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Post by impulse on Apr 17, 2022 17:48:12 GMT -5
Has anyone (in the UK) tried Hello Fresh, Gousto, Simply Cook or any similar company? Very few details/menu examples on the sites, it seems to be all about getting you to register/hand over debit card details. Be nice to chat to someone who’s had the meals. I don't know how different it is in the UK versus the states, but I've used one or something similar (don't recall which). I only had it once or twice, but the impression I got was it was reasonable. The quality of the ingredients was good, and the portions were large. I found the recipe to have more steps and take longer than I expected, but it was nice not having to do the planning or shopping. Just open it up, get reading and start cooking. I feel like it was a bit expensive but not ridiculous if you really value the convenience.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2022 17:55:38 GMT -5
Thanks. For me, it’s about a desire to be more creative with my cooking. I’m too predictable. Same old meals every week. Cod and chips. Sunday roast. Burger. I’d like to try something different.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 17, 2022 18:08:32 GMT -5
Oh, man. I love having leftover pasta for breakfast. Leftover Pizza served cold with a soda is a breakfast staple for me when I've had it the night previous. Really brings out the flavors of the sauce
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Post by wickedmountain on Apr 17, 2022 23:25:03 GMT -5
Happy Easter my friends
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2022 6:05:40 GMT -5
Happy Patriot's Day to our Massachusetts' brethren.
-M
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 18, 2022 7:05:27 GMT -5
Happy Patriot's Day to our Massachusetts' brethren. -M One of my favorite days of the year! Wish you were here for morning baseball, mrp!
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Post by impulse on Apr 18, 2022 8:36:49 GMT -5
Thanks. For me, it’s about a desire to be more creative with my cooking. I’m too predictable. Same old meals every week. Cod and chips. Sunday roast. Burger. I’d like to try something different. Oh, yes, good point. That is another good side benefit. You expand your repertoire of recipes, and IIRC the one I used came with a recipe card, so you can file and keep it even after you cancel the subscription.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 7:05:44 GMT -5
Second day in a row we've woken up to find a snow cover had fallen overnight. Just the grass and cars have a thin layer of snow, but it's enough to know it snowed. Of course, it's suppose to hit 80 here by Saturday. Spring!
-M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 20, 2022 12:35:35 GMT -5
I've been trying to deal with a state mandated report for at least the last two months. The hang up is that it's all done on-line and it's poorly thought out and abominally formatted and just a massive pain in the ass. If it had been an old-school paper report I could have filled out and added pages as I needed (as it was before this year) it would have been done months ago. I've now spent three hours this morning sending emails back and forth to deal with two items, only one of which has actually gotten done. Technology doesn't always make things easier or better.
This has been the single most aggravating experience I've had in 23 years as an attorney.
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Post by impulse on Apr 20, 2022 12:45:34 GMT -5
I've been trying to deal with a state mandated report for at least the last two months. The hang up is that it's all done on-line and it's poorly thought out and abominally formatted and just a massive pain in the ass. If it had been an old-school paper report I could have filled out and added pages as I needed (as it was before this year) it would have been done months ago. I've now spent three hours this morning sending emails back and forth to deal with two items, only one of which has actually gotten done. Technology doesn't always make things easier or better. This has been the single most aggravating experience I've had in 23 years as an attorney. Technology lets incompetent people and systems be incompetent digitally as well as analog!
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Post by impulse on Apr 20, 2022 12:57:42 GMT -5
Following consumer media tech and specifically digital media are interest areas for me. Not sure if anyone else has followed, but the noise being generated about Netflix has been really interesting.
In short, their shares took a dive after news came out they not only missed growth expectations but lost subscribers for the first time. Some of this was due to the Russia situation, but even without that they missed their mark by a lot.
They are a fascinating example because they came out as this disruptive innovator and kicked ass and took names. They they reached a nexus point, took the wrong turn and have been shooting themselves in the foot with marvelous accuracy every since.
