This right here is the Daily Tech News for Wednesday, January 28th, 2026. We tell you what you need to know, give you some context, and try to help each other understand.

Today, Amazon ends its palm scanning service, and Google brings Gemini agentic skills to Chrome.

I would say too soon, but it's been around since 2020.

I'm Tom Merritt.

I'm Sarah Lane.

Let's start with what you need to know with The Big Story.

So Amazon also announced layoffs affecting around 1% of its workforce.

But when your workforce is 1.5 to 1.6 million people, that's still a lot of folks.

16,000 folks.

The affected roles are in corporate positions.

So these are managers, not warehouse or retail.

In a message to employees, Amazon's Beth Galletti, SVP of People Experience and Technology,

which I think is their name for HR, said this was the last phase of an

ongoing effort to reduce layers and eliminate bureaucracy. They didn't promise they'll never

lay off anybody again this year, but they did say this is part of an ongoing process and

they're at the end of that process. Affected employees can look for a new role in the company.

They'll have 90 days to do that before having to take their severance pay, which they

will also get if they don't find a new rule.

And following on from yesterday's news that Amazon will shut down its Amazon

Fresh and Amazon Go stores, company's support page, also says they're shutting down

Amazon One for retail on June 3rd.

Amazon 1 was the thing that recognized your palm.

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