Let’s start with the most iconic of them all: Apple’s Siri. She was the OG virtual assistant, way before we had an entire squad of voices living in our devices. The voice behind Siri? None other than Susan Bennett, an Atlanta-based voice actress. Fun fact: Susan didn’t even know she was Siri until a friend pointed it out. Imagine that! Recorded back in 2005, her voice became the digital sidekick millions of people came to love—or, let’s be honest, yell at. Sorry, Susan.

Now, you’d think being the voice of Siri would’ve made Susan rich enough to buy her own private island, right? Wrong. Turns out, when Susan recorded those lines, it was for a third-party company, and she had no idea her voice would end up in Apple’s hands. So, Apple essentially bought the rights to her voice for pennies, while they made millions. Talk about getting the short end of the stick!

But not every story here is negative, folks. Next up, is Alexa. These days you can’t throw a virtual rock without hitting an Alexa-powered device. But ever wonder who’s behind that friendly, omniscient voice? Her name is Nina Rolle, a Boulder, Colorado-based voiceover artist, though Amazon has remained pretty coy about confirming it (classic Alexa, always keeping secrets). […]

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With inflation soaring, we’re all trying to pinch pennies on our weekly essentials. But these days, stepping into a supermarket feels more like walking into a marketing minefield, where every aisle is primed with products that you suddenly “can’t live without.”

Think you’re too savvy to fall for it? Think again. Here’s how your seemingly innocent grocery store is sneaking extra dollars out of your pocket.

1. The Essentials Scavenger Hunt

Ever have one of those days where you just need to pop in for bread and milk? Well, you better lace up your sneakers because what should be a quick stop turns into a full-on trek across the entire store. Grocery stores strategically place essentials at opposite ends, forcing you to stroll past all those tempting (and usually unnecessary) items. You may have come in for the basics, but after navigating overpriced endcaps and irresistible snacks, your cart’s looking a lot fuller—and so is your receipt.

And the worst part? When you walk in for that “one thing,” only to get so distracted by all the tempting goodies that you completely forget the very thing you came for in the first place… […]

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