Beware Google, Facebook! Amazon sets sights on the $88 bn online ad market

Verizon doesn’t sell its mobile phones or wireless plans over Amazon. Nor does it offer Fios, its high-speed internet service. But Verizon does advertise on Amazon.

On Black Friday last year, when millions of online shoppers took to Amazon in search of deals, a Verizon ad for a Google Pixel 2 phone — buy one and get a second one half off — could be seen blazing across Amazon’s home page. And on July 16, what Amazon calls Prime Day, an event with special deals for its Prime customers, Verizon again ran a variety of ads and special offers for Amazon shoppers, like a mix-and-match unlimited service plan.

Amazon, which has already reshaped and dominated the online retail landscape, is quickly gathering momentum in a new, highly profitable arena: online advertising, where it is rapidly emerging as a major competitor to Google and Facebook.

The push by the giant online retailer means consumers — even Prime customers, who pay $119 a year for access to free shipping as well as streaming music, video and discounts — are likely to be confronted by ads in places where they didn’t exist before.

Amazon India launches Hindi website, shopping app in battle with Flipkart

Amazon.com on Tuesday launched a Hindi version of its mobile website and app for Android smartphones in a bid to make deeper inroads into India's fast-growing e-commerce market, stepping up its battle with Walmart's Flipkart unit.

None of India's other leading e-commerce portals - Flipkart, Snapdeal or Paytm Mall - currently have a local language version of their apps or websites, and the move to launch a Hindi app and website could give Amazon access to tens of millions of new customers in India's small towns and villages.

"What we believe is, Amazon.in in Hindi is a critical step to actually address the next 100 million customers," Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Category Management at Amazon India told reporters at a news conference.

Amazon is looking to win over the next 100 million customers in the country, its India head Amit Agarwal told Reuters in April. The country's e-commerce market is tipped to grow to $200 billion in a decade, according to Morgan Stanley.

Siri, Alexa may have made your lives easier, but can they also educate you?

Convenience is atop the list of benefits Siri and Alexa have brought to millions. But is it possible that they’re promoting literacy, too?

Certainly, it’s not a benefit that immediately comes to mind. After all, we speak and Siri writes. We ask a question and Alexa enters the search terms for us. Load your iPhone up with podcasts, or ask Siri or Alexa to find you the bestseller you’ve been wanting from Audible.com, and you might never need to read a book again. With each voice-to-text improvement, we seem to be moving backward — toward a culture that relies less and less on letters or the ability to read and write.


History tells a different story. As the scope for oral communication expands, we can take comfort, and some instruction, from the variety of forms literacy has taken since its beginning in the West.

Pakistan presidential election on Tuesday, PTI candidate likely to win

Pakistani lawmakers are set to choose a new President on Tuesday, an election in which the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party's candidate Arif Alvi is expected to win as the Opposition parties failed to field a joint candidate.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday completed preparations for the election. Polling stations have been set up in all four provincial assemblies in addition to the National Assembly. Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Raza Khan will serve as the Returning Officer.

Outgoing President Mamnoon Hussain's tenure ends on September 8. He had declined for re-election to a second 5-year term.

Apart from Alvi, the Pakistan Peoples Party's Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Jamiat-e-Ulema (F) chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman are also in the race.

Alvi is a Karachi-based dentist-turned-politician, who reportedly stood by prime minister Imran Khan during his political career.

UP flood death toll hits 325 as rainfall intensifies; major rivers in spate

Big rivers are in spate and more than a dozen districts flooded following heavy rainfall in Uttar Pradesh and the adjoining hilly regions over the past few days even as the death toll in the current monsoon season has increased to 325.

More than 21 people have reportedly died over the last 48 hrs in flood-related incidents, including drowning and wall collapse, across the state, including Shahjahanpur, Amethi and Auraiya districts.

Monsoon activity, which had started to slow down, however, regained momentum over the past week, inundating large parts of the agricultural and inhabited land. The government had already deployed columns of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF), and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in the flood relief and rescue operations in the worst-affected areas.

Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers were pressed into service to rescue people stranded in marooned pockets of Lalitpur and Jhansi districts, which are arid zones but have received a good amount of rainfall this year.

PMLA case: No more time can be given to Vijay Mallya to respond, says ED

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's lawyer on Monday sought more time to file reply on the Enforcement Directorate's notice in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Appellate Tribunal case.

The lawyer argued that he has not received some of the notices till date despite him sharing his Mauritius address.

In response to this, the ED lawyer argued that as per the law, no more time could be given to Mallya for response on the application, adding that even the court is powerless to give time beyond one week as mandated by the Fugitive Offenders law.

On August 25, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) countered charges leveled by Mallya that condition in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail is "inhuman" by submitting a video in London's Westminster Magistrates Court, which showed proper facility in the Cell Number 12, where the absconding businessman would be lodged after extradition.

Anil Ambani-led RInfra wins Rs 2 billion arbitration against NHAI

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has won a Rs 2 billion arbitration award against the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the company said on Monday.

In a statement, the company said that a three-member Arbitration Tribunal, on August 31 in a unanimous award asked the NHAI to pay RIfra Rs 1.5 billion by November 29.

"NHAI will have to pay interest at 12 per cent per annum on the amount if they do not pay Rs 1.5 billion by the deadline," it said.

"The Tribunal has also awarded Reliance Infrastructure compensation at 13.5 per cent of actual revenue for the loss of revenue suffered due to change in location of the toll plaza.

"This is payable from March 2017 till the end of concession on January 14, 2038. Net present value of this future cash flow is estimated at over Rs 500 million."