The iPad has replaced the borrowed puppy as the lure of choice for bachelors on the make. Jim Colgan from The Takeaway took the latest Apple gadget out for some field testing and found himself besieged with admirers. Ok, really they were admiring the new tablet, but some of that adoration washed over on to its owner. To wit: “two women emerged from behind him and screamed and pointed. They all wanted a go.” Here is the recording of different reactions to the iPad on the streets of New York, recorded using an iPad: [More]
BLOGS
Cook Bacon In A Machine Gun
By 4.2.10
Obviously, this is how KFC should prepare the bacon for the Double Down, KFC’s bacon and cheese on fried chicken “bread” sandwich—by wrapping it around the barrel of a machine gun and firing about 200 times, for that extra dose of smoky manly flavor. I can already feel my arteries clogging in anticipation. [Reddit via Eater] [More]
You Need To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Credit Card Debt
By 4.2.10
If you had some credit card debt canceled in 2009 the IRS might want a piece of it. [More]
Hoax Dave Matthews Concert Shames Macy's
By 4.1.10
Macy’s got punked. The fliers announced performances in Missoula, Montana, by Dave Matthews Band and other bands as a special “reinvesting in the community” “Goodbye Celebration” by Macy’s and Smurfit-Stone, two longtime businesses that had recently shut down and laid off hundreds of workers while top company executives received millions in bonuses. But Dave and his band would not be there, nor would Michael Franti or Slightly Stoopid. Nor the Mayor or the Governor. And there definitely would be no $5,000 prize drop. It was all a hoax hatched by angry ex-employees trying to draw attention to the negative economic impact the businesses’ departures would have on the community. [More]
Insurance Covers Meds If Your Kid Is Clumsy, But If He's Autistic, He Owes $24,000
By 3.24.10
Nine-year old Nico owes $24,000. If he was just clumsy, he wouldn’t, but because he’s autistic, he’s got to cough it up, according to the insurance company—and the collections agency that keeps calling him every day. [More]
JetBlue 800 Number Leads To Sex Line
By 3.17.10
An unfortunate typo on JetBlue’s website could lead some customers to “happy ending” instead of “happy jetting.” They spell out 1-800-JETBLUE as 538-2563, when it should be 538-2583. The former connects you a breathless recording that starts, [More]
iPad Pre-Orders Now Open
By 3.12.10
Apple opened the doors on iPad pre-orders as of a few minutes ago. Git ’em while they’re hot! Or not, and wait for the inevitable first-generation bugs to get worked out and feeding frenzy to fade. Should you buy? Which kind do you get? Sister Consumer Reports Electronics Blog has the breakdown. Take our poll as to whether you’re getting with the craze or staying out of the race. [More]
Upgrades: Blippy Lets You Screen Out Single Purchases
By 3.12.10
Blippy launched a few months ago as a service that lets you plug in your credit card and broadcasts online every single purchase you make. For people looking for public accountability about what they spend money on, or just another social networking vanity trip, it’s pretty neat. But maybe there’s certain things that come in brown paper bags that you don’t want your mother stumbling across. Rolling out along with a Facebook-esque site redesign, Blippy has added a new privacy feature that lets you manually screen out individual purchases before the hit the net, and your mom hits the roof. To use it, [More]
Get Inside A Timeshare Salesman's Head
By 3.11.10
How would you like to be 1000% more awesome? You will, after you read the secrets to Timeshare selling success over at the Timeshare Coach blog. It’s written by the author of ts by the author of Zero Resistance Selling: Achieve Extraordinary Sales Results Using The World-Renowned Techniques of Psycho-Cybernetics. On charming, ” Charm to Timeshare Sales is like Bread to Butter, put them together and it tastes so much better. Bread without butter is dry.” [More]
Cut The Cable And Watch All Your TV And Movies Online
By 3.2.10
Cutting cable can save you upwards of $500 a year, and Lifehacker shows you how to do it while still getting to watch all your favorite shows and movies online. [More]
BoingBoing Beats MagicJack Lawsuit, Wins $50,000
By 2.23.10
MagicJack sued BoingBoing for defamation after they had the gall to criticize the gadget maker’s EULA, and the blog has won, to the tune of $50,000. [More]
Vision Media Tries To Squash Blogging Of Public Documents Re:Frivolous Lawsuit
By 2.17.10
The makers of the Hugh Downs video ripoff we wrote about are suing 800notes.com, a site that lets people anonymously post info about unsolicited calls they receive. Vision Media wants the posters’ identities revealed. That’s not uncommon, but what’s really rich is that they asked the judge for a gag order to stop 800notes lawyer, Paul Levy of Public Citizen, from posting the motions about the case online. Yes, they wanted to stop people from reposting public documents because doing so was “embarrassing” and “defamatory”. [More]
Steve Jobs Doesn't Trust Consumerist
By 2.16.10
Rob emailed Steve Jobs to tell him that until Apple fixed reader Joel’s account that had been billed $50,000 for iTunes purchases, he wouldn’t buy another Apple product. Replying via iPad, Steve Jobs told him, “I wouldn’t believe everything you read from places like this.” Ohhhh snap! But it wouldn’t be Jobs who had the last laugh… [More]
Man Who Pledged To Never Buy Another Vizio Gets Help
By 2.11.10
The man who said he’ll never buy another Vizio after his crapped out just a few months after his warranty ran out and would cost nearly half the purchase price to repair, says that after our post went up a gal in their customer service department called him and is “doing their best to rectify the situation.” He Jeremy writes on his blog, “This entire situation has taken an unexpected turn, which I will keep you abreast of in the days to come.” [More]
Why I Won't Be Buying Another Vizio
By 2.9.10
Jeremy won’t be buying any more Vizio TVs. He bought an HD one for $650 , then after 18 months of use, it began flickering on and off and then wouldn’t turn it on. The CSR told him it would cost him ~$300 to send it in to repair the power supply, nearly half the purchase price, as the warranty expired. Jeremy thinks a TV should last longer than a year and a half, and so he wrote an open letter on his blog to William Wang, CEO of Vizio TV. [More]
Ripoff Video Maker "Vision Media Television" Renames As "Great America HD"
By 2.5.10
“Vision Media Television,” after getting exposed in a NY Times story as a ripoff production company, has changed its name to “GreatAmericaHD” and is back to its same tricks. The way it works is they call up non-profit organizations with an alluring pitch: a chance to be featured in a nationally-broadcast PBS show anchored by established broadcaster. In this case, Hugh Downs. What they don’t tell you is that you’ll have to front upwards of $20,000 in production costs, and the “program” they shoot will never see the light of day. [More]
Experian Sued Over Deceptive FreeCreditReport.com Ads
By 2.4.10
Freecreditreport.com is getting class action sued, baby. Their ubiquitous singing ads make it sound like you’ll go their website and get a free credit report, but they don’t tell you that’s only after you sign up for a $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service. “FreeCreditReport.com tells people they will get something for free, and you do, but you have to pay for something else, and there’s not sufficient notice,” said John Balestriere, lead attorney. I agree, so I made up my own parody Freecreditreport song: [More]
Dealership Ad Fail
By 2.4.10
Bill found negotiating with the dealership to be a little one-sided. [Craigslist via Failblog] [More]
