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A brick-and-mortar Amazon store may be coming to a city near you

By Lulu Chang Published May 18, 2016

amazon brick and mortar books 001 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Don’t be fooled by the brick-and-mortar stores it’s got, this is still Amazon from the block. Or rather, the web. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has promised to bring more of Amazon offline and into the physical sphere, though it’s unclear yet as to how many “more” really is. But don’t worry — Amazon isn’t leaving the internet behind. In addition to its brick and mortar expansion, Bezos says that he also wants to build upon perks for Amazon Prime members — so much, in fact, that he wants customers to feel that they “are being irresponsible” if they’re not paying $99 a year for membership.

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Amazon has expanded its business considerably in the last several months — from brick-and-mortar book stores to its own fashion brands, the internet retailer is proving that it’s much more than the CostCo of the web. And there are no signs of slowing. Speaking at Amazon’s annual shareholders meeting, Bezos said of his plans to open more storefronts, “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue.”

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While many brick-and-mortar stores haven’t had the best of luck in the last several months (due in large part to the stifling competition and lower prices offered by online sellers like … Amazon), Bezos may have a secret sauce for success when it comes to venturing outside of the internet. Already, the company plans to open a second physical bookstore, this time in Southern California (the original opened in Seattle late last year).

Bezos has also indicated that Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit alone is expected to hit $10 billion in sales this year, marking yet another area of high growth for the company.

There’s little word yet on the details of either the storefront expansion or the increased perks for Amazon Prime members, but with the way things have been going for the Seattle-based company, it seems that we have much to look forward to.

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News

Amazon is planning to open its largest retail stores to date

Amazon is planning to dramatically expand its brick-and-mortar footprint with the opening of large sites similar to department stores, a report claimed on Thursday, August 19.

The company that made its name with online shopping has in recent years taken a growing interest in physical outlets, opening bookstores, grocery stores, and premises selling its growing range of electronics, among other items.

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Amazon’s New World is reportedly bricking RTX 3090 cards

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Players reported that Amazon's massively multiplayer game New World is bricking their gaming PCs. The issue seems to be tied to EVGA RTX 3090 graphics cards, according to users who have experienced the problem. However, even players that are using just an RTX 3090 have reported that their computers are overheating and consuming an enormous amount of CPU power.

When someone refers to "bricking" a device, they could be using it in one of two ways. Many people use the term "bricking" when a device can no longer function at the moment or crashes when trying to perform a task or run an application. Usually, with this definition, the user will need to reboot the device. The true definition of "bricking" is when a device is completely destroyed and becomes no longer usable. Unfortunately, it seems that the latter is happening more in terms of the New World beta players.

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Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink and commercial sales, revealed the news during an event at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday, The Verge reported.