Room recording

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Matt: All righty, everybody. This is another edition of the Web News, and in this edition, we're gonna be talking about affordability, and I also wanna talk about the, the sort of portfolio, I guess, of devices that we're sort of, quote unquote, supposed to buy. But then when you see headlines like this, if you're watching the video version, it reads, "From The Verge, Valve raises the Steam Deck prices by more than $200.

The 1 terabyte OLED model got a $300 price increase, and now costs $949." And if you're also watching the screen, I'm gonna jump to the, to a Canadian website, and there's the Canadian pricing, over $1,000 here. 512 gig OLED model, $1,129, and the 1 terabyte OLED model is $1,349. So, uh, just to kinda give some background, the portfolio of devices that I'm talking about is it seems like tech companies are always trying to sell us something new.

"Hey, we, we're gonna sell you a [00:01:00] smartwatch or smart smartphone every two years, maybe two to four years. Hey, we better have another revenue stream. Here's a s- here's a smartwatch. Hey, there are some smart glasses. Hey, y- you know, there, there's this. Hey, there's that. Hey, there's this." And in the gaming sphere, that has largely kind of always, in one way or another, been buy a home console, maybe also buy a g- home gaming PC.

Oftentimes it's one or the other, but then also buy a handheld, whether that be a Nintendo DS or 3DS from back in the day, or now it's more the handheld PC game with things like the Steam Deck, uh, or the, uh, ROG Ally or the Xbox ROG Ally X, all those different things. There's the cl- there's the MSI Claw. the Legion Go from Lenovo. There's all these different things, and so they're always seemingly trying to kinda get you to, like, buy another device for your portfolio. And the headlines like this, and more specifically the price increases like this, kind of really put a [00:02:00] major monkey wrench into, into the situation.

Mike, before I kind of rant onward, why don't you, why don't you give us your take on this type of thing?

Mikhail: Yeah, I mean, this has been happening for the last, I don't know, year or two maybe now. Like, with, uh, uh, this, this could be trigger- like, tracked down to mostly RAM costs going up and storage costs going up, and in general, like, PC components going up, right? Like a Steam Deck, for example, has all of those things.

They have... It has RAM, it has storage. So those prices have gone up steadily over the last year or two. Um, and due to the demand of AI, like, it's not going back down anytime soon. Like, the, the, the demand is still there. Um, there are some, like, things that are happening in the Chinese market that could help, uh, because they're making DDR4 RAM now, I think, and they're gonna be start making DDR5 soon.

So, you know, more competitors, great. Uh, but overall, in general, [00:03:00] most consumer electronic devices have started to go up in price, which is... And, and, and not to say the new ones too. Like, the new ones, that's always happened, right? Like, the newer version of whatever device is almost always gonna be more expensive than the older version.

That was, like, a thing that's been happening for decades now, right? Like the new P- you know, the PS... I believe the PS5 was way more expensive than the PS4, for example, right? There were, there are some caveats where the PS3 was also super expensive, and the PS4 came out, was, which was, like, cheaper than when the PS4 came out.

But anyway, in, on average, new device comes out, it's more expensive than the previous version. Right now what we're seeing is old devices, like Val- Steam Deck is four years old. Like, this is an old chip, and the, the chip inside of it was already old by the time it came out. So, like, this thing is old, and it's now getting a price increase.

We've never... I don't know if we've ever seen something like that happen in the history of electronics. Um, I've, uh, the PS5 is doing the same thing, right? Like, PS5, it [00:04:00] just increased prices again, and I think that this is the second time they're increasing prices. Um, I believe-

Matt: they've increased prices, I believe it's more than once for the PS5. The, but the

Mikhail: That's what I mean, yeah

Matt: at, I, I don't have all the, I don't have all the information on that, like, it, which the individual price increases. But I do know that the... I believe this is the first time in history that a console, a video game console, has launched at one price that is lower than what it ends up being.

Mikhail: Yeah

Matt: Like, it, it is... As, as the hardware ages, as the console gets more expensive, or as the console gets older, it's getting more expensive. And I just looked this up. This is just a Gemini AI overview. But, uh, the PlayStation f- 4 launched in 2013 for the US- the USD price of $399. the PlayStation 5, I'll just use the disc version, the launch price was 600...

Or sorry, the launch price was $499 US dollars, so it's still within the same price range. But as you said, Mike, it's $100 more. Uh, the thing here though is it hasn't stayed at $499 for the PlayStation 5. It hasn't stayed at the $499. Obviously, the Steam [00:05:00] Deck hasn't stayed. Now, you could argue with the Steam Deck that it used to have, I think it was an LCD, and now it has an OL- now there's OLED model, and the OLED's better.

