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Packages with the logo of Amazon are transported at a packing station of a redistribution center of Amazon in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on Dec. 9, 2024.

Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images

Amazon is shutting down “Prime Try Before You Buy,” a competitor to Stitch Fix that allowed Prime members to try out clothes, shoes and accessories and only pay for items they wanted to keep.

The service will be discontinued on Jan. 31, according to a notice posted to Amazon’s website. The notice then directs users to browse Amazon’s fashion homepage.

Try Before You Buy is the latest example of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s ongoing efforts to rein in costs across the company. Beginning in 2022 and extending throughout 2024, Amazon initiated the largest layoffs in the company’s history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs across the company. It has also shuttered several of its experimental projects, such as a speedy brick-and-mortar delivery service, its telehealth offering and a quirky video-calling device for kids.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the move, which was first reported by The Information.

“Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025,” the spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

Amazon rolled out the service, which was previously called Prime Wardrobe, in 2017. It was only available to members of Amazon’s $139-per-year Prime subscription program, which also includes perks such as speedy shipping and access to streaming services.

Users could test out a mix of luxury, staple and Amazon-owned brands, and return whatever they didn’t want to keep for free within seven days of receiving the items. The service operated similarly to wardrobe subscription services including Stitch Fix and Rent the Runway, as well as newer entrants such as Urban Outfitters‘ Nuuly.

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Palo Alto Networks reports earnings beat, says founder Nir Zuk retiring from company

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Palo Alto Networks reports earnings beat, says founder Nir Zuk retiring from company

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, looks on during the closing bell at the Nasdaq Market in New York City on March 25, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected quarterly results and issued upbeat guidance for the current period. The cybersecurity software vendor said Nir Zuk, who founded the company in 2005, is retiring from his role as chief technology officer.

The stock rose about 6% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company did compared to LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings: 95 cents adjusted vs. 88 cents expected
  • Revenue: $2.54 billion vs. $2.5 billion expected.

Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter rose 16% from about $2.2 billion last year, the company said in a statement. Net income fell to about $254 million, or 36 cents per share, from about $358 million, or 51 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The company also issued upbeat guidance for the fiscal first quarter. Earnings per share will be between 88 cents and 90 cents, Palo Alto said, topping an 85-cents estimate from StreetAccount.

For the full year, Palo Alto said revenue will range from $10.48 billion to $10.53 billion on adjusted earnings of $3.75 to $3.85 per share. Both estimates exceeded Wall Street’s projections.

Palo Alto said that for the fiscal first quarter, remaining purchase obligations, which tracks backlog, will range between $15.4 billion and $15.5 billion, surpassing a $15.07 billion estimate.

Last month, the company announced plans to buy Israeli identity security provider CyberArk for $25 billion. It’s the largest deal Palo Alto has made since its founding, and most ambitious in an acquiring spree that ramped up after CEO Nikesh Arora took the helm of the company in 2018.

Shares sold off sharply after the news broke and have yet to recover previous highs. The stock is down about 3% this year as of Monday’s close.

“We look for great products, a team that can execute in the product, and we let them run it,” Arora told CNBC following the announcement. “This is going to be a different challenge, but we’ve done well 24 times, so I’m pretty confident that our team can handle this.”

Lee Klarich, the company’s product chief, will replace Zuk as CTO and fill his position on the board.

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Musk’s Starlink suffers apparent outage as SpaceX launches more satellites

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Musk's Starlink suffers apparent outage as SpaceX launches more satellites

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Satellite internet service Starlink, which is owned and operated by Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, appeared to suffer a brief network outage on Monday, with thousands of reports of service interruptions on Downdetector, a site that logs tech issues.

The outage marked the second in two weeks for Starlink. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The network’s July 24 outage lasted for several hours, with SpaceX Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls blaming the matter on “failure of key internal software services that operate the core network” behind Starlink.

That outage followed the launch of T-Mobile‘s Starlink-powered satellite service, a direct-to-cell-phone service created to keep smartphone users connected “in places no carrier towers can reach,” according to T-Mobile’s website.

SpaceX provides Starlink internet service to more than six million users across 140 countries, according to the company’s website, though churn and subscriber rates are not publicly reported by the company.

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The SpaceX Starlink constellation is far larger than any competitor. It currently features over 7,000 operational broadband satellites, according to research by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

On Monday, Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched another group of satellites to add to its Starlink constellation from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California.

SpaceX is currently aiming to increase the number of launches and landings from Vandenberg from 50 to about 100 annually.

On Thursday last week, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to oppose the U.S. Space Force application to conduct that higher volume of SpaceX launches there.

The Commission has said that SpaceX and Space Force officials have failed to properly evaluate and report on potential impacts of increased launches on neighboring towns, and local wildlife, among other issues.

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order seeking to ease environmental regulations seen by Musk, and others, as hampering commercial space operations.

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Tesla Optimus rival Unitree shines at the ‘World Humanoid Robot Games’ in China

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Tesla Optimus rival Unitree shines at the 'World Humanoid Robot Games' in China

First-ever World Humanoid Robot Games conclude in Beijing — here are the highlights

The first “World Humanoid Robot Games” is in the books.

The three-day competition hosted in Beijing wrapped on Sunday, attracting 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S. Teams used robots manufactured by Chinese companies such as Unitree and Booster.

During the games, humanoid athletes competed in dance battles, martial arts, track and field events such as the 400-meter and 1500-meter races and long jump, and a soccer tournament.

“Robots have stronger joints and core strength,” said Guo Tong, who programmed one of the futuristic footballers for his team, Hephaestus.

Guo said he sees robots replacing his idol, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, by 2050.

“Robots are easier to coach,” Chinese Olympic boxer Li Yang told CNBC while watching his robot slug it out with another. “Humans are emotional.”

Hangzhou-based Unitree, seen as a competitor to Tesla‘s Optimus, won multiple medals. Beijing-based X-Humanoid and Hong Kong-listed Shenzhen firm UBTECH also impressed.

Humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics win the first place in the 4x100m Relay of Track and Field event on day three of the World Humanoid Robot Games at National Speed Skating Oval on August 17, 2025 in Beijing, China.

Zhang Xiangyi | China News Service | Getty Images

The Chinese government has targeted humanoid robots as a key future industry for the economy and Beijing has plans to build a world-class industry of humanoid robots by 2027.

The games are the latest in a series of events and programs aimed at promoting humanoid robot technology. China announced plans to hold its second Olympics-style event for humanoid robots next August.

Robots also put job skills to the test, showcasing their abilities as drug store clerks, factory workers, and hotel staff.

One challenge for a robot in housekeeping was to pick up all the garbage in a mock hotel room and take out the trash. Referees told CNBC the biggest obstacle for those robots was opening and closing the door.

Robot designer Wang Xidong says the competition is key to testing the robots’ skills and improving them.

“We are refining our robots,” Wang said. “Everyone feels motivated to compete.”

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