Tag Archives: membership

Technology

Best Buy’s new $200/yr membership locks PS5, hot holiday items behind membership

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If you’re still searching for a PS5 and are a Best Buy customer, your ship may have just come in—that is, if you’re willing to spend an extra $200 a year for access.

That’s because the big-box electronics retailer is locking stock of in-demand holiday items like Sony’s console behind membership of its new Totaltech program. The expensive customer service package was recently rolled out nationwide.

The $200 annual service—which has benefits like round-the-clock tech support, up to two years of protection on Best Buy purchases (including AppleCare+ insurance, which can cost $200 on its own), and member discounted prices—is throwing in exclusive access to “the season’s hardest-to-find products” as a bonus perk for the holidays, the company said in a statement. The Best Buy retail site had the $500 disc drive model PS5s available for Totaltech members to buy Monday morning, with the consoles gated behind an “exclusive access event” paywall. Instead of selling out instantly, its stock lasted between 90 minutes and two hours—a relatively glacial sales pace compared to the insane demand for the hardware that consumers have faced since it hit stores last November.

VIP… scalping fees?

Although the PS5’s listing page pointed directly to Totaltech membership exclusivity while the hardware was still available, its seemingly unrelated VIP buying privileges aren’t listed anywhere on the program’s membership benefits and FAQ pages. We would not be shocked to see other highly desired products affected by the chip shortage following Totaltech suit, particularly high-end PC GPUs and Xbox Series X/S consoles.

The service is replacing a “Best Buy Beta” program that was tested in select markets starting in April. Beta seemed to target a more generalized range of benefits over one focused on tech support and protection, and it notably did not offer special members-only events to buy limited-stock electronics. The company’s free My Best Buy membership, which sometimes includes exclusive discount sales, remains unaffected.

For some consumers, the Totaltech package could be a worthwhile investment. In addition to its 24/7 Geek Squad tech support and private concierge services, it has a number of other bonuses. These include free delivery and installation (useful perhaps if you’re in the market for several wall-filling high-def OLED TVs), an extended 60-day return and exchange window for purchases, and access to “Member Monday,” a weekly Amazon Prime Day-style discount event that starts October 18 and runs during “select weeks” through the holidays.

Given that the AppleCare+ extended warranty includes coverage for two accidental damage incidents every 12 months, discounts on repair services, and covers any Apple device bought through Best Buy, customer mileage may vary depending on their tech tastes. That said, if at the end of the standard two-year agreement you want to extend this insurance service, it won’t be covered under Totaltech’s membership. Buyers assume responsibility for its recurring payments from then on.

There’s not much precedent for flat-out barring average customers from buying hot-ticket consumer electronics. In 2017, Amazon offered an exclusive edition of Motorola’s Moto E4 Plus mobile phone only to Prime members. However, this was just a variant version that added ads to its lock screen in exchange for a discounted price. Customers could also still buy a standard unlocked, no-ads edition of the device from the retailer without a Prime subscription.

Similarly, GameStop offers early access to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X with its $15-20 annual PowerUp Rewards Pro membership. But these packages—which typically cost around $700—are generally bundled with a selection of two games and an extra controller for the same price as the Totaltech membership plus a disc-model PS5.

But for anyone uninterested in support services who just wants to buy a PS5 or presumably any of the other hottest tech wares that are currently impossible to find, Best Buy’s new program arguably makes it look little better than a corporate scalper.

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World

“Brexit can happen here”, Poles demonstrate in support of EU membership

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WARSAW, Oct 10 (Reuters) – More than 100,000 Poles demonstrated on Sunday in support of European Union membership after a court ruling that parts of EU law are incompatible with the constitution raised concerns the country could eventually leave the bloc.

Politicians across Europe voiced dismay at the ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday, which they saw as undercutting the legal pillar on which the 27-nation EU stands. read more

According to the organisers, protests took place in over 100 towns and cities across Poland and several cities abroad, with 80,000-100,000 people gathering in the capital Warsaw alone, waving Polish and EU flags and shouting “We are staying”.

Donald Tusk, a former head of the European Council and now leader of the main opposition party Civic Platform, said the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s policies were jeopardising Poland’s future in Europe.

“We know why they want to leave (the EU) … so that they can violate democratic rules with impunity,” he said, speaking in front of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, surrounded by thousands of protesters flanked by police vans flashing their lights.

PiS says it has no plans for a “Polexit”.

But right-wing populist governments in Poland and Hungary have found themselves increasingly at odds with the European Commission over issues ranging from LGBT rights to judicial independence.

“Just as Brexit suddenly became a fact, something no-one expected, the same thing can happen here,” said Janusz Kuczynski, 59, standing in a street in Warsaw’s historic district leading up to the Royal Castle.

Welcoming the court ruling on Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said each member state must be treated with respect and the EU should not be only “a grouping of those who are equal and more equal”.