However, the OLED model's been out for a while, and now it has suddenly increased. And we're starting to kinda hit this, this, this point now where, I mean, even the little byline here by Mobile Syrup, "To pay rent or to buy a Steam Deck?" Many, there's many people questioning this, and I, I question this. Now, I don't wanna just b- you know, dunk on Valve or anything like that.

That's not, that's not what I'm trying to say here. I'm not trying to rip on Valve. The market's all messed up. We got all these... We got storage, storage going through the roof, flash storage. We got RAM going through the roof. We had, we, you know, component shortages and, you know, all this type of thing. Ch- chip shortages, as, uh, you've mentioned here. it There's reasons why this is happening, what I wanna know is what the market, I guess, or what the people, or just what's gonna happen because they can't... If they keep raising the prices to this extent and the [00:06:00] wages aren't gonna match it, we've heard this argument a million times, if the wages aren't gonna match it, the portfolio of devices is going to naturally shrink. That's just what's gonna happen. And even myself, I'm a very avid gamer. I do have a Steam Deck. I have an older one, though. I have an LCD model. Uh, I have a gaming PC. I have an Xbox. I have a PlayStation 5. The thing is, though, is I'm a very, very avid gamer. Like, I'm really into it. I like the history of it.

I watch, like, documentaries on it and stuff like that. Like, I'm really into gaming in general. I'm on a gaming podcast for Pete's sake. Uh, Deal and Patch podcast if you're interested. But anyway, but the point is, is that, like, I am in the space. there's gonna be many people that are like me that are also in the space.

I'm not saying I'm unique. However, there's gonna be a lot of people that are very casual, very casually in the space, and what they're gonna be doing is they're gonna say, "Okay, I'm just gonna get a computer," or, "I'm just gonna get a laptop and I'm not gonna get a smartwatch this year. I'm just gonna get a smartphone and the heck with gaming altogether."

And we can... And I, I [00:07:00] don't want this whole, whole conversation to go around gaming. I mean, if we take a look, the next item in our portfolio which we mentioned in a previous web news is eyewear, smart eyewear, smart glasses. is starting to get into the smart, the smart glasses game. Meta's been in it for a while.

And the thing here is This is another thing that is... That we're, quote-unquote, supposed to upgrade every few years likely. Now, I don't know how long this eyewear hasn't really been s- uh, been standardized quite yet. It's a new, new product segment, but it's another thing in your portfolio, right? Your, your EDC or your everyday carry.

You're supposed to bring your smartphone, your smart glasses, and your smartwatch with you. Well, I mean, we're starting to reach a point, l- we don't have headphone jacks anymore. Yes, I know you can use an adapter. So now it's like, oh, buy this $200 headset. So now it's like, I need this headset. The headset needs to...

If, if you use it every day, the headset's gonna need to replace or repair, like, meaning y- typically the battery needs to be replaced every two to four years. And, uh, we're, we're hitting a point where it's like, okay, [00:08:00] back to gaming. Gaming controllers have gone up. Gaming controllers are more or less consumable because of freaking st- stick drift, and they're the things that are constantly in your hand, so they get dropped, they get used, they get beat up, especially depending on what games you play. And so, uh, like, we're at a point now where I'm just kind of wondering what these companies are thinking is going to happen because we're starting to reach, I think, a point where many people are gonna say, "I don't wanna pay for that." And, and it... And when I say want to, I mean that. I don't mean... Like, some people are not going to be able to, period.

But I have some friends, and again, I haven't taken a big sample size, but I have some friends who could afford, because video games themselves have gone up, could afford games at 100 bucks, but they look at it and they go, "100 bucks is, is too much for a game." Like, they have just a number in their head where they're like, "That number doesn't look good attached to a game.

I'm not gonna pay, pay for that And I think you're gonna have more and more of that, and you're also going to naturally, as things increase, have more and more people that literally [00:09:00] cannot afford it, and you're gonna have people using phones for six years. then what's gonna happen? Like, what's Samsung and all these, all these people gonna do? I mean, Mike, like you brought this one up and this is just a rumor. This is from Mac Rumors: Apple may drop the base $599 Neo as chip and DRAM costs climb. And

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: is just rumor, but the MacBook Neo was praised. I saw so many videos and so many shorts and so many things praised as, hey, get into the MacBook game, which is normally seen as a luxury product, for a very reasonable price.

