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Trump Says He'll Take 'Very Serious Look' at Amazon's Business
These are the 5 best Amazon deals you can find right now
Fortnite's Map Is Annoying

Trump Says He'll Take 'Very Serious Look' at Amazon's Business

Posted: 05 Apr 2018 02:42 PM PDT

President Donald Trump said he will take a "very serious look" at Amazon.com Inc. and what he said is an "uneven playing field" the retailer enjoys against competitors.

"I'm going to study it and take a look," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. "We're going to take a very serious look at that."

Trump aides said earlier in the week that the White House wasn't preparing punitive measures toward Amazon, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the president's comments indicated a potential shift.

Amazon was little changed in extended trading, dropping 0.1 percent to $1,451.75 at 5:43 p.m. in New York. While Trump's broadsides against the company battered the stock last week and into Monday, investors have shrugged off his latest assaults and sent the shares up each of the past three days.

Trump has fired off a barrage of criticism against Amazon and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos in Twitter postings since last week, sinking the Seattle-based Internet retailer's market value by as much as $55 billion at one point. Trump has argued the company receives favorable treatment on taxes and postal rates.

"You look at the sales tax situation which is going to be taken up I guess very soon, there's going to be a decision from the Supreme Court," Trump told reporters on Thursday. "So we'll see what happens. The post office is not doing well with Amazon that I can tell you.

"The playing field has to be level for everybody," he said as he returned from a trip to West Virginia.

Amazon collects sales tax in every state that has one. But Amazon's policies don't apply to third-party merchants selling goods through its website, and many of those transactions remain untaxed. Such sales make up about half of the company's volume. Amazon has said it's up to the sellers to collect any taxes and many don't.

The Trump administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to let state and local governments collect billions of dollars in sales taxes from online retailers. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments next month centering on a South Dakota law that calls for collecting sales taxes from large internet retailers even if they don't have brick-and-mortar stores in the state. A ruling is expected by late June.

While its contract with Amazon is confidential, the Postal Service has argued that its e-commerce services benefit the organization and its mail customers. It is legally prohibited from charging shippers less than its delivery costs. Further, taxpayers don't directly support the Postal Service's operations.

Amazon regularly uses the Postal Service to complete what's called the "last mile" of delivery, with letter carriers dropping off packages at some 150 million residences and businesses daily. The company has a network of 35 "sort centers" where customer packages are sorted by zip code, stacked on pallets and delivered to post offices for the final leg of delivery.

The company remains exposed to government action on other fronts.

The Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission could open antitrust or consumer protection investigations. The company is also competing for a multi-billion-dollar contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon.

Safra Catz, the chief executive of Oracle Corp., one of Amazon's rivals for the Defense Department contract, criticized the bidding process in a private dinner with Trump Tuesday, complaining that it favored Amazon, people familiar with the plans said.

Trump heard her out and said he wants the contract competition to be fair, but made no indication he'd interfere in the bidding, the people said. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that Trump isn't interfering in the contract decision.

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These are the 5 best Amazon deals you can find right now

Posted: 06 Apr 2018 07:54 AM PDT

— Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA Today's newsroom and any business incentives.

It's finally Friday! For me, it's also payday, and I'm willing to bet you might have gotten paid today too. So what's the first thing we do when we get paid? Spend all the money, of course! We can pay our bills when we're dead. There are too many sales on things we love right now to not splurge a little. I found a handful of amazing products that are all on sale right now on Amazon, and I think you might find at least one that's up your alley. So why not treat yourself? (Please do not take financial advice from me outside of what's actually a good deal.)

1. A smart robot vacuum that works with Alexa for under $200

If you have an Echo smart speaker and like the idea of being able to utter the words "Alexa, clean my house" and have it actually work, you should check out this robot vacuum. The Ecovacs Deebot N79S is a fantastic smart device to add to your home and right now we've got an exclusive code (4ECOVACS) to take $70 off the regular $250 price on Amazon. Its predecessor, which didn't have Alexa compatibility, performed fairly well in our obstacle course. It picked up an average amount of dirt, but struggled with driving from hardwood to carpet flooring. It also took a bit longer than usual to finish a cleaning cycle. The newer model works with Alexa as well as its own smartphone app, and promises to have upgraded features.

Get the Ecovacs Deebot N79S for $179.98 with the code "4ECOVACS" and save $70

2. A drain protector that's practically magic (and under $10)

The TubShroom seems like one of those "As Seen on TV" gimmicky products. In a way, it is, but it's one that really works. Stick it in your shower drain and never deal with another hairball clog again. I've had one for nearly two years and it makes cleaning hair out of the tub so easy. You just remove the TubShroom, clean out the hair caught in it, and replace it. And it lasts forever! But this Lightning Deal will definitely sell out before the clock runs down, so don't hesitate. I promise you'll be glad you acted on this deal.

