Watch a popular bag maker roast Amazon for ripping off its design in this clever video

For years, merchants on Amazon have accused the company of ripping off their ideas and selling much cheaper versions under the Amazon Basics brand, but no one’s made the case quite like Peak Design. In a new YouTube video , the San Francisco-based bag designer points out the many similarities between its popular camera bag and Amazon’s, both of which are called the Everyday Sling. They have similar shapes, aesthetics, and pockets, and even their logos are in the same place. A key difference, though, is that Peak Design’s sling starts at $55 , while Amazon’s version currently sells for $21. The video then pretends to look in on the “crack team at the Amazon Basics department,” wearing googly-eye glasses and marveling at Peak Design’s sales before resolving to “Basic this bad boy.” Amazon Basics straight up ripped off the @peakdesignltd Everyday Sling (they even stole the product name). I know Basics does this all the time, but this is basically a carbon copy (minus quality). https://t.co/pGJmBZYn6C — Justin Duino (@jaduino) March 3, 2021 Of course, the two bags are not exactly the same. In the video, Peak Design calls out the areas where Amazon’s version falls short—plastic buckles instead of aluminum, cheaper zippers, floppy dividers—while also pointing to its own bag’s recycled materials, lifetime warranty, carbon neutrality, and “fairly paid factory workers.” “If you’re tired of supporting companies who innovate, and just not willing to pay for responsibly made products, don’t,” the video says, warning that “you’ll get exactly what you pay for.” Peak Design is the latest in a long line of product makers who say Amazon has copied their products and undercut them on price. As Bloomberg reported in 2016 , a company called Rain Design said sales of its popular laptop stand slipped after Amazon started selling a look-alike at about half the cost. In a 2019 interview with Fast Company , the shoe maker Allbirds accused Amazon of copying its Wool Runner shoe, but without the same sustainable design practices . A Wall Street Journal report last year also documented how Amazon would use data from third-party vendors to track popular items and launch its own versions. Those included a car-trunk organizer similar to one sold by a small startup called Fortem, and an office chair seat cushion from a company called Upper Echelon Products. Amazon had previously told Congress that it didn’t track data from third-party sellers when deciding which products to make under the Amazon Basics brand. Regulators have started to step in. Read More …

Why Paramount Plus is betting on sports to get you to subscribe to another streaming service

Up until now in the streaming wars, live sports were something of a tantalizing appetizer. Mouthwatering and exciting, sure, but not the real reason you signed up. It was great that, say, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming offering, was set to stream the Olympics last summer (they were postponed because of COVID-19), but fans were primarily interested in bingeing shows such as 30 Rock and The Office . And Netflix, of course, has been emphatic that it has no plans to stream live sports. Even pure sports streaming apps such as ESPN Plus have largely been sold as “complementary” and “additive” services to their linear siblings. There are a couple of reasons for this: One, viewers—and advertising dollars—still flow to traditional broadcast and cable networks, particularly for spectacles such as the Super Bowl, major college football games, and the NBA playoffs. Two, the rights for the most attractive sports content are still tied up with legacy networks, and for the last several years, at least, there’s been some uncertainty that the economics of streaming premium sporting events makes sense. Into this environment comes Paramount Plus , Viacom’s new entry into the streaming playoffs, which launches March 4 and costs $10 a month. (An ad-supported version is set to launch in June for $5 a month). Paramount Plus is seeking to flip the logic that’s put sports on the streaming sidelines. Rather than selling itself primarily as the home of Nickelodeon kids’ shows and big Hollywood movie franchises such as Mission: Impossible —it has those, too—when Viacom laid out its streaming plans last week, it led with a sports pitch. “Paramount Plus will be the leader in live sports,” CBS Entertainment Group head George Cheeks said bluntly. “Bottom line, everything sports fans love on CBS . . . all of this will be available on Paramount Plus.” That means live soccer: Paramount Plus is the exclusive home of UEFA soccer in the U.S., which includes the Champions League and Europa League, and it will air National Women’s Soccer League matches. Read More …

How interoperability could end Facebook’s death grip on social media

Reining in the power of big tech companies, including major social networks, is an idea with growing bipartisan support in Washington. Much of the debate so far has revolved around the idea of breaking up companies such as Facebook to limit their reach and influence. But such “structural remedies” require a difficult and costly court battle, and history shows that they can take a decade or more to play out. Based on comments during last week’s tech antitrust hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, it now seems possible that a more surgical approach will ultimately win the day. If one factor explains the competition problem in social media, it’s  network effects . The more members a social network onboards, the more valuable the platform becomes. After all, when all your friends and family are already on Facebook, you may feel the need to become a member in order to stay in the loop. And you might also end up spending far less time on other networks. This makes a tough road for all those Facebook alternatives out there. If past judgements such as U.S. v. Microsoft are a guide, U.S. courts don’t smile on big companies that get a competitive advantage simply by being big. One way to mitigate Facebook’s network effects would be to make it less (socially) costly for people to stay on smaller, competitive networks. That’s why the concepts of portability and interoperability are so important. Data portability proponents say that just as your phone number is portable when you switch from one carrier to another, your social identity and social content should be portable if you want to move to another competing social network. They also say that just as it’s easy for an AT&T Wireless customer to call a T-Mobile customer–because the networks are interoperable–social network users should be able to share content across networks. For example, it should be easy for a Facebook user to share social content with a friend on LinkedIn. Plenty of precedent These aren’t new concepts. As a way of giving new cellular carriers a fighting chance, the Federal Communications Commission in 1996 mandated that consumers be able to take their phone number with them from a wireline carrier to a wireless carrier, or vice versa Read More …

Whoops: Amazon quietly changes app icon after Hitler comparisons

Back in January, Amazon updated its app icon to resemble its cardboard shipping boxes, with a brown background, smile logo, and jagged strip of blue tape across the top. Now, it’s changing the icon again, because that piece of tape looked sort of like a Hitler moustache. The new icon, first spotted by The Verge , gives the tape a straight edge with a dog-eared corner. It’s an apparent response to the many folks on Twitter and elsewhere who called out the appearance of a toothbrush moustache in the original icon. The new amazon logo be lookin like Hitler wtf is this ???????? pic.twitter.com/RCjR6ne8Kn — Nathan Cudgel (@NathanCudgel) March 2, 2021 New Amazon logo looks like a cheeky Hitler pic.twitter.com/JKFsKQl5DX — Ross (@RSSY_P) January 30, 2021 My favorite part is the homage it pays to Charlie Chaplin. — Corey Quinn (@QuinnyPig) January 26, 2021 Well it happened.. my Amazon app icon finally updated to the cardboard hitler… — Quenten Flint (@Quenten_Flint) February 28, 2021 I completely missed that Amazon quietly tweaked its new icon to make it look… less likehitler. pic.twitter.com/WQphVl0UqP — Wallstreetbets (@russian_market) March 2, 2021 Amazon itself isn’t commenting on the unfortunate resemblance either way. In statements to The Verge and other outlets, the company merely reiterated its reasons for dropping the old shopping cart icon in the first place. “We designed the new icon to spark anticipation, excitement, and joy when customers start their shopping journey on their phone, just as they do when they see our boxes on their door step,” the company said. Read More …

Online pharmacy Ro is now vaccinating seniors at home

Ro, an online pharmacy that got its start prescribing sexual health products, is now offering to vaccinate seniors at home in New York. The company is working with the New York Department of Health as well as local organizations on the effort. Seniors in Yonkers will be able to schedule an appointment through Ro’s website. Multiple people at a single location can schedule their appointments together, though all patients will have to prove they are older than 65 Read More …