As you finish up your holiday shopping this year, you might be feeling the desire to buy American-made products. Any number of things claim to be made in the USA, but that label itself is not an absolute guarantee that what you’re buying was indeed produced stateside. [More]
Government Policy
GE’s CareCredit To Refund $34.1 Million To Misled Consumers
By 12.11.13
CareCredit is a medical financing service operated by the folks at GE Capital. For almost all of its 4 million customers, CareCredit is a deferred interest loan, meaning cardholders who don’t pay off their balances in full by the end of the initial promotional period are hit with all of the interest that had been accruing during those months. That would be fine (and is quite common in retail credit cards), if the company hadn’t misled consumers into thinking CareCredit was an entirely interest-free product. [More]
Sock Monkey Who Apparently Hadn’t Read TSA Regulations Will Not Get To Keep His Toy Gun
By 12.10.13
America, we can all sleep more soundly in our beds now that a Transportation Safety Administration agent has successfully disarmed a passenger with a weapon in his bag. His name is Rooster Monkburn and he’s a toy sock monkey that no longer has a tiny toy pistol. [More]
December Recall Roundup: Tablets Of Fire
By 12.9.13
In this month’s Recall Roundup, wheels break, fire bowls turn into fiery explosions, and chargers and refrigerators alike might overheat and catch fire. It’s a dangerous world: that’s why we bring you these recall listings.
Walmart To Pay Out $25 Million Over Exploding Gas Cans
By 12.9.13
Even though Walmart does not manufacture plastic gasoline cans, it does sell more of the cans than any other retailer in the country and it has been named as a defendant in dozens of lawsuits regarding exploding cans. And so the retail giant has reportedly agreed to fork over $25 million to cover its portion of a $161 million settlement that would close the book on a number of unresolved claims. [More]
NSA Also Spied On World Of Warcraft, Second Life, Xbox Live Users
By 12.9.13
Because terrorists may be secretly chatting with each other while also trying to level-up their paladins and warlocks, the National Security Agency thought it was a good idea to eavesdrop on online games like World of Warcraft and Second Life, and on gamers who used Xbox Live. [More]
AT&T Tells Shareholders: We Don’t Have To Disclose What We Do With Customers’ Data
By 12.6.13
Is AT&T cooperating with government intelligence offices like the National Security Agency and sharing its customers’ information with those groups? Sure, it’s fully willing to admit that. But that doesn’t mean it should have to disclose to shareholders exactly what it’s doing with that data, or so it said in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. [More]
New 23andMe Customers Will Only Have Access To Hereditary Information
By 12.6.13
Two weeks after being told by the FDA that it needed to stop marketing its at-home genetic testing kits, and several days after it stopped marketing the disease-diagnosing aspects of the product, Google-backed 23andMe is finally letting customers who had paid for the $99 kit know what is going on. [More]
Odds Of Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Are Pretty Slim
By 12.6.13
Given a shared history of treating subscribers like ATMs and of taking the “do the least” approach to customer service, it almost made sense last month when the merger rumor mill went into overdrive with reports that Comcast was looking to acquire Time Warner Cable. But the odds of this marriage being blessed by regulators seem pretty slim. [More]
Los Angeles Might Treat Sale Of E-Cigarettes Like Regular Smokes
By 12.5.13
It’s not just has-been actors like Stephen Dorff and Jenny McCarthy who smoke electronic cigarettes. They have become increasingly popular not just with smokers trying to quit but with people who want the fun of smoking without the whole “ashtray lung” after effect. Additionally, e-cigs don’t come with most of the pesky sales limitations of their tobacco counterparts, making them easier to buy and sell for some folks. But if the Los Angeles City Council gets its way, electronic cigarettes will soon be treated exactly the same as the unplugged versions. [More]
Maker Of Wildly Popular Flashlight App Failed To Tell Users It Was Sharing Their Location Info
By 12.5.13
Most of us have had the bright idea to use our smartphones as flashlights when searching underneath the couch or in the backseat of a dark car. And many millions of people have downloaded flashlight apps that maximize the light coming out of their devices. Most of those people probably never even considered that a flashlight app would be doing anything other than turning on the phone’s lights, and certainly not transmitting location data to third parties. [More]
23andMe Stops Marketing Of Genetic Test Kits, But What About Everyone Who Already Has One?
By 12.4.13
Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Food and Drug Administration ordered that Google-backed 23andMe stop marketing its at-home genetic testing kits because the company had failed to get regulatory clearance for many of the product’s advertised uses. On Monday, the company announced it was abiding by that decision but hopes to work something out with the FDA, but has yet to tell any of its current customers what is going on with their kits. [More]
House Tells TSA To Fork Over $531,395.22 In Passengers’ Unclaimed Change
By 12.4.13
Unlike when you flip over the couch cushions and dig into the seats of your car looking for change, it’s not a finders keepers situation with the leftover nickels and dimes the Transportation Security Administration found in 2012. Those loose coins left behind by passengers totaled $531,395.22 in fiscal year 2012 and the House just voted on what to do with it. [More]
How To Not Suck… At Disputing Credit Report Errors
By 12.3.13
Like it or hate it, your credit report and credit score have lots of power. These may determine whether or not you’re approved for a mortgage, car loan, or other borrowing, and will determine the interest rates on your credit cards. This information is often even used when you’re evaluated for an apartment, insurance or a job, or try to get a bank account. That’s why it’s incredibly important to check your credit report for errors, as mistakes on your report can haunt every part of your financial life for years. [More]
CFPB Adds Oversight Of Largest Student Loan Servicing Companies
By 12.3.13
While many banks offer student loans, much of the servicing of that $1 trillion in loans is actually done by non-bank, third-party companies, some of which have been criticized for being difficult to deal with and having byzantine repayment rules. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which already oversees student loan servicing by large banks, issued a new rule giving the agency the authority to supervise certain non-bank servicers in an effort to further ensure borrowers are being treated fairly and to rein in abusive loan servicing practices. [More]
This Guy Made A Homemade Shotgun — All With Stuff He Bought At Airport Stores After Security
By 11.26.13
Of course, the Transportation Security Administration is not going to let anyone through security with a homemade weapon that could hurt someone. Heck, you can’t even bring a big snow globe or your Mamaw’s cranberry sauce. But that doesn’t mean you can’t whip up a homemade shotgun using only products purchased after security. Say what? [More]
Can I Bring That Homemade Pumpkin Pie On Board? Know How To Pack Before You Fly
By 11.26.13
While you’re probably eyeing the weather reports of storms, snow and sleet with trepidation, there are other things to consider before you head to the airport during the holiday season. For example: Your aunt makes the best darn pumpkin pies this side of the Mississippi and she wants to send one back with you because she’s the best aunt ever. Should you pack it in your checked luggage or can you bring it as a carry-on? [More]
Recall: Baby Monitors Should Monitor Babies, Not Strangle Them
By 11.25.13
The entire purpose of a baby monitor is to keep an ear or an eye on your baby while it sleeps in a different room. The Angelcare monitor adds an extra component to that: a pad that monitors movement and rests under the mattress. Sounded like a great idea…until two babies got hold of the cord and were strangled to death. [More]
