Technologies

10 Amazon Prime hacks besides free two-day shipping

Your membership comes with books, music and more.

Amazon is a go-to for almost anything. A few clicks and two or so days later, what you need is at your door. But your membership is worth much more than fast shipping. Prime Video and Prime Music, for Amazon Prime members, are just a few of the bonuses. These are just a few of the perks that make the annual cost worth it.

Amazon expanded its sphere during the pandemic — visits to its site reportedly increased by 37% from February 2020 to January 2021 — as it pushed new programs, including Amazon Sidewalk, the auto-on broadband-sharing program for Amazon Echo speakers and Ring devices. But its shopping experience continues to be its bread and butter.

We’ve hacked through Amazon’s jungle of services to find the most useful (and surprising) Amazon programs that you can use today.

1. Over 2,500 free books and magazines

Prime Reading is your own personal lending library that comes with a Prime membership. With a rotating selection of over 2,500 books and magazines, you can access Prime Reading with the Kindle app on your desktop or portable device or your Kindle e-reader. This Amazon service also lets you share titles with members of your household. Some books in Prime Reading come with Audible narrations so you can multitask while you listen.

Prime Reading also includes First Reads, which gives members a sneak peek at books before they’re released to the general public.

Kindle Unlimited is a $10-a-month subscription service separate from an Amazon Prime account. It gives you unlimited access to more than 1 million ebooks and up to three magazine subscriptions on a Kindle device or Kindle app.

2. Gift cards when you trade in used devices

Amazon is boarding the train to sustainability station, and it’s something you can directly benefit from. With Amazon Trade-In, you can send back your used electronics in exchange for Amazon gift cards. Make sure to check on the eligibility of each product — some trade-in options are only available for a limited time.

3. Discounts on preowned products

Amazon Renewed gives you access to products that may have been opened but unused by their original owners — or were refurbished. Amazon assures that these preowned items work and look like new, coming with the Amazon Renewed Guarantee. A variety of products and brands are available, even from premium names like Apple and Vitamix.

4. Amazon Warehouse discounts

Amazon Warehouse resells millions of like-new or preowned items that have been returned by customers. Some of the products only had their boxes opened by original purchasers before they were sent back, unused, so they’re resold at a discount. While there’s no regular manufacturing warranty on these products, they are backed by Amazon’s 30-day return policy and 90-day renewed item return policy.

To read more about how you can get the most out of Amazon Warehouse, check out our guide on shopping for the best Amazon Warehouse deals.

5. Amazon Outlet’s overstocked items

Just like a brick-and-mortar outlet store, but without the gas money. The Amazon Outlet features overstocked items and other products at discounted prices. Like at an outlet, you can find premium brands, items under $10 and products ranging from home furniture and clothing to books and pet supplies. It’s a good place to stay within a budget while being the first owner, unlike some items in the Amazon Warehouse.

Keep in mind that although the online shopping experience is convenient, just like an outlet, the best deals can take sifting to find. Luckily, you can do it from the couch.

6. Limited-time Lightning Deals and discounts

Amazon’s Lightning Deals are a promotion where a product or service is on sale for a short period of time or until it’s sold out. You can find them all throughout the site, but especially on Prime Day and in Today’s Deals. On Prime Day, Lightning Deals are only for Prime members.

There is one lightning deal per customer until the promotion ends or all the deals are claimed by other shoppers. You can join a waitlist for a deal, but keep in mind that these discounts are extremely time-sensitive, so grab them fast. Unless refreshing the page over and over is your thing, these deals aren’t necessarily the tool to find something specific because of their fleeting nature and limited availability.

7. 5GB of storage with Amazon Photos

Amazon’s online shoebox for photos and videos offers secure and unlimited full-resolution photo storage plus 5GB of video for Prime members. To use this feature, you can choose to manually or automatically upload media in the Amazon Photos app. You can personalize the displays on Amazon devices like Fire TV, Echo Show and Fire tablets as long as you have the app. There are also ways to create keepsakes using the pictures you upload, such as custom cards and prints.

