10 years ago today ... www.geekwire.com/2015/amazons...

Funny twist on the old "did not respond to a request for comment."
www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...

This led to an internal CIA investigation into the possibility that the agency itself was paying Hunt to write these novels, apparently as part of some attempt to influence public opinion about the agency and U.S. intelligence.

Back in the 1960s, a specialist in U.S. intelligence literature, Walter Pforzheimer, did some sleuthing to figure out that future Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt was writing spy novels under a pseudonym, David St. John. The novels featured "America's most ingenious spy, playboy Peter Ward."

1/ For an evening diversion, I couldn't help but start putting the newly released JFK files into Google's NotebookLM, in batches, to see what turned up. I'll leave the real reporting to the experts in the field. But here's a fascinating story that the AI turned up, unrelated to the assassination.

4/ The company reported 1,556,000 full- and part-time employees as of Dec. 31, up 2% year-over-year. (This number does not include contractors or temporary personnel hired for seasonal work.) This chart always fascinates me for the story it tells over time.

3/ Sales by major segment:
Online Stores = $75.5B, up 7.1%.
Third-party seller services = $47.5B, up 9%.
Advertising = $17.3B, up 18%.
Subscriptions, including Prime = $11.5B, up 9.7%.
Physical stores = $5.6B, up 8%.

2/ AWS growth was slightly lower than expected, with sales of $28.8 billion, up 19%, vs. expectations of 19.3%. Although AWS sales ($28.8B) were ~15% of Amazon's total sales ($187.8B), operating profits ($10.6B) were >50% of Amazon's overall op. profits of $21.2B for the quarter.

1/ Amazon beat expectations with $187.8B in net sales, up 10%, and came in well ahead on the bottom line, with earnings of $1.86 per share, vs. expectations of $1.48. Quarterly profits surpassed $20 billion for the first time, up more than 88% from a year ago.

Trying something new here: Amazon's quarterly results for the three months ended Dec. 31 2024, in four charts.

Here is the Dr. Rhythm.

Dr. Rhythm meets AI: I had fun over the holiday break blending a vintage 1980s drum synthesizer from my youth (a Boss DR-110, circa 1983) with my own plunking and strumming on guitar, and an AI music generator.

Can anyone explain the reason for the everpresent hard-rock music bed that plays during the highlights on @espn.com SportsCenter?

Microsoft released the results of shareholder voting today, from its annual meeting. None of the shareholder proposals was approved, but it's interesting to look at the numbers. Almost no support for investing in Bitcoin, whereas a call for scrutiny of AI data sources received the most votes (36%).

Looking for a good AI tool to easily and quickly identify the best/clearest photos from a large set like this. Any advice?

Hello Bluesky! I'm using the "Sky Follower Bridge" plugin for Chrome/Edge to find the people I forgot I followed on another platform. Is that the right way? Anyway, feels like a reunion. This newcomer welcomes any and all advice from vets about making the most of it. Look forward to reconnecting.