Finance

The Hidden Dangers of Financing Everyday Errands

Americans are growing increasingly anxious about the economy. With questions circulating—Is a recession on the horizon? Will President Trump’s tariffs trigger price hikes?—one particularly unsettling development has emerged: the option to pay for sandwiches in installments.

Last week, financial services start-up Klarna revealed it was teaming up with delivery service DoorDash to allow customers to split their orders into four payments. Deferred-payment services, which were once mostly used for major purchases like furniture or high-end fitness equipment, have expanded into everyday transactions in recent years. This shift has been driven by growing companies like Klarna, which is also preparing for an IPO. On a social media landscape rife with #recessionindicators, memes flooded in, mocking the idea of financing a simple burrito. (Klarna clarified in a blog post that the service applies to purchases of at least $35, and a spokesperson explained that the partnership is intended more for larger purchases, like home goods and electronics, rather than food delivery. DoorDash has similarly emphasized this point.)

TECH

The Tech Support Call That Saved Data and Destroyed a Marriage

The workweek can be tough, so The Register brightens Fridays with On Call, where we share your tech support stories.

This week, meet "Terry," who worked tech support for students and teachers in the late 2000s. Although his role wasn’t in IT, he gained users’ trust by fixing their personal devices and navigating frequent management changes.

Most of Terry's bosses were decent, but one, "Tyrant," stood out. He had big plans to "revolutionize technology in education" but mainly gave Terry impossible tasks with no budget or time. Tyrant’s poor quarterly reviews were damaging to Terry’s career, and Terry grew to loathe him.

One Sunday, Tyrant called Terry urgently to fix a PC, claiming it was critical for an important document. Terry felt it was a thinly veiled threat but decided to go. When he arrived, Tyrant was panicked, working on his wife’s laptop while his iMac was being repaired. After hours of work, Terry finished and tried to leave, but Tyrant insisted he stay until every file was copied.

When Tyrant’s wife came home, she was upset to see Terry, and the situation escalated into an argument about him using her laptop without permission.

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CRYPTO

As Crypto Turns Trumpian, Bitcoin’s Rival Is Losing Ground

Vitalik Buterin was once seen as the prodigy of the cryptocurrency world.

The quirky and youthful founder of Ethereum, famous for his rainbow-colored, animal-themed shirts, created the largest competitor to Bitcoin and presented a techno-utopian vision aimed at transforming the financial system and our daily digital experiences.