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When Reuters reported Friday that Amazon is working on a new smartphone, the reflexive reaction was obvious: Didn’t they already try this? And didn’t it go spectacularly badly?

Yes, on both counts. The Fire Phone, which launched in 2014 when Jeff Bezos was still running the company, lasted 14 months and led to a $170 million writedown. 

It was packed with gimmicks, including a 3D display and a camera feature that recognized products and let you buy them on Amazon. It might have been the biggest example of Amazon failing to live up to its legendary mantra of starting with the customer and working backwards. 

But dismissing Amazon’s new effort, codenamed “Transformer,” as a sequel to that disaster misses the point. This isn’t Amazon trying to redo 2014. It’s Amazon looking at the AI landscape and betting that the shift to AI is going to fundamentally change what a mobile device is, and that the dominant smartphone makers might not be the ones leading that charge.

The AI opening: Apple and Samsung together command about 40% of global smartphone sales, but their recent devices have been incremental upgrades, not breakthroughs. Neither company is at the forefront of AI in the way that OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Amazon itself are. 

A growing number of companies are already trying to exploit that gap. OpenAI is working with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a dedicated AI device. Meta is pushing its Ray-Ban smart glasses as an alternative to pulling out your phone.

Earlier attempts at standalone AI gadgets, like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, rivaled the Fire Phone as flops in their own right, but they demonstrated the potential of AI devices.

That’s where Amazon may see an opening.

Project details: The phone is being developed by a group called ZeroOne inside Amazon’s devices unit, which has a mandate to create “breakthrough” gadgets, according to Reuters.

It’s headed by J Allard, the former Microsoft executive behind Xbox and the Zune music player, who joined Amazon in 2024, as GeekWire first reported. 

The phone is envisioned as an AI-driven personalized device that syncs with Alexa and could potentially bypass traditional app stores altogether. That concept feels increasingly plausible in an era when AI agents can act on a user’s behalf without opening an app.

The company, for the record, isn’t commenting on any of this. The project is still early, the timeline is undefined, and Reuters noted that it could still be scrapped.

The connectivity question: Amazon hasn’t even approached wireless carriers yet, according to the report.

But that detail actually raises an interesting question. Amazon’s Leo satellite internet initiative, formerly known as Project Kuiper, sits in the same Devices & Services division as the new phone project, all under the umbrella of Panos Panay, another former Microsoft executive. Those satellites could provide wireless connectivity directly to devices, potentially bypassing traditional carriers altogether.

There’s no indication the two efforts are connected, but it would make a ton of sense.

And then there’s Amazon Sidewalk, the company’s existing mesh networking protocol that uses Echo and Ring devices to create a low-bandwidth wireless network.

Between satellites overhead and Sidewalk on the ground, Amazon has been quietly building out the infrastructure that could support a device like this without ever involving a traditional carrier.

For the new phone project, Amazon has explored both a conventional smartphone and a stripped-down “dumbphone” with limited features, according to the Reuters report. It has considered positioning a simpler version as a companion device that customers would carry alongside their existing iPhone or Galaxy. One inspiration is reportedly the Light Phone, a minimalist handset with a camera, maps, and not much else, selling for about $700.

During the original Fire Phone development, two internal teams debated the direction: a low-cost, stripped-down device vs. a high-end phone packed with features, as noted in a great “Version History” podcast by The Verge. Bezos sided with the high-end camp, and it failed. 

This time, Amazon appears to be hedging by exploring both paths simultaneously.

The Jassy factor: It’s also worth reconsidering the conventional wisdom that this kind of hardware bet is out of character for Amazon under CEO Andy Jassy, Bezos’ successor. Jassy has spent much of his tenure streamlining the company and cutting projects that weren’t working. 

But the goal of that effort isn’t to avoid big bets, it’s to clear out bureaucracy and make Amazon more nimble and deliberate when it makes them. Creating a dedicated hardware group with a “breakthrough” mandate and staffing it with a veteran product leader is evidence of that.

Ultimately, the fact that Amazon is willing to revisit its most painful hardware failure shows how seriously it takes the idea that AI has the potential to change what a mobile device can be.

This piece was adapted from a discussion between Todd Bishop and John Cook on this week’s GeekWire Podcast. Listen above, or subscribe in Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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Google Translate has always been great at telling you what something means. But saying it out loud has always been on you. But now, Google is working on a new feature that could fix your fumbling ways. A new AI-powered “Practice” mode is in development to help users improve their pronunciation instead of just listening to translations.

And yes, it can call you out for butchering that Spanish phrase.

So how does it work?

While Google Translate offered the usual tap-to-listen speaker icon, the new feature goes beyond that and lets you listen to native speakers’ pronunciation samples, record your own attempt, and get feedback on how accurate you sound. It then analyzes your speech and scores your pronunciation, also offering suggestions on how to improve.

There’s even a phonetic breakdown of words offered to the users that makes it easier to understand how something should sound. This is easier than relying on complex linguistic notation.

