Hopefully this means I won't have to leave the Audible app and switch over to the web page to use my Audible credits for book purchases. I didn't have to do that on the Android app, I could just use the "buy with credit" button and start listening.

Except it really doesn't. If I'm in an area that has multiple tax rates within a short geographic distance, I don't care what the "base" cost of the item is, I care what I'm going to pay for it if I walk in the store and take it home. Seeing the base price in 3 different stores with 3 different tax rates actually hinders comparison shopping because I'd have to know the tax rate in order to figure out the out the door price. It isn't useful having 9.99, 9.49, and 10.25 on the shelf because the comparison would say "buy it at the second shop because it's less expensive. That doesn't take into consideration that the first and second shops are subject to a 10% tax, and the third shop is not, so it's actually less expensive to buy it at the third shop. Putting the tax-inclusive price actually enables direct comparison shopping.

Online is a bit different of course since the tax rate is generally dependent upon the delivery address, not the address of the store/warehouse where the item is sold.

You hit the nail on the head. I hadn't been to the movies more than a handful of times in the last 10 years until I got a Regal Unlimited membership last summer. Sorry, but movies aren't worth $15 per seat. By the time two people go and get a couple of drinks and some popcorn, you're easily at $50 or $60. That's just not affordable for many people, especially when most of the movies these days are retreads of old movies that shouldn't have been remade.

Since getting the unlimited membership, I've seen an average 10 movies per month. Can I wait a few weeks and see most of them on whatever digital platform they come out on? Yes. What I like about going to the theater is it forces me to engage with the movie better. At home, I'm more likely to pick up my phone during a slow point of the movie, sometimes missing out on nuances that matter for the overall movie. At the theater, I just sit and enjoy the movie. I think there is also something to be said about the experience with other people laughing at the funny parts, letting out small shrieks during jump scares, etc. Thankfully I haven't really had trouble with people talking or cell phones ringing. It occasionally happens, but not nearly to the extent that I hear people talking about online.

I have Regal Unlimited, they just raised it to $21.49/mo. Standard adult ticket prices are $14 at my local theaters now, more if you book in the app since they add "convenience fees" on top of it. While $7.95/mo was probably low, it's clearly profitable for movie theaters to offer a subscription plan that costs far less than what people use. With the Regal subscription, anyone that goes to two movies/mo saves money, and the savings go up from there. Regal even incentivizes customers to see many MANY more movies than that by offering points for hitting milestones up to 250 movies per year, which can be redeemed for free concession, tickets, etc. I saw over 50 movies since I joined the Unlimited program back in July. I expect to see at least 100 this year. I'll spend $260 for the membership, resulting in paying less than $3 per movie, a huge savings over $14 or more.

MoviePass's concept is clearly profitable otherwise Regal, AMC, and other chains that offer subscription-based memberships wouldn't be so popular. I think the only problem is they were too early to the market and didn't get the theaters on board like they essentially claimed. As a result, the theater chains took their "proof of concept" and started offering their own programs instead.

Some insurance companies, banks, credit cards, and even Costco have car buying programs available to some degree. In my limited experience, it didn't work very well, but that's likely because I was looking for a car that Toyota doesn't sell in my state (Prius Prime) and the car purchase program was limited to dealers within 25 miles of my residence. On the other hand, if you're looking to upgrade and have a car style and features in mind, but aren't set on brand or model, it would work very well because you can put in your criteria and it will give you a list of available vehicles near you that meet your wants, and offer "contracted discounts" on those models.

I have had the same cable Internet provider at my home for 12 years now. It isn't because they have the best customer service (but to be fair, they are pretty decent all things considered.) It's because there is exactly one provider that can provide something resembling "broadband" in my neighborhood. The telco offers "12mbps down" DSL in my neighborhood, but in reality you're lucky if you get 4mbps down. That's what my mom had at this house before she passed and I moved in. The only other options I have available are WISPS, which aren't known for reliability, or Starlink. There is a fiber provider that was supposed to be available at my house a year ago now, but construction keeps getting pushed out and they've stopped even giving estimated dates. Once they're here, they offer up to 8gbps symmetrical, so I'll probably go with a 1gbps plan with them and get away from the 50mbps uplink offered by cable.

