The first floor of a friend’s house in Vermont was completely flooded by Hurricane Irene, forcing the family with two kids to evacuate to a nearby church. But braving the storm may look like blowing bubbles in the park after they start the insurance claims process. Here’s some tips they, and you, can use to make it easier. [More]
BLOGS
Morton's Delivers Man Steak At Airport After He Jokingly Asks For One In A Tweet
Before boarding his plane from Tampa to Newark, Peter Shankman jokingly asked Morton’s Steakhouse over Twitter if they could meet him with a porterhouse steak when he landed. Lo and behold, they did. [More]
Squirrels Do 17% Of The Damage To Fiber Optic Networks
Turns out the common squirrel has an uncommon propensity for nibbling through the nation’s fiber optic cables. Level 3 Communications, which operates much of the cables that provide the internet’s backbone in the US, say that 17% of the damage to its network comes from squirrels chewing on the lines. No one is quite sure why they like fiber optic cable so much. [More]
Man Uses 3D Printer To Make Repair Part For $25, Instead Of Paying $250
A man had a part break on his Bugaboo, a really nice and pricey stroller. The official repair center said it would cost $250 to replace the part. So the man said, forget that, and used a 3D printing service, which creates three-dimensional objects by laying down successive layers of material, to get it fabricated in stainless steel for $25 instead. Schweet! [More]
Walmart.com Has Slowest Shipping, Costco.com Has Fastest
Two days before school starts and you need those pencils and TI-89 calculators, stat? If online shopping is the route you’re going, Costco will get it to you faster than Walmart, says a new survey. [More]
Are You "Baller" Enough To Get Secret No-Contract Cell Service?
It’s buried on the websites but you could be saving on your cellphone service every month if you signed up for one of their no contract plans. Not only are you not locked into contract, the actual per-monthly bill is cheaper, for exactly the same plan. [More]
Mocking Hacker Stock Photo Art
It can be so hard to find just the right photo to illustrate a story about hacking. Luckily, stock photo agencies have stepped up to the challenge. [More]
Google+ Circle Forms Jobs Blog For Ex-Borders Workers
Borders shutting down means 11,000 nice bookworms are out of a job. That’s a pretty sad thought so a couple of friends started musing together on Google+ about how someone should help these folks out. So they started a new blog, “Help Ex-Borders Employees” where people can post job listings for these newly unemployed. [More]
Which Airlines Give Refunds After Price Drops, And How To Get Them
When the price drops on a non-refundable airline ticket after you bought it, you should get a refund on the difference, right? Actually, only a few airlines agree with that and they have varying policies… [More]
Senators Blast Airlines For Profiteering During Tax Holiday
Naughty, naughty. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Maria Cantwell are wagging the fingesr at airlines for raising airfares during the tax holiday that has resulted from the Federal Aviation Administration’s shutdown. The practice could have “long-term negative repercussions for the industry,” said the senators in a letter sent to the airlines on Tuesday. [More]
How To Get A Tax Refund From JetBlue
If you have a ticket with JetBlue for dates between July 25 and August 2nd, here’s how to get a refund on collected Federal taxes just by sending an email. [More]
China Shuts Down Two Fake Apple stores
Chinese officials moved to shut down two detailed fake Apple stores in Kumnmig after a blogger’s post exposing the counterfeits went viral. [More]
Thieves Decide They Want Zipcars' Wheels Right Now
Looks like some thieves took Zipcar’s slogan, “Wheels when you want them,” too literally. [More]
Frustrating Chat With A Comcast Rep Impersonating A Robot
Is it a man or a robot? A robot impersonating a man? A man impersonating a robot? Such are the questions that flitted through bobbymac’s head as he engaged in text-based dialogue with a Comcast customer service rep. [More]
Ad Agency Denies Summer's Eve Ads Show Stereotypes
The advertising agency behind the Summer’s Eve ads that feature talking vagina hand puppets of various ethnicities says he’s surprised that some people are offended by the clips. Here’s what agency founder Stan Richards, of The Richards Group, said: [More]
Audio: Fan Begs Comcast "Executive Customer Relations" For Fox Soccer HD
The clock is running out. English Premier League soccer kicks off on August 12th. Many satellite and cable providers have added the Fox Soccer Channel in HD, but Comcast still has not in the Bay Area. Soccer fans who want to see the beautiful game in HD are looking to switch providers if Comcast doesn’t add FSCHD pronto. This is an audio recording one of the fans made to Comcast “executive customer relations.” My favorite part is how at first the rep says one of the holdups is bandwidth issues and then after the fan proves that wrong and says “The bandwidth argument doesn’t hold up either,” the rep agrees and says, “I know, I know.” [More]
Summer's Eve Ads Use Talking Vertical Hands
Summer’s Eve is catching some flack for a series of ads that use hand puppets, titled vertically, to promote its line of feminine genital cleansing products. With three puppets, each portraying a different ethnicity with phrases like “”ay-yi-yi” (Latina) and “do you really want to be itchy down here? Mmmmhmm” (African-American), and “Just a little love for your vertical smile,” (Caucasian), for some viewers the clips are managing to hit that magical advertising sweetspot of being both sexist and racist. [More]