What the Senate twice failed to do, the White House is now doing by fiat: President Trump today signed an executive order to undercut several key provisions of the Affordable Care Act and once again transform the nation’s health insurance markets. [More]
Equifax Website Reportedly Served Up Malware To Some Users
By 10.12.17
Update: Equifax has taken some pages temporarily offline following the report about malware. [More]
Can The President Actually Take Away A Network’s Broadcast License For “Fake News”?
By 10.11.17
Irked by an NBC News story he claims is false, President Trump stated this morning that it may be time to “challenge” the network’s broadcast license. But what does that even mean — and would the Trump administration have the authority to yank a TV station’s access to the airwaves over a news story? [More]
Why You Should Care About An Aluminum Supply Scandal In Japan
By 10.11.17
A modern supply chain is a complicated thing. That car you drive might be made in the U.S.A., but — as we learned from the Takata airbag recall — the parts inside it, from raw elements to fully-assembled electronic systems, come from a tangled web of companies all over the world. Which is why it’s a big deal affecting consumers all over the world when one company’s parts turn out not to be at all what they were supposed to be. [More]
Report: Russian Hackers Stole NSA Data By Using Kaspersky Software
By 10.6.17
For months, government agencies have been warning that popular antivirus software could be giving Russian intelligence agencies a back door into American computers and secrets. Now a new report says not only that it could happen, but that it already has, at least once. [More]
Wells Fargo Can’t Shake Shareholder Lawsuit Over Fake Accounts
By 10.5.17
Wells Fargo has spent the last year and change mired in scandal, after it came to light that, under pressure from the organization, employees had fraudulently opened as many as 3.5 million accounts in the names of people who never wanted or requested them. Since then, the bank has been doing its best to wriggle out of the numerous lawsuits, with mixed results. This week, a judge ruled that Wells can’t avoid accountability in one suit brought by shareholders. [More]
Mattel Scraps Always-On ‘Aristotle’ Monitor Amid Slew Of Privacy Concerns
By 10.5.17
Facing a new wave of privacy questions from lawmakers, consumer advocates, and concerned parents, Mattel has decided that it won’t go ahead with its delayed launch of Aristotle, the always-listening kid monitor designed to track and learn about your child from birth through adolescence. [More]
Netflix Price Increases On The Way For More Than 50 Million U.S. Viewers
By 10.5.17
Ah, fall: the days grow colder, the nights grow longer, and it’s the perfect season to hunker down, grab a blanket and a beverage, and binge-watch your way through the winter. Unfortunately for Netflix’s millions of fans, the price of spending quality time on the sofa with your favorite Netflix shows is going up this year. [More]
Monopoly Guy’s Presence Dramatically Improves Senate Hearing
By 10.4.17
If you were probably watching this morning’s Senate hearing on the Equifax hack, you may have seen something out of the corner of your eye and asked, “Did I just see Rich Uncle Pennybags from Monopoly sitting behind the Equifax CEO?” Yes, yes you did. [More]
Everyone Gives Facebook Their Data, But Nobody Trusts Facebook With It
By 10.4.17
Facebook is one of the biggest companies in the entire world. More than 26% of the entire population of Earth uses it, in one way or another, including roughly 230 million Americans… but it seems that the vast majority of us are aware that although we let Facebook have our data, we shouldn’t trust them with it. [More]
5 Things We’ve Learned About The Booming Essential Oils Business
By 10.3.17
If you’re on Facebook, there’s a good chance that — between friends trying to sell you LuLaRoe leggings and whatever it is that Rodan + Fields is — you’re also seeing regular posts about essential oils and their various purported uses, from making you or your home smell nice to somehow miraculously (but not actually) curing diseases. Regardless of the pitch, the underlying message is the same thing: Buy, buy, buy. And these smelly oils are now a big business.. [More]
You Can’t Get To Those Paywalled Articles From A Google Search Anymore
By 10.2.17
A lot of paywalled news sites are easily defeated with ye olde “incognito tab,” but others have required a little Google artistry — using both the incognito browsing and incredibly precise search queries to read a paywalled article for free. However, after years of pressure from publishers, Google is finally bricking up that doggie door.
[More]
Apple’s iPhone X Likely To Make Billions Of Dollars… For Samsung
By 10.2.17
Here’s a funny thing about your modern technology landscape: The competition isn’t quite what it seems. Although Korean tech giant Samsung and iTitan Apple both sling out new high-end, flagship smartphones every year to entice the gadget-loving consumer, under the hood it’s a bit of a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation for Samsung, which stands to win big if Apple does — because it supplies a number of the key parts that make your iPhone go. [More]
What Are The 10 Biggest Money-Making Prescription Drugs, And What Do They Treat?
By 9.26.17
It’s no secret that big pharma is big business. Americans spend hundreds of billions on prescription medications every year, with that figure projected to keep growing. And now a new report shows that the top-selling brand-name prescription drugs in the U.S. earn more than $60 billion a year for their manufacturers, with the biggest money-maker topping $13 billion per year in sales on its own. [More]
Senate Leadership Tries To Sweeten Obamacare Replacement Bill To Gain Support
By 9.25.17
The surprise hit show of the summer, “No, Seriously, What The Heck Is Going On With Congress And Healthcare, Though?” is back for the fall season. And in our latest episode, Republican leadership in the Senate is making last-minute changes to the latest Affordable Care Act replacement bill in a targeted effort to win over reluctant GOP lawmakers before their Sept. 30 deadline. [More]
Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill Would Gut Medicaid For Dozens Of States; Opposition Rising Inside Senate
By 9.22.17
The last-ditch proposal to effectively repeal the Affordable Care Act remains deeply unpopular, even while Senate Republicans try to rally the votes to make it happen. And in the midst of all that politicking, a new federal analysis shows that several of the states whose Senators’ votes leadership is trying to curry could be badly hurt by the bill. [More]
Everyone Hates Newest Obamacare Repeal Bill; Senate Plans Vote Next Week Anyway
By 9.21.17
After a politically chaotic summer where their first attempt met a dramatic late-night demise, Republican members of the Senate are mounting one last effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Basically every major stakeholder in the country has announced its opposition to the new bill, but the Senate is racing to squeeze in a vote before a hard deadline at the end of the month just the same. [More]
Don’t Be Fooled By Fake Equifax Data Breach Information Sites
By 9.20.17
The Equifax breach, as we now all know, is completely terrible: Roughly 143 million customers in the U.S. had their personal data compromised. Concerned consumers are, naturally, looking for information — but fake sites or scams are everywhere. [More]
