levine.… Read more

Episode 34: The MacBook Pro rocks and rolls!

It's safe to say that upon our arrival at American Soil and Stone, we thought the MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina Display's fate was pretty much sealed. With so much equipment capable of tearing down a house around, the MacBook's chances of survival were slim to none. However, after an epic onslaught of perhaps the heaviest artillery we've ever thrown at a gadget, we were shocked at the computer's toughness.

While it's currently in the ICU, you guys will have the chance to give it some TLC, and hopefully nurse it back to health. … Read more