Things To Do In SW Florida

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper subscription option are paying off.

The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period, according to numbers released Wednesday along with its latest quarterly financial results. The gains easily surpassed the roughly 2.2 million additional subscribers that analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had anticipated. Netflix ended June with 238.4 million worldwide subscribers.

Investors seemed unsatisfied, perhaps rattled by management commentary in a shareholder letter warning that “quite a competitive battle” continues to unfold against the backdrop of ongoing strikes by both the writers and actors union in the U.S. that threaten to clog the pipelines feeding entertainment to streaming services. Netflix’s stock price fell 8% in Wednesday’s extended trading. The drop could also reflect some investors locking in profits that have accrued while the shares have climbed by more than 50% so far this year. read more

A Central Florida airport with the word “Orlando” in its title was rated the best in the state, but it wasn’t Orlando International Airport.

Instead, Melbourne Orlando International scored 73.97 out of 100 based across 14 factors such as scheduled outbound direct flight destinations, average minutes delay per flight, average minutes delay due to weather and average minutes delay due to security, according to data compiled by FloridaRentals.com, a website geared toward finding vacation rentals.

The ratings said that only 2.03% of MLB airport’s operations are canceled, 0.11% are diverted, and 13.75% are delayed.

“Melbourne Orlando International is one of the easiest, speediest airports, according to recent travelers,” according to a spokesperson for the site. “MLB recently announced a $72 million terminal renovation and expansion project with nearly 86,000 square feet of new facilities to be added, including an expanded departure area with new gates, a new security checkpoint, and an extended international baggage claim area.” read more

Mia Gindis | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Companies with flexible in-office policies are hiring faster than those that have fully returned to pre-pandemic attendance rules. But landing a flexible job still comes with challenges.

New research from Scoop Technologies Inc., which advises organizations on how to coordinate hybrid staffing, compared headcount growth at roughly 3,600 fully-flexible, hybrid and entirely in-office companies. It found that flexible outfits — those with hybrid, fully-remote or electively-remote staffs — added headcount at more than two times the rate of fully in-office counterparts during the March-through-May period.

“Companies grow faster when they offer flexibility because people are more excited to join,” said Rob Sadow, co-founder and chief executive officer of Scoop. Prospective employees rank flexibility second only to compensation when it comes to workplace satisfaction, meaning that consistent headcount growth might be explained in part by talent flocking to flexible firms, he added. read more

A federal judge won’t limit his previous ruling that temporarily blocked a Florida law he has determined violated the constitutional rights of drag performers.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell on Wednesday denied a motion asking that his injunction blocking the law apply only to the plaintiff in the case, the Hamburger Mary’s restaurant in downtown Orlando.

“This injunction protects Plaintiff’s interests, but because the statute is facially unconstitutional, the injunction necessarily must extend to protect all Floridians,” Presnell wrote in his order.

At issue is a new Florida law that contains penalties for any venue allowing children into a sexually explicit “adult live performance.” The law includes potential first-degree misdemeanor charges for violators.

Hamburger Mary’s filed a lawsuit in May against Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state, and Melanie Griffin, secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation. DeSantis, who signed the measure into law, and the state have since been dropped as defendants, with Griffin remaining. read more

By John Rossheim | NerdWallet

You can think of enrolling in Medicare as an enormous dinner out with very filling starters. But before you order, you must choose one of two menus: Do you prefer Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage?

Original Medicare starts with two courses of alphabet soup: Medicare Parts A, B and D followed by your choice of Medigap supplemental insurance plan types: Plans A, B, D, G, K, L, M and N.

Go for the other menu, Medicare Advantage, and you’ll get a blue-plate special bundling together the coverage of Parts A, B and D. But from there, the options can still overwhelm. Those from Ohio, for example, can choose among 216 Medicare Advantage plans offered by 20 insurers.

Given all this complexity, many first-time enrollees feel uncomfortably full — at least their heads do — before they even address the big question: How can they ensure 5-star health care for the rest of their lives?

The key is to avoid a handful of fundamentally bad choices that can only be reversed at a high cost, if at all. read more