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MLB has cast dynamic pricing - and its partnership with the secondary marketplace StubHub - as a boon for fans, making it easier for them to find deals and to avoid fraud by purchasing verified tickets. But it is unquestionably a boon to MLB and its franchises, which can reap a cut of the profits that were previously i... |
Even while teams recapture revenue that had been on the secondary market, the move toward dynamic pricing doesn’t necessarily hurt resellers who don’t have deals with leagues or clubs, especially in baseball where there is so much supply, said Jesse Lawrence, founder of TicketIQ, an aggregator that offers tickets throu... |
Baseball fans are used to such fluctuations when shopping for airline tickets or a ride home. Toll roads, zoos, theme parks, tequila bars and renaissance festival masquerade balls have adopted the model. It’s even been tested - and rejected - by Coca-Cola. |
But Major League Baseball has more to lose than Uber did when it transformed transportation with dynamic pricing, argues economist and pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed. Uber continues to infuriate users with fare surges, such as those recently affecting a military homecoming in Hawaii and stranded train passengers in A... |
“I would be worried about (where) is the tipping point where fans start to feel gouged,” Mohammed said. |
Teams can guard against that by communicating that higher prices for some games are offset by lower prices for others, he said. |
Alicia Price gets that. She attends dozens of games a year. |
But teams can abuse that understanding, too, Mohammed said. “You don’t want to say this has become an elitist game and you can only go to Tuesday afternoon games with an off team,” he said. |
The Astros have $7 seats on a Monday night in June against the lowly Tampa Bay Rays. |
As of May 23, to get in for a premium opponent such as the Boston Red Sox, fans will pay a minimum of $20 for a Thursday night matchup. |
The minimum for a July weekend homestand with the division rival Texas Rangers is $25. |
The Seattle Mariners, who are in second place behind the Astros in the American League West, are commanding a minimum of $20 for a Friday night in August. But there are still $8 seats for the Thursday night in that series. |
Bryce said surges for weekend games mean his family has been priced out of Saturdays at the ballpark. |
The team declined to comment for this story and did not make its pricing software vendor, Austin-based Qcue, available. Reid Ryan, president for business operations, previously told the Chronicle that as the Astros field greater talent, they have to find ways to pay them. |
Most teams with dynamic pricing set rules so that, no matter what the algorithm says, prices generally won’t rise above or fall below certain cutoffs, said Greg Loewen, CEO of Digonex, a dynamic pricing software provider. That protects season ticket holders from losing value if prices fall, teams argue, because those t... |
The Astros had $21 outfield seats for a Saturday matchup against Cleveland, in first place in the AL Central. That’s around the low end for a weekend game in 2018, but still removed from 2013, when the team offered some $5 seats, even for a home opener against their in-state rival Texas Rangers. |
And fans are locking in floor prices by purchasing more season tickets. The Astros sold about 6,000 new season ticket packages for 2018, and now more than half the 41,000 seats are sold on a season basis, Ryan said. |
The Houston Texans use dynamic pricing for individual game tickets, but the effect on fans is relatively negligible because the Texans sell 67,000 season tickets, spokeswoman Amy Palcic said. That leaves, at most, a few thousand individual game tickets. The Rockets have used dynamic pricing since 2010. |
It’s not a panacea for maximizing revenue, warns Senthil Veeraraghavan. The professor of operations at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School conducted a study with an anonymous MLB franchise over the course of a season, finding that the team could improve revenues by 17 percent with a dynamic model. But that ... |
That’s exceedingly hard to do, he said, and so, perhaps most importantly, dynamic pricing offers teams the flexibility to drop prices when demand falls, getting more warm bodies into the stadium, where they can buy $9 beers and $80 jerseys. |
“You would rather have the stadium full than have half the stadium with the same (ticket) revenue,” he said. |
Loewen, of Digonex, said the best outcomes for entertainment venues and patrons alike come when businesses marry the analytics with management experience - their gut feelings. |
“No matter how good the algorithm is, it’s not going to be perfect,” he said. |
Fans who want to go to a couple of dozen games will usually do better by buying early, said Lawrence, of TicketIQ. For one or two games, they could be better of waiting. |
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has cut orders for iPhone 5 components due to "weaker-than-expected demand" for the device. |
Citing "people familiar with the situation", the Journal claims that Apple has cut its orders of iPhone 5 screens for the January-March quarter, for instance, by half. If the rumors are true, they suggest that the phone isn't selling as well as Apple anticipated—or, more unlikely, that its plans are changing. |
Certainly, Apple's share of the smartphone market has been shrinking of recent times, dropping from a peak of 23 percent in the final quarter of 2011 to 15 percent in the third quarter of 2012. Elsewhere, Android is going from strength to strength—with Samsung stealing Apple's lead, now commanding 31 percent of smartph... |
