> It is a rare company that spends money and resources on verifying from their users' point of view that they're being delivered what was promised -- unless that company actively cares about the user.
I have gotten a check from the CA Treasurer on a few occasions because I didn’t check some box and take a tax deduction that I was entitled to. Not a company, and certainly if I underpaid the state would come after me to be made whole. But some organizations do work both ways.
I was thinking about this model as some sort of extension for film trailers:instead of giving out 2-4 min trailer to audience, producers could give 10-15 min,which hopefully be enough to understand whether audience finds it good enough and if it is,a full film is made. However,I can't see it working with all genres.
In the first half of the 1900's, there were "race films" from Black-owned studios that were actually financed like this. The studio would create a trailer that they'd then show to theater-owners. Exhibitors who liked the trailer would pay an advance against the box office, and if enough signed on, the film would get made and distributed to them. Kind of like authors getting an advance on a book they're writing.
video games have worked this way for a while, especially since the focus on mega-budget blockbusters. Some Kickstarter media projects also reflect this: someone makes a small short to fundraise, then commits to make a "fuller" length version based on the funds raised, linking the planned scope with available resources - sounds a lot like an agile software project!
Not surprising in general, but given the reality that SF is the most tech-dense city in the world, it's an interesting observation that people perceive jobs to be scarce enough that the opportunity cost of leaving is worth more immediate employment.
This is older analysis [1] but Uber is profitable on each ride in their biggest markets until you deduct the OPEX of the main co. The burn of sales, marketing, engineering, support, their rider safety team, the driver inspection and on boarding centers, leases, etc all continue on with or without riders.
isn't it the case that they could decrease their burn rate by downsizing sales, marketing, etc.. ?
At the same time, this time presents a unique opportunity for their engineering: how often does the market give you several months to breathe? Isn't this the time to polish the product, to finally fix all that tech debt you accumulated?
Yes. That’s why they’re laying people off, and why Uber stock is up in after hours trading. Because of these layoffs, their margins have actually improved. Doesn’t make things any better for the people who find themselves without a job, though.
I'm not so sure. Airlines have sent huge numbers of their aircraft to the desert for storage, so quickly spinning up flight supply and then spinning that back down will be expensive.
I find it unlikely this will be the limiting factor in flight demand. Flights are typically booked a few weeks in advance, which is adequate time to go retrieve the planes from the desert and inspect them to insure they are airworthy.
It's not like people are going to be showing up at airports overnight buying flights for the same day.
Suspicious activity. Suddenly using your card in the UK, when you're in the US. "Swipes" several hundred miles from your normal location, but also occurring in your normal location on the same day.
Ah, I never use my real card on the net, maybe that's why. I used to get a virtual card unique for every purchase but that has been discontinued now. Got a separate card for online usage that I only put money on when I want to buy something. Also needs to be opened up for Internet usage and many places require an electronic signature with the bank id app. Hoping this will be mandatory soon.
But numbers can change (lapses of mergers), is website would be best as card info can become stale over time —and enterprising outfits could scoop up that number.
They could, but I just tried calling the numbers on the back of two cards from merged/acquired banks and they both forwarded to the acquiring bank. Yes it's a small sample size, but I suspect that there's enough money on the line and enough legacy contracts and systems that banks keep their communication channels active for some time.
> But numbers can change (lapses of mergers), is website would be best as card info can become stale over time —and enterprising outfits could scoop up that number.
How long are bank cards valid? I'd say they expire within 5 years? Also, if there is a merger, wouldn't they send you a new card with updated branding?
Credit cards typically expire after some number of years, and mergers will typically include those phone numbers. If for some reason the acquiring company decides it wants to sunset its acquired phone numbers, it just needs to do so after the expiration date for the last card issued with that number still printed.
Scroll down and click "city" instead of country. SF bookings on OpenTable were consistently down starting the last week of February. Your restaurant might have had different performance for a number of reasons.
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-06-intel-eye-contact-video-...