The Big Mac-McChicken: A sandwich that looks like a Big Mac, but uses McChicken patties instead. McDonald’s customers have long been able to make the sandwich mashup on their own by ordering both sandwiches and stacking them together. But guests in Australia will no longer have to pay for two sandwiches when looking to cure their Chicken Big Mac craving. [More]
australia
Facebook Reportedly Let Advertisers Target Teens Who Feel “Worthless”
By 5.1.17
Advertising in general often works by making you, the consumer, feel deficient in some way. Your laundry isn’t clean enough; buy our detergent instead. Your body isn’t thin enough; try our gym instead. Your dog isn’t organic enough; buy this food instead. But getting super granular and hitting teenagers — kids — specifically when they’re down is something else. [More]
Apple Accused Of Bricking iPhones That Had Been Repaired By Third Parties
By 4.6.17
Having your cracked iPhone screen repaired by someone other than Apple is pretty common. But Australia’s consumer protection regulator says Apple used software updates that rendered the devices useless, and then refused to fix these phones because they had been repaired by third party repair services. [More]
Apple Investigating Report Of iPhone 7 Catching Fire
By 10.21.16
While we’ve heard numerous reports of Samsung smartphones and tablets overheating and catching fire — sometimes destroying property and injuring customers — now Apple is on the receiving end of at least one similar report. [More]
Domino’s Has To Pay Customer $910 For Pizza That Was Never Delivered
By 10.6.16
It’s bad enough when you’re forced to wait an entire hour for pizza delivery — but can you imagine waiting 18 months for your food to show up? The horror. [More]
FAA Considers Banning Samsung Galaxy Note 7; Another User Reports Explosion
By 9.7.16
Samsung still hasn’t officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7, its new smartphone that has a rare but very problematic issue with exploding batteries. While the company has admitted that the phones are defective and has an exchange program in place, it’s not an official recall through the Consumer Products Safety Commission. That’s a problem for the Federal Aviation Administration, since the phone would automatically be banned from planes if it had been recalled. It hasn’t, so it’s not. [More]
Australian Regulator Sues Volkswagen Over Diesel Cheating
By 9.1.16
After many months of bad press, recalls, and legal woes, Volkswagen earlier this year reached a settlement with U.S. regulators over its emissions-cheating dirty diesel “defeat devices.” But just because the case is mostly closed (at least on paper) here in the states doesn’t mean Volkswagen’s out of legal hot water yet. There are, after all, more than 190 other nations in the world, and some of them are ticked off too. [More]
Olympic Athletes Complain Of Blocked Toilets, Exposed Wiring In Rio Dorms
By 7.25.16
Two years ago, athletes and reporters arriving in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games were greeted with less-than-finished room accommodations that led at least one bobsled team to have a very rough weekend. Fast forward to 2016, as Olympic athletes descend on Rio and it seems like history may be repeating itself — leaky faucets, exposed wiring, and all. [More]
Could Using The “World’s Ugliest” Color Stop People From Smoking?
By 6.21.16
Opaque Couché, described as looking like “death,” “filth,” and “lung tar,” is widely considered the world’s ugliest color. With a reputation like that you wouldn’t expect the hue to be used much, but it is — as a way to deter consumers from purchasing cigarettes in some areas of the world. [More]
Park Ranger Drives 12 Hours To Remove Fake McDonald’s “Opening Soon” Sign From Middle Of Australian Desert
By 8.17.15
Like some kind of fast food mirage rising from the middle of an Australian desert, a McDonald’s sign sat towering over the emptiness, beckoning travelers with the promise implied in its golden arches. Upon closer inspection, the sign noted that a restaurant would be “opening soon.” But almost a month after pranksters installed the sign 124 miles from the edge of the desert, the South Australian government says it sent a park ranger on a 12-hour trip to take it down. [More]
Groupon Australia Sold Boxes Of Counterfeit Durex Condoms
By 4.23.15 — Updated: 12.9.16
Overall, Groupon’s transition from a company that sells discount vouchers to a company that sells discount merchandise has gone pretty well. Yet some news from Australia caught our attention when we learned that Groupon in that country sold counterfeit condoms on their website. Now the Australian government is alerting consumers who purchased those condoms that they should probably not use them. [More]
Netflix Bases International Pricing On Country’s Piracy Level
By 4.16.15
Netflix has rapidly expanded beyond the borders of the U.S. and now has 60 million subscribers worldwide. However the price of Netflix service varies from country to country, and the company says this is due in no small part to local piracy levels. [More]
Netflix Changes Tune About Seeking Data Cap Exemptions For Service
By 4.16.15
In recent years, Netflix has been a vocal proponent of net neutrality and an outspoken critic of ISP business models that would allow certain deep-pocketed companies to gain a competitive edge over smaller players in the streaming video market. Thus the company was heavily criticized in March when it made deals with Australian ISPs that would exempt Netflix from users’ monthly data caps. This morning, the company announced that it regrets this decision and will no longer seek exemptions going forward. [More]
Is Netflix Trying To Have Its Net Neutrality Cake And Eat It Too?
By 3.4.15
Last week’s vote by the FCC to approve new net neutrality rules was seen as a big win for streaming services like Netflix, as it prevents ISPs from throttling or blocking access to online content and from prioritizing any data. And indeed, Netflix has been one of the more vocal corporate cheerleaders for neutrality. But that apparently hasn’t stopped the company from making deals that calls into question Netflix’s actual stance on the issue. [More]
Banks Blame Each Other For Erroneous $10 Million Account Balance
By 2.17.15
When a woman in Australia checked her bank account balance earlier this week, she was surprised to see that she had $10 million available in her account. (That’s worth about $7.8 million US dollars, if you’re wondering.) She wondered whether it was an error or a prank, so she called her bank instead of running off on an international spending spree. The bank told her that it was no error: she was an unwitting millionaire. [More]
Philip Morris Does Horrible Job Of Defending Itself After John Oliver Mocking
By 2.17.15
On Sunday night, John Oliver called out the tobacco industry, and particularly Philip Morris, for the practice of threatening small and poor countries with complicated, expensive international trade lawsuits if they try to strictly regulate cigarette marketing. But while Big Tobacco has the coffers to pay for costly legal battles, it does a really poor job of trying to defend its actions. [More]
Meet The New Marlboro Spokesman: Jeff, The Diseased Lung In A Cowboy Hat
By 2.16.15
On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver took an in-depth look at how the tobacco industry uses expensive lawsuits and byzantine international trade agreements to keep countries from pushing for stronger regulation on cigarettes. But rather than just call Big Tobacco out for its bad behavior, Oliver also offered a helpful solution that might make all sides happy. [More]
Australian Hotel Lets Guests Live With Zoo Animals For The Night… Kind Of
By 2.11.15
Staying in a hotel can be a pretty mundane event: You go to the pool, you watch TV, maybe even order room service. A new hotel in Australia is turning those less-than-exciting trips on their heads by offering guests a chance to lodge with some wild animals. [More]
