And I have discovered something fascinating about what happens when I pick the "Free Shipping" option when ordering things on Amazon.ca.
In the description for Free Shipping it says items will be shipped and received within 5 to 8 business days. However when I order things off Amazon, I typically receive them within 2 days.
And please note, I did not click on the "Two Day Shipping" option when buying them. I only clicked the Free Shipping option that is slower and takes 5 to 8 days.
So for example, yesterday, May 9th, I ordered a picnic blanket for my son and a LP record for my mother. I was just notified by email that both items will arrive tomorrow, the 11th.
So within 2 days, the same as you would expect for two day shipping.
So why would me living in wealthy neighbourhood of Toronto effect the shipping times?
Well, many people in my neighbourhood use Amazon Prime and they are not used to waiting for things. When they order something they usually choose either the 1 day shipping or 2 day shipping options. Plus there is quite a lot of people in my neighbourhood who shop in this manner.
This means that in order to save on costs, Amazon will often load up the delivery truck with multiple items for the whole neighbourhood that is governed by our post office and ship them all at once. This saves Amazon a lot of money on delivery costs.
Thus, with the sheer number of wealthy people in my neighbourhood who use 1 day or 2 day shipping, anything I order off Amazon typically shows up in only 2 days.
The exception to this is the Christmas season, which is a bit slower due to the volume of items being shipped, but I still received everything I ordered ahead of time. Way faster than it normally would have been.
Living in a large city like Toronto probably also helps speed delivery.
I am reminded of when I used to live downtown near the Rogers building on Bloor Street. I had Rogers internet at the time and it was the fastest internet connection I had ever had. Being close to the source dramatically reduced download times.
Thus, in my situation, living in a wealthy neighbourhood where people unaccustomed to waiting I get super-fast Amazon deliveries and all I have to do is pick the free shipping option.
That is a nice perk in my opinion.
Downside, the drivers in my neighbourhood are also impatient morons. Rich impatient morons who run over children. It is so bad in the local park they installed a camera that monitors the speed people are going and flashes what speed they are doing. People in the neighbourhood often have signs on their lawns, warning drivers to slow down because of children. If you know of what I speak, you know which neighbourhood I am living in.
So be forewarned if you live in a rich neighbourhood and have small children, keep an eye on them at all times because rich people don't like to slow down when they are driving and are often looking at their phones.
It felt very similar to the John Wick films, both chapters I and II.
Also had the feeling of various films in blaxploitation genre from the 1970s such as Cleopatra Jones (starring the very tall Tamara Dobson) or any of the Pam Grier films like Coffy, Foxy Brown, or Sheba Baby, and more famous films like Shaft (the original, not the remake).
So the director definitely captured the feel of a 1970s style blaxploitation film, but at the same mixed it with the style of action you see in films like John Wick I and II.
So much so that Mary is frequently double tapping the people she shoots in the same manner John Wick does.
Within the plot, and without spoiling anything, we can also say that the film touched on topics surrounding child abuse, guilt, responsibility, sexual harassment, the role of motherhood, and how people and organizations can effectively use slavery to control people against their wills. Topics worth talking about that reinforce a good well-written plot. The motivation and plot works, and you feel yourself agreeing with the actions of the heroine and thinking you would do the same thing in similar circumstances.
Like John Wick likes his cars, so does Mary. At times it felt like the film was a commercial for Maserati sports cars.
I cannot complain too much. Maserati just happens to be my favourite Italian sports car. Ferrari and Lamborghini are both nice, but Maserati takes it to another level by making cars that are more luxurious, handle better and are super fast. (If you are looking for insane power, check out Koenigsegg and Bugati.)
And apparently the car is ridiculously bullet proof, but we will just ignore that part right? Maybe Mary had body armour added to the car to make it more like the Batmobile. No complaints. We will just assume the car had body armour added to it.
It is the 3rd most popular website in the world after Google and YouTube. (See https://www.alexa.com/topsites for the list of top sites.)