American Residential Services (ARS), a national provider of air conditioning, heating and plumbing services, recently held a "Can Castle" contest on behalf of food banks in their service areas. Branches were challenged to collect canned goods throughout the month of April and to construct can castles from their collect... |
ARS of Illinois employees accepted the challenge and with the help of friends and family members (and anyone who was willing to listen) over 10,000 cans of food were donated to the Itasca Food Pantry. |
With over 35 service centers participating in the competition this year, ARS of Illinois hopes to take home the prize for most creative can castle or most items donated. "The winner is yet to be announced but I feel we've already won, everyone who joined us in this challenge is walking away inspired.. we had the best t... |
"This experience has inspired us to continue to build relationships in our community. There are so many worthy organizations and plenty of opportunities to serve, we are already looking forward to the next one.." said Sharon Etes of ARS. |
I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. I am trying to install 'ON1 Photo Editor' on my machine which requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable. The installer package for the ON1 Photo Editor includes the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable as part of the installation. During the installation, however, the Micr... |
I asked Joe if he would like me to connect to his system to have a closer look at the issue using my remote desktop support service, and he agreed. |
First things first: if the Windows Update is broken and the PC hasn't updated in quite a while, then it means that the system is susceptible to hackers, malware, ransomware and similar. The reasoning is that bugs in the operating system (exploits) are discovered all the time and these exploits need to be patched, other... |
With that said, I ran some tests on Joe's machine and I'll explain what I did to fix it. |
1. Whenever I connect to a machine by remote to fix a problem, two things need to be done first: 'chkdsk' and 'sfc / scannow' using an administrative command prompt. Chkdsk (check disk) checks if the file system is corrupt. If is corrupt, then you can have strange things like having the Microsoft Visual C++ stuck at th... |
(a) Bookmark this page now as you may need to reboot the system multiple times. To do so, press CTRL + D on the keyboard, then save the bookmark to your browser. |
(b) Next, click the Start button, then type in "CMD" (no quotes); wait for "CMD.EXE" or "Command Prompt" to appear in the list, then right click it and select "Run as Administrator". A black command prompt window will appear. Type in "chkdsk" (no quotes) and hit enter. Check Disk should report no errors; if it reports ... |
Once chkdsk is clear, run "sfc /scannow" in the command prompt. If it reports no errors, move on to the second step. If it has errors can fixed them, run 'sfc /scannow' again to see if it still reports errors or if it has no errors. If no errors, move onto the second step. If you still have errors or if it 'found error... |
2. Next, download the Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows patch. While researching the issue as to what causes Microsoft Visual C++ to hang during the 'initializing' phase, I found a Microsoft patch KB#2999266, which is reported to fix the issue. In Joe's case, he did not have this patch because his Windows Updat... |
3. Next, download the version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (link below) that hangs during the install and use the 'repair' option using an administrative command prompt. You will need to run the executable with the repair option - described further down. |
Note that these Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages are direct from Microsoft and contain the latest Visual C++ patches for that version. In Joe's case the C++ redistributable was part of the "ON1 Photo Editor" and may not have contained the latest patches, which may also fix the 'initializing' hang. |
Here are all the download links for Microsoft Microsoft Visual C++ as of August 2018. Please save the file to C:\Temp (create the "Temp" directory if it does not exist, first) because you will need to access the file through an administrative command prompt further down. |
To run the 'repair' option, you need to open an administrative command prompt (the same as described in Step #1) and then copy and paste the text below into the command prompt. The 'repair' option should fix any issues with a corrupted Visual C++ install, including one that won't install in the first place. Note that a... |
Highlight the text above, then right click over top of the highlighted text and select "Copy". Next, right click the mouse in the middle of the administrative command prompt window and select "Paste". The text should output the command line and the Microsoft C++ Redistributable should begin installing with the repair o... |
4. At this point the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable should have installed properly. If it does not, you are welcome to contact me - described next. |
If all of this is over your head, or if you can't get Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installed on your machine despite the instructions in this article, I can fix it for you using my remote desktop support service. Simply contact me, briefly describing the issue and I will get back to you as soon as possible. |
