The CheapAir.com 2019 Annual Airfare Study is based on an analysis of 917 million airfares in more than 8,000 markets. Following the recommendations could save you hundreds of dollars on your travel this year. This report will break down: The average “best day” to buy your airline ticket The airfare booking “zones” – what you Read more about CheapAir.com’s 5th Annual Airfare Study Reveals the Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets | CheapAir[…]

“Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites,” EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday. “This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits Read more about Google Hit With $1.7 Billion Fine in Europe for Abusing Advertising Dominance[…]

A Japanese court sentenced the former high-flying creator of the MtGox bitcoin exchange to a suspended jail sentence of two and a half years Friday after finding him guilty of data manipulation. The Tokyo District Court convicted Mark Karpeles, a 33-year-old computer whizz from France, for tampering with computer data but acquitted him over charges Read more about MtGox bitcoin founder gets suspended sentence for data tampering[…]

American consumers spend, on average, 13 hours per year in calling queue. According to a 2010 study by Mike Desmarais in the journal Cost Management, a third of complaining customers must make two or more calls to resolve their complaint. And that ignores the portion who simply give up out of exasperation after the first Read more about Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It’s Profitable.[…]

As more retailers—including Drybar and Sweetgreen—ban paper money, it’s making things awkward for customers without plastic. [paywalled] Source: Your Cash Is No Good Here. Literally. – WSJ   Oh dear, not accepting money – when the pain signals in your brain are not set off by clicking a bank pass, but are when you have Read more about Your Cash Is No Good Here. Literally. – So how to pay if you don’t like plastic: which helps the banks but not your spending patterns[…]

The Indian government sent a strong screw you to Amazon and the Walmart-owned Flipkart on Wednesday, banning e-commerce companies from selling products from companies that they have an equity interest in or “entering into exclusive agreements with sellers,” CNBC reported. India already bans e-commerce sites from selling products directly, per the New York Times, which Read more about In Blow to Amazon and Walmart, India Bans a Key Part of Their Business Strategy[…]

Over 12,000 Uber drivers found a way to weaponize the ridesharing platform’s restrictive contract in what’s possibly the funniest labor strategy of the year. But first: a bit of background. One of the more onerous aspects of the gig economy is its propensity to include arbitration agreements in the terms of service—you know, the very Read more about Uber’s Arbitration Policy Comes Back to Bite It in the Ass[…]

By tracking the sales of 19,978 deals on Groupon.com and conducting a battery of identification and falsification tests, we find that deep discounts reduce sales. A 1% increase in a deal’s discount decreases sales by 0.035%–0.256%. If a merchant offers an additional 10% discount from the sample mean of 55.6%, sales could decrease by 0.63%–4.60%, Read more about When Discounts Hurt Sales: Too much discounting and too many positive reviews can hurt sales[…]

Under the new rules, traders will not be able to discriminate between customers with regard to the general terms and conditions – including prices – in three cases: for goods that are either delivered in a member state to which the trader offers delivery or are collected at a location agreed with the customer for Read more about EU anti Geo-blocking comes into force: unlocking e-commerce in the EU[…]

Telecomaanbieders moeten stoppen met het laten vervallen van ongebruikte data en belminuten. Dat schrijft de Consumentenbond in een brief aan de tien grootste aanbieders. Consumenten met een mobiel abonnement verliezen nu aan het einde van iedere maand hun ongebruikte belminuten en data binnen hun bundel. Tegelijkertijd betalen ze extra voor iedere minuut of MB die Read more about mobile providers in NL urged to stop killing unused data and phone minutes, as technically the user has paid for it and if they exceed the maximum they are fined[…]

In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk set off an entirely preventable and catastrophic chain of events by tweeting that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” Musk provided no financing details, and the Securities and Exchange Commission later determined that he never finalized any kind of deal with the Saudi sovereign wealth Read more about Elon Musk to Resign as Tesla Chairman, Pay 2x $20 Million Fine in SEC Settlement Over Catastrophic ‘420’ Tweet[…]

A huge amount of information on plastic, with great visualisations This post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on Plastic Pollution. Source: FAQs on Plastics – Our World in Data

The FBI has arrested the alleged three leaders of an international crime syndicate that stole huge numbers of credit card numbers – which were subsequently sold on and used to rack up tens of millions of dollars in spending sprees. Speaking in Seattle, USA, where the Feds’ cybersecurity taskforce is based, agents said the “Fin7” Read more about The End for Fin7: Feds cuff suspected super-crooks after $$$m stolen from 15m+ credit cards[…]

All over the western world banks are shutting down cash machines and branches. They are trying to push you into using their digital payments and digital banking infrastructure. Just like Google wants everyone to access and navigate the broader internet via its privately controlled search portal, so financial institutions want everyone to access and navigate Read more about The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it[…]

Two former investment bankers, one of whom is also a priest, have been found guilty of an elaborate scam – hacking newswires to read press releases prior to publication, and trade millions using this insider information. Vitaly Korchevsky, formerly a veep at Morgan Stanley and a pastor at the Slavic Evangelical Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Read more about A curious tale of the priest, the broker, the hacked newswires, and $100m of insider trades[…]

Hackers stole more than $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies from South Korea’s top bitcoin exchange, sending the unit’s price falling around the world on Wednesday. The virtual currency was priced at $6,442 dollars late afternoon in Seoul, down about 4.4 percent from 24 hours earlier, after the latest attack on Bithumb raised concerns over cryptocurrency Read more about Hackers steal $30m from top Seoul bithumb exchange[…]

As CCN reported, the little-known Coinrail became the latest cryptocurrency exchange to fall prey to hackers, who are said to have made off with approximately $40 million worth of tokens, a fairly pedestrian figure relative to some of the hacks seen over the years. Later that day, the bitcoin price began to careen downwards, taking Read more about Bitcoin Price: ‘Bloody Sunday’ Not Caused by Coinrail Hack[…]

On Mar 30, researchers at Kromtech Security identified a database open to the public containing full names, addresses, email addresses, encrypted passwords, wallet information, along with links to scanned passports, driver’s licenses, and other IDs for over 25,000 investors of the newly created Bezop. The information was found within a MongoDB database without any security. Read more about McAfee’s Cryptocurrency Leaks Personal Information for Thousands of Investors[…]

Indian Bitcoin exchange Coinsecure has mislaid 438.318 BTC belonging to its customers. In a statement by parent firm Secure Bitcoin Traders Pvt, posted late on Thursday, the biz said its chief security officer had extracted a bunch of Bitcoin to distribute to punters – and discovered the funds were “lost in the process.” The vanished Read more about Tried checking under the sofa? Indian BTC exchange Coinsecure finds itself $3.5m lighter[…]