• Blink security cameras are currently available at extremely low prices, given their reputation.
• But Amazon cameras and video doorbells have a history of serious privacy concerns.
• Can Blink security cameras be hacked?

Amazon’s range of Blink home security cameras are at their all-time lowest prices, attracting new customers to these popular devices. These cameras are renowned for being cheaper than most of their competitors, but these latest price cuts take their affordability to a whole new level.

With competition on the home security camera market stronger than ever before, these price reductions seem to be a ploy to attract new customers. You could be forgiven for thinking the cameras must be low quality given their low prices, but Blink security cameras are renowned for being reliable wireless security devices with excellent battery life.

There must be a catch…right? Well, according to some reports, there are growing concerns regarding the privacy of these (and other) cloud connected devices.

Blink security cameras also come in the form of video doorbells, featuring HD video, motion detection, night vision, two-way audio, and local storage. There is also the option to subscribe to a cloud service storage if required. There is a downloadable Blink Home Monitor app, so homeowners can keep track of everything when they’re away. And, being Amazon, it’s no surprise that the cameras are compatible with Alexa. As Amazon says, “Blink and you’re home,” though we’re not sure what this slogan has to do with home security. According to some, a more appropriate slogan would be, “Blink and your data may be hijacked.”

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Security vulnerabilities reported by some Blink users

There have been some reports of security issues with Blink cameras, but most have been swiftly dealt with by firmware updates by security researchers.

These vulnerabilities, though, have raised concerns, with some worrying their information and video footage could be hijacked. Then again, this is a concern with most security cameras, particularly those connected to the cloud.

When we look into Amazon’s history of security cameras, it seems the concern is warranted. Ring, another brand of security camera acquired by Amazon in 2018, has experienced a wide range of security and privacy problems over the last few years. And it’s not just the owner’s privacy at stake.

In 2021, Mr. Jon Woodard of the UK was told he had to pay his neighbor £100,000 after a court decided his Ring doorbell broke data laws and caused harassment. His neighbor felt she was under “continuous visual surveillance,” leading to the substantial claim. The lesson here is to never point your security camera at your neighbor’s bedroom.

Amazon has also had to pay out large settlements in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlements over Ring and Alexa privacy violations. Totaling $30 million, Amazon had to pay $5.8 million to settle with the FTC over Ring privacy violations and $25 million for Alexa privacy vulnerabilities.

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The FTC alleged that Ring gave third-party contractors access to customer videos, compromising customer private information. It was also alleged that fundamental security measures were not implemented by Ring to protect a user’s information from online threats, such as “brute force” attacks. One Ring employee is said to have watched thousands of videos of over 81 female users, who were identified through cameras designated for use in private or intimate settings.

Amazon acquired Blink almost a year before Ring, and, although Blink says is “is not in the business of selling [its] customers’ personal information to others,” it does collect data on users (it’s run by Amazon, after all).

The main question is this – can Blink cameras be hacked? Theoretically, yes – because these devices are wireless, they come with the risk of being hacked, as they can be accessed through the internet. The good news, though, is that there have been no official reports of this happening – yet.

Blink security cameras – are they more secure than Ring was?

The fact that Blink cameras have a local storage option means users don’t have to store videos on the cloud, providing better privacy than many other cloud-based security systems.

Further protection comes in the form of encryption. As Blink cameras typically stream footage using a wi-fi connection, Blink uses WPA2 wi-fi channels for encrypted streaming of videos, in the hope to prevent hacking through wireless devices. Information is further protected with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), too.

As we mentioned, though, Blink security devices can still be hacked. A leading cybersecurity firm, Tenable Inc, experimented with the Blink ST2 model, finding several vulnerabilities and unsafe pathways within the wireless camera.

Such flaws could give a hacker access to the camera – and the live audio feed. Not only that, but Tenable Inc discovered hackers may also be able to hack other smart gadgets through a Blink camera. Out of the seven privacy issues, two were critical, including command injection flaws CVE-2019-3984 existing in Blink’s cloud communication endpoints, and CVE-2019-3989, existing in the device’s helper scripts. Amazon has responded to these privacy vulnerabilities, rectifying the severe security flaws.

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How a Blink security camera can be hacked

There have been no official reports of Blink cameras being hacked through the internet, but, like any loT device, they can be hacked either remotely or locally.

Blink cameras – too good to be true?

When hacked locally, the hacker gains access to the wireless network the camera utilizes, getting access to the local network. Sometimes, they will use a jammer to block the real network or use security breaches before using a fake network to get access to the camera. Fortunately, a hacker typically needs to be within close range, so this type of hacking is rare.

Remote hacking is the most common type with devices like Blink security cameras. A hacker will use a method known as “credential stuffing,” and scan for login details via data breaches or security gaps. From here, the hacker can view the camera password and username, spying on a camera without the owner’s knowledge. They may even change the camera’s settings, locking the owner out.

Blink cameras remain one of the most popular security devices out there, and Amazon’s recent price reductions may be a move to attract new customers, and move on from worries and threats of hacking.

The post Amazon’s Blink security cameras at their lowest prices – but how safe are they? appeared first on TechHQ.

• Humanoid robots are being trialled in Amazon warehouses.
• The company has an atrocious record of both employee welfare and anti-unionization policies.
• As such, workers are worried that the humanoid robots will replace them altogether.

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Amazon has continued its recent trend of utilizing robotics in its warehouses by introducing humanoid robots on a trial basis to perform some of the more mundane, repetitive tasks warehouse operations involve. According to an Amazon spokesperson, these humanoid robots are “freeing employees up to better deliver for [their] customers.”

Automating operations is nothing new for Amazon. The tech giant has been under pressure to cut costs in recent years, leading to a significant increase in the use of robotics.

For instance, Amazon announced that it was trialling a giant robotic arm in 2022. Its task? To pick up various goods and items and help with tote recycling. Amazon warehouses already employ wheeled robots for warehouse item transport, and the company has initiated drone deliveries in two US states, with the aim of expanding Prime Air, its drone delivery project, to the UK and Italy next year.

