The maker of Equal sweeteners and the nutrition brand GNC are among the first to launch products through a program Amazon started last year to outsource the work. Mattress maker Tuft & Needle also recently created a brand called Nod exclusively for Amazon. Amazon's initiative is the latest example of the e-commerce giant flexing its muscles in order to offer the lowest prices and widest selection, as it seeks to cut into the market share of big-brand manufacturers. Also, they risk cannibalizing higher-margin sales of their main brands by offering comparable products under different labels. In exchange for creating exclusive products, the brands get help launching their products on Amazon.com,

Amazon is finding gold in sponsored posts but what is it costing consumers? Amazon's sponsored ads over the best-selling smartwatch from Apple (Photo: screenshot) Do a search for laptops on Amazon, and the first result might be ones made by Microsoft or HP, despite Asus being Amazon's best seller. Try for printers, and while HP and Brother top the Amazon best seller chart, the first three (sponsored) results are for a Bluedriver scanner and replacement batteries for printers made by Zebra. Searching TVs take you directly to LG and Sansui, a company probably most American consumers have never heard of, despite Amazon's best-seller category being dominated by Chinese brand TCL. These are sponsored posts, paid by the manufacturer to get better placement on the top e-commerce site, and if you think you're seeing a lot more of these this year, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.

A company spokesman said Mr. Soltero will remain with Microsoft through the end of the year. After Microsoft acquired Acompli, it quickly promoted Mr. Soltero. Within eight months, the company named him leader of Outlook, its widely used email application. A year-and-a-half later, Microsoft put Mr. Soltero in charge of strategy for the Office suite of products that include Outlook as well as the Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation applications. In March, the company moved Mr. Soltero to lead one of its most challenging businesses: its digital voice assistant, Cortana.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN 1.24% introduced its Alexa digital assistant seven months after Cortana's launch, but its Echo and sibling devices now control two-thirds of the U.S. smart-speaker market, according to research firm eMarketer. The market share of devices using Cortana isn't large enough to be listed in eMarketer's tally. Microsoft's effort to turn Cortana into a viable competitor, while voice computing is still in its early days, is bigger than just the market for smart speakers that sit on kitchen counters checking the weather. It is an opportunity to lead in the next big advance in computing, in which people use their voices rather than a keyboard and mouse. Companies that master so-called conversational computing will have an edge in the emerging business just as Windows gave Microsoft an advantage in the PC era, analysts say.

On Thursday, the tech company said it's releasing the first of several home assistant devices with screens slated for the summer. The Smart Display, built by Lenovo and running Google's Android Things software for internet-connected devices, hits stores this weekend. Like Google's Home, Home Mini and Home Max, the Smart Display lets you control it with your voice, and focuses on playing music. But it also has either an 8-inch or 10-inch screen, on which you can watch YouTube videos, have a video chat or get better answers to some questions. The Smart Display starts at $200.

That's because the online pioneer thrives on disruption. Just look at what happened to FedEx Corp. In February, FedEx shares collapsed following a Wall Street Journal report that Amazon was about to launch a delivery service for businesses. Shipping with Amazon, the moniker for the new service, was supposed to kill incumbents. FedEx CEO Fred Smith appears at a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes a National Council for the American Worker in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 19, 2018, in Washington.

Walmart and Microsoft are doubling down in their offensive against Amazon. The retail giant said Tuesday it was entering into a strategic partnership with Microsoft on'digital transformation' that will involve Walmart leveraging the firm's Azure cloud solutions. The five-year agreement is aimed at helping Walmart compete better against Amazon, which is taking a growing share of retail sales in the United States and globally. Walmart said Tuesday it was entering into a strategic partnership with Microsoft on'digital transformation' that will involve Walmart leveraging the firm's Azure cloud solutions Microsoft and Walmart said the partnership was focused on using artificial intelligence and other technology tools to help manage costs, expand operations and innovate faster. 'Walmart's commitment to technology is centered around creating incredibly convenient ways for customers to shop and empowering associates to do their best work,' said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

Millennials have it so easy… not so long ago you'd see a group of people in a restaurant doing some ridiculous math equation to split a bill, but now there's apps like Venmo that make everything much much easier. A user receives funds from a friend for Burning Man festival expenses via Venmo. More Americans are paying each other via mobile apps than ever. From 2018 to 2021, the total value of mobile peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions in the U.S. could rise from $156.49 billion to $244.03 billion, according to eMarketer. The firm also recently identified the three leading apps in that market: PayPal's (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo, Square's (NYSE: SQ)Cash App, and Zelle.

Add one more digital voice assistant iPhone users can control with just their voice. Amazon rolled out an update to its Alexa app, allowing users to make requests from its digital assistant using voice commands. The update is available on both iPhones and iPads. The feature isn't as elegant as Apple's Siri, where users can just speak "Hey, Siri" to wake the assistant without ever touching their phone. To trigger voice commands on Alexa, users open the app and then tap the icon at the bottom to start asking for things like the weather or sports scores.

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn't just the buzzword of the moment--it holds the potential to significantly change the marketing landscape in China and help companies market to the segment of one. Bean: One of our companies, OCheng, is applying AI to WeChat commerce. WeChat service accounts are allowed to send a message to their followers once a week. OCheng can take customer relationship management data, look at the content people are engaging with, their purchase history, etc., and use machine learning to personalize these weekly messages. Instead of sending one message to a million people, you can send a million messages that are unique to each user every week.