(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 4, 2022) The "Honey" price comparison plugin developed by PayPal. (Photo taken from Honey Twitter)
Inflation in the United States is intensifying, and Chinese people are anxious under the double attack of high prices and high taxes. If wages are difficult to expect in a special period, the thrifty family style of the older generation can indeed be carried forward at this moment; if they know how to use it wisely price comparison plug-ins, check cashback, Taobao transshipment and second-hand sales, saving thousands of dollars every month is not a problem at all.
★Price comparison plugin for cheaper shopping
The "Honey" price comparison plug-in developed by PayPal, an American online payment giant, can be automatically loaded in the user's browser after free download, so that when you open any shopping website page to browse products, a "Honey" will be generated in the upper right corner of the screen. The price analysis automatically displays the price range of the product on the entire network, that is, which stage the price of the current page the user is staying at.
The "Honey" price comparison plugin helps consumers save daily expenses. (Photo taken from Honey Facebook)
For example, if you query the SONY ZV-1 camera on the B&H electrical website, the website shows that the price is $748, and the interval map automatically generated by "Honey" on the right will inform that the current price you are looking at is the average level of the entire network, and the lowest price that can be found. The price is $529.95, and the highest is $887; then users can click the lowest price to enter the cheaper website identified by "Honey" to buy.
"Honey" download website: https://www.joinhoney.com/.
"Rakuten" is committed to working with merchants to provide consumers with cash back, price comparison plugins and shopping rewards. (Photo taken from Rakuten Facebook)
★Cheque cashback, many cooperative merchants
"Rakuten", a financial technology company founded in the Bay Area in 1997, is committed to working with merchants to provide consumers with cash back, price comparison plugins and shopping rewards. In the past 24 years, it has 12 million regular users in the United States, helping them in popular brand stores. Earned more than $1 billion in revenue.
The Rakuten website has thousands of cooperative brands, providing users with discounts at different prices. (Screenshot from Rakuten website).
In addition to having a price comparison plug-in like "Honey", "Rakuten’s trump card business is to cooperate with various merchants to fight for cash rebates for buyers. For example, users who plan to shop at Nike can log in to the "Rakuten" page to search for Nike, and they will find that the page shows that Nike offers 6% cash back. If successful, the generated rebate amount will be found in the "Rakuten" personal account. The user can enter the address in the personal account, and after three to five working days, he will receive the rebate amount check sent by "Rakuten".
In addition to online consumption, users who intend to purchase in-store can also activate the "In-Store" rebate code of the target purchase brand on the "Rakuten" website in advance, to show it to the salesperson when paying for the discount.
"Rakuten" download website: https://www.rakuten.com/.
Rakuten” is also partnering with premium hotels to offer cash back to travelers. (Photo taken from Rakuten Facebook)
★Taobao transshipment with price advantage
Many Chinese living in the United States have always had the experience of being scared off by Amazon's prices, while the products on Taobao in mainland China have a rare price advantage because they are directly connected to the production factory. However, because Taobao's international transshipment service does not currently provide direct services to other countries and regions except Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Australia, and New Zealand, many Chinese students and office workers in the United States, Start using a third-party forwarder to ship your treasures from China to the United States.
The specific operation process is that the user contacts the third-party forwarding company, and directly sets the delivery address of the order placed on Taobao as the Chinese warehouse of the forwarding company. Then, after the goods arrive at the warehouse, they are uniformly weighed and packaged, and shipped by international logistics company DHL., air freight to the United States, can be directly sent to consumers' homes or company stores.
At present, there are many logistics companies used by Chinese in New York, such as "New York Paopao" (website: http://m.nypaopao.com/), "AAE Global Express" (website: http://cn.aaeweb.com/), etc.
★Second-hand sale and trade of idle items
There are second-hand trading and exchange platforms in the Chinese-swarming "one acre of three-point land" and "North American Micro Forum". Every day, hundreds of users post their idle items on the Internet, ranging from textbooks to cars and other large and small items. Interested users can ask for purchase by private message.
Website of "One Acre Three Points Flea Market": https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum-225-1.html; "North American Micro Forum Second-hand Market" website: https://www.moonbbs.com/ forum-46-1.html.
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 4, 2022) Diagram of an email phishing scam (Photo from Getty Images)
Tax season is approaching, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reminds the public to be alert to possible unemployment-related fraud, protect personal identity and financial information throughout the year, and beware of scammers posing as IRS personnel or other means of defrauding money, which may involve text messages, e-mail, telephone, and other communication tools and social media.
IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said that scammers are already using lifelike emails and text messages related to tax returns to defraud. Keeping an eye out for these common scams can protect everyone from being a victim of identity theft and your own personal information so that it cannot be stolen and used for fraudulent tax returns and refunds.
Texting scams: Fraudsters send text messages to taxpayers' phones about the coronavirus and/or "stimulus grants." Messages often contain fake links purporting to be IRS websites or other online tools. Do not click on a link or open an attachment after receiving an unsolicited, unanticipated text message, whether the text purports to be from the IRS, a state tax agency, or anyone else in the tax field.
Unemployment-related fraud: Watch out for claims for unemployment benefits or other benefits that have never been filed, organized crime gangs use stolen identities to make fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits, cases are surging in states, criminals are using these stolen identities to defraud benefits.
