Even as the holidays wind down, so-called “hoverboards” continue to be a hot ticket at retailers and shopping malls around the country. One such busy mall happened to be in Texas where a self-balancing scooter caught fire, marking it just one of dozens of fires reported to federal safety officials in recent months. [More]
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Hoverboard Catches Fire At Texas Mall, Federal Safety Officials Record 22 Explosions In 17 States
By 12.29.15
Yet Another “Hoverboard” Catches Fire While Charging, Singes Carpet In New Jersey Home
By 12.28.15
As expected, so-called “hoverboards” – that don’t actually hover at all – were a hot commodity under the Christmas tree. But for one New Jersey family, the holiday gift quickly turned from exciting new device to dangerous fire-starter after it burst into flames while charging. [More]
Amazon Launches Mobile App Referral Program Offering Users $5 (In Coupons)
By 12.17.15
Amazon thinks the future of shopping is in your hands, literally. The company recently launched a referral program that offers users of its mobile shopping app a few bucks to pass on the handheld shopping bug to friends. [More]
39% Of All U.S. Money Spent At Online Stores Goes To Amazon
By 12.17.15
If you’ve placed an online order for a gift or for a self-gift this holiday season, it most likely came from Amazon. How likely is it? According to statistics released this week, 39.3% of all money spent by Americans shopping online is spent at Amazon, which is more than the next 20 biggest sellers in e-commerce combined. [More]
CPSC Intensifies Investigation Into Exploding “Hoverboards,” USPS Restricts Shipments
By 12.17.15
One of the holiday’s hottest gifts has gotten a bit too hot, literally. Following claims that so-called “hoverboard” scooters have caught fire while charging, retailers have pulled the popular devices to ensure they’re safe. In the meantime, the country’s top product safety regulator says his agency is working “non-stop” to find the root cause for the fire hazards linked to the self-balancing scooters. [More]
30 Online Retailers Agree To Stop Selling Toy Guns That Look Like The Real Thing To New York Residents
By 12.15.15
After an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a long list of online retailers that sold authentic-looking toy guns through Amazon.com have now agreed to stop peddling the toys to state residents. [More]
Target Temporarily Pulls Swagway “Hoverboards” Over Safety Concerns
By 12.15.15
Just days after Amazon handed a blow to “hoverboard” manufacturers, pulling the self-balancing scooters (that don’t actually hover) from its marketplace over safety concerns, another major retailer is following suit: Target took down listings for the scooters on Monday. [More]
Some “Hoverboards” Vanish From Amazon Amid Safety Concerns
By 12.14.15
Between injuries, explosions, lawsuits, and being banned by several airlines, one of the year’s hottest gadgets might not be much longer. Continuing the chain of bad news, Amazon reportedly pulled several “Hoverboard” scooters from its marketplace over the weekend because of safety concerns. [More]
Amazon Adds 4,000 Items To “Prime Now” Delivery, Because You Never Know When You’ll Need A New TV In One Hour
By 12.10.15
When it launched, Amazon’s Prime Now service aimed to quickly provide customers with household necessities like toothpaste and paper towels. But now, just in time for the holidays, the company is apparently redefining what necessity means by adding some 4,000 items to the delivery roster including big-screen TVs, popular toys and baking supplies. [More]
Yes, Amazon Will Adjust Prices They’ve Raised If You Ask Nicely
By 12.10.15
Amazon is always adjusting their prices, and sometimes those adjustments aren’t in your favor. When you throw an item in your cart and the price suddenly rises by five or ten bucks, that’s enough to make you look for it elsewhere, or maybe not buy the item at all if it wasn’t something that you needed. Yet there is a way to get Amazon to bring the price back down: ask nicely. [More]
Amazon Adding Starz, Showtime, A Bunch Of Other Tiny Streaming Services As Add-Ons To Prime Video
By 12.8.15
Amazon Buys Its Own Fleet Of Branded Semi-Trucks (But Don’t Expect Them At Your Door)
By 12.4.15
You may soon see semi-trucks cruising around the highways and byways of America branded with the Amazon logo, not because the company is going to start delivering its own stuff, but because it wants to become more efficient at how its inventory gets from one company facility to another. [More]
Amazon Sends Me Someone Else’s Order. Why Don’t They Care If I Send It Back?
By 12.2.15 — Updated: 5.25.17
In the midst of all the shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Wet and Wild Wednesday, Thanksgiving 2.0 For People Who Were Out Of Town Or In The Hospital Last Week Thursday, and Black Friday All Over Again Because Why Not?, there are oodles of Amazon packages landing on shoppers’ doorsteps. In some rare cases, those packages might end up on the wrong doorstep, so why does Amazon not seem terribly concerned about getting those items back? [More]
Amazon Prime May Soon Be Portal For Other Streaming Video Services
By 11.30.15
After a few years of deconstructing video entertainment into dozens of individual streaming sites, we’re beginning to see a trend toward re-bundling of those services. Hulu sells access to Showtime, Sling TV offers streaming HBO, and now a new report claims that Amazon Prime will soon be offering one-stop shopping for other streaming video companies. [More]
Amazon Shows Off Latest Prime Air Delivery Drone Prototype In New Video
By 11.30.15
Two years after Amazon debuted its delivery drone to the masses, the e-commerce giant is back with a new demo video showing the company’s latest prototype for its Prime Air unmanned aerial vehicle. [More]
Mysterious Cargo Operation In Ohio Might Belong To Amazon
By 11.24.15
In 2008, DHL abandoned its domestic shipping operations in the United States, putting thousands of employees out of work and leaving behind a very nice air cargo facility at a decommissioned air base in Ohio. A company started using the base recently, shipping unspecified “consumer goods,” but no one will identify who it is. One likely suspect is Amazon. [More]
Report: Amazon Resets Some Users’ Passwords Over Concerns They May Have Been Compromised
By 11.24.15
If you found Amazon has force-reset your account password, you aren’t alone: according to a new report, many customers have reported that the e-commerce giant emailed them saying their password had been changed, citing security concerns that the information may be exposed to outsiders. [More]
Amazon Enables Two-Step Authentication To Give Users More Account Protection
By 11.18.15
Amazon joined a growing number of tech, social media and retail companies aiming to ensure your personal information is as secure as possible today, by enabling two-factor authentication for user accounts. [More]
