How about a catch-up on what's happening with Amazon Prime Gaming? Anyone up for that? And while we're about it, how about a general What's Up With Amazon? Because it's hard to be sure, sometimes, isn't it? For one of the biggest consumer-goods companies in the world, they really don't make it easy for the customer, do they?
I'm not really down with the whole Death of the Interwebs narrative but it's hard to argue that certain once-reliable strands aren't getting horribly tangled now. Amazon used to be relatively clean and straightforward to navigate but it's been a while since it felt like that was still true.
You really can't trust the reviews the way you once could, what with the bots and the review farms and now AI. I like the way they've tried to set a bot to catch a bot but those AI summaries are only theoretically helpful. As far as I can see they just summarize, accurately enough, the reviews you probably couldn't trust in the first place.
I still have to read a whole bunch of reviews and use my training as an Eng. Lit. grad and longtime writer to try and parse the truth from the hype. Rufus, the weirdly-named Amazon House AI, seems to take them all on face value.
Why is it called Rufus, anyway? I mean, I know everything has to be called something but not very many things have to be called Rufus. Or any. Why pick on that?
Oh, hey, guess what? There's a reason. Because of course there is. Would you like to know what it is? Of course you would. Shall we ask Gemini to tell us? Why not?
All these AIs know each other, you do know that, right? They lounge around in their luxuriously appointed virtual chat-room, blipping to each other at the speed of information and this is just the kind of thing they talk about:
- Origin Story: Rufus was a loyal Welsh Corgi, owned by an early Amazon employee, who roamed the first warehouse, played fetch, and was a significant part of the startup's early family.
- Legacy: The original Rufus passed away in 2009, but his legacy lives on, with Amazon even naming a building after him and continuing its pet-friendly policy.
- Connection to AI: Naming the new generative AI shopping assistant after him pays homage to this nostalgic figure, blending Amazon's history with its future technology to create a relatable brand for customers.
Does that humanize Rufus for you? Or caninize it? Maybe that should that be him? What's the correct gender appellation for an AI?
Also, did you know Amazon has a "pet-friendly" policy? Does that humanize the company for you?
So many questions.
Corgis, too. What about them? They've had a makeover, haven't they? I guess
now the Queen's not around any more that whole image I grew up with is gone
for good. Apparently everywhere else in the world Corgis are cute, goofy
doggies, not hateful symbols of class privelige. How times change.
Anyway, I like them now. Corgis, that is, not the royal family. I have no
strong opinions on the royals. Never have had. Which is surprising. There
aren't many things I don't have strong opinions on.
I like nearly all kinds and styles of dog, anyway. Dachshunds I have issues
with. Hard to spell for one thing. Also often unnecessarily aggressive, as are
Chihuahuas. Does canine aggression come in direct proportion to how hard it is
to spell the name of the breed correctly? I had to use Spell Check to get both
of those right and I'm a good speler. (Yay! Visual joke!)
Hmm. Even for me, this is a a bit of a wander. I'll attempt to recalibrate.
What was I going to talk about? Oh, yes, Prime Gaming.
Before we do, though, you really ought to see the HTML that came across when I
cut and pasted that Gemini quote. I just went in to tweak something (Normally
I write in Compose View not HTML.) and Blimey, Charlie! Here, take a look:
What is that? All that red!
Anyway, so, the Amazon storefront isn't as reliable or user-friendly as it
used to be, even with the digital ghost of a dead dog doing its best to help.
(Did I ever mention my character that I played for a couple of
Golden Heroes campaigns back in the 80s was a robotic dog called
The Ghost Dog? I did? Oh, okay then...)
And Prime Video? Sheesh! Hasn't that ever gone downhill!? It's kind of
insulting that they not only added compulsory, unskippable adverts to a
service they're already charging a subscription for but then to stick a "Go Ad-Free" button on the ads themselves! Is that not what the police in TV shows used
to call Running A Protection Racket?