Email phishing scams: The IRS does not contact taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. In most cases, the IRS will contact taxpayers by regular mail from the U.S. Postal Service. If a taxpayer receives an unsolicited fraudulent email that appears to be from the IRS or a project claiming to be closely related to the IRS, please attach it to 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。. Full details are available on the Report Phishing and Online Scams page on the IRS.gov website.
Phone scams: The IRS does not use pre-recorded voice messages to leave pressing or threatening messages. In many forms of phone scams, victims are told that an arrest warrant will be issued if they do not return the call. Other verbal threats include law enforcement intervention, deportation, or license revocation.
Criminals can forge or "spoof" a calling number to appear as a number anywhere in the United States, including an IRS office, preventing taxpayers from verifying the real phone number. Fraudsters also pose as local police departments, state motor vehicle departments, federal agencies, and other agencies to convince taxpayers that the call is legitimate.
The IRS (and its authorized private cashiers) will never: call to request immediate payment using a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card, or wire transfer. The IRS will not require taxpayers to use these methods to pay their taxes; threaten to immediately dispatch local police or other law enforcement agencies to arrest taxpayers who do not pay taxes; ask for tax on the phone; ask for a credit or debit card number on the phone.
(Source: World Journal)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 3, 2022) Yoshiaki Miyashita, a professor at Meiji University in Japan, has developed a lickable prototype TV screen that can mimic the taste of food. (Photo from YouTube)
The food show is mouthwatering, but unfortunately the deliciousness cannot be conveyed through the screen. However, recently, a professor at Meiji University in Japan has developed a lickable prototype TV screen called "Taste the TV" (TTTV), which can pass through the blending flavor pot and spray the food flavor on the screen. Sanitary film, lick the screen, you can easily taste the food on the screen.
Yoshiaki Miyashita, a professor at Meiji University in Japan, said that in the era of the raging new crown epidemic, lickable "tasting TV" can increase the way people connect and interact with the outside world. His goal is to allow people to stay at home. The taste of a restaurant at one end.
At first glance, the "Tasting TV" looks like an ordinary device equipped with a touch panel. In fact, there are jars with 10 flavors inside. Just say the name of the food to the TV, and you can adjust the taste of a specific food. High-pressure nozzles spray the specially formulated liquid on the sanitary film, and then deliver it to the flat-screen TV screen for the user to "taste".
Yoshiaki Miyashita, a professor at Meiji University in Japan, has developed a lickable prototype TV screen that can mimic the taste of food. (Photo from twitter/HomeiMiyashita)
In addition to the flavor of the food, this "tasting TV" can also reproduce the taste of various types of alcohol based on the alcohol concentration, so that sommeliers and chefs can teach remotely. In addition to reproducing the taste, users can also share the taste of food with friends remotely through it, which means that they can have dinner with relatives and friends remotely and taste the world's food without stepping out of the house.
Miyashita said he spent a year building the TTTV prototype, which cost about 100,000 yen ($865) to manufacture commercially. At present, the R&D team is also negotiating cooperation with some restaurant operators and hopes that it can be applied to the digital menu of the restaurant in the future, so that customers can taste the taste of each dish through the menu first.
https://youtu.be/I5Gu1WgqTTw (Source: Miyashita Laboratory, Meiji University YouTube)
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 3, 2022) In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Yao Ming once again served as the torchbearer. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
The launching ceremony of the torch relay of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was held in Beijing on the 2nd. Vice Premier Han Zheng lit the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics torch and handed it over to Luo Zhihuan, the first torchbearer and China's first world speed skating champion.
At about 9:16, Han Zheng announced: The torch relay of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics begins! Immediately, applause and cheers erupted one after another, and the Olympic Forest Park was boiling. With the song "Towards the Future Together", the torchbearer held the torch high, showed it to the audience and started to pass the torch.
A total of 135 torchbearers carried out a 10.6-kilometer torch relay in the Olympic Forest Park that day. Among them, Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, as the 19th torchbearer, lit the torch in the hands of the 20th torchbearer, the Greek Ambassador to China George Iliopoulos.
The 41-year-old Yao Ming served as the torchbearer for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to this Winter Olympics, Yao Ming has passed the torch for the third time.
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 2, 2022) California comptroller candidate Yvonne Yiu launched a video advertisement during the Spring Festival of the Tiger Year. (Photo from Yvonne Yiu campaign headquarters)
State Controller candidate Yvonne Yiu released a video campaign ad for the Chinese New Year, calling on voters, especially fellow Democrats, to give their full support.
https://youtu.be/y25pXsVdlTE (Video source: Yvonne Yiu)
Yvonne Yiu pointed out that since childhood, she saw her mother working hard to create a better future for herself and her sisters. She is very grateful for the opportunity she must be successful. Now, she's running for California's comptroller to ensure everyone has the same opportunity, a quality education, a well-paying job, and the ability to live and work in a safe and thriving community.
Yvonne Yiu said that if elected California Comptroller, she will use her 25 years of financial experience to help rebuild California's economy and ensure that everyone has a chance to achieve the American Dream. "I will always fight for you, and together we can secure California's future."
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
