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Amazon Takes on Etsy with Handmade Marketplace

Posted: 08 Oct 2015 01:24 PM PDT

Between Google delivering groceries with its Express service and Amazon launching an Etsy-killer named ‘Homemade at Amazon,’ we cannot help but wonder if these tech companies are in the tech business anymore.

With 80,000 items from 50 states and 60 countries, Handmade at Amazon seems to have become a threat for Etsy from its very first day of existence. While not everything coming from the Seattle-based e-tailer was a success (remember the Fire Phone, anyone?), this new service does have a lot of potential, as there are plenty of artisans out there willing to promote and sell their handmade goods on more than just one platform. On top of that, Amazon has a much larger audience, being the 3rd most visited website in the U.S. and the 6th globally, while Etsy is on the 40th place in the U.S., and 143 globally, so the chance of selling their hand-crafted products on Handmade at Amazon will undoubtedly thrill a lot of artisans.

One of them is Jodi Kostelnik, a Washington, D.C.-based artisan specialized in food-themed, screen printed towels, who could barely withhold her excitement when Amazon approached her: “When I got a call from Amazon last spring, I couldn’t believe it. They came and filmed me printing and helped me put together the packaging. […] There are so many great makers out there. Amazon’s going to be a great platform for us”

Getting featured on Handmade at Amazon won’t be that simple, fortunately for the ones who are looking to buy genuinely handmade items.

“Amazon has gone through quite a bit of due diligence. They asked the sellers to apply, they went to their websites, they even ordered some items to ensure they’re actually hand made. From the point of application, it takes almost four weeks to be vetted by them,” pointed out Gil Luria, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

For the past 10 years, Etsy has been the place to go for hand-crafted items, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they gave Amazon some feedback, after hearing of their newly-launched service.

“Etsy has a decade of experience understanding the needs of artists and sellers and supporting them in ways that no other marketplace can. Our platform attracts 21+ million thoughtful consumers seeking to discover unique goods, and build relationships with the people who make and sell them,” explained Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson, pointing out that his company remains the best platform for artisans. In fact, at the beginning of the week, Dickerson’s company announced that it would launch Etsy Manufacturing, a marketplace that focuses on attracting manufacturers and designers.

Handmade at Amazon will most likely turn out to be successful, as there are plenty of artisans out there who want to share what they are doing with the rest of the world. Not only that, but there are also plenty of people who are tired of buying something that’s also worn by hundreds of others.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Amazon’s $50 Fire Tablet, or Amazon’s Fire TV Stick.

Via: USA Today

Light L16 Employs 16 Sensors for Better Photos

Posted: 08 Oct 2015 12:36 PM PDT

Just when most people thought that mirrorless cameras were the natural next step from dSLRs, Light decided to think out of the box for a moment, and introduced a point-and-shoot camera with 16 sensors on the front.

The reason why such a camera was even developed in the first place was to demonstrate that a camera doesn’t have to be hefty in order to take great pictures. Sure, some might argue that that’s the entire point with mirrorless cameras, but someone thought it could take things even further. Light, the manufacturer of the L16 point-and-shoot camera are so confident of their product’s potential, that they even claim to match dSLR quality.

“We’re trying to replace a big lens [on a DSLR] with multiple small lenses and small sensors,” explained Dr. Rajiv Laroia, Light’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer.

“This isn’t just moonshot thinking,” added Dave Grannan, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “We put some of the best talent in Silicon Valley together here at Light. Our computational team and our hardware engineer team have been working for over two years bringing this to reality.”

Each of the 16 lens modules (five 35mm, five 70mm, and six 150mm lenses) packs a 13-megapixel sensor, and their combined effort results in 52-megapixel photos. The camera makes use of some software wizardry to stitch together Basically, Light L16 can handle whatever you throw at it, from macro photos to wide-range landscapes and zoomed shots.

Much like in the case of Lytro’s light field cameras, the depth of field can be adjusted after taking the picture, down to f/1.2. That would make the L16 ideal for low-light conditions, regardless if we’re talking about macros, portraits or concert photography.

Besides the exceptional low-light performance, the L16 sports 35-150 optical zoom, and a 5-inch touchscreen display. Needless to say, the photos taken with this camera will barely have any noise.

Photos are not the only think the L16 is capable of shooting. Should you want to record video, the camera can do it at resolutions of up to 4K, which isn’t something you get to see in your everyday dSLR or smartphone.

Below is a slideshow of photos taken with the Light L16 point-and-shoot camera, albeit not at the real resolution. Still you’ll be able to get an idea about the contrast, depth of field and color reproduction.

Click to view slideshow.

Not at last, here is a video of the world’s first multi-aperture computational camera:

This piece of tech can be pre-ordered for $1,299 until November 6, and for $1,699 after that. Placing an order now doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have it in time for Christmas (not even for the next summer), as Light plans to make L16 commercially available only in September 2016. By then, hopefully the company will have some competition and will reconsider its price policies.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Forearm X1 wearable camera, or the Xiaomi Yi action camera that gives GoPro Hero a run for the money.

Via: PetaPixel