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78 search results for: pros and cons

1

SDCAN REVIEW: Amazon Halo Fitness Tracker Pros and Cons

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Amazon has made its new Halo fitness tracker device available for the X-mas rush.  So should you buy Amazon’s newest wearable device?  Here are the pros and cons that we documented after using the Halo for one week.   Amazon hasn’t had much luck in the wearables market – the Echo Loop smart ring, smart glasses and wireless earbuds have been disappointing, at best.   But it has now begun offering its newest wearable, which is essentially an accelerometer, a heart-rate monitor, a temperature sensor and two microphones rolled into a wristband.   Instead of a screen, it connects to a mobile app via Bluetooth.   Overall, we were impressed with the device’s capabilities but couldn’t quite overlook its many deficiencies.   Perhaps Amazon will […]

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The Real Pros (and Cons) of Post-ACA Health Insurance in California

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While Congress postures and pundits postulate, the public is actually getting its first taste of post-ACA (Affordable Care Act) health insurance.  The program officially starts in January 2014. However, the California Health Insurance Exchange has had its maiden run in 2014 and is offering very specific prices for an array of plans.  Everyone seems to have taken a deep breath as we all await the law’s impact upon  insurance prices. Without claiming any psychic powers,  I can  predict with a high degree of certainty that my health care costs will drop considerably……however others may not be that fortunate. Here’s how to find out about your health insurance premium future:   The key point, folks:  the Health Insurance Exchanges are focused […]

3

COOL TIP: Visible Cellular Unlimited Data Plan – Pros & Cons

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Visible is a very competitive MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) service plan that is owned by and runs on Verizon Wireless’ network.  The Visible Unlimited Plan is pretty bare-bones—you get unlimited talk, text, and data for anywhere between $25-$40.  Party Pay, which is similar to Verizon’s family plans however, each line has their own account so that one person doesn’t have to be responsible for everyone’s lines.  This service may be a game-changer in its simplicity and low-pricing for unlimited service.   But, like any almost-too-good-to-be-true, there are some trade-offs that you should consider. One of Visible standout propositions is the generous prepaid-card promotions if you buy a phone through Visible.  It is offering $50-200 Mastercard prepaid cards with each phone […]

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Trump Trumpery Testifier: Protecting Consumer Protections

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So he won.  Whether his election is good for America or not remains to be seen.  But we have a pretty good sense that it won’t be good for consumers.   Throughout the debacle that masqueraded as a political campaign,  Trump threatened many important and hard-fought consumer protections, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform.   Trump hasn’t provided specifics on any meaningful policies that would protect consumers. No surprise; he’s aggressively pro-business and dismissive of consumer protections.  In fact, his opposition to the proposed AT&T buyout of Time Warner is driven more by a desire for leverage over CNN than to protect consumer choice. Trump’s disinterest in consumers is typified by his attitude towards the Federal […]

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SCAM ALERT: Phone Scams And Other Scary Monsters

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Phone fraud is a multi-million dollar industry that crosses international and industry borders. Attackers target call centers, as well as consumers, in attempts to gain access to funds, steal merchandise, and phish for identities. Americans lost an estimated $7.4 billion to phone scams in 2015, according to an online Harris Poll survey. It’s projected that 27 million people  (11% of all Americans)  got taken by phone scammers last year. This does not include the damage that fraud and other security breaches can have on the reputation of an enterprise. Male millennials (age 18-34) had the highest rate of gullibility, with 38% reporting they’d lost money to phone scams in the past twelve months. Only 17% of female millennials were tricked […]