Category: Link Post

Amazon Faces Class Action For Enshittifying Prime Video

Karl Bode – techdirt “Last week Amazon began charging Amazon Prime Video customers (who already pay $140 per year) an extra $3 extra per month to avoid ads that didn’t previously exist. […] The move this week resulted in a class action lawsuit by annoyed subscribers, whose lawyers insist that Amazon violated subscriber agreements by suddenly charging for something that subscribers understood they were already paying for: […] Prime Video’s efforts to nickel-and-dime customers is the latest example of the steady enshittification of a streaming video industry that appears to have learned nothing from the scale-chasing issues that plagued cable TV. Now that the market has saturated, streaming companies are looking for creative ways to provide Wall Street the unrealistic endlessly improved quarterly returns bean counters demand.”

Well, congrats to Amazon for joining the ad party and the enshittification of Prime Video! Now my TV watching experience comes with a side of unwanted shit called ads. I’d like to think the Class Action suit will go somewhere but I doubt it will.

 

🖇 Apple fans are starting to return their Vision Pros

Victoria Song – The Verge

For some Apple Vision Pro buyers, the honeymoon is already over.

It’s no coincidence that there’s been an uptick on social media of Vision Pro owners saying they’re returning their $3,500 headsets in the past few days. Apple allows you to return any product within 14 days of purchase — and for the first wave of Vision Pro buyers, we’re right about at that point. Comfort is among the most cited reasons for returns. People have said the headset gives them headaches and triggers motion sickness. The weight of the device, and the fact that most of it is front-loaded, has been another complaint. Parker Ortolani, The Verge’s product manager, told me that he thought using the device led to a burst blood vessel in his eye. At least one other person noted they had a similar experience with redness. (To be fair, VR headset users have anecdotally reported dry eyes and redness for years.) “Despite being as magical to use as I’d hoped, it was simply way too uncomfortable to wear even for short periods of time both due to the weight and the strap designs. I wanted to use it, but dreaded putting it on,” says Ortolani, who also posted about returning the device.

Shocking!