As a social network (the first truly popular social network) it has played an important role in the last decade of helping people to communicate, socialize, organize events and meet new people with similar interests.
But it is also broken.
Don't take my word for it. Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of Facebook) recently said his new goal (resolution?) in 2018 is to fix Facebook. He has realized it is broken and needs to be fixed.
The realization came to Zuckerberg after the revelation that the Russians had manipulated Facebook with fake news reports to influence American voters into voting for Donald Trump. This kind of sophisticated election tampering by the Russians went unnoticed until it was too late.
"I started doing these challenges in 2009," Zuckerberg wrote in the
post on his Facebook page earlier this month. "That first year the economy was in a deep
recession and Facebook was not yet profitable. We needed to get serious
about making sure Facebook had a sustainable business model. It was a
serious year, and I wore a tie every day as a reminder."
"Today feels a lot like that first year. The world feels
anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do -- whether
it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against
interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on
Facebook is time well spent."
"My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these
important issues. We won't prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we
currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing
misuse of our tools. If we're successful this year then we'll end 2018
on a much better trajectory."
However...
This is not why I am doing a Facebook Purge today.
I am personally doing a Facebook Purge because of the following reasons, in order of significance.
#1. I find myself too often arguing with morons and jerks.
Yesterday I made a comment on a group about how admins have to balance free speech with the desire to moderate and remove hate speech. I said it was a balancing act. Yeah, metaphors. And wouldn't you know it, one moron decides to disagree with me and says it is not a balancing act, you just make rules and then stick to them.
Oh really? What rules? How do you make the decisions of what to allow and what not to allow?
So for example the admin in that particular (male dominated) group was banning racist comments. But sexist comments were probably still okay, as male dominated groups tend to not worry about sexist comments. Thus the admin is still making decisions about what to allow and what not to allow... which makes it a metaphorical balancing act.
And I have to explain this to the moron who just doesn't get it.
So one of the things I will be doing today is purging Facebook groups that I find to be a waste of time. Groups where people just argue most of the time.
For example I am a member (or was a member until today) of the Toronto Vegetarian Association (https://www.facebook.com/torontoveg/).
I joined that group because I like eating more vegetables. I am not a vegetarian or a vegan. I was simply a person who wants to eat healthier and I was hoping people on there would be posting recipes, events for foodies, that sort of thing.
Instead what I routinely see on there is people complaining about the meat industry or the fur industry, arguing about organic food, free range chickens, and a whole host of other topics.
Worse, vegans and vegetarians have a tendency to be jerks. Or sometimes morons. Sometimes both.
And so I am leaving groups like that too, because frankly they are not posting the food recipes I had hoped they would be. I should have just joined a cooking group.
So why am I wasting my valuable time arguing with morons and jerks?
So I will be purging every Facebook group I consider to be a waste of time.
#2. Finding more time for groups I admin.
I am the admin of various groups and part of this Facebook Purge process will be deciding which Facebook groups I want to keep being the admin of, and whether those groups need a set of rules so that people know that I expect a certain level of behaviour.
So for those groups I am keeping, I will be posting a set of rules. Hopefully this will discourage people from being jerks - and thus I won't be bothered as much to decide whether to ban people who are disruptive jerks posting racist/sexist comments.
Although I admit, there is a certain kind of joy that comes from banning a person from a group and sending them a message that tells them why I kicked them out. That part is certainly enjoyable.
#3. Friends and people I barely know who waste my time.
Sometimes you end up being friends with people whom you have not seen in years. They move away, you stop hanging out, but you still talk to them regularly on Facebook.
Some of them I have realized... they're just a waste of time.
Some of them are even argumentative jerks and morons and yet I am still friends with them. Clearly I need to dump them and purge them.
#4. Wasting time when I could be doing something more productive.
Facebook is a huge time waster.
I currently spend at least hour every day talking (sometimes arguing) with people on Facebook, clicking Like and so forth.
A lot of it is things that don't even matter to my day to day life.
What I need to do is prioritize things that are my close friends, the people I actually socialize with, and family.
