Read this article and was reminded of the challenges while working in grocery retail (before current role) with extracts. One of the highest theft items. That’s why many retailers go with synthetics (alcohol-free).
Also reminded me of many years ago when I worked at Kinko’s (was open 24 hours) and I was on the overnight shift (alone) and would see many homeless people come in (snowing, cold weather) seeking warmth. So many smelled of vanilla or had great breath (drinking mouthwash they stole from Walgreens down the road). Weird times and memories and experiences – but it’s a thing.
Was at Lowe’s yesterday with Tina and saw this while in the cabinet fixture aisle (building a cabinet for my 3D printer – more on that some other time) …
It’s just a curious thing that this really has to be called out on the packaging …
So this is just stupid on many levels (newsarticle out of Florida) where the Sheriff is announcing his department’s ‘take-down’ of what seems to be some sort of Amazon Firestick Mafia. This group of flea-market sellers were selling “Jail-Broken” Firesticks for streaming via Amazon.
Okay – “Jailbreaking” a firestick sounds like tech wizardry. Granted, jailbreaking really became prominent hacking vernacular years ago with the iPhone. That process was a bit more subverse – with resetting the idevice, installing other apps, security adjustments, pirating aps, etc. The process for ‘jailbreaking’ a firestick is literally clicking one box in the device’s settings – see below.
True – once you do this, you can install Kodi, VPNs, etc – but there is nothing ‘illegal’ about a Firestick that has this option (third party apps) selected.
The context here is what one does with the device once the portal has been opened. What irks me on this piece is how giddy the Sheriff is, announcing the take-down of these grandmas.
Also wild is the fact that there is a market for this. This group figured out how to click a menu item and were selling the device for 2x street value? A user not doing their research, but who wants to stream from the apps that can now be installed, is drawn to a pre-“hacked” version. I would be inclined to think that if they can’t figure out how to click this menu item to open the device’s streaming options, they probably won’t be able to figure out how/where to get the aps or how to use.
I’m not saying I support the jailbreaking or that I support the streaming with third party aps … I’m just saying this Press Conference is silly when you really look into the device and its settings. It’s not like we have the cartel here. Yes, a user is subvertting the proper channels to be able to view paid content – but why the hell does Amazon leave the option on the device? If they wanted to curtail/eliminate the activity, maybe they should make the option less simplistic?
And the fact that the Sheriff is holding a press conference to announce how they took down the granny cartel is a bit preposterous. He really seems giddy over his team’s sleuthing. The old addage of “Don’t you have better things to do” (I remember hearing my dad say that the few times he was pulled over) rings a little true here.
I don’t know – I may be over-astonished by this, but Gavin walked out of his room Friday night with this in his hand.
I was a little taken aback. Tina was like ‘oh yeah, he did that earlier today, too.’
Gavin was home all day Friday, in bed. Was sick. You know, everyone’s freaking out about the flu that is going around. Thursday night he was coughing and had a fever. Friday morning it was determined that he should remain in bed. Apparently, he had the cube in his bed and since he wasn’t able to use his computer his mind went to solving. And there you go.
I’ve been eyeing the Phantom Drone for a few months now … really would be awesome with the GoPro. Came across the below video the other day, which shows you just how much this beast can change the game of photography.
It’s a bit criminal for Best Buy to sell an HDMI cable for so much cash, but they get away with it preying upon one of the fallacies of consumerism (“you get what you pay for”) and the many customers who think the name brand is king. And this is an easy trap to set, because most consumers buying electronics and gadgets are lulled into these mindless purchases by the justification of the major cash they are usually forking out at the time – say, for a flat-screen tv with components. When you’re spending $2,000, what’s another $200? Additionally, many are simply seeing the high cost as an insurance plan for said tv/components … I mean, what could it hurt?
at Best Buy, you’ll pay $1.04 a linear inch for a Monster Cable HDMI.
at MonoPrice.com, you’ll pay $.03 a linear inch for an HDMI cable.
But HDMI technology is simply DIGITAL signal transmission. It’s binary data: 1s and 0s being sent across a wire. You will find no difference between a Gucci HDMI (or Monster) and a Radio Shack cord. Really. Get over it.
