Could we be headed to Mars soon? Although SpaceX founder (and self-determined expert on the solar system, apparently) Elon Musk believes a manned mission could be sent to the Red Planet by 2029, ambitions to land humans on Mars could still be some ways away from materializing, Bloomberg writes. At issue: The small detail of how we’re going to breathe. Scientists have not yet been able to effectively convert resources on Mars into oxygen. Aside from the obvious “allowing humans to survive” aspect, oxygen is also key to propel the rocket once the mission is complete to allow for a return to Earth.

Any promising attempts so far? MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, also known as Moxie, has had some promising successes. Last year, Moxie was able to produce almost the equivalent of a tree’s production. Not enough to sustain human life, but an important step forward nonetheless. Researchers are also exploring the extraction of gas from the layer of permafrost covering much of the Red Planet, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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Wait, didn’t this used to be complimentary? Things that used to be on the house like grocery bags and aisle seats on flights are now being classified as add-ons and extras that come with an additional price tag, the Wall Street Journal writes. Need a copy of your own bank statement from last month? Be prepared to cough up some extra dough. Staying at a hotel used to mean you could sit anywhere you liked at the pool. Those days are gone, with several hotels now charging guests for sunbeds in prime locations and if you want your own private cabana be prepared to pay a premium. And the rise of subscription payments has people making monthly or annual payments for music and movies rather than paying once for music albums or DVDs.

You can blame Google for all the additional costs: Search engines have made it infinitely easier to compare prices. Companies have had to adapt to the increased price visibility by lowering the base price/rate that they advertise and are making up the difference through added fees and extra costs, the WSJ says.

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Netflix ads could be coming as soon as this November, and they won’t be cheap for advertisers: Netflix wants to charge brands above-market rates to advertise on its soon-to-be-launched ad-supported service, ad buyers recently told the Wall Street Journal. This indicates that the streaming giant expects a lot of business from companies that have been trying to reach its audience for years. Netflix reportedly told the ad buyers that the ad-supported service will be live on 1 November — earlier than the 2023 launch that was previously announced. This comes after Netflix announced it has hired two of Snap Inc's top execs to spearhead its advertising sales team.

Netflix reportedly wants to charge advertising around USD 65 for each 1k users (using a metric called CPM, or cost per thousand) — a significant premium above the majority of other streaming services, the ad buyers said.

But what happened to no-commercial promises? Netflix is being forced to offer an ad-supported subscription after suffering two consecutive quarters of subscriber losses and losing almost two-thirds of its market value this year. The streaming behemoth has always been opposed to running advertisements, but the change of heart comes amid a crowded landscape of competitors and the reality of growth challenges..