Everyone else is basically me wasting time on Facebook with cat videos and things that have little or no bearing on my life.
#5. I have a son now.
And I would rather be spending time with my son. I routinely post photos of him on Facebook (to share with his grandparents, other family members and friends who also have kids). But if I cut down on the wasteful Facebook time, that means more time spent with my son (possibly taking more photos of him).
So what about you? Should you do a Facebook Purge too?
Probably a lot of us should purge how much we use Facebook.
Just imagine how much more free time we would have to do something productive instead of all the time we waste on Facebook.
This year I did most of my Xmas Shopping on Amazon.
And I did not spend a cent on shipping.
Nor am I am member of Amazon Prime. (Nor I am using Amazon Prime free for 1 month on any such promotion.)
Instead I have been clicking on the free shipping option where it is supposedly shipped slower and is supposed to take 5 to 8 days for my packages to arrive.
And instead they have been showing up in 2 to 5 days.
Take for example 3 card games (my parents like card games) I decided to order as bonus gifts just last night on Tuesday.
According to Amazon Tracking they will arrive Thursday night around 8 PM. I will likely delay picking them until Friday though, more convenient for me.
My worry on ordering them on Tuesday night was I was not sure when they would arrive on time to be given as Xmas Gifts... and since they were bonus gifts and I was not too worried about this so based on previous experience I knew that even if I did select 5-8 day shipping that it would arrive earlier than that... so I went for it.
And instead of 5 to 8 days it is arriving in 2.
That is pretty amazing considering that the shipping costs is free.
So what are the 3 card games I ordered?
Monopoly Deal
Wizard
Rook
I have already written about the card game Wizard on a different website called Nerdovore (an eating and nerd culture blog). So no need to write about it again here.
I have never played Monopoly Deal or Rook, but they both looked interesting and had lots of good reviews so I figured they would be fun to try.
Plus my younger sister refuses to play normal Monopoly (she always loses) so maybe she will play this game instead.
I already sent this to Meetup via their Help Center, but here we go again:
Hello!
Awhile back Meetup changed how people suggest and organize meetups. The group I am thinking of is https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Area-Gamers/ and the new system is very restrictive for how to organize an event.
Under the old system anyone in the group could organize an event, which is a necessity since the people running and hosting games have to be the ones posting it, editing any changes, etc.
Under the new system people have to suggest the event, wait for the leadership team of 33 people with busy lives to hopefully respond... and even then there is problems.
The new system is full of problems that many of the people I have spoken to are switching to organizing events via email, Facebook and other means. I personally in the last week organized two different events via Facebook.
So my question is, why are you not trying to fix this problem when clearly you are going to be losing money over the issue in the long run?
Why should we, the customers, continue to pay for a service that has gotten worse, not better?
Excluding phones and tablets. Obviously. If you're looking for phones check out yesterday's post about the Best Smartphones of 2017.
Nintendo Switch: A hybrid gaming console that can be used both as a handheld device and connected to a TV. It introduced a unique concept with detachable controllers and popular games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.
Apple AirPods: Wireless earbuds designed for seamless integration with Apple devices. They offered automatic pairing, Siri integration, and a compact charging case.
Amazon Echo (2nd Generation): A smart speaker powered by Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa. It provided voice control for music playback, smart home automation, information retrieval, and more.
Google Home Mini: A compact smart speaker powered by Google Assistant. It offered voice control for various tasks, including playing music, managing smart home devices, and answering queries.
DJI Spark: A mini drone with intelligent flight features, such as gesture control and automatic obstacle avoidance. It was designed for easy operation and capturing aerial photos and videos.
Fitbit Ionic: A smartwatch focused on fitness tracking, offering features like heart rate monitoring, GPS, music storage, and contactless payment capabilities.
Sony WH-1000XM2: Noise-canceling wireless headphones known for their excellent sound quality and effective noise isolation. They offered long battery life and customizable noise-canceling settings.