In development, but shows promise

This isn’t just a one-time event. It’s a whole system that encourages practice with repetition, letting users retry phrases to refine their pronunciation. So users can practice till they get closer to native level accuracy. There are also hints that the feature could be a part of a broader language learning tool, which might include difficulty levels and conversational practice modes.

The feature was discovered in a recent build of the app, with an APK teardown showing that it’s still work in progress. Furthermore, we can expect it to roll out gradually, starting with select language pairs like English and Spanish before expanding to include more options. So you might have to wait a bit before it starts judging your accent.

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In related news, Google just added two features to help improve your experience in group chats, and is even using AI to lessen the impact of flights on the climate.

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The best-selling game of all time is moving from the virtual to the physical. Minecraft World, a permanent Greater London theme park based on the game, is scheduled to open in 2027. The announcement came during Minecraft Live 2026.

It will be a new section in Chessington World of Adventures, a theme park with a built-in zoo. The resort is a 35-minute train ride from London’s Waterloo station.

Details are still fairly light on the park. But we know it will include a roller coaster, “interactive adventures” and “epic block-built playscapes.” Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the game franchise’s creative director, said they’re aiming for “an experience that feels immersive, authentic and welcoming.” Naturally, that will include welcoming you to open your wallet in Minecraft-themed retail and dining spots.

The park is a collaboration between Mojang Studios and Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second-largest theme park builder. (A certain rodent-led empire is first.)

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If visiting the full theme park in England isn’t your thing, the latest location of the game’s (also real-world) pop-up events will open in May. Minecraft Experience: Moonlight Trail will let visitors in Buenos Aires, Argentina, go on an hour-long outdoor nighttime adventure. As its name suggests, you’ll “walk a moonlit trail” through iconic Minecraft biomes. Along the way, you’ll craft gear, mine diamonds, battle mobs and “help restore an ancient beacon.” The event opens in May.

Not all of Minecraft Live’s announcements were about real-world empire building. Minecraft, the game, is getting some updates, too. Its next big drop, Tiny Takeover, will live up to the billing with a redesigned “cuter” look for baby mobs. The update will also add a golden dandelion, which you can feed to a baby mob to make it stay young forever. (Or, at least until you feed it a second one.) Tiny Takeover arrives on March 24.

Mojang also teased the next drop after that. Later this year, Chaos Cubed will add a sulfur cube that changes properties when absorbing different materials. “There is a lot of variety in what the cube can do,” Mojang promises. “Just like there are balls with different ‘bounciness’ and behavior, the sulfur cube can have different physics.”

Finally, the long-rumored Minecraft Dungeons II game is official. We’re still extremely light on details about the sequel to the 2020 spinoff, aside from the fact that you can wishlist it on March 21.

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is asking the Federal Communications Commission for authority to send up to 51,600 data center satellites into low Earth orbit, signaling its entry into an increasingly crowded space race.

The proposed constellation, dubbed Project Sunrise, would complement Blue Origin’s previously announced plans for a 5,408-satellite TeraWave constellation. TeraWave would provide ultra-high-speed connectivity for Project Sunrise’s satellites — and for terrestrial data centers, large-scale enterprises and government customers as well.

Once again, Bezos is competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is seeking the FCC’s approval for a constellation of data centers that could amount to a million satellites. And SpaceX has already taken notice. So has Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud, which is working on its own plans for a data center network that could call for tens of thousands of satellites.

Tech companies are becoming increasingly interested in fielding orbital data centers because such networks could bypass the power and cooling constraints facing Earth-based AI data centers. Last October, Bezos said at a tech conference in Italy that orbital data centers would be the “next step” in a transition from Earth-based to space-based industry. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centers in space in the next couple of decades,” he said.

Blue Origin, SpaceX and Starcloud aren’t the only companies involved in the data center space race. Other ventures that have expressed interest include Google, Axiom Space, Aetherflux and Sophia Space.

The competition to build and launch orbital data centers is distinct from the competition to provide high-speed internet access via satellites in low Earth orbit. SpaceX, which now has more than 10,000 satellites in its Starlink constellation, currently dominates that market.

Meanwhile, Amazon — which was founded by Bezos but is separate from privately held Blue Origin — is sending up satellites for its Amazon Leo broadband network (formerly known as Project Kuiper). Amazon is behind schedule on satellite deployment and has asked the FCC for a deadline extension, but the company says it’s still on track to ramp up commercial service this year. Last month, the FCC gave the go-ahead for Amazon to expand the Leo constellation to more than 7,700 satellites.

In the past, Amazon has highlighted the synergies that Leo will have with Amazon Web Services’ cloud and AI offerings. It’s not yet clear whether those synergies might extend to TeraWave and Project Sunrise, or whether Blue Origin might actually compete with Amazon and AWS.

In its 14-page application to the FCC, Blue Origin says Project Sunrise’s satellites would operate in circular, sun-synchronous orbits ranging from 500 to 1,800 kilometers (310 to 1,120 miles) in altitude. The satellites would be built in groupings with three different types of antennas to reflect a variety of coverage requirements. They’d transmit data primarily through laser links, and route traffic through TeraWave and other mesh networks to communicate with ground stations.