$599 for a computer is a great price, and you're making some concessions, sure. But I mean, this... You're also making some concessions if you buy a $2,000 computer versus a $5,000 computer. You're always making concessions

Mikhail: Yep

Matt: best. And so now, now this is being affected. So the bottom, the bottom devices in terms of price are being cut off. And so I don't know what is gonna happen here and how they're gonna [00:10:00] correct this, because Samsung's not gonna wanna live off of you buying a phone from them every six years. They want it every two to maybe four at most. That's what's, that's what's gonna happen here. Are they gonna re- like, live off of their refurbished market? we gonna see companies stop releasing a new phone each year? And that goes for other companies that have a cyclical update cycle as well, like a really common one. Uh, mo- most people have a, have some sort of update cycle. Obviously we went from the PS4 to the PS5, but it's a number of years. I'm talking just every year or maybe every two years if it's one of those companies that constantly release MacBooks, constantly release smartphones, constantly release a new laptop, constantly release a new smartwatch. Like, what... You know, what are we, what are we, what are we doing here now?

Mikhail: So something that, something that kind of stood out to me when I was watch- watching the WAN Show, which is like the Linus Tech Tips podcast a while ago now, was that Linus mentioned something along the ter- lines of... And I'm, I'm, I'm reading this from like a [00:11:00] statistics article right now. Uh, the top 10% account for 49% of US consumer spending.

Matt: Okay

Mikhail: So the top 10% of like spenders account for almost 50% of US consumer spending. Now there's some arguments to this, uh, statistic by the way. This, like there, there's a Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer expenditure survey that actually puts the number closer to like 20% rather than 49%. So the top 10% account for 20%.

But the, the, the number that Linus was mentioning was from a Moody's Analytics estimate. Um, so you know, take, take this with a grain of salt. But if this is the, if this is the real number, right? If, if four, if 10% of the people account for 49% spending then this is the reason that we're seeing very little pushback from companies.

We're seeing pushback from people. Like people are not buying this stuff as much anymore, uh, for like the general public. But because the most- the people that are spending the most over the last X amount of years are still [00:12:00] buying it, it's not affecting companies' bottom lines as much as it should. 'Cause the rich people I guess, the people that are more well off or the people that have less spend guards on are just like, "Whatever.

I'll just buy it anyway." So the... I'm not saying that th- they're like always gonna do that. I think there will come a time and a limit on each one of these products where people will just refuse, but maybe they haven't found that limit yet. And the other part of this is that they're not-- A lot of the companies aren't doing this from a greed perspective, 'cause so before y- you know, they were increasing prices not because hardware costs were going up but literally because they could see more profit margin on each price increase, right?

Like that was the standard thing. That was inflation plus e- greed, right? Like that's just part of capitalism. Um, right now you can't really put that on them. There's probably a little bit of greed in there and there, there might be greed from, uh, coming back down, ri-

Matt: a margin. There's always a way to make profit. There's also always profiteering. But

Mikhail: [00:13:00] Yeah.

Matt: that, that's, that's a constant in the market, so we... It's not r- it's a moot point for

Mikhail: Yeah, it's a moot point. Exactly. But so there, there might be something, uh, uh, something like, you know, when prices go-- when hardware prices go back down, there might, there might be a lag on, like, lowering prices.

Matt: Or they

Mikhail: But regardless, but or they just won't. But what, what's happening now isn't directly related to greed.

It's directly related to the fact that these har- this hardware is costing significantly more money, and the deals that they had in place for the bulk shipments of chips, like, you know, a year ago or two years ago are running out. So now they're pla- placing new deals at ridiculously higher mar- uh, ridiculously higher prices, and they almost have no choice from a, you know, consumerism perspective or a, a, a capitalist perspective.

If they wanna make money, they have to raise their prices, e- even if they wanna make the same amount of money, right? So that's the issue, uh, that a lot of these companies are, uh, are, are running into, and I'm-- uh, not to say that I'm sympathizing with them or anything like that, it's just the reality. Like they're, they, [00:14:00] they are there to make money for their shareholders or their investors or their employees, whatever.

Matt: Yeah. B- And,

Mikhail: And

Matt: that's why I, I wasn't necessarily dunking on Steam.

Mikhail: Yeah

Matt: I didn't want... That's why I wanted to bring in a few other pl- people, a few other, uh, examples from other segments, tech segments. Like, obviously smart glasses are not gaming. because I don't wanna just dunk on them, but as everything increases, I mean, there's only so much money in your pocket. If your wages don't go up to match it or to surpass it, I mean, that's it. Like, you're going to h- you're going to have people that are just like, "Okay, that's it."

