Insider has learned Amazon is planning to add mental health services to its portfolio — so one day you may not only have an Amazon robot cleaning your house, an Amazon doctor providing care, and an Amazon store to pick out your clothes, but you could also have an Amazon therapist.
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1. Amazon plans to add mental health support to its primary-care service. Amazon's primary-care service, Amazon Care, plans to add behavioral health support to its growing list of medical offerings, and is planning to partner with mental health care provider Ginger.
- The service, which hasn't launched yet, will provide Amazon Care users on-demand access to mental health experts, such as licensed therapists or psychiatrists.
- The move would mark the latest expansion of Amazon's incipient primary-care business, which offers on-demand virtual care through an app, connecting people with physicians for primary care services.
- Amazon has been doubling down on its healthcare business. Just last month, the company announced plans to acquire One Medical for $3.9 billion.
Inside Amazon's push for mental health support.
In other news:
2. Hulu and Disney+ are about to get more expensive. The cost of an ad-free Disney+ subscription is increasing by 38% to $10.99. Meanwhile, a Hulu subscription without ads will increase $2 per month. Here's how much each plan is increasing, and when the changes go into effect.
3. A leaked email shows Nvidia's CEO reassuring employees that layoffs aren't coming. The email, which came as the company missed its revenue targets, also said that Nvidia employees were given a raise "to take care of your families." What we learned from the email.
4. Elon Musk teased his website "X.com" as a potential Twitter competitor. Musk, who bought the domain name in 2017 from PayPal as it had "sentimental value," is now hinting that it could serve as a direct competitor to Twitter. What we know about X.com.
5. Snap employees are bracing for layoffs. A recent Q&A call with Snap's head of engineering left some workers feeling like layoffs at the company are not a matter of if, but when. See what Snap employees are saying.
6. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and other billionaires are backing an exploration for rare minerals buried beneath Greenland's ice. The billionaires are helping fund KoBold Metals, a startup that's searching for minerals and metals that can be used to build electric cars and renewable batteries. Get the full rundown here.
7. Microsoft is cutting hundreds of contractors amid layoffs and a hiring freeze. This week, the workers were told their contracts will end on Friday, and that they won't receive severance. Everything contract workers told us about the layoffs.
8. Most electric cars won't qualify for Democrats' new $7,500 tax credit. The Inflation Reduction Act includes a renewed tax credit for electric-car buyers — but the new program has restrictions that would exclude most current electric models. Here's a look at why.
Odds and ends:
9. Jeff Bezos' megayacht is close to being finished. Video shows the massive — and controversial — megayacht appears to be fully assembled. See a video of the yacht up close.
10. WhatsApp will finally let users quietly leave group chats. As part of a rollout of new privacy features, the company is implementing an update that lets users leave group chats without notifying others. Here's what else the update offers.
What we're watching today:
- DEF CON conference for computer hackers starts in Las Vegas.
- Wikimania, an annual gathering bringing together Wikipedia volunteers, starts today.
- It's Steve Wozniak's birthday.
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Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email [email protected] or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.