Get the TubShroom Drain Protector for $9.23 and save $3.72

3. An amazing portable projector for 20% off

If you love watching movies, but get sick of always sitting on your couch, a portable projector might be perfect for you. The Anker Nebula Capsule is crazy good. I haven't tried any other pico projectors yet, but when I got a chance to test this one, I jumped at it. It covers the entire wall opposite my bed, so it's almost like having a personal theater. And the picture is bright but a lot easier on the eyes than an LED/LCD/OLED screen, making it perfect for a little Netflix before bed. This is a fantastic discount, but it's only available until tomorrow, and we don't know when the Nebula will go back on sale.

Get the Anker Nebula Capsule for $277.99 with the code "MYNEBULA" and save $71

4. Our favorite smart water leak detector for its lowest price yet

If you've never had to deal with water leaks, floods, or frozen/burst pipes in your home, count yourself lucky. Even the smallest leak can cause a crazy amount of damage, and it's rarely a cheap fix. So, to continue avoiding this hassle, you might want to add a few smart water leak detectors to key areas around your home. The Lyric detectors are our favorite smart water leak detectors because they connect to WiFi and send alerts right to your phone when they notice something is amiss, helping you catch leaks sooner. They also last up to three years on a simple set of AAs and don't require a hub to work.

Get the Honeywell Lyric Smart Water Leak & Freeze Detector for $54.97 and save $5

5. Our favorite Amazon Echo for the second best price ever

The newest member of the Amazon Echo family is also the best of the bunch. The Echo Spot does everything Alexa can do, but it also has a screen that's small enough to be unobtrusive in any space but still conveys useful information. You can get the weather or reminders at a glance, make video calls, check in on smart security cameras, and more. And right now Amazon is discounting the Echo Spot to nearly the lowest price we've ever seen. If you've been waiting for a sale to snatch one of these up for yourself, today is a good day.

Get the Amazon Echo Spot for $109.99 and save $20

Prices are accurate at the time this article was published, but may change over time.

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Fortnite's Map Is Annoying

Posted: 05 Apr 2018 10:49 PM PDT

After playing PUBG's genuinely awesome new map earlier this week, I decided to embrace my battle royale fever and play some Fortnite as well. Relearning that game's particular rhythm and playstyle has been fun but there's one problem: I hate the in-game map.

I consider myself a cautious battle royale player, at least in solos. I try to pick quieter areas to drop into, fight small battles, and play an extended mid-game that gets me into the top 10 with a fair amount of consistency. Luck is always a factor, too. I never stay in one place too long, sort of ping ponging from one self placed marker to the next. One of the tools essential to my strategy is a solid in-game map that I can easily read and manipulate on the fly. Fortnite Battle Royale's just doesn't meet my needs.

This is what the map looks like in PUBG:

The color scheme is drab but the roads and houses are very visible. The off-white icons pop out from the background and make it easy to spot even the smallest locations. I can scroll my mouse wheel to zoom in and I can click and drag to move my view on the zoomed-in map. It's a highly functional and straightforward map whose legibility and usability have served me well.

Here's the map in Fortnite:

Okay, this isn't the worst map. In fact, it's rather nice to look at due to all of the vibrant color adding a lot of character. The Moisty Mire looks dark and brown and awful. Tilted Towers sticks out like the sore thumb that it is. Fortnite's map does a good job of giving the player a sense of the world, but it's not great for figuring out where to go. Smaller locations in Fortnite aren't as important as they are in PUBG, but they're still useful for looting purposes and yet are hard to immediately locate on the map. When I zoom in, something you couldn't do for a while, unless there's some kind of secret ritual that I'm unaware of, I can't click and drag the map to move my perspective. I need to zoom out, move my cursor, and zoom back in. The map might be charming but it's not great for someone like me who often refers to her map in order to plot out actions.

Daily thoughts from a Kotaku staffer about a game we're playing.

I know a lot of this will change as I get more familiar with Fortnite's game world. I'll be able to intuit where to go and the best places to build my own hideouts so that I don't need to worry as much about consulting the map. Fortnite's faster pace of play will likely preclude me from needing to look at it all that much at all. But for the moment, as I re-adjust to that rhythm, as exciting and fun as it is, the map's poor usability frustrates me. It's a pretty picture but an insufficient map

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