Consumerist
false advertising
Posts Tagged “
Technology
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Because shopping is never convenient enough, Amazon has introduced a new text message based service where you can shop and purchase directly from your mobile phone via SMS. Ars Technica gives it a trial run and says it works pretty well. [Ars Technica]
false advertising
technology
Citigroup Developing Citi-Branded Phone That Can Make Contactless Payments
Do you wish you had a way to spend your money more easily, without all that opening-the-wallet or punching-the-pin-number manual labor? The trade publication Cards & Payments (registration required) says that it's received a copy of a report filed with the FCC that indicates Citigroup is developing a Near Field Communication, or NFC, mobile phone that would allow its customers to make contactless payments at participating retailers. More »
Here's a free idea for the taking: why doesn't a bank (cough HSBC cough) offer the option to have text message alerts sent to a registered phone number any time a withdrawal is made from a specific account via ATM? "$120 was withdrawn at 2:51pm EST in Palo Verde, CA. Reference #293005" See how easy that was? Such exception-based reporting would drastically cut down on fraud (we're guessing) by enlisting the help of customers to report unauthorized transactions immediately.
undercover
When "FireDogs" And "Geeks" Don't Know What's Wrong, You Pay
Channel 10 out of Columbus, Ohio recently conducted a sting operation in which they equipped themselves with an easily repaired laptop and took it to Geek Squad, FireDog and Micro Center to see who could figure out what was wrong. More »
polls
Would You Scan Checks At Home For Deposit?
Banks have hesitated to adopt technology that would let us scan paper checks at home for deposit. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act allows banks to exchange electronic images instead of paper checks, but USAA, a credit union associated with the military, is currently the only bank to offer customers a check scanning option. Sure, it's easy enough to stand on line for a teller or wait for an ATM, but we fear sunshine and people and prefer to stay indoors, thank you. Assuming it was free, is this something you would use if it was offered by your bank? Vote in our poll, after the jump. More »
tourism
NYC's New High-Tech Public Bathroom Is Freaky, Robotic
For years, New York City was a grim place to be when you had to use the bathroom, since there are almost no public facilities (not counting Starbucks). But earlier this month the first of 20 high-tech pay toilets opened in the city, in Madison Square Park just north of 23rd Street. Now the next time you visit the city and need to answer nature's call, grab a quarter and head over there to experience the strange combination of a $100,000 prison cell/car wash/elevator/Louvre. It's the cheapest "experience" you'll probably find in the city. More »
fast food
Pizza Hut Announces Nationwide Mobile Ordering
Pizza Hut may not be the world's best pizza, but now that they've rolled out nationwide mobile ordering—via their website on any web-enabled phone, or text message on the rest—they're certainly one of the easiest pizza joints to order from. More »
groceries
Microsoft Testing Ads On Shopping Carts
If you buy groceries at ShopRite, you might start seeing special shopping carts with little monitors attached later this year, when Microsoft and MediaCart roll out a new loyalty program that tracks shoppers' purchases and displays targeted advertising while they shop. Ostensibly, the monitors will also provide useful information, such as the location of products within the store, access to recipes, and personalized shopping lists. We'll be curious to see whether any of these services are actually implemented in a useful way or are just used to disguise the advertising. More »
consumer electronics
Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won't Correctly Play Future Discs
After the past week, it seems more and more likely that Blu-ray will be the movie disc format of the future. But with the exception of the Playstation 3, current Blu-ray disc players were built without future-compatibility capabilities, so come this October owners won't be able to take advantage of features like Internet connectivity or enhanced interactivity (whatever that means—details are sketchy). "One key Blu-ray developer told BetaNews that although he builds discs for studios including Fox and Lionsgate, he did not buy a Blu-ray player for personal use." Regarding current Blu-ray player owners, Blu-ray developers told BetaNews, "They knew what they were getting into."More »
technology
Apple Files Patent App To Allow Wireless Ordering At Stores
Apple has applied to patent a wireless ordering system that would allow shoppers to place orders from, for example, their iPhones as they approached, oh, let's say a Starbucks, bypassing an ordering line altogether and going straight to the pick-up counter. The system would also allow stores to keep data on repeat customers to speed up future transactions. More »
housing
Build An "Upgradeable" Home
Wired has a short article subtitled, "How our technolust helped bring down the housing market." The article is more sensible than the headline, however—it really focuses on new developments in the housing market, and how expensive it is to retrofit even newly built homes with new (or future) technology: "'[Remodeling] can be done, but you really need to want it,' says Kermit Baker, a Harvard economist who studies the remodeling market." What's needed, the author argues, is an approach to new home construction that treats homes as dynamic spaces that can be more easily reconfigured to meet the requirements of new owners. Not that anyone is building a home right now, but it's an interesting thing to keep in mind when you're ready to leave your shantytown and re-settle in the suburbs. More »
online advertising
New Microsoft Patent App Provides "Enforceable" Ads That Can't Be Skipped
Last year Microsoft filed a patent application, published yesterday, that explains a method by which embedded advertising can't be skipped. From the application abstract: "Enforcing rendering advertisements and other predetermined media content in connection with playback of downloaded selected media content. Playback of selected media content is made conditional on acquisition of a playback token that is generated in response to playback of the predetermined content." More »
copyright
Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail
Remember Sony's cringe-inducing copy protection scheme a couple of years ago, where they secretly installed rootkits on millions of customers' PCs and then pretended it was no big deal? ("Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" — Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's President of Global Digital Business.) There's a new article (PDF) about to be published in the Berkely Technology Law Journal called "The Magnificence of the Disaster: Reconstructiong the Sony BMG Rootkit Incident." It's a very detailed and entertaining read that examines the conditions that led Sony BMG "toward a strategy that in retrospect appears obviously and fundamentally misguided." More »
christmas creepy
Stores Offer To Send Your Friends And Family An Invasive Holiday Wish List
Wouldn't it be great if you could email your holiday wish list to friends and family without seeming like a self-indulgent clod? Well, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that several stores now feature self-promoting wish lists that magically email themselves or generate sales calls to potential gift givers. More »
technology
130 Diverted American Airlines Flights Tracked On A Legal Pad
When a storm forced American Airlines to divert 130 planes from Dallas-Fort Worth last year, the airline tracked the diverted planes not with an advanced computer system, but with a legal pad.Lacking any automated system for keeping track of all those diverted planes, Mr. Dillman and his colleagues furiously scribbled down details of where they had gone, how long they had sat there, and whether pilots had enough time left on their daily work limits to keep flying when the weather cleared.More »
blogs
Vote For Gizmodo For Best Technology Blog
Our brother blog Gizmodo is in the running for Best Technology Blog in the 2007 Weblog Awards, neck and neck with Engadget. Do you really want an AOL-owned blog to win? Gizmodo breaks all sorts of cool technology news hot and fast and is always a fun read. We know you like clicking buttons so go over here and click the one next to Gizmodo. Apparently if you don't they won't let these kittens out of their cups. Voting ends today.
Best Technology Blog 2007 [Weblog Awards]
lawsuits
