How tech giants use ‘programmed purchasing’ to manipulate you into buying stuff — without you realising it

How much of your online buying is genuinely done on your own initiative and is not the result of intelligent marketing techniques? And does it matter? — 123rf.com

Recently, I was looking for a portable pico projector when I found this website for something I’m going to call Projector X for anonymity.

At first I thought, you know, this looks nice. The website for Projector X was professionally designed, the specs looked good, and ooh! What’s this? I stumbled across the online shop when it was running a 50% off sale, and there are only 60 items out of 10,000 left in stock, and the promo event only lasts for five hours and 58 minutes. What a deal. I can’t pass up on this!