The new humanoid robot being tested goes by the name of Digit and is designed with its own pair of hands and legs, rather than wheels. This is just one of 750,000 robots collaborating with human staff across Amazon’s 185 fulfilment centres worldwide. However, the use of automated systems has led to allegations that Amazon may be planning to replace its entire human workforce in time. But, according to one the one trade union that has so far managed to form in a US Amazon facility despite the company’s massively controversial anti-union stance, the company has “been treating their workers like robots for years.”

Amazon’s poor HR history

Amazon has endured a torrid history of lawsuits and allegations associated with hostile work environments and grave HR misconduct. Several testimonials have come to light from former Amazon workers who claimed they were overworked to the point of urinating in water bottles due to time constraints, keeping them from taking real bathroom breaks.

Amazon has also faced severe criticism over internal HR issues, resulting in widespread underpayment of warehouse staff. A New York Times report revealed instances of employees, including vulnerable individuals, being underpaid for over a year due to HR errors. The investigation, triggered by a worker’s complaint, identified over 100 similar cases across various warehouses.

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It’s worth remembering that Amazon lives or dies on its logistics performance – and yet the idea remains that these errors persisted for over a year by ongoing accident.

Problems include automated systems (they don’t always work) leading to wrongful terminations, insufficient support for medical issues, and overseas call routing causing communication gaps.

While Amazon has vowed to address such issues by means such as increased hiring, improved communication, and enhanced HR training, many HR issues persist, and the company is still facing legal action from delivery drivers and other workers seeking their rights.

According to numerous reports, Amazon warehouses, particularly those in some US cities, see double the national average of turnover. In light of the HR issues we’ve mentioned, Amazon’s growing reliance on robotics in warehouses may well be linked to this high turnover, with automated systems seemingly contributing to employee dissatisfaction.

Unions voice their concerns

Amazon’s shift toward the use of robots has raised serious concerns from labor unions. They have suggested that such automation has led to a multitude of job losses in the company’s fulfilment centres.

Stuart Richards, a UK trade union representative, said that automation will be responsible for a rapid plunge into job cuts. “We’ve already seen hundreds of jobs disappear in fulfilment centres.”

Amazon has reiterated that its robotic systems have helped generate “hundreds of thousands of new jobs,” including over 700 new job categories requiring “skilled roles.” While Amazon utilizes over 750,000 robotic systems, they are said to work “alongside” humans, rather than “instead” of them.

Scott Dresser, a member of the team at Amazon Robotics, reported that Digit, the new robot, is “an experiment that we’re running to learn a little bit more about how we can use mobile robots and manipulators in our environment here at Amazon.” The prototype is being trialled to see whether it can work safely with human employees to perform highly repetitive tasks.

Mr Dresser emphasised that automation has not been responsible for job losses. He suggested that these fears are unfounded. “Our experience has been that these new technologies actually create jobs, they allow us to grow and expand. And we’ve seen multiple examples of this through the robots that we have today. They don’t always run, unfortunately,” he said, “and we need people to repair them.”

Notably, Mr Dresser pointed to no hard evidence that the technologies created jobs rather than killing them, relying on the vague and godlike “experience” of Amazon to cover his comments with a sheen of legitimacy.

Tye Brady, the chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, stressed that human workers have an irreplaceable role in Amazon’s fulfilment centres. In relation to worries over future Amazon warehouses becoming completely automated, Mr Brady stipulated, “There’s not any part of me that thinks that would ever be a reality. People are so central to the fulfilment process; the ability to think at a higher level, the ability to diagnose problems.”

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Nevertheless, the fact that Digit mimics human movements, can grasp items, navigate stairs, steps, and various obstacles indicates an advancement in technology. Therefore, it is no surprise that worries are intensifying regarding potential job displacement and the economic impacts from job losses – particularly in a company with such a lamentable track record in terms of standing by the rights of its human workers.

Sequoia – Amazon’s other new robotic system

In October, Amazon introduced another new robotic system, known as Sequoia. Like Digit, this has been designed to move goods around various warehouses and alter Amazon’s containerized methods.

Currently, large yellow storage racks are used to move various items around in Amazon warehouses. These include cubbies where items can be packed or removed by employees. While a human workforce is required, these racks use autonomous drives that move them along.

Sequoia differs in that it implements storage racks that are filled with blue or yellow totes. The new system uses arms to pick up totes before taking them to an employee’s workstation. As with Digit, Sequoia frees up human resources.

According to Amazon, the primary goal of Sequoia is to improve the safety of its workforce. By delivering items to an employee’s “power zone” (between their mid-thigh and mid-chest region), workers will not have to squat down to pick up goods or reach above their heads, limiting the risk of injuries.

Amazon has a highly contentious record of dealing with human beings.

Over the years, Amazon has come under extreme criticism for the high injury rates within its fulfilment centres. Musculoskeletal injuries, in particular, have been reported several times, typically caused by straining whilst squatting, reaching, pulling, or pushing. In one Washington Amazon warehouse, a third of all workers who suffered from musculoskeletal disorders were off sick for 100 days or more between 2006 and 2018.

With compensation claims rising, Amazon has appealed the citations, but also insists its investment in training and technology has made its warehouses safer.

Humanoid robots working alongside organics at Amazon. Forever, or just for now?

Rain Wang, a senior technical product manager at Amazon Robotics, said, “Amazon Robotics has really pioneered the idea of goods to people. With Sequoia, we’re able to make a functional improvement to employee safety.”

According to Wang, there are no plans for Sequoia to replace every storage rack in Amazon’s facilities. But we are yet to hear what sites are confirmed for the implementation of this new system.

Scott Dresser added that Amazon’s new robotic systems are not associated with the recent rise of regulatory scrutiny. “This is stuff we’ve been working on for way beyond some of the scrutiny we’ve seen recently.”

With a questionable history regarding HR practices, worker safety, and mass layoffs, Amazon’s introduction of automated robotic systems raises deep ethical queries that will continue to rage on for some time to come.

