Mark Byrn

Got an accident hospital policy offer through my credit union. The flyer shouts $1,800/day ICU, $900/day hospital, $450/day ER — but the moment you turn 65, those payouts are cut in half, and at 75, down to a quarter.

This isn’t shown on the application form — it’s buried on a separate slip in tiny print you practically need a magnifying glass to read. That’s deceptive, especially when marketing to seniors. If this is how Zurich sells, I dread to think how they handle claims.

After using DeleteMe for several years, I decided to add Aura this past year to see if it would catch and remove my personal data from data brokers that DeleteMe hadn’t addressed. It did just that, so I’ll be keeping Aura to ensure my online privacy is maximized. Aura has other features that I use minimally. For me, though, data removal is the one and only reason to have an Aura membership—anything else is a bonus.

As I have IBS-D, I have to greatly limit ice cream and so I tried the pricey Ben & Jerry’s plant-based version. Unfortunately, it contains Guar Gum & Locust Bean Gum which aggravated my IBS even more than the dairy version. Was also disapponting to see it contained corn syrup. From a taste perspective, it was okay but but not great.

Last year, Sam’s Club pulled a gotcha and added a minimum purchase requirement ($50) to get free shipping. Considering I paid $110 for a plus membership to get shipping without a minimum, that’s unacceptable. Another Plus benefit is the 2% Sam’s cash for purchases, but guess what? You don’t get the benefit if you purchase online for shipping or home delivery. And even if you go to the store, there are absurd exclusions, including milk. I think Sam’s Club should change the membership name to Sam’s Gotcha. Hence, I didn’t renew my long-time Plus membership.

First, the subscription content is generally a cut above what you might find on a typical tech news site, especially the exclusive content. It comes at a very high cost, though, and unless you’re working in the tech sector or you're a tech investor, I find it hard to recommend unless you can secure a hefty discount that was available when I subscribed.

On the very negative side, when I subscribed, the Information was transitioning to a pro and non-pro subscription option - the pro option offers features like org charts and databases at nearly double the price of the regular subscription. However, when I subscribed, the advertisement showed access to all features at the regular discounted price. Shortly after I subscribed, they cut me off from the pro offerings even though the plan I subscribed to included it. Definitely not cool.

On the caveat emptor side, you should consider using a pre-paid or virtual credit and/or ensure you cancel your account before the renewal.

Fast and reliable service; keys worked like a charm.

While almost all banks abandoning virtual credit card options for online purchases, Privacy.com has not only filled the void but excelled at making the service as easy as possible for the user. While there are many use cases, Privacy.com shines at protecting you from recurring charges for online subscriptions that you might otherwise forget about. Highly recommended.

Back in early 2020, Sonos nearly imploded with a shady decision to make older speakers like Gen 1 Play 5 speakers obsolete and force upgrades. It's now late 2021 and my 11 Sonos speaker system has become two different systems. My four old Play 5 speakers make up the S1 system and the seven newer speakers make up the current Sonos S2 system. Splitting the system wasn't particularly easy but got it done and now have the benefits of Sonos S2 while still having the use of my older speakers. Far from ideal but at least Sonos backed off from bricking the old speakers.