Hacker News with Generative AI: Consumerism

I Left Florida to Try Lab-Grown Meat (reason.com)
A company based in San Francisco just became the first in the world to sell direct to consumers what its founders call "cultivated meat," meaning it didn't originate from an animal that lived on a farm or in a muddy feedlot but from a giant steel vat.
Food Technology, Consumerism, Biotechnology
12 points by frankish 8 days ago | 1 comments
I Paid $70 for an AI Boyfriend. It Was So Worth It (harpersbazaar.com)
Artificial Intelligence, Relationships, Consumerism, Personal Experiences
60 points by yo_yo_yo-yo 9 days ago | 80 comments
Letters from BBC Television Licensing (bbctvlicence.com)
From the beginning of 2006, I decided not to renew my television licence. I found that my television viewing consisted almost entirely of tapes of old programmes purchased off Ebay, and that my watching of broadcast television was less than an hour a week. I therefore decided to stop watching broadcast television, and I today spend the £169.50 saved from the TV licence fee on video tapes and DVDs.
Television Licensing, Personal Finance, Consumerism
10 points by nixass 10 days ago | 3 comments
Netflix increases UK subscription prices despite record audience (theguardian.com)
Whether you are binging The Night Agent or American Primeval, getting a Netflix fix has become pricier in the UK as the streaming giant increased subscription costs despite a record audience.
Netflix, Streaming Services, United Kingdom, Business, Consumerism
3 points by adrian_mrd 12 days ago | 0 comments
The Sad Math of Ads (jamesdamore.com)
Advertising permeates modern life, drowning us in messages of inadequacy and promises of salvation through consumption.
Advertising, Consumerism, Psychology
42 points by TaurenHunter 15 days ago | 34 comments
Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014) (dezeen.com)
Inevitably, in the latest book, The Peripheral, our unbridled materialism yields what we fear – climate-driven apocalypse.
Culture, Technology, Consumerism, Dystopia, Literature
252 points by delaugust 18 days ago | 265 comments
The console wars are over and nobody won (kotaku.com)
For decades, a war has been raging online and in stores. A fight between massive corporations trying to sell you plastic boxes that play games and their weirdly dedicated supporters. The fight was always silly, but very real and expensive, involving massive companies spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing, game development, and hardware. And for a long time it seemed like the console wars would continue forever. But that’s not what happened.
Gaming, Consumerism, Marketing
43 points by raytopia 20 days ago | 23 comments
The Americans Pledging to Buy Less–Or Even Nothing (wsj.com)
Instagram, TikTok and other social-media sites are usually overwhelmed by people showing off what they bought. This year, people are pivoting to something else: displaying how they’re buying nothing.
Consumerism, Social Media, Trends, Lifestyle
34 points by pseudolus 24 days ago | 78 comments
People are selling phones with TikTok pre-downloaded for an eye-watering price (independent.co.uk)
What’s TikTok worth to you? For some, apparently, the answer is: thousands of dollars.
Social Media, Consumerism, Technology, Marketing
8 points by blackeyeblitzar 28 days ago | 0 comments
Who owns your DNA? Privacy concerns in genetic testing services (incogni.com)
With the holiday season here again, at-home DNA testing kits are once again a popular gift option. As one of the most popular DNA testing services, 23andMe, faces bankruptcy, many consumers are looking into alternatives. However, choosing the right service may not be as straightforward as it may seem.
Genetics, Privacy, Consumerism, Health
7 points by ozornin 32 days ago | 4 comments
Hospitals in the US want to call patients customers now (reddit.com)
YSK, hospitals all across the US, don’t want to call you patients anymore, you are customers now.
Healthcare, Consumerism, Language, United States
6 points by notRobot 34 days ago | 1 comments
CA bans food 'sell by' dates. Will it save you money without getting you sick? (latimes.com)
A new California law further regulates food safety labels and will take effect in 2026.
Food Safety, California Law, Consumerism, Food Waste
7 points by rntn 51 days ago | 2 comments
How and Why I Stopped Buying New Laptops (2020) (lowtechmagazine.com)
As a freelance journalist – or an office worker if you wish – I have always believed that I should regularly buy a new laptop. But older machines offer more quality for much less money.
Technology, Sustainability, Personal Finance, Consumerism
132 points by mgd 51 days ago | 141 comments
Honey's deal-hunting browser extension is accused of ripping off YouTubers (theverge.com)
The PayPal Honey browser extension is, in theory, a handy way to find better deals on products while you’re shopping online. But in a video published this weekend, YouTuber MegaLag claims the extension is a “scam” and that Honey has been “stealing money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.”
Browser Extensions, E-commerce, Consumerism, Influencer Marketing
8 points by paulpauper 59 days ago | 1 comments
Ask HN: Are you crosssing the Amazon picket line? If no, where are you shopping? (ycombinator.com)
Feels like such a bougie question, but I just wonder: have any of y'all discovered an online shopping experience with quick shipping and broad product selection that competes well with Amazon?