The post Automation on legs: humanoid robots trialled by Amazon in bid to “Free up staff” appeared first on TechHQ.

• Amazon and Apple instigate back-to-office policies.
• Remote working under threat.
• “Back to work” policies suggest remote working is not “really” working.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, remote working was more or less mandated wherever it was deemed possible around the world. Certainly, traditional offices were decimated by the responsible actions taken to reduce the spread of Covid infection, and the rise and rise of technological solutions that acted to connect those who geographical distance prevented from congregating in one space.

From emergency to benefit.

What began – or at least grew to be accepted – in an emergency though soon revealed enormous potential benefits, both to staff and to employers who embraced the new remote working and eventually hybrid working models.

Staff were able to rearrange their lives in a more equitable work-life balance, and despite some initial (not to say shameful) paranoia from managers that involved the likes of pre-installed activity monitors on remote workers’ devices, the benefits largely revealed themselves to companies too.

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The ability to hire the best people for the job, not just the best people who happened to live in an acceptable geographical proximity to the job, meant more varied, highly-skilled teams. It also opened up more teams to applicants with physical disabilities (for whom, for instance, a daily commute was a deal-breaker), and people who had domestic or caring responsibilities that couldn’t be left unattended for full days at a time.

The positives of this new arrangement certainly outweighed its negatives for many companies, with some even able to sell off expensive city real estate and realize equity that could be ploughed back into their business’ activities.

All of which makes a current trend of pushback against remote working significantly more baffling and wrong-headed.

And yet, it’s a trend that’s on the rise, setting staff – who have now settled into their remote working or hybrid working lifestyles – against the wishes of a wave of managers and companies demanding a “return-to-office” policy.

The Musk fiasco.

When technology’s leading edgelord, Elon Musk, took over Twitter, he famously tried to instigate a back-to-the-office policy, and his bluff was significantly called when large swathes of his staff chose their remote working lifestyle over the assumed prestige of working for one of the world’s leading social media platforms – a prestige that was to significantly plummet in the following months.

Now though, there’s more meaty, cross-industry support for putting an end to the remote working “experiment.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s plans to transition the company from remote working to a hybrid working model, skewed 3-2 days per week in favor of in-office working, went into operation yesterday.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s return-to-work policies will see some of its corporate workers walk out next week in protest, assuming the organizers can raise support from 1000 workers for the action.

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While the arbitrary rearrangement of now-established lifestyle patterns is one concern, and the focus of remote working advocacy groups within the company, the Amazon action is also being part-organized by an internal climate justice worker group, which is highlighting another of the benefits of remote working – the significant decarbonization of operations brought about by remote working.

By killing the commute, not only do companies save worker-time and allow people’s workday to be more actively productive, they also take a lot of cars off the road at the same time of day, thus creating significantly fewer “choke points” on commuter roads, less congestion – and less pollution going into the atmosphere.

That could be particularly important at Amazon, as the company has pledged itself to achieve Net Zero (carbon neutrality across the company) by 2040.

A growing parcel of issues.

The Amazon action also comes after the announcement of significant layoffs – as is the case with many companies across the tech industry – and a particularly hostile response to Amazon workers attempting to unionize at warehousing facilities over pay and conditions.

In some cases, the Amazon response to those moves has been compared to old-style union-busting by the likes of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It would be fair to say then that Amazon workers are amassing a number of grievances about the world’s “everything store,” and the question of an increasing push back into office culture could be one straw too many.

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While the attempt to restore a pre-Covid office culture backfired badly when Elon Musk tried it, the attempts and arguments to bring workers back into office environments, in defiance of work-life balance concerns and environmental concerns both, have found a degree of surprisingly off-key support in some Western governments recently.

President Biden, in his 2022 state of the union address, said it was time for workers to “get back to work and fill our great downtowns again.” He followed that with the proclamation that show “People working from home can feel safe to begin to return to the office. We’re doing that here in the federal government. The vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.”

Choice, not fear.

That seems to miss the mark on two counts – firstly, the assumption that, two years on from the Covid peak, it was mostly a fear of being “unsafe” that kept people working from home, and secondly the underlying implication that workers from home were not “properly” working, as there was a need for them to go “back to work.”

Besides, a year on, remote working remains popular among workers who do it.

Similar messaging has come more recently from UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt (Number 2 in the UK government and in charge of the country’s finances), when he said last week that “the default location for work should be the office.”

His comments, to the British Chamber of Commerce, were roundly condemned as representing an outdated cliché by many knowledgeable bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

In the post-pandemic era there has been a lot of talk in the tech industry about remote working and hybrid working being “here to stay” and “the way of the future.” It’s worth remembering the degree of self-interest in statements like those – only by establishing hybrid and remote working as the new normal can the ecosystem of software companies that depend on connecting and managing remote and hybrid teams survive, so there’s a certain amount of self-interest in the narrative of certainty.

New waves of pushback.

Clearly, there will be more pushback on the issue of returning to in-office work than has been anticipated from managers and business owners, as well as high-level government figures up to and including the President of the US.

In that instance, the Amazon workers’ proposed walkout may be symbolic of a longer and more hard-fought battle between work-life balance advocates and climate campaigners on the one hand, and governments, management-driven companies and supplementary business owners (those who benefit from large workforces, for instance, needing places to get coffee, sandwiches, lunches, etc every day in a downtown location with a downtown price) on the other.

A result of that tension could be the rise in businesses with similar deliverables to those forcing workers back into the office, but which don’t make staff work from a central location (lowering their corporate overheads in the process).

Such businesses are unlikely to trouble the likes of Apple or Amazon, but might well use smart warehousing policies, for instance, to steal local or regional marches on the supergiants.

The post Amazon and Apple join return-to-office pushback against remote working appeared first on TechHQ.

Big Tech has never been a friend of organized labor, and Amazon in particular has a checkered history of labor relations in the US. While it has one warehouse that has formed a union, the JFK8 facility made famous by its current uniqueness, Amazon has been accused of “old-fashioned union-busting” when it comes to stopping the progress of unionization in its tracks.

