Pluralistic: How Amazon makes everything you buy more expensive, no matter where you buy it (25 Apr 2023)

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How Amazon makes everything you buy more expensive, no matter where you buy it: Most Favored Nation is my least favorite scam.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: How tech does regulatory capture; Part 2 of the Red Team Blues serial (18 Apr 2023)

Today's links

How tech does regulatory capture: An extremely frank and open look inside the ugliest of sausage-factories.
Red Team Blues Chapter One, part two: How Danny Lazer came back from the brink.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: Rural towns and poor urban neighborhoods are being devoured by dollar stores (27 Mar 2023)

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Rural towns and poor urban neighborhoods are being devoured by dollar stores: Walmart's jackals, picking over the remains.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: Kickstarting the Red Team Blues audiobook, which Amazon won't sell (21 Mar 2023)

Today's links

Kickstarting the Red Team Blues audiobook, which Amazon won't sell: Narrated by Wil Wheaton!
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: Spirit warned investors that merging with Jetblue would be illegal (12 Mar 2023)

Today's links

Spirit warned investors that merging with Jetblue would be illegal: Exhibit A for the prosecution.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: Excuseflation (11 Mar 2023)

Today's links

Excuseflation: Monopolists will never let a good emergency go to waste.
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Pluralistic: Turbotax is blitzing Congress for the right to tax YOU (20 Feb 2023)

Today's links

Turbotax is blitzing Congress for the right to tax YOU: Why do Americans have to pay Intuit to tell the IRS things it already knows?
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Twiddler

Configurability for Me, But Not For Thee.

A mandala made from a knob and button-covered control panel. — Stephen Drake/CC BY 2.0 (modified)

Tracking Exposed is a scrappy European nonprofit that attempts to understand how online recommendation algorithms work. They comine data from volunteers who install a plugin with data acquired through “headless browsers,” to attempt to reverse-engineer the principles that determine what you see when you visit or search Tiktok, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook or Pornhub.

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Pluralistic: Google's chatbot panic (16 Feb 2023)

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Google's chatbot panic: On the infinite insecurities of a self-styled creative genius who really just buys other people's ideas.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
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Pluralistic: Eggflation is just more price-gouging (23 Jan 2023)

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Eggflation is just more price-gouging: Cal-Maine Foods owns every egg brand you've ever heard of and its profits are up 65%.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2003, 2013, 2018
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