Happy Amazon Prime Day to those who celebrate. I’m Jordan Parker Erb, and today I’ll be giving you the rundown on all things Prime Day — from the best deals to how to program your Alexa to notify you of upcoming sales.
Now, let’s take a big swig of coffee (or tea), check out the first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope (revealing 13 billion years of galaxies) that was released last night, and get right to it.
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1. Did you hear? It’s Prime Day. Amazon’s biggest annual sales event, Prime Day, will span today and tomorrow, offering deals on everything from Apple products to fitness gear.
This may not be 2022’s only major sale event. Amazon sellers previously told Insider the company had been recruiting them for a similar type of sale, which is said to be taking place later this fall.Behind the company’s massive sale is a feat of labor and logistics — Axios reports it will take at least 1,000 employees to staff one fulfillment center alone throughout the event. Axios gives readers an inside look at a warehouse on Prime Day.Looking ahead: If you have one, you can program your Alexa to send you notifications for upcoming deals on any item you want to buy — here’s how to set it up.
We’ve got everything you want to know about Prime Day.
Plus: Keep up with all the latest Prime Day deals – and other news about the latest tech gadgets — with our Insider Reviews newsletter. Sign up here.
In other news:
Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images
2. An AI bot wrote a scientific paper on itself in two hours. After the AI algorithm, known as GPT-3, wrote a 500-word academic thesis about itself, the researcher behind the experiment said she hopes she didn’t open “Pandora’s box.”
3. Amazon is quietly developing cancer vaccines. If successful, the new vaccine would offer a more personalized, precise treatment for breast and skin cancers, and at a more affordable price. Here’s what we know so far.
4. More layoffs are underway. Live events startup Hopin, valued at $7.8 billion, is laying off 29% of staff. Oracle Advertising laid off about 60 employees, causing some to lose out on restricted stock units that were about to vest. Finally, Rivian reportedly laid off about 5% of its staff.
5. Facebook’s engineering head told managers to find low performers so they can be let go. A leaked memo viewed by Insider shows that managers at the company must identify employees who are “failing this company.” Everything we learned from the leaked memo.
6. The Supreme Court made it harder to conduct research that would protect women’s health. Researchers say accurate, verifiable data about abortions will now be harder to come by — meaning we won’t know how the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is actually affecting women and children’s health. Inside the case of the vanishing abortion data.
7. Twitter’s lawyers call Elon Musk’s deal termination “invalid and wrongful.” In a letter to Musk’s attorneys, Twitter’s lawyers said Musk “knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and materially breached the Agreement.” Amid the chaos, Twitter has seen such an increase in attrition that the company has created a new way to keep track of all the exits.
8. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is back to meme-ing after abandoning the Twitter deal. Musk took to the platform to joke about the deal’s collapse, posting a meme featuring a series of photos of him laughing. See Musk’s latest tweets.
Odds and ends:
A popsicle shaped like Mark Zuckerberg has a bite taken out of it.
Jordan Erb/Insider
9. An ice cream truck is selling “Eat the Rich” popsicles shaped like Big Tech billionaires. Each popsicle depicts a different “iconic plutocrat” — including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jack Ma, and Bill Gates. Check out the uncanny tech titan popsicles here.
10. “Space shuttle” sleeper pods big enough for one bed are going for $600 a month in Melbourne. With vacancy rates in the city at a record low, one landlord is renting out six capsules, stacked on top of each other, that can fit two people each. Get a look at the futuristic sleeping pods.
What we’re watching today:
PepsiCo and others are reporting earnings. Keep up with earnings here.A funeral will be held for assassinated former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.Nano Labs shares are expected to commence trading on NASDAQ.
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.