BIGnews in the Tech World

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Whether you’ve been busy with Valentine’s Day plans or Super Bowl bets, this short month of February seemed to fly by. Luckily, the BIGfish team is here to catch you up with the latest (and greatest!) tech news from the past two weeks.

Amazon
The latest in Amazon and Whole Foods news brings 2-hour delivery right to your door! Amazon announced that Prime members (in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach) will have the option of delivery service from Whole Foods in two hours or under. The service will be available from 8AM to 10PM,delivering  all of the Whole Foods products you know and love right to your front door. For those extra last minute planners, one hour delivery is available for an extra charge of $7.99. Amazon hopes to expand this throughout the US but for now is available in select areas.
Amazon also announced it is rewarding all Prime members when they shop at any Whole Foods store. Members who have the company’s “Rewards Visa” will earn 5 percent cash back each time they shop, making a Whole Foods trip that much more rewarding.

Google
Are you always stuck searching for the tab in your browser blasting an annoying advertisement? Google thinks it has the solution. Google’s Chrome ad blocker was enabled this past week, and aims to cut down on the most annoying ads and push for website owners to seek alternatives. This will cut down on autoplay ads, flashing ads and even countdown ads on all desktop browsers. Phones using Chrome also have this new addition blocking pop ups, scroll over ads and animated ads along with other types.
While Google is not trying to get rid of all ads, they do hope this will have more ads abide by the Better Ad Standards. Web owners will be warned 30 days before the ads are blocked and allowed time to change the design. Will other browsers take a note from Google and start blocking these intrusive ad types as well?
Snapchat
Whether or not the newest Snapchat update was for you, the latest addition to the popular photo sharing app is sure to please! Now, users will be able to have Giphy animated stickers in their stories, very similar to the latest Instagram update. Another addition will be the new “Tabs” feature, which the company says will help users organize the stories they want to see and help sort through group chats, discover pages, and active friends. With all of these new updates, the Snapchat vs. Instagram battle is sure to continue.
Fox
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, with all of these choices, would you pay for a subscription to your favorite cable news network? Fox believes its fans will as the company announced its own paid subscription service this week. The service, called Fox Nation, will feature live streamed shows as well as long-form. The company calls it an “Over-the-top opinion platform” and plans to include exclusive events and archival footage. Even subscribers to the network on their own cable TV plan will still have to pay extra for access to this. The service, set to launch near the end of the year, has not yet announced pricing.
What was your favorite tech story of the week? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter and check back here for the next BIGnews in the Tech World in two weeks!

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