Mikhail: Can do it

Matt: people that never go on vacation, they never travel.

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: done. For many people, they're like, "I'm not even gonna try. Not even gonna talk about it. I'll just see clips on TikTok of London or wherever."

Mikhail: Mm-hmm

Matt: it. That's it for them. I know many people that are, you know, barely making mortgage payments, 'cause in Canada housing is crazy, and I know, I know a ton of people that are like that. I know a ton of people that have got themselves into loans for cars that are absolutely outrageous, and they're spending, you [00:15:00] know, thousands and thousands of dollars a year on, on just making sure that the car can stay in their possession, let alone actually run the thing with gas and oil and maintenance and, and repairs.

I mean, this is a, this is an issue across everything, not just tech. Obviously, we're focusing on tech in this episode, but I, I just think that this is... We're starting to hit a, a, a critical mass point. But if the statistic that you mentioned, you know, holds true, maybe they don't care. Maybe they don't see, you know, the ratio and, and, and it's not a problem.

And, and again, they're not raising it this time because they're trying to push that, that bar, but maybe they're not reacting in the way that I think they would react by lowering prices or making some sort of different device segment or, you know, the varying, the various things that companies do to react to markets. Like the $5 footlong famous thing from Subway was a reaction to the 2008 financial crisis, for example. Um, they don't, we don't see these, these reactions because it hasn't really maybe affected them yet.

Mikhail: I, I do think that that there, there's [00:16:00] some truth to that case because they would definitely react even if they couldn't react by lowering prices too much, they might react in different ways like you're saying. So like there is something there in terms of like people still spending a ton of money. So there is a lag to all of this, um, economic downturn.

Like I can't... The problem is, is that there is no economic downturn from as like a stocks perspective as well. So it's really difficult to really like point, pinpoint what's going on.

Matt: Well, I've

Mikhail: Like stock-

Matt: the, the, the... And, and I'm not an economist, I wanna be absolutely clear. But what I've heard from some people, and it's only some people, that the individual GDP is going down in Canada,

Mikhail: Yeah. I could see that

Matt: our population rose like crazy, but then now the individual GDP is going down.

So the GDP of the country is going up, or at least it was when I looked this up like a year ago. It was going up, and then now, 'cause our population [00:17:00] booms, so now every person, you know, is increasing the GDP 'cause they have a certain GDP value or whatever. Again, not an economist. And then you have the individual GDP that'll go down, where people are starting to sacrifice things.

Like, they're not going out to eat, they're not going out to do this, they're not doing this, they're not doing that. And, and I mean, I see it with my friends. Like, I'll mention stuff like, uh, I'll buy like a $200, like, PSP or something, I don't know, 'cause I'm a PSP fanatic right now. I'm kind of in- into the retros- retro gaming thing. And it's 200 bucks. But some people will be like, "My God, you spent $200 on that?" And it's like $200, like it, it's not exactly something I'm gonna spend every day, but it shouldn't be something that is like an absolute taken aback, shocking thing, when $100 Canadian is worth like nothing. And that's the other side of this too, and I, and I, I get criticism from some friends when I say this, but I act really nonchalant when a lot of this stuff happens i- in, in general. And some people are like totally taken aback and they're always scared of it, and I'm just like better way to [00:18:00] handle it, I think, I don't do this perfectly, so it could be s- as partially hypocritical, is that the better way to handle this is not to just complain about the prices of old. It's, it's learn how to m- how to navigate the current situation you're in.

Like, many people will just complain, complain, complain, and then do literally absolutely positively nothing to help themselves financially. They won't try to save money. They

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: won't try to do whatever. And I'm not an investment expert or anything like by any means. I've done a ton of research. I've talked to professionals in the, in the money space, right? I have a bank that manages some of my finances and portfolios and things. I'm not doing anything super extravagant, right? And I understand I'm in a privileged position and everything like that. But the thing is, is that I, I just think that people complain too much and they don't try to react And you need to react. But now it... we're hitting, I think, a critical mass point, where it's like even if you react, can you [00:19:00] react? Like, now people are so short of money. Because before I would see people go like, "Matt, like go, you know, go buy a new brand-new SUV." It's like I don't want a $700 a month payment on this SUV.

