If you’ve ever sat gazing out a window using just your own boring nature-given eyeballs and thought, “Oh, if only I were more like Geordi LaForge, and also I have lots of money to spare,” then Google Glass wants you. The company is taking the next step toward making its wearable computing devices a reality and is offering up the chance for tech-lovers to be among the first to try it. [More]
Shockingly, Customers Who Buy Google Products Expect Some Customer Service
By February 4, 2013
We’ve posted before about how Google’s idea of offering product support is to maintain some customer forums and peek in every once in a while. That’s understandable for free tools like Gmail and standard Google Voice, but customers who have paid Google for services expect more. For example, many of the customers who have paid to port their phone numbers to Google Voice so far this month have received an e-mail confirming that their port went through…then discover that people who call them are getting a message that the number has been disconnected. [More]
Time Warner Boosts My Speed, Cuts My Bill: I Just Happen To Live Near Google Fiber
By January 30, 2013
Rob is a Time Warner Cable customer, and he’s received two really interesting things from them lately. First, a 50% speed boost: they claim to have upgraded the speed of his home Internet connection. That’s neat. Oh, and they’ve also cut his bill, from $45 to $30. Wow! What has prompted this amazing treatment? Years of loyalty and on-time payments? No, not exactly…Rob lives in Kansas City, pilot site for Google Fiber, the gigabit broadband project that’s threatening to make current broadband providers almost care about competing. [More]
No, That’s Not A Cyborg — It’s Sergey Brin Riding The NYC Subway Rails Wearing Google Glass
By January 21, 2013
While Star Trek: Next Generation actor LeVar Burton is no doubt waiting to take the Google Glass specs for a spin, it seems like for now Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin has taken it upon himself to test them out. He was snapped wearing the eyewear in the wild while cruising on the 3 train in New York City. [More]
Google Says Street View Car Didn’t Hit That Donkey Lying In The Road, It’s Just Sleeping
By January 16, 2013
So there’s this donkey, on a road in Botswana, right? And like, it seemed as if he was just going along on his little donkey way when along comes Google’s Street View car and what’s this? Suddenly he’s lying on the ground. That is the sequence of events some are citing while accusing Google’s car of hitting — and gulp, maybe killing — the poor fella. But Google says its own set of pictures shows that’s not the case at all. [More]
Google Provides Free WiFi To Area Of Manhattan That Doesn’t Exactly Need It
By January 8, 2013
Because it’s hard to pay $60/month for Internet access when you’re already shelling out $3,000/month for your one-bedroom apartment, the charitable folks at Google have decided to bring free WiFi to Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. [More]
Google Settles With FTC, Agrees To Change Anticompetitive Business Practices
By January 3, 2013
For more than a year, the Federal Trade Commission has been looking into various business practices of Google — covering everything from online advertising to search results to wireless patents — that allegedly stifled competition and innovation. Today, the agency and the Internet giant announced an agreement that has Google changing some of the ways it operates. [More]
Report: Google & Yahoo May Be BFFs With Hollywood, But Both Place Ads On Piracy Sites
By January 2, 2013
Google and Yahoo might crow about supporting the entertainment industry, but a new report says that hasn’t stopped the two Internet giants from placing ads on sites with pirated movies, TV shows and music. The report looked at analysis of which sites have the most copyright infringement notices against them and found that Google and Yahoo are in the top 10 ad networks that support major piracy sites. Ruh roh. [More]
More Online Ads Should Require Users To Confirm They Meant To Click
By December 19, 2012
Last week, Google introduced a new feature on its mobile ad network that seeks to cut down on accidental ad clicks by requiring the user to verify they want to visit the site linked in the ad. We think this is a great idea that the entire Internet could use. [More]
Gift-Givers, Beware Of Google’s Short Return Window For Nexus Devices
By December 13, 2012
Are you buying a product from Google’s Nexus line as a gift this holiday season, or for an upcoming special event? It’s too late for reader Joan, but she wants everyone to know that you should probably make your purchase from somewhere with a looser return policy than the Google Play store if your gift-giving occasion is more than two weeks or so away. That’s because you can’t return items more than 15 days after purchase unless they’re defective. [More]
Newly Updated Google Maps App Finally Makes Its Return To iPhones
By December 13, 2012
Apple’s pride is still likely stinging just a bit from the Great Map Debacle Of 2012, but nevertheless, a new version of Google Maps is now available as an app for iPhone users on iOS 6. Google announced yesterday that the revised map had finally been approved by Apple and will now be listed in the company’s app store. [More]
Gmail Briefly Goes Down, Everyone Proceeds To Freak Out On Social Media As Per Usual
By December 10, 2012
It seems that noon is the magical time chosen by the Gmail elves to abruptly shut things down and throw everyone who uses it into a social media tizzy. We at Consumerist were right there with other Gmail users back during the Great Gmail Shutdown Of April 2012 when the site also crashed around noon ET, and today was like a giant flashback. Everyone make it back in once piece? [More]
Sears Loses A Nexus 7 Sale, Misses The Point
By December 7, 2012
Bill has been a loyal Sears customer for most of his life. They happen to sell the Nexus 7 tablet, which he wanted to get for his wife for Christmas (hope she doesn’t read Consumerist) for a competitive price, and he could get Shop Your Way rewards points. Score! He ordered up the tablet online, then headed over to the store to pick it up. Then things started to go terribly wrong. [More]
Nexus 4 Owners: Really Unlucky Or Just Really Clumsy
By November 29, 2012
Earlier this week, we asked owners of Google’s new Nexus 4 smartphone whether they’ve found it exceptionally slippery. It was part warning, part user poll. Reader Blaine thought that his phone got all smashed up after falling off an ironing board in a way that sort of defies the laws of physics because of its curved back and super shiny surface. Sad Nexus owners wrote in, but so did tech fans who wanted to defend the honor of Google and manufacturer LG. The consensus? Don’t put your phone on a non-flat surface, and accessory makers really need to hurry up with those bumper cases. [More]
Nexus 4 And 10 Purchasers Just Want To Know Where Their Devices Are
By November 19, 2012
Google announced a fresh assortment of Nexus mobile devices last week, so regular readers know what that means: a fresh assortment of reader complaints about the experience of ordering from Google. As we’ve noted pretty much every time the company releases a consumer-facing product, the company makes great products that consumers want, but still aren’t all that great at dealing with those customers. Tuesday’s release of the Nexus 4 (phone) and Nexus 10 (big tablet) worldwide were no different. Many customers whose orders got through before the Nexus 4 sold out (or did it?) aren’t sure when their phones are coming…if they’re coming at all. [More]
Sorry, You Can’t Buy Nexus Devices With Your $350 Google Play Store Credit
By November 19, 2012
Michael’s plan seemed like a really great idea at the time he hatched it. He wanted to make sure that he would have the money for a Nexus 4 set aside, so he purchased $350 worth of credit for the Google Play store. The phone’s available for sale there, so this made perfect sense. Until the phone actually launched. When he could finally get through to place his order, he learned that Play Store credit specifically couldn’t be used on Nexus devices. Oh, no. [More]
Man Sues Google For Defamation & Wins Because He’s Not Part Of Australia’s Criminal Underworld
By November 13, 2012
While I might get a bit huffy at Google search results that bring up that other person with my name, since she’s not part of a criminal underworld I’m totally not going to sue Google. But one man whose name pulled up all sorts of unfortunate results linking his name to some seriously shady stuff in Australia had enough with being tied to such negative results, so he sued Google for defamation. And he actually won. [More]