Microsoft Xbox One X: A powerful gaming console that supported native 4K gaming and offered enhanced performance compared to its predecessors. It provided backward compatibility with Xbox One games.
GoPro Hero 6 Black: A rugged action camera capable of shooting 4K videos at 60 frames per second. It featured improved image stabilization, enhanced low-light performance, and advanced video recording modes.
Sonos One: A smart speaker with built-in voice control powered by Amazon Alexa. It delivered high-quality sound and allowed seamless integration with other Sonos speakers for multi-room audio.
Samsung Gear Sport: A smartwatch focused on fitness and water resistance. It offered built-in GPS, heart rate monitoring, and various fitness tracking features.
Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers: A virtual reality headset that provided immersive gaming and multimedia experiences. It included handheld controllers for precise motion tracking.
So... what is the best of the best? Is it the phone with the biggest camera? The phone with the most space? The phone with the longest lasting battery? Or is it the most expensive?
Every company comes out with their highest end model each year in an effort to snag your hard earned dollars. The best of the best offer a blend of the most sought after features that their customers value, even if it isn't necessarily what the customers know they want. Often this comes down to the camera, in my opinion, because that is the first thing I am looking for.
Samsung Galaxy S8 (Starting at $1,035 CAD):
The Samsung Galaxy S8 impressed with its stunning 5.8-inch Infinity
Display, which curved around the edges. It boasted a powerful Exynos
8895 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, depending on the region. The
device featured a 12 MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and
an 8 MP front camera. Its iris scanner and fingerprint sensor offered
enhanced security features. (Note that the S8+ is arguably slightly better because it is slightly bigger.)
iPhone X (Starting at $1,319 CAD):
The iPhone X introduced a significant redesign with its edge-to-edge
5.8-inch Super Retina OLED display. It featured Apple's A11 Bionic chip
for enhanced performance and Face ID facial recognition technology. The
dual-camera system with 12 MP sensors provided optical zoom and portrait
mode capabilities. The iPhone X set a new standard for flagship
smartphones in 2017.
Google Pixel 2 XL (Starting at $1,099 CAD):
The Google Pixel 2 XL showcased a 6-inch P-OLED display and ran on the Snapdragon 835 chipset. It stood out with its exceptional camera performance, featuring a 12.2 MP sensor with advanced computational photography capabilities. The device offered unlimited Google Photos storage, exclusive Google software features, and quick software updates.
LG G6 (Starting at $699 CAD):
The LG G6 featured a 5.7-inch QHD+ FullVision display with minimal bezels and an 18:9 aspect ratio. It was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. The device had a dual-camera setup with two 13 MP sensors, one offering a wide-angle lens. The G6 was water and dust resistant, and its unique aspect ratio provided a more immersive multimedia experience.
OnePlus 5T (Starting at $659 CAD):
The OnePlus 5T offered a 6.01-inch Optic AMOLED display with minimal bezels and a 2:1 aspect ratio. It ran on the Snapdragon 835 chipset and featured a dual-camera system with 16 MP and 20 MP sensors. The device provided a near-stock Android experience with OxygenOS and boasted impressive performance and fast charging capabilities.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro (Starting at $1,099 CAD):
The Huawei Mate 10 Pro featured a 6-inch FullView OLED display and ran on the Kirin 970 chipset. It offered a dual-camera setup co-engineered with Leica, with 12 MP and 20 MP sensors. The device provided advanced AI capabilities, a large battery capacity, and a sleek design with water and dust resistance.
One of the things I have noticed about the website Yelp is that the reviews posted on there are increasingly fake.
And there are several different categories of fake reviews on Yelp. #1. Fake reviews written by the owner / manager of the company.
These usually emphasize a particular product or service, and while they sound really good, it is pretty obvious the reviews are there to tempt people reading the review into buying the product or service. It is basically just another form of advertising.
#2. Fake reviews written by the company's employees.
Employees are expected to want their company to do well, so they write a nice review but fail to mention that they also work there.
#3. Fake reviews written by competitors.