I used your very good article on WS2012 to install LibreOffice updates. Just advising that microsoft may have renamed the redistributables mine was called "vc_redist.x64.exe". Apart from that small change following your article worked flawlessly. 4 stars! |
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its largest single-day point drop ever when it closed down 1,175 points. Combine that with Friday's losses, and the total loss was roughly 6% in two days. |
The sudden drop has many investors worried that the 2018 stock sell-off is a sign of worse things to come. |
First, let's make one thing clear: There is no reason to panic over the market's recent pullback. |
Over the last 12 months, the Dow has tacked on 6,000 points in just the last year, representing a gain of nearly 33%. After this week's pullback, the Dow is back to where it was trading in December 2017. |
In other words, the current drop has not even hit "correction" territory yet, which is a 10% drop from market highs. |
While the markets could see another day or two of declines, Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald says that panicking is the worst mistake you can make right now. |
While Monday's 1,175 point for the Dow was drastic, the fall had little to do with the economic fundamentals underlying the market's historic run. |
Keith points out that much of Monday's drop was the result of automated trading systems. |
"Markets were selling off in relatively orderly fashion until the last hour, when computers took over and sent the major averages into freefall," he says. |
"This is usually consistent with risk arbitrage programs reaching pre-programmed limits or some complex balancing between positions. Either way, it's so fast a human can't keep up… or stop it." |
The market's sudden fall wasn't due to a significant shift in investor optimism. Instead, a sudden increase in volatility created extra selling from trading programs, sending prices down. |
Additionally, last week, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen noted in her final meeting that inflation was beginning to rise, announcing that average hourly earnings rose 2.9% in January. |
Keith says that Yellen's announcement "prompted 'position' traders to reassess the Fed's next move as more hawkish and to get ahead of that by selling, which added significantly to the computerized pressure already building." |
In other words, the 2018 stock sell-off was mainly driven by catalysts that have little to do with the strong economic health driving the bull market's run. |
As a result, this isn't the "stock market crash" many are fearing. But investors are still wondering how long it's going to last. |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - SandRidge Energy Inc’s (SD.N) letter asking the Internal Revenue Service whether its water disposal business would qualify as tax-free for inclusion in a master limited partnership (MLP) has been caught up in the agency’s pause of such reviews. |
“That process has started and there was the pause,” Duane Grubert, SandRidge’s head of investor relations, said at the OGIS energy conference in New York on Monday. |
Grubert estimated the delay could last for months. SandRidge is exploring ways, including forming an MLP, to unlock the value of its oilfield water disposal business it estimates is worth around $1 billion. |
The IRS did not comment when asked if it had temporarily stopped issuing private letter rulings that companies ask for when setting up MLPs. |
The law firm Vinson & Elkins told its clients in recent days the IRS had “paused” to review the scope of assets that can qualify as tax-free for MLPs. |
MLPs have been hugely popular among investors seeking higher yields, even though the structures often have corporate governance standards weaker than those of corporations. |
Oil and gas wells in the Mississippi Lime, a rock formation where SandRidge and other companies including Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) operate, produce a large amount of water in the drilling process that is disposed of underground. |
While SandRidge is considering other options for the saltwater disposal unit that handles about 1 million barrels of water per day in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, the company is looking hard at an MLP, said Grubert. |
“That’s the one (an MLP) that seems to be the one that people can grasp,” the executive said, noting that a transaction was not likely until 2015. |
Shares of SandRidge fell 16 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $6.28 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading. |
Joyner Lucas is cutting his I’m Kind Of A Big Deal Tour short due to some medicial issues. Lucas’ manager Dhruv Joshi told HipHopDX the Massachusetts-bred MC had to cancel his Australian and European tour dates due to hoarseness and laryngitis. |
Lucas wrapped up the North American portion of the I’m Kind Of A Big Deal Tour in June. Lucas’ Australian dates were slated to start on August 9. The European leg of the tour was supposed to begin on August 14 in Portugal. |
While Lucas will be unable to tour overseas, he has promised to release new music in the coming months. A collaborative album with Chris Brown is also expected to drop later this year. |
We have been keeping our readers up to date about the much sought after untethered iOS 6.0 and iOS 6.0.1 jailbreak for the iPhone 5, which so far has failed to materialise. Today though we have news of an iOS 6.1 Beta 2 jailbreak using RedSn0w 0.9.15b3, but it has to be remembered this is not an untethered solution. |
