I ran the find command suggested by the OP, and it came up with a long list of files -- all names that I had intentionally and manually deleted. It seems when one of my "other" machines booted up, it put 0 byte files back in their place. A review of the file's history, by clicking Dropbox -> Browse on Dropbox Website shows the original file, the day I deleted it, then a few minutes later, a 0 byte file added back.
IMO the one chance they had in the Enterprise space was to differentiate themselves by creating an app stack that ran anywhere: desktop, thin client, tablet, phone. WebOS would make that happen. But with todays reports of laying off 525 WebOS devs, apparently, they are just flushing WebOS down the toilet.
Free is hard to beat. Actually, Amazon streaming is better than free. Instead of giving $96/year to Netflix, I can give $79/year to Amazon for a Prime membership, get streaming thrown in for free, and get the usual Prime benefit of free 2-day shipping.
As far as the interface goes, are you really watching on your computer? I bought a Blu-Ray player just to stream Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Works decently enough.
Some of what you are reading out here actually is not true. In California, willfully writing a bad check can make the payer liable for 3 times the face value.
My suggestion: consult an attorney, not the internet.
You guys are really missing the point. This isn't about Amazon, it's about affiliate marketers. You know, these guys who run websites and for a fee, provide a link to a merchant website to generate a sale.
When the Franchise Tax Board finally figures out that California is no different than New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, etc. and discover there is no net gain in revenue as a result of this law, they will set their sites on the one large California company in the "provide links to make sales for a fee" business, Google. Suddenly every company across the nation buying keywords from Google will have a nexus established in California simply by the keyword buys.
So if you are not in California, and you like doing some keyword buys to enhance your business on your website, get ready to bend over and pay sales and use tax to California. Because that is what is going to change the pattern of miserable failures this law has been in other states.
Let us know how it works for you. My experience, you have left a huge obstacle between me and signing up: my lack of willingness to disclose information without knowing what I am getting in return.
I can state for a fact that as of January 2010, Groupon did no vetting of financials prior to doing a deal. All that was required was a conversation with a nice woman, who seemed way too smart to be an account rep. But hey, maybe a cubicle at Groupon was all her MA or MS could get her in the downturn.
The bankruptcy theory presented by the author is correct. My family's shop in NYC was on the brink, and Groupon seemed like a possible salvation. We had nothing to lose, anyway. Groupon decided to run a deal for us, we worked out all the details, and waited. And waited. And closed the shop. Groupon called us to do the deal about 3 days after we closed the doors.
Or for when your new girlfriend wants to use your computer and you're not sure you want her looking at your financials, or, ahem, your browsing history.
I think what people are referring to is what is about to happen, not what has already happenend. The Ponzi aspect unfolds when the unwashed masses listen to the talking heads and invest half their savings in Groupon, and get taken to the cleaners.
Let's see, give 50% off and then pay 35% of what is left to Groupon. Merchant nets 32.5% of the original purchase price. I don't believe there is 67.5% margin in an automobile.
It certainly wasn't limited to Boston or the Eastern Seaboard. We had record amounts of rainfall in Los Angeles, and the San Gabriel mountains got dusted twice with snow. IIRC, it's been about 10 years since the last snow up there. And it was colder for longer (and yes, I know I am talking about "LA cold").
In California, the fine is $160 + County and State enhancements, so the parking space could cost you about $400 if you don't have a passenger to use the phone.