The Federal Communications Commission (or as we insiders like to call it, the FCC) has released its annual report on the state of broadband deployment in these here United States and while there is improvement in getting to the point where all Americans at least have the ability to access broadband Internet, you can see there is still quite a bit of pink on that map. [More]
Government Policy
See All The Pink On This Map? Those Are The 19 Million Americans Without Broadband Access
By 8.21.12
JetBlue Fined For Not Telling Passengers They Can Exit A Plane Stuck Indefinitely At The Gate
By 8.21.12
Know your rights, airplane passengers! If you’re stuck at the gate waiting to take off, you do not have to just sit there and take it, according to the Department of Transportation’s rules. JetBlue is on the line for $90,000 after failing to inform passengers that they were allowed to get off a plane stuck at the gate for hours at John F. Kennedy Airport in March. [More]
Memo To U.S. Airways Employees: The Coast Guard Is Part Of The Military
By 8.17.12
The United States Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense. This distinction probably wasn’t what a U.S. Airways employee had in mind when refusing to waive Jennifer’s baggage fees, though. Jennifer was returning to her station from a trip to visit family, but the employee insisted that she had to pay a baggage fee like civilians do, because the Coast Guard isn’t part of the military. A manager agreed, but they were both wrong. Jennifer didn’t need to pay to check her bags, and members of the Coast Guard have served in just about every war in American history. They certainly are part of the military. [More]
California Asks Residents To Rat Out Neighbors With Out-Of-State Car Registrations
By 8.16.12
When you move to California from another state, the law only provides you a few weeks to register your car in California. But between the dread of dealing with bureaucrats and the state’s high registration fees, some drivers are perfectly content with just keeping those out-of-state tags on their vehicles. But authorities in California are asking residents — and have made it very easy — to rat on their neighbors for no updating their registrations. [More]
DOJ Tweaks Verizon Deal To Buy Spectrum From Cable Companies So Consumers Still Have A Few Choices
By 8.16.12
As we wrote earlier this month, Verizon Wireless’ proposed purchase of billions of dollars worth of wireless spectrum from Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other cable companies that aren’t using it anyway, could result in fewer cable and Internet provider options for American consumers. Well, it looks like the Dept. of Justice was listening to at least some of the concerned voices, as it has given its approval to the deal — but not without some significant changes. [More]
Recall: Babies Fall Out Of Bumbo Seats At Ground Level, Too
By 8.15.12
Babies: they comprise the future of our species, and they’re awfully cute, but they’re top-heavy. And early in their lives, their muscle control is pretty poor. The Bumbo baby seat is an adorable piece of molded plastic designed to let your baby sit up and look around before it has developed sufficient muscle control to sit up on its own for extended periods. They’re immensely popular, but frequently misused, and not wriggle-proof. So the Consumer Products Safety Commission has announced yet another voluntary recall on the seats. [More]
Canon Recalls 68,000 Rebel Cameras Because You Shouldn't Have An Allergic Reaction To Digital Photography
By 8.15.12
While some people might think they are allergic to the overly Photoshopped images in their friends’ Flickr and Instagram feeds, that’s not quite the same as an actual camera that could cause an allergic reaction for the person taking those photographs. [More]
Did You Buy Disney Or Marvel Vitamins? There Might Be A Refund Waiting For You
By 8.14.12
I prefer to get my vitamins the old-fashioned way (i.e., in the shape of Flintstones characters), but for those of you who prefer your vitamins in the shape of Disney characters or Marvel superheros, the Federal Trade Commission wants you to know you might be due a refund. [More]
FDA Tells Hershey's It Has No Right To Claim Chocolate Syrup With Vitamins Is Nutritious
By 8.14.12
Listen — we all know that gooey, sweet chocolate syrup is very delicious. But nutritious? Now that is a bold claim, and one the Food and Drug Administration is warning Hershey’s not to make on its labels. It told the company in a warning letter that it can’t just go around calling things fortified and such just to make its syrup seem healthy. [More]
Southwest Airlines Pilot's Tiff With TSA Agent Escalates Until Cops Make Everyone Chill Out
