If you own a smart TV, you probably purchased it thinking about all of the ways that you can use it to watch streaming services and your own library of video files. Samsung sees something different, though: they see a great big Internet-connected screen which they can use to splash ads on. It began three years ago with ads on the TV’s home screen, and now users are accusing the company of inserting advertisements where they don’t belong. [More]
australia
Thief’s Attempt To Blast ATM Open Literally Backfires
By 12.30.14
Recently here at Consumerist, we’ve reviewed some very unsuccessful ways to open up ATMs and get at the money inside. Smashing the machine with a forklift, for example, is not a useful method. Neither is pouring acid on it. Now we have a new addition to the list: you also cannot gain access to money inside a cash machine with an explosive. [More]
McDonald’s Keeps Its Name Off Its New Healthier-Food Eatery
By 12.30.14
The McDonald’s brand — with its distinctive color scheme, yellow arches, and the use of “Mc” before just about anything it offers — is one of the world’s most well-known. Even people who’ve never had a Big Mac or asked which part of the chicken a McNugget comes from are still aware of the company and its food. Given the power of that brand, you’d expect the company to slap the McDonald’s name on every new venture, but it’s curiously absent from a recently launched eatery from the company. [More]
Cafe Banned From Cooking Bacon Because Not Everyone Loves The Smell
By 10.20.14
Many people enjoy the smoky, porky sent of bacon wafting out a kitchen in the morning. But it might not be the scent you want surrounding you while shopping for wedding dresses, which is why one cafe in Australia isn’t allowed to cook the stuff anymore. [More]
Would You Pay 8 Bucks For A Burger At McDonald’s?
By 10.6.14
Consumers are losing interest in fast food, instead preferring the slightly classier fare served at establishments like Five Guys or Smashburger. In Australia, McDonald’s is experimenting with an interesting idea: fancier burgers with ingredients that customers choose themselves, using a magical touchscreen burger-ordering machine. People in Australia like it, but would it work back here in the burger chain’s home country? [More]
Burger King Australia Will Honor Winning McDonald’s Monopoly Pieces
By 9.24.14
While fast food fans in the U.S. prepare to begin the annual ritual of collecting McDonald’s Monopoly pieces in the hopes of getting free food and other prizes, the promotion is already running in Australia. But rather than watch the competition benefit from this board game-themed campaign, the operators of Burger King’s Down Under operations are fighting back. [More]
Pizza Hut Australia Is Not Handing Out Free Hamsters With Purchase
By 9.16.14
Pets aren’t prizes. That’s why goldfish games have been disappearing from carnival midways, and why people around the world were horrified when they saw that a Pizza Hut restaurant in Australia was offering a free small pet with the purchase of ten pizzas. The in-store placard featured a photo of a guinea pig, and it was not an appetizer. Pizza Hut says this was all a huge misunderstanding. [More]
Cruise Ship Earns Nickname “Pandemic Princess,” Cancels Next Trip For Mechanical Reasons
By 9.15.14
It’s not quite the second coming of the Poop Cruise, but 2,000 passengers who were set to board a Princess cruise near Perth, Australia are really sad since their trip has been canceled due to mysterious mechanical issues. This might not have attracted news attention if the last sailing of the same ship hadn’t experienced a norovirus outbreak, earning the nickname “Pandemic Princess.” [More]
Ever Wanted To Sleep At IKEA? Thanks To Airbnb Now You Can, But Only If You Live In Australia
By 8.21.14
Are you Australian and in need of a new pair of sheets? Well, you can get a free set if you’re included in one of three groups picked to spend the night at an IKEA store as part of a promotion between the furniture company and Airbnb. [More]
Restaurant Owner: Drinking Tap Water And Sharing Dessert Isn’t Exactly Helping To Pay The Staff
By 8.13.14
Sharing is caring, right? Wrong if you’re a diner at a certain Australian restaurant that is now asking patrons who are part of large parties order their own drinks, meals and desserts, because taking up space and not ordering doesn’t exactly help the restaurant’s bottom-line. [More]
Australian Cafe Docks Guest Workers’ Pay For Burned Waffles, Incorrect Sandwich Assembly
By 6.27.14
It’s nice to hear that a restaurant has high standards, but one cafe in Perth, Australia took things too far by docking workers’ pay for minor infractions. How minor? Fining them AU$100 (about $94) for being five minutes late, $30 for sticking the tomato slice on the wrong layer of a club sandwich, and $12 for overcooking a waffle. While subpar waffles are a shame, these deductions are illegal. [More]
“Watch Dogs” Video Game PR Stunt Leads To Newsroom Evacuation
By 5.28.14
Back in the day when I worked at places where writers were allowed to receive free promotional crap (mostly DVDs and vodka… so much bad vodka) from PR companies, I got all manner of bizarre stuff, the strangest probably being a box that allegedly contained a few of Troy Polamalu’s signature curly locks. But if I received a tiny unmarked safe with a note to “check your voicemail,” and which beeped when I tried to open it, I might have gotten freaked out enough to call the police. [More]
Nonexistent Guy Holds Australian iDevices For Virtual Ransom
By 5.27.14
In case you don’t already have a passcode set on your mobile phone and two-factor authentication activated on your most vital accounts, here’s a cautionary tale that shows why you might want to. iPhone and iPad users in Australia woke up early in the morning to a “Find My iPhone” alert that demanded $100 to regain access to their devices. [More]
KFC Australia Puts Tortilla Chips On Sandwich, Popcorn Chicken On Nachos
By 3.19.14
Over at KFC Australia, they seem to be a little confused about how nachos work. Not that Americans have any special claim to snack food logic, but at least our fast food outlets haven’t done anything completely wacky like throwing popcorn chicken on nachos, or tortilla chips on a sandwich. [More]
Vanilla Shake M&Ms Exist In Australia, Are Boring
By 3.5.14
Ooh, more exciting international snack food news! Down in Australia, they now have Vanilla Shake flavored M&Ms. Does that sound tempting? Well, it isn’t. People there report that they’re similar to the boring flavor profile of Birthday Cake M&Ms, which just taste like boring old milk chocolate M&Ms. [The Impulsive Buy] [More]
‘Dead Rising’ Comes To Life As Chainsaw-Wielding Man Robs Store While Wearing Flower Pot Helmet
By 2.12.14
I can’t tell you the hours I’ve spent chainsawing paths through hordes of undead, or bashing them over the head with flower pots, in Dead Rising on my Xbox, but I never imagined that someone would manage to make this over-the-top game a reality by combining the two objects and using them in the robbery of a convenience store. [More]
McDonald’s Figures Out Best Way To Keep Away Pesky Teens: Blast Opera At Them
By 11.22.13
The image of loitering teens in the parking lot annoying customers has been around for quite some time, probably starting with the greaser tough-guys of the ’50s cat-calling at poodle-skirted girls and dumping milkshakes on awkward George McFly types. And one thing we all know that if there is one thing that teenage toughs will run screaming to avoid, it’s opera. Or at least that’s how one McDonald’s claims to have rid itself of those pesky kids. [More]
Angry Mom Punishes Daughters, Makes Profit, By Auctioning Off Their One Direction Tickets
By 9.20.13
I’m not a parent, but I do remember being a horrible teenager and occasionally being yelled at by my much put-upon mother. Like most parents, there were times when she took items and privileges away from me as punishment, but I don’t think she ever made a hefty profit off me by selling anything — and venting angrily — on eBay. [More]