Amazon, Online Shopping, Consumerism
8 points by jMyles 60 days ago | 13 comments
Why online returns are a hassle now (theatlantic.com)
Getting your money back is not as simple as it used to be.
E-commerce, Consumerism, Online Shopping, Returns
8 points by jnord 63 days ago | 2 comments
Obscene Prices, Declining Quality: Luxury Is in a Death Spiral (nytimes.com)
The holiday shopping season is hitting its apex. And do you know what I, a longtime fashion editor, will not be buying my loved ones this year? Big-name luxury fashion. I’d sooner set my eyebrows on fire.
Fashion, Luxury Goods, Consumerism
8 points by mmooss 63 days ago | 2 comments
Why is it so hard to buy things that work well? (2022) (danluu.com)
Why is it so hard to buy things that work well?
Product Design, Consumerism, Technology
693 points by janandonly 67 days ago | 576 comments
Sold-out farm shops, smuggling, safety warnings: US battle over raw milk grows (theguardian.com)
Unpasteurised milk, seen as both anti-government and anti-corporate, soars in popularity among conspiracy theorists and new agers
Food Industry, Health, Conspiracy Theories, Consumerism, Rural Communities
3 points by rntn 69 days ago | 0 comments
Tipping Isn't about Service – It's a Psychological Con Job (thewalrus.ca)
If you’ve recently paid for a coffee at a java joint, you might have been prompted by a point-of-sale payment device to add a tip of 15 percent. Or you might have been asked for a more generous 18 percent. A pushing-it 20 percent. A borderline-offensive 25 percent. For a cup of coffee that runs you about $3, and which someone poured from a carafe, that can seem a big ask.
Tipping, Psychology, Consumerism, Service Industry
14 points by pseudolus 70 days ago | 0 comments
Why is printer ink so expensive? (digitalrightsbytes.org)
Few liquids are more precious than printer ink, but that's not because ink is expensive to make. How can HP— and its handful of competitors in the highly concentrated printer market—get away with charging these kinds of markups?
Consumerism, Business, Printing, Economics
93 points by throw7 77 days ago | 123 comments
Honeycrisp apples went from marvel to mediocre (seriouseats.com)
It was a chilly Saturday morning in October, and at my local grocery store, shoppers were browsing the apple selection: piles of Gala, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Snapdragon, and Honeycrisp beckoned.
Food, Apples, Consumerism
350 points by haunter 83 days ago | 307 comments
Buy Nothing Day (buynothingday.co.uk)
Buy Nothing Day takes place on Friday November 29th, it's a 24 hour detox from consumerism and an opportunity for you to tune into the impact we have on the environment through shopping.
Consumerism, Environmentalism, Shopping, Sustainability, Events
175 points by thinkingemote 84 days ago | 84 comments
Black Friday is a trap (vox.com)
Since the 1980s, Black Friday has signified the kickoff to the holiday shopping season.
Black Friday, Shopping, Consumerism, Holidays
28 points by lr0 84 days ago | 40 comments
Ask HN: What are your most regretted tech purchases? (ycombinator.com)
Curious what people think is their biggest tech buying regret they wished never happened.
Technology, Personal Finance, Consumerism, Opinion
104 points by sys_64738 88 days ago | 377 comments
Why so many families are "drowning in toys" (vox.com)
America is in toy overload, and it might just be ruining fun.
Parenting, Consumerism, Toys, Childhood
66 points by gmays 91 days ago | 83 comments
Illegally logged wood from Cambodia likely ending up in U.S. homes (mongabay.com)
U.S. consumers risk using flooring products made of wood illegally logged from Cambodia’s rainforests, a recent Mongabay investigation suggests.
Illegal Logging, Cambodia, Environmental Issues, Consumerism, Rainforest
133 points by PaulHoule 95 days ago | 87 comments
Why computers are ridiculous now (write.as)
There's nothing fundamental that most of us are doing on a computer in the year 2024 that requires 16GB of RAM or a brand new processor. Why has it become the new default? Why does your computer that runs fine today require a replacement to run Windows 11? There's not one answer but several.
Technology, Operating Systems, Consumerism, Hardware
12 points by billybuckwheat 97 days ago | 1 comments
UK shrinkflation hits an absurd milestone (ycombinator.com)
Shrinkflation e.g. your favourite chocolate bar price is unchanged but weight sneakily reduced by 10%.<p>Now... underpants. H&M Cotton-rich short trunks Large were 33in at waist and are now (on the sample I bought today) 30in.<p>And unlike the chocolate bar which is marked e.g. "25g", the shorts' packaging lacks any figure to reveal the reduction in the number of inches you are getting.<p>What next? 11-inch rulers? :)
Consumerism, Marketing, United Kingdom, Economics
7 points by chrisjj 99 days ago | 7 comments
Airlines Hate 'Skiplagging.' Meet the Man Who Helps Travelers Pull It Off (nytimes.com)
Aktarer Zaman is the founder of a controversial website that unearths airfare hacks, most notably skipping the last leg of a flight for a cheaper price.
Travel, Airlines, Hacking, Consumerism
16 points by sebastian_z 100 days ago | 9 comments