The 11th Hour Dispatch — Thursday, July 5, 2018
BIG BUSINESS
Amazon’s taking a page — literally — from the stores it is almost singlehandedly putting out of business. This holiday season, the retail giant will release a catalog of toys to taunt your children with. Along with being mailed to “millions” of U.S households, Amazon will also make it available at Whole Foods, which the company purchased for $13.7 billion last year and then started hawking Fire TV Sticks next to organic quinoa. There’s not much other info, as this information was supposed to be confidential, but it’s an interesting move nonetheless. Amazon has more or less defied the rules of modern retail, and taking on a more traditional strategy could be an interesting shift to keep an eye on. Or it could just be a lot of dead trees. We’ll find out together. How exciting!
BINGE WATCH
Netflix is reportedly testing a more expensive Ultra plan in Europe. With the new plan, you’d be able to watch 4K ultra-high-definition video on four screens at the same time. The test plan also supports high dynamic range (HDR). Users have detected two different price points based on the browser being used: €16.99 and €19.99 per month. Experts think that based on present pricing parity between Europe and the United States, U.S. users would likely see the same price in American dollars if this actually becomes a subscription tier option. The two prices also have different versions. One version offers the four streams and HDR, but cuts the Premium plan (which is currently the highest tier available) to only two streams. The other version gives both Ultra and Premium subscribers four simultaneous streams, but only “Ultra” subscribers get HDR abilities. Again, just a test, but not something that would necessarily be surprising to see actualized. Especially in light of all the skinny bundle services upping their prices as of late as they face mounting content costs.
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
This video of patriotic foods exploding is everything my American heart never knew it needed.
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