Also, the placement of the ads. Who's picking the spots? Is it completely
random? Why is there sometimes just one at the beginning and one near the end
and other times three in ten minutes in the middle? And has no-one at Amazon
ever heard of the concept of a "natural break"? Just slam the damn
things in anywhere, why don't you?
Do you know what I do? I mute the sound and tab out as soon as the ads start.
It handily tells you how long they're going to last but I don't bother timing
it. If you leave it longer than that, when you come back you can just roll the
video back to just before you left and it will play normally from then on,
without the annoying ad. It's disruptive, sure, but not as much as watching
the bloody things would be. Also, you feel like you're getting one over on The
Man.
(Hey, speaking of getting one over on the man, did anyone know there was a
Furry Freak Brothers animated show? I didn't until last week. It came
up on my Netflix recommends. I watched the pilot episode and it was
about as funny as the comics which is to say not all that funny. I haven't
watched another. I read all the Freak Bros. comics when I worked in a comic
shop in the '80s. Wouldn't have bought them. I also met one of the artists at
a con once. Gilbert Shelton, I think it was. Can't remember much about
it. There was a lot of drinking involved although no dope, surprisingly.)
Gaaaaahh! Dragging this thing back....
Oh, wait, just before I get to Prime Gaming, I spotted something actually
useful on Prime Video last night. I think this is new. At least it was new to
me.
They've slightly changed the UI on the Storefront. I've long been in the habit
of using my general Amazon bookmark when I want to watch something on Prime
Video, then clicking on Prime Video along the top to open it. I couldn't see
the button (It's there now but I swear it wasn't last night...) so I was
stumped for all of three seconds.
Then I thought why not try the full menu? Top left corner is an "ALL"
button so I pressed that and got a full list of services with Prime Video near
the top. Clicking that gets you a flip-out menu and on that one there's
another button for My Stuff.
Well.
I wonder?
I wonder if Firefox would make a Bookmark for that?
Yes it would!
So now I have a bookmark for Prime Video that takes me straight to a clear,
clean page that only has My Stuff on it! Better yet, it has all My Stuff
broken out into handy subsections - My Movie Watchlist, My TV Watchlist,
things I've bought, my subscriptions...
It's a million times better than trying to find My Stuff in the bullet hell of
Prime Video's Home Page, where 90% is stuff they want you to pay (Again.) for
and almost none of it is anything I'd watch even for free. Has everyone else
been doing it this way all along and I was the only sucker doing it the dumb
way? Or is this actually a new option?
Either way, if you don't already sort yours this way, I suggest you start. I'm
wondering now if there's a Firefox Add-On that will make My Stuff into
my Amazon Prime landing page. I have one like that for YouTube and its
transformative. Although, if I have a Bookmark for it, I guess don't really
need an Add-On.
I think that's about it for Amazon-related moans and groans... oh, no, wait!
no, it's not!
I'm trying to buy an Amazon eGift Card for my step-daughter in Australia. How
hard could that be? I mean, it's a global company and digital products can be
delivered instantly by email anywhere in the world. Gotta take five minutes,
tops, right?
Hah. Dream, as they used to say, on. You can't buy eCards for any Amazon
sub-unit other than the one you have an account with, so if you're in the UK
you can only buy eCards for the UK. If you want an Australian one you have to
make an account with Amazon.com.au.
Or, in fact, as I discovered, just sign into that website using your existing
account details. That works. Still doesn't let you buy a digital card, though.
For that, you have to change your location to an address with an Australian
postcode. All this for something that isn't going to be damn well posted
anywhere!
Maybe there are currency or legal reasons? Yeah, maybe, but if so, how come I
can buy digital gift cards from other Australian companies using my own
address? And have them sent to me, whereupon I just forward them to my
step-daughter's email because ALL ANYONE NEEDS IS THE GODDAM CARD NUMBER!
I'd say it's almost as if Amazon don't want to take the money but we all know
that can't be true.
Okay, I'm done. Now about that Prime Gaming offer...
<Sorry! I'm afraid we're out of time for today! Please come back
tomorrow.>
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