To make the competing company look bad, obviously. This doesn't really need much explanation. Depending on how much competition there is in a particular field, this could be pretty cutthroat with far more fake reviews being written by competitors.
eg. Imagine 10 companies that all sell "Super Spicy Edible Widgets". If each company then writes 1 positive review about themselves, but 9 negative reviews about all their competitors you will end up with all 10 companies having 9 horrible reviews and only 1 positive review - excluding anything written by actual customers.
#4. Fake reviews written by the employees of competitors.
Same reason as #3.
#5. Fake reviews written by former employees.
If a former employee is angry at their former employer, one way to further burn bridges is to post a negative Yelp review - possibly targeting a manager or co-worker that they despised in an attempt to get that person fired.
#6. Fake reviews written by "Yelp Privateers and Pirates".
I am coining some terminology here... Yelp Privateers and Pirates are hired thugs who either try to make a particular company look good, or try to make a different company look bad. The border between what makes a Privateer and what makes a Pirate is a bit blurry.
Privateers are hired to post positive reviews, using multiple Yelp accounts.
Pirates are hired to post negative reviews about competitors.
Often the two can be the same person, but may be using multiple accounts to avoid suspicion.
Brand Reputation Management
From an advertising perspective, a lot of what goes on above falls into the categories of "Marketing Brand Management" or "Brand Reputation Management", and being executed by amateurs who don't actually work in the advertising/marketing industry.
In which case there are some tricks that companies can do to combat negative fake reviews.
#1. Claim the reviewer is a former employee.
If someone posts a really nasty fake review, a company can claim that the person posting the fake review is actually a former employee. It isn't true, but that doesn't matter. Yelp has rules about former employees posting fake reviews, and this is ultimately a quick and easy way for companies to get rid of negative reviews.
#2. There are a variety of ways to flag negative reviews:
If the post contains false or out of date information.
If the post is by someone affiliated with the business (employee, business partner, loan shark, etc).
If the post is from a competitor.
If the post contains any kind of threats, lewdness or hate speech.
If the post isn't even about a personal experience.
If the post is a violation of Yelp's privacy standards (naming the names of employees, etc).
If the post contains advertising.
If the post is for a different business.
Any one of these reasons could be used as grounds to get rid of a negative post.
#3. Report a specific profile.
If a person has only a few reviews and they are all negative, they are probably a fake profile. In this case the whole profile could be reported and deleted. All of their reviews for your company and potentially others could be deleted, all at once.
Conclusions regarding Yelp
It is very easy for companies to manipulate their reputations on Yelp, and to damage the reputations of competitors. The more reputation savvy a person or company is, the more they can take advantage of Yelp's system.
Which ultimately means the more useless and horrible Yelp is as a company itself, because it has become flooded with fake reviews.
Which is why I am giving Yelp one star out of five. For being utterly useless.
6 Ways to Improve Yelp
#1. Add a GPS requirement to Yelp.
Under this new rule, people submitting a Yelp review have to be in the immediate vicinity of the location. This would reduce the number of fake reviews submitted dramatically, and put Yelp Privateers/Pirates out of business.
Or failing that, people who include a GPS component to their Yelp review should have their review "valued more" than reviews that were written a significant distance away or did not list their GPS location at all. #2. Add a time limit to reviews.
If a review is older
than 1 year, it should be deleted. The person who posted the review
would need to revisit the location and post a new review. #3. Algorithms designed to spot fake or suspicious reviews. It would not be too difficult in my opinion to design a computer program that looks for fake reviews. All they need to be looking for is:
An imbalance between positive and negative reviews (eg. a person who only posts negative reviews or a person who only posts positive reviews.
A person who posts a positive review of one company and a negative review of another company should be flagged as suspicious.
#4. Suspicious reviews should be downgraded. Pushed further down the list of reviews - and their star rating should only count for half or less than half if they are flagged multiple times.
