BMI Calculator – Check your Body Mass Index for free!
It might be a while longer before you can easily cancel subscriptions
Shutterstock / FTC
The Federal Trade Commission had voted in a rule that would make it easier to cancel subscription services, but the start of that rule has been pushed back until July 14. Initially, the regulation — called the Negative Option Rule — went into effect on January 19, but certain provisions weren’t set to kick in until May 14. These provisions would require companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up.
Numerous telecom companies spoke out against the ruling. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association filed a lawsuit to appeal the decision, claiming that the FTC had overstepped the limits of its authority. The decision to delay these provisions by 60 days is due to the “complexities” of changing the processes, and the FTC says it has “acknowledged that compliance entailed some level of difficulty” and “determined that the original deferral period insufficiently accounted for the complexity of compliance.”
According to the FTC’s statement, companies have until July 14 to get their processes in order. At that point, “regulated entities must be in compliance with the whole of the Rule because the Commission will begin enforcing it.” That sounds like a win for consumers, but the FTC makes another caveat: “Of course, if that enforcement experience exposes
problems with the Rule, the Commission is open to amending the Rule to address any such
problems.”
Certain subscription services are notorious for the hoops customers have to jump through in order to cancel. The option to cancel is often hidden deep within menus, and in some cases, the only way to cancel is by contacting customer service. This process can take over an hour, assuming you don’t get disconnected during that time. And let’s not even get started on cancelling something like a gym membership; some people have reported closing bank accounts just to get the gym off their backs. The FTC’s ruling is intended to make the process more consumer-friendly, and it can’t go into effect soon enough.
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it’s a…
Intel just cut the price of some of its best CPUs by $100
Some of Intel’s best processors just got a deep discount, or rather, a (seemingly) permanent price cut — but not all chips are becoming cheaper. The company announced that it’s lowering the recommended list price (MSRP) of a couple of Arrow Lake chips. The flat $100 price reduction comes accompanied by a special game bundle promotion.
Intel announced the discount in a post. The two CPUs in question are the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, which was previously priced at $399 and is now $299, and the Core Ultra 7 265KF, once $384, now $284. There have been no further adjustments to the pricing of the Arrow Lake desktop lineup.
ChatGPT models explained: How to use each, according to OpenAI
Although the entire AI boom was triggered by just one ChatGPT model, a lot has changed since 2022. New models have been released, old models have been replaced, updates roll out and roll back again when they go wrong — the world of LLMs is pretty busy. At the moment, we have six OpenAI LLMs to choose from and, as both users and Sam Altman are aware, their names are completely useless.
Most people have probably just been using the newest model they can get their hands on, but it turns out that each of the six current models is good at different things — and OpenAI has finally decided to tell us which model to use for which tasks.
Get a $400 discount if you buy this Alienware Aurora gaming PC with RTX 5080 today
Gamers who are on the hunt for a powerful pre-built gaming PC should set their sights on the Alienware deals from Dell. Here’s an offer that you shouldn’t miss — the Alienware Aurora R16 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card with a $400 discount, slashing its price from $2,850 to $2,450. This is the only configuration of the gaming desktop that’s on sale today, and the savings may disappear at any moment, so if you’re interested, you’re going to have to push forward with your transaction for it as soon as you can.
Why you should buy the Alienware Aurora R16 gaming PC
BMI Calculator – Check your Body Mass Index for free!