State-run TVP broadcaster, which critics say focuses heavily on presenting the government’s point of view, ran a news ticker that read “protest against the Polish constitution” during its coverage of Sunday’s events.

Speakers at the demonstrations included politicians from across the opposition, artists and activists.

“This is our Europe and nobody is going to take us out of it,” said Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, a 94-year old veteran of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi German occupiers.

Reporting by Kacper Pempel and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk
Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

Far-right militia group membership surged after Capitol attack, hack shows | US Capitol attack

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Hacked materials from the website of the rightwing militia group the Oath Keepers show that hundreds of people either joined or renewed their membership after many of the group’s members participated in the attack on the Capitol on 6 January.

They included people who joined under their military ranks, including combat veterans, retired servicepersons, at least one serving national guardsman, several members of the clergy and others involved in security contracting and the firearms industry.

Other materials in the hack show signups to petitions under government or military emails, and private email addresses being provided in response to appeals for assistance from military and service personnel.

But with many of those addresses apparently not functioning or invalid, the extent of prior involvement by government and military employees in the group was not immediately clear.

The post-Capitol attack membership surge is evident in payment records from the Oath Keepers website.

They show that 801 people either joined the organization or made donations after 4 January, when founder Stewart Rhodes posted an article on the website headlined “Oath Keepers Deploying to DC to Protect Events, Speakers, & Attendees on Jan 5-6: Time to Stand!”

But almost all of that number – 788 altogether – joined or donated after Oath Keepers members participated in the incursion into the Capitol building on 6 January, with the records showing that the surge built momentum in January before slowing in February, March and April, where the records end.

There were no email addresses linked to military or government employers in the trove, but 10 sign-ups noted their military ranks in an optional “title” field, which ranged between corporal and colonel, including three men who offered the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The Guardian’s investigation of the record showed that the majority of these are retired, but some have gone on to work in other sensitive roles.

The records show, for example, that one sign-up was a former lieutenant colonel in the US Marine Corps and that his service included stints at the corps’ headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, before taking a position at Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor.

Another sign-up, on 7 January, was apparently another Marine veteran who also worked as a bodyguard for the military contractor Blackwater, in a US government program to provide personal protection in theaters of war like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Several other men joined who used the religious title of Reverend, including one man who appears to have run for office in Wyoming as a pro-Trump Republican candidate.

The hacked materials were provided to reporters by the transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets after an anonymous hacker broke into the Oath Keepers’ infrastructure.

It was not immediately apparent whether the hack exfiltrated all of the Oath Keepers’ data, or just a segment, but as delivered it contained email threads, message archives and extensive records on membership and calls to action on specific issues.

Many of the records reveal direct communications to and from Rhodes, the Oath Keepers’ founder and leader.

Previous reporting at the Daily Dot described hundreds of military and government emails in the trove. While many older member records and records of petition campaigns do show such addresses, Guardian attempts to contact them resulted in extensive email bounces and notices that the addresses did not exist.

Similarly, many private addresses were associated with explicit calls for military and law enforcement volunteers.

In each case, it was not immediately clear whether all the addresses represented currently serving military or law enforcement officers, and in some cases it was not clear if or when the email addresses were valid.

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Technology

Rivian announces membership plan with complimentary charging and LTE connectivity

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With R1T trucks rolling off the assembly line at its factory in Normal, Illinois, Rivian continues to prepare for the official debut of its first EVs later this month. On Thursday, the automaker introduced a membership program that will grant Rivian owners access to complimentary charging at its soon-to-be-built Adventure Network and Waypoints chargers. It also pledged to match every mile Rivian Membership customers drive with energy from renewable resources such as wind and solar, as well as offer unlimited access to 4G LTE connectivity.

Additionally, the service includes Rivian off-Roadside Assistance, additional coverage that will see the company send a recovery vehicle to you if you get stuck out on the trail or need an emergency battery recharge. The company also promised to add additional perks in the future, including new drive modes, community meetups and in-cabin content. Each new Rivian vehicle will come with 12 months of free access to the service. After that, you’ll need to pay to continue enjoying the perks of the membership. The company hasn’t said how much it plans to charge for the service, so we’ve reached out to it for more information.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Sports

Big 12 Extends Membership Invitations

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The Big 12 Conference Board of Directors this morning voted to extend membership invitations to Brigham Young University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Houston to join the Conference.
 
Today’s actions were in accordance with Big 12 Conference Bylaw 1.5.2.b.3 requiring an affirmative vote of a supermajority of Directors, and was approved unanimously by the eight continuing members.
 
As necessary, institutional Boards will be in session today to act on Big 12 Conference membership. Videoconference announcements with Big 12 Board of Directors Chairman and Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, and campus representatives are scheduled today at the following times:

Houston – 11:00 a.m. CT
BYU – 11:30 a.m. CT
UCF – 2:45 p.m. CT
Cincinnati – 3:30 p.m. CT
 

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Sports

Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns formally notify SEC of membership request for 2025

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Oklahoma and Texas have formally notified the SEC they are seeking “an invitation for membership” beginning July 1, 2025, according to a joint statement from the flagship programs of the Big 12.