And if they are flagged 3 times or more for being suspicious, they should be removed entirely. #5. Banning the accounts and personal IP addresses of individuals caught posting fake reviews. Once they recognize an account that has too much suspicious activity, they need to be deleted, banned and blocked. Obviously you would not be blocking IPs from public libraries, Starbucks, or internet cafes, but that is where the GPS requirement comes into place... If GPS location is required, then they won't be able to use public IP locations like libraries, Starbucks or internet cafes anyway.
#6. Video reviews should count for double.
If a customer posts a video of them reviewing the company, it should count for more. At least double in my opinion. Same goes with reviewers who take photos. Their reviews should be valued more, like perhaps 150%.
Final Commentary
Honestly, if Yelp doesn't start making changes to improve the quality and honesty of reviews on their website then people should just stop using Yelp. The website has become bogged down with useless fake reviews, and the more people realize that Yelp is useless, the more people should stop using it.
A 2013 Harvard Business School study determined that 16 percent of Yelp reviews are fake. Four years later, we expect the percentage of fake reviews has gotten higher. Anecdotally, we estimate the number of fake reviews on Yelp is now between 20 to 30%.
Yelp isn't the only company which has problems with fake reviews. eg. Amazon also has severe issues with people posting fake reviews. So this is an issue that effects multiple companies and can be expected to get worse before it gets better.
But if there was a GPS requirement and video/photo reviews were valued more, this could change dramatically the quality of the review system Yelp currently has to one that is held to a higher standard.
So the video below is by YouTube user Rick Beato - who has purchased a lot of Apple products over the years. Feel free to listen to his rant about why he thinks old Apple products are actually better than new Apple products.
Why I despise all Apple products: Overrated, Overpriced, Incompatible Garbage
By C. M.
To me Apple products were NEVER good, and it was never for a lack of using them.
My high school used Apple computers. They always had errors.
My university used Apple computers. They were annoyingly slow and had compatibility problems.
Several work places over the years used Apple computers. They were very slow to work with. Doing what is normally a simple task would take forever on a Mac.
My wife has an Apple computer and 2 iPhones. Both of which I find annoyingly slow to use due to bad software design.
And I hated these horrible computers the whole time.
So when iPods, iPhones and iPads eventually came out, I was none too impressed because it was always the same problems.
Apple was not compatible with anything else - often including other Apple products.
They were slower to use.
Could not be modified or personalized as easily.
More errors.
Even simple things like using the phone to call people was sometimes beyond products like the iPhone 4 because of design faults.
And to top it all off, Apple products are notoriously overpriced and overrated. eg. You could get equivalent products from other manufacturers (Hewlett Packard for computers, Samsung for cellphones) which had better prices, better reviews, and less problems.
And innovation? Basically non-existent.
True, the iPhone and iPad were the first mass market smartphones and tablets which won popularity - but they were not the first products of this kind. They were actually ripped off from older products that were less popular, but had been innovative ahead of their time.
All Apple did was take innovative products, make a few tiny improvements, slap the Apple logo on it, and then market it.
And to be clear, most of Apple's operating expenses is actually marketing.
They spend very little on innovation.
Their software designs have become increasingly sloppy (as pointed out in the video at the top).
They don't even manufacture their own parts - they farm that out to Samsung and other companies and then hire intermediate factories to assemble the final product.
This is why the new iPhone X is now $999... and yet really doesn't anything new to brag about. It is basically identical to the iPhone 8 with a few minor tweaks.
The biggest change is actually just the price tag.
So look at the huge price jump between the iPhone 8 and the X. It is an extra $300 USD.
So what has changed...?
Slightly Bigger Screen Size, Resolution and Ratio
iPhone X - 5.8-inch 18.5:9 True Tone OLED, 2436 x 1125 pixels (458 ppi), 82.9% screen-to-body ratio
iPhone 8 - 4.7-inch 16:9 True Tone LCD, 1334 x 750 pixels (326 ppi), 65.6% screen-to-body ratio
Size and Weighs More
iPhone X - 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm (5.65 x 2.79 x 0.30 in) and 174g (6.14 oz)
iPhone 8 - 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm (5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 in) and 148g (5.22 oz)
Lightning Port
iPhone X - Lightning Port compatibility problems.
iPhone 8 - Lightning Port compatibility problems.