Yesterday we told you that Apple had released the iOS 6.1 Beta 2 to developers, and the news came after we heard about a tethered jailbreak of iOS 6 and iOS 6.0.1 with the new Sn0wBreeze 2.9.7 tool. Now though iDownloadBlog are showing how developers can jailbreak the iOS 6.1 Beta 2 using the RedSn0w 0.9.15b3 jailbreak... |
It has to be remembered this is a tethered jailbreak meaning the process has to be repeated every time the handset is rebooted. The full instructions on achieving the process can be found via the link above, but we can’t recommend that you jailbreak your device even though many of you find jailbreaking your iOS devices... |
Users will still be waiting for that elusive untethered jailbreak for the Apple iPhone 5, with the hardworking jailbreaking team working tirelessly for our benefit. Their work is always appreciated though by the owners of iOS hardware that look to add something different to their devices. Again if you want to give this... |
Are you itching to get your hands on an untethered iPhone 5 jailbreak? |
why i couldnt update to the lastest ios? |
Concerns over "live-out" domestic workers - that employers may be unwilling to cover the extra costs of food, lodging and transport or that domestic workers may fall into bad company or commit crimes if they live elsewhere - reflect deeper socio-economic problems here ("Live-out maids 'will lead to more costs, issues'"... |
The extent to which many households have grown dependent on domestic workers is perhaps related to the difficulties Singaporeans now face when trying to balance work and family commitments. |
A ready supply of domestic workers from neighbouring countries has improved productivity here, by allowing both parents - for instance - to take up jobs, and also by reducing the reliance on grandparents. |
From household chores to seeing to the needs of children or the elderly, domestic workers shoulder many responsibilities, and many Singaporeans have grown accustomed to such convenience. |
Yet, having the same living and working environment can be unhealthy for the domestic worker, increasing the possibility for conflicts too. |
Notwithstanding the issues of remuneration or employment benefits, living in workplaces may further increase the possibility of abuse, and it is also near-impossible for government agencies to uncover transgressions. |
It will be argued by some that errant employers are far and few between, but if incidents do happen, it would be hard for a domestic worker to seek recourse. |
How arrangements will pan out is contingent on our Indonesian counterparts. And even though the Ministry of Manpower will have to craft policies in response, it may be meaningful to consider Singapore's persistent socio-economic malaise. |
A recent study commissioned by the Families for Life Council found that one in 10 people spent six hours or less with their family members a week, which signals poor work-life balance. |
In fact, Singaporean workers may be spending more time at the workplace without necessarily achieving productivity gains, so, examining our socio-economic assumptions will be useful. |
Such discourse should shape policy changes - beyond recent proposals to build more after-school student care centres and the extension of paternity leave - so that working mothers do not have to shoulder child-rearing responsibilities on their own. |
If improvements do take root in future, then our dependence on domestic workers - whether they are "live-in" or "live-out" - could ease, and maybe even improve the way we work and live in Singapore. |
The universe of the two films isn’t actively unfair. Is life absurd? Yes. The tone of Somebody is that of a fable, it’s literally fabulous, while 7 Chinese Brothers clings more superstitiously to naturalism. Strange things happen, but not too often. We could have put subtitles across the dog sometimes and perhaps shoul... |
Obviously this is an Austin movie in that it was shot there and you presumably benefit from living and working in a city with a strong independent film culture, but do you see the stories you tell as strongly linked to a sense of place (either Austin or, for that matter, anywhere else)? Is Larry in any way a specifical... |
I’ve made all these movies in Austin and there’s a rhythm here that’s not the rhythm of, say, New York. We showed [Byington’s film] Harmony and Me at MoMA in 2009 and the first question afterwards was “what’s in the water in Austin?” It was a friendly question, but usually when viewers are frustrated by the pacing of t... |
Larry‘s relationship with his grandmother, his “only surviving relative,“ as he says more than once, is suggestive. Did you and Jason Schwartzman think about Larry’s backstory, together or separately, more specifically than we get in the film? |
Not so much—while Jason asked a lot of these kinds of questions, we didn’t address this one specifically. It’s left for the viewer to mull over or not. The writing can happen like that, where you finish a script without certain types of characters, and it’s best usually to leave it the way it is, it doesn’t tend to be ... |
Jason Schwartzman’s own dog, Arrow, delivers one of the finest canine performances in recent memory. It’s kind of a cute thing to observe about the movie but Arrow really does do what old movie stars used to, which is project, with seeming effortlessness, a really clear personality (in his case, a sort of slobbery, ste... |
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