Not only did the company contest the formation of the JFK8 union – it lost that appeal in January, 2023, but has said it will appeal again rather than recognize the union or legitimize its right to negotiate on behalf of its members.

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And the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has accused Amazon CEO Andy Jassy of “illegally coercing and intimidating workers” at other Amazon facilities that held ballots on unionization – the JFK8 union remains the only Amazon union in the United States, and it remains unacknowledged and unrecognized by the company, more than a year after the union vote was held in Staten Island.

Against that backdrop comes news from the UK that a major union has enrolled what it calls “a majority” of staff at one of Amazon UK’s city warehouses.

The UK economic background.

At the Coventry facility in the north of England, workers make just £11 an hour ($13.71), just 58p (72c) per hour above the UK’s minimum wage. The UK is currently suffering from a cost of living crisis, conflating the consequences of the Brexit vote in 2016, the cost of Covid response and furlough of businesses, and, some would argue, spates of governmental mismanagement of the economy (former Prime Minister Liz Truss wiped £30 bn off the health of the UK economy over the course of her 44-day premiership – the shortest time in the top job in 200 years, since George Canning, whose time was cut short in dramatic fashion – by death).

As such, the pressures on the UK economy – and in particular the UK food economy – are currently more extreme than elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the West. The use of “food banks,” which distribute food to the poor who simply cannot afford to feed their families (whether they are working or not) has risen by 37% in the space of a year – and now even food banks are running short of provisions, as the food they distribute is donated by citizens, and increasingly, they cannot afford anything extra.

The country is experiencing labor strikes in a number of sectors, from those with a history of industrial action, like rail workers and postal workers, to those for whom having to strike goes against sometimes lifelong vocations – doctors, nurses, and paramedics.

It’s unsurprising then that warehouse workers on those wages that are barely a whisker above the minimum allowable, despite working for one of the world’s richest multinational companies, would organize and unionize.

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A culture of monitoring.

But for the Coventry workers, it’s about more than money, and it would be irresponsible to lay the actions of Amazon staff there simply at the feet of the economy. Back in January 2023, Coventry Amazon workers went on strike over what they called “severe” conditions in the facility, saying they were monitored constantly, upbraided for “idle time” if they stopped working for more than a few minutes – and that even their bathroom breaks were timed, in case they needed to be written up.

Amazon on that occasion said it had a system “that recognizes great performance and encourages coaching to help employees improve if they are not meeting their performance goals.”

Some of the striking workers claimed the robots that are a hallmark of Amazon warehouse efficiency were treated better than the human workforce.

While the workers in January were able to strike because they were members of the GMB union, now that union says that having enrolled the majority of the Coventry facility’s staff in its membership, the workers qualify for recognition under the UK’s laws.

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It’s worth noting the different tone of Amazon’s response in the UK – on being asked to recognize the union, it said it “respects its employees’ rights to choose to join or not join a labor union.”

Not a straightforward process.

While that’s intensely different and significantly paler language than the response of the company to the Staten Island union – and other would-be branches of the Amazon union in the States – senior organizers at the GMB told the BBC (the UK’s leading broadcast news outlet) that these things are never straightforward.

Amanda Gearing, senior organiser of the GMB, said “There is a full process in place to try and prevent the GMB from forming, but we have the numbers now and Amazon will go out of their way to flood that warehouse with more workers, so the numbers are different.”

It would be too much to draw conclusions from this fact, but currently, Amazon is actively recruiting workers for its Coventry facility across several job sites.

If the union’s quest were successful, it would mean Amazon would have to negotiate with workers about pay and conditions – assuming of course it didn’t appeal, fail, and appeal again.

The question is whether it can afford to let the UK workers form a union – which would likewise be the first of its kind in Amazon in the UK – as that would surely complicate its labor relations issues back home.

After all, how could it justify allowing workers in similar but much smaller Western countries to unionize while holding out from recognizing the union in Staten Island?

Amazon has ten days to respond to the GMB’s request for recognition.

The post Amazon hit with new union demand – in the UK appeared first on TechHQ.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon, announced this week that it is increasing its investment in Australia for the next five years. This comes amid the cloud giant’s deepening focus on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region in the form of an increasing number of Availability Zones and infrastructure regions.

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In January this year, AWS launched its second infrastructure Region in Australia—the AWS Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region, 11 years after the cloud firm set up its first cloud infrastructure in Sydney. Having been around since 2012, AWS has spent an estimated US$6 billion on that region since its launch. As for the Melbourne region, AWS stated in January that it plans to invest an estimated US$4.5 billion until 2037. 

Don’t stop me now.

Considering the billions of dollars spent and earmarked, AWS is pretty set in Australia, at least in the next few years. However, AWS is far from resting on its laurels. Less than three months after the unveiling of the Melbourne Region, AWS this week set forth another round of investment of more than US$8.9 billion (AU$13 billion) for Australia in the next five years.

AWS shared that the added investment in Australia is so it can expand its cloud computing operations in both Melbourne and Sydney while working towards running its data centers entirely on renewable energy. The company estimated that the investment in the expansion and function of the two centers would bring in 11,000 full-time-equivalent positions.

That would include direct employees, contractors, construction, maintenance, engineering, and communications suppliers. According to the Australia and New Zealand country director at AWS Worldwide Public Sector, Iain Rouse, the company had spent US$419 million (AU$620 million) on network infrastructure, such as fiber links, on top of covering a variety of needs of both data centers.

The customers of AWS in Australia include Atlassian, Qantas, NAB, and government agencies, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, NSW Health Pathology, and the Western Australian Department of Education. Rouse believes companies in Sydney and Melbourne were choosing where to host their services based on their customers’ locations.

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“If I can give you a faster transaction, to book a flight or book a rideshare or do banking … I can make a decision to [host] from Melbourne or [host] from Sydney,” he added. To top it off, AWS has also been expanding to “local zone” services that provide similar cloud services to people in Perth, with Brisbane set to be announced soon.