According to the release, OU and Texas sent SEC commissioner Greg Sankey their request Tuesday morning.

“The two universities look forward to the prospect of discussion regarding the matter,” the statement read.

According to the letter, which was dated July 27 and made public, Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote, “We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC.”

Sources said the SEC presidents and chancellors are meeting Thursday to consider OU and Texas for official membership in what would become the first 16-team superconference. In spite of the formal notification from the Big 12 schools, a source familiar with the process cautioned that it still doesn’t guarantee the SEC will vote at that time. A three-fourths majority vote of SEC presidents and chancellors (11 of 14) would be required for invitations to be extended.

Sources previously told ESPN that it’s believed enough SEC schools will vote to add the two new members.

“While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, we will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses,” Sankey said in a statement. “The Presidents and Chancellors of the SEC, in their capacity as the conference’s Chief Executive Officers, will consider these requests in the near future.”

The boards of regents for both Texas and Oklahoma have scheduled separate special meetings Friday morning, during which athletic conference membership will be discussed. Oklahoma’s regents will meet in Oklahoma City, while Texas’ regents will meet via conference call.

Texas and OU stated in the letter that they intend to remain in the Big 12 through June 30, 2025, because that’s when the current Big 12 media rights deal expires — but that doesn’t guarantee they won’t find a way to leave before then. If it happens earlier, each university would have to pay a penalty of at least $75 million to $80 million to break that agreement, or hope that the Big 12 dissolves before the grant of rights contract expires.

One Big 12 source suggested the possibility that OU and Texas are banking on a relationship that turns so sour over the next few years, the Big 12 agrees to cut them loose for less.

A source within the SEC said the Longhorns and Sooners “have a lot of legal work to do before they can just walk over to us.”

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.

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Sports

Rubio asks MLB commissioner if he’ll give up Augusta golf club membership

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Sen. Marco RubioMarco Antonio RubioRepublicans blast MLB for moving All-Star Game GOP lawmakers ask Biden administration for guidance on reopening cruise industry Amazon union vote count starts this week for Alabama warehouse MORE (R-Fla.) on Monday sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred asking if Manfred would give up his membership at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club in the wake of the league’s decision to pull the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to protest Georgia’s controversial new voting law. 

Rubio took a personal shot at the head of MLB after Manfred said the decision to pull the All-Star Game and the MLB Draft from Georgia was “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.”

“I write to ask you whether you intend to maintain your membership at Augusta National Golf Club. As you are well aware, the exclusive members-only club is located in the State of Georgia,” Rubio wrote to Manfred.

Augusta National, the annual host of the Masters Tournament, one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf, didn’t invite a Black player to compete at the Masters until 1975, and the club itself didn’t admit its first Black member until 1990.

Rubio implied that Manfred was engaging in a double standard by supporting the decision to remove the All-Star Game from Georgia because of criticism that the state’s new voting law discriminates against Black voters in metropolitan Atlanta. 

Rubio said the decision to move the All-Star Game “will have a bigger impact on countless small and minority owned businesses in and around Atlanta, than the new election law ever will.”

And he said it “reeks of hypocrisy.”

Rubio also said he has “no illusion” that Manfred will end his membership at August National because “to do so would require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to the woke corporate virtue signaling of moving the All Star Game from Atlanta.”  

The GOP senator and potential 2024 White House candidate also challenged Manfred to reevaluate baseball’s relationship with China and Cuba, two countries with a history of human rights violations.

“Will Major League Baseball now end its engagement with nations that do not hold elections at all like China and Cuba? Will you end your lucrative financial relationship with Tencent, a company with deep ties to the Communist Party and actively helps the Chinese Government hunt down and silence political dissidents?” Rubio wrote.

The Florida senator predicted that MLB won’t boycott China because it could result in a substantial drop in revenues.

“Taking the All-Star game out of Georgia is an easy way to signal virtues without significant financial fallout. But speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and being closed out of a lucrative market,” he wrote.

His letter follows calls by Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzGeorgia county says removal of All-Star Game will cost tourism 0M MSNBC host: Boehner going after GOP ‘crazies’ now is ‘too little too late’ 2024 GOP White House hopefuls lead opposition to Biden Cabinet MORE (R-Texas), a fellow White House hopeful, and Sen. Mike LeeMichael (Mike) Shumway LeeWhy some Republicans think vaccine passports will backfire on Democrats Georgia county says removal of All-Star Game will cost tourism 0M GOP senators push to end MLB antitrust status MORE (R-Utah), to end MLB’s antitrust exemption.

“@SenMikeLee & I will be working hard to END MLB’s antitrust immunity,” Cruz tweeted Friday along with the hashtag #GowokeGobroke. 

Lee tweeted: “It’s time for the federal government to stop granting special privileges to specific, favored corporations—especially those that punish their political opponents.”



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