No-Checkout Shopping, Scam Returns, and the Cellphone Pouch
Note: Today’s my 39th birthday, and my new book, How To Turn 39 is available for pre-order starting today (it hits ebook, paperback, and audiobook shelves May 16).
The book is about aging and how we can grow older with more intention. Consider grabbing a copy if that sounds like it might be of interest to you, and/or to support my work (which as a bonus tells the book-selling algorithms they should show my books to more people, which is something they’re otherwise primed not to do for indie authors like myself).
Thanks in advance if you snag a copy :)
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Caribbean golden passport cost soars to $200,000 on EU crackdown (inflation in everything!).
The US dollar-store showdown comes down to real estate.
French parliament votes in favor of crackdown on ultra-fast fashion.
The big problem for marijuana companies? What to do with all that cash:
Amazon gives up on no-checkout shopping in its large grocery stores.
Women’s sports now getting 15% of US sports media coverage.
Sports Illustrated owner sues 5-Hour Energy founder over $48.8 million in missed payments.
NYT to soon offer most articles via automated voice.
A first look at Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores.
Amazon sellers plagued by surge in scam returns.
Gen-AI search engine Perplexity has a plan to sell ads.
Crying myself to sleep on the biggest cruise ship ever:
Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this.
China’s $66B gaming goldmine.
Why is the best vodka from Costco? (I don’t know about the vodka, but their food hall cookies are dangerously good and probably take a year off your life each time you eat one).
What's funny about the business of monkeys picking coconuts?
Forbes accused of selling MFA media to brands under guise of legitimate ad space (this is pretty brazen, but apparently not all that uncommon in the online publishing world).
The new school essential: A Yondr cellphone pouch:
Roku looks into serving you ads on whatever you plug into its TVs (I don’t know how this would work, but I’m not surprised they’re trying).
Chicken Soup for the Soul was almost as big as the Bible. Then it lost its way.
The Sims: For Rent allows millennials to turn the tables.
A look at Washington state’s ‘strippers’ bill of rights.’