Matt Day | The Seattle Times

FILE – In this Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017, file photo, a new Amazon Echo is displayed during a program announcing several new Amazon products by the company, in Seattle. While Amazon pioneered the internet-connected speaker that responds to voice commands, it now has plenty of competition from other tech heavyweights. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

June 19, 2018 at 3:00 am

New Amazon program aims to get Alexa into more hotel rooms

The Alexa for Hospitality program is designed to make it easier for hotels to take advantage of the voice software, Amazon's latest effort to extend...

Jon Roskill, chief executive of Bellevue software maker Acumatica.

June 18, 2018 at 4:45 am

Acumatica bags $25 million investment round to fund growth plans

Acumatica, a Bellevue-based builder of enterprise resource planning software, says it has wrapped up a $25 million outside investment round led by Accel-KKR.

On June 12, 2018, Armida and Arnold Rosales in their new Maple Valley home, have upstairs an ECHO “Spot” camera they use to communicate within their home.

Matt Day story

June 16, 2018 at 6:00 am

Amazon’s Alexa is now at home in new subdivisions, hotels

Amazon is working with homebuilders and hoteliers to make its smart speaker and artificial-intelligence system a part of everyday life for new customers. The company...

In this Monday, May 7, 2018, photo, pedestrians and cyclists gather near the Amazon Go store, in Seattle. Seattle’s latest tax proposal to combat homelessness takes aim at large businesses such as Amazon that have helped drive the city’s economic boom. But businesses and others say the so-called head tax is misguided and potentially harmful and they question whether the city is effectively using the tens of millions of dollars it already spends on homelessness each year. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

June 14, 2018 at 12:04 pm

Microsoft may be aiming for Amazon with cashier-less shopping technology

Microsoft is testing technology that will track what items people pick up while shopping, and another Redmond company is working with Microsoft on the technology...

Seattle, Wa. February 7, 2014
Zulily is an online retailer catering to mothers and children. The company, with it’s headquarters in Seattle, has grown dramatically in the past 3 years.
Product stylist Jacey Frango prepares children’s clothing to be photographed.

June 12, 2018 at 6:01 am

Zulily using Amazon for cloud services but doesn't worry that its rival will learn its retail secrets

Amazon Web Services is the leader in selling rented computing power and software services to businesses, but some large retailers have resisted giving business to...

June 11, 2018 at 6:35 pm

Judge in Microsoft gender discrimination case has tough questions for women’s lawyers

Lawyers for Microsoft and women suing the company for gender discrimination squared off in federal court in Seattle on Monday over whether the case should...

A Whole Foods Market Inc. location stands in Willowbrook, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, June 16, 2017. Amazon.com Inc. will acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion, a bombshell of a deal that catapults the e-commerce giant into hundreds of physical stores and fulfills a long-held goal of selling more groceries. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg 700066971

June 11, 2018 at 6:01 am

Whole Foods expands Amazon Prime discounts to stores in Washington, nine other states

Whole Foods stores in 10 states will start offering discounts to Amazon Prime members this week, the latest integration of the organic grocer into the...

The Foxconn factory in Hengyang, a city of about 1 million people in south central China, where thousands of employees assemble Amazon’s Echo devices as well as tablets and e-readers, according to China Labor Watch.

June 9, 2018 at 3:00 pm

Watchdog criticizes conditions at Chinese factory that builds Amazon Echo speakers

A report by China Labor Watch offers a rare glimpse inside a Foxconn factory that makes Amazon devices, describing a fast-moving facility that, the group says,...

June 7, 2018 at 6:00 am

Amazon invites Alexa into the living room with Fire TV Cube streaming box

The Fire TV Cube is Amazon's latest effort to position its devices, and the Alexa software, as an entertainment hub. The digital media player, which...

Pedestrians walk past the Amazon Spheres on Thursday, August 17, 2017 in downtown.

June 1, 2018 at 6:00 am

Amazon threatens to back off Seattle growth, but it wouldn’t be easy to leave

In the month since Amazon first suggested it would consider a pullback in Seattle, the company has posted ads for more than 1,200 jobs based...