That's why I don't want the SUV. Could I afford it? Sure. The bank would give me the loan. Yes, but I'm not going to do that 'cause I don't wanna spend $700. That's how I would react to like being... I'm trying to insulate myself, right? And I'm not, again, I'm not some big expert. But, but now it's like if, if somebody, if somebody just needs a car, they're gonna have to pay several hundred a month for it.

Like, that's

Mikhail: Mm-hmm

Matt: reality of it, and then now if there's nothing left at the end of the month, then there's nothing left at the end of the month. So now what do you do?

Mikhail: It's a, it's a rough time out there. I, I get it. Um, I totally get that, and I s- I sympathize with it because, like, I think we're all, like, a few paychecks away from being in, in a bad financial state. No matter what savings you have, like, you know, you don't wanna dip into your savings, so, like, it's not great.

Matt: don't have savings

Mikhail: Many d- I mean, some people are [00:20:00] literally one paycheck away from, like, not being able to pay rent. I, I, and I say some people, I, I mean, like, a lot of people. Like, I, I don't have a statistic in front of me, but, like, I, I've, I've seen some crazy numbers here. Uh, and if things keep going the way they are with more layoffs and less job opportunities, it's might get worse, and then stuff like this might start to get impact.

Like, companies like Apple and Valve might start to feel the impact. If n- if they're not feeling it right now, we don't, we don't, we don't have any indication of that, but, like... I don't know. It's, it's... We're in-- I, I, I hate to say this because this is said by a lot of people, but w- we're in unprecedented times right now in terms of world politics, in terms of the economy, in terms of, you know, where everything is in the world with AI, like everything.

It's, it's unprecedented times, and that's said way too often, and I get that, and pr- people are probably rolling their eyes at me. But if you're not trying to react to [00:21:00] it in a sense of, like, trying to stabilize yourself and making sure that you can survive, like, you know, if you're able to save some money right now, that's m- the only advice I can give you as not a financial advisor.

Like, save money

Matt: what I was actually gonna say to you is, is this, and it ties into what the thing is,

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: like I still stand by what some people get p- a little pissed off about is I think you need to take a look at the situation that you're in and the situation that the market's in, and you need to navigate it.

Whether

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: think it's right or wrong, if you wanna protest it, I mean, within the, the co- the confines of the law, you know, go and protest it. That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying that we're in the right, the right place

Mikhail: Yeah

Matt: being stupid. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, though, is I think burying your head in the sand is actually a massive pro- like a massive, massively bad idea. It's a very, very bad idea. Because like you're saying, you need to save money, you need to do this and that. Like, I would s- seriously be like, "Guys, if one thing goes wrong, we are in trouble. If I'm sick one time this [00:22:00] week and I can't do one shift, we're gonna sink." It's time to make a plan, and everyone's gonna have a different plan. Some of it's gonna be cutting back devices, some of it's gonna be cutting back eating out, whatever. But I just think that it, it i- it, not Burying your head in the sand is not the way, and I think a lot of people do it. They think, "Oh, if I just complain, I feel better, and then things'll, things'll go back down." I think that ever since COVID, this has been proven not to be the case. We've had major inflation here. Now we have all these problems here as well. we have wars going on in the world and all kinds of things. Like, I think that you need to try to insulate yourself, and, you know, if you have to talk to a financial professional or you need to talk to somebody, do it.

Like, you know what I mean? Like, don't, don't be like, "Well, hopefully, uh, hopefully everything works all right." Like, it might not, do wanna have some money and some power behind you. Like, money is power, really. You wanna have some power to be able to maneuver

Mikhail: So I will throw a caveat in here [00:23:00] because I know of some situations where even if you're aware, even if you're not burying your head in the sand, you're in a spot where you can't get another job. You're, you're already working as much as you can, and you're already stretched to the extreme because of the, of a life situation that beheld you, like a, a health problem or a spouse issue, whatever.

Like, there could be pl- and I, I think this applies to a lot of people. This is why I wanted to say it in this episode. Like We're, we are speaking from a privileged position,

Matt: 100%,

Mikhail: right? Yeah. And, and there's a big chunk of the population that regardless of how they try to get out, they might not be able to, which sucks.

And that's where the, the guardrails are tr- you know, the welfare guardrails and the, and the unemployment guardrails need to be in place for those people specifically, for the people that are grinding as much as they possibly can just to stay above water and are literally one paycheck away [00:24:00] from not being able to get to, to the thing, and they have no room for, like, even a $20 savings budget.