Blue Origin is seeking waivers from some regulatory requirements — for example, the requirement for a processing round and a six-year deadline for deploying half of Project Sunrise’s satellites. The company says such requirements could be waived because its satellites will be designed to minimize interference with other satellites.

Blue Origin has been listing job openings for satellite engineers and other positions for people with relevant expertise, including a director of commercial sales for data center markets.

It didn’t take long for SpaceX to file an objection to Blue Origin’s application.

“SpaceX submits for the record Amazon’s petition to deny SpaceX’s orbital data center application and requests that the commission apply the substantive and procedural arguments in Amazon’s petition to Blue Origin’s application to facilitate equitable and consistent review and treatment across both applications,” the company said.

Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston took note of SpaceX’s filing in a post to X, calling it “one of the funniest responses to an FCC filing of all time.”

“For background, Amazon opposed SpaceX’s filing, and then Blue Origin (both effectively controlled by Jeff Bezos) filed the exact same thing as SpaceX,” he wrote.

So, will Starcloud get involved in the dispute? “We’re staying out of it!” Johnston said.

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GhostClaw, a macOS infostealer, is spreading through GitHub repositories and developer tools, and it works because routine install habits make running malware feel completely normal.

GhostClaw is spreading across GitHub

Jamf researchers tracked the campaign’s shift from npm packages to GitHub repositories and AI-assisted development environments. The payload, a macOS infostealer, blends into expected behavior rather than exploiting software.
Developers regularly pull code from GitHub, follow README instructions, and run install commands without much hesitation. Familiar patterns build trust, and GhostClaw slips directly into that routine.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Ta-ra. Seeya later. Bon voyage. Auf wiedersehen.

Although Philips probably didn’t use any of those words, it has said goodbye to Google TV with the 2026 TV models, and brought Titan OS into the fold as the main UX partner.

This could be a very good arrangement for Philips.

The battle for customers’ attention in the TV space will, in my view, come down to the user interface. You can throw as many specs at the wall as you want, but at the end of the day, people like a TV that’s easy to use, and while Google TV is very good, in hindsight, perhaps it wasn’t the best partner for Philips.

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A smart change?

It’s a change that could end up being a smart move for Philips. Google TV is a big platform; it has all the global apps, it comes with integrated smarts and connectivity such as Google Assistant, Google Home and Google Cast. If you want a capable user experience, then Google TV offers that.

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But in the UK at least, it’s had and continues to have an issue with catch-up apps and services. I’ve heard a few voices give their opinion, and at least one issue was that catch-up and on-demand services such as BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4 did not want to let go of non-negotiables – namely their position at the top of the EPG; whereas Google wanted to bring some flexibility and change to that.

I can’t say that’s the absolute truth on the matter but an opinion that’s been floated as to why Google TV and UK TV services haven’t really got on with each other. It’s likely the reason why Panasonic, released TiVo and Fire TV models in the UK while Europe got Google TV models instead.

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It’s likely the reason why iPlayer rarely appears on Google TV models in the UK, aside from Sony and TCL models, who seem to have gone through the trouble of negotiating their own deals (or using different TV platforms) to get these apps onboard.

Whether it’s a TV or a smart projector, Google TV is almost certainly leaving iPlayer off the list; while Channel 4’s level of support is sketchy. And let’s not beat about the bush – these are apps that many want to have included from the get-go. Not having them is a disadvantage in the minds of UK customers who want a TV that’s easy to use.

And therefore it’s a disadvantage to Philips. The Philips OLED910 is a great TV but I’ll have to highlight the fact that it doesn’t have iPlayer will annoy customers who simply want a TV packaged with everything they might need. Does anyone remember the kerfuffle customers brought up when LG TVs dropped Freeview Play? Is that important to many.

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A titan in waiting

But switching to Titan OS makes sense. Philips has practically incubated this user platform from birth, working with them on their less expensive TVs and gradually adding to across the line to the point where it’s available on the flagship level.

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It’s certainly not as big a brand name as Google is, but now Philips can weave a story that includes both them and Titan OS, rather than being eased out of the way by Google taking the limelight.

They can build a platform that works for Philips, with much closer collaboration. Titan themselves are looking to bring in some interesting new features, including a sports section that’s tailored to what the viewer wants to watch, rather than what the platform wants you to watch.

Say you prefer watching tennis? Based on what you’ve clicked, the platform will learn what you like, and rather than focus on shovelling association football to your eyeballs, you’ll instead be presented with tennis content instead.

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This is a long-term goal and not something that’s going to be launched in the next few months, but it’s a sign of what can be done on a smaller scale, rather than being a smaller voice next to a global player such as Google.

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Titan OS supports Freely, so you get all the catch-up apps and services included from the get-go. It might not have the flash or scale of Google TV, but it’s building up a base and growing in terms of recognition.

After all, what does Philips have to lose? If anything, it should be seen as what Philips can gain from such a move. I think there’s plenty of opportunity available for Philips and Titan to make their mark.

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