Voice shopping weekend

Amazon Alexa users are getting an early crack at Black Friday deals with Amazon’s first ‘voice shopping weekend’. That’s right, Amazon is simplifying the burdensome task of opening a web browser and clicking on their deals site. Now you can simply ask, “Alexa, what are your deals?” And she’ll read off the deals for the day. These are special ‘Alexa only’ deals this weekend, meaning people who don’t have an Alexa enabled device can’t get em. However everyone, Alexa owner or not, can get a glimpse of the deals by clicking on Amazon’s site. Today it looks like you can get 23%off a Star Wars BB-8 droid, and a whopping 79% off Garth Brooks’ ultimate hits CD. Happy shopping everyone!

Tesla Energy

It’s a done deal, Tesla is buying SolarCity. An overwhelming 85% of Tesla shareholders backed the acquisition which will cost Tesla approximately $2 billion. This clears the path for Elon Musk’s plans for an integrated energy company, encompassing solar roofing, energy storage, and electric vehicles. Musk will continue as CEO of the combined company, SolarCity’s operations and staff will merge with Tesla, and the SolarCity brand will become “Tesla Energy.” The merger paves the way for Tesla to produce its new solar roof, which is essentially roofing shingles made of solar cells. Musk says because of the merger, the Tesla smart roof could potentially cost less than what he calls a regular old dumb roof.

Airbnb Trips

Finally this week, Airbnb announced plans to expand its reach beyond just short-term rentals, with sights set on becoming a full-on travel agency. With a new initiative it calls Airbnb Trips, it will be offering complete travel experiences that include things like a surfing trip in Malibu or an eating adventure in Paris. Available in 12 cities now including Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and San Francisco, the trips range from a few days to only a few hours and can include all sorts of different activities. Instead of using Airbnb for one service, their hopes are users will start thinking of the company as a go-to for all their travel needs.