Chipset
iPhone X - Apple A11 ‘Bionic’ chipset: Six Core CPU, Six Core GPU, producing 2.5 GHz, M11 motion coprocessor, 3GB RAM
iPhone 8 - Apple A11 ‘Bionic’ chipset: Six Core CPU, Six Core GPU, producing 2.5 GHz, M11 motion coprocessor, 2GB RAM
Release Date
iPhone X - November 3rd 2017. (2 weeks to go...)
iPhone 8 - September 22nd 2017. (Almost 1 month ago...)
Price and GB Space
iPhone X - 64GB ($999), 256GB ($1,149)
iPhone 8 - 64GB ($699), 256GB ($849)
Trust me, when getting a new cellphone it is worth it to have the extra space. So only morons would buy the 64 GB version.
But ultimately you are paying an extra $300 for ... what? Slightly better screen resolution and size? I suppose if you cannot afford a TV set and you watch movies on your cellphone all the time, it might be worth it...
Meanwhile those of us with brains just go and buy a TV set.
eg. Canadians can currently get a Samsung 50" 4K UHD HDR LED Tizen Smart TV for $799.99 CDN at Best Buy. (Sale ends November 2nd 2017.)
And then just Netflix and Chill.
Is an extra tiny bit of screen size really important to you that you have to pay an extra $300?
Because if it is, just go buy a tablet - or a mini tablet even. They are getting really cheap...
Asides from price the biggest new thing on the iPhone X is that it has a retinal eye scanner, making it more difficult for thieves to open your phone - or making it more difficult for your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend to check if you are cheating on them.
Meanwhile, just for argument's sake... lets see what Samsung is coming out with.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 (already on the market) is:
The exact same screen size as the iPhone X. (So evidently the iPhone X is copying Samsung.)
64 GB in the base model (same thing), but you can get up to 256 GB.
4 GB RAM (that is 1 extra GB of RAM more than the iPhone X, and double what the iPhone 8 offers).
2960 x 1440 pixels (570 ppi), 18.5:9 ratio (same ratio, but with an extra 112 ppi than the iPhone X)
Chipset x8 - Exynos 8895 Octa - EMEA Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 (so 8 chips instead of 6 in the iPhone 8 or X) producing 4x2.35 GHz Kryo.
Micro USB port - compatible with pretty much everything on the market (except Apple phones obviously).
Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery. (The iPhone X only has a 2,715 mAh battery.)
And that is the current model that has been available since March 2017. 8 months ago.
So clearly the Samsung S8 is already superior to the iPhone X. More pixels per inch, more RAM, more compatibility, and more battery life. The CPU speeds are comparable.
But above I said "lets see what Samsung is coming out with."
Meaning the future. Not what Samsung released 8 months ago. What we really should be talking about is the...
Samsung S9
Samsung Galaxy S9
Featuring a retinal scanner - again, so people can cheat on their significant others - but also with the options for facial recognition and fingerprint scanning.
Probable release date? February 26th or March 2018.
Snapdragon 845 processor - with 30% more power efficiency than the 835, which increases battery life.
Boost modem speed by 20% so you can download files from the internet that much faster.
Base price expected to be $1,049.99. Expect closer to $1,199.99 for the 256 GB version.
A lot of the details of what the S9 will have are unknown at this time.
But what we do know is several things.
It will probably be more expensive than the iPhone X.
It will be better than the iPhone X (seeing as the S8 is already better).
It will provide faster internet.
Significantly longer battery life - which will be a huge step forward.
And therein lies the problem with the whole Apple Vs Samsung rivalry. They are always trying to one up each other, but Samsung is increasingly winning.
Just look at the iPhone 8 / X for example. The S8 came out back in March 2017 and it took Apple 7 months to come out with the iPhone 8 (a clearly inferior product) and then they are rushing to market the iPhone X before Christmas (which is also still an inferior product, just not as bad as the 8).