You know what I mean? Like, every penny of their, uh, uh, of their, like, income is going to paying debts and all that crap. So I still-- There is that caveat, so if you're listening to this and you're on that side, I, I... You know, the only thing I can do is sympathize with you. I don't have any advice there. Like, that's, that's a difficult situation.

Like, really difficult situation. It's the people that are, are burying their head in the sand and do have the capabilities of saving money, that's where this convers- That's where, that's who we're talking to. That's the direct line of, uh, uh, of trying to wake someone up and being like, "Hey, the more buffer you have right now in these current conditions, the better it is."

So,

Matt: yeah

Mikhail: period. Like, it gives you the ability to survive, you know, troubled times. The other thing, and like, uh, this is something from, like, a commen-commencement speech I wa- just watched. The other thing it gives you is the opportunity to, like, [00:25:00] the Outdoor Boys. That, that was a great commencement speech 'cause it wasn't, had nothing to do with law.

But, like, uh, his point was, like, if you have a buffer, it allows you the opportunity to do something risky, and the people that can do the risky stuff are usually the people that can do, like, c- can get a bigger return on investment and get, like, a, you know, a, a chance at separating out from society and being in, in, you know, control of their own destiny, right?

Like, the business owners and the people that maybe you're working in, like, a more risky position that offers you more money, but you have less chance of stability and stuff like that. Like, th- those risks will compound to e- to elevate your life most likely, and the only way you can do those risks is to be in a privileged position of, like, you know, family wealth, I guess.

That's, that's a privileged position. Or establishing your own buffer zone of being like, "Hey, I can not work for a year, and I can still [00:26:00] survive, uh, you know, pay rent and, and survive." So just a, a tidbit from the Outdoor Boys that I, I do th- I do think resonated with me quite a bit, um, because it's something that I've always tried.

Yeah, it's a really good, uh, it's a really good commencement speech because, yeah, he, he's just, he's a good, he seems like a good dude, and he knows how to talk.

Matt: Well, and I, and I would like to add one small caveat. Like, obviously we're talking directly to the people who could be saving. Like, I know

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: of people that are just like, "I'm gonna buy a car that's only $750 a month." Well, the bank said you could do that, but you're also, you also realize that the ba- like you're, you're a customer of the bank, so they're gonna try to min-max your... Anyway, you know, whole other situation. The thing is, is I think that if you're in the, in the position in which you can't move and you can't maneuver and things like that, that totally happens. But I do think that you should not bury your head in the sand. I actually kinda think it's more critical than ever for

Mikhail: Mm-hmm.

Matt: Watch, because there might be an opportunity that comes up. There might be something that you can do and you won't know un- unless you keep an eye out. Like, you really need to [00:27:00] watch and see. What if a, what if the government, government, uh, like local government here does a grant of some sort, you know, and you could save $500 on something? Or what... You would... Like, you have no idea, and so, like, I would say, like, you need to, instead of just saying, "Oh, I hope things go down in price," I mean, are they going to? You know what I mean? Like, I'm not trying to sound like that. That makes me sound arrogant, but I'm not the one setting the prices. I think you just need to, like, really watch and really, like, And, and, and you do you. You do you. You do your own, your do- your own method of, of navigating the situation, of dealing with it. Like, I don't have a family, so, like, I have a totally different situation. But that's just my thought. That's just my, my thing, is that I, I... As prices go up, I don't know how these companies are gonna react. I don't know how these people are gonna react. Um, it's, uh... Time will tell.

Mikhail: Time will tell

Matt: tell. You know.

Mikhail: But I think that's it

Matt: Uh, yeah, that's it. That's the web [00:28:00] news. I pulled up four links during this episode, and we discussed one as well.

Mike, if you could give me that other link as well to the quote of the financial document you were reading, uh, there, I will include the link to, links to all those. That's, I think, six links or so. Uh, I'll include the links to that in the show notes on htmlallthethings.com if you are interested in checking those out and reading up on some of this stuff, like the MacBook Neo, the Steam Deck prices, et cetera, cetera. But that's it. That's the web news. Thanks for hanging out. Please, uh, give us a comment if you, uh, if you liked it or hated it or whatever. I'd like to know if, you know, how you're navigating the, this situation, how you're paying for stuff, uh, tech or otherwise, things like that. Don't, don't put in personal information in your comments. " This is my social insurance number, and this is how I..." No, don't do that. Do not do that. Uh, but yeah, just, uh, let us know how you're navigating this new sort of inflated tech and other cost world. And that's it. See you guys later.

Mikhail: Goodbye