z_note

1) In my last post I shared an article about dynamic grocery pricing, and how this was likely to hurt some who could least afford it. The issue of dynamic pricing leaped out to me in this article about Disney's shift to being a luxury experience. The author wrote:

"Over my three-decade-long consulting career, I saw industry after industry use this kind of information to shift their focus to the big spenders in its customer base. Banks, retailers, hotels, airlines, credit card issuers, manufacturers and universities all learned that their richest customers didn’t just spend more than the rest; they spent multiples more. Many companies found that if they didn’t focus on their richest customers, they couldn’t provide competitive salaries to staff members, increase returns to shareholders and attract capital to invest in new products. Whereas in the 1970s and before, the revenue driving corporate profits came from the middle class, by the 1990s it was clear that the big money was at the top."

At the same time, just because something's expensive doesn't mean it's any good. ( Read more... )

3) Saw the Pixar movie Elio and can see why it didn't do well. It's a take on The Wizard of Oz but was too focused on its theme and message to develop some of the other important aspects. ( Read more... )

4) greenfinch posted about a study on pop music showing a darker and more stressed turn in music. I had some issues with it. ( Read more... )

5) First posted at tv_talk, a Bloomberg News article discussing how sports acquisition will be the big driver to streaming services listed the biggest months for signups during 2025 to Apple+. The top 4 were all connected to MLB games leading with Dodgers vs. Yankees (May) 722K. The top series program was 'The Morning Show' with 524K. Slow Horses didn't make the Top 10 list, but then the data stopped in September, and its new season premiere was in October.

It's clear that Slow Horses is hugely popular as a streaming show. But apparently Morning Show is as well but isn't discussed nearly as much. Its writing is also very strong, it has a large cast, and some big names in the mix. Having just seen its 4th season, I can say it is also not slowing down in any way. If anything, the personal stakes for all the characters just keep going up.

To me, the most riveting episode was 4.8 The Parent Trap. The juxtaposition of Alex and Cory's polar opposites in parenting certainly made suggestions about how and why they turned out as they did, but it also connected to how the finale resolved the season. ( Spoilers )

1) In another sign of AI run amok, I do the AARP Trivia quiz each day. I swear they have delegated its creation to AI. There have often been errors in the past, usually spelling ones, though sometimes also offering the same answer twice (out of 4 choices) -- which if it happens to be the right answer means you have a 50/50 chance of being wrong even when you're right.

Last weekend there were two. An "explainer" or "further info" box usually pops up after you finish a question. One of them just said "nar."But my favorite was the question "What is the name of dish where beef is cooked in wine." The answer? Coq au Vin. To boot the explainer mentioned that though the name meant rooster it was often made with chicken. Which is, as we know, beef. ( Read more... )

2) This is the first I've heard that Friday Night Lights is getting a sequel, or maybe a reboot depending on how you look at it.

3) Back in October my Garmin tracker just stopped working as I was biking. It didn't do anything the rest of the day and I figured its (unchargeable) battery was dying, since it was guaranteed for a year and it was almost exactly that. Since Garmin seems to be moving away from selling trackers, I decided to try a Fitbit as my partner was satisfied with his. However the next day, the Garmin was working again, so I hadn't opened or set up the Fitbit yet.

Cut to last weekend when it went out again while I was exercising. The Garmin came back after an hour but I'm suspecting that the battery is dying and so it's particularly stressed during continuous activity. It's probably been cutting out for some time, as I've noticed odd differences in step reports during days that are functionally the same.

Skipping over all the things I already don't like about the Fitbit, I decided to start using it alongside the Garmin. The first morning, before I even started exercising, there was already a 200 step difference between what the Fitbit showed and what the Garmin reported. ( Read more... )

3) Saw the last Mission Impossible movie and have to say I was pretty unimpressed. Of course, they were never my favorites to start with. I thought I'd done a review of an earlier film but if so, I can't find it. So this will have to do. ( Read more... )

4) As if people who need groceries delivered (likely those with disabilities or lack of transport) weren't already paying more, now there's dynamic food pricing in action. "hundreds of volunteers shopped on Instacart for identical baskets of goods from Safeway and Target. Of the 437 participants, every single one was exposed to algorithmic price experiments, according to the report. The investigation also found evidence of price experimentation at Albertsons, Costco, Kroger and Sprouts Farmers Market." " All told, the price variations could cost families $1,200 a year, based on how much Instacart says the typical household of four spends on groceries."

"Customers were also shown different "original" prices, making some savings appear larger, the report found, a concept known as "fictitious pricing." Amazon was sued this October for allegedly using this tactic during its summer Prime Day sale."

Also a shout out to Consumer Reports for being one of the few sources that can be counted on in this time of media greed, kowtowing, and chasing squirrels.

5) While I've noticed my grocery has these errors all the time, perhaps they're just a new business practice. The attorney general's office said its investigation revealed that during 2019 and 2023, Dollar General failed more than 40 percent of pricing accuracy inspections.

"The settlement also requires Dollar General to modify its business practices to prevent future violations of Pennsylvania's consumer protection law, the attorney general's office said. The changes include training employees, maintaining enough staffing to update shelf tags weekly and posting notices at registers saying the lowest posted price will be honored." "We are hopeful the corporation takes this settlement very seriously as Pennsylvanians expect to pay the price that is on stickers and labels.""