it's subsidy, personally feel like that shouldn't be your model for sustaining that is barely amazon's fault here, they did their part but there doesnt seem to be market around it
they are usually couple of dollars more (for $20 range rides) but I think their demand supply is so skewed that it surges almost all the time it feels like
They are very legit and well researched articles, probably the most accurate in terms of tech news(semaphore is pretty good as well). However, for niche audience news, subscription is probably the only sustainable way to build a business