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Comment Safari and Chrome on IOS do this too (Score 1) 143

This isn't all that much different than what happens with Safari and Chrome on IOS. At present, all IOS browsers are Webkit based so if you have tabs open in Chrome on IOS or iPad OS... through Continuity on your Mac you can have them show up in the Dock to view on your Mac the same as if they were open in Safari on IOS or iPad OS. Honestly this freaked me out the first time it happened but once I realized why it made sense. With Edge and Chrome, they're all based on Chromium so makes sense you could have a "similar" experience. Edge is really just Chrome at the core but with MS "extensions".

Comment X1 does this already (Score 1) 14

X1.. the fintech that made waves by offering cards with higher credit limits based on income and a soft pull only recently added this feature. If you're maxing out your cashback/rewards you can use it to pay off purchases, as a statement credit, or to be common stocks like Apple, Tesla, etc. I find it quite convenient.

Comment Divorce, Separation, & Minor or College Kids (Score 1) 77

Its going to be interesting to see how Netflix handles this in terms of location and disconnected familiies. I'm divorced with a 17 year old and a 21 year old in another state. But I've also re-married and have a wife and kids here. So here locally I have a family with 3 iPhones, an iPad and 2 Apple TVs. The 17 year old lives with her Mom in another state and uses my Netflix account on her phone, Mac, iPad, and a Smart TV (the ex doesn't use it). My 21 year old is on her own (not living with her mom), but also uses my account. Even with all the users and devices... we manage to all use it and stay under our simultaneous connection limits due to differing work and school schedules. But in the end, my children would be permitted to use my account if they were here with me and should be allowed to even if in another state. Same for most kids going to college, etc. So its going to be interesting to see what Netflix considers "sharing". And if they lock things down... will they have an appeal process, etc.

Comment No mention of the direct competition? (Score 3, Interesting) 66

A lot of people don't realize that Zelle is just branding for a backend system. Zelle (which is short for gazelle due to the speed of the animal) is actually the Real Time Payments platform/network run by the Clearing House Payments Co (TCH). TCH competes directly with the Fed for CHIPS, image (the process to take pics of your checks in an app on your phone), and ACH (how you typically get paid with direct deposit).TCH has been running a realtime payment solution for years. The Fed (Federal Reserve... which ironically is the only org with "Federal" in the name that isn't actually part of the US federal govt) is years late to this. The only banks that will use it are those that want redundancy in the event that TCH's solution were to go offline. Also, I think the Fed is missing a lot with this comment: "it would make money as we know it more competitive with cryptocurrencies"... its more likely to compete with the fintech's like Paypal or Apply Pay or Venmo or Cashapp... moreso when you consider that a real time payment network isn't going to allow you to mine your coins or see 10,000x growth in value... its just going to move money faster than the aging ACH credit/debit systems.

Comment Reduces financial liability for the company (Score 1) 126

One of the key quotes is "With UPTO, workers are not technically owed any vacation days, since there's no fixed number, and everything must be cleared by the boss on a case-by-case basis". This also means that when you quit or are laid off or fired, there's no vacation day payout with your final check. Many orgs like to avoid the liability of keeping the cash on hand for these events. Some do vacation cash outs or similar. So force you to use it with a "use it or lose it" policy. Some allow rolling it over year after year but usually with a cap of hours. This sounds good for the employees and there will always be those that abuse it as well as those that never use it. It's not unlike unlimited sick days, the exception being that unused sick days usually aren't paid out when you leave. In the end, this is one less thing the big companies need to keep on the books. Do some fast math and say you have 1000 employees making an average of 75K a year with 4 weeks of vacation each. That's not an insignificant financial liability.

Comment Family Ties S6 E20 and E21 (Score 1) 109

For those of you that were alive before cellphones, the old sitcom Family Ties did two episodes about this in Season 6, episodes 20 and 21: Read It and Weep. My point is simply to the beginning of the article which says "The disturbing trend of school boards and lawmakers banning books from libraries and public schools is accelerating across the country". This isn't a new thing...

Comment You're not alone - maybe go hybrid (Score 1) 109

I'm in the same boat. I essentially use it for hosted email. I used to also use it for free, basic website (my resume). One of the benefits was essentially unlimited emails (aliases) to my domain which came in hand for avoiding ads and spam and/or when wanting to use a unique email for free services (netflixtrial1@mydomain.com, netflixtrial2@mydomain.com, etc). The other benefit is the resiliency... my domain's email on Google Apps benefits from the same resiliency as gmail... which essentially never fails. But when I review how and why I use it... my family no longer needs it (as my children got older they suddenly didn't like that I could access all their email LOL). I can get free, basic web hosting anywhere. I'm also a Mac user, so thanks to Apple I sort of already have private emails if needed. I'll likely remove all but my own account and just pay the $6/mo. However, I'm not rushing either... we may see a class action suit and Google may still change what happens. Plus, no migration is foolproof, so the people that do it first are likely the guinea pigs. My plan is to wait and see and decide what to do 30 days prior to the cutoff. The world has changed too... when Google Apps was first out there and free, AWS wasn't what it is now. With AWS's free tiers, some of the same offerings are available. I've considered leaving my email for a single account with Google (for $6/mo) but updating my DNS to host my website (still just my resume) for free on AWS. Combined, they both have a ton of resiliency compared to other options (Rackspace, GoDaddy, etc)

Comment So much for the life long learner (Score 1) 43

I remember some years ago there was a comment about Apple not enforcing this as they understood the "lifelong learner" may not always be enrolled in a class. I guess those days are over. But its worth reminding that many corporations have "buying portals" with similar discounts. Where I work, I can log into a URL and verify my work email, then get discounts with Apple, Dell, IBM, etc. The Apple discounts are the same percentage as the student discount with the same limit on quantities (both per purchase and per year). The saddest thing is so many people with jobs don't realize they have these discounts similar to the TicketsAtWork or Plum Benefits or similar... all as part of a package with health and other memberships.

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