The AWS Australia empire.

So far, AWS has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra and will have a combined AWS and Amazon retail office in Melbourne by late 2023. In welcoming the investment this week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “Economic and infrastructure investment from cloud providers like AWS helps create jobs, advances digital skills, boosts innovation, and uplifts local communities and businesses.” 

He also acknowledged AWS’s investment into the nation over the past decade, and welcomed its planned investment over the next five years, the full-time jobs supported annually, and its contribution to the nation’s GDP. In May 2022, AWS announced that its first Australian utility-scale renewable energy projects had begun delivering clean energy to the Australian grid.

Amazon–AWS’ parent company–has estimated it will reach 100% renewable energy by 2025. The company so far has two solar farms in regional New South Wales (NSW) – one in Gunnedah and another in Suntop. Those two fars generate 392,000MWh of energy each year, making up the 310 renewable energy projects across 19 countries Amazon has.

Separately, a wind farm built in Hawkesdale in regional Victoria will bring in another 717,000MWh when operational, powering Amazon’s operations. “I think there’ll always be more for us to do around space, but these are physical facilities in Australia,” Rouse said.

The post AWS is investing another US$8.9bn in its cloud infrastructures in Australia appeared first on TechHQ.

Any modern warehouse technology strategy will have robotics at its heart. That’s simply a factor of how many roles modern robotics can fill within warehousing – from pickers to fillers to stackers to packers. Robotics in warehousing are as fundamental, assuming you want to go about things in a 21^st century way – as shelves and products, and arguably more fundamental to the whole process than human beings.

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What’s more, the more development (and, necessarily, the more development finance) that goes into robotics in warehousing as time goes on, the more variety there will be, the more specialization (and perversely, also the more multitasking), and the greater flexibility in terms of deployment, financing, and upgrades.

If you don’t want to get caught in the 20^th century, robotics in warehousing is where your technology strategy should start.

Science fiction is now commonplace.

Robotics in warehousing can be divided into hardware and software – the actual mechanical body with its range of potential functions and capabilities, and the software that turns it into something more than a coffee table, and makes it your warehouse’s best friend.

Ten or twenty years ago, it would have been science fiction to say that both these things were within the budget of many businesses, even down to smaller operations.

These days though, you can often buy – or rent, as part of a robotics-as-a-service model – the robots, the warehouse management system, the software, and the expertise to make Robot A do the things you need Robot A to do, and Robot B, likewise.

And robotics in warehousing have been almost instantly transformative in terms of technology strategy. Many smaller businesses – and indeed, many larger businesses, too – have always needed warehousing space to hold products until they’re sold. But until the age of robotics, that has always come with either additional staff costs, or additional personal hassle when it came to the points of loading and fulfilment.

Staff – or business owners – would always have to be there to unload products from trucks, drag them to their correct location, and use whatever technology they could (and that they were licensed to use, in the case of machines like forklifts) onto the right shelves or pallets.

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Then at fulfilment time, the whole process would have to be gone through again, while also managing the manual restocking process.

This would either be costly, or it would significantly eat into the business owner’s time, life, and physical strength. It was clunky, disconnected, and prone, as ever, to human error.

The dawn of robotics in warehousing.

The dawn of the age of affordable robotics in warehousing has gradually put an end to that situation, and with the right robotics, warehousing businesses can almost run themselves – certainly they can reduce the business owner’s involvement in the process to something altogether more office-based and executive.

Why are robotics so fundamental to modern warehouse technology strategies? Largely because of the relatively recent proliferation of robots, their various types and functions. That has meant that there are very few on-the-ground roles within a warehouse that really, truly need a human to perform them.

That diversity of robotic roles can mean you have AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), or these days, more likely AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots) to take things from A-B – in the latter case, guided by program and sensors, without real-time human intervention.

Similarly, you can have UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), guided by humans, or aerial drones (unmanned, human-free) that can scan difficult-to-reach areas and auto-update your inventory records, or even record evidence of necessary maintenance you can’t see with the naked human eye.

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Robots-as-a-service – the future of warehouses?

Robot arms can be pickers, packers, checkers, or assemblers (remember what we said about multifunctionality?) depending on your needs. They’re relentless, they’re fast, and they mostly don’t require human intervention – meaning that neither you, nor anyone you’re paying, have to stand there and watch them work.

Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are all about the movement of stock – which can involve either lifting ridiculous amounts of product, far more than a human could at any one time, or using automated crane arms to pick specific products off shelves.

Show me the money!

This is what we mean by the diversity of robots radically reducing the need for human involvement in the day-to-day warehousing task.

But just because you can use them to do all this, doesn’t necessarily mean that you should, right? What’s the actual business case for adopting robotics in warehousing?

First and foremost, it means you can cut the number of humans doing the jobs. That means each robot only has to cost you less per year than an equivalent human’s salary to be an above-the-line saving.

Bu there’s more to it than that. Secondly, there’s a significant reduction in human error, meaning a slicker, faster, more perfect operation with less wastage.

Predictable breakdowns.

On top of that, warehousing is a potentially dangerous, and often strenuous job for human beings – the stretching, the bending, and the ever-present risk of injury up ladders, or from falling stock. With robots, not only are they less prone to injury, if something falls on them, you’re not dealing with healthcare insurance, Workers’ Comp, or industrial tribunals. You simply change them out, put in a replacement robot, and go about your day.

And while robots absolutely do have maintenance costs attached to them, that maintenance, and therefore those costs are predictable, meaning you can plan for them ahead of time, both in terms of outage, replacement, and cost – for instance, doing refits and refurbishments in quiet months, rather than in the run-up to Christmas.

There’s also precious little lag time in terms of orientation when it comes to adding new robots to your warehouse in those times of higher need. Apply the software, and boom – new robots, dealing with increased demand, certainly within the week and often within a day or two.