With the Family Vault perk, up to five family members can share in the same plan. If you want more beyond what Prime offers, there are paid plans available. If you choose to switch — which can be done anytime — there is a 100GB option for $2 per month and 1TB plan for $7 per month.

8. Discounts on Whole Foods hauls

Healthy shopping can rack up the number at the bottom of the receipt. But if you enter your email address, phone number or scan the QR code on your Whole Foods Market app at checkout during your next grocery haul, Prime members receive discounts on select products.

Blue tags indicate sales exclusive to Prime members, while yellow tags mean an extra 10% off of an item already on sale. This gets you discounts on weekly bestsellers, including produce, packaged goods and beauty products, but note that it excludes alcohol. The few cents saved on items may seem insignificant individually, but savings do add up at the end of the shopping trip.

Also, if you don’t want to make the trip across town, Amazon offers two-hour delivery of groceries for free, as long as you meet the minimum purchase amount. But if you don’t mind the drive, there are also one-hour pickup windows depending on your location — just remember to check in with the Amazon app to see if you need to enter the store.

9. Prime’s registries for weddings, babies and more

If the big day is coming up, Amazon’s wedding registry can get a gift wish list set up for everything from daily essentials to group presents. Amazon can help you cover all the gifting bases, and that makes it a convenient option for you and your wedding guests.

The registry includes lists of editors’ picks and bestsellers to help you sort through Amazon’s options, while the browsing feature can inspire new ideas or highlight something you may have forgotten about. You can also buy any item that’s left on the registry for 20% off — which can be returned within 180 days if you decide you don’t like it.

10. Share Prime benefits with loved ones using Amazon Household

Sharing is caring, and Amazon Household lets you extend access to Prime benefits and digital content with others. Using Household, share your Prime account with:

Up to two adults, each with their own Amazon account. Adults can manage accounts of teens and children.
Up to four teens (ages 13 through 17). Teens can have their own Amazon login to stream content and shop with parent approval.
Up to four children (children can’t shop on Amazon).

For more, here are our picks for the best Alexa devices and which e-reader is right for you.

Technologies

In photos: Key takeaways from day one of the UN General Assembly

World leaders descended on New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, where the agenda covers topics from wars to the risks posed by AI.

World leaders descended on New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, where the agenda spans the U.S.-Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

Nearly 130 heads of state and government started taking the podium on Tuesday, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are also attending.

Motorcades, road closures and security details for visiting leaders have choked midtown Manhattan. Inside UN headquarters, delegates face a week of back-to-back speeches and sideline meetings that come at a crucial time for a world order already under strain.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will skip the assembly but head to Washington for a high-level summit with Trump on Wednesday. Leaders from India and Russia are also staying away.

Trump on Tuesday told world leaders at the assembly that he faces a “big decision”: make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” the Islamic Republic. He later told reporters that U.S. officials held a “very good” three-hour meeting with Iranian envoys on the sidelines, reviving fragile hopes for a diplomatic off-ramp to the seven-month war.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung set out a three-part plan for “peaceful coexistence” with North Korea. It calls on Pyongyang to “first halt the advancement” of its nuclear program before reducing it.

Brazil’s Lula spoke first, as his country traditionally does. “Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians,” Lula said. “Brazil is nobody’s backyard.” He said the UN “is failing in one of its highest missions: to save humanity from the scourge of war.”

Trump also signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland that expands U.S. military access in the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.

Trump then met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for about 40 minutes. He pressed for a Russia-Ukraine energy truce and backed a ban on U.S. diesel exports as fuel prices hit records before the midterms.

French President Emmanuel Macron gave his own UN address. “There can be no peace without justice,” he said. After meeting Trump, he pledged to push for a moratorium on strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Gaza “the most inhumane, most shameful concentration camp of our time,” prompting Israel’s delegation to walk out. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, will address the assembly by video after being denied a U.S. visa.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as U.S. and Iran Hold Hours-Long UN Talks

Oil prices fell as U.S.-Iran talks at the U.N. raised expectations that supply disruptions could ease. Brent and WTI futures declined, while optimism grew around a possible diplomatic settlement.