By 8.13.12
No, you aren’t the only one who gets annoyed with the Transportation Security Administration (in fact, 81% of those who responded to our recent poll aren’t fans) — even pilots get fed up from time to time, including one of Southwest Airlines’ very own who was so peeved at a “condescending” agent at New Hampshire’s Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, cops had to be called to cool the whole situation down. [More]
Will Affordable Care Act Lead To More Or Less People With Employer-Sponsored Insurance? (Hint: No One Knows)
By 8.13.12
With the clock ticking down to 2014, when many of the controversial portions of the Affordable Care Act start kicking in, the folks at the Government Accountability Office thought they would look into whether or not certain provisions in the law would cause some employers to stop offering health insurance to employees, or cause them to add benefits, or lead consumers to look for cheaper options elsewhere. After sifting through available studies, the GAO came to a conclusion that we’ll probably just have to wait and see. [More]
We Complain A Lot But Survey Says Most Americans Think The TSA Is Doing A Good Job
By 8.10.12
Maybe we just hear all the worst things about the Transportation Security Administration, rendering us dubious, but for most Americans the agency seems to be doing a pretty good job running airport security. That’s according to a new survey that found 54% of the country feel the TSA’s work is either good or excellent, and about 30% grading it as just fair. [More]
CFPB Devises New Simple Forms For Mortgages That Won't Boggle Your Eyeballs
By 8.10.12
If mortgage disclosure forms actually told homeowners exactly what they were getting into, in the simplest of terms, perhaps everyone could catch a break — from the lenders to the often confused consumers who have to deal with the current system and its four complicated documents from two separate government agencies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on the march once again, and this time its director Richard Cordray is proposing one simple mortgage disclosure form. [More]
Why Hollywood Video Zombie Debts Just Won't Go Away
By 8.9.12
Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video went bankrupt with only one real asset: enough outstanding overdue notices to make a librarian weep. Americans owed the chains something like $125,000,000, which is not a typo. These debts were sold, and the new owners zombified them and really, really want to get their paws on that money. A year and a half after we first reported that customers and even employees were receiving invoices from collection agencies for zombie debts, they’re still at it. [More]
My Insurance Rebate Disappears Into Black Hole. Anthem Tells Me To Complain To Someone Who Cares
By 8.9.12
You may be one of the millions of Americans who, as part of the Affordable Care Act, should be receiving a rebate from your health insurance provider, usually distributed to your employer. But what if you’re also one of the millions of Americans whose employer is no longer in business? [More]
Google On The Hook For A Record $22.5 Million In Safari Privacy Case
By 8.9.12
Better start digging around in those couch cushions, Google. The company has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it fudged privacy settings of Apple’s Safari Internet browser when it told users it wouldn’t place cookies or serve targeted ads. It’s going to cost Google a pretty penny to pay the civil penalty — a record $22.5 million. [More]
Over 1 Million GE Dishwashers Recalled As Flames Shouldn't Be Part Of The Rinse Cycle
By 8.9.12
If it’s too hot, sure, you need to get out of the kitchen. But it shouldn’t be literally too hot because your dishwasher is on fire. To that end, GE is recalling around 1.3 million of its dishwashers due to a possibility for the heating elements to fail and cause fires. [More]
Use The Clock And Google Voice To Actually Reach The IRS
By 8.8.12
Sure, it’s not peak IRS season right now, but there is quite a variety of reasons that you might have to deal with the ever-present government agency anyway. Tax Cat is out of the office, vacationing at his offshore kitty condo in the Cayman Islands, so it’s up to reader Christopher, a tax preparer, to serve us up with handy tax advice. See, sometimes you have to call the IRS. You can’t avoid it. But so does everyone else in the country. What Christopher figured out is that the IRS call center doesn’t have fixed hours like most. Its open hours depend on what time zone you live in. His solution? Use a Google Voice number to fudge what time zone he’s in, and call late in the evening when the business day is done for most of the continental U.S. [More]