So, robotics deserve the central place in your warehouse technology strategy, because:

1. Their diversity means you can essentially “hire” exactly the right workers for the job.
2. They can do things that it’s dangerous for humans to do.
3. They can automatically update warehouse management systems with fresh data.
4. They’re an economical choice, with little of the uncertainty that comes with human workers.
5. With some new funding models, you can easily add in extra robots to deal with peak demand, without being forced to use them all year round.

Robotics in warehousing are a technology that’s been waiting for its time to come, and evolving all the while it’s been waiting. With leading players like Amazon having shown the variety of ways in which they can improve not only the speed of delivery, but also the safety of operations and the bottom line of the company, they’re a technology whose time is now.

The post Robotics in warehousing – where your technology strategy should start appeared first on TechHQ.

Amazon, while never likely to win awards for its treatment of its human employees, is undoubtedly shifting the needle on the robotically-enhanced warehouse and supply chain. There are, at time of writing, anything up to twelve different types of robots in an Amazon warehouse, depending on the size, location, and focus of the facility. So what can the deployment and variety of Amazon warehouse robots teach us about our own warehousing operations, and how to use robotics to transform our business?

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Is Amazon betting on the warehouse robot to replace humans?

Firstly, it’s worth noting that Amazon was in a position to be both an early adopter and a prime mover when it came to warehouse robotics. Rich enough to buy Kiva Robotics in 2012 for $775 million, and big enough in the world market to influence other warehousing operations by proving the technology could increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Saying “Be rich enough to be an early adopter, and big enough to make the technology too big to fail” would be fatuous in the extreme, but there’s still a lesson to be learned even from this slim connection with the reality of most companies.

Amazon was looking for ways to improve its warehouse operations. And when it invested, it had done enough research into robotic technology to see that Amazon warehouse robots could be a model which was expandable, and which could continue to add value to its business for generations to come.

That’s worth comparing to the likes of Google, which is arguably by far the more regular innovator. But Google innovates with optimism, as though it’s hopeful that it has the next big thing. Which is why the business life of Google is littered with the bodies of its failed projects.

Significantly, whether it be e-readers or cloud servers, personal assistants to warehouse robots, when Amazon invests in something new, it has a tendency to do it in a heavyweight, long-haul, transformational way.

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Amazon invests in robotics solutions company BionicHIVE

So lesson #1 from Amazon warehouse robots? Always be looking for ways to make your business better and more efficient, but when you make a move into new technology, make sure you’re able to sustain your investment over time, and that it genuinely drives your business forward.

Upgrade as needed.

Lesson #2 from the Amazon warehouse robots? Remember there are twelve types of robots in some Amazon warehouses right now?

That’s a lesson in itself. There are twelve types not just because it’s fun to have twelve types. Each of the Amazon warehouse robots represents either a new type of job that’s been made more efficient, or an evolution of older robot technology. The lesson? Deploy technology that streamlines your process or makes it more efficient, and don’t be afraid to upgrade as you go.

For instance, the original Kiva robot, the first of the Amazon warehouse robots, was revolutionary in its time, and could lift 1000 pounds on a base that’s 2.5 feet by 2 feet. 1000 pounds, by the way? Roughly five average American 20-year-old men. And the world record deadlift by any human being, ever – 1105 pounds, which involved an incredible musculature and a serious deadlifting belt. If you have the body to lift as much as that small robot, chances are, you’re not using it to lift, stack or pick at an Amazon warehouse.

The Kiva represented unheard-of warehouse efficiency, and Amazon invested heavily in it.

The robotic hulk.

In 2007, Amazon Robotics introduced the Hercules, which as its name suggests was the Incredible Hulk version of the Kiva, able to lift 3,000 pounds. While that kind of lifting power comes with a bigger robot, the Hercules took the revolution of Amazon’s warehouse robots to the next level, meaning heavier pallets were now within the reach of the robotic army.

Lesson? Be aware of advances in technology over time, and immediately grasp the ways in which they can help expand your business operations.

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Robots-as-a-service – the future of warehouses?

The Pegasus – because we’re on a Greek mythology kick – is essentially the replacement for the original Kiva. It lifts over 1,200 pounds without breaking a silicon sweat, and crucially, it’s significantly lower to the ground. That meant Amazon could maximize pallet-space by storing them lower, and had no need to worry about the lifting capacity of  its main, everyday robot.

NB – the Kiva robots are not being replaced across the board with the Pegasus model – at least, certainly not in one sweep. That would represent a very significant outlay, and the value savings would not be likely in every case to recoup the outlay costs. But where they’re judged to be necessary and economically advantageous, such as in warehouses close to cities, where storing more product means fulfilling more city orders faster, they’re being introduced.

Lesson? Always look for ways to maximize your productivity and efficiency. Do the math, and invest as you go in technology that will allow you to add substantively to your process, or carve a little off your quarterly operating costs. But don’t be unnecessarily reckless. Really, truly do the math before investing wholesale in replacement technology.

Hybrid wins.

The Xanthus is a recent addition to the family, and it’s an example of the growing sophistication of Amazon warehouse robots. It’s a hybrid, a combination G2p (Goods to person) and sorting robot that can place eight packages an hour.

Introduced in 2019, it’s already beginning to replace the Pegasus in some fulfilment centers, even while the Pegasus itself is still being rolled out in some city-adjacent location. By combining functions, Amazon is moving closer to a business efficiency – fewer, more versatile robots, which reduce outlay and can perform multiple functions as required.

Lesson? If there’s a technology that cuts your overheads and makes your operation more efficient, don’t be afraid to roll it out, even if it supersedes some existing technology in your organization. The long run is a long way away, and anything that saves you money today is worth investing in today.

The smartest sparrow in the land.

And then there’s the Sparrow. With a less mythical name, you might be tempted to write the Sparrow off, but you’d be a fool to do it. The Sparrow is Amazon’s new picking arm, and it’s about as smart as your family dog.

