Amazon Job Cuts, Google's Desktop Android, and Snap's AR Future

Amazon's Workforce Reduction and Restructuring

• 📉 Amazon announced 16,000 job cuts, its second major layoff in three months, citing ongoing restructuring.
• 🛒 The company is shutting down its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh Store formats to concentrate on same-day delivery via Whole Foods.
• 💳 Amazon 1, the palm-scanned identification system, will be discontinued on June 3rd, with all biometric data to be deleted.

Google's Desktop Android Interface Revealed

• 💻 A Chromium bug report appears to have accidentally revealed Google's desktop interface for Android, codenamed ALOS.
• 🖥️ This build features a taller status bar with various icons and desktop-style extension support and split-screen multitasking within Chrome.

LinkedIn and Robotics Innovations

• 🤖 LinkedIn is integrating AI tool proficiencies directly into user profiles, allowing companies to verify skill levels.
• 🦾 Fauna Robotics introduced Sprout, a $50,000 soft-bodied humanoid robot designed for researcher safety and ease of development.

Snap's AR Ventures and Apple's iPhone Strategy

• 👓 Snap is spinning its AR glasses unit into a standalone subsidiary, Specs, Inc., to attract investment and partnerships.
• 📱 Analyst Mingchi Kuo reports Apple plans to keep iPhone 18 pricing stable despite global RAM shortages and rising memory costs.

Autonomous Trucking and Ride-Sharing

• 🚚 Autonomous trucking company Waabi has signed a deal with Uber to deploy over 25,000 robo-taxis using its Waabi Driver system, with Waabi receiving $1 billion.
• 🚗 Uber is establishing a new Uber AV Labs unit to support data collection and is adding Waabi to its roster of autonomous vehicle partners.