Consumerist
Big Pharma
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The Great Wireless Auction
Wireless Consumers Both Win and Lose With New FCC Rules
You win some, you lose some. Google's bid to created an open wireless network was only partially sucessful today as the FCC rejected some of the search giant's conditions, but adopted others. More » -
Whoops, Porn
Girl Whose Photo Was Stolen And Used For Porn DVD Sues
Remember Lara, whose self-portrait was stolen from deviantART and used as the cover of a porn DVD? Yeah, she's suing the shady pornographers. More » -
More Stuff To Buy
Emusic Makes Deal With AT&T
According to an AT&T press release, DRM-free online music giant eMusic has cut a deal with AT&T to offer music that can be downloaded to certain AT&T handsets, with a duplicate DRM-free track also delivered to the user's computer. More » -
Yadda Yadda
Northwest Promises To Fix Cancellation Problem
Northwest's CEO has promised to fix their awful cancellation problem, and has apologized to to the thousands of passengers his company has stranded and/or inconvenienced. Northwest blames pilot absenteeism as the reason for the canceled flights. More » -
How Does It Feel
Consumer Confidence At 6 Year High, Do You Feel Confident?
Feeling good? Consumer confidence took a huge jump this month, hitting a 6 year high! Woohoo! Let's buy tacos and jetskis and footballs! More » -
Whoops
Disney Exits Winemaking Buisness Before Actually Entering It
Plans to market a French Chardonnay under the brand name "Ratatouille," have been shelved due to a "trickle of inquiries and complaints," according to Disney spokesperson, Gary Foster. More » -
Telephony
10 Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone
We realize not everyone can throw away their cellphones, but we approve of this list because it reminds us of a time, long, long ago.... More » -
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Crappy Contest
Miller: You Won A Million Dollars. No, Just Kidding.
A man from south suburban Chicagoland was hanging out in an Orland Park bar when a promotional team from Miller started handing out what appeared to be prize tickets. More » -
Fast Food
"Ketchup And Fries" Flavored Burger King Potato Chips?
Some press releases we wish were actually jokes. This is one of them. Burger King has announced that it will be launching a line of snack foods that will include, among other things, potato chips flavored like "Ketchup and Fries." More » -
sticker shock
iPhone/AT&T $3,000 International Roaming Bill Serves As Cruel Warning
International data roaming charges are out-of-control expensive and can be difficult to dispute, should you accidentally rack them up. It's not uncommon to be slammed with a $3,000 bill from just looking up a few websites on the go in Europe. We've written about it before, actually. More » -
Department of Bad Advice
T-Mobile And The FCC Tell You To Reply To Txt Msg Spammers
Crissy received some txt message spam on her cellphone and was understandably annoyed because incoming txt messages are not included in her package with T-Mobile. More » -
Excellent Marketing
Today Sponge Relaunches With Website That Appears To Be Aimed At 6 Year-Old Girls
The Today Sponge, the contraceptive sponge made famous by the TV show Seinfeld, has relaunched in the US with a brand new website and brand new package design... More » -
auto parts
Buying a New Car? Check eBay Before Buying Optional Equipment From the Dealer
"They always get you on the floormats." Pricing out a car online before visiting a dealership, and seeing the range of options available, is a no-brainer. But before you drop the coin on options like floormats, mudflaps, trunk nets, or whatever other easy-installation options strike your fancy, check eBay. Auto dealerships' parts departments are actually selling the same items on eBay, at a discount to the marked-up rates they charge new-car buyers. More » -
Wait, wait, wait. Is tap water becoming sexy? [Gothamist]
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The NYT shows the results of 6 college student's applications for loans. Want to go to NYU with a G.P.A. of 3.75 and a FICO of 652? That'll be as high as 13.25%, please. [NYT]
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chinese poison train
Ginger From China Laced With Illegal, Poisonous Pesticides
As if you needed another reason to avoid Chinese foodstuffs, the state of California has put out a call to avoid ginger that's imported from China. The spicy zing may be coming from illegal pesticides. Of course, at American supermarkets, you don't always know where your produce is from, unless it has a sticker on it. Which the ginger we bought last week doesn't. More » -
News From The Swamp
Liveblogging the Senate Commerce Committee Oversight Hearing On Telemarketing Fraud
Join us at 2:30 we liveblog the Senate Commerce Committee's oversight hearing on telemarketing fraud. The Committee wants to fight telemarketers who target vulnerable senior citizens, so they're going to ask the FTC to take center stage and explain its implementation of the Do-Not-Call list and the Credit Reporting Organizations Act (CROA.)
The Committee will hear from two panels. The first will spotlight the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, while the second will feature an assortment of interested parties, including AARP, the Direct Marketing Association, Equifax, and the Assistant Attorney General of Iowa.
Keep hitting refresh for up-to-the-minute analysis and the Senator Steven's meme watch!
(AP Photo/Brian Bohannon)2:30: Looks like we'll be starting late. Again.
2:36: Here we go! Use this handy video feed to peer into room 253, the Senate Commerce Committee's preferred hearing room in the Russell Senate office building. More »