So why should anyone buy somebody an inferior product as a Christmas gift?
Or better yet, why not wait? Just wait for the S9 to come out in February/March 2018 and then get it as a birthday gift or whatever instead. Because it will clearly be a superior product.
Which explains why Samsung will be able to charge an extra $50 USD for it.
During the post we explained how most of the iPhone was made by other companies, like Samsung. The actual cost of the components to make it was a mere $178 USD.
So a good question now is, what does the components of an iPhone X or Samsung S9 actually cost?
It is an important question, but I am willing to bet it is less than $200 USD for both. They just jack up the price and sell it for $999 or $1200.
Which makes you realize that most of what they are doing is marketing. Marketing and claims about how wonderful their product is.
It makes me wonder what would happen if someone came out with a No Name Brand cellphone.
Spend zero on marketing, but design it, use Android as an operating system, and then sell it for a mere $333. Less than one third the price of an iPhone X or a Samsung S9, but with all the power, performance, screeen resolution, etc.
And don't sell it in Best Buy or electronics stores... sell it in grocery stores. Which means every time people go to buy food they see a sleekly designed smartphone that is affordable and does everything you expect a smartphone to do. A seemingly basic model that has comparable performance.
It would not be a status symbol like Apple or Samsung have become. It would be a phone that works, is inexpensive, and there is no fuss about company rivalry or status.
So where is the best place to get your compound bow repaired in Toronto?
Honestly... there isn't very many places.
#1. Bass Pro in Vaughan Mills
If you don't mind traveling all the way to Vaughan (just south of Canada's Wonderland), Bass Pro does offer a variety of repairs and tuning - but be prepared for several things.
They will try to sell you a new compound bow.
They will claim your bow is beyond repair or;
They will claim it is "too expensive to repair" (this can sometimes be true).
If your bow is really old - vintage - they might simply refuse to repair it because it is so hard to find parts.
They will charge you an arm and a leg for repairs.
Now we have talked about Bass Pro in Vaughan before and it is certainly a good fun place to go shopping. But going there for repairs? Not so much. Expect to be spending at least $100 if someone dryfired your compound bow. #2. Al Flaherty's Outdoor Store at 2066 Dufferin Street
More known as a hunting and fishing store, Al Flaherty's Outdoor Store also services compound bows and crossbows. However, it is more conveniently in York/Toronto and not way out in Vaughan. However, just like Bass Pro expect the repairman at Al Flaherty's to:
Try to sell you a new compound bow.
Say your bow is beyond repair.
Say it is more expensive to repair it than to just a buy a new bow.
Refuse to repair your vintage compound bow.
Be really expensive.
So yeah. More convenient perhaps, but really more of the same isn't it?
#3. ProjectGridless.ca Compound Bow Repairman in Toronto I am getting to a point obviously. ProjectGridless.ca is a website run by a guy in East York/Toronto. He makes his owns bows, his own bowstrings, repairs bows, repairs compound bows (both vintage and modern compound bows), he collects bows, and he even makes "Frankenstein Compound Bows" by mixing and matching parts from different broken bows. He also buys broken bows to salvage their parts, so he can then repair other bows.
So unlike the others mentioned above, he will not try to sell you a new bow - because he doesn't sell new bows (although he does sometimes have old bows for sale).
Is your bow truly beyond repair? Maybe. Won't know until you ask someone who is willing to actually TRY repairing it.
Will it be more expensive to repair? Less likely, because he only charges $30 per hour for his services - which is comparatively cheaper to what you will find at Bass Pro or Al Flaherty's.
He collects vintage bows and compound bows, like the two shown further below from his personal collection. So his willingness to repair vintage compound bows is going to be higher when you consider that this guy is a fan of restoring vintage bows.
1970 Model T Jennings next to a 1973 Black Hawk Chief Scout.
History Note
The compound bow was invented / patented in 1966 by H. W. Allen Jr., who then partnered up with Tom Jennings to create the first commercial compound bow in 1969.