Before anyone streamed they piloted it and were great! A ton of stuff in one place from different companies. Then they started their own content and had a lot of quality stuff. House of Cards, Marco Polo, etc. They arguably ushered in the era of mainstream quality TV. The "Netflix Original Series" label was a seal of quality.
At some point, other content owners saw the dollar signs and said hey, why are we letting Netflix give us a cut when we could make all the money? And started pulling their stuff and making their own streamers. The writing was on the wall that the way forward was original content. So what did they do? Did they follow the early signs they might be the HBO of the internet and become the go-to for exclusive premium content??
Nah. They went full quality-over-quantity and started shoveling out any crap they could get their name on. The Netflix seal went from online HBO to the straight-to-DVD dollar bin of the internet. But not every show needed to be the next Breaking Bad, right? They could fill niches with genre shows people like that don't get made on other networks, right?
Nah. Make new crap and if it's not setting streaming records, cancel it and try to move onto the next thing. The problem is they have trained people not to trust them to support shows, so why would I risk my time and getting invested in something with a high likelihood of not receiving a proper ending? Now I will probably wait until a show is done before I start so I don't get burned.
But wait! Now new steaming metrics are even lower on new shows so they get cancelled. Also other companies keep pulling their content, so there is less to watch and people are dropping. BETTER RAISE PRICES THREE TIMES IN A ROW!
Less content. Worse content. Breaking viewer trust. More expensive by the way with competitors offering better and better content for the same or less money. What to do? Focus on restoring the quality reputation of their original content (Which we now know is their only longterm viable source of content)? Focus on retaining existing subs by putting out shows they like instead of chasing new subs? Focusing in on value and not pricing themselves out?
Nah! Let's go after password sharing despite building our market share on promoting it! We are already on shaky ground with our value propositioning as we charge more and have less and worse content. Why have one person overpay for mediocre crap if we could make five people overpay for crap???
Where did everyone go?
It's really fascinating to watch. I get most of the cost subsidized by my mobile carrier, and my parents use the account. Otherwise I would be reconsidering pretty hard and just sign up for a month at a time to binge what I want.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 20, 2022 13:41:18 GMT -5
Less content. Worse content. Breaking viewer trust. More expensive by the way with competitors offering better and better content for the same or less money. What to do? It could be that there is nothing to do, much to the chagrin of Netflix shareholders! (Insert your meme about Blockbuster shareholders here). The Netflix model worked really well while certain conditions were present, among which the lack of a credible competition. Its original material could be very good indeed, but what drew me to the service in the first place was the availability of a whole lot of material coming from elsewhere; no matter whether we're talking Fox, Disney, Universal, Warner or some independent outfit, there was a good chance that Netflix would showcase their newer stuff for at least a limited while. Nowadays everybody jumped on the bandwagon and if you want a burger you must go to the burger place, if you want a cake you must go to the cake place and if you want booze you go to Uncle Jerry's Moonshine Emporium. Netflix is no longer the one-stop streaming service that it once was, and I don't see how it could ever recover that title (something that goes for everyone else, naturally). One or two series of film from other companies here and there won't cut it for very long. I'm still subscribing because what Netflix does offer is still good enough for my needs and the price is not yet too high, but we're getting dangerously close to that point... after which it'll be "Pull the plug, part 2". As you say, resubscribing from time to time and binging for a month or two when something great comes up sounds like a good strategy.