Whereas previous picking arm robots could only handle packages of a fairly uniform shape, the Sparrow uses AI, computer vision, and importantly, suction cups (like a Dalek’s sink-plunger, sci-fi fans) to use the correct pressure to pick items of varying shapes and curvatures, meaning it represents a huge leap forward in the functionality of picking arm robots.

The lesson of which is that just because a task has been done a certain way since the dawn of time, it doesn’t mean that it has to be done the same way forever. Don’t be afraid to adapt, and to adopt new technologies that revolutionize your processes.

The post Lessons the Amazon warehouse robots can teach us appeared first on TechHQ.

Amazon does not have the reputation it believes it has, of a benevolent employer in the tech industry. That’s why groups in its warehouse infrastructure keep trying to unionize, despite a fairly vicious anti-union campaign by the company. But Amazon warehouse workers in the UK, who are covered by the powerful GMB union, just voted to make history and go on strike.

The strike, in a warehouse in Coventry (a city that has existed since the middle ages and which has long been part of the industrial heartland of the country) is likely to take place early in 2023. Hundreds of workers at Amazon warehouse workers at the Coventry warehouse voted to take the action, and the strong support of their union means they’re unlikely to be dissuaded out of the strike – though the potential for a negotiated settlement remains.

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Layoffs at Amazon may impact up to 10,000 employees

The strike is understood to be the first such strike by Amazon workers in the UK, and while the reason for the action is Amazon’s interpretation of a fair wage increase, it is also worth noting that the Amazon workers will not be alone.

Strike!

Workers in several areas of critical infrastructure in the UK, from the postal service to the railways, to border staff, to the NHS (National Health Service – the UK’s socialized medical system, which gives treatment and medication to all comers, free at the point of need) are currently staging strikes over pay and conditions.

The strikes have come after a combination of sustained underfunding by both private companies (in the case of the postal service and the railways) and central government (in the case of border staff and the NHS nurses), and a crushing inflationary spiral which is currently seeing the UK endure one of the worst recessions on record – with every sign of significant continuing downturn across 2023 and 2024.

The union’s demand for higher wages may therefore be understandable against a background of economic chaos and increasing desperation, with no end in sight. The proposed Amazon pay raise amounts to 50p per hour (technically equivalent to 50c, but with less buying power in a wildly inflationary economy). For a standard 8-hour shift, that means the raise equates to £4 per day (equivalent to $4.86). That’s set against a consumer price index rise of 9.6% across the course of 2022, meaning everything costs much more than it did a year ago in the UK. The last time it was this high was in the early 1980s – which coincides with the last time there were significant and widespread strikes in the UK.

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Of all the items measured by the consumer price index, the ones most hit by the inflationary spiral in the UK are the things that affect everyone – domestic power, food and drink, and transport (including gas). Naturally, businesses face these increases too, which is putting additional strain on the entire supply chain of the necessities of life. That means the daily pay raise Amazon is offering is equivalent to one large box of breakfast cereal.

Perhaps understandably then, the GMB union has been relatively caustic in its language about the strike. Amanda Geary, a senior organizer at the union said: “Amazon workers should be applauded for their grit and determination – fighting for what’s right in the face of an appallingly hostile environment. The fact that they are being forced to go on strike to win a decent rate of pay from one of the world’s most valuable companies should be a badge of shame for Amazon. Amazon can afford to do better. It’s not too late to avoid strike action; get round the table with GMB to improve the pay and conditions of workers.”

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Amazon Labor Union suffers major blow in Albany

Such vociferous support for warehouse workers might amaze Amazon workers in the US, who, following a landmark vote to form a union at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island in April 2022, have faced unrelenting hostility and anti-union propaganda from Amazon – which still refuses to officially acknowledge the union’s right to negotiate on behalf of its members. Further attempts to form union chapters at other facilities have been defeated by what the Amazon Labor Union – and warehouse staff – have described as “intimidating” practices by Amazon.

Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the battle over whether the Amazon Labor Union would be able to negotiate on behalf of its members was “far from over.” That’s in spite of the fact that the National Labor Relations Board hinting that the union is close to being certified in the US.

Amazon’s response to the UK strikers though will sound familiar to the company’s US workers. In response to the notice of the strike in 2023, a UK spokesman for the online retail giant said “We appreciate the great work our teams do throughout the year and we’re proud to offer competitive pay which starts at a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour, depending on location.”

It’s worth noting that the national minimum wage for people over 23 in the UK must be between £9.50 to £10.42 an hour. So the minimum Amazon wage is just the equivalent of 8c per hour above what the company would be legally obliged to pay someone of that age (though it remains true of course that warehouse staff may be younger than 23, in which case the differential is greater).

Amazon also announced that full-time, part-time and seasonal frontline employees will receive an additional one-time special payment of up to £500 “as an extra thank you.”

In other, shorter words, Amazon believes it’s doing well by its employees, and so sees little incentive to negotiate with the GMB.

It’s true that if the strike is limited to just the one warehouse that has so far voted for it, it’s unlikely that Amazon will feel sufficient pressure to come to the table over pay and conditions in the UK. But because all Amazon warehouse workers in the UK will be covered by the GMB, it is possible that other warehouses might arrange similar ballots as the economic conditions in the UK worsen.

And if nothing else, the UK strike vote serves to further highlight the anti-worker stance of Amazon as a whole.

The post Amazon workers set to strike over pay – in the UK appeared first on TechHQ.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, most global corporations got caught flat-footed. Amazon meanwhile, kept on growing, becoming much more massive. Even in the face of supply chain slowdowns, a tight labor market, and Covid-19 outbreaks in its facilities, the pandemic produced Amazon’s most profitable era on record, all while the tech giant doubled its workforce. Unfortunately, by earlier this year, the bullwhip of the pandemic had snapped, and Amazon’s growth slowed to the lowest rate in two decades.

