Amazon

Big-box retailers chase low prices and social trends

Modern Retail's Big-Box Briefing reports that major brick-and-mortar retailers are prioritizing low prices and trending social-media products for the 2026 back-to-school season. Retailers have started promotions earlier in the summer — a trend amplified by Amazon moving Prime Day to June — and are emphasizing influencer and creator partnerships to reach shoppers who use social platforms for product research. The piece is a weekly Modern Retail+ column analyzing retailer strategies amid a budget-conscious shopping environment.

Cloud Fuels Big Tech’s $725B AI Spend; Meta Eyes Cloud

Second-quarter results from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon show cloud businesses growing rapidly, underscoring cloud computing as a high-margin engine funding big tech’s AI investments. The combined AI capital expenditure for the four largest players (Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta) is cited at $725 billion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s latest earnings call that Meta has received offers from businesses willing to pay a premium to rent Meta’s AI compute infrastructure, signaling Meta’s interest in following cloud-provider economics.

FCC to Explore Unlicensed Spectrum for Direct-to-Device

On August 6, 2026 the Federal Communications Commission voted to explore new ways to allow unlicensed wireless devices to communicate directly with satellites. The Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking examining reforms to enable devices operating in certain Part 15 bands to connect with FCC-authorized satellites, potentially providing WiFi to consumers and businesses and enabling use of such equipment on and between FCC-approved spacecraft. The move follows a July proposal to use unlicensed spectrum to support direct-to-device (D2D) connections. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr described the effort as combining satellite constellations with the unlicensed device ecosystem to expand connectivity into dead zones.