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(Sybren Stüvel)

Everyone has an opinion, and nowadays most people are willing to share it; for better or worse. So it shouldn’t be surprising then – what with the sheer number of outlets available in which consumers can express their feeling about products and services – that nearly seven-in-ten consumers actually base their purchases on the digital recommendations of strangers.

That is according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults for the American Lifestyles 2015 report from global marketing firm Mintel, which found that perusing online reviews is now an integral part of how consumers make purchases.

“In a never-ending quest to buy the ‘best,’ consumers are looking to others, peers and strangers alike, to glean from their opinions and experiences in order to validate the choices they’ve made and to avoid feelings of buyer’s remorse,” Fiona O’Donnell, Lifestyles Category Manager at Mintel, said in a statement.

O’Donnell says that seeking reviews online can make the simple act of buying a household item less overwhelming for any consumer, it’s especially useful to younger consumers who have yet to build brand loyalty.

In fact, according to the report, the younger the consumer the more likely they are to rely on online reviews when determining what to buy. Nearly 81% of the survey respondents who seek out the opinion of others online before making a purchase are categorized millennials.

When it comes to where consumers turn to for advice on products and services, Mintel found that age also makes a difference.

For instance, millennials say they are more likely to visit user-generated review sites like Yelp or Angie’s List, while consumers 35 years of age or older are more likely to rely on independent review sites like Consumer Reports or Edmunds.com.

Still, both age groups say they would also consider the recommendations they receive from their own social networks – although with less conviction. About 72% of millennials say they take their “friends” opinions into account, while 46% of older consumers trust the opinions offered by those in their social networks.

Despite consumers willingness to seek out virtual reviews for products, most say they take the feedback with a grain of salt, especially if the opinion of a personal acquaintance differed from those found online.

Mintel reports that a majority of the opinion seekers say they don’t trust a product that has only positive reviews.

Additionally, 54% of respondents say they would try a product recommended by someone they know even if it had negative online reviews.

So while online reviews have no doubt become an important part of consumers’ purchasing experience, they still don’t beat the personalized opinions of family and friends.

Seven in 10 Americans Seek Out Opinions Before Making Purchases [Mintel]
[H/T Chicago Tribune]

CBS has been hinting at a standalone streaming version of its Showtime premium cable channel for months now, and today finally took the wraps off the new offering. Dubbed simply "Showtime," the new streaming offering will cost $11 a month and should be available starting in July. The service will not only offer access to Showtime's back catalog, it will provide live access to the channel's east and west coast feeds.

The bad news: like HBO Now, the service will initially be an iOS device exclusive, presumably for three months like Apple's HBO arrangement. That means you can only initially order it through iTunes, and only view the content on either an iOS device or web browser.

"Going over-the-top means Showtime will be much more accessible to tens of millions of potential new subscribers, said CBS CEO Les Moonves in a company statement. "Across CBS, we are constantly finding new ways to monetize our programming by capitalizing on opportunities presented by technology."

CBS launched a $6 a month streaming platform for CBS content last October to mixed reviews.


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Hint: 

As The Washington Times reports,

In an interview by an Israeli TV station, former Obama adviser David Axelrod recalled the president venting in a moment of contemplation about criticisms that he doesn’t support Israel strongly enough.

 

“You know, I think I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office,” the president told Mr. Axelrod. “For people to say that I am anti-Israel, or, even worse, anti-Semitic, it hurts.”

Ok then.

And while this 'kinship' as White House spokesman Josh Earnest calls it may work for him, it is not just Benjamin Netanyahu that is unimpressed. As The Hill reports, a new survey finds that more Americans view former President George W. Bush favorably than President Obama.

The CNN/ORC poll reveals that 52 percent of Americans see Bush positively, while 43 percent do not.

 

In contrast, U.S. voters are split on their views of Obama.

 

The new poll finds that 49 percent view Obama favorably, while 49 percent do not.

 

Those ratings for Obama are down from a similar poll in March. During that sampling, 52 percent of Americans viewed him positively, while another 46 percent did not.

 

Bush’s numbers, meanwhile, mark a major shift for the former president since he departed office in early 2009, CNN said, when Bush received a favorability rating from roughly one third of those surveyed.

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While driving along a highway in Mississippi last week, Gautier police officer Mark Rodriguez caught an amazing view of a lightning strike that landed just feet away from his vehicle.

Fortunately, a car is a safe place to be during a lightning storm, and Rodriguez's dash cam caught incident on camera.

Artist and Tumblr user SaveTheWailes created these fantastic Mad Max-themed My Little Pony toys using some MLP figures, polymer clay, acrylic, leather, and faux fur. Even if you don’t like the MLP franchise, it’s kind of impossible to hate those!

[Source: SaveTheWailes on Tumblr | Deviantart]

The post Mad Max Fury Road Ponies [Pics] appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

(Photo: Camille)

The Battle of Verdun consumed most of 1916. Over 10 months, 300,000 Frenchmen and Germans died. Another 750,000 were wounded. There was a constant monsoon of artillery shells. It permanently changed the landforms of the area. After the war, it was dangerous to live there because of the vast amounts of unexploded ordnance, including poison gas shells. Stepping on the wrong spot or plowing a furrow in the wrong field meant death.

So France closed off much of the area, which became known as the Zone Rouge or "Red Zone." It gradually shrank over the years, but approximately 65 square miles remains off-limits to most human activity. Vegetation has filled in many of the craters. Wild animals, especially boars, are common. Last year, National Geographic explored this forbidden zone that remains scarred by war a century later. It quotes historian Christina Holstein:

Holstein believes the Zone Rouge will never be fully cleared of its unexploded ordnance.

“They reckon that they have 300 years work ahead of them before they have cleared the whole battlefield,” she says. “And they never will.” […]

“I suspect that what might happen is that certain areas are cleared a bit more and perhaps you get a 'discovery trail' or something like that so that people can walk around some of the main sites and get some information,” she says.

Holstein also thinks that the Zone Rouge’s light human footprint over the last 100 years might actually be one of its greatest assets.  

“Because it has been abandoned and covered with trees, it is a microcosm of something that happened a hundred years ago,” Holstein says. “It is a bit like Sleeping Beauty. Things have just gotten frozen in time.”

-via VA Viper

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