The name Alexa has lost a bit of its popularity in the last 2 years -- is it because of Amazon?

2/20/20 7:00PM

In the 90s and early 2000s the popularity of the name Alexa was exploding. In 1985 there were 201 babies called Alexa, 20 years later there were almost 5000.

‍Enter Amazon

‍At the end of 2014 Amazon released the Amazon Alexa, its virtual assistant that has absolutely, completely, revolutionised the way we set timers when our hands are dirty... and a few other household tasks.

After the Alexa was released the popularity of the name jumped up, with Alexa becoming the 32nd most popular baby girl name in 2015. Explaining that initial jump is difficult in the context of the huge fall in popularity in the next few years, where the number of babies called Alexa halved -- perhaps as Amazon's Alexa made its way into more homes.

The naming of Alexa was obviously intentional. A device that lives in your home, listens and talks to you, definitely needs to be made to feel as human as possible. Technically speaking, the Amazon Echo is the actual device, and Alexa simply your helpful virtual assistant hiding within it.

It's not just Amazon using first names to humanise their brand though. Marcus is the new consumer arm of banking giant Goldman Sachs, lola is the travel management software launched in 2015, Casper is a mattress company, Oscar is an insurance company and Alice helps entrepreneurs grow their business. Keep an eye out for our premium chart service -- Kevin.

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SpaceX filings reportedly show no one can fire Elon Musk except Elon Musk

The only thing stopping Elon Musk from being chairman and CEO of SpaceX is Elon Musk, according to Reuters, which viewed an excerpt of the company’s IPO filing.

The document outlines a dual-class share structure giving Musk control via super-voting stock. The filing says he “can only be removed from our board or these positions by the vote of Class B holders” — shares he’ll control after the listing. It adds that if he keeps those shares, he could “continue to control the election and removal of a majority of our board.”

At a typical public company — even founder-led ones with dual-class structures — a CEO can be fired by the board of directors, which represents shareholders and can vote to remove them over issues such as corporate performance, strategy, or misconduct.

The unusual SpaceX setup means Musk is unlikely to face the kind of CEO succession pressure he’s dealt with at Tesla. Musk, of course, is not a typical CEO, and the value of his companies has long been closely tied to his presence.

To be sure, SpaceX’s confidential IPO filing isn’t in its final form yet — while the filing is still in the confidential phase, the company will be going back and forth with the SEC, which will review it and suggest or require changes.

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OpenAI’s models are officially coming to Amazon

Amazon is finally getting in on the hottest ticket in tech.

After Microsoft announced yesterday that it has agreed to give up its exclusive rights to sell OpenAI’s models, Amazon, as expected, will start offering them to customers — something Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman says users have been asking for “for a really long time.” Some models are available now in preview, and the most powerful GPT versions will show up “in the coming weeks.”

This is a big shift in the AI cloud wars. Microsoft’s early bet on OpenAI gave Azure an edge by locking up the most in-demand models. Now that exclusivity is gone, Amazon and other competitors can finally offer them too, closing a key gap and competing more directly for AI customers.

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Ship-tracking app surges as Iran war continues

As Middle East peace talks stretch on, with Tehran reportedly offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade and the war ends, the owner of shipping intelligence platform MarineTraffic revealed that the app has gained millions of new users since the conflict began.

MarineTraffic’s user count jumped to 8.5 million this April, up from 3.5 million a year ago, the cofounder of its parent company, Kpler, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Paid subscribers, often workers within companies and governments looking for more data on supply chains and commodities trading, rose 11,000 in the same period.

Kpler, which also owns shipping intelligence platform FleetMon, draws its data from a range of sources, including the Automatic Identification System, satellites, and more than 500 people on-site, like port terminal operators.

Per Appfigures data, MarineTraffic is estimated to have raked in almost $1 million across March and April in app revenue (through April 27), more than double the ~$346,500 from the same months last year. Across the full year, Kpler expects to earn between $300 million and $400 million in annual recurring revenues.