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Gradually, the company began feeling the brunt of high costs from decisions to overinvest and rapidly expand, all while changes in shopping habits and high inflation dented sales. Alas, after recently fighting to retain its workforce (while also battling to stop them from unionizing), Amazon has become the latest technology company to lay off workers — thousands of them. The e-commerce giant plans to cut around 10,000 jobs, the largest ever headcount reduction in its history, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The hearsay surfaced just a few weeks after talk on the company possibly freezing staffing levels in its profitable advertising business. “The layoffs, which could begin as soon as this week, will likely target Amazon’s devices group, responsible for the Echo smart speakers and Alexa digital assistant, as well as Amazon’s retail divisions and human resources,” a Bloomberg report indicated. 

Amazon saw this coming?

Truth be told, experts have long believed that devices and Alexa have long been seen internally as being at risk for cuts. Alexa and related devices rocketed to a top company priority as Amazon raced to create the leading voice assistant, which leaders thought could succeed mobile phones as the next essential consumer interface. Between 2017 to 2018 alone, Amazon doubled staff on Alexa and Echo devices to 10,000 engineers.

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Some longtime Amazon employees, also speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal matter, according to Bloomberg, said the cost-cutting in the last few months has been the most severe they’ve ever experienced. Prior to this, chief executive officer Andy Jassy had vowed to streamline operations amid slowing sales growth and economic uncertainty. 

The Seattle-based company had even predicted that the holiday sales period would be the slowest in its history. Amazon has spent much of this year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers resumed their pre-pandemic habits. Amazon delayed warehouse openings and froze hiring in its retail group before broadening the freeze across the company’s corporate groups.

Amazon had even shuttered teams working on a telehealth service, a delivery robot and a childrens’ video-calling device, among other projects. Up till the end of September, Amazon employed 1.54 million people, with the vast majority consisting of hourly employees who pack and ship items in warehouses or work in Whole Foods Market and other retail stores.

The post Layoffs at Amazon may impact up to 10,000 employees appeared first on TechHQ.

The fledgling Amazon Labor Union suffered a crushing defeat in its quest to establish its second chapter in Albany, New York this week, after workers at the Amazon workhouse there voted practically 2-to-1 not to unionize.

The votes, which were tallied on Tuesday, gave a 406-206 victory to the company, which has been legendarily anti-union over the course of its existence. The optics of the vote are especially unfortunate for the ALU, as out of four serious attempts to start union chapters in Amazon facilities, the historic JFK8 chapter in Staten Island is now the only success the union has had. So the Albany vote saw 2-to-1 numbers reinforcing a 3-to-1 failure rate to date as far as setting up union chapters in concerned.

An ongoing battle

While union organizer and President, Chris Smalls, told journalists that the Albany vote “isn’t a loss, it’s an ongoing battle,” and said the fight “for fair treatment for all Amazon workers” would “continue and expand,” the convincing anti-union vote in Albany is still being heralded by Amazon as a victory for its “direct negotiation” stance. That’s a stance that has been indicative of much of the tech industry’s view on unionization, which has been equivalent to that of 19^th century coalmine and steel foundry owners, but with much better, 21^st century PR. The tech industry leaders have always preferred to negotiate from a position of almost lordly advantage, while promoting themselves as part of the cool world of forward-looking knowledge empowerment, creative endeavor, and digital transformation.

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Amazon suspends workers who refuse to work in smoke

In Amazon’s case though, there are significant questions over the company’s hard line approach to unionization.

No smoke without fire

Earlier this month, at the JFK8 facility – the only unionized Amazon facility so far – there was a fire, and unionized workers were told to work on in a building where it was reportedly hard to breathe at some stations because of the continuing stench of smoke. When those workers staged a refusal to work, they were suspended with pay while the company decides what to do about their roles long term. Despite the fact of the ALU’s existence at JFK8, the company has so far refused to acknowledge it, and is still fighting appeals to its initial formation – appeals there is every indication it will lose. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has already thrown out its initial appeal

But nevertheless, being unable to acknowledge the ALU’s power to negotiate on behalf of workers at JFK8, the company suspended the workers, rather than come to an agreement. That, arguably, is what you get when you have a “direct negotiation” policy towards industrial relations.

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Amazon is also fighting charges filed by the ALU surrounding events at the LDJ5 warehouse in Staten Island, where the ALU also failed to establish a chapter in May.

Interrogation and reprisals

That allegations include issues around break rooms, and in particular an Amazon rule that staff are not allowed to put up pro-union posters in such areas. As they’re non-work areas, frequented in non-work time, the argument against Amazon runs that it had no legal right to prohibit staff putting up pro-union signs and posters. But there’s more to it than that – the allegations include demands to take the signs down, and the “interrogation” of staff over union activity, including threats of disciplinary action for hanging the posters in the first place.

The NLRB will investigate claims that Amazon then carried out its threats by selective – not to say targeted – use of its solicitation rules (that govern what staff can and can’t do on company property). If the NLRB rules that Amazon acted unlawfully, the ALU may get some comfort – and some support – from the measures it’s likely to enforce on the tech giant. Those are likely to include exemptions for union posters and signage from the solicitation rules, and a lot of employee rights training for supervisors – potentially across the company in the US.

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While this has not been confirmed, there are accusations from organizers that Amazon lobbied workers at ALB1 in Albany ahead of the union vote, too, including forcing some to attend anti-union meetings, and even retaliating against workers who tried to rally workers to support the union vote. That wouldn’t be entirely out of character – Amazon fired six pro-union managers shortly after the original JFK8 vote in which the ALU was born.

Last week, the ALU filed for a union election at an Amazon facility in Moreno Valley, California.

Leading the world in everything but workers’ rights

Amazon’s draconian approach to labor relations is particularly ironic – as is that of other tech giants, like Google and Apple, both of which have had their own union battles. That tech companies lead the world in innovation, digital transformation, cloud computing, and business advancement, and yet adopt radically retrograde, 19^th century attitudes towards workers’ rights remains a central contradiction at the heart of the industry. With a stream of constant PR pushing the modern, cutting-edge nature of the things it does, the anti-unionization stance of the leading players in the Western technology sector becomes more than a conundrum. It becomes a golden hypocrisy.

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