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Post by impulse on Apr 20, 2022 14:37:32 GMT -5
Less content. Worse content. Breaking viewer trust. More expensive by the way with competitors offering better and better content for the same or less money. What to do? It could be that there is nothing to do, much to the chagrin of Netflix shareholders! (Insert your meme about Blockbuster shareholders here). The Netflix model worked really well while certain conditions were present, among which the lack of a credible competition. Its original material could be very good indeed, but what drew me to the service in the first place was the availability of a whole lot of material coming from elsewhere; no matter whether we're talking Fox, Disney, Universal, Warner or some independent outfit, there was a good chance that Netflix would showcase their newer stuff for at least a limited while. Nowadays everybody jumped on the bandwagon and if you want a burger you must go to the burger place, if you want a cake you must go to the cake place and if you want booze you go to Uncle Jerry's Moonshine Emporium. Netflix is no longer the one-stop streaming service that it once was, and I don't see how it could ever recover that title (something that goes for everyone else, naturally). One or two series of film from other companies here and there won't cut it for very long. I'm still subscribing because what Netflix does offer is still good enough for my needs and the price is not yet too high, but we're getting dangerously close to that point... after which it'll be "Pull the plug, part 2". As you say, resubscribing from time to time and binging for a month or two when something great comes up sounds like a good strategy. I think it even could have still worked if they played their cards right. They even seemed to know having other people's content had an expiration date, and they used it to build market share and become the default name for streaming. I think people have stayed on who would not subscribe today at the current content and price. First mover advantage is real. Pivoting to original content was maybe not what everyone wanted but made sense if they hadn't made crap. If they had kept making good shows and made content to support their existing users instead of always chasing the next big thing they would have some assets worth subscribing to. It is at least very interesting to watch and will likely make an interesting documentary to watch one day.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 20, 2022 14:55:21 GMT -5
It could be that there is nothing to do, much to the chagrin of Netflix shareholders! (Insert your meme about Blockbuster shareholders here). The Netflix model worked really well while certain conditions were present, among which the lack of a credible competition. Its original material could be very good indeed, but what drew me to the service in the first place was the availability of a whole lot of material coming from elsewhere; no matter whether we're talking Fox, Disney, Universal, Warner or some independent outfit, there was a good chance that Netflix would showcase their newer stuff for at least a limited while. Nowadays everybody jumped on the bandwagon and if you want a burger you must go to the burger place, if you want a cake you must go to the cake place and if you want booze you go to Uncle Jerry's Moonshine Emporium. Netflix is no longer the one-stop streaming service that it once was, and I don't see how it could ever recover that title (something that goes for everyone else, naturally). One or two series of film from other companies here and there won't cut it for very long. I'm still subscribing because what Netflix does offer is still good enough for my needs and the price is not yet too high, but we're getting dangerously close to that point... after which it'll be "Pull the plug, part 2". As you say, resubscribing from time to time and binging for a month or two when something great comes up sounds like a good strategy. I think it even could have still worked if they played their cards right. They even seemed to know having other people's content had an expiration date, and they used it to build market share and become the default name for streaming. I think people have stayed on who would not subscribe today at the current content and price. First mover advantage is real. Pivoting to original content was maybe not what everyone wanted but made sense if they hadn't made crap. If they had kept making good shows and made content to support their existing users instead of always chasing the next big thing they would have some assets worth subscribing to.
Building a strong catalog is certainly a reasonable aim, but yeah... there is a lot of entirely forgettable material in there. I mean, many of its shows or original films are quite decent, but there aren't enough yet for Netflix to be seen as a major producer.
One thing I enjoyed more than I expected was shows produced to appease local governments' protectionist reactions. I've no idea how the process went, but I can imagine Netflix representatives showing up in another country with a suitcase full of cash...
"Your country wants to tax us, so we need a great TV series shot in your bizarre alien language and money is no object. What do you have to offer?"
"Qu'est-ce qu'il dit Maurice?" What is he saying, Maurice? "Il dit qu'il veut un truc d'enfer et qu'il a plein d'pognon." He says he wants killer material and has deep pockets.
"Oh purée, mais j'ai c'projet génial qui traîne là depuis dix ans faute de financement!" (Censored) I have this cool project and have been looking for funding for ten years
"Do we have an accord?"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2022 18:54:22 GMT -5
Elon Musk said it's the woke virus, Netflix, Disney, both can kiss my butt.
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