To say people won't switch because they're happy with the customer service is such a farce that I'm surprised the source article isn't from The Onion.

You're right on all points. The first time around, I could understand it a bit more. When he first started running for the first time, I even got kind of excited. "A successful businessman, who isn't beholden to outside money, this could be a good change for us!" Then he started talking and it was clear he had no idea how business or government worked. All of the scandals that he'd hidden over the years started getting exposed. It very quickly became obvious that he was not fit to be in the White House. Unfortunately way too many people believed the message he was sending, and let's be honest the Democrats picked a nominee (Hillary Clinton) that was uncompelling, and just wasn't on the level to be able to compete against him. Then we got 4 years of him causing nearly irreparable damage, and that isn't even considering the piss-poor response he had to the pandemic crisis.

As to how he won a second term? Lies and fear mongering. His propaganda machine was running at maximum output and his supporters ate it up. His message was so clear and compelling that he was able to turn many of his detractors to his side. He was successful at making all of the his shortcomings that we're still dealing with today appear to have come from the current administration, even though they've been working non-stop to repair the damage he caused, and are finally starting to see things turn around. Along with all of that, he was able to split Americans into two diametrically opposed groups, for him and against him. Working together and finding common ground and compromise was made to seem impossible, and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Coming from the viewpoint of a formerly communist country, I'm sure you have many parallels you can see. There are no winners in the USA today, half of them just don't realize it yet, and sadly never will.

I remember as a teen back in the mid 90s watching a documentary on BM, and was all about independence and expression through art. Nothing was allowed to be sold, everything was required to either be gifted, or some limited barter was allowed, it's hard to get much more counter-capitalist than that. I used to want to go back in the early days, but now it's nothing like what it was supposed to ever be.

I don't think the data in the paper is a very accurate representation of the true population. Many insurance plans explicitly exclude bariatric surgery from their covered services, and I'd be surprised if those same plans don't exclude weight loss drugs as well.

I will never, EVER install that match three game with the stupid king character on it. Match three games are fun in a mindless way to kill 5 minutes with a puzzle. This game looks like they have some creative scenarios to add to the fun. But I've seen those ads so... many... times... that it's taken any desire I had away to try it out.

It totally worked for the XM and Sirius radio mergers! They definitely kept their promises of no rate increases. /s

I know that various attempts have been made over the years, but we've reached the point where we need some kind of distributed root DNS registry system in place that are not within reach of the courts of any country. In the past it has been mostly for the sake of doing it, but the courts are proving time and time again that they're willing to greatly overeach at the expense of the freedom of speech.

I don't necessarily disagree with where you're going here, but can you elaborate on this:

I've worked at government contractors that had real air-gaps for things like their databases, but that does not seem to be the norm for the rest of the world. How would ordinary businesses make use of their databases if they are not network accessible under any circumstances, printed reports? Some sort of unidirectional transmission? What sort of data ingress are they using?

I ask this because I have been involved in the transfer of data in highly regulated, air-gapped systems, and they are incredibly expensive. Are you really indicating that true air-gap databases will be ubiquitous (or at least commonplace) in the forseeable future?

One of the reasons manufacturers want to leave the AM radio out is because of how difficult it is to properly shield other electronics in the car from interfering with the AM radio, especially on hybrids and EVs. If they're forced to keep the AM radio (and of course have it be actually functional) they will be forced to properly filter and shield the rest of the electronics. This will help reduce the pollution on the air waves for ham radio operators.

How many teens are putting their real birthdate on their accounts? They may have a "parent approved" instagram/Facebook account, but I'd guarantee the vast majority also have a second account with an 18+ birthdate, with their parents and any school teachers/officials blocked.