Oil declined on Wednesday as optimism grew that supply disruptions could ease after U.S.-Iran talks, lifting hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict.

Futures on the international benchmark Brent crude for November delivery fell 0.71% to $98.55 a barrel as of 3:04 a.m. ET. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for November slipped 1.26% to $89.36 per barrel.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S. officials had a “very good meeting” with Iran’s delegation, which lasted about three hours. Earlier, during his address to the U.N., Trump said he faced a “big decision” over whether to make a deal with Tehran or “annihilate” the country.

Reuters reported Tuesday that Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the U.S. agrees to reduce military pressure and lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

“Pakistan’s mediation efforts with Tehran could also reduce the risk of a broader escalation,” said Paolo Broccardo, chief executive officer at private digital bank BankPro.

He said oil prices were also unlikely to surge sharply in the near term.

“Over the past five consecutive sessions, the price has fallen by almost 12%, retreating once again from the ‘intervention zone’ above $100, where we have repeatedly seen intensified peace-building efforts from both sides,” Broccardo said.

Technologies

CNBC Daily Open: Nothing artificial about ‘Super Intelligence’

President Donald Trump seeks to rebrand AI ahead of his meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, while rejecting a “globalist scheme” to regulate the technology.

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Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

President Donald Trump’s passion for renaming places is now extending to renaming technological developments.

His latest effort is to rebrand AI as ‘Super Intelligence.’

However, it will take more than a facelift for the most transformative technology in a generation to meet the expectations for a global safety approach, especially ahead of the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will be welcomed to Washington D.C., later on Wednesday.

Read on for more.

What you need to know today

“The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake… It is not fake. It’s actually amazing.”

The words of U.S. President Donald Trump as he used his keynote speech at the United Nations General Assembly to call for the renaming of AI as “Super Intelligence.”

His support for allowing AI (or Super Intelligence) to develop at a winning pace comes as his global peers look to reach an agreement on safety rules around the powerful technology.

Later on Wednesday, Trump will greet China’s Xi Jinping in an arrival ceremony ahead of Thursday’s state visit, where AI has become one of the key talking points between the two superpowers.

Speed versus safety

The CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman and Anthropic boss Dario Amodei are expected to address the United Nations Security Council later on Wednesday. They are set to be joined by Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue to debate AI safety and regulation.

The appearance follows calls to slow the breakneck pace of the model frontier — warnings Trump has called a “hoax” and “scam.”

Frontier FOMO

Investors are taking an optimistic view, with a rally in technology stocks on Tuesday leading the Nasdaq to another fresh high. The tech-heavy index hit a new all-time intraday peak and achieved a record close.

Futures are flat in early trading on Wednesday amid a broadly positive handover from Asia.

Oil oscillations

Crude prices are lower on Wednesday following news that U.S. officials had a “very good meeting” with the Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

President Trump said the discussion with officials lasted about three hours. Earlier in his address to the U.N., he said he has a “big decision” over whether to reach a deal with Tehran or “annihilate” the country.

According to regional media reports, Iran has been communicating its conditions for ending the seven-month war with the U.S. through a Qatari mediator.

— Leonie Kidd

*Please note, the Daily Open EMEA will be coming to you from my colleagues in Singapore for the next few days*

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And Finally…

Anthropic and OpenAI roll out cheaper models in first release since call for slowdown

Anthropic and OpenAI on Tuesday each announced new, less costly artificial intelligence models as both frontier labs continue to face stiff competition from cheaper, open-weight competitors.

OpenAI introduced additional tiers to its GPT-6 family, with GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, slashing the API prices by 50% compared with GPT-5.6 promotional pricing.

Sol, which is a tier below Astra, is meant for more complex workloads like coding, while the company’s Luna offering is geared toward “high-volume tasks” such as extracting information or summarizing documents, the company wrote.

Anthropic unveiled Claude Opus 5.5 on Tuesday, its latest release in the new Claude 5.5 model family.

— CJ Haddad

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