Amazon scraps secret interest-tracking project

Amazon has shut down a secret four-year program that ran on a birth control device and accompanying smartphone app, CNBC reported.

The project, which was known by the code name “Encore,” arose from Amazon’s purchase in 2020 of a startup called bluDiagnostics, which was developing a machine that measures the levels of estradiol and progesterone – two hormones responsible for fertility in women – from. saliva samples.

Amazon planned to release the product this year, but a team of nearly 100 people faced technical challenges, according to the report. Encore was part of Amazon’s Grand Challenge program, a secretive lab known for taking on ambitious or moonshot projects like cancer research.

Andy Jassy, ​​the company’s CEO, has been in cost-cutting mode since 2022. In addition to completing 27,000 jobs, he closed a number of pilot projects, including an AR